Let's face it: we're probably at the point where if I take a month off from this story, someone's going to propose killing me. Also, this is the Internet. I'm not going to bet against their sincerity.
This is the first of what I'm hoping will be two new sections for July: about 7200 words on this one, which basically serves as a status check on a couple of characte...
2020-07-21 23:59:43 +0000 UTC View Post
The good news is that with this publication, there is now at least one story in the New column which isn't about Nazis.
(If you haven't seen the New column today, don't look. Just... don't.)
I've been dancing around the edges of this idea for a while. Various blog respondents made contributions to it: Equestron posted a documentary link about cheating machines in t...
2020-07-19 02:44:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Right: I said 'free'. That's because I have a minimum word count for posting a pledge charge, and 2100 is under the limit. If anyone feels like dropping a tip in my Ko-Fi jar, that's your discretion (and I'll hardly turn it down) -- but in terms of Patreon pledges, I don't feel comfortable with hitting Ch...
2020-07-06 13:46:10 +0000 UTC View Post
I wanted to finish the month on a light note, because let's face it: the planet is currently going through some things. We can go back to the relative shadows of Anchor Foal in July: closing out June seemed to require some attempt at a laugh. And I get ide...
2020-06-30 22:59:22 +0000 UTC View Post
This is how I have story ideas.
I was driving along a semi-major non-highway: one of those two-lane roads which goes stores-farmer's markets-banks-housing development-offices-woods-repeat for ten miles. And as the farmer's market was fading into the rear view mirror, I checked the road ahead of me -- and wound up swerving hard, avoiding the tortoise who was starting t...
2020-06-28 00:32:17 +0000 UTC View Post
As I was saying on Twitter, it's amazing how someone who's 6'7" and moving on hooves can manage to sneak up on you. It's been noticed that this story passed the word count on A Mark Of Appeal some time back. And to honor that, it's time for the previously-scheduled-no-really appearance o...
2020-06-25 01:21:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Oh, look. I was tired enough to set off another debate about earth pony magic and Secrecy in the comments again. That's always a recipe for a perfectly calm and reasonable discussion which can never go wrong in any way.
...it's gonna be a looooong night.
Two chapters this time, with just about 9000 words between them. This is a case where I knew I had a na...
2020-06-22 00:20:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Let's just say it's been a rough month. (See blog for some of the details. I won't link because I'm guessing most of you already have.) And because it's been such a rough month... I'm going to be trying to work within what time remains. Which already has two doctor's appointments to work around, plus one possible funeral attendance on Monday. (The funer...
2020-06-20 23:25:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Yes, I know the code randomly grabbed art from the Also Liked column. Again. That's probably the single strongest argument for getting cover art on this story, but... what would an image for Anchor Foal even look like? Does it have Fleur and Fluttershy in the same frame? Is Discord involved anywhere? Would an appearance by Harem Fant...
2020-05-30 23:27:39 +0000 UTC View Post
9400 words this time, which is another reason why I had to use the previous chapter's natural break point. This one extends the training, along with providing the partial answer to a question. It's something where a number of readers had already worked out the possibility (and long-timers will understand how it's being done -- which is something I'll have to correct in a fu...
2020-05-27 01:12:52 +0000 UTC View Post
This was originally meant to be one scene.
I wish I was joking. I wrote out a list of notes for everything I wanted to go in the chapter, and this was how it was going to open. But this is the first time we've seen Cerea have any degree of true privacy in several chapters. She was seeing a huge number of things for the first time. (Seriously. This was the fir...
2020-05-24 22:14:29 +0000 UTC View Post
The coronavirus outbreak has been filled with conspiracy theories. How the disease came about. If it's a plot to take away freedoms. Which party benefits most, and who profits. Whether you should break all protective measures as a means of standing up for yourself, if not whoever you just put into the hospital. It's been, in two poorly-chosen words, exhaustively an...
2020-05-21 02:05:17 +0000 UTC View Post
The thing about 'This is the dumbest idea for a comedy I've ever had' is that your brain has a certain tendency to try topping itself.
But with everything so miserable -- for details, please use any news feed/site, anywhere in the world, at any time -- there's a desire to go full-scale ridiculous in an attempt to balance things out. And what did that desire lead me into? 8900...
2020-05-18 22:58:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Sometimes, the only thing you can do with a plot bunny is let it breed and give it a nice place to raise the kids.
This is a somewhat personal piece. I try not to use Rarity as my crutch character (because she is just so easy to fall back on) -- but when it comes to some of my own feelings about anything artistic, hers is the easiest voice to hear. And in this case, a...
2020-04-29 21:03:33 +0000 UTC View Post
I didn't want to finish the month without one. I've been having some trouble getting momentum up on Tish's story -- it's a matter of finding and keeping the right tone -- and I didn't want a Rarity plot bunny to keep Cerea on the sidelines until May.
(For the latter: it's an idea which requires some refinement, and also might be uncomfortable for a lot of writers to ...
2020-04-26 21:44:37 +0000 UTC View Post
I have to explain what this story is, and what it very much isn't.
It is about the CMC getting certain facts about sex horribly wrong and acting accordingly, in a way which hopefully produces both laughs and spine collapse in equal measure.
It is not about the CMC having sex.
Because that's not something I'm going to write. Not with child characters, not ever. Ther...
2020-04-24 01:51:21 +0000 UTC View Post
I want to make one thing completely clear at the start:
This is FanOfMostEverything's fault.
I usually have one mobile game which I can play in waiting rooms. (Assuming those open up again any time soon.) This used to be Marvel Puzzle Quest, but following the loss of game progress with a tablet switch, it became Hogwarts Mystery. A...
2020-04-21 02:19:37 +0000 UTC View Post
This is how a writer's mind works.
I found flour weevils in my kitchen. I was not happy about this. I have been having an emotionally rough month and I didn't need a full six hours of scrubbing and throwing away ruined goods. It's been almost impossible to write as-is, and now th...
2020-04-19 03:38:04 +0000 UTC View PostI said something similar to this in my FIMFiction blog a while back. But I didn't post it here, and so there's a chance that some of you didn't see it. So I just put it up as a new blog entry, separate from all other content -- and I'm posting it here as well. So that there's a chance every sponsor sees it.
So. Directly.
It's okay if you...
2020-04-15 18:25:21 +0000 UTC View Post
...take two.
Some of you probably just got an Email notification for a new posting. I deleted it. This is the second version. Why? Because I was so tired, I forgot to tick off the Charge For This Post box. And as it turns out, that's something you can't edit in after the fact. I just spent a few minutes making sure this wasn't going to be...
2020-03-31 21:54:39 +0000 UTC View Post
The Patreon composition window often holds little starter fragments as suggestions for how to begin. Before I began typing, this one originally hosted "Now this is a story all about how..."
Fine. This is a story all about how Estee has no idea how pacing yourself works. I wanted to start on this one yesterday. I couldn't. I knew I had to make signi...
2020-03-29 01:28:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Just 5600 words this time -- but I hit one of those natural breaks where continuing the chapter would have been its own crime. This was about having Cerea and Emery on the same stage for a while, and beginning to establish something about what the training is going to involve. Once each has an initial (and not necessarily final) sense of the other, we've reached the chapter's natura...
2020-03-25 18:03:41 +0000 UTC View Post
So close to a word count of 7,777 that I was momentarily tempted to go back and edit-tinker just to get the number...
...yes, I'm tired tonight. When you're tired, the strangest things can stand out. Like the fact that at one point, I became curious about the exact hue for Fleur's field color and did the research. Want to guess how it's described? ...
2020-03-21 00:52:32 +0000 UTC View Post
First off: Anchor Foal should be the next continuing story to update. I just wanted to get this out of the queue for two reasons:
* People were expecting someone to show up.
* And now he has.
This particular update comprises two chapters, coming in at a bit under 11k on the combined word count. And because I just about wrote myself int...
2020-03-18 02:05:34 +0000 UTC View PostI'm posting this as a new message to all sponsors (and already put it up in my blog) because I want everyone to understand what happened, in the event that this ever comes up again. And I am still asking for everyone who either came in during the 2020-03-02 17:43:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Because the 1st of the month is Patreon pledge collection day, and... okay, bluntly: I think some of the people who came in for the first time or raised from a previous total forgot something. Namely, I think someone (and possibly multiple someones) may have forgotten to make sure they established -- or changed -- their monthly cutoff line.
I do see some of th...
2020-03-01 22:58:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Somehow, this turned into All-Centaur month.
(Poor Cerea. A whole month to herself, and naturally it's the shortest.)
I'm predicting that March will have at least one more chapter for her: we need to get her into training, and the next stage of potential meetings has at least been set up. (This chapter was, in many ways, around 5300 words of setting up the future -...
2020-02-28 22:07:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Commence fallout.
After the Big Moment of the last chapter, there were going to be some questions. This segment saw a number of them reach the screen, while others will need to wait until Cerea gets the chance to find some sleep. She's had something of a long day.
(I can envy her. I may have just written myself into insomnia.)
(This actually happens....
2020-02-27 03:47:31 +0000 UTC View Post
I'll keep this one short. (I just posted 9700 words. I'm allowed to keep something short.) The story was meant to build to the moment which ends this chapter and officially launches the next phase of the overall tale. It was even discussed in the blogs which originally talked about the possibility of bringing Cerea in.
I said there would be a ray of...
2020-02-23 03:10:51 +0000 UTC View Post
So it turns out there's people reading this story who, for lack of a better summary, haven't met me.
They haven't looked at the main 'verse, and may have no intention of ever doing so. They aren't familiar with the AU elements which have built up over the years. Every character interpretation is being seen for the first time. They are here for Cerea, and nothing...
2020-02-20 22:44:25 +0000 UTC View Post