Proposed minor ret-con · 12:12am Mar 17th, 2021
As the title says, I am considering making a ret-con to the story. It is really a minor thing, something I hadn't properly thought of during the time I was expanding the whole story to what it is currently planned to be. That said, it does play into the fact that there are differences between the show, which some former humans have seen, and what is reality in Equestria.
The ret-con is this:
Changing the titles of particularly Celestia and Luna from Princess to Queen and Highness to Majesty. I am also thinking of having Cadance go from Princess to Empress when she takes the reigns of power in the Crystal Empire.
Reasoning:
It shows, as said before, a difference between the show and reality, not unlike how we have some different names for established characters depending if they are show or reality based - Drepy and Cloudchaser being the main examples so far. These differences are slowly adding up in Jacqueline's mind and are part of her/his story thread. It shows a little of the meddling the studio executives did, if I recall correctly, in the early development of the show, forcing the change of Queen to Princess on Celestia mostly because of the whole Disney effect of Queens being evil and Princesses perfect and kind.
Actual affect on what has been written:
Mostly adjusting a small amount of dialogue, particularly from Spears in the chapter "Processing", after all, a lot of what I write is based on the perspective of the Point of View character at the time so titles can different depending on which character is thinking/saying them. However, certain ones would quickly change to the status quo as if they had made a mistake and just brush it off - John, Cremator and Comet Streak. Jackie and Shield Breaker would react differently due to the titles from the show being more ingrained with them, so it could cause a little bit of extra dialogue to be made though I may actually handle the major part of it in the coming chapter so as not to change too much previously.
Why is it coming up now:
The next chapter is from the point of view of Spears and, for whatever reason, it jarred in my mind that he was referring to his rulers as Highness and Princess when they were the ultimate level of power and governance in their land. I'm seeing it as a way to get around that problem while adding to the story thread for Jackie.
Thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
Tael.
I think it would be a good way to get around it.
I feel these inconsistencies should have been established from the start of the story those are just my thoughts
5476978, 5476959
Thank you both for your responses. I am still considering it and may not make the change.
Just to clarify, a lot of the inconsistencies do already exist, the differences in character names for example are already there, as does the relationship between the Dragonlands and Equestria (although that is only briefly touched on). This proposal is only about the titles of the Princesses, particularly Celestia and Luna, as Cadance's could happen naturally as she isn't ruler of the Crystal Empire yet. I also agree that I should have thought of it at the time. Which is why I am asking how people would feel if I did make this particular change.
Personally don't see any issues with that.
You don't need anyone's approval. Take your editing tools and create 'story v1' and 'story v2'. edit 1 one way and edit the other the other way. Read them, play with them and decide for yourself which way you prefer.
I've been told that the big boys recommend making a detailed outline and writing scenes to fit places on the outline. When you have enough scenes, whittle as required to fit them together and make a chapter. When have enough chapters, whittle and fit as required to create an arc. Don't consider anything done until you can go through it repeatedly over time and not find any speed bumps or non-sequiturs.
Treat the parts as modules to be moved or reshaped as needed to fit better into the whole and don't consider anything less than an arc done. How you publish isn't necessarily related to how you write. It's another choice. A way of getting a broader feedback.
Please feel free to call me an idiot, I'm just learning this method myself but it seems to be helping. We'll know before too long.
My thoughts is this is your story. You've taken someone else's ideas and adapted it to a brand new world that has similar dressing but is ultimately fundamentally different, so this is your world now. Make any changes that is required to adapt to and keep the story flowing.
It seems to me you are proposing this change on two levels. The former humans remember what was in the show, but they'll discover, to some of their surprise, certain details have changed. Putting myself in their horseshoes, I think a certain level of insecurity would come into place for them. The reasoning is, "If this detail has changed, what else has? Why did it change? I might not be able to rely on my memories of the show too much after all, but it's been proven by now that not all my memories of the show is wrong either, so I also can't dismiss it."