Looking for pre-readers! (possibly illustrators as well)

[Sunderbraze 12]

Hey all!

I've been dedicating a pretty good chunk of my summer to writing/illustrating a novel-length fan fiction, and I'm looking to find a couple of pre-readers that are interested in reading it before I publish it, so I can get some feedback from a fresh pair of eyes. I'm also considering help with the illustrating, but I'll talk about that later. The fic's title is Equestrian Elite: Tartarus Infernum.

 

If you're interested, I'll tell you a little about the fic. It's largely an epic fantasy adventure, with a few sci-fi elements as well as some downright scary moments. If it were a movie, it'd probably be rated pg-13 for the action scenes and the dark elements. With that said, however, I'm doing as much as I can to keep true to the portrayal of the characters. I also have a background music system for the fic as well, if you've read Mindblower's fics (Envy & Arrogance, Guilt & Hate) you may be familiar with how that works.

 

Story

Let me set the stage for you; remember in "It's About Time" when the three headed dog, Cerberus, came to Ponyville, and Twilight mentioned that he is the guardian of the Gates of Tartarus, where all kinds of "ancient evils" are imprisoned?

 

That's the primary focus of my story--when Cerberus goes missing yet again, Celestia takes matters into her own hooves and goes to investigate, only to be caught in a cataclysmic explosion as the gates are blasted open. Did I mention I'm also illustrating the fic? Here's a sneak peek of what I just described. It's not final but feedback's welcome:

 

 

The ancient evils that are set free pose the greatest threat in Equestrian history. Celestia then hurries to assemble a team of defenders--spearheaded by the Elements of Harmony--to meet these foes head on. She would come to call this team the Equestrian Elite. I'd compare the epicness and scope of the adventure to something like Lord of the Rings. It has a lot of good guys, a lot of bad guys, and a number of wildcards in between.

 

Characters

The Equestrian Elite are eighteen in number. I've already mentioned that the main six will be spearheading the team, and Princess Celestia will be a part of it as well. Other members of the Elite that we all know and love will include Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, the Wonderbolts Spitfire and Soarin', and another surprise character that has been mentioned but (sort of) never been shown in the series.

 

The remaining five characters will be a diverse set of OC's. Two of them will come from obscure backgrounds, while the remaining three will fill unmentioned roles from other parts of the canon universe. For instance, one is a battle-hardened trainer of the royal guard (Shining Armor's original drill sergeant), and another is a skilled celebrity hero from Appleloosa--the five times grand champion of the national Canterlot rodeo competition (the winner of most of the blue ribbons Applejack hoped to win in "The Last Roundup").

 

Villains

As for the 'ancient evils' of Tartarus, there will be a pretty diverse host of villains as well. All of them will be OC's. Some will be massive and powerful, and some will be strong simply because they're large in number. But the most dangerous ones will be normal ponies with some really dark powers. One villain from the series does make an appearance, but I won't spoil which!

 

Pre-Readers

Hopefully some of y'all are interested in pre-reading this for me! Optimally, I'll need two or three pre-readers. I'm looking for you to provide me with some constructive feedback on each chapter. I'm not an English major but I'm a grammar nazi at heart, so you'll be reading something that's been spell-checked and grammar-checked with laser precision.

 

My schedule is to have the first draft finished by the end of this month. Once I've finished the draft, I'll send it to the pre-readers and they can start to provide feedback, while I start touching it up for the final copy. So, this notice is two weeks in advance! Unlike a lot of fan fictions, I'm not writing and publishing the story chapter-by-chapter. I'm really glad I didn't do this, because I've gone back twice now and changed a lot of things in previously written chapters. I plan on finishing it all at once, which is partially why I need pre-readers to ensure it turns out well.

 

I'm going to be using Google Docs for the pre-reading feedback process, so the only big requirement of being a pre-reader is to have a Google account so I can authorize you as a reader. That, and, well, have a love for MLP and epic fan fiction, haha.

 

Illustrators

As for the illustrations, I'm currently uploading some of them to my deviantART page which I'll link below. If you're good at making vector traces (preferably in Adobe Illustrator), and you want to help me with the illustrations, let me know. I'm a bit picky of how I want the illustrations to turn out, but that doesn't mean I won't want help--some of the images take 8-12 hours for me to do on my own. With that being said, I may actually publish the fic without some of the illustrations and add them in later, but only if they end up taking too much of my time. If you end up helping me with the illustrating, you'll be granted the same access as a pre-reader and any feedback you have will also be welcome!

http://sunderbraze.deviantart.com/

 

TL;DR

WOW, that was a mouthful. Hopefully I didn't scare anyone away, lol. Here's a little TL;DR. I'm making an epic fic, and I need a few people to pre-read it for me when its first draft is done in roughly two weeks. Also looking for vector artists that might wanna help me do some tracing work.

 

Interested?

If you're interested, drop me an email-- it's my username at gmail.com. Please put 'Pre-reader' or 'Illustrator' in the subject line, tell me a little about yourself, and I'll get back to you in a day or so with details about everything. Everyone that assists me will be given due credit wherever the story is posted--here, FIMFiction, GDocs, deviantART, possibly Wattpad, and if it makes it, EQD as well!

 

Thanks for your time everybrony! I'm trying to have this fic completely finished and published by the first week of July. Cheers

Edited June 17, 2012 by Sunderbraze

[Dragonshy 2,305]

I would be interested in prereading it and helping to illustrate it. I will send you an email.

[Strafe 593]

You can PM me if you want. I'm also planning on writing a bunch of fics over the summer.

[Sunderbraze 12]

Sweet, I've gotten a few e-mails already. Thank you guys, you all rock! I'll send out a reply with details in a day or so here!

[ZENos 3]

I would love to pre-read your fic, i'm normally a proofreader but this fic looks like a goodun'.

[The Awesome One 1,314]

I've done a fair bit of Pre-reading before so I'd be more than glad to read your's as well. I LOVE the story.

[Sunderbraze 12]

Awesome! I just sent an e-mail to everyone that e-mailed me, and I also PM'd all of you who replied. If any of you guys write as well, PM me your stories so I can add them to my to-read list as soon as I get some spare time

Thank ya much!

[HunterTSN 1,444]

I do lot's of pre-reading on fanfiction.net and fimfiction, so if you still need some help I would be happy to edit, you know such as spelling and grammar mistakes, can't say i would be any good at illustrating though :/ PM me if you still need help.