Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Commentary

All right, this one isn't actually a 'fic post. In fact, it's more of an apology.

First of all, I'd like to apologize for that two month break in updates. As much as I'd like to say "oh, I was working hard on it, I just couldn't get it together," it'd be a complete lie. In fact, for most of those two months, I did absolutely nothing in the way of writing. I suppose I could claim that it was a personal problem, but I really doubt "I was lazy" counts as a personal problem. Or, for that matter, a decent excuse.

Secondly, I'd like to apologize for the sudden drop in formatting quality; it annoys the everloving hell out of me, and I assure you I have no idea why it looks like that; I type everything out in Google Docs, it looks fine, and then I copy-paste it to the Gearbox... and it all goes to hell, and no amount of editing I do seems to fix it - and every time I try to go to HTML mode and correct it manually my eyes glaze over, because apparently there is a lot of formatting I'm not privy to when composing posts normally.

Have I mentioned having any form of technological savvy is not part of my skillset?

In response to the first problem, I'll say this: yes, it was absolutely terrible of me to leave you hanging. I am not at all happy with myself about it, and I'll do my best to get at least one update a month going from now on, if not more. If I fail on this, feel free to leave a scathing comment about my lack of work ethic. I'm serious.

Secondly, the formatting, I'm looking at a few ways to remedy it, and the best one seems to be coming up with a special character and some extra line spaces to indicate scene changes...

Honestly, as much as it'd be simpler to leave it as Google Docs, and link to the document, I prefer using Blogger so I can see your comments. I might not reply to every single one, but I do read them, and I do appreciate them. Despite a few trolls on EqD, and just as many people, if not more, seeing the premise and reject reading it out of hand, I haven't censored a single comment anyone's made to the blog, and I don't intend to. If you like it, that's fine. If you love it, great! If you don't like it, or think something's terrible - tell me, along with your reason. If it's something like "I don't like this story because it's M/M", then perhaps you're reading the wrong fanfic...

But if it's something I could improve on? Yeah, I'd like to know.

Thanks,

Cogs.

8 comments:

  1. For a while I thought something had happened to you! Anyway, I really love this fic. Besides Whisk and Clothes Hangers, I don't think I've found a good M/M fic that didn't get cloppy right away. I don't know if you ever intend to go into that for this, but I can survive either way. My main complaint about the story is the length. Theres not enough awesomeness to read on it! Well, that and how quickly Caramel and Mac got physical, that bit seemed kinda....off.

    Keep up the good work, I look forward to reading more soon.

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  2. i must say that your fic is one of the few that i read, i love the way you describe your characters and so far the story is great.

    just asking, have you tried using fimfiction.net?, in that way you would be able to see our comments, and i think the format is similar to google docs, also we could keep track of your story more easily.

    and sorry, i probably have some grammar mistakes here, english is not my main lenguage but i'm still good at reading :)

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  3. It's OK. Everyone needs sometimes a little break. And don't apologize, you don't have to. Of course, I would be rapt, if I could read a new update every week, however I realize how difficult is to create good, heart-touching story. Things that you can improve? Formatting would be fine, I guess. The story is well-written (despite it's so short, oh GAAAWWWD, needs moar!) and I really enjoy it, especially that it's so hard for good m/m MLP fic's...

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  4. @ Trigger

    This story, eventually, is going to be pretty long - I'm not sure how long, but, well... It's titled Apple Branches for a reason. So far it's been CaraMac, but there ARE other members of the family...

    And no, it's not going to get cloppy; what I've written's going to be as close as it gets - pretty much stating that, yes, the characters do have a relationship that includes sex, but no, we don't get to see it. As far as I'm concerned, it's not the main focus of the story.

    As for them getting physical quickly... it's a bit hard to tell, since I don't draw too much attention to the timeline, but they've known each other for years, Mac and Caramel first started attempting a relationship in mid-autumn, and by "Sweetened Apples", it's mid to late February. It's taken them three to four months to actually get to the point where they're ok with sleeping with each other.

    @Random

    I've considered FiMfiction, but one reason I prefer the Gearbox blog is because I can go in and make small tweaks as necessary... like, say, spotting a spelling or grammmar error, and trust me, they've managed to sneak in. With FiMfiction, I'd have to keep resubmitting the entire document to fix one or two errors, as opposed to just hitting "edit" and making the change.

    @Kaczy

    I don't know if I can pull off every WEEK, but I'll definitely do my best to improve my output.

    And, as I said, eventually this fic will be LONG. In fact, I think it's getting close to the point where I'll be shifting focus to another pairing...

    Though CaraMac will still be in the background, so if you love them, they're not going anywhere.

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  5. Even though I know now that this wasn't the case, I felt that the time you didn't write was sort of like the time that Big Mac spent away from caramel. I may be looking WAY too into this, but I think it added to that feeling of separation and eventual stagnation that came with routine over a long period of time. That feeling that Mac felt that nothing really had happened and that life went on as usual (for better or for worse) is kind of what I felt. I read the penultimate section, and was really excited for the next one. But as time went by and there weren't any more updates I began to only check the blog sporadically and eventually let it set in the back of my mind until I though, new year, new post maybe. Anyways, without gushing too much, I will say that I always look forward to your story and find it one of the best love stories out on the net amongst all the vile, everyday junk that's out there. You're writing style is gorgeous. Your use of diction and syntax is superb and you make me feel like I'm writing a legitimate piece of writing, not some super-kawaii-desu plot of two characters that were strewn together just because they smiled at each other once.

    tl;dr: Your work is pretty damn great. I don't care who you write about, just please keep writing. (And if you have to take your time to make it good, I'd rather you did.)

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  6. Cogs... It's been a month. Take this as a scathing comment about your work ethic. I love this fanfiction and with that shot of Caramel with his "girlfriend" in the latest episode, I need some of your epic CaraMac fanfiction.

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    Replies
    1. Scathing comment noted! I'm working on the fic now, as a matter of fact.

      Okay, I've been working(ish) on it for a while, but I'm actually getting things done on it. Honest. I swear.

      ... Stop looking at me like that.

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  7. Cogs. This is your angry letter. I expect to see a chapter with all of my favorite ponies posted by the end of tomorrow, or I'm not baking you that cake. >3>

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