Workload, Schedule, and Afterthoughts on "Go, Emps!" · 12:50pm Mar 8th, 2019
So Go, Emps! ended as quickly as it began. Such is the nature of one-shots. However, its lone chapter ended up being the rollercoaster of an experience. But first, a word on how I'm changing my writing workload and then another word on the schedule for stories after this.
I've mentioned the goal I set for myself when it comes to writing everyday (except for Sundays): 800 rough words, edited in one pass to at least 1,000 words, given a quick combing with LanguageTool as the second editing pass (or what could pass for editing), and then publish if I'd finished the chapter.
However, in the process of writing my entry for the Season 9 Bingo Writing Contest, I had to shift things around thanks to the contest's 20,000 word limit. Thing is, I end up running away with much more than 1,000 words; there have been times when I wrote 400 rough words, and then the first editing pass raises that to a thousand quickly. So, for that story, I've been writing only 600 to 700 rough words... which still usually add up to over a thousand anyway, which is quite troublesome.
That's forced me to edit with some brutality, most of which is thanks to adjustments I had to made over the course of writing Emps with encouragement from editor FanOfMostEverything to give the supposedly final draft one more look over. I did and... well, it was enlightening, to say the least. Even after all the work we did, there were still some errors that slipped through the cracks. And yet, for some reason, I felt... happy that I took the time to give it one more look. Not only did I fix the spelling and punctuation errors I could find, I also changed a word or two here and there thanks to letting the story ferment, so to speak.
So, what does this mean? It means that I won't be making two chapters a week now. More like 1.75 chapters. I see the value of giving the whole chapter—not just the section I'd done for the day—one more look, to see if the chapter meshes well and reads well as a reader, not just as a writer.
Yes, this means less output per week and content will take longer to put out. Yes, sometimes this is a sign that a writer is drifting away from writing. However, I believe that this is the opposite: that since I'm taking a bit more time to invest more love into this thing, I'm growing ever closer to the stories that could be told.
As for schedule: Here's what it looks like for now.
- Entry for Shrink Laureate's Season 9 Bingo Writing Contest (before Season 9 starts or at least a week after the premiere)
- Flim-and-Flam timeline short story
- A War's sequel
You may be wondering why it's shorter now. For the Earth-meets-Equestria short story, writing one now might be unwise when the long fic is still over a year away (if God is willing). Though the idea and even a rough outline's formed, I've put it in the backburner until the time's right. As for that possible A Magic Turn of Events chapter, I decided against it because I want to move on from that and Magical Curiosity for now.
And, really, that's where I want to start off with my spoilery afterthoughts on Go, Emps!
I admit, it feels selfish to start off my thoughts on a story for someone else's Verse by talking about my own story and, well my own mini-Verse (if you could call it that). However, I think it's warranted because Go, Emps! is the antithesis of Magical Curiosity: thoughtfulness against thoughtlessness, serving the story against serving my whim, planned and outlined against on-the-seat-of-my-pants and winged. In a way, Emps is what Curiosity could've been had I done away with that damaging post-frequently-at-all-costs mentality much earlier: something worth reading.
Over the months after Magical Curiosity and well into writing A Magic Turn of Events, I nursed a hatred for Curiosity. It was and still is my top rated story, the story you'd see at the top of my author sidebar. I hated it because it had the trappings of a fic that's not even decent: pandering, plan-as-you-go writing, author appeal, interactions with certain characters for the sake of them happening... I don't want that to represent me. I'd rather have any of the later stories be on the top of that sidebar like, say, Volunteer or Gift or, well, Emps.
Speaking of Emps: the road to writing an Oversaturated story in the first place was FanOfMostEverything commenting on Curiosity. As the story progressed, a few references were made to the Oversaturated world in the comments section, and that was justified. The story bore similarities to Oversaturation. Then when the story was done, I announced its follow-up, Turn, which I explicitly said was inspired by Oversaturated's Group Precipitation (or at least its format).
When all was said and done for Turn, writing Equestria Girls fan fics was out of the agenda for a while. Over the course of January, I began thinking about returning the favor to FanOfMostEverything (and also because I wanted to see if I could do it and, honestly, get more exposure): write an Oversaturated story. With some sports.
Specifically, with this quote from Jon Bois's 17776 as the building block:
And it was hard, it was painful. I was starting to think, well, pretty soon's probably gonna be my time. I couldn't get out of the house a whole lot. My daughter would come to visit, she was great, but she could only be there some of the time. So a lot of the time I'd just sit in my living room and watch TV.
I started to watch football. I'd kinda grown up with it a little, but tell you the truth, I hadn't usually been much of a fan. But I got fixed up with a little satellite dish and I'd watch it every Sunday. I watched the Browns a lot...
I started watchin' 'em because my grandpa was always a big fan. They were bad, they just stunk up the field every week. I think in 2026 they went 3-15, something like that. I loved that about them.
Because you know, I'd flip around all the channels on the satellite box, and all the shows were about people winning, people succeeding, people getting happy endings. And even in sports, you know, even if a team was having a bad year, it was just kinda their turn to be bad, and in a few years they'd be good again. And I'm sitting on my sofa thinking, a lot of good that does me! I don't know anything about that kind of life! I don't need to see all these stories when I'm sitting in this dusty little house with an oxygen tank. Just don't need it.
But the Browns, I knew they'd always be there. They'd always lose. I got up every morning, it hurt, and at night I'd go to bed. They'd get up every Sunday, get the *** beat out of them, and they'd show up the next Sunday to do it all again.
I loved that. I loved them, I felt like
I mean, I felt like I was one of them.
Emps was a story that, in hindsight, went good despite the odds. For one, I'm not a big sports fan. Before I started work on the fic, I was a casual fan of the NBA, a little intrigued in the NFL, and that's that. Over the course of the story, I read up on how baseball works, how soccer matches begin, did a sloppy refresher on basketball, and read up on how football played out. Due to both schedule and pacing issues, I didn't bother with hockey. Well, now I have more appreciate for those sports.
But this was also a story I could've easily messed up. I would've floundered in everything and came off as an Oversaturated wannabe or something like that. First on my mind then, though, was that it would be rude to do it without FoME's permission, so I asked him if I could write a story with some kind of premise about losing teams. (I also read a couple Oversaturated stories in advance, but I thought if contacting FoME was easy enough, I should at least give it a shot.) Instead of just saying yes, he also expressed how he'd like to workshop it. So I ended up with an editor without asking for one.
It was the best thing I didn't ask for.
Of course, being the mastermind of the Oversaturated Verse, FoME knows his stuff about the world and corrected me with info regarding certain details about who's who and what's what. With his experience in writing, he also gave me innumerable and invaluable tips regarding not just the story but, well, writing in general. With his attitude, he comes across as a fun guy.
Comma
What kind of tpyical mission would Sunset and/or the ETSAB send her on? I have to admit, I'm not up to speed on inter-dimensional/multiversal problems a planeswalker could fix.
FoME
Reconnaissance, transdimensional deliveries that need a careful touch, telling off accidental disruptors of the cosmic order, scratching that itch in the small of Cosmic Sunset's back that she just can't reach no matter how many arms she manifests...
Well, maybe not that last one.
...
Comma
Rarity trying to keep her composure during the game and then ends up being the most ferocious player-shouter at the stands? Would that be in-character, even if it's just for one outburst?
FoME
Absolutely.
"Really, I'm just here to humor Applejack."
Minutes later..."Come on, ref, let 'em play the game! You gettin' paid by the flag?"
...
Comma
What would the very few (if any) other patrons of the sports bar be doing there?
FoME
Probably nursing drinks and contemplating life, much like Flash. He'd probably stand out because of his youth compared to the others. And you present an interesting koan: Is a sports bar a sports bar when there are no sports airing?
(And before you ask: I asked him if I could quote from him, and he said yes.)
I also probably realized that I might be annoying with the amount of questions I kept asking him about the world. So it surprised me when this happened:
Comma
Thank you for bearing with me and my incessant questions!
FoME
I appreciate your dedication toward making sure the story's high-quality and faithful to the setting. Looking forward to reading the rough draft.
My mistake was thinking that was my golden ticket. That I finally had it all under control.
I sent the rough draft to him, thinking I'd get a dozen or so corrections and suggestions and that would be all. I got my hopes up on my own writing ability. I thought: the dumpster fire Magical Curiosity is way behind me now; surely, I must've improved!
FoME
Sorry about the hatchet job, but... well you have something of a gift for saying in twenty words what you could in three.
It's getting late on my end; I'll come back to it later in the weekend. I do plan on seeing this through by Sunday at the absolute latest.
...
FoME
I'm sorry to say that the emotional climax of the piece just is not working for me. You really need to better establish the history between these two before I can buy Straight Shot literally spelling out his life story, much less going from "gruff but supportive bartender" to "amateur philosopher." I'm not wild about the message either, but that's more a personal disagreement than anything... though it still doesn't really mix well with a relationship between a habitual hero and a planeswalker.
A great editor is someone who's unafraid to point out not just the writer's mistakes but also the writer's sins. This was the first time I had to recast a big chunk of the story. It was the first time I had to change up a lot of the words and not just give them a go at a thesaurus. It was the first time I had more than two editing passes on a story (I think we ended up with four). And at first—to be completely honest—I was crushed. I thought I had it all thought out. Turned out, even after Curiosity, I didn't.
But why did I expect so much from myself?
Comma
Alrighty, then! I'll get to work on that. I'll notify you when I think it's done.
And, well, I'm sorry for disappointing and bogging you down with this literary mess. I hope it can still turn out good.
FoME
No need to apologize. This sort of thing is what the editing process is for. Looking forward to the refined climax.
I'd only been writing seriously for a little over two years. To think I could master it or at least be very competent in it on my own in that short span of time was ridiculous. I realized that just writing endless words wouldn't do if I didn't learn, if no one ever told me my flaws. Emps was a low point for me, a point where I hit rock bottom and was humbled, to get down from my high horse.
To finally realize that writing a million words doesn't matter if I remained ignorant.
FoME
The climax is vastly improved. I've also gone over the rest of the story. Let me know when you've applied my suggestions thus far. I'd like to give it at least one more pass after that to make sure everything works on a more macro level.
...
Comma
That's OK. I'm sure that whatever it is, it's more urgent and needs more attention this fic. I'm also sorry for pestering you with this; I guess this shows my impatience which I need to curb. I hope it's not too much to ask to notify if you're OK with going through with the fic once again.
FoME
I'll be sure to do so. And don't worry, I completely understand how you feel. I've been in your shoes when it comes to hearing back from an editor. I'll try to keep the wait as short as I can.
...
Comma
That's OK! I'm sure whatever caused those delays were more urgent than this fic anyway.
... though now I'm done approving all of your suggestions (and my own suggestions which you haven't commented on—and, admittedly, a few which you did but with hopefully the right changes). All that's left are a few standing points of discussion scattered here and there in need of being resolved. After that, I'll re-read the whole thing myself to catch any stray grammar and technical errors and then we're golden.
I hope I'm not bothering you by repeating myself, but is it OK if you checked the long description of the fic on this site to see if it's any good?
FoME
Hey, I failed to actually answer the question. That definitely calls for repeating yourself. I recommend the following rephrasing:
Even after magic flooded the world, some things remain constant: People die. Romance is hard. The Crystal City Emperors suck.
Two days before the Ultra Bowl, which obviously won't include the Emps, Flash Sentry goes to the local sports bar, burdened by Crystal City's consistent athletic failures. Among other things.
Part of the Oversaturated World.
As for the story itself, if I haven't commented on your own suggestions, assume I'm fine with them. Indeed, this should be good to go after your own last go-over!
Nearing the end, that's when I realized yet another thing: there's more to storytelling than just writing it. There's all the brainstorming and outlining before it, all the imagining in your head about how it would play out, editing what I'd just written and taking the time to make sure everything works.
I cheapened my stories by insisting on an untenable schedule and cutting corners just to meet the deadline. Now, FoME's opened up my eyes to how everything about telling stories can be fun and ultimately rewarding. Yes, Emps doesn't exactly have a lot in terms of ratings, and honestly, I was a little sad because I thought to myself, it's in the Oversaturated Group; it should get some traction by now!
But maybe I have to stop caring about that for now. To stop worrying and love writing.
Comma Typer
But seriously, thank you for the huge help. Like I've said in the blog post, I've learned a lot from you, and I hope I'll build on this experience, through the ups and downs.
Have a good day ahead of 'ya!
FanOfMostEverything
You as well.
'ard work pays off, and anything worth doing is worth doing right.
Glad I could help you through some important lessons.