A Change of Pace · 6:02pm Apr 17th, 2019
So, I've come to the conclusion that getting super ready to print in two months will in fact be impossible. It's not that finishing the story won't happen, I actually still plan to do that before Bronycon. What isn't happening is several reads though the 550,000 word story while making edits. The unfortunate truth is that I will not be able to wrap this up in under 100,000 words, and I can only read so much at a time, and my editor can't read that much in that amount of time either. It's just not a thing.
Instead, Star Overhead is going to take its spot. Super... for as much as I love it, was always going to be a massive project and there was never going to be a hope of it being consistent with the amount of stuff I wanted to accomplish with it. I've thought several times that I should've split it into multiple books. However, that would've given me an excuse to take a break after I got to a point to stop, and left the chance of me never actually completing the story, even though the book was 'done.' It takes years to complete this way, but at least I'm still going and it's going to get done eventually.
That said, for the very first time on purpose, Super is going on hiatus until Star is finished. That should, in theory, only be four weeks at the latest, which is less time between uploads in one of my depressive streaks like back in July of 17 & 18. (Weird that that happened the same time in both years. Huh. Something to watch out for this time.) In any case, Star will be significantly shorter, which will make it cheaper to print, edit and everything between.
In addition, I've decided that 24,000 words is too much for one chapter, so I split Funny bunny in half, and I've done the same with My Hoof since it too, ended up being the new longest chapter at like, 30,000 words somehow. That's what happens when you write a 5000 word outline I guess. When it gets printed, this will not be the case of course, but for FIM, that's how it's going to sit.
Another thing, I will update when I update. I don't want to let a week and a half go by between now and the next one, but if that's how long it takes me to write, then that's just that. That said, I don't think the next one should be as long as this one was because now all that information is out there. The pinkie issue should mostly be about her and less about what's been going on behind the scenes. The final chapter will address that in its entirety.
With that out of the way, Let's talk about it! Let's go My Hoof!
I had a ton of fun writing the outline and the actual chapter for this, and It feels like this was one of the most fun things I've ever written. Drunken Celestia was the best fucking thing, I put memes in the chapter, I had specific audio cues in mind, and if you've been around the internet for at least a little while, you should get most of them. The point is, this is me doing what I love because I love to do it, and I think that is all I've ever wanted out of writing. It all just lined up so right that everything flowed properly and I was never 'stuck' on anything like I usually get when I'm working on something for a long time. It took me several days of sitting down and working on this consistently to finally finish it, but I never really just wanted to be done with it, it was just fun the whole time. There are heavy parts and this is a new Applejack, so we have to talk about how she ended up where she is, but I could even make jokes in the middle of that and it still stay in the mood. This was the kind of chapter that you wish they could all be like.
In any case, this chapter was also very lore heavy, which was a big factor as to why it was so long. There should be a lot of answers here, a lot of questions raised, and a lot of concerns put in your head. Applejack dealt with her problem, so why did the last scene happen? Applejack is starting to put two and two together, but she doesn't finish out her conclusions. That is up to somepony else, and with five in hoof, there's only one more to go, and she is the wild card.
The next chapter is going to be a different kind of heavy, and I just hope I don't get bogged down writing it. I shouldn't since I usually get really into the emotional scenes, but there should be a lot because Pinkie is all kinds of fucked up in the head for a number of reasons, and we will be confronting a lot of that.
Anyways, That's all from me. Reminder that Star will be the only thing receiving updates in the coming few weeks until I get the last two chapters out, and It will be printed and sold at Bronycon instead of Super for financial and time concerns. I may still do a short run print of Super one day, but there would have to be interest in that, and I don't believe there is. (Unless somebody tells me otherwise.)
Until Next Time~
-KCZ
