estee

Update: Daily Equestria Life With Monster Girl

Added 2020-11-11 18:34:01 +0000 UTC

And we once again meet one of the writer's greatest enemies:

The natural chapter break.

We're coming up on Cerea's meeting with Cheerilee's class, and this chapter turned out to be the final section preceding that scene. And I thought about going almost directly into it within the same chapter, without anything more than a bit of {HR} code to create transition -- but I had a natural break point. The kind of line which says 'Stop here, let the readers think about things for a while, and then continue.'

And that line can feel like the enemy, because there's something within which would really like to just barrel forward. But there's something to be said for pacing. Movies use oner shots only when necessary (or, for some, to prove just how long they can maintain the illusion). TV shows broadcast over networks have learned how to make commercial breaks into weapons.

(Side note: I feel that's one of the things which can feel so jarring about streaming originals. They're effectively short films passing themselves off as episodes, and it makes the duration into something which can be subjectively uncertain. We're always waiting for the ads -- and the next generation may start to see such pauses as unnatural.)

So I found a natural break point, and I respected it. 5600 words, and then just about the entire next chapter can be Cerea's meeting with the class -- plus one fast postscript to close. And in that way is pacing maintained, because sometimes the story seems to be saying 'pause here.'

Which means the next chapter will have Cerea and Diamond in the same room.

Make sure all seat belts are securely fastened. Chapter not responsible for the fate of loose objects.