Apropos of the Sinners – Update 13 · 5:49am Nov 21st, 2020
I started writing this all-OC fic with 8 "parts" in mind, all with a projected 200k words. But now I've realized that parts 1–6 was essentially a bunch of setup—very intricate setup, but setup all the same—to part 7, which will be a whole novel-length story on its own, easily going over 100k words. Heck, part 7 pretty much is the story. Everything before that was merely the appetizer.
The thing is that this doesn't even feel like the same story anymore. We've gone from a family drama and character study to a dark comedy, a train heist, a murder mystery, to now a conspiratorial political thriller, a quasi-adventure with world building elements and action set pieces, to eventually a psychological horror if part 8 goes well. This story isn't bound by any one genre, thank Celestia for that.
There's an insane amount of foreshadowing I have to keep track of, like hints and clues early on that explode into massive revelations and plot twists later on. I'm trying my best to keep everything logical and consistent, so that there are no plot holes, contrivances, or any other BS that happens because the author wanted it to (as I've disappointingly done in the past). I'm also trying to have the characters act with nothing but common sense, even at the expense of any planned development, so that everything happens for a justifiable reason; even if something happens that you don't like, you'll at least know the reason behind it.
Then there's the ending—the whole final arc for that matter—which has gone through countless iterations. So even if I'm confident with what I have now, I have no idea if I'll change it down the road. All I know is that I want the ending to wrap everything up and be satisfying, something that readers will remember. Ideally the last 1–2 chapters should be the best ones. Every arc should be better than the last.
Finally, I've reached that late stage of character development where I'm gonna start deconstructing the characters, flipping certain conventions on their head, and show some deeper sides to them. Airglow in particular—who was never that much of an interesting character to begin with—will undergo some... complex changes. Let's leave it at that.
Now the projected word count is around 350k words, but who knows how long the finished product will actually be.
I am annoyed, but only because this all sounds fascinating but even if you were to finish it today I'd probably not be able to review it until late 2022.
Stupid schedule...
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Well shoot, I wouldn’t want to disappoint you. Now the pressure’s on for me to write this well.