Final thoughts on Silent Wings + cut content · 8:18pm Jun 30th, 2020
Silent Wings got me back into writing fanfiction.
It all started when I thought that My Little Pony trying to teach kids sign language would be a bad idea, but then I started seriously wondering how they’d go about doing it. It would have to involve a race with movable digits, of course. I love hippogriffs, so I came up with several ideas for stories about deaf ones, such as a Twilight Sparkle is an Espeon Now side-story about a fledgeling who was transformed into a Pokémon without digits. It never left the conceptual stage, because by then I was starting to lose interest in My Little Pony and getting burned out on Fimfiction.
Not long later, a realisation hit me: Gallus and Silverstream lead opposite lives. He’s a poor orphan, while she’s a noble whose family gets a focus episode. This gave me an idea for an AU fanfic where Gallus was deaf and Silverstream invented a sign language in order to communicate with him, which morphed into Silent Wings when two sentences popped into my head: “Gallus had always been deaf”, and “Silverstream hadn’t always been deaf.” I’d been struggling to come up with ideas for a Depth in Innocence entry for a few weeks, and this was my chance!
Silent Wings represents a turning point for my writing. It taught me to aim small; I didn’t introduce too many characters, I didn’t change perspectives too often, and I had the number of chapters planned out from basically the start, when I realised there would be too much going on for a oneshot. It also taught me not to be afraid to write canon characters; I used to worry I’d write them out-of-character and make them sound hollow (any differences in the characters’ personalities in Silent Wings compared to canon can be chalked up to their lives’ circumstances being different). Finally, it was the first time I was able to get feedback on a fanfic before I published it, thanks to the Fimfiction Discord server.
Unfortunately, it did not teach me how to stick to deadlines. Most of chapter 4 was written in one day.
One Glad to be a Hippogriff Weekend, while most of the festivities took place at the top of the mountain, Silverstream lay in a secluded corner of the beach and breathed a long, deep, sigh. She could see the orange glow of the setting sun as it touched the ocean's horizon, she could feel its warmth against her downy feathers, and she could smell the refreshing, salty air, but it felt incomplete. Where were the squawks of the seagulls? Where was the gentle splashing of the waves as they licked the shoreline at low tide? Where was the laughter of the fledgelings who ran across the sand without a care in the world?
I must admit, I don’t know any sign language; I’ve just watched a few informative YouTube videos, such as BBC Three’s Things Not To Say To A Deaf Person. Arisign isn’t based on any particular sign language. Writing dialogue was a challenge because there were a lot of factors that I had to keep in mind - the characters can’t stutter, interrupt each other, or drag out sentences with words such as “y’know”; and they need to be looking at each as much as possible.
Cut content
- Originally, Silverstream and Gallus’ backstories were going to be in the same chapter, in that order. I switched them around so the events would be in chronological order, then made them separate chapters when I realised they were getting too long.
- Chapter 3 took me ages to write because I was stuck on the beginning. I was originally going to write about Terramar meeting Gallus on the first day at the School of Friendship, which is why chapter 1 ended the way it did, but I couldn’t get the scene to go anywhere. Then, I tried another beginning, but it felt too contrived, and Terramar was too passive.
- Then, scene in chapter 3 where Terramar meets Gallus in the cafeteria was originally going to reveal that they were using different forms of sign language; the plot-relevant hippogriffs used one that followed the same word order as speech, while the plot-relevant griffons used one that had the same word order as American Sign Language. I cut it out because it was bogging the story down.
- Chapter 4 almost ended with Terramar going to Seaquestria on his own, until Jinzou told me that it felt too abrupt, so I changed it back to the ending I originally had in mind.
On an ordinary day, Terramar would’ve paid no attention to the gossip in the corridors. It was always the same - “Is November Rain dating Citrine Spark or Peppermint Goldylinks?” this, “Does Professor Fluttershy use tail extensions?” that - and Terramar didn’t find any of it remotely interesting. Their voices all blended together into a medley of murmurs, becoming part of the background noise.
Today, however, was no ordinary day. Terramar was heading towards his dorm room for the evening, when he overheard three young mares’ conversation.
“You know that griffon?” Peppermint Goldylinks asked.
“Yeah. He’s in my gym class,” replied Citrine Spark, nodding.
“Have you noticed that he never talks?” Goldylinks wondered. “What’s up with that?”
“Maybe he can’t talk,” suggested Berry Blend.
Goldylinks’ magenta eyes widened as she noticed Terramar. “Shh! Is that him?” she shout-whispered.
“That’s a hippogriff, you airhead!” Citrine exclaimed, stomping her yellow hoof on the ground.
“Calm down!” Blend hissed.
Terramar quickly and quietly slunk back to his room, but his curiosity kept him awake for a few hours that night. He stared absent-mindedly at the ceiling from his top bunk, listening to the chirps of crickets and hoots of owls through the closed window. He vaguely remembered seeing a griffon in the Great Hall on the first day, but he wasn’t in any of his classes.
Eventually, Terramar’s mind moved on, and he drifted off to sleep.
This won’t be the last time I write about Silverstream and Gallus.
Aw heckin yeah!