Thoughts · 7:18am Dec 1st, 2012
I've been doing some thinking (along with some warfare) in another forum. It's a humbling experience. Also a maddening one.
I'm thinking in the new year, I may do a partial rewrite of some parts of AAG at least. Some portions could be jettisoned, and as one person mentioned, the dramatis personae is getting bigger than the list of actual ponies in the series. I've had some suggestions which I may add, others which I think are untenable (change the series too much.) You guys are the fans, so I'm interested in your opinions.
One thing is for sure: I promised you guys a Christmas special and you're going to get it. I might even have something to go along with that.
Anyway, here's a teaser for the Christmas special:
The snow fell on General Mitchell International, white and ephemeral. Over the speakers, a soft tune lilted through the station; someone with enough knowledge of classic rock would have recognized the artist as Mazzy Star. Due to the time of the year, there were scant people in the airport, mainly those who had to be there and those waiting to go somewhere else.
Sitting in the Starbucks adjacent to the windows of the main terminal, a man sat there, watching the snow fall on those outside as passengers and transporters picked up and dropped off various people. Some of them looked as though they’d been flying for hours; he could certainly understand that, as from the time he left Doha he’d been travelling for over fifteen hours. But that was the norm when serving in uniform, and in fact, even sitting in the Starbucks he was dressed in his dress blues, because it made it easier to get around in airports while Stateside during this time of year.
Two years. He’d already been overseas for two years now at FIFTHFLT HQ, and he still had two years to go on this hitch. At least next year he could negotiate new orders; he already had some ideas in fact. He’d just have to discuss them with a certain other individual when he got the chance.
“Hey, Lieutenant?” Ensign Mike Hengst, US Navy, looked up and saw the barista dropping off an extra coffee for him. The barista had the just-growing haircut of someone recently having departed military life. “On the house. I know what it’s like being away from family this time of year.”
“Ensign, actually – and I’m headed to see my grandparents. But thanks for the brew.” He looked back at the barista. “Just get out?”
The man laughed. “That obvious? Yeah, just left the Army after being stationed in Korea for four years. Girlfriend didn’t want to wait much longer to get married and I didn’t want to lose her, so I got out. What about yourself?”
“Oh, I can honestly say I’ve got a gal like no other. Very unique,” he said with a smile. “I’m stationed overseas, but thankfully she’s willing to wait. And very much worth the wait.”
“You can say that again,” a sultry voice said as a redhead slipped her arms around him and cooed in his ear. “Wanna take me home tonight, Sailor?”
The barista laughed. “Well, I’ll let you two lovebirds be. Merry Christmas,” he said, walking back towards the counter.
As he walked off, the redhead slipped into the chair next to Mike, lounging lazily. Her slightly wavy red hair framed a pair of deep blue eyes, fair skin and a body that swimsuit models would kill for. Any guy would be crazy not to go after her, Mike thought, though in his opinion she was just crazy. “So, having fun embarrassing me, Shelby?”
Shelby Hengst laughed. “Little brother, you’re waaaaaaay too uptight, you know that?” she said, taking the extra cup of coffee and claiming it as her own. “So, how long have you been here? My flight got in an hour ago. And speaking of flights, where’s your better half?”
Mike was about to respond when his phone went off. He checked it just long enough to read the text: ARGUING WITH IDIOT @ COUNTER; RACIST TARD NEEDS TO FOND! XXXOOOXXX! DJ.
Pocketing the phone, he sighed and said, “Well, she’s at the rental counter picking up the car.”
“Well, while we’re alone, Michael, I need to talk to you.” That mention caused him to worry; no one in his family called him by his full name unless something bad was going to go down. “You’ve been in international transit, so there was no way to get a hold of you, so I promised Mom and Dad I’d tell you; they already told Chaz and Hope. Grandma and Grandpa wanted the whole family to come, so….”
Mike blanched. He knew exactly what his sister was about to say. Looking at his cup of coffee, he muttered, “I wonder if I can have a few shots of whiskey added to this.”
As for modding the story, may I suggest if you do, making a list of any actual continuity changes and just listing them at the next chapter's spot so one can continue with the story with the releases without having to put aside hours to strain through the story again looking for small differences.
Despite what my peers have said, I've enjoyed every moment of AAG. Yes, even the booming list of characters -- it makes it feel like a wide and expansive universe that one could live and work in, kind of like Star Wars. The mixing of soap opera and war story elements is also something I enjoy, as it seems to be giving me the best of both worlds. (Now, if we could only see some of the sure-to-be-booming space industry, then things would be golden . . . by the way, I've got an idea on that I'll share with you in a clandestine communication on the subject.) I really don't think I could read the version Richardson produced -- in fact, I know I can't.
Now, if you're asking for something that can be . . . OK, yeah. Get rid of Star Swirl. Best I can see, she isn't needed. Probably could also just let Minty die in Fillydelphia too. I'm holding back on most suggestions though because I'd like to see the finished product before going, "Cut this. Cut this. More of this. Cut this. . . . OK, now, this is going to sound crazy, but you need more petrol in their cell phones." . . . Probably should rescind those two suggestions on that note then.
Christmas story looks good though. Are you going to post it separately like most Christmas specials, as a part of Be Human, as an omake in the main story, or in several thousand Twitter posts? . . . Please don't say Twitter.
I also don't see a problem with the large number of characters, through them I see how big the story is. Sure some of them aren't very memorable but its a story about two big world of course there's gonna be a lot of faces in it.
And I agree with thewookie1, if you plan to go through with the revisions a transcript of changes would be apprieciated.
@ preview
I'm don't think those x and os stand for hugs and kisses. XD
While I personally enjoy the expanded universe feel you give off, it could throw others off. Maybe you should make a chart or something? Also, the Christmas chapter(s) looks like it'll be a good one!
558381
If I do, I'll renumerate the chapters that have been changed and the ones that stand so that people can see which versions are canon.
558403
Richardson's ideas, while I like the original ones and would have went with them if I'd thought of it...his continuation clearly makes it into me writing his story instead of mine. Star Swirl is a Chekov's Gunman, honestly, which is why I haven't used her much; and Minty will start to play a more prominent role soon enough. Tertiary characters, like Big Mac, Surprise, etc. will pop in from time to time to add into the world, but overall aren't really important to the grand scheme of things (though they might be to the main story, much like Derpy getting her own story where Shining is a secondary character.)
Didn't know people put up their Christmas specials separately. And what's wrong with Twitter? If I do put it there, I won't put it on my @Megami_Studios account. Maybe on my (oft-neglected) personal one.
558593
I've tried to make a chart, but...that would detract from the writing since it'd take too long. Besides, wasn't someone else working on a chart?
With DJ, you never know.
559378
We shall see. ^_^
559719
Chart? Aaah I think that may be more of an answer to Mr. Tanuki's comment.
Anyway what kind of chart are we talking about anyway, is it a chart of all characters and how they are related to each other or something of the like?
If that is the case and if whomever is making the chart needs to go through the story (AAG and TBH) to gather data I can help. But on making charts themselves, I have neither the experience nor capacity to help.
559814
Yeah. The person who volunteered I haven't seen on in ages (maybe he just got buried under the data and needs help digging out
) but if someone wants to do the flowchart, there are plenty of free programs out there for that.
Isn't it cruel to send Mike to Milwaukee this time of year?
562188
Blame his family, since that's where they came from.
Oh, and in what crazy universe is Mazzy Star classic rock?
562305
The crazy universe where "Fade Into You" is a forty-two year-old song (story is in 2036; the song came out in 1994.)
563003 Sure, it's old, but I don't see classic rock as a format embracing early 90's alternative music, particularly tracks by relatively obscure artists that stray far from the electric guitars common to the format.
563141
Here's the thing, though: classic rock is, ultimately, a marketing term. This is a layout, from what I see based on when I was a teen, what is today and what will be in the future.
50's rock ("Rock n Roll) and early 60's rock (British invasion) - Oldies now, in 2036 it will be Classical Rock (there have been a few books that have already used this term.)
late 60's rock (Prog Rock) to mid-70's rock (AOR rock) - classic rock when I was a teen, now oldies rock (as per KRTH in Los Angeles, one of the most influential in "oldies" format), classical rock in DJ's time
late 70's rock (Punk) to 80's (Post-Punk/New Wave/Retro) - modern when I was a teen, now classic rock (per KRTH and Rolling Stone magazine). Likely also classical rock in DJ's time.
90's rock (grunge) to early-'00s rock (post-grunge/nu-metal/etc.) - modern in my twenties and thirties, 90s and some now considered classic rock (per Blender and Spin magazines; 90s only classic rock per Rolling Stone.)
Current (late-00s and beyond) - current now; conjecture is that it will be classic rock by 2030s.
I should also point out that 80s and 90s music is already in the classic rock stations on the Spotify, Slacker, Sirius XM and Reverb services.
If you need a chart for the characters to be done, I could take a crack at it in between studying for finals, just let me know what kind of chart style you want and if you want to separate characters as per the stories they appear in (I.E. pretty much everybody from "The Ballad of Bob" would not appear on the same list as the Hengst family).
571887
Thanks! Probably something along the lines of a relationship chart, like so.
571899
Hmm...alright, seems like a good enough challenge
Any pictures you can provide of the characters from this story (show characters I can get easily enough) would also be helpful, although I'll trim the character list down so it doesn't include the most minor, insignificant characters (I.E. Colonel Haymaker and the human soldiers who were with Fluttershy and Pinkie in Fillydelphia).
EDIT: Also, I need clarification about a specific species of character. Are ALL the Pepis changelings direct offspring of Shining Armor? Including Dusk Shine?