State of the Scribe: October 2021 · 11:29pm Oct 1st, 2021
Hello my spooky friends!
Another spooky month has come, and with it some awesome stories. Pretty much in a holding pattern in terms of updates here. No new stories have been added to the list. Forbidden Places is escalating towards its climax, though it definitely has another month to go at least. Sisters of Willowbrook is still in its opening act, so there's a lot more to tell there.
I did write a Friendship is Optimal short story last month, if anyone didn't catch it. I explored what one of my favorite hobbies might look like in that world, and how Celestia might exploit those who engage in it. As the time horizon expands, no group is too insignificant to target. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/503461/fio-drowning-in-a-digital-sea
I also split a minific in half, because there was just too much story to tell in a short time. We'll see the completion of that story this month.
No new stories have been added, though I have been toying with a few ideas. Things will have to change when the new year comes around, as I continue my quest for a professional writing career. Painful as it is to think about, I will probably need to be writing less pony to write more other things.
There are 40,000 words of pony on this calendar. If anyone reading this has done nanowrimo (only 10,000 words more for a goal of 50k), you know how much writing that is. That's easy on its own, and indeed I've met my goals on this patreon since it first opened several years ago...
I'm just brainstorming here, but I wonder if when the current crop is finished, I might end up having a single weekly story (probably with longer chapters than any of my current stories), then the monthly stories (going to fimfiction as they're finished). I'll have to come up with something pretty epic.
I guess it depends on how these other projects go. I've shown you guys some of them--like Together We, the various pokemon stories I've written this year. Currently I'm working on a Madoka-inspired Magical Girl urban fantasy (with some TG) I'd like to try self-publishing. I'll have to see if anyone is interested in reading those.
I don't expect much crossover from here. I know most of my readers follow me because of pony first, and I have no expectation otherwise. I appreciate everyone's support, whether you've been reading for a few days or half a decade.
What follows are the current flock of Patreon-exclusive stories. The first chapter can be read by anyone, and the following chapters are exclusive to my patrons. The story will migrate to fimfiction once complete (as Return to Sender will soon do).
Dreamlands: The story of a batpony who ventures into the dreamlands to try and rescue Nightmare Moon from banishment and save her outcast tribe. Read at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-45878879
Frames of War: A Warframe crossover in which an old-war relic is opened on Equestria, unleashing the Infestation. Their only hope may lie in the hooves of a single Tenno. Read at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-frames-35421681
Return to Sender: Sequel to Message in a Bottle, this story chronicles Harmony's disastrous first contact with an alien race, through the eyes of Olivia's descendant. Read at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-return-27346632
Tall Tale of Sweet Sauce: A comedy about an ancient Equestrian "villain" returning from his banishment to earth as a little colt. Adoption may get in the way of his mysterious scheme. Read at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-tall-46197856
Diplomatic Solution: Equestria is uplifted into a spacefaring society, not to be received into a perfect utopia, but as the last best hope against a conquering force of magical aliens, who are sweeping across the galaxy. Ponykind doesn't know much about war, but it does know how to make friends. Maybe there's a way to solve things that doesn't need weapons. https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-30394496
I'm throwing my money at the screen and nothing is happening.