State of the Scribe: October 2020 · 11:22pm Oct 1st, 2020
Happy spooks to all pones out there. I'll get right into the Calendar, since there's not as much wild and reckless changes for this one. Thanks to all those who voted on the poll last month. The results suggest I should share information about stories I think I related to my usual writing, so I'll continue to do that in little ways.
No stories ending this month, though next one will bring a few conclusions to the schedule. Hour will be complete in November. At present rate, Child will likely finish in December, along with Mew Like Me. Fine Print is slightly harder to predict, though it's heading for conclusion as well. That promises a completely new suite of stories for the new year. I'm excited, I hope you are too.
For anyone new around here, the story "Mew Like Me" is posted to my Patreon (and can be read for free) because Fimfiction is obviously a Pony-only host. Just check it out https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3226653 after about 9am mst and it should be there. You can even "watch" my account without paying anything, and you'll get emails when the story updates, if you want to do it that way.
Some of you may know that I write professionally in addition to my writing on fanfiction. It's likely the balance between the two of those will shift towards the former and away from the latter. But I know there will be at least a few stories going for the foreseeable future. Still got ideas left to write.
Informal poll open to anyone who leaves a comment: Does a historical story about the lost roman legion being brought to Equestria during an AU where the pones lost during the season finale, as Discord's last desperate plan to save the country--does that sound interesting to anyone? I've always wanted to tell a story where ponies are the ones with the technical advantage over humans.
There are two new stories there, for posting on the 17th and 24th. These represent Minifics that were previously posted to Patreon. Now that I have Starscribbles, I have a place for these. Finding Yourself is a short about an HiE where a human transformed upon their arrival to Equestria discovers that his human self--untransformed--is already living there. Capstone is a shortfic about negotiating forgiveness for Tempest Shadow as a final project for the Friendship School.
There's another story from patreon I'd like to bring here soon, one that was sadly ended premature at the end of act one thanks to economic pressures from the disaster I won't bother naming at this point. But the first half can stand on its own, and I feel it's worth sharing.
Lastly, we have the stories written for non-pony audiences, but that touch of familiar subjects like TF and science fiction. "Tail of Redemption" about the worst people alive becoming eevees as punishment--is complete now, and has a complete second half/sequel. It can be read on Fanfiction.net, but anyone who doesn't want to dread that awful place can also check out the PDF here:
Part 1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/oh5b78ksfwd05kh/Tail%20of%20Justice.pdf?raw=1
Part 2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/izqp1h2greu5vp6/Two%20Tails%20of%20Justice.pdf?raw=1
I know I included the PDFs for Mew Like Me, but given how fast it updates, I've decided to wait until the story's finished and do the whole thing at once. Keeping a single PDF up to date was taking time I'd better spend writing.
Have a spooky month, everyone. Stay safe.
-Starscribe
The circumstances are bleak, but the premise is most intriguing. I'm all for it.
Also,, I completely forgot about Tail of Redemption.
Well, I have something else to binge. Your Pokéfics have proven to be just what I need to keep pony feeling fresh. Looking forward to this month's stuff!
Is the new friendship is optimal story the one that is suffering due to the plague? That is one of my favorite story universes.
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No, that story will be finished. When it is, I'll post the whole thing to fimfiction. The story that ended incomplete was Hand of the Ancients (though I suppose it could keep going sometime in the future). Likewise another story, Hostile History, which will get a release somewhere on fimfiction at some point, though we're still working out the details about whether it will be on my account or someone else's.
Lately I have been in love with your "Mew Like Me" story and I have even been reading your other stories as well that I have not read yet (largely due to me being easily distracted and having to many stories I am reading and following). I just wanted to say you are an amazing writer and keep up the amazing work.
You might want to consider a scribblehub or even a royalroads account for your non-pony works.
It wouldn't be the first military unit in Equestria story.
It'll be a tall order though when ponies already have humans beat at magic. Tech is usually the thing that levels the playing field so I wonder what sort of unique quirk humanity would offer for Discord to justify doing this? Strategy? Discipline? Propensity to violence? Just being a chaotic wildcard? Otherwise, they'd be fish out of water launched into space. Still, it's unique so it's certainly worth a try.
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Nasty Jack had an interesting concept where the pony military was built on defeatist logic where accepting losing was considered the norm. The humans brought the concept of finding ways around defeat through unexpected strategies.
I have also seen the same "defeat is fine" logic applied to Twilight's egg test.
Why is Fanfiction.net an awful place? I must have somehow avoided some aspect of it for twenty years.
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I’m not familiar enough with Royalroads, but I can also recommend Scribblehub.
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I mostly mean its design and interface. If you've been using it for twenty years you've seen how little it has changed in all that time.
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I imagine what the roman army offers would be their military discipline and simple brutality. Imagine less noble altruistic heroes and more conquering new lands for the glory of Rome. (though they're also far easier to negotiate with than changelings who want to eat you. You can surrender to Rome.) I don't picture it as a "HFY", but it would primarily be the human faction liberating a world that evil has already taken over.
Hell yes!!
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HFYs do get dull quickly. It wouldn't make for a good story. Still, since you're dealing with a historical morality system, I'm guessing there's a risk of heading the opposite direction into the "Humans are the real monsters" trap even if the bad guys are more evil.
I still think you should join Offprint. It’s not very active yet, but it is a well-designed website that desperately needs more non-pony fics.
Starscribe, I see you are already busy {as always ... }, but I posted little thought at Optimalverse forums, can you take a look and may be leave comment there?