Back into the Superverse · 3:50pm Jul 3rd, 2019
Whew. Star Overhead is finally ready for print, and with my contest entry out of the way, I am finally actually getting back to Super.
Good Morning Everyone.
It's been a while, hasn't it? Three months exactly since I last even looked at the thing, and man, going back is kinda weird. The Mane 6 in this story versus the ones in Star Overhead are completely different ponies with the same core personality traits, so it's kinda like wiplash from growth and ability in one direction to the other. It helps that these girls are mostly adults as opposed to my other set, but Celestia is just a completely different pony here. It helps that she's not quite a main character here, but I'm honestly thinking that this more serious, darker, 'burdened king' type Celestia is actually a bit further from what the show depicts than the one in Star Overhead. Based on that last episode (9-13 as of this post), She kind of a thrill seeker and ready to do whatever is fun. I don't think it would be much of a push to say she would drive a motorcycle provided the show's world had them.
I'd always thought she more easily fit the burdened king than definitely-not-Haruko, but here we are. That said, Smashed. was a chance to try and write a hypothetical episode for an adult audience, and I think that was fun and a sort of pallet cleanser to sit between the two long stories. I've reread a few chapters, and it's all starting to come back to me, so in theory, I should have something to post either later in the week or at the beginning of next week. I still want to try and finish Super before the Con, but knowing me, I always underestimate things, so that's probably not going to happen.
Super really does only have a few events left, and after writing Star, I've learned that a lot of what I wrote for this story is almost kinda fillery. Super meanders where ever I wanted it to go whenever I wanted it to go somewhere. initially, this was going to be a monster of the week type deal after we gained all our characters, and Applejack would go through a sort of Sasuke arc toward the end after some revelations were made about what happened to her father (Origin story has remained mostly the same since the initial draft, but Blood was made to be a much more human character than a mustache-twirlingly-evil Aizen type a la bleach.)
I wrote this story in hopes of it being a step toward my very own Fullmetal Alchemist. I recently rewatched that, and it has only spurred me onward to try and write better stories. I have one short and one medium length story I want to write after I finish this, the medium being a romantic comedy I had in mind after finishing Star Oerhead, and after that... I think I'll work on drafting another grand narrative. And probably not something pony related either. I have an idea sitting in my PC somewhere that is almost a human AU, but it breaks so far away from pony that I'm willing to pull the trigger on it and try and make it the first book I really try to publish. Not to say that Star Overhead isn't being published or anything, but this will be like going back to my roots in FMA and an industrial revolution style sword and sorcery fantasy.
The plot is basically done, I've built a world, but I still need to establish magic and a few other things before I start writing it. My only issue with it right now is what it says about life. Every story I've written up till now has said something about life if it gets deep. SO is about growing up and looking at the past so we know how to move into the future. Super is about hardship, relationships, suffering together and learning to take joy in life through it all, even when we're presented with what seem like insurmountable walls. SO also contains a lot of my philosophy about life, and that story really is complete. So, where I move next will likely be less philosophical, but maybe tackle a more serious look at religion. Yes, I think that will serve the purpose. As I close the back cover on these stories, I like to think back on where it all came from. When I open new front covers, I'm sure that there will be an Applejack and a Celestia somewhere, and probably even a Goose Fang in some form or other. I feel like a chapter is coming to a close in my life with the ponies I've spent almost a decade with, and even as that happens, I doubt I'll move on without them.
Anyways, that turned more introspective than I'd intended, so we'll call this the end. New Super chapter within a week from now for realzies, and I may or may not write that kingdom hearts short sometime if I have trouble with Super. otherwise, after. Really, there's only like 5 or so chapters left in Super, but because a chapter can mean 30,000 words to me, we'll see how long that takes to write up.
Until Next Time~
-KCZ
Jesus that’s a long story.
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Super? I've been writing it for over 3 years now, so I'd imagine. Though, it's very clear that I've lost steam on it more than once as I wrote Star Overhead (155K) in four months. If we take out the six weeks I didn't work on that to keep Super going concurrently, then three months.
At some point, it was less about completing or advancing the story, and more about whatever I wanted to write at the time. Every chapter has elements of the main plot in it, but i can think of at least four off the top of my head that didn't have to happen at all.