Finishing Notes: Rejuvenate · 1:20am Mar 23rd, 2012
So to make it easier on myself, and you guys to some degree, I'm gonna be answering questions you may have about the story or myself here. Why I did what I did, where the idea for the story came from, and the like. I'll update this post with questions as they come in
Basically, post your feedback on the story in the comments section of said story. Post questions you may have about the story or myself here.
Also, I would like to thank everyone who stuck with the story to this point, who posted feedback, who offered advice, etc. Had it not been for you guys, I might have just given up hope. Thanks so much!
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Reflection:
So overall, I feel like I did a pretty good job on this, if I do say so myself. This being my first fanfic, I felt like it would turn out to be a disaster, but it was received much more positively than I expected. I only expected to get like, 100 views, yet (at time of writing) I had over 800. Thanks so much!
My biggest disappointment was the Regret chapter. This was the point where I sort of lost sight of where I was taking this fic, and I did screw up a bit on it. It was never my intention to make "you" as dumb as I did, yet for some reason, it was the only way I could find to progress.
My favorite part to write was the scene where "you" meet Fluttershy. I don't know, I just felt like I did that one well...Or rather, not as terrible as some other scenes. It all felt like it flowed naturally, and it was fun coming up with the whole "explaining the Manticore" part. Maybe I went a little overboard on it, I don't know.
One of the more frustrating aspects of the story was the flashback scene of the final chapter. I had to re-write it about five times before I was satisfied with it. Every time I wrote it, I felt like it was too convoluted and awkward, and it felt like it dragged on for far too long. So, I crushed everything down. What started with it being four months worth of events, ended up being condensed into two days worth.
I am prepared to say that I did mess up quite a bit. There were many moments where events were added merely because they were "spur of the moment" ideas, such as the confrontation with Applejack. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I kind of boxed myself in at a few points because of it.
Many parts of the story were never part of my initial "plan." I put that in quotes because my plan consisted mostly of just the very bare bones of the story. I feel like I may have dived into this a bit quicker than I should have. Sure, I made some of it work, but I could have made it better on several levels if I had taken some more time to plan out.
Overall, this story was something of an experiment to me. It helped me learn what to and what not to do, along with figuring out my own style of writing. I never wrote much before this, so even I was unsure of my own style. I've started to get a feel for the Sensual Fiction genre, and I can assure you any future writing will be better than this one by miles.
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FAQ:
Q: How do you feel about the story?
A: Scroll up.
Q: Why Fluttershy?
A: She's my favorite. 'Nuff said. Though to be honest, at the time I started writing the story, she was the only one I had any sort of plot developed for, so I just went with it.
Q: Was there any sort of inspiration for your story?
A: I'd been reading quite a bit of Sensual Fiction before I wrote this story. The one I read that I feel was "the kicker." you could say, was Number One by Whirring Gears. WHICH, by the way, if you haven't read, you totally should, because it's amazing, and I love him and that story.
Q: What got you into Sensual Fiction?
A: It was completely random. I was browsing the archives here for romance stories (because I'm addicted to them) when I ran into The Candy Sutra by TheGentlemanCreeper, who is also amazing. When I first saw the idea, I was like "Wow, this sounds terrible, ew, that's just weird," but I gave it a shot anyway. I'm glad I did, because I was not disappointed in the slightest. Then I proceeded to read the rest of his stories, then I downloaded all of the Sensual Fiction Collections from the guys at Sensual Fiction General on ponychan, and, well, the rest is history.
Q: When did the idea for Rejuvenate come to you?
A: Just before 2012 started. I let the idea ferment in my head before I started writing, because, you know, there's always that idea in a new writer's head that "Oh, I'm gonna do horrible, ah!"...What? I had that idea in my head anyway.
Q: Where did the idea for the flashback scene come from?
A: ...Let's just say, it's based on true events.
Q: What was the most frustrating part for you?
A: The flashback scene. No doubt in my mind about that. I had to re-write it several times, because I was never satisfied with it. The first draft detailed four months worth of events, such as you moving to Manehattan, meeting Cole and his friends, rising to popularity, so on, so forth. When I read through it, I thought "Wow, this is super boring and drags on for way too long." It felt so redundant and pointless. However, around this time, I read through CoffeeBean's Basic Guide to Writing Sensual Fiction, which REALLY helped me figure out what I wanted to do. I realized that all this unnecessary detail and pointless events didn't HAVE to be in the story, so I scrapped the whole thing. The next draft skipped straight to the arrest scene, which you see in the story now. I kept the version of the scene you see in the story from this specific draft. After that whole scene, it went to the trial scene. In this draft, though, I detailed the entire trial. Every witness, testimony, all that stuff. Again, it felt so repetitive and wasn't fun to read at all. Once again, I decided to skip straight to what was important, the testimonies of Russ and Cole. The next few drafts were minor edits, which added and subtracted several characters and events between one another. In the end, I just decided to keep it simple, and get straight to the important stuff.
Keep 'em coming, guys!
Overall, I liked it. I would even say I would reccomend this for the Sensual Fiction General thread on the /fic/ board of ponychan.
I do have one nitpick though
You REALLY should have explained who's fault it really was. I was expecting *myself* to explain to Fluttershy that you misunderstood what Pinkie said earlier on.
Anyway, great story
Same with the guy on top of me, overall I liked it. Well I will admit that I am a sucker for Fluttershy ships but that's just me.
Any Question time.
1. How many times did you almost/did go rage when you were writing
2. When did you come up with the idea
3. Fluttershy or Twilight
14527
I knew it, I KNEW there was something I forgot to do, and that was it. *kicks self*
But really? You think it was that good? Wow. When I posted the last chapter, I was preparing myself for an onslaught of hatred. Thanks so much!
14528
1. A lot. Mainly when writing the last chapter. I just COULD NOT for the life of me figure out how I wanted to progress with it.
2. Um....It was about two months ago, just before the new year. I had just read Whirring Gears' Number One, which was sort of my inspiration.
3. Twilight...has her merits, but Fluttershy all the way.
I gotta say that I enjoyed reading this fic very much. Very well written.
How well do YOU think it turned out in the end? How close was it to your original ideas? etc.
This was an excellent fan fic with second person and now I am going to read the one with AJ
Bro, I know the feels. Amazing story BTW. Yeah, I have been used so much in school, makes me pissed, I know the experiences. Never done drugs though. Don't plan on it either.
THAT FLASHBACK SCENE ACTUALLY HAPPENNED TO YOU?!
I am so sorry.