It took me all day, but I worked out how to sort out the mess that is A Retriever in Exile.
It all goes back to that summary chapter. Since aRiE was originally a short story, the second-to-last "chapter" skimmed over lots of events, so I was considering setting part of the new aRiE chapters during that chapter. A summary of the "mess": Since the second-to-last chapter of the first aRiE skimmed through Sparktail's accceptance of the human world, I was considering writing part of the new aRiE as taking place during that chapter. However, I wasn't sure if I should have aRiE posted as multiple stories. Unlike LotE, I don't consider aRiE substantial enough to merit a submission per chapter. That means posting in "parts" instead of "chapters" on Route 50 and dA. However, then I would be obligated to post aRiE as multiple stories on other sites as well. If it was part of the same story, I would either have the chapters ordered chronologically, making the "summary chapter" redundant, or the chapters would be ordered by part, i.e. not in chronological order. It would also holding onto the "summary chapter" for Route 50 and dA. Anyway, I realized the last chapter of aRiE is too crucial to Sparktail's development to just work around. So I looked at what I'd written so far of aRiE and finally realized that there was a relatively small amount of content that actually could be placed during the summary chapter. So I worked that content into the "summary chapter", and not only does it fit, but it even helps with the "show-don't-tell" issue. Slightly. Anyway, the new aRiE will take place after the old chapters. With one exception: "Domestic or Wild? Part 1" causes the aRiE submission to go over the dA size limit. But it makes a nice opening for the new aRiE anyway. So on the writing-based sites, where aRiE is grouped together, I'm placing that chapter with the summary chapter, while on the art-based sites, where the story is divided by "part", the chapter will be placed with aRiE-II. |
SparkleafSparkleaf has been writing fanfiction since 2009. He also enjoys anime, manga, and visual novels. CategoriesArchives
April 2021
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