MAGIC OF THE HEART IS COMPLETE - And some news about the future · 11:00pm Jan 31st, 2021
Almost ten years ago, in 2011, I wrote a little something over on deviantArt called "Shipping and Handling", that was later migrated to fimfiction by popular request.
Now it's 2021, and the tale I set out to tell ten years ago has come to a close, and its story-universe and readerbase have both grown bigger than I ever expected.
If you've been waiting until the final book was complete to begin reading it, it's now available, in its finished form, for your enjoyment. All 350,000 words of it. (I don't know how it ended up that long)
By the way, if you want to discuss this fic or the fic universe in general, PM me, we can trade Discord addresses and chat there!
As is usually the case when I finish a big project, the rest of this post will be some info on future odds and ends I might have planned.
Keep in mind, these are things that MIGHT be coming, not necessarily things that are guaranteed. I leaned my lesson last time, when my blog post following Hocus Pocus advertised four stories, which I wrote... none of. But these are the things kicking around on my writing desk right now, so if any of them catch your interest, let me know.
1. Anecdotes of Heart
What is this? This... is what happened because I really love this world I've created, and don't want to shelve it forever.
As I've said many times, the NOVELS in the S&H chronology are now over... but that doesn't mean I will never touch that universe again. Anecdotes of Heart is an anthology of short, slice-of-life stories, following the adventures of some of Magic of the Heart's characters, sometime after the events of chapter 20 (but long before the prologue/epilogue, of course.) It's kind of like the Shipping and Handling Bonus Chapters, except I'm posting it in a separate fic because I intend to leave it permanently open-ended, and add new short stories to it whenever the inspiration strikes. There's no set number of them planned, and I don't think there ever will be. They probably won't even be posted in chronological order within the story universe, which is fine, since most of them will be standalone stories.
If you're a big fan of the S&H universe, you'll want to keep an eye out for this. This is where any further adventures involving Ditzy, Dinky, and all their friends will end up.
2. Worldbuilding Project: The Celestia's Academy Course Catalogue
What is this? Not a story. Not really. Just something I wanted to explore.
Throughout Hocus Pocus and Magic of the Heart, a lot of readers were enamored with the way I wrote the magic lessons that occurred in many of the chapters, depicting it almost like a science. Obviously, the fics themselves allowed for only a small sliver of the actual magical education that happens at Celestia's Academy to be written out, and I have SO many more ideas that I never wrote about.
So I thought, why not make a course catalogue, like one would use to select their classes when building their schedule for a college semester? If I actually finish this project, it'll provide a summary of each and every class a student of Celestia's Academy would be able to take. Those of you who really liked my magical worldbuilding might find this really interesting.
And if you don't, that's fine too. This is just a little pet project I've started. Since it's not actually a story in itself, just a worldbuilding dump, I'll probably construct a small, simple frame story around it and wedge it into the aforementioned Anecdotes of Heart somewhere.
3. New works, unrelated to the trilogy
What is this? Dangerous ground I don't want to give much detail on, because there's definitely a chance I'll never get around to writing any of these.
I'll admit, now that the tv series is over, and the fandom's shrunk to its current form, I don't know if I've really got it in me to write something altogether new or not. At this point, it might be better to stick with what I like, whether that brings in lots of readers or not. And what I like is definitely the S&H universe.
But I will say, if any of my other ideas DO eventually get written, some of them are going to tackle genres I haven't previously explored! So if you wanna see me experiment with some things that are totally new, keep an eye out for new stories!
I think that's all for now. Thank you for following my work, and I hope you enjoyed the latest novel!
See you soon!
~PRB
If you put spoilers in the comments of this post, please spoiler-tag them!
~PRB
5445378
Thanks!!
If you decide to read the rest of the trilogy sometime, I hope you enjoy it
Hey, congrats. I haven't been actively following the series since the end of Shipping and Handling, but I'm glad you finally finished it the way you wanted to, and I respect the dedication you've shown to your writing. It's no small thing, capping off a long-running series like that after eight years. Hell, most authors I've been following for as long as you aren't even around anymore, let alone still updating. So good on ya.
5445384
Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully I'll have a little more writing in me, we'll see.
Hard to believe that it's been ten years. It seems like yesterday that Ditzy got herself a new gig.
Incredible! I look forward to reading this now that it's done. Glad you stuck with it this long. Thanks for writing.
5445540
I look forward to you reading it too!
Let me know what you think
Well I'm certainly interested in Anecdotes of the heart!
Your universe certainly is quite fun, and I understand crafting takes time. Still, I do look forward to that if nothing else. XD.
5445626
Glad to hear it! Keep your eyes open, I'll try to get at least a few Anecdotes of Heart posted eventually. Not setting any release date timeframe right now though.
Anecdotes of the heart sounds like a really cool and free/low pressure way for you to add stories to the universe whenever inspiration strikes! I love that idea!
But what I love even more is the idea of a Course Catologue for Celestia's school!!! I was literally gushing about your world building and magic system to a friend the other day because it's SO COOL!!!! 😍😍😍
5445642
I've already started writing both of those things
I'm working on a Scuffle and Honeydew anecdote (from Scuffle's perspective) and I've done some groundwork on the course catalogue.
The catalogue's probably gonna take me a long time though, if it even gets finished at all.
5445643
Oooooooohhhh I'll be looking forward to it!!!
If I’m being honest, Anecdotes of the heart sounds like a lot of fun, and I’m especially interested in the adventures of Inkwell and friends.
I can´t wait to read it.
Huzzah! \o/
Now I can finaly start reading it! ;P
5446988
Great, I hope you enjoy the story!
Finally started reading the story a few days ago; it's stories like this one that keep me around FIMFiction. Funny, intense, sweet, gripping--I can hardly think of a positive adjective that doesn't describe Magic of the Heart. I can't wait to finish the story, and whatever is next for you, I'm excited to see it!
5447739
I'm working on what's next, keep your eyes open.
And please let me know what you thought overall once you finish the novel
5447366
Do you have any plans on having the whole trilogy printed? :)
5448092
You're not the first person to ask.
I may have to look into it...
5448204
If you ever get the trilogy printed I'm going to pre-order it!!!! :D