Surprise! · 2:18am Jan 9th, 2022
This will probably come as a surprise to most of you, but in case you haven't already noticed I published a new story late last night. Well, it was late enough for me and Cerulean Voice. He had just spent his entire Saturday going through and thoroughly editing my story. Our deadline was 6.00 pm tonight, so I think it got done just in time.
Shortly after her transformation, Sunny Starscout is keen to know more about the magic that led up to it. After going through her father's old research, she stumbles upon the legend of an ancient amulet and the alicorn who wielded it.
It is now up to Izzy Moonbow and Alphabittle to voyage across the sea, to the Griffish Isles where the amulet is said to be located. Its discovery could be the key to finding out more about the powerful magic behind Sunny's transformation.
As you can see it is my entry for the Generation 5 Bingo Writing Contest being hosted by Shrink Laureate. If you care to know my prompt, it's in the author's note at the end of the story. I sort of spontaneously decided to sign up and see if I could even remember how to write. What I came up with wasn't bad but it wouldn't be nearly as polished without the help of my team of incredible editors.
They all helped to edit, proofread and bring the story up to a standard that I couldn't be happier with. I worked really hard to come up with an idea that could be made into a cohesive story. The contest requires you to use at least two of the prompts on your card, but it's much better if you can use all five.
I'm also hoping more stories make it into the contest folder before the deadline, I honestly want to have more stories to compete with. A tighter race would be more exciting. I'm even thinking about becoming a judge next time, I've read a lot so I sort of knowing what makes a story great I'm just not as good as having that translate into my own work.
I had a pretty decent foundation but it was only with the help of my editors Cerulean Voice, Paracompact and Pascoite that I was able to ensure the story reached its full potential. Initially, it was spanning over 10,000 words but we've managed to cut it back to under 9,000. It's still the longest story I've ever written and I'm glad it is, being an adventure story and all.
It also happens to be my first ever venture into the genre. Up until now, I've only ever really simple, small, slice of stories. So this was definitely a challenge all on its own. I actually had a lot of doubt in the process of writing it, I wasn't sure I would actually finish it. Even when I did finish it, I wasn't sure it was good enough.
Cerulean Voice reckons I should submit it to Equestria Daily but I'm not so sure. I think I want to wait and see how it does in the contest first. The top five stories get reviewed by Paul Asaran and Present Perfect. Even if it did make it into the top five, I still think I'll be nervous about what Paul Asaran has to say, he hasn't reviewed my work in a while and also Cerulean Voice helped me to edit so things could get interesting.
Anyway, I just wanted to properly announce that I've written and published a new story. Just in time for the contest deadline. It was a long road getting here but I'm glad I got here in the end, maybe if I do well in the contest it will push me to keep writing. Who knows? I'm honestly not sure if this will be my last hurrah or the start of something new. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Until then,
- A
