Retcon? Yeigh or neigh? · 6:40am Oct 23rd, 2022
Mmmmyeah-hi. It's me- I'm back- miss me- my issues- hiatus-
None of that matters. I'm uploading a chapter like, tomorrow, and I'll be putting a blog out about where the story's going someothertime, but i'm tired, and I'm asking this question at 2am for a reason.
...Well- no I'm not. I just wanted to gauge the waters to preemptively see whether my fanbase is around after... -okay, we don't have to count the months, do we? 
six months it was six months and i'm sorry i'm such a rube
Blah blah, boring author things from the boring author with too little urgency; how do you people feel about a few small, nearly unnoticeable retcons? Things that are so small- so focused on absolutely throwaway details that it'll be like the new things are the original things, just forgotten for how small they always were.
I'm asking because I'm actually really uncomfortable with going back and editing published chapters- feels disenfranchising, you know?- and I want to get some kind of mutual consent on the topic. Whether yes or no or shut up dummy, I want to know whether I should put effort into fixing some plot inconsistencies.
...That will exist if I don't edit these things out. I spent the first couple months after last chapter writing a different story, but once that story was finished at the end of August, I spent the rest of the time writing notes on the systems and theories of magic in TSN. And, as I was just writing them, I found that the sensible conclusions I was reaching and threading together didn't really mesh with the things I thought over a year ago. A'cause I was dumb, and thoughtless, and writing was easy once.
Writing's not easy anymore, and I now have 12k words of notes explaining the various sciences and humors of Arcanic Theory. A science I put a lot of time into developing, and that I really want to eventually share with you, but that Light grossly misunderstands in its current form. If I don't fix my stupid mistakes, I'll have to rectify them narratively, and as easy as that might be comparatively because Light's head is a swirling nightmare hellscape, I'd still rather leave him a bit of competency. In just- this one thing. He can misunderstand ponies and emotions and tsundere Goddesses, but he should know a bit about magic.
I dunno, I'm rambling. None of the chapters coming out soon are particularly exciting, but that's because they're half comprised of doodles from five months ago. The story's taking a new direction after I post them- I wish I could be sorrier for boring people, but I'm not gonna deny myself anymore since it's obviously very bad for productivity- please read Of Time Before The Stars- and I'm done. Go to bed, it's 2am.
Well damn, I’m glad to be up ay this ungodly hour to see this :)
To be honest with you, it’s been so long that if you retconned things I would probably just think they were always lime that
If there’s something stopping you from proceeding. Fix it. Sum up the changes in a blog, or just list the chapters in a note.
It’s better to retcon properly than to stay in a rut
5693989
That's exactly what I thought!
The details are so comparatively miniscule, and people skim over my many, many horsewords so often: slapping a new coat of paint over some chapters will only make people wonder whether it was always red!
There's a benefit to losing passion and petering out, after all!
5693994
Wise words. Wise words, indeed. I was definitely thinking about making a quantified list of the changes as I made them.
Though, I can't really say that the marauding mistakes are really all that detrimental to my productivity. They're pretty negligible, actually. Sure, I spend a lot of time thinking about them- and sure, I was really worried about providing a clear front of consistency across all chapters- and sure, sometimes I find it difficult to write because I...
...Alright. Wise words there, friend.
Personally, I don't mind the retcons for fanfictions as long as the story isn't done, an intriguing path opens, or a separate story. Or any other reasons as long as it sounds sensible.
What I do mind is not knowing what get retconned amidst a very long chapter. I don't have enough time to reread almost every fiction; words per minute, on top of limited free time in a day, amongst the multitude of interesting fics on this site alone.
A solution is to add the location of the addition/changes in the author's notes so we can roughly find it ourselves. Another solution is to use Light's frequent lapse of self and the eventual rememberance to fill in a the small blanks in a new chapter. Or create a dedicated small chapter, or multiple, in between when Light is conscious during his necromancy studies.
I may not remember all, if not most, of Light's small flaws and logics, but they certainly help shape how I feel about his actions. Just wish that mysterious dead pony in the forest was used for something further down the line. Maybe even try communing with his mother. He probably doesn't like to ruin his image of his mother as a zombie.
5694039
Thanks for the thoughts! And, for your helpful edification, I've added small patch notes at the end of every changed chapter's AN!
The things that I changed aren't world shattering, and the only real change of any actual note came in chapter 28, but I'm glad you care enough either way to potentially stay jiggy with updates! These are just some things that, looking back from the future, would have been plot-holes with how I'm going to be presenting magic from here on out. I've only made concerted efforts to make my own fanon recently, so I used to really phone it in for worldbuilding and arcane theory.
You make a compelling point about how potentially easy it would be to sprinkle magical bits into the grey space of Light X NMM interaction, but, in the end, I just want to get through chapter 40 as quickly as possible. The story will become far more interesting in its wake, and I'm complicit in allowing the things I write to be mind-numbing for the time being.
...I have thought about doing small, 'Light's Magic Journal' type chapters as simple curiosities. Maybe I'll make that a reality?
Anyway, I respect your time when I'm not throwing endless thousands of worthless garbage words at you, so here's every chapter I changed: 15, 19, 24, 25, and 28.
New chapter soon! it's boring tho :\