I get a certain sense of dread and satisfaction when a chapter is completed. I put stuff into it and hope it’s stuff that you all will like. I’m not always sure if I have my finger on the pulse of the fan but I’m thinking you all will enjoy MGP Chapter 56. At least I hope so. Regardless I did have a lot of fun writing it so I think as long as that is true it tends to come out in the writing.
I want to thank my wonderful patrons for helping me out. It’s thanks to you wonderful people I’m not a starving artist XD
Now, I want to get a little bit into spoilers for the chapter so if you haven’t read it yet please go do so now.
Okay…. are they gone? So I want to discuss Vivian here at the end of the chapter. I’m partially basing how she walks and moves on a friend my sister had in middle school. The girl was a gymnast and I swear could NOT hold still or stay upright. So many times I’d walk in on their conversations and the girl would be walking on her hands, doing cartwheels, or walking backwards while they talked and had a conversation.
It always fascinated me because I knew other gymnasts and found them to be, well, kind of boring. Gymnastics is a sport that requires some of the most intense discipline I’ve ever seen. But not this girl. She was fidgety and always had a smile on her face. Now, she was nowhere near as fun as Vivian. Vivian has the benefit of being written by another human being and thus her lines can always be well-timed and fully-formed. Even the most clever of comedians will fumble through their words at times. Regardless, I knew I always wanted to base a character around that kind of energy. I’ve always had it in the back of my mind with Vivian but I don’t think I fully was able to capture it until this scene.
It was also super important for me to make sure Robynne acknowledged and lamented the manipulation she pulled on NightKnight. I have to walk a fine line with him. On one hand, he’s got to be annoying to deal with and not take a hint such that you can feel the frustration Robynne has with him. He also needs to be sympathetic. I hope that by tapping into the socially awkward nerd I can grab both.
One of my favorite lines from video games is in Mass Effect 2, coming from Mordin Solus when you’re doing his loyalty mission. When confronted with the tragedy his decisions he goes through and talks about how he did the best with the data he had and, looking at that data now, he’d still make the same regrettable decision because he still feels it was the best of a lot of bad decisions. He’s still trying to do what he can to set things as right as he can and when confronted with the idea he’s doing it because he feels guilty he says, “Not guilty, but responsible.” That line always sent shivers down my spine because it’s just such a perfect summation of the human condition. We make the best decisions we can and even if what we did wasn’t “wrong” per se, we still have to live with and even deal with the consequences.
I hoped I could channel that with Robynne’s inner monologue here. In no ways do I want to say whether she’s right or wrong in her assessment. And I hope it’s telling that her Uncle’s aphorisms are coming straight to her mind. Whether she’s right or wrong actually doesn’t matter too much to me as an author. Moralizing complex situations isn’t my cup of tea. I’ll leave that to philosophers. What’s more important to me is that Robynne recognizes that whether she was right or wrong to do something doesn’t matter as much as her willingness to help fix the consequences of her actions.
In the heat of the moment, in the middle of an unexpected crisis, we all make snap decisions that may or may not have been the best choice at the time. We can always Monday Morning Quarterback something with hindsight. What matters most to me is if you make the decision to do the harder, and for the lack of a better word, more righteous decision once you have time to think about it.
Okay, end spoilers!
Thanks so much for reading you beautiful people. For my next project I’ll be diving back into Villain-In-Distress so stay tuned over there.
Later days,
Taralynn Andrews
Was a great chapter well worth the wait ^^
A pleasant read, as usual. Going in, I wasn’t sure how Robynne was going to lead NightKnight off the subject of the Cell-celia attack, given they have similarly high levels of inquisitiveness and skepticism, so seeing the tears desperation play that was an effective stopper for Robert himself was a nice swerve. I think you’re doing a good job of writing NightKnight, peeling back layers of unlikeability as Rob comes to understand him. Their attitudes may be different, but the two really are quite similar, which I’d say is my favorite part of their interactions thus far. Whether NightKnight’s changes are the result of being empowered or just another strange phenomenon of living near the Standridge Stones, I expect his role will only grow in the future, which is fine by me.
–
Now for the nitpicks, which I can’t help but hone in on as currently the only person actively editing the MGP wiki and TV Tropes pages. I noticed a couple of inconsistencies in Robynne’s description of Deepwater:
1. In Chapter 12, Rob says “Deepwater only has a little over ten-thousand people in it”. In Chapter 56, however, Rob says “Deepwater had a little over sixteen-thousand people”.
2. Again, in Chapter 12, Rob says “I just can’t believe you guys have a comic book store here in your mall. I had to drive to the next town over whenever I wanted to get the latest issue of Collider”, with the comic book store and town in question called “Ben’s Comic Book Shop” and “Bremhaven”, respectively. In Chapter 56, though, there’s “We actually have a supermarket, restaurants, and a comic book store if you can believe that”.
I know Robynne indicates shortly after that at least part of the background she’s giving Stacy is false, but the line between lie, retcon, and forgotten continuity is unclear here. I’m mostly interested in this as a wiki editor deciding what to go with. I’d love to ask you about other things left vague throughout the series, but the Deepwater thing is the most pertinent one.
–
Some miscellaneous things:
– On the Stories page, the links to Chapters 53, 54, and 55 all go to Chapter 52 instead. Additionally, the link to Chapter 56 is labelled “Chapter 55”.
– There is no easily accessible link to your Patreon.
– Due to Fandom acquiring Wikia, the URL of the MGP wiki has changed. Because of this, the Forums and MGP Wikia links on this site now go through redirects. It’s not really a big deal since the links still take you to the proper places, but it’s something I thought to note.
– Speaking of the wiki, it’s still called “Magical girl policy Wikia”, with improper lowercase and a reference to the now defunct Wikia, when it should probably be changed to something like “Magical Girl Policy Wiki”. If I can get a hold of Lowten, the wiki’s sole and years-inactive admin/sysop, I might be able to get the necessary user privileges to change the wiki’s name. If that happens, it might be necessary to change the wiki link on your site, so if it does I’ll let you know.
*MASS EFFECT REMASTER IS COMING SOON! AAAAAHHHHH!*
Another excellent chapter — though, is it supposed to be impossible to comment on them directly anymore? The reply box doesn’t seem to exist on chapters 55 or 56, and I can’t say I have any idea why that would be.
Really really nice chapter. And despite being afraid to ask and be the cause of a long delay in the stories, have you seen the Avatar the Last Airbender series? There is a certain character who acts very similar to that friend you mentioned, and I bet you’d love to see her and the show overall.