Ten Years of The Blueblood Papers and AMA · 7:07pm Oct 11th, 2022
Well, not quite. As it happened, I've missed the exact date by a few days, as Blueblood: Hero of Equestria was published on the 8th of October 2012, but we'll quietly ignore that from now on.
Ten years. I hadn't particularly intended upon embarking on a long series when I first had the idea while bored at work, but this silly idea of a Ciaphas Cain pastiche staring everyone's favourite ill-mannered prince had qutie unexpectedly expanded beyond all reasonable measure. More inconceivably, it appeared that enough people had actually liked it enough to encourage me to continue, and ten years on people still do (at least if the comments are any indication). I had been quietly watching this little anniversary approach, but in the end it rather caught me by surprise; I suppose I ought to have done something grand for it, and I certianly wish I had, but ultimately I'd just like to thank everyone who gave this series a go and stuck around for it.
To be honest, I've never felt particularly good with engaging with my audience, whether it's replying to comments (every writer appreciates those) or making blog posts. However, I hope to try and make up for it now with this little experiment: in the ten years I've been writing this, it's probably safe to call this an AU by now, with a fair few bits teased in the background about what's been going on in the wider conflict. Here is your chance to ask me anything about the 'lore' (if such a grandiose term can be applied) of the AU, or the characters, or any questions at all related to the series in general. Put your questions in the comments below, and I'll try to answer each one, though I'll make sure to avoid spoilers for things happening in the future. Personal questions are fine, though I'll reserve to right not to dox myself.
Blueblood x Kerfuffle when?
Okay, on a more serious note, when it comes to plotting a story, do you prefer meticulous planning or improvisation?
Happy belated anniversary! What early detail would you have changed if you'd known this silly idea would be one for the long haul?
5691654
When the timeline advances far enough for Rainbow Roadtrip, so another ten years probably
I tend towards improvisation, mainly; I'll start with a bare bones plan of what the general idea of the story will be, then it's improvisation all the way from there, and quite often it'll take a direction that I didn't quite expect from the original plan. I'm trying to aim for a better mix of both, though, as I now have more background fluff to keep track of.
5691657
This keeps happening to me...
5691656
That's a tricky question, but probably the use of 'Faust' as a stand in for god. It seemed fine back in 2012, but now it's a bit awkward and clumsy, but I'm stuck with it now. I'd headcanon'd a basic cosmology for the setting where Faust had 'written' the story of the world and then disappeared, leaving Celestia and Luna to watch over it, which doesn't quite mesh with how the show progressed in later seasons. I'd also been influenced early fandom ideas of the two sisters being almost godlike and being physical incarnations of the sun and moon themselves; there's a few lines about if Luna's physical form is destroyed she'll return to the moon for a bit, and if I was writing that again I'd write that it would in fact kill her (and avoid a minor little plothole involving Blueblood's ancestor).
How many faction of WH40K do you plan on integrating into the setting?
Which species/countries will be the analog?
And which other canon MLP characters do you want them to have a cameo or be part of the plot like Maude and Countess Collatutura were?
Oh and happy anniversary to this AU.
5691664
I'm trying to avoid making direct translations of 40k factions, as it's first and foremost an MLP setting and I'll only do that if I think it fits, but I absolutely have one planned for the instalment directly after Bound By Blood. I don't want to give too much away at this stage, however, but I'll provide a hint that Blueblood will be returning to Fort E-5150 and finding out what crawled out of the catacombs and wiped out the Diamond Dogs there.
As for other canon MLP characters, I absolutely want to do something with Daring Do at some point. There'll be other cameos as and when I think they're appropriate for the story, especially if it shifts back to Ponyville.
I was just planning to do a read of the story, I guess this is a sign that I should start now.
Also. TEN FREAKING YEARS. that's pretty insane in my view.
My question is this, do you ever fear losing interest?
Happy Anniversary! Let us celebrate with the traditional anthem!
Prince-Prince-Prince Blueblood! Hero of Equestria!
Prince-Prince-Prince Blueblood! Hero of Equestria!
Could you imagine a conversation between Caiaphas Cain and this version of Blueblood?
10 years is an eternity to keep a fic going. How long do you think you'll go before you decide on working on something else?
Love this story,it really became one of my all time favorites on the site
My questions:
1: Did you write anything more outside of fimfiction?
2: Do you perhaps have some recommendations to read on this site? new or old
Your Blueblood works have gotten to the point where I enjoy them more than the original Ciaphas books.
Would you consider writing original works for publication?
As a fan of the original Ciaphas Cane works, I took to this story like it was an old friend. Love what you've done....keep doing it!
5691695
I do, and I suppose every writer of a long form series does. I suppose it's simply become so engrained as part of my daily routine, and writing provides a nice form of escapism too, that thus far it hasn't become much of an issue. There will inevitably come a time when I'll feel like I simply can't write any more of this, but until then I'll keep happily typing away.
5691701
I did have an idea to do that as an April Fools bonus chapter - a Warp portal or a problem with the EqG mirror portal shunts briefly him to the 40k universe and he realises that maybe his war isn't so bad by comparison to the horrors of the 41st milennim. Perhaps something to revisit later.
5691729
It is! But to be fair, I'm a fairly slow writer compared to a great many others on the site - 500 words a day and one chapter per month isn't really much. I've wanted to try and write other things alongside Blueblood, and I've managed to squeeze out a grand total of two other stories and I hope to get myself in gear and do more
5691766
Thanks! I don't write outside of this site; the thought had occurred to me, but I like to think that I've found my niche here and I'm quite happy in it.
As for recommendations, I haven't particularly kept up to date (and I really need to read more), but first and foremost I would absolutely recommend Redheart's War by Sockpuppet. It's another first person war fic, so I might be a little biased, but it's an excellently executed one.
5691789
High praise indeed! I'm not sure writing original fiction, as that would require some originality - at least with fanfiction I'm working with existing settings and characters. I suppose it's worth a stab at least.
5691818
Thank you, I fully intend to