Another Update

I just wanted to let everyone know that I only have one scene left to write in chapter 9. I had hoped to have it completed by this point in the week, but my grandfather fell down again on Monday night, so I've been sort of preoccupied with that. He's okay as far as injuries go--nothing internally, and externally there's not as much damage as last time--but they're running a bunch of tests to see if something is causing him to fall so much. Apparently he's fallen quite a bit in between the last time and this time, but he didn't say anything because he didn't injure himself. Tonight was the first night this week where I was able to sit down and write with a clear head. I just sat down and hammered out the second-to-last scene. I'm hoping to get that final scene done within the next couple of days, but I think that will depend on how much New Year's celebrating I do. This chapter is shaping up to be longer than the last one.

An Update

Okay, I realize I've been fairly quiet for a while now, so I thought I should pop in and let everyone know that I'm still alive. Chapter 9 is also coming along. I had hoped to have it finished by now, but I underestimated the interference of the holiday season, as well as the volume of students I would have to deal with during finals' week. Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that A)I'm still alive and B)I'm still writing.

Chapter 8 Sumitted + Delay Explanation

I just submitted Chapter 8 to Equestria Daily and Fanfiction.net.

Now, in the post-chapter comments I promised an explanation for the delay in chapter 8, so here it is. The quick explanation is that life simply got in the way. The long explanation follows.

Some of you may recall from previous opening and/or closing comments that I am engaged, and that I also finished my Graduate program earlier this year. Well, it's getting to the point in my engagement where we are seriously starting to plan our wedding, and October managed to turn into a huge planning month. I never realized how much work goes into planning a wedding, and if I never have to plan one again I will be content. Between securing a venue, hiring musical entertainment, hiring photographers, picking out decorations (oh, and a color schemed for those decorations), making guest lists, sending out invitations, doing wedding registries, etc. it can get really hectic. Let's not forget the most important thing, either: all of this crap costs money, which is where my point about graduating comes in.

Since I graduated, all I've heard from everyone around me is that I need to find a better job than the two part-time jobs I work now. I have no problem with that idea, and I fully agree with these people. The problem is that I can't simply snap my fingers and make a job appear out of nowhere, and the employers in my area seem to be getting more and more picky. What's really holding me up is my lack of a "professional" background. My Master's degree more than qualifies me for most of the jobs I'm looking at, from an educational standpoint, but these jobs also want several years of professional experience, which I don't have. During college, I basically worked for whoever would accommodate my school schedule, and it seems that this decision is coming back to bite me. At any rate, I started hitting the application trail a lot harder, given the fact that we are now getting more serious with the wedding planning.

Of course, the fact that we're getting married also means that we need to get our own place to live, as well. So house hunting has figured into the equation. If you're wondering why we're looking at houses as opposed to apartments, it's because the going rates for the crappy apartments around here are outrageous. After some research, we've determined that it would actually be more cost-effective to get a loan, buy a house, and make monthly payments on the loan. Of course, this requires more money than we're collectively making right now (read: she has a good job, and I'm still stuck at these crappy part-time jobs) so we return to the point about the job.

On top of all this (yes, there's more) is that my future brother-in-law--a high school dropout with no job--has managed to get his girlfriend pregnant. Now before I proceed, I want to make it clear that I am not being demeaning towards high school dropouts. I know several of them who live excellent lives. My brother-in-law (to be), however, has done nothing with his life since dropping out. He's 22, in case you were wondering. He basically lives off of my fiancee's mother and father, and now he's bringing a child into the equation. Needless to say, this has caused a good deal of tension, and since I'm marrying into this family I (unfortunately) got caught up in the whole situation. The most noteworthy event was the night he assaulted my future mother-in-law. To make a long story short, the keys to his car were taken from him (the car is in his father's name, his father pays the insurance on it, and more often than not I think his parents pay for the gas). I can't remember why they were taken from him, as I came into the situation after that happened, but at some point he basically took the keys back and drove away. He came back, and of course this lead to an argument, where he ultimately assaulted his mother. So yeah, police involvement and all that. There were other incidents throughout the month, but this was the biggest and most noteworthy.

And of course my old friend Mr. Writer's Block paid me a visit a few times.

Anyway, that about sums up the events surrounding chapter 8's delay. I'm usually not this open about my personal life, but this actually feels a bit therapeutic.

Brave New World Chapter 8: COMPLETE!

No, you are not dreaming. Yes, that does say complete! It's been quite a while since chapter 7, and I apologize, but hopefully the extra long chapter 8 will make up for it. I just finished sending it off to my pre-readers, so after I hear from them and edit the chapter it will be available on Equestria Daily and Fanfiction.net. Thank you everyone for being so patient with me!

Attention all planets of the Solar Federation

Don't worry, no one's assuming control of anything. So I've been plugging away at chapter 8 now that things have settled down in my personal life, and I'm into the final few scenes of the chapter. It shouldn't take me much longer to have it finished. This will be, without a doubt, the longest chapter in this story thus far, so hopefully the extra content will make up for the extra wait.

Chapter 8 Update

I wish I could say that Chapter 8 was going well, but unfortunately I can't. I know what I want to happen later in the chapter, but I'm having a hard time getting to that point for some reason. It's just been a struggle between my writer's block and some personal issues that I won't bother you guys with. Thank you guys for reading my work, and I promise to try and get the next chapter to you as soon as possible.

Chapter 7 Posted/Submitted

Just a heads up: I posted chapter 7 to FFnet and submitted it to EqD!

Chapter 7 COMPLETE!!!

Yes, you read it right! Chapter 7 is done! I'm going to wait a day or two and then re-read the chapter myself to see if there are any changes I want to make (I also need to decide on a title), and then I will send it off to my trusty pre-readers. I will most likely have it sent off by Wednesday evening.

Chapter 7 Check-In

Just a quick update to let you all know that I am, in fact, working on chapter 7. I'm a good portion of the way through the actual writing, and I have all of the events for the remainder of the chapter mapped out. Now I just need to actually finish writing. I really wish I still had the patience/drive/stamina/whatever it is that I had in high school that allowed me to pump out page after page of material. This fic would probably be done by now if I did. C'est la vie, I suppose. At least writing is still fun--I'm glad for that much, at least.

Twitter

Now that I have a smart phone and the Twitter app, I have found more use for my Twitter account. Among other things, I can now use it as a medium to post quick updates on story progress instead of always having to wait until I can access the blog. I still intend to maintain the blog, of course. So anyway, if you'd be interested in seeing any progress updates via Twitter, or if you want to see what other kind of crazy stuff I get up to, feel free to follow me: FireLordPhoenix.

Brave New World Chapter 6 POSTED!!

After reading through all of the suggestions and corrections made by my pre-readers, I have finalized and posted chapter 6 to FanFiction.net and submitted it to Equestria Daily. Thank you again to all of my pre-readers for your valuable advice and feedback! You guys are awesome!

I usually make a separate post with my thoughts and inspirations for each chapter, but I think I covered most of that in the post-chapter note this time around. If I think of anything else worth saying, I will certainly make a post for it.

Chapter 6 COMPLETE!!!!

No, you are not dreaming. That does, in fact, say that chapter 6 is done. I know, it's hard to believe. I will be sending the chapter out to my pre-readers later today.

An Update

I just wanted to throw this up real quick to let you all know that I am still working on chapter 6. It's taking a while, I know, and the reason is 50% my slow writing process and 50% other sources. I haven't written much this week because my grandfather fell down the steps and busted his head open pretty bad early in the week, so I've been concerned with making sure he's okay (he's in the hospital) and with being around my family. I have not and will not abandon this story, so please don't let that thought bother you.

As always, I will update the blog when chapter 6 is completed.

Conventions and Ponies

Hello everyone! It's been quite the couple of weeks! Last week I was preparing for and attending Otakon, and this week I was busy playing catch-up at both of my jobs. Not to worry, though: chapter 6 is underway! In the mean time, allow me to share the photos I took of some pony cosplayers at Otakon:

http://s931.photobucket.com/albums/ad159/FlameLordPhoenix/Ponies%20at%20Otakon/

Chapter 5 Posted!

Chapter 5 has finally been posted to Fanfiction.net, and emailed to EqD so that it can be updated there. This chapter took quite some time for me to write, but I am thoroughly pleased with how it turned out. Thank you again to Beige Monkfish for pre-reading for me.

JamesBob: if you're still interested in joining the pre-reading team, I would love to have you on board. Just let me know the best way to contact you. If you don't feel comfortable posting an e-mail address here, feel free to contact me at Zephariel2005(at)aol(dot)com. FoxOfWar and Ddude28, if you guys are still interested then I would love to welcome you both on board, as well. I know you guys had offered a while back, but like I said in one of my posts I didn't want to just bombard you guys with e-mails asking for pre-reads after so much time had passed.


Now, onto the chapter discussion. I wanted to use this chapter to bring some other elements in to deepen the mystery (the door, for example), and to also set the stage to introduce the one missing main character. Overall it was an interesting chapter to write. There were some points where I would start with a small idea and then just keep typing as the idea expanded on the spot, and then other points where I would have to wrack my brain just to get half a page written. I ended up changing dialogue, reworking some scenes, and even completely re-writing one scene throughout the course of the chapter's creation. All-in-all, though, I'm very pleased with how the chapter turned out, and I hope you are too. Until next time!

To My Volunteer Pre-Readers

I wanted to check with you guys and/or gals to make sure you were still up for the idea of pre-reading for me. It's been a while since you offered your services, so I wanted to make sure that you were still okay with it. If so, just comment on this post, or shoot me an e-mail at Zephariel2005(at)aol(dot)com. I'm doing some self-editing on chapter 5 right now, but I'll hold off on submitting to to FFNet and EqD for another day or so just in case.

Chapter 5 COMPLETED!!!

Yes fillies and gentlecolts you read that right! Chapter 5 is completed! Of course, there is still the pre-reader phase. I think this very well may be the longest chapter in the story thus far.

Chapter 5 Update, Part II

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am, in fact, still alive and writing. I know I set a goal of having the chapter done by the end of last weekend, but unfortunately that didn't happen. I'm still plugging away at Chapter 5, and I have managed to complete the majority of it--I'd say about 75 - 80%. Admittedly, it was a rough chapter to get started, but now things seem to be flowing a lot easier, so the chapter should be ready to go to my pre-readers by sometime Friday at the latest. Beyond this it should get easier, since I have a lot of the story that takes beyond this point better organized in my head. We'll see, though, since I've already made several changes during the writing process. Anyway, I just wanted to throw this quick update out there and let you all know that I am still here.

Update: Status of Chapter 5

I figured it would be a good idea to post this up for those of you looking for information on chapter 5. I started writing the chapter on the plane ride back from Florida, and basically just kept writing until my laptop's battery died. They really should find a way to put power outlets on airplanes, but I digress...

Ever since I got back from Florida, I have not had a single moment to breathe. Between the holiday weekend (and all of the family gatherings/cookouts that come with it), getting up to speed with both of my jobs, and getting to work on my long-overdue thank you cards for my graduation gifts, I have barely gotten a chance to work on the chapter since the plane ride. I had hoped to get most of it done at my second job this evening, since we are usually dead in the summer (I proctor exams at the local community college). Of course we would be busy tonight. In addition to that, it seems my co-workers did not bother to check the office voice mail for the past week and a half, so it fell on me to sift through all of the messages and return the calls. Add in the exams that no one bothered to print from the morning shift, dealing with unscheduled students coming in for exams that are supposed to be by appointment only due to excessive set-up times (we aren't actually allowed to turn them away if they don't have an appointment), and a ridiculous student flow...well, I don't think I need to point out that I didn't get any time up until this point. I have about twenty-five minutes before closing, and everything has finally settled down, so I'm going to get some writing done before the end of my shift. Hopefully I can get this chapter done before I go to the ocean this coming weekend; if not, well, I should have plenty of peace and quiet down there, so I should be able to finish it during that time. The problem is that I won't have internet access down there, so I'd have to wait until Monday to send it to my pre-readers.

Anyway, that's about the gist of what's been going on. I didn't want anyone to think that I had abandoned the story or anything like that; it's just been one big mind-screw after another since I came back to town. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to sharing chapter 5 with you all!

Brave New World Chapter 4 Is Up

As the title says, Chapter 4 is now available for your reading pleasure. I have uploaded it to FFNet already, and I also e-mailed the chapter link to EqD.

The scene with Fluttershy in the garden was initially going to be in chapter 3, after the scene with Dash and the newspaper. After reaching that part in chapter 3, though, I felt like the Fluttershy scene would have been out of place, and would be better to start a new chapter with. I almost did the same for the Twilight/Dash scene at the end of chapter 4, but it was never intended to be a long scene, so I figured it was best to just leave it like that.

I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I've had these ideas for Fluttershy floating around in my mind for a while now, so it was nice to actually get them written out. Axing this part from chapter 3 also gave me time to draft up more material, which is how the opening scene in this chapter came about. I had way too much fun writing the Rarity Rage scene. Overall, I don't know how many people would really be that scared over being hit on, but I think it is a fairly accurate description for Fluttershy. Just look at Fluttershy's reaction to Twilight introducing herself in episode 1. If she's that timid over a simple introduction, then I can easily imagine her being immobilized with fear over a guy forcing himself on her. Plus there's that bit of human Fluttershy's back story that was revealed in this chapter.

Hopefully the scene with Fluttershy at the rabbit hutch and the scene with Twilight and the book have gotten you thinking. If they haven't, then I was unsuccessful. As I said in the note at the end of the chapter, the fifth chapter may be a bit longer in coming. I recently graduated from my graduate school, and I will be leaving for a week in Florida to celebrate in three days' time. While I will have my laptop with me, I don't know how much time I'll actually find to write.

Thank you all for sticking with me and continuing to read this story! I know it's not the greatest piece of literature ever (it certainly isn't the best thing I've ever written), but I sure do have fun writing it.

Brave New World Chapter 3 POSTED

Well, I got it posted tonight, although that's mainly because I decided to move part of the chapter to the beginning of Chapter 4. Before anyone accuses me of it: no, I didn't make this decision just so I could get Chapter 3 posted tonight. When I reached the point where Dash was musing over the article she had just read, I started thinking about how this just felt like a natural conclusion to the chapter. The other scene I had planned out involved Fluttershy all by her lonesome (that's all the information I'm willing to give :P), and it didn't even touch on the events that happened during Dash's and Pinkie's portion of the chapter. It really felt like it would be out of place, so I decided that it would be better used to start Chapter 4. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make each chapter only focus on one or two characters, but at the same time I'm not trying to force every character into the spotlight in every chapter.

Overall, the goal of this chapter was to deepen the mystery of what's going on with Pinkie Pie and to introduce a potential plot point. I'm not used to doing a slow moving plot like this, so please bear with me. This chapter really isn't among the best writing I've ever done, but overall I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, and I hope you all enjoy it. I'm going to take a breather for the weekend, and then get started on Chapter 4 on Monday. Stay tuned!

Focus, Focus...GAH!

So I don't know how many people actually check this blog, but if you do, you're probably looking for something about Chapter 3, other than the comment I made the other day that stated I was working on it. This is true, I am working on it. I can honestly say that I have never struggled this hard to actually focus on my writing. I know what I want to happen in this chapter, and I more or less know how I want to go about doing it, but I can't seem to focus for more than a few minutes at a time on actually writing it out. I just can't get my mind off of the fact that my fiancee was in a car accident yesterday. She's fine, and the damage is minimal, but it's the circumstances of the accident that keep bothering me. I won't bother you all with the details. Even listening to my usual "writing playlist" isn't helping, nor is my usual focus beer. And yes, I'm completely serious about focusing better with beer.

Anyway, I just wanted to throw this up here so that you all would know that I am working on the chapter, and so that you would know why it's taking so long. The chapter is about halfway done. I had intended to finish it tonight, post it to FFNet, and submit it to Equestria Daily. Hopefully I can still meet that goal, just a bit later than intended. We'll see how it goes.

Brave New World on Equestria Daily

I meant to post this last week. Brave New World is now available on Equestria Daily as well as FanFiction.net. I previously posted the FanFicion.net link, so here is the Equestria Daily link:

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/05/story-brave-new-world.html

Brave New World Chapter 2

Chapter 2 is now up on FanFiction.net! I'm still trying to get it listed on Equestria Daily, so cross your fingers for me!

I really wanted to showcase Pinkie Pie's mental turmoil in this chapter, so I hope that came across as well as I think it did. At the same time, I was hoping to create more intrigue for you, the readers, to wonder what is going on here. After all, this story is supposed to have some suspense to it. Other than that I don't have a whole lot to really say about this chapter. It was very Pinkie Pie centric, but other chapters will focus on the other characters.

Brave New World: Chapter 1

I like talking about my inspirations, but I also have a bad habit of rambling. I have this sneaking suspicion that most people won't want an extra paragraph or two of my bullshit after they just read an entire chapter, so I decided that I would use my blog as a place for my author notes instead. If you have somehow found this blog without reading my fanfic, you can find said fanfic here:

 http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6997042/1/Brave_New_World

I have also submitted the story to Equestria Daily, in the hopes that it will be included in their fanfiction section. If they choose to post it, I will post a link for that location as well.

So here we have it, chapter 1. Not much happened in this chapter since I wanted to spend some time introducing the world that this fic was taking place in. I'm trying to keep the names of places similar to what they would be in the pony world (hence "Perryville" instead of "Ponyville"), but we'll see if I can keep that up. I plan to, but there's always that chance that I'll draw a blank somewhere down the line.

The story itself was actually inspired by fanart that I've seen around the Internet, where the artists conceptualized Twilight and Co. in human form. These images started making the gears in my head turn, and this story was the result. I won't divulge what's going on (that would ruin the fun of reading the story), but I'm sure you've all figured out that something is amiss based on Pinkie Pie's reaction to being human.

Well, that's all I can think to say on chapter 1. Thank you to everyone who has read, commented on, and/or started following this story so far. It's been a long time since I've written any fanfiction, so the positive reception has been a great motivator. Chapter 2 is well underway, and should be ready by the end of the week.

Brave New World: A My Little Pony Fanfic

It's been a long time since I've written a fanfiction, but my recent obsession with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has driven me to start again. I have submitted the first chapter of the story to Fanfiction.net, and I have also e-mailed Equestria Daily to hopefully have my story hosted on their site as well. I will post links when possible. Of course, if you're visiting my blog because you've already read the stories, then the links will be rather useless. Anyway, I plan to use this blog to post my thoughts about MLP: FiM, my fanfiction (I already have an idea for a second MLP: FiM fanfic), and anything else related to the show. Feel free to post comments and opinions, and if you know a thing or two about sprucing these blogs up, please feel free to share that information with me as well. I have very little knowledge when it comes to these things.