About that last story... · 7:48pm Feb 1st, 2020
I’ve been trying for the last half hour to write this blog, so I’m just going get down to brass tacks.
I don’t like the way ‘Further Tales From Day Court’ ended up.
Having finished the story a couple weeks back, I went back over the whole thing from top to bottom. It’s not bad by any means. I certainly think my writing has improved a fair bit over the last few years, but I didn’t like the story. It was more just a collection of spin offs from episodes, rather than a story of my own creation. The original Tales From Day Court did borrow from episodes, sure, as did my other stories, but they all had something underneath. This though just felt hollow, now that I look back on it.
I honestly thought about taking it down not too long ago and starting from scratch. A part of me is still tempted to, and republish it when it’s been reworked, or rather rebuilt from the ground up.
Ever since I started writing on here, I’ve been trying to write that story; the one I’ve wanted to write since I first started hammering away at the keyboard. Before ‘My Family and Other Equestrians’ morphed into the multi-character adventure/comedy/slice of life it ended up as, it was just a story about Bones and his life on Sweet Apple Acres.
But writing pure slice of life is a damn tricky thing, and so the story, mainly due to poor planning beforehand on my part, turned into what it is. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love that story. Although I fear I’ll never be able to salvage the romantic sub-plot and properly write Lizzie’s transformation arc. But it wasn’t the story I wanted to write.
You know the ending of the Red Dead Redemption games; the epilogues where the main characters just live their lives? That was what I wanted to write. Call it wish fulfilment and a way of working out a longing for a more peaceful and idyllic, if romanticised, life. That was what I wanted to write about; Bones’ life with the Apple family and his own. Believe it or not, Bones even started life as an Earth Pony, becoming a unicorn to allow for the various story arcs about magic.
So, having written a story that was pretty much the antithesis of what I wanted to write, I sat down and started to plan properly. It took a lot of work, but I think I have one more good story in me for this series. It will follow Bones and the Apples through one year on the farm, occasionally dipping into an episode, but around 85% of the story will be original storylines entirely separate from the series. There’ll be no massive adventures, although there will be some, just as you’d find in MLP episodes; it will just be a story about a group of ponies, living life on their farm, and their lives over the course of a year.
That’s what I plan to do. With any luck I can get it right.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for you. I’d be grateful for some feedback and opinions on this one, so feel free to comment below.
Oh, and I’ll just throw this up here too. It seems appropriate for today.
Please don't take it down. I'm still reading it.
As for another story from you, I eagerly await for it.
I still think you do good work, Blade Star. I know I liked 'Further Tales'. I look forward to 'A Year in the Life'. I just wonder what they will get into together, that being Bones and the Apple family. Maybe Bones go house-sit for Golden Delicious? Bones and a herd of cats... ho boy...
Leave it you did good, was a highlight for me to reread after a tough day of teaching.
The romantic subplot ultimately came out just fine, they meshed well together. Bones didn't start acting wildly different because he was in love with Applejack, he just was a little more open with his feelings for her because they were a couple. Cadance using her magic on him didn't undermine his relationship, only the princess' credibility and trustworthiness.
As for Lizzie, eh... I'm probably the most outspoken about that. If anything it wouldn't need rewritting in its entirety, but certainly changed. The problem there was that it ultimately became Discord forcing her to be a pegasus forever and nobody reacting appropriately to it. Her staying a pegasus isn't itself bad, its that Discord's actions poisoned the well, so to speak, so it becomes impossible to seperate her wanting to be a pegasus from Discord forcing her to be one. Besides, if her and Dewdrop really are in love then a difference of species shouldn't be a problem.