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bats


Writer, blogger, saucy chat mom, occasional bitch. Hablo español. She/her/ella.

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Jan
23rd
2019

Basil Bones is Finished, Plans for the Next Story · 8:59pm Jan 23rd, 2019

Howdy, folks!

I just posted the end of Twilight Holmes: The Mystery of Basil Bones, so it is officially finished now. It is…multiple years late from what I was originally planning, and also ended up being far longer than I thought it would, but it was written and concluded on time from what I said last blog, when I started updating it again. So, score one for me! If anyone was waiting for it to finish up before reading it, well, it’s done. I’m happy with how it turned out, for as silly a concept as it is. I hope you enjoy it, if you care to give it a gander. Now then, with that looming sword of Damocles out of my mind, let’s talk about plans for what’s next.

So last time I gave a rough idea of my plans for writing stuff going forward: I was going to finish up Basil Bones while it was updating on a weekly schedule, and then once it was finished and I had a buffer of time while the updates continued to come out, I would switch over to an original fiction novel I’ve had sitting in agonizing limbo for something like two years now, with the plan of working a bit on that and then switching back to something pony-related for a while. The goal being to keep this profile going and be putting out new stories at a semi-regular pace, while also working on my original fiction things. I, perhaps optimistically, said that thanks to the buffer I was working with, there was a good chance that I’d have gotten to work on that original fiction and would have switched back to pony by the time Basil Bones wrapped up.

Well, that didn’t quite happen. In fairness, I did not promise that it would and would have had no intention of promising that, and even in saying all that, I wasn’t that far off from pulling it off, either. Mostly what happened was that I underestimated how long Basil Bones would end up being. I know, me underestimating the final length of a story, super shocking. It’s not like that hasn’t happened for literally every story I’ve ever posted on fimfiction before. :twilightblush:

I have a long and a short version for what that means, and I’ll go ahead and include both, because I want to talk it out a little. If you’re just wanting to know the current state of things and what’s up in the immediate future, feel free to jump down to the bolded TL;DR.

Anyway, so the long version of what ended up happening was that I put the final words down for the draft of Basil Bones on January 11th, which was maybe two or three weeks longer than I thought it would take. This was not as a result of me screwing up and dropping the daily writing routine I was patting myself on the back for last month, thankfully. I reined in my daily expectations after the NaNoWriMo challenge thingie I did, and I’ve basically stuck to it since then without much in the way of missed days. No, it just took that long because the story ended up being about 75k words long. Pretty good for a story that I thought way back at the start would end up being about 40k words, was thinking would be 60k words when I started in on the NaNoWriMo challenge in November, and then was guessed to be about 70k words back when I posted that last blog. I am very bad at this sort of guessing.

After finishing the draft, I took a break of a couple days before launching in on the original fiction, both as a chance to defrag and to get the editing on Basil Bones squared away and set up so that I could finish up the weekly updates without any problems. I then went back to that original fiction novel which, unfortunately, had been left in a much larger mess for me to sort through than Basil Bones had been.

Okay, so, picking up where I left off on Basil Bones was super easy. The last thing I’d written for it had been cleaned up and published, and my notes had been kept pretty neat and orderly. Basically all I’d had to do was reread the previous chapter and I could have started in on it immediately, though I did end up rereading almost all of it just to make sure I was good to go. With this other novel I’ve been working on, hooooo boy. My notes were all in pretty good shape, but the novel itself had been left mid-implosion.

For a bit of background, I started this novel about four and a half years ago and drafted about 54k words of it before I realized I’d fucked up. The fuck-up on it wasn’t a sinking-of-the-Titanic level problem, but made me realize I needed to go back and abrasively edit around half of what I’d written for it, because I had made some serious mistakes with the flow of the plot, and also realized that I didn’t actually like how a few of the things that happened in it had gone. I had that realization about three and a half years ago.

Then, two years ago, after having left it to sort of mold in a bottom drawer (during this time I wrote and posted The Thinkin’ Spot, the first chunk of Basil Bones, and Seeking Answers), after spending a long time feeling like I needed to go back and finish it and not really letting myself do much pony (or other) writing out of guilt for not getting back to it, I ended up taking a weekend writing vacation to try and figure out how to fix it. I went to Vegas, I had a fun time, and over about 36 hours I hammered out a plan for what needed to be done to fix this damn novel and get it written.

And then I got back from Vegas. And no writing got done. At all, anywhere, for anything. I had a short story I’d written earlier (which starred the same characters as this novel we’re talking about, actually) get purchased and come out in an anthology, and I wanted to tell people here without looking like a colossal dick, so I wrote another chapter of Basil Bones so I wouldn’t come here empty-handed. Then I went silent again, the small press publisher of the book shuttered, and silence reigned over the kingdom for a thousand years.

The ongoing happy ending is more current news, with me starting work and finishing Basil Bones while punching the personification of procrastination repeatedly in the dick, but when it came time to get back to work on this original novel, I found it exactly in the same shape I’d left it in: fucked up, but with a plan for fixing it and the scratchings of a fix that had been started in that first 36 hour brainstorming session.

It took two days of rereading, editing, going over my original notes, and going over my fixing-plan notes before I could even start to work on it, but after those two days, I started putting down new words. Fortunately for me in going through that, I found that I still liked the story in general, and thought my plan on how to fix it was still a good idea, so there wasn’t a lot of arm-twisting to get going on it again.

That said, after my short break, edits on Basil Bones, working on a post for my Language Learning blog, Fumbling Toward Fluent, and digging through the mess, I didn’t start writing for it until the 17th. That means I’ve only had a chance to put down 3,706 words for it so far (that doesn't include today's writing, which hasn't happened yet). As this isn’t November when I was writing both fiction and blogs on some days, that number actually means I’m ahead of my daily goal of 750 words per day, but a little behind the hopeful goal of switching back to pony fic as Basil Bones finished up.

So that brings us to where I am now, where I would like to be on it before switching back to pony is somewhere around 10k words written for it. That should, more or less, fix the fuck-up that stalled it out those three and a half years ago and set me up for the home stretch of the drafting, I think. I might be wrong, I am terrible at estimating these sorts of things, as evidenced higher. Either way, that’s what I have in mind for writing before I’m comfortable switching back, maybe a little more or less depending on when the closest chapter finishes off. If I stick with my daily word goal (which I have been good at doing, so I don’t see that as being a big ‘if’ right now), I’ll be hitting that goal right around the start of February. After that, I’ll be launching straight back into pony.

And unlike with this novel, I am not stumbling into a mess I’ll need to pick my way through before starting. I have a ton of story ideas and notes for pony fics I’ve been wanting to get around to, so there would be the potential of me getting lost in that mess, making up my mind, but I’ve already settled on what story I’m planning to write next. It should be a fun, semi-fluffy, teen-rated romance one-shot I’ve had bouncing around in my head for ages and ages, and I think it’s probably a good palate-cleanser for this profile after the long and protracted affair that Basil Bones ended up being. It’s going to be a RariDash story, which I think is a fun ship. I think it’s going to end up being 5-10k words long, but take that number with a hefty grain of salt. If it ends up being that long, I should be getting it drafted in early February and posted in late February, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up bleeding over into March.

TL;DR

At the moment, I am still working on my original fiction novel. As of right now, I have written 3706 new words for it since finishing the draft of Basil Bones. I would like to reach a word count closer to 10k before switching back to pony. I’m guessing that I’ll hit that figure right around the end of January/start of February, if my writing schedule holds solid. I’ve settled on what pony story I am going to follow that writing up with, which is going to be a teen-rated RariDash one-shot idea, something I’m guessing is going to be in the 5-10k word range, but holding me to that figure is a fool’s game. As it’s not (read: shouldn’t be) incredibly long, I plan on writing it straight through, without taking an original fiction break, then getting it edited and posted over the following week or two. This isn’t a promise, but I would expect it to be going online before the end of February or early March.

So then! I admit I’m a little bummed that I don’t have more to offer right now. I’m pleased I got Basil Bones finished up, which was not an insignificant amount of writing, but I’ve been aware that it has not exactly been my most long awaited sort of writing for most people. The Twilight Holmes stories have all been kinda silly, and as any sort of continuity-ish story series tends to be it’s had diminishing returns over time in terms of interest.

And a big part of me is happy to say that I don’t really care about that particularly, I’d rather write stuff that I want to write, and if that stuff ends up being popular with the site and hitting the feature box or whatever, that’s more a happy coincidence than the purpose of my writing. On the other hand, well, if I’m writing something that nobody really cares about and as a result I end up disappointing someone who would like to have a bats story to read, just so long as it wasn’t a Twilight Holmes story, well, I sorta feel like an asshole. I’d much rather have both going on, a situation where I could finish up Basil Bones and have a one-shot already in the works and ready to go up in the next couple weeks, plus something else right down the line, and so on. The only way I could really do that would be if I dropped the original fiction and just wrote pony, and I just can’t do that to myself emotionally right now. I need to get this novel finished for my own mental health. I’m happy to do that while also writing pony, so I don’t need to disappear again, but I can’t just trunk it for a “someday” that I might not ever get to just to feel better about my “I’m back!” announcement having more impact.

It’s funny, I recently looked back over the stories I put out in 2013, and holy crap, there was so much writing then. In this same chunk of the year we’re talking about right now, I wrote a buffer for Spellbound Fireflies, so I could write and release it on a weekly schedule just like Basil Bones. I wrote that buffer (which I believe was a longer buffer) in a shorter period of time, while also publishing about 30k words of one-shots and other story chapters. 30k words is about what I’m faulting on finishing up this novel, that was my extra writing while working on a bigger project. Part of me wishes I could have some of that manic energy I had back then, but most of me knows how depressed and screwed up my brain was, so it’s probably best that that’s not how it is now.

Anyway, that’s the deal at the moment. I’m not going anywhere, but it’ll be maybe a month and a half before the next story drops. I really hate to just leave it dangling like that and go back to lurky-lurk, as at least since the last blog I’ve been posting chapters weekly. I could maybe blog every once in a while about my progress on things, if that wouldn’t bother anyone too much, I don’t want to be annoying. What do y’all think? I’ve never followed very many people on this site and most of them have become exceptionally quiet as of late, so I feel like I’m the wrong person to have an opinion about frequent blogging from writers.

Mostly, though, thanks a ton for sticking around while I went all quiet and scarce on y’all. You guys are the best. TTFN.

Comments ( 8 )

It should be a fun, semi-fluffy, teen-rated romance one-shot I’ve had bouncing around in my head for ages and ages, and I think it’s probably a good palate-cleanser for this profile after the long and protracted affair that Basil Bones ended up being. It’s going to be a RariDash story, which I think is a fun ship. I think it’s going to end up being 5-10k words long, but take that number with a hefty grain of salt.

5001518

Nah, not writing for that. Number one, it doesn't fit any of the prompts. Number two...Okay, I like the RariDash Doodles comics that guy does, but they aren't what I would call "in character," and I am left a little suspect as to the quality of other entries and judging.

Also, it's pretty obvious that I probably wouldn't meet the deadline. :derpytongue2:

5001520
Yeah, I was feeling the same way about the prompts. The guidelines say that you don't have to use the images, but it's heavily implied that anyone who doesn't is at a disadvantage.

Also wholeheartedly agree that, while adorable, the strips are pretty caricatured.

I might toss my hat into the ring, but I have yet to come up with anything related to the prompts. I could use that idea we were talking about a few days ago, but I'm not sure how well it'd go over, being outside the prompts and all. I think I'd rather just come back to it later, after I've worked on some stuff I've actually planned out.

I personally love your Twilight Holmes stories, so I'm quite glad to get this one finished up, yes I've been waiting till that complete tag hit, but don't feel bad I do that for nearly every story I read anymore.

Love to see you back and writing pony, and I'll be patient till your next story :twilightsmile:

5001718

I appreciate it, and I definitely don't blame you or anyone else who waited. Even if it isn't a question of not knowing if a story is actually going to ever be finished or not, just needing to wait for new chapters can be annoying and/or painful.

I like your blogs. At least the ones that are in English.

If it feels like something interesting to share, vent, or gush over then blog it on out.

I have to say I love your Twilight Holmes Stories. They have been a lot of fun to read and something I've really needed right now. I would not complain at all about seeing another one sometime in the future.

5030604

I'm glad you've enjoyed them, they're some of my favorites to write. I'll probably be taking a break from that continuity for a while to write other things, but I have a couple half-finished outlines for future stories that I'd like to get to at some point, so there's a good chance I'll be writing more eventually.

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