The Current State of Magical Curiosity... · 7:18am Aug 18th, 2018
...is not so good.
Whenever I write a chapter for this fic, there's always the feeling that I have to add, add, add. It was until it's too late that I realized that this was becoming a systemic problem. Even with a notes-for-creative-writing program at hand, I admit that I haven't utilized it that much and, therefore, the threads are becoming scrambled in my head, and with the urge to just add one more thread to it, Magical Curiosity has become a sorry mess. It's still salvageable, I won't give up on it, and I don't want to sleep on my mistakes; however, it's mutated into something that, I guess, shouldn't have been.
In other words: It's bloated.
One of the main suspects is that I started this out as a short story. This is why the pacing is so slow for about the first half and then speeds up so fast after that; I made a jerky jump from "short story" to "big novel". The random things I've thrown around in the first half that could be justified as OK in a semi-fluff fic now has to be judged by me under the light of a serious adventure.
It's gotten so bad, you could make the argument that I could cut the first half of the fic, recast the synopsis, and everything would be better off that way.
I won't be doing that, however. I'll keep the first half of the story as it is; I don't know how people would react if 50,000 words disappeared into thin air all of a sudden.
Another thing that this fic is suffering from is where some of the ideas are coming from: the comments. When you're determined to give a short story the ending of a grand adventure, you'll soon run out of ideas. It's gotten to the point that certain comments reminded me of plot points I've forgotten almost entirely; if it weren't for those comments, this story would've prematurely sunk story-wise.
Overall, Magical Curiosity isn't as good as the ratings say. While I could say that the sudden popularity brought more critical attention to my writing, continuing the story is going to do more harm than good if I don't pitch a saving throw.
Anyway, I really want to write that Earth-meets-Equestria fic.
What now?
Don't get me wrong. I still somewhat enjoy writing this. It's my first Equestria Girls fic, and it's great to write in this setting. Coming from that and more, I'll still finish this and give it an ending that hopefully ties up some of everything at the very least.
When that's done, I'll post one or two short stories to get my writer's bearings, preferably three-to-four-chapter novellas—stories that are actually planned out to at least a minimum extent. One of them will be another Earth-meets-Equestria fic in the same vein as Lyra and the William's Diner, which I hope could be a nice prelude to the next real long fic.
After that? Really not sure since we're talking about February of next year at best. Maybe a prequel fic leading up to the Season 1 premiere? Maybe, maybe not.
Sorry to bother you. Have a good day! 
It is still a nice story, just try taking a break, or write something else to sort out the story slowly.
Either way it's your call, have fun with it.
For some people writing fanfics is all about the learning experience. Having material that a lot of people will actually read and provide feedback on.
With this story you got people's attention they provided useful criticism and you learned from it. By that standard the story's a success.
Honestly, I love Magical Curiosity. It's length definitely included. While it may have mutated to have more story lines, that story lines work well with each other, and are now subplots helping the larger story move forward. My suggestion for it would be, instead of write a chapter, publish a chapter, would be to write the rest of the story, and then publish it, so you can neatly wrap it up.
4921812
I suppose that's another way of viewing it. However, when it comes to reading fanfics myself, I don't see how long I'm willing to read a story if it's fraught with glaring issues. It's forgivable if it's a short story, but a fic as long as mine takes commitment and to be disappointed over a long time won't make my day.
Then again, at least you put a positive spin on it. Optimism is good.
4921815
That's how other authors do it here. I guess that's how most other authors do it here. The problem is, I'm stubborn when it comes to posting chapters as I write them. While, yes, I can write a full story then upload a chapter daily (except Sundays), I've gotten used to putting out a constant stream of content.
It's like being a YouTuber. Want to get known? Post, post, post. Whether the content's good or bad, people will take a look if you, for lack of a better word, pester them. For those who already like my stories, they'll be rewarded with consistent chapters which, in the fanfic world, is above the norm.
I realize that this can become dangerous to me. Burning out is a very real possibility, and there are times when I feel like I'm a slave to my work and my writing quota. However, the work gets done, people read and learn what to do and not to do, and I'm happy that I've made something others can enjoy and post feedback on.
Thanks for the encouragement and the suggestion, though.
4921828
You raise a good thought there, this could have been even better if you split it into two stories. Say, end Curiosityat the point where they head through the portal, take a few days to sort out what you want the sequel to be, and continue on. Call the second half Reverberations or somesuch. In fact, I smell a fairly good stopping point coming up, might want to do that there and recollect your thoughts?
As to writing out the story ahead of time, I think you'd be surprised how many authors here are "winging" it. I'd suggest a pre-reader or two, someone to discuss the story with ahead of time. Help you keep the threads from unraveling.
I can see your concerns about bloating, while I'm the last person to give you an accurate view of appropriate scale, the perspective is jumping around a lot. Part of me finds this agreeable, this is a chaotic series of events and the experience is heightened by many perspectives, but it does feel a bit too random. I'll chalk it up to a good idea and not quite enough practice?
What this needs is an anchor. Someone or a small group of people that the story can keep coming back to. a reference point. While the Equestrian side is going well, Earth is suffering for a lack of a real protagonist. And no, in this case, we cannot claim half the student body as the protagonist. Honestly? I'd have picked Lyra, BonBon, Vinyl, and Octavia, and followed events primarily from their perspective.
4921853
First of all:
OK, why not? I really need a break because I'm itching to write some short story where the slate's clean and I can at least make something decent. While the cut won't happen anytime soon from how much is still left to cover, I believe that I could at least wrap things up somehow and leave a loose end somewhere.
However, since I still have other fics to write, then the sequel might appear way over in 2019—and I could still change my mind and decide to either finish this here or just scrap the rest and end it with Curiosity.
As for pre-readers: That's actually what I did for the Earth-meets-Equestria fic coming up. Even then, nothing's set in stone until I actually publish the first chapter; besides, this is also the first time I've had a pre-reader, so everything on that front is still new to me—but, to turn it back to Magical Curiosity, probably not. I've gotten too far for that. If you're talking about what happens next, though...maybe, maybe not. I'll think about it.
Jumping around? Actually, I've done similar jumping with a previous fic, A War. Even then, it's still better than than now because, in that fic, all the perspective changes were done smoothly—that is, the next character is mentioned, thought about, related to the last few sentences of the section, something like that. Here, it's sometimes smooth, sometimes rough.
Yes, I agree that there has to be an anchor. This is why I'm already narrowing the perspectives down to just Bon Bon and Octavia at this point plus whoever's with them, but maybe that was done subconsciously.
Anyway, thank you for the post here.
4921865
No problem. I think you'll find that the real trick is getting me to stop talking, rather than start. If I might be so bold, I'd like to suggest some reading for you. Assuming my shoddy memory hasn't made me forget recommending this to you earlier, I would like you to have a look at Legacy by Nfire. Now I know, the thing's gargantuan, but it's neatly separated into distinct segments that make it easy to read in short bursts. Whether he intended to or not, Nfire made it feel a lot like the show's 20 min episode style.
Anyway, I'm not expecting you to mulch your way through the whole thing in one go, (though I'd be impressed if you did) but I'd like you to have a look at how he balances the protagonist's viewpoint with that of the supporting cast. Despite being centered around one actor, the whole world feels vibrant. It's the character development and polish, the sensation that things are happening in the world even when the camera's not pointed at them. That's the only thing I really feel your story lacks, that sense of deep solidity. Nail that and you're golden.
4921879
Almost as twice as long as War and Peace? Even if I read it in short bursts, I'm afraid I don't have the time to read it.
However, the principle you're saying, I get. I like worldbuilding, except it seems that I'm not pulling it off correctly. What I do know now is that it's not just throwing random details and snippets into the air and expecting the readers to say, "Hey, it's deep!" I have to be able to say, "Almost everything here is important to someone to some extent".
I'm sorry to turn down the reading recommendation, but thanks for the principle.
4921888
Ah well, I can't win them all I suppose. would you believe I can read that in a few days? I told you I'm a lousy judge of pacing...
Anyway, let me see if I can't elaborate on the world building. Most stories, especially the ones written here, operate on the simple premise of "what if?' Imagine a still pond, with a smooth and glassy surface. This is your setting at the beginning of the story, containing characters, history, geography, and everything else that makes up a world. Into this still pond we toss a pebble. You see the ripples spread out across the surface? Those ripples are the story and the pebble, the catalyzing event that begins it. Just because something or someone is not immediately affected by something, does not mean that they will remain unchanged.
Lets make a quick example, a Nightmare Moon at the castle of the twin sisters.
orig00.deviantart.net/c1fd/f/2017/023/1/4/alternate_ending_by_cannibalus-dawhgyy.png
Such a simple thing, a word in the wrong place, and everything changes. It's not so difficult to build a world, just throw a pebble and try to track the ripples. The key is to understand what your characters are trying to achieve, and how they'll react to the world around them. Everything else is just degrees of fiddlybits.
In my personal opinion, writing a story is a lot like being a historian. The point is not so much to write a script for a play, as to accurately record the ongoing events of the world. Something happens, and people react to it. Then others react to them or their reactions, and so on and so forth. And the next thing you know, you've written 200K words of slice of life...
It does feel as if the overall tone and direction of the story got a massive whiplash when the transformations started, yeah. At first it was slice-of-life-y hijinks as people visit Equestria and news of Equestria pops up in the real world. It was more comedy than drama as the problems popped up and got smacked down like a whack-a-mole game.
Then the transformations started, the portal breaks down and suddenly everyone is having existential crises. Not exactly what you'd call slice of life anymore. I mean the idea is still a great one to explore, and you handle the drama well, but the tone of the first half and the second half of the story are rather clashing right now.
4921915
4921919
I've saved some of the critical tips in a .txt file. Honestly, it's frustrating to be suffering from beginner problems even after surpassing the 1,000,000 word mark on this site. However, I really want to learn and make a story worthy of the feature box, even if that starts with a new short story.
To you specifically and to everyone else who's made constructive comments either here or in the story's page, thank you once again. I think it takes a substantial amount of patience to deal with my writing that way. Anyway, it's been nice seeing what you have to say.
4922360
If you ever need some help, a prereader, or just some random ideas, please feel free to ask. Especially ideas, figuring out "how could this happen?" is one of my favorite activities.
4922365
I'll gladly accept the offer! However, I might not ask for a while since I still have Curiosity to finish. Maybe with my first short story in a long time.
Just a heads-up: I'm a stubborn stickler to schedule, so if you can answer questions in less than 12 hours, then that's a plus. However, I understand if you can't keep up with that kind of pace—there are times when I barely keep it up myself!
4922360
I think at this stage you should make a decision on what kind of story you want to tell: Do you want hijinks as the girls travel between worlds? Or do you want drama as the two worlds collide? Then separate the two stories and write the one you want to write.
Though, if I can be selfish, that earth-meets-Equestria story sounds like fun as well. First contact MLP stories are my favourite.
4922373
The latter.
Ideally, I would split them into two. However, I think it'll be hard to facilitate the creation of a sequel, mostly because the audience for slice-of-life Curiosity may not exactly be on board with a tense-and-dramatic Curiosity 2 or something along those lines, and, usually, sequels don't carry a lot of the original's traction in the fanfic world.
Now, I'll just finish this as it is. Surprisingly (or not), I'm getting tired of this story faster than usual; then again, that's what happens when you force a big narrative on a short story.
Thanks for stopping by with more help, though.
4922373
I'm excited for it, too. However, unlike fics like Inevitabilities, I want to take a more relaxed approach. Adventurous, dramatic first contact tales are great to read, whether in the contact itself or its aftermath, but I want to emphasize the daily lives of those who aren't the heroes that saved the world(s).
Let's hope this one doesn't spiral into a drama adventure like Curiosity, OK?
4922379
Perhaps you might try hammering the calendar back a few centuries? 21st century humans are so excitable. what would happen if, say... Lewis and Clark got super lost. Put a new spin on the Louisiana Purchase wouldn't it?
4922384
I don't think I have what it takes to do that. While I love history and alternate history (and I used to be a fan of Paradox Interactive, so there's that), I see such a premise as only possible with those who truly know their subject. I'd probably flunk a quiz on the Lewis and Clark expedition (or the Louisiana Purchase for that matter).
Besides, I haven't seen an Earth-meets-Equestria fic I really want to read. Yes, I've read stuff like The Pony Who Lived Upstairs and Admiral Biscuit's Pony-on-Earth material, but the former assumes we created Equestria when my take's somewhat the other way around and the latter is, well, too short.
It's pretty much me wanting to write who and what I know—to some extent.
4922393
Nothing wrong with that, personal experience gives a fic verisimilitude.
In other news, Biscuit's work too short? I see you missed Silver Glow's Journal then. Oh, I believe I might have something for you though on the first contact front, have you looked at back and there again? Or perhaps Brightly Lit? Two first contact stories on a much smaller scale. The first an action romance, and the second, children's adventure set in a small town. Both thick with comedy, both subtle and not.
It is rare to find a good pony-on-earth story though, isn't it?
4922410
I know of Silver Glow's Journal, but I refrain from it due to a certain tag.
Yeah. I'm a puritan. That's why I'll never write mature stories here or anywhere else—and if you know about what goes up in The Pony Who Lived Upstairs, the tag wasn't there so I was caught by complete surprise when it did apply.
To expound on it, though, I'm of the camp that believes much of entertainment today that employs more than the average kind of violence and explicitness is too much. While I get the idea that the light shines brightest in the darkest (the mature rating of Fallout: Equestria comes into mind), there's a point when the "mature" stuff ends up being immature.
Getting on-topic: You'll be disappointed pretty quickly if you keep recommending me reads, because, at least for now, I'm running out of time to read them. It's gotten to the point that, earlier this year, I've read more of my own material on average than anyone else's, for better or for worse.
Depends. For me, I'm looking for a light-hearted slice-of-life Pony-on-Earth story. If there would be any major conflict that might threaten both worlds, then I'd just leave it to the side. After Curiosity, I need to scale back by focusing on just two or three parties now.
4922413
Ah, I'll stop tossing books at ye then. lemme know if you're ever in the market though.
4922415
Alrighty, then! Thanks for the conversation.
4922379
That's fine with me. There are many angles to first contact stories to explore, after all.