RE: The Doom That Comes To Canterlot

As with a lot of artists on this site and many others, the end of MLP:FiM led to a reduction in my enthusiasm for this fandom and its content, which is strange to consider, since I stopped watching the show around season 6 or 7 and have no desire to follow the newest series. That isn't to say I don't still deeply appreciate MLP content, but I find that it takes a much stronger personal connection to elicit a desire to engage with it these days, whether that's for purposes of humor, visual art appreciation, and most relevant to this post, literature.

I need to focus more on improving my art skills and acquiring others, but with a project like TDTCTC lying incomplete, but not unloved, I can't help noticing things like the recent, albeit minor, uptick in viewership this story has gotten in the last few months. I still think about this story often, missing its characters and the grim version of Canterlot I've set them in, but find that I often have more practical reasons and stronger motivations to pursue other interests.

I hope that isn't too disheartening to hear, but there is some good news:

I will never give up on the thought of finishing this story. The plans made and the notes put down about precisely what doom has come to Canterlot lie in full view for me. I still see and review them at least once a week. However, when I write, one of the greatest sources of motivation comes from the prospect of receiving genuine critiques. Unfortunately, I don't have the visibility here to count on that since this just isn't the kind of literature most people come to fimfiction.net to read. Sure, plenty of horror stories here are popular, but so are their authors, usually due to having first published a much more popular story of an entirely different genre. In this enviable position, they get quite a bit more feedback than authors like myself. To that point, I just want to put forward that sharing this story with others and helping me get my work seen will go a long way to putting it back in front of me and improving the chances of seeing more and regular updates again.

With all that said, here are a few thoughts on the story itself:

1. I would sincerely love to rewrite the first 12 or so chapters to improve the pacing. To me, it seems a little slow, with not enough driving interest in the meticulous events of each scene.
2. I pose too many unanswerable questions regarding the plot and overarching events without giving them enough relevance to the characters and intended themes.
3. Some characters haven't been given enough background and need to be more fleshed out for the reader's sake, most notably Gyre himself, but also characters like Luna, Rocky, Ace, and even Trixie.
4. Sometimes, I read a paragraph and roll my eyes at the edgy kitsch. I'd like to think I've grown and improved enough to avoid a lot more of this in the future.
5. There's more going on than I've managed to convey to the reader on time, giving a false sense of the pace of events. I never intended this story to be quite as slow of a burn as it is and I have no idea if that's worked in its favor.
6. I've gone way off the rails of the campy, 90's-style, monster-of-the-week horror series this was originally supposed to be.
7. The writing style is, as one review put it, inconsistent. Early on, the prose was elaborate and thoughtful, but quickly became overtly simplified and matter-of-fact. I was never sure if this was a good way to convey that the story is told through the eyes of a precocious, insightful young man who is still very much a naïve, immature teen.

Thanks for taking your time to read this far. I hope this doesn't seem like I'm begging for attention or an ego boost. I'd much rather someone tell me what's trash about what I've written than to help popularize it, so if you'd rather pan it than share it, please do.