Vylet Pony - production diary: promise complex (pt. 2)

well since i posted pt. 1 of the production diary i've switched almost entirely to the written novels of starship ponyville.

i've had a lot of conversations in the patreon server about everything and i frequently forget that not everybody on patreon is in the server to see them. for those who have been there for my little rambles i may be repeating information a bit here. but anyhow.

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something i've learned very crucially—and this is not necessarily universal advice but moreso what i've discovered about myself—is that you can only plan so far ahead when it comes to writing compelling stories. i've done so much work in the conceptualization process, planning out the characters, considering pivotal moments and getting the big picture of everything together. after all, the conceptualization of starship ponyville began in the fall of 2012. it's been essentially 14 years of planning and thinking and consideration, yet it seems that so many of my best ideas happen in the moment.

a lot of my favourite conversations and turning points and lore ideas happen on the spot. they're never something i can totally plan out and that is something i find very fascinating. this is very consistent with how it's always been for me with music, i usually only have loose ideas at best going into things and i discover things as i go. i wouldn't necessarily call everything "happy accidents" but moreso intuition makes things all come across more naturally than the rigid structure you imagine beforehand.

throughout writing this first novel, mystic acoustics, important characters that simply DID NOT EXIST in the original lore spontaneously came into existence through intuitive necessity, and now i cannot picture the story without them. it's really incredible how that works.

it's really true, that you need to just make a compelling world and a compelling lineup of characters, figure out a situation, then drop them all in it and ask them what happens. so often it feels like i'm at personal disagreement with my characters and they're all acting like idiots which means i think i'm doing a good job documenting what they want to do in the stories.

as for the music, i haven't had too much thought of it on that end. it's probably going to end up being very similar as has been with writing in that i'll intuit what feels best in the moment. i do have my loose plans and i have some general atmospheres i want to establish musically, but i've been so focused on writing that i haven't had a lot of time to explore that yet. the music for promise complex will come more along once i've made significant progress on the homeward and fairytails stories.

i've been meeting with sylver every week and we've been discussing the nature of everything. we've solved a lot of crucial problems with the stories that i'd been ailed about forever. i definitely think it was the right call to completely rewrite mystic and homeward, because now everything actually makes sense, has weight, has drama, and is compelling in a way i find very fun.

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the big plan here is that i'm going to promote and campaign for the mystic acoustics reissue first and foremostly. that will give newgens—which is most of my audience at this point—to be introduced or reintroduced to the world of starship ponyville and its beloved anti-hero, satyrn startide.

the books are going to be available physically.

but they will be sold at zero profit. i'm not entirely sure how we're going to go about that yet but i've been exploring my options. once the manuscript for mystic acoustics is complete, i've already prepared the formatting situation for that. looking at a 5.5x8.5 trade size book. ideally i'd like to launch this aside a vinyl and cd for mystic acoustics.

on top of that, i plan to write a few songs that encapsulate the parts of mystic acoustics which have been added to the book that were not originally part of the story. so much of what i've added feels integral to the entire series now that i think there is no way of avoiding it.

here is a WIP artwork by stereoflier for the reissue. when it comes to the vinyl & cd—if they happen—those will maintain the alumx artwork and such. but this artwork will be used for all other reissue material, including the book cover.

so yeah

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in the meantime, after the mystic novel is all said and done, i'm going to take a brief intermission to work on an album i've been lightly conceptualizing in the background called "let's be outdoor cats together" although i've also been debating the extended title of "let's be outdoor cats together; or 'goodbye graveyard!'"

here is a wip artwork for that by ropehare. and below is a PROJECTED (subject to change) tracklist concept:

1. Twangstorm (The Big Bad)

2. Oh my!~

3. Moombahton Death Squad

4. Philtered Souls During the Swag Era

5. The Swamphen

6. E:vilocity

7. Cider in Stereo

8. Little Tiger and the Path of the Orange Tabby

9. Bloomingdale's

10. Goodbye Graveyard

11. And... Here Comes the Abstract Art!

12. Lucario Goes to Pacifica

it's already clear to me that track 3 is already likely to change its title. so take it all with a grain of salt. but i've shared some of the relevant demos on patreon already. i may not finish it right after mystic acoustics but i'll definitely get some good progress towards it.

the album would be focused on thoughts, feelings, and experiences after having finally overcome my sleep issues and stopped being nocturnal after 2 years. i've been spending a lot of time outside and walking around and doing stuff in the world and it has been very healthy and productive for me. a lot in my life has changed over the last four months of living in the daylight, and so have many of my thoughts, perspectives, and emotional states too shifted.

i've been spending a lot more time writing physically and reading more, all of it inevitably feeding into the creative world that i want to put forth. the physicality has all been spectacular!

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anyway, im definitely very sorry for the dwindling patreon uploads at present. i'll have a lot more to offer soon. i'm almost to 100,000 words for mystic acoustics and that has been my main focus. in the meantime this has been a production diary entry!!