Today is the last day to join, so if you want in on it, be sure to read over the rules and PM Shakespearicles!SunJack · 9:25am Jan 26th, 2020
Guys got a minute? I wanna talk about my new fic. Maybe a few other things.
This was gonna be a general post, but then it turned into one big What They Expect to Give related post, so...
Screw it, let's go.
The above is my latest digital drawing, and it will serve as the cover for my upcoming Sunset/Applejack story, What They Hope to Find. It's the Applejack shipfic I've been promising. I might lay down some simple shading on it later, and I'll more than likely try to clean the lines up some more.
You guys are free to imagine Sunset's skin color as something else, but just know that at one point I call her skin "dusky" in the new fic. I SHAN'T APOLOGIZE. I never made explicit calls as to what everyone's skin colors are (given that they have normal flesh colors in my AU) and I admit maybe I was just avoiding the issue, but not this time around. I'll likely change that in final edits if I can ever complete What They Expect to Give.
...And lissen Linda, I KNOW the line weight is all over the place, I unwittingly used the scratchboard tool for the majority of the linework and that's sensitive to pen pressure. I'm not redoing the whole thing, bite me. Especially not for what will basically be a gray story.
Yep. You read that right. I'm turning off ratings for my SunJack fic. While I've been sick of the ratings system on this site for years now, that's not why I'm doing it. See, I'm basically treating What They Hope to Find as a detached story arc from What They Expect to Give, so new readers to the AU won't know what the heck is going on. And also...
If you guys are hoping for more of what Rainbow and Fluttershy have in WTEtG, you'll be disappointed. This story will probably be polarizing, not only for the choices that I make regarding Sunset, but also for the overall tone of it. Given these reasons, why leave the ratings on for what will probably be a low rated story anyway? The target audience is small (you guys) and half of you probably won't care for it. So what's the point?
Maybe that's cowardice, I don't know. I just know that this is a side thing that I just want to enjoy and even heal through. It was never meant for the rat race, so I'm excusing myself from it. I know more popular authors throw up "side chapter" anthologies and leave the ratings on, but I don't know... I'm tired guys. Tired of the popularity game. WTEtG had enough detractors, and it was a long fight to recover from that. I dunno if I can go through the slog with this one.
I mean, geez, are you kidding? I think the cover art alone would probably inspire haters to downvote. I've basically been told a person gave me a dislike to spite me, not for any fault in the story in question. I wouldn't put it past someone to do something similar this time around.
But enough angsting about that... Wanna know a key difference between this new fic and WTEtG?
In WTEtG, Dashie's conflicts are numerous, but after she confesses her feelings it's all butterflies and rainbows with Fluttershy (forgive me). In What They Hope to Find this is... not so much the case. Sun and AJ fall in love, but it's messy, confusing, and... kinda painful sometimes. The basic premise I came up with:
Applejack wants to get over Fluttershy.
Sunset Shimmer wants to help her.
They just have no idea how to go about it and deal with their growing feelings for each other.
Mild spoilers, maybe: Sunset, as Rainbow's "mentor" in WTEtG, also shares a somewhat familiar position of not being accustomed to being in a dedicated, serious relationship... but for different reasons.
Rainbow Dash threw up walls because she didn't want to get hurt.
Sunset Shimmer throws up walls because she doesn't want to hurt others.
She takes a chance when she tries to let AJ in... but y'know. Mistakes are made. Setbacks happen. She tries to use the old ways of coping, just to find they don't work anymore.
Without spoilers, let me just say that I had a lot of room to further flesh out this version of Sunset. Like ALOT. There's still so much of her personal life we don't see in WTEtG. I knew I wanted her to be someone driven and hard-working, but who was plagued by problems. This story is really where we get to explore how she goes about juggling those problems, relieving herself of that stress, but still somehow keeping up the frantic work pace she set for herself.
Now for my narrative theory geek stuff:
The one theme I keep returning to for What They Hope to Find is "layered truths". Motifs that are coming up as a result of that are "promises you can't keep", "alienation", and "the dangers of pursuing desire". I don't know if this also qualifies as a motif, but one thing I really wanted to explore was what happens when the "responsible" people, the "problem solving" people, suddenly don't have the answers anymore. When they stop heeding their own advice and just screw up.
Happy ideas, right? It's just kind of where my headspace is at, guys. I've been having more depressive episodes lately, and they are driving me crazy. It's gotten bad sometimes. At my darker points, this story can feel like a freaking oasis. I've written scenes out of order. The prologue is complete. The first chapter is nearly done. Hours of writing has already gone into this, and I'm still making adjustments as I go.
I made a Spotify playlist, which I'll link below with some others, but here's three songs that I think captures the story's central conflicts pretty well:
Heh. Joking aside, this is kind of a return to what I used to write all the time. Less the drama (you know I've given you guys plenty of drama) but more the fraught romance. My original work had quite a bit of it.
And if I may say something... I just really didn't think Applejack could get over Fluttershy without some struggle. Since this story runs concurrent with WTEtG, that struggle is hard. Maybe if I had based this story after WTEtG, it could have been a less arduous journey. But I didn't want a less arduous journey. I wanted Applejack to exorcise demons from her heart in a fast but jagged way. The pain illuminates lessons she couldn't have perceived the easy way around.
So are you guys excited? Or feeling lukewarm about it? If you're the latter, this is basically why I decided to do a separate fic. I didn't want my FlutterDash peeps to feel irked by this romantic subplot with a dramatically different flavor.
If you aren't feeling it, I hope you'll chat with me about it. One thing I want is for people to feel more encouraged to comment instead of just throwing up a rating and never giving any more feedback. One upside to having a gray story, maybe.
Oh, and if you wanna be a pre-reader or an editor, freaking hit me up. I'm always starving for help. I will be over the moon to just have someone read it and give me their thoughts. I can literally send you the prologue right now. Any takers? Do I sound desperate enough, gaiz?
And now for the less heavy, and way more fun part of this blog...
Playlists!
I made playlists for Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and (as previously mentioned) Applejack/Sunset Shimmer. I could totally sit here and gab about every single song choice, but just know that I agonized over every admission. One way or another, the song has meaning pertaining to that character (or characters!) I had fun picking new and old tunes to use. If you're going to listen on your computer or through Spotify premium, I DO recommend putting it on shuffle.
Rainbow Dash's playlist. Her playlist has a lot of energy and momentum to it. There are songs that cover her arrogance, her insecurities and personal struggles, and of course, her hidden soft side.
Fluttershy's playlist. Is less boppy and aggressive than Rainbow's, and has more of a relaxed, dreamy, "love will find a way" vibe. A lot of it is centered on romance, but some of it covers Shy's desire to get out of her shell and be heard.
AJ+SunShim's playlist. This playlist is more of a hybrid, as I mix in songs from both AJ and Sun's perspective. Shared though is a lingering loneliness, a sense of unrequited love, and kind of a reckless abandon. Sprinkled in though are songs of hope and realization.
Do you guys have Spotify lists? Share them with me! I like new music.
Oh... and hearts, deep in their hiding places was featured on Equestria Daily a little while ago. If you still don't know what that is, it's an Applejack spinoff of What They Expect to Give. Scampy was awesome and also wrote a review for it. Another review was supposed to go up this weekend, but I guess it was delayed. I'll link it later in an edit. Here's the second review!
So basically, if you haven't read it yet, maybe you can give it a shot? If you like it, show it some love! I'm sure I've said this before, but I think it's arguably the best thing I've ever written.
Last thing--seriously: new update for What They Expect to Give is out, too. Any thoughts on it? I worried Star Weld was being too much, but I just rolled with it.
I may do another, more general post later. We'll see. Till then, I hope you guys take care.
Oops, sorry
Though, I didn't actually know you were done editing it, I'd assumed you were having some delays or something.
I'll get right to writing that, as soon as I have the time. It's Lunar New Year here, so it's been a hectic week
Sorry again for the delays!
5192422
Hey no worries! Yeah, I think I mentioned I was trying to get the edits in by last Friday because that's about when the EQD post was going live. Sorry for the confusion.
Lunar New Year! Cool. It's... The year of the rat, right?
May this year be prosperous!
5192600
Yep! Year of the rat this year. And thanks for the well wishes, the same to you
frickin Linda, every time
5192822
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It will never, ever get old for me.