December 10 Updates · 2:16am Dec 11th, 2012
So, there's a new chapter of Harmony Theory up. It's early! It's huge! It's got action! Excitement! Comedy! Horror! It's got those warm-fuzzies that the FIM crowd love so much! I feel good about it, and my editor Coandco didn't find too many glaring errors (and all that he did find I fixed... I hope).
The next chapter will be around two weeks in the making, as usual. But this is christmas, so a schedule slip might just be inevitable.
In other news: I'm going to try to get Harmony Theory on EqD again. Last time they didn't like it for a couple reasons. Mostly because my prologue is seven thousand words of two ponies chatting amiably. I've spruced it up a bit and maybe that'll perk their interests more. They also don't like that I capitalize the tribe names (Unicorn, Pegasus, Earth Pony). Since a decent chunk of the story references language and I intentionally capitalize important concepts (Talent Glyph, Deep Power, etc), I'm loathe to do away with my little affectation. On the other hand I want to spread the story to as many readers as possible. As such, I'm probably going to go through the story, de-capitalize all the tribe names (but not Griffin or Dragon, 'cause I think those get a pass), and submit again sometime in the next couple of weeks. If that doesn't work, meh, I'll restore it the way I like and think of something else.
I hope you enjoy what I've written!
-Sharaloth
Yay!
Time to read!
Write it the way you want it, and if EQD doesn't like it, that's their problem... and their loss.
For what it's worth, I don't think the EqD people are actually wrong about the capitalized-species thing. It was definitely something that threw me off when I first started reading the fic. After all, we say "that's human nature", not "that's Human nature".
Of course, when I'm proofreading, my goal is merely to make sure that a) you're consistent and b) you've thought about whatever choices you make. As you said, capitalizing the species names was a deliberate stylistic choice, and as long as you're aware of it, it's not really my place as proofreader to dictate how that should go once you've decided. I'll say this -- you've been quite consistent with your capitalization, which is definitely a positive thing. Either way, best of luck with your EqD re-submission!
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But we DO tend to capitalize things like Arab, Hindu, American, Navajo, etc. Not consistently, but we do. In the story I don't capitalize the word 'pony' for the same reason you don't capitalize 'human', but the rest are in order emphasize their separation. It's a minor thing, but I think it helps the tone of the story.
"Write it the way you want it, and if EQD doesn't like it, that's their problem... and their loss."
+1
Also thank you for wonderful new chapter!
Wow that was a fast update. Can't wait to read it. And good luck with EQD!
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To be fair, those are somewhat derived from place where as your species are not. However, why does that even matter? That's such a tiny nit to pick in the face of the story that it's beyond laughable, especially considering what does make it to EqD. The prologue thing is a matter of opinion, but when you mentioned that as a rejection reason the first time I wondered what would have happened if you appended two paragraphs and made that a one-shot slice of life.
In any case, I really dig Harmony Theory. It's different, it's engaging, it bends the world without breaking it, and it presents an interesting and engaging mystery that isn't inaccessible to readers but doesn't pander to them, either. You have a great cast of characters with their own distinct personalities, and enough humor to balance out the darker aspects of what's going on. Don't get me wrong, I have my critiques, too, but I think you have a good thing going here, and I wish you success. That said, don't betray (heh) your story for the sake of Equestria Daily, it's pretty snazzy just as it is.
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For what it's worth, I know for a fact that there are more than a few us enthralled by Theory, and who look forward to every update.