On the Implications of Rewritten Works · 10:20pm Mar 16th, 2021
On my last blog post, I mentioned the great parts of OtIoPW's outline that got missed, and talked of rewriting the story in place. I've been very reluctant to do that, even though the response on that post was generally affirmative, because I would be transferring some 55 chapters to "Side Stories of Crazy" to be stored out-of-the-way. That's nearly 85% of the written material- and the comments would not go with it!
On top of this, whenever I reread OtIoPW, I find myself disliking the first several chapters. Why? The same reason everyone else is dissing it: The plot device I used to set everything up... should have rendered most of the story moot. And it was very much a ponies-dominate-everything scenario, which I don't like.
Unfortunately, this started at, like, chapter two. And I'm not all that willing to try rewriting 98.5% of the story in place.
So I got to thinking about it. One of the things that bothered me on rewrites was just how long and predictable the Papa Tango was. And the easiest way to nullify the ponies-dominate effect is to make ponies not dominate: Change how magic works. Which is pretty easy, but requires me to go even as far back as chapter one.
Now, if I'm rewriting as early as chapter one, with changes this large, the rewrite- just like OtIoPW did with The Gate- actually falls under one of the exceptions, meaning I can cancel OtIoPW and publish a rewrite.
So I set up another writing environment, then rewrote how magic works, how the Papa Tango works... and ran into a problem: With the new system, Lyra won't be making the Papa Tango. Yet, I still want that to happen. So I made some more tweaks, and started making notes for the new outline. Just because Lyra won't be little miss god horse doesn't mean someone else can't be challenging the laws of physics!
On this note, I'm thinking I will probably be rewriting OtIoPW as a new story, with a new title, with a new structure... with an outline that I will endeavor to stick to, even if I have to adjust it from time to time. What are your thoughts on this? And what would you like to see different in a rewrite, up to and including various events happening- or not happening?
I personally thought OtIoPW was fine, but if you feel like a rewrite is needed I won't complain
It would be fine.
I suppose it all depends on how much of the HP canon you want to keep for your story and which parts you want to nullify. Do you still want to go with the OP HP characters concept? Do you still want to gender bend the male HP characters? Do you still want to shame the Hogwarts staff? How many Voldemort's plans do you want to keep intact? Maybe you want to throw him out or have him join the Legion of Doom? Aside from a standard wizarding education, what can wizarding Earth or muggle Earth give to the Equestrians in exchange for what they give to Earth? What are the MLP villains doing while ponies are attending Hogwarts? Maybe an OC villain from either world will show itself. What about the other Equus races?
Just some things to think about.
From my experience with reading mlp/hp crossovers is that it is really hard to balance the two canons for example Scoti alew prewitt an its sequels pretty much throw out both canons while keeping trace elements. However this particular story throws a spanner in the fact that the cmc are not sorted into gryffindor simply because the hp protagonists are there. Another hp/mlp example takes a completely different approach of having mlp canon happen in the background with hp canon immediately shot out the window by sending harry to equestria pre Hogwarts. However this story and its predecessor the gate were both unique in the fact that massive amounts of equsreins wind up at Hogwarts pretty much throw the entire wizarding world off balance. While I enjoy the genderbending i also enjoy seeing the effect the mass influx had. In the end I would be sad to see another of your stories cancelled. However I can see your reasoning for the need for another rewrite. Though might I suggest combine elements of your previous 2 iterations with whatever you devise to fix the issues you see. At the end of the day though it is your decision. Best of luck.
Blitzlego
Twelve THOUSAND ponies is a bit much. Otherwise it's fine either way.
What is that with all the mlp/up crossovers, that I still didn't encounter a single bad one. Each is doing something different and interesting, yours was the same.
I really liked what you did though in Implications, it was good. I'd personally like more races present, just imagine what havoc would a couple of dragons wreck for example : )
But it'd be still good otherwise, the most important part for me is the contact and relations between those different worlds, and it was quite great in the story already.