• Member Since 15th Sep, 2014
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Comma Typer


Horse-words writer believing in the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, creatively crafting stories in imitation of a creatively crafting God. Consider this: Are you sure you're going to Heaven?

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Jan
24th
2020

January 2020 Update · 5:46pm Jan 24th, 2020

So, I’m going to do monthly updates. There are a few reasons for this. One is to ensure people some more that I am not dead and that I am also still working on whatever story I’m working on right now (which is helpful for a staggering project such as A War’s "sequel;" more on the quotes later). Another is to simply provide updates and thoughts on the writing process, any particular fics and books I’ve read and my comments on them, and other topics.

They’ll usually be posted either within the final week of the month or the first week of the next month. It will be tagged to relevant stories if applicable. Length is variable, but will usually be on the short end of the scale.


Word count production for my overall writing has been higher than usual over December and much of January due to vacation. Things will settle down to a more consistent pace of 2½ or 3 hours of work per day (except Sundays) over the rest of the year’s first half.

In number of chapters, over a fourth of A War’s sequel's rough draft is done (emphasized words added later; should've thought about that before posting). As for word count, it could be up or down, but it should be relatively over a fourth too. Expected time to finish the rough draft should be around April or late May if things go haywire on my end.

There’s another thing that should be addressed, and a reason why I’ve tagged this update to A War: This will not be a direct sequel to the story—maybe a spiritual successor, to be more truthful—due to the wandering nature of A War and how this next story would be more narrowly focused (and I also do not want to sift every chapter of that story just to ensure I do not have any self-contradictions). Simply put, this will not be set in A War’s world. It will be set in the Crystal War timeline but a different version of it: not too different, but let’s call it a blank slate to be on the safe side. Details from A War will be borrowed only if necessary.

And, let’s face it: a conventional sequel to A War is not possible given the rather anthology-esque nature of it. If I were to just add more to it, I would simply re-mark it as incomplete and pile on more chapters. This is not the direction that this story will take.

I plan to post a blog post tagged to A War when this spiritual successor is complete. It is tentative, though: I am not sure if that would count as relevant enough content for the tagged story according to the website’s rules.


Here’s some of what I’ve been reading lately with some very quick comments:

  • Life on the Frontier by Starwind Dood. A refreshing, true-to-the-show (as a T-rated story can be, somehow) story set in Appleloosa with a love triangle between Braeburn, and Carrot Top and Little Strongheart. Comes with some Dinky-Derpy family bonding/drama.

    TLife on the Frontier
    A love triangle is made as Carrot Top and Little Strongheart compete for Braeburn's affection.
    Starwind Dood · 99k words  ·  207  9 · 8.6k views
  • Metool Bard’s The Ballad of Needles trilogy; have finished Deserts and Dragons, Trial by Kinship, and currently reading Peace Porridge Hot. Great concept and very true to the show in terms of tone, average when it comes to telling it out since there are times when I feel like it’s a bit barebones in the storytelling. It’s quite good stuff, though, with worldbuilding to love.

    EDeserts and Dragons
    Impressionable fillies plus tall tales equals a misadventure of epic proportions.
    Metool Bard · 43k words  ·  75  0 · 2k views
    ETrial by Kinship
    Poachers hunting dragons? Not if Spike has anything to say about it! That is, if he can get past some awkwardness...
    Metool Bard · 47k words  ·  57  8 · 1.5k views
    EPeace Porridge Hot
    Is the world ready for a nice Dragon Lord? Ember's authority is put to the ultimate test.
    Metool Bard · 45k words  ·  39  3 · 1.5k views
  • AlwaysDressesInStyle's Business Trip and Mr. Jones Goes To Equestria. Always nice to read some slice-of-life Earth-meets-Equestria fics. A very relaxing experience (even though I've read some of it in a rush) and a fleshed out setting in the shape of New York and the surrounding area. A nice theme of ponies and a human not knowing what to do with one's talent; I'm sure this will be relevant to many. The only downside: I'm not a big fan of how ponies are okay with submitting themselves to be treated as mere pets with a suspension of dignity, especially since they've built up an enduring culture and civilization that rivals that of humanity. Despite that, I recommend these two (and 16 which is a side story[?] to the above two stories, though does it count if I recommend a story I've never read?)

    EBusiness Trip
    'R' and 'E' are right next to one another on keyboards, so I dismissed 'Mareiott' as a typo and booked my hotel room online. It was only after I found a pony waiting for me at the airport that I realized it was, instead, a horrible pun.
    AlwaysDressesInStyle · 13k words · 5.1k views
    EMr. Jones Goes To Equestria
    Upon returning home from his business trip to New York City, Mr. Jones makes the decision to move to Equestria. His journey takes longer than he thought, and whoever said getting there is half the fun didn't have their teenage sister tagging along...
    AlwaysDressesInStyle · 13k words · 2.4k views
  • John Grisham’s The Pelican Brief. First Grisham book I’ve read. Very eye-opening in terms of how to write a thriller. Lots of cues to take home from it regarding multiple points of view and pacing.
  • Michael Shaara’s posthumous For Love of the Game. Very unconventional and contains some questionable content I did not ask for, but I stuck through with it. At the core of it, the story’s simple: a great baseball player’s struggles and conflicts as he faces the last game of his career. How it’s told is how Shaara’s bending traditional writing conventions I know of to his will: I can’t tell if he’s either using all of the first-, second-, or third-person points of view or none of them at all, and lengthy tangents of flashbacks and descriptions that utilize narrative speed well. Ultimately, blame it on stream-of-consciousness writing done well.
  • Foundation of Economic Education’s The Essential Frederic Bastiat. A collection of some of the 19th-century French politician’s libertarian works. Sounds reasonable.
  • Edward Rutherfurd’s Sarum. Made it to the fourth chapter. So far, a very riveting historical tale of the town. Can’t say much yet though.


I got a Harry Turtledove book, and it is nice that God is willing or allowing. As a person slightly interested in alternate history, I think it was a great steal: I got American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold for 50 pesos which, as of this writing, is slightly less than one dollar. Still have to finish 400,000 words of original fiction to get to it on my reading list, but that’s why I should learn the habit of not impulse buying books at bargain prices.


That’s all for now. Expect the next update at the end of February or early March. I hope you have a good day.

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