When I read tweets about plans for EGS I want to eventually kow what they are referring to. Here is a list of such tweets. I have a separate list for tweets about upcoming EGS:NP storylines. Tweets not by Dan are in italics.
- Some readers really like Ashley, some readers really don't. Part of it is because she's so nice. Huh. You know, there's another really nice character... Yeah, I'm looking forward to Ashley meeting Grace. I can understand not liking that Ashley is dating Elliot and not Susan, but Susan's got enough on her plate. Besides, it's socially acceptable for them to share Elliot, right? *Crickets chirping* I SAID... Part of the deal with Elliot and Ashley is they enable each other's over the top do-gooderness. There are pros and cons to this, and I don't have a long term plan regarding which will win out. I'm just going to go with the flow with their relationship and see what happens. (February 17, 2017)
- Ashley and Grace have met at the party in the current storyline.
- You have no idea how many things I'm resisting the urge to address in Sister 3 for the sake of pacing and focus. On the plus side, I don't have to never address these things. They can be their OWN storylines! With blackjack! And... *erhem* Go Fish! Yeah I basically owe Ashley an entire storyline after this ^^; Which is basically why we haven't seen Ashley, because it would become a tangential story that isn't really connected to the main one. Also Justin. And Sarah. I mean, Sarah's been focused on, but only in relevant context. She's owed focus on not so relevant things. Huh. You know, it takes focus not to include certain things now, but I have at least three storylines for later as a side effect. storylines with proper focus instead of just footnotes in this story... Is this writing? Is this how writing works? (March 21, 2017)
- I would like to know what Dan planned for Ashley before he decided that she had a role in Sister 3. Perhaps she would have gained magic in a different way. I would also like to know how Dan would have had that happen in Sister 3, which he had apparently planned even earlier.
- For Justin this probably referred to his relationship with Luke. Their first date didn't happen until the day before the party for Ashley and little of it was shown when Justn told Sarah about it.
- For Sarah this probably referred to her relationship with Sam. Their first not-date was on the same friday as the most important events of Sister 3 and was shown in a one-page flashback in The Secret of Sam, a storyline that showed their relationship mostly from Grace's and Sam's perspectives.
- I very much look forward to eventually further addressing the matter of Ashley's internet ex-girlfriend. (May 12, 2017)
- Whoops I just thought of a new storyline full of complicated character interactions and feels We're talking SUPER awkward with people who might very much want to punch each other forced to interact. FUN! Gotta happen o_o *Sees a bunch of glaring bunnies* ...AFTER we see some stuff with Sarah and Justin dating? Not, like, each other, but, you know... *Bunnies chew lettuce menacingly* (October 16, 2017)
- Sister 3 is my Empire Strikes Back in more ways than one. Up next: Ewoks. (January 11, 2018)
- This was before Dan came up with The Legend of Diane so it probably referred to the storyline about Sarah and Sam's not-date (it was also before Dan realized that the not-date wasn't interesting enough for a storyline of its own) that became The Secret of Sam.
- I am really looking forward to the aftermath of Sister 3. So many characters have new connections, and I'm not even done complicating matters yet. (January 25, 2018)
- In The Legend of Diane Diane learned about a rumor about her fighting vampires due to Susan being mistaken for her. In The Secret of Sam Sarah, Tedd and Grace were all shown crying over Pandora's sacrifice and Grace told Sam about it. In the current storyline Elliot is throwing a party for Ashley to meet other magic users. However, most of the plot threads from Sister 3 haven't been followed up yet as of July 2019.
- omg. A mystery for Ellen and Nanase to solve is forming in my brain and I love it. Like, an actual "see if you, the reader, can solve this first with actual clues based on evidence and motives" mystery. (February 17, 2018)
- I'm not sure if it'll ever be canon, but at some point, "magic colds" that are mostly like very mild regular colds, but create magic energy buildup in a manner similar to what Elliot had to deal with, will be introduced in some way. (March 28, 2018)
- I’m looking forward to revealing how one thing in particular from Sister 3 will function as a basis for bringing multiple characters together who might otherwise not interact, and how it might lead in to future storylines they might otherwise have to stumble in to, (June 2, 2018)
- The hardest part of wrapping up Sister 3 is deciding what to show and what NOT to show. I'm basically asking "could this be shown in flashback later if it's ultimately relevant, and is it focusing on characters this arc has been focusing on?" If yes to the former and no to the latter, it's probably not worth making the arc longer to show it. (June 17, 2018)
- I’m gonna name the storyline in which griffins return “The Word” and you can’t stop me. (June 28, 2018)
- I'm considering a canon EGS:NP storyline involving Tedd, Grace, and SCIENCE! I'm considering this on the basis that I want to show the experimentation, but it would be best if their conclusions were just summarized in the main story section. Like, in EGS:NP, it's whatever. In the main story section, it's a pacing nightmare that should probably just be summed up with any lingering relevant questions presented. (This is effectively the "have your cake and eat it too" solution). (July 4, 2018)
- The NP storyline was apparently cancelled. The results of the experiments about Grace's clothing traansformation ability were summarized in early The Secret of Sam.
- Note to self: Learn from Peter Molyneux's mistakes. Don't announce things while you're still figuring them out. It's entirely possible the end product won't be able to include that tree you can plant and have grow in real time (or whatever that claim was) (Thing is, it's obvious why it happens. You get an idea for something, you get excited, and you just want to tell THE WORLD...! But no, don't do that) (July 9, 2018)
- This may be inspired by the NP storyline announced above and/or by tweets about the Sarah/Sam not-date.
- Dan seems to have partially learned this lesson. Only one non-sequel EGS:NP storyline announced since then has been cancelled
- I need more minor "jerk" characters, but where can I ever find them?! *Realizes the characters will be going to college* ♫ I've got a golden ticket... ♫ "Hey Dan, you going to address them all going to the same university and why none of them are going out of state or whatever?" NOPE! (It's one of those things where no explanation will be satisfactory, and we're all happier with them going to the same place, so whatevs, right?) A time skip is inevitable, but nothing immediate. There are way too many things to address "soon" in a chronological sense (early days with Kevin, griffins coming back, various aftermaths of Sister 3, etc). (July 20, 2018)
- ...Carp. College will be a ways off, won't it? Fortunately, I already have characters in college, so I still TECHNICALLY have that golden ticket. I just have to do something that focuses on Charlotte and/or George, and... ... ♫ I have another golden ticket... ♫
- Dan later announced a canon EGSNP storyline with Luke, George and Charlotte but it was apparently cancelled.
- I haven't decided whether they'll be in dorms or commute. Like, going to the local university, commuting makes more sense, but I imagine there's a lot of potential in the former. Will be easyer to introduce new charicters in a dorm but having them getting a house off campus lets them more easily talk about magic in private I've got that covered already (devilish laugh)
- Speaking of college students, more Luke please? :D Luke, and why he was basically on a mission to get information on Cheerleadra from Justin, is an upcoming plot, so I could probably just go with that for introducing more college characters. ... I'm doing something with George and Charlotte, too, and you can't stop me :P
- Speaking of jerk characters, did you pretty much retire Tony at this point? I’ve gotta do some sorta backstory junk with him because of something else I established, but he’s pretty useless until then. (July 21, 2018)
- ...Carp. College will be a ways off, won't it? Fortunately, I already have characters in college, so I still TECHNICALLY have that golden ticket. I just have to do something that focuses on Charlotte and/or George, and... ... ♫ I have another golden ticket... ♫
Sister 3 ended August 1, 2018.
- (MINOR spoiler) I’m plotting a side effect of magic changing being magic sort of defaulting to transforming at least some of a person’s clothing with them, as in undies fitting even if a person morphs would be more common than not. This doesn’t mean people *can’t* transform without any of their clothing being affected, but I just realized I had an excuse to have transformations default to outcomes that don’t require Austin Powers style covering up after, and immediately thought “yes, please” So default shrinking is still plenty awkward, but the camera lakitu who presumably films everything doesn’t have to be a contortionist magician to keep filming :P And everything manages to make sense from an EGS perspective, as “because magic is quirky” is basically 100% canon. (August 3, 2018)
- I assumed this was the case anyway- didn't you have a thing once about growth magic that the clothes would tend to grow with the person at closeish to the same rate? I specified in a Q&A that clothes would tear like tissue rather than harm someone if they grew too much, so sort of the opposite of that. New magic will usually make that a *little* less awkward, at least. Which will infuriate Tedd. Not for dirty minded reasons, but because he’s ranted for years about that growth scene in Monsters Vs Aliens not making sense, and now she’s going to feel like the universe is mocking him.
- (Is going over how many sketchbooks I actually owe) I am very mad at myself right now.(August 13, 2018)
- Dan has apparently given up on making all sketchbook images he owes.
The Legend of Diane started August 20, 2018
- I’m going to establish a minimum of setup before having the next big time skip in EGS. One reason is a lot of things are dependent on time having passed. Another is some things are simply happening later chronologically Another? I can flashback as needed, so no skipping stuff! “The minimum” at this point is the return of the griffins (not a spoiler, they scheduled a return meeting with Elliot). That could well be the last storyline before a significant time skip. Actually... The minimum for a MAJOR time skip might be after that? Or there might be a series of small time skips. There's stuff with Justin and Sarah that need some time to pass that might be best after the griffins (who are due to reappear in universe in less than three weeks) (September 11, 2018)
- I'm increasingly less concerned with handling things in exact chronological order, meaning Sarah's meeting with Raven will wait for when it's more relevant. "Boo--" Which means the NEXT storyline can focus on Sarah, Sam, and Grace and include Justin and Luke. "--Urns?" The meeting with Raven will have relevance to some other things, so it's gonna get the flashback treatment for maximum emotional / plot relevance. As much as I like chronological order, if I'm just gonna have to recap it anyway, and it's standalone, may as well save it for then. (September 22, 2018)
- The other storyline mentioned is The Secret of Sam, which indeed became the next storyline, though Sarah has less of a role in it than implied here.
- I'm as guilty as anyone of having characters be EVER so conveniently connected to each other, BUT IN MY DEFENSE, I had created a bunch of unrelated characters with nothing to do together, and now they DO have stuff to do together! ...Wait, is that actually a defense, or...??? Look, if characters have nothing to do together, you find some convoluted way to connect them via their family tree so they're stuck with each other. That's how writing works. (September 28, 2018)
- It's tempting when the characters go to college just further assimilate various characters into that environment. Well, specifically, Tensaided. "Oops, sales are down. Time to become a film professor." I don't know, though... "People would stop claiming rental places don't exist anymore even though it's just the big chains that went under and there's one you personally see get regular business by a pizza place." ...That's more incentive than it should be. (October 1, 2018)
- Now I seriously need Tensaided to be retconned to "I've had had a PhD on Cinema Studies since... dunno, 10 years? It's just that the rental store was more lucrative. It was." Gonna be honest. If I have Tensaided become a film professor, we're probably not going to focus a whole lot on his credentials. (October 2)
- One of the issues with an ongoing story canon is the question of how you make sure the big events of today's story contributes to tomorrow's rather than just splintering off, either becoming tangential and impractical to follow, or impossible to follow up on. That moment when you sort out how it fits into what's next, AND connect it to another important plot thread that was in danger of losing relevance? By golly, if I drank champagne, I'd drink a glass right now. The mission statement of Sister 3, as in "connecting all the loose threads so they're somewhere in the knot", continues. (October 17, 2018)
- This was posted during The Legend of Diane so it may have something to do with Diane's relationship with Lucy, possibly their accidental double date with Justin and Luke.
The Secret of Sam started November 12, 2018
- Let it be known that I just the previous minute realized the in-universe deadline for Pandora's return. (November 13, 2018)
- Oh no. OH NO! I've thought up a LARRY storyline! D8 ) I'm going to keep it on the back burner as a "ye gods, the last storyline was long and difficult to do, I need something short and silly but still definitely canon" storyline. And no, EGSNP cannot contain the sheer number of Larry faces required. It hasn't the power. (December 1, 2018)
- Fun fact: Grace has not yet met Ashley, and does not like that Elliot already has a new girlfriend. Until Grace actually meets and gets to know Ashley, Grace is likely to have an irrational dislike of her. (Note that I'm not even trying to pretend they won't get along once they actually meet. Y'all know better anyway) It Grace hadn't met Sam before and wasn't distracted by other matters regarding him and Sarah, she would undoubtedly feel similarly about Sam. (December 1, 2018)
- What Grace feels about Ashley before meeting her was shown in the current storyline.
- Looking forward to an upcoming EGS antagonist. (December 18, 2018)
- I look forward to the next group of antagonists in EGS. (July 27, 2019)
- Next main storyline, potentially after a Q&A: Ashley meets the rest of the main cast and quirks are explored. I was going to say “not in a My Hero Academia quirk” way, but I guess there will be magic and learning. (February 3, 2019)
- (Considers next canon main storyline) I'm thinking it will be one day in one location, but I'm going to need flowcharts to cover all these character interactions. ...I really probably should have a Q&A first. (February 3 or 4, 2019)
- I’m plotting a Q&A after the current main storyline. If you’ve got questions, I might have answers. The storyline after that? Current plan involves Ashley getting to know a certain group of people :D (with enough tangled webs of characters to want the Q&A first O_O; ) (February 11 or 12)
- The next storyline basically has Elliot wanting to help Ashley adjust and feel comfortable with magic by having her get to know everyone via a party at Tedd's house. The sheer amount of character stuff to sort through is one reason a Q&A is happening right now o_o;;; Character thing #1: ELLIOT ACTUALLY TAKING THE INITIATIVE ON SOMETHING O_O (March 17, 2019)
- That (currently unnamed) storyline is currently in progress.
- I really want to write more with Grace trying to figure people out. She's learning history, she's started studying psychology, she grew up and has continued to live in relatively odd circumstances... There's a lot for me to work with, and I find it very relatable. I've reached a point where I'm good at predicting and analyzing the emotions and behavior of people, but I got there because I spent much of my life feeling like an alien who had to figure humans out to function properly. Why yes, I do like Data and Spock. How did you know? (March 7, 2019)
Q&A 8 started March 11, 2019
- Incidentally, I have not forgotten about the meeting with the griffins. In-universe, it's less than two weeks away, and the next storyline will mostly take place a week before that. There is, however, another storyline that must take place between that and the griffin meeting. (March 13, 2019)
- I have thought of a new evil complication for the next main storyline. It's very evil. ...Okay, not THAT evil, but its awkwardness level is over 9,000. (March 18, 2019)
- (Looks at complaint about lack of Sarah in main story) (Looks at plans for upcoming storylines) I hope everyone else likes Sarah, too. (March 20, 2019)
- I'll *eventually* be adding the EGSNP storylines "Marker" and "Escape From The Mall" to the story comics archives in the same manner I did with "Question Mark". This is due to increasing canon plot relevance of both character events and concepts introduced. I say "eventually", because my goodness was Escape From The Mall longer than I remembered. Even shown up to four at a time, Marker + Escape winds up being 25 new entries to the story section, and I'll want to have bonus commentary for each page o_O (April 9 or 10, 2019)
The current storyline (Title Pending) started April 15, 2019
- By the time Pandora actually does show up again, people will be so worn out from previous Pandora guesses to accept that it's actually her. (April 17, 2019)
- Does this mean that she will not return until long after the time skip?
- Whatever Susan decided regarding the party, fear not: She *is* a part of this storyline. Like, beyond the comics she's already been in. (May 5, 2019)
- Susan mentioned the party to Diane, who insisted that they both go to it.
- Introspection has resulted in me knowing how Susan gets to a place I wanted her to get to anyway, but knowing how she gets there is... Wow. I guess it was worth a week of being pretty badly bummed out? It’s also solidified another established character’s future role in the overall story and fleshed out an as-of-yet unintroduced character in a way that means they’ll be way more three dimensional. Gosh dang it those jerks who said art comes from pain were on to something (May 24 or 25, 2019)
- The comment about Susan may refer to her meeting Diane, who insisted on both going to the party.
- Picking and choosing what to show in this storyline is a nightmare at times, by which I mean there's a lot of character introspection I could show from pretty much everyone, but showing it all would be a slog even when read all at once, and I have to be selective.(June 16, 2019)
- I accidentally wrote a story with a consistent theme. Darn it, this is going to hurt my status as a hack. (In all seriousness, this super helps with deciding what to cut and what not to cut, which was becoming a problem or me) (FOR me. Darn it) (June 16 or 17, 2019) It is genuinely so helpful to have sorted out a character theme to focus on in this storyline. I was on the verge of having just a tangled web of stuff going on like a ball of spaghetti. Also, Justin gets to focus on comedy, and good for him, I say.(June 17, 2019)
- I had originally imagined the next arc after the party to be relatively simple and short. That has changed and the single word description that comes to mind is "nuts" o_o(July 7, 2019)
- I have thought of several evil ways to get things to proceed in the chronological order I want for the overall main story. They are only evil in that they are manufactured ways of putting certain things off, but really, that is evil enough. (September 4 or 5, 2019)
- Omg. I think I’ve figured out how to focus the next story arc, AND THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT Seriously, it was like “who’s the focus? AW WELL Let’s do this Avengers style but with no pacing” it’s obvious in retrospect AND ONLY in retrospect. it was such a MESS! ye gods, it would’ve been awf... (Cough) I mean, it was gonna be great, sure, but now it’ll be SUPER GREAT (October 6 or 7, 2019)
- Oof. I just thought of something evil for the next story arc. (Writes down) OH SNAP I JUST THOUGHT HOW TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE EVIL (Listening to power metal intensifies) Oh, and it makes another part of the story less coincidental. Oh, this is lovely, Twitter followers. Simply fantastic. I should listen to Metal more often. More evil. I know, I'll stop tweeting about it. I need to finish inking a comic, after all. Just assume evil and metal music is escalating until further notice. Oh, the more evil the plan for this next story arc gets, the better the potential pacing becomes! Fantastic! (October 10 or 11, 2019)
- I’m looking forward to Nanase moments of self awareness. (December 6, 2019)
- Nanase has realized that she was suspicious of Ashley because Ashley wasn't impressed enough by her to ask questions.
- Oops listening to power metal thinking about next story arc again (December 6, 2019)
- A lesson I've learned from Harry Potter, years after its completion, is to let some things go unexplained.
- I hope this doesn't refer to anything listed in User blog:Lophotrochozoa/Old unresolved questions and plot threads.
- I've thought of a way to nerf an overpowered character. Yay? It's like, I feel they need the nerf for story reasons, but they'd still be absurdly powerful, all things considered. No, not talking about Grace. Grace is OP in a way I can work with. Magic's Not-Change is the most beautiful plot contrivance in that I can just be like "wibbly wobbly not-change"! I mean... logical plot brilliance that is not at all an excuse for any changes I want. Obviously. (December 7, 2019)
- I'm giddy because there's a logical conclusion I know about that I haven't seen guessed. Granted, I'm cheating, what with knowing a technical detail. And writing it. And being advised by a talking honey badger plushie that only I can hear. (December 17, 2019)
- I've thought of the best and most evil twist. Okay, that's hyperbole, but I have thought of a way to combine one idea with another plot point in a way that makes me gleeful while further stressing out a lovable character. Those of you worried about Susan, don't worry! If anything, this evil will be good for her! I can't elaborate and there are so many terrible ways to take that I am so sorry / not sorry. (January 3, 2020)
- Someday, I might do short written story updates instead of going fully on break. Because I like to write*, and I want more practice. * As in not just scripts, but actual written stories and such. To clarify, I’m not talking desperately important to canon stuff, or things that even need to be read to follow the story later. It could even be written versions of past scenes. Point is, I’m talking bonus material, not “taking a break from drawing, read this or be lost later.” I hadn’t considered that some comics have done text IN PLACE of comics before, and that this idea might scare people because of that. Fear not. This is just an idea for optional “posting nothing while on break is the alternative” bonus material that can be skipped. (January 14, 2020)
- I don't think of either as a Mary Sue, and am not fond of the term in general (mostly due to overuse, sexism, and/or judging fan fiction for writers writing for themselves so why not have a cool self insert ya meanies), but if you HAD to call one of these a Sue... #elgoonishshive (January 16, 2020)
- I apologize for making a poll and rather quickly muting notifications from it, but I was already aware of most of the reasons why some people might label such and such character a "Mary Sue". The purpose of the poll was just to get a sense of the numbers and relative perception. The reason I want those numbers is because of something I'll be doing later. (January 17, 2020)
- (Considers the interests that have been awakened in Diane thanks to Elliot transforming, interests I hadn't actually planned in advance, but formed naturally as things progressed / jokes were made.) (Re-processes her proximity to Ashley with this new data.) Uh-oh. Seriously, her reaction to Elliot was meant to be one thing, her expressing an interest in everyone else shrinking to make her feel big was meant to be a bit of characterization, and her then wanting to see Elliot shrink while blushing was just funny to me, but put together... Welp, I've accidentally made it inevitable that Diane and Ashley have something in common they could talk for hours about. Their friendship is inevitable. This wasn't planned. All of the charts are going to have to be edited and I am going to need all of the pushpins and string. (January 19, 2020)
- Oops I accidentally just now started contemplating two of my characters as romantic interests for each other. I guarantee it’s not who you think, but the line “in canon they’ve never met” from the song I Ship It is applicable. Yeah, I don’t know if they’ll stay together or anything, but this pairing must be explored. (February 5, 2020)
- Is it Jeremy and Raven's cat? Who says they haven’t met? (Dun dun DUNNNNN) (February 5, 2020)
- I am plotting a time skip at some point, there is at least one thing I will admit to that needs to happen before ANY such skip can happen. It involves griffins. Part of the reason for the time skip scheme is that there are some things that feel need to happen, but don't essentially need to be shown as they happen. They can be implied, and even made more interesting by skipping ahead and establishing them that way. (February 6, 2020) Actually, there is one other thing that needs to be at least touched on before a time skip can happen that I will freely admit to: A little wand named Kevin. (February 6, 2020)
- It's increasingly sounding like Dan is going out of his way to leave the other plot threads hanging for a long time.
- I've just realized something FANTASTIC about two characters. It's not technically shipping-related, but that won't stop anyone. (February 8, 2020)
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