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.