Chapter 19, Rage Reviews, and BipTES · 10:19am Jul 15th, 2018
Howdy, cluckers. Golden here with your standard mid-draft blog post. The good news—well, there's a fair bit of good news today, really. No bad news that I can think of, but if that changes by the time I finish writing this, you'll be the first to know. Trust me.
The first bit of good news is that the draft is swimming along at a hearty pace. I wrote 2,000 words today, and right now it's sitting at a pretty 6,200. I've finished Twilight's parts of the chapter, and intend to get some good work going on Rarity's part, which is the focus here. It's shaping up to be a long one. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the first chapter to breach 11,000. That's always good.
Image unrelated, but how about that EqG special, huh? FlutterSalad X RariJack much?
Next on my mental checklist, I was informed upon waking today of a stellar review from Rage Reviews. I was a little anxious when I opened it up, but boy was it worth the risk. Just gives you all the warm fuzzies seeing something like that, doesn't it? Art, truly. I've started up an accolades section on the story description, so if anyone has any good accolade-y kinda quotes, let me know and I might stick those in. Not like any of you guys are gonna comment on this anyways, but it's a nice fantasy, huh?
As a side note, I'd like to apologize to my wonderful editor M1ntf4n for publishing the last draft without waiting for him. The rest of the Discord was just so quick and good and I couldn't help myself. It worked out though, eh? We got an update out as that dude was writing a review. Maybe friendship really is magic after all.
You like that subtle Discord plug? Yeah, I'm practicing.
Lastly, I have to tell you about BipTES. I'm contractually obligated. We were just talking about what food to use in a scene in the Discord, one thing led to another, and next thing we knew it was declared that BipTES was the most popular soda in the EH-verse Equestria. Drink BipTES, the drink that carries you through the day! We've got a logo and everything. It's slick.
One of my readers recommended this Hive series to me. It's pretty alright, I'd say. There's a lot of interesting ideas in here, even if I find myself kinda bugged by some of the little things. I've been reading a steady chapter or three every day. If you're out there, LAP, I'm just saying, Twilight could dive into the Cresnox Jungle. I mean, probably not. There's not really anything relevant there—if it exists, of course—but who knows. I'm open to some crossing over is all I'm saying. I swear, it's not just because your story has more views than mine.
Alright, is that all? Yeah, there's no more words coming here. Look forwards to Chapter XIV coming to an Empty Horizon near you, sometime this week.
Regarding the Hive series; I largely agree. The quality improves as you go, but law abiding pony has pretty much always had an affinity for world building. Thinking about it, I'm just trying to figure out whether their characters well fit the mold the world gives them, or if the world is well molded around the characters.
And don't get too crazy with the chapter lengths. I've read a small number of stories where 11k would be a short chapter, but those stories can get to be a bit of a slog.
Looking forward to completing the review as new chapters come out. It's definitely one of the most interesting stories that I've found on this site, and occupies a place with Sharaloth's "Harmony Theory" as one of the best dystopian future Equestria stories that I've read so far (speaking of stories with a glacial update pace).
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I've also been following law abiding pony's Hive series for quite some time, currently waiting for updates to the latest installment. I have to say, that it's not necessarily what I'd call a "good" story, but it is definitely a fun story. It's pure pulp fantasy with all the flaws and strengths that implies. In cinematic terms, it would be a B movie series, but also a "cult" movie series, like the Evil Dead trilogy, the Arnold Schwarzenegger Conan movies, or the old Flash Gordon adventure serials. Or if you want to stick to literary comparisons, then Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, or Edgar Rice Burroughs would be good comparisons. Ya gotta keep reading past the flaws just to see what kind of craziness is coming next. Highly entertaining if you're not expecting great literature.
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Yeah I'm a big fan of Harmony Theory. I kept getting comments in the early days about people saying they were reminded of it so y'know I had to check it out. I hope I never get quite as bad as Sharaloth, though!
That's actually a pretty good way of describing the Hive. I've tried to put my feelings on it into words a few times before, but the best I could come up with was "lot's of little annoyances, but I still keep on reading." "B movie" or "pulp" is definitely more what I was aiming for.
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I usually "aim" for 5k when I start a draft. I've missed this length plenty of times. If a draft gets too long, like 12k or so, that's about when I start thinking about splitting it in two, which I have done before. I try to be careful that I don't make anything so long that it's a chore to read.