Writing Help-ish? · 10:06pm Nov 7th, 2019
Low-key stressed flutterbutter for low-key stressed mood.
I really intended to write something this october, I really did. I got at least two projects whipped up, typed out some and never finished specifically for the purpose of being an october fic. And I've been working on things outside of that, too; as is typical, i've got half a dozen irons in the fire and nothing constructive to do with all those hot irons. Even as of today, I have a little free time to write, and i'm sitting here and not writing because I just can't whip my butt into shape.
For most of it.
There was, fortunately, at least one project i could ask specific questions about, and which i am choosing to do so instead of forcing myself to write; while i'm aware that i should be doing the latter, it seems immensely non-tempting compared to the former. I still want to feel like I'm doing something, though, so this is it.
Assume that I'm going to be working on a writing project that's set in distant-future equestria, within the space opera mold of things: an empire of many different non-pony (though still from equestria) species spanning across multiple planets with hand-wave-y space travel mechanics to justify it, hyperspecialization in workplaces, megainstitutions, augmented living creatures, augmented VR, the whole deal. Story themes, including but not limited to: the feeling of being alone among a crowd, the worry of being constantly monitored, cynicism over the future, the gradual death of faith, class tension, etc. may or may not tangentially cross over with cyberpunk, but probably not strongly enough to count as of now (though i'd be willing to tailor things in that direction, and i do love the genre a fair amount.)
Hooray for precipitation and wet climates. the future wouldn't be the same without them. Probably.
Assuming the above - which might not ever manifest, given my aforementioned terrible track record at self-motivation - actually happens, this is where the help part comes in. See, what i have for the story's beginning isn't even a coherent plot: it's just a number of main characters and a convergence point, and I need to figure out:
1. what needs to go down, given the main characters in question;
2. when things to go down, in terms of chronological resolution;
3. how to get around any particular corners that I might run myself into.
To do this, there are going to be five main "characters" driving the plot. I don't want to tip my hand on everything immediately, but hopefully what I'm willing to describe should be enough as a starting point to encourage suggestions.
The five main entities, at the start of the story and with regards to the immediate short-term plot, are:
1. The main character: A fairly heavily augmented earth pony and a perpetual student at an aquaculturally-focused university (on a planet composed of >80% water at the surface,) who's having her tuition paid for by "a relative." Formerly, said MC was part of a group that did a big save-the-world type affair on some other planet, very much comparable to the Elements of Harmony from long, long ago. Said group fractured over the deaths of two of them (out of six) in the process of saving the planet a third pony subsequently leaving the group in disgust and the murder of a fourth; on the night of the fourth, said MC extracted a massive amount of money out of the dead pony's accounts and vanished, only reappearing months later with a new name, appearance, legal documentation, personal information and overall "life." Whether they murdered the fourth pony is initially unclear, but their role in grand theft means that they'd likely be arrested and convicted if law enforcement ever figured out the MC's secret and extracted a confession out of them.
2. The main character's "relative;" Formerly a black market dealer, they inherited almost all of the MC's extracted finances in exchange for "being their financial manager." As a result, the MC doesn't want for anything money can buy (though they're not an extravagant spender by any means,) and the relative has gone on to be a "legitimate" business tycoon in the shipping and manufacturing industries. Their relationship with the MC has gone from "mutually appreciated business partners" to "as close to genuine friends as the relative gets," and the relative enjoys playing the role of a "jolly and charitable soul" when it suits them. They tend to keep close tabs on what the MC does even outside of being close companions, however: they assume that said MC has a tendency to attract the interest of "interesting" individuals or groups, and is looking to recruit/eliminate those potential game-changers when they arise so as to preserve the status quo.
3, 4 and 5: New university students and a mixture of freshponies and transfer students, broken down as follows:
3. The oldest-looking and fairly eclectic group, though not necessarily the largest, from a range of different species and ages. A little background checking reveals that some, likely all of them, are friends and other associates of the one pony in the world-saver group that didn't die, leave in disgust or start a new life elsewhere. Said "last pony" has been trying to follow up on leads that might help him find who's responsible for murdering the fourth pony, who was also his long-time fiancee and recent (as of the time of death) wife. Notably, they aren't after the main character, having no idea who they actually are (at the start;) their presence is because they're trying to find out if the "relative" had something to do with it, after years of trying to identify where the money had gone and finally being able to trace the "relative's" very well-disguised hoofprints. If/when they find out that the "relative" has something to do with the MC, who might have actually been responsible for the wife's murder, the proverbial fecal matter would likely hit the proverbial fan.
4. A much better-disguised group connected to "the government" (and possibly working for a department for clandestine affairs.) They're officially keeping tabs on the group of strange characters that have been pointedly poking around in the private information of others; said group's recent investigation into the affairs of the "relative" has twigged their attention both to running their own investigation and on making sure that group #3 doesn't get out of hoof. That's the surface objective, anyway; of much more importance is...
5. Theoretically a fresh-faced pegasus with stellar test scores who seems excited about being at school, and who quickly tries (and eventually succeeds) to befriend the "cute, lonely-looking pony with those cool AR games." She, too, is involved with the government, though not with group #4: the truth of who she is - or rather, what she is - is far weirder. While the pegasus is genuinely friendly and genuinely likes the MC, she's not entirely honest about what she wants, and initially has a tendency to "use" ponies around her to get what she wants.
That's what I've got so far: a bunch of main actors, but no idea how to set things up in order to kickstart a plot. I'm not asking anyone reading this if they could write up a plot from scratch, but even just something like "[Event x] should happen sometime in the story," "Have you considered using [location y] at some point in time?" or "I wonder what would happen in [situation z]..." would all be helpful.
Thanks for taking the time to appreciate this; I know I've been more than a bit wordy. 
-Petrichord
Honestly, the whole setup almost sounds like a mixture of Persona's more social aspects (or at least what I know of them, having only really played the first game a bit, unfortunately) with almost a Cyberpunk/Shadowrun/Hc Svnt Dracones setting... I'd personally start with the main character doing whatever it is they normally do during the day, and potentially running into character #5, with whatever wackiness may ensue from that. ^_^ You could work on introducing some of the other characters later, but focusing on that'd probably be your best bet.