TV Tropes defines Growing the Beard as when a series finally gets its act together or makes a marked improvement in quality. Sometimes it's when the exposition ends and the actual plot begins. Other times, it's when the conflict is firmly established. Or it could just be when the audience realizes just how high the stakes really are.

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Remember when I told you guys that big fanfic reviewer had Shine in his sights?

Well, I don't know what happened, but he seems to have lost it from his bookshelf. I asked him for clarification, and he was just as confused as I was.

So now that that's fallen through, I need to figure out another way to get more people reading the Shineverse. I tried submitting Shine to Equestria Daily again a few days ago, so that's something.

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Hello? Is this thing on?

Um, hi everyone. Rose here. Zero decided that since you can't see Shine anymore, that we would give you all periodic updates while he's in the process of remastering it. It's really important to him that this new story be the best it can possibly be.

Anyway, here's where we're at so far.

Current Chapter Focus: Dusk

Primary Flaw: Pacing

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When it comes to conflict and rivalries, some of my favorites are the kind that pit two similar characters against each other. Whether it's a foe drawing their powers from the same source the hero, a rival that studied under the hero's same teacher, or a Five-Bad Band to counter the Five-Man Band, conflicts like these greatly up the tension and provide more of a reason to get invested in the character. Sure, you can beat a whole army of mooks no sweat but what about the guy who can do

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If you guys have been following me for a while, you'll know I've made several revisions of my work since I started here. Each time, the revisions and rewrites were made with the goal of taking poorly written or rushed parts of the story and making them work better. Pretty much turning the bad to good. I had no problems with that; in fact, I even requested help with that when I rewrote Dusk.

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Someone has to die.

I said before that once the Shinverse gets underway, that the characters at Crystal Prep will be used as major storyline antagonists for our heroines (and hero). I already have Cinch's role in mind as well as a few others, so that's not a problem. The problem I DO have however, is with the Shadowbolts.

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Brainstorming Shineverse ideas again. I have quite a few of them planned. I'm even considering putting MYSELF in the world as one of the characters. But that's another blog. Right now, I'm trying to narrow down powersets for magic.

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I guess I need to get more popular before I start polling you guys.

Anyway, some of you might recall that I asked for suggestions on the first villain for the Shineverse. I wanted a more lighthearted adversary for our heroines to contrast Adagio and Searing; both so I could give you guys a break from all the soul-sucking drama and so I could experiment with something new.

Writing comedy.

So in the end, there was one character that worked more than the others.

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So out of curiosity, I tried making a few of the changes the EQD reviewer suggested. Just for chapter 1. They worked. In fact, they worked so well that I decided to go ahead and remaster this whole thing. What does that mean?

It means I'm revoking Shine's submission while I give the thing an overhaul.

Rose: What?! You can't do that. What about all the success you've already had? Don't you just want to quit while you're ahead?

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Since I've started heading in their direction, I think it's time I addressed Crystal Prep.

Ever since I first saw the synopsis for Friendship Games, I was intrigued by the concept for multiple reasons. First, the fact that Crystal Prep had a rival school would mean more opportunities for antagonists in the EQGverse. Second, the fact that we were getting the Human World equivalent of the Crystal Empire meant possible appearances from Cadance, and Shining Armor.

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Now that Shine is back up and running, my thoughts have once more turned to the future. More specifically, how I want to set up the Shineverse.

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Ah Self-Insert.

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Greetings fools, Searing here. I'm standing in for your regular host today who appears to have come down with a bad case of...demonic possession. Heh heh heh.

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