Pony Fanfiction Thread

I've had to many really promising stories end up dying to be optimistic.

I liked Mendacity, but I don't feel comfortable seconding it. My interest waned in the second part.

I've read plenty of complete, moving, well-crafted narratives that barely breached the 1k minimum. Both the Hugo and Nebula awards consider a novel to be 40k words or more.

Obviously "long" is subjective in this case, but I don't generally trust fanfiction authors to make good use of lengthier works.

edited 23rd Aug '14 6:33:43 AM by CleverPun

Yeah, fanfiction authors have a tendency to write stuff that's longer than it needs to be. Partly because A. multi-chapter fanfiction is generally an episodic medium, and B. "editting" for a lot of these authors tends to involve adding rather than subtracting text.

Or just not being sure where they are going when they start, so spending time just exploring the story. And since it's already 'published' can't really go back and refine the earlier stuff.

Been there, done that.

I have two new nominations. First, Changeling Blood, a story that I should've nominated earlier but forgot somehow. I doubt anyone here has read it, so it probably won't get any votes, but I want to nominate it anyway. Second, The Majestic Tale (of a Mad-Pony in a Box), which is a story I just finished reading, and is easily my favorite Doctor Whooves story. Easily.

FOE: Pink Eyes

Isn't that the one with the kid protagonist who turns out to be a Shining One ghoul? I read the first chapter of that... well.... maybe it gets better later, I dunno.

A Canterlot Ghoul from the war.

I read it. I liked well enough, but the writing quality isn't very good. I don't blame the author, since English isn't his/her native language and it's clear that the author would be a good writer otherwise, but that doesn't really change anything.

I was on the IRC once and said "oh yeah, I should continue that."

The author implored me not to and to instead read another, better FOE story. Like Memories or something.

Pretty much, the writing quality isn't great, but the story itself is amazing.

Or Hooves of Fate.

Caught up on that and now the author has me doing pre-reading for him for upcoming chapters.

The author told you not to? Of Pink Eyes?

Also, as much as I like Memories and very much recommend it, I just remembered something you probably won't like about it:

The story really loves to meander, a side effect of it trying to primarily be a comedy (not particularly story-driven) and yet being as long as any other FO:E side story. It hits a low point around Chapters 17-20 where it just stops going anywhere. The next act is planned to pick up the pace, though. Hopefully.

Again, I still recommend it.

Yeah he tends to be rather self effacing from what I've seen. Not "My work sucks stop telling me it's good" type, but rather, he's heard enough praise, he knows people love it, and would rather some of the less well known stories get a bit more love as well.

edited 23rd Aug '14 1:10:32 PM by Seraphem

Well, I'm headed out to my family thing. If you guys are going to have the call tonight, someone else will have to initiate it.

How many shallow crossovers with Five Nights at Freddies does FIMfic need?! I'm no stranger to stupid stupid crossovers, but why that game? Is it just a demographic thing? Are there ponies in it?

I get it FIMfic, you can stop now.

edited 23rd Aug '14 2:16:17 PM by CleverPun

It's just the latest big meme, it'll die down in a few weeks.

I won't be able to make the call tonight. Too busy playing Diplomacy.

(That's also why I've been slightly less active the past few days. CDRW, I will preread your Zecora fic and rate it scene-by-scene; Yami, I will read Lullabies Unsung and tell you what I think of it; and Connelly, I will reply to your second PM with questions – but first let me write this message to Italy about what the hell he thinks he's doing in Marseilles...)

In other news, I jumped on the "all-caps text in a foreign language as a custom title" bandwagon, together with JT, Sereg and Meta Four. Though in JT's case "language" might be a too generous term...

edited 23rd Aug '14 3:52:13 PM by MidnightRambler

I never get where these crazes come from, but maybe that's just sour grapes on my part for not being in the loop. Took me long enough to see the big deal about ponies, after all.

On another note, it seems obscure enough that I'm not going to nominate it for the Chest, but I'd like to recommend Vee for Vendetta. Another intricately plotted comedy that managed to slip my mind because it hadn't updated in a while, and while it lacks Twilight's distinctive voice I think it has much the same feel as Demesne.

On another nother note, did anyone else here check out Applied Starlight? Darn you Unknown.

I'll second Mendacity, if it's alright. I love that story!

I'm trying to figure out the significance of you posting that video here and in Applied Starlight's reviews. Is it just about the last line, or is there something deeper? If there is, it's pretty embarrassing that I can't figure it out seeing how I should be good at things like this.

Yeah, it's just because I heard the last line in my head when I read the last chapter. Sorry. I'd have just posted the last line if there was a clip of just that.

I actually use this title because it literally is a title bestowed specifically unto me by another person. Kind of a long story, but I'm willing to divulge it if you're interested.

The latest votes and nominations for the Chest have been processed.

@Yami: I put Vee for Vendetta on my Read Later list. The premise sounds like it could be interesting, but the Ronald Reagan quote in the description makes me suspicious. If it goes for cheap, anvilicious "civil servants are stupid and useless" comedy I'll be dropping it, fast.

@Sereg: Sure, let's hear it. Gather round the thread campfire, tropers, and listen to the story of how Sereg came to be known as "He Who Makes Another Place!"

(My own title, by the way, is a string of Polish cursing. As far as I've been able to piece together, it means "Jesus! Mary! Sweet fucking God!" I saw it in this◊ Polandball comic, and found it hilarious, thanks in no small part to the odd typesetting – each word on its own line – and Poland's expression. Then I remembered how all-caps custom titles seem to be a thing here, and thought this would be a funny variation on that theme.)

@Midnight: It's one of the ciphers from Gravity Falls. I couldn't think of anything else to put there.

And yeah, when I do my next major fanfic projects one of the things I'm going to specifically aim for is to keep it from meandering as much as the current project. For the one I'm writing, the length is part of the point, but I don't think I want to try writing something that long again.

Okay. So, the fandom I'm most active in after this one (and, in fact, I've been active in it for longer) is Mahou Sensei Negima. I really enjoyed it and it's a very fun verse to write fics for (most of the time. I'll discuss that later) due to its large and diverse cast, Love Dodecahedron, Fantasy Kitchen Sink nature, intricate worldbuilding which is often discussed in author's notes where the author showed his work (Do The Research! is a meme in the fandom. The author discusses real world martial arts, mythology, psychology, physics, etc) while still running heavily on the rules of funny, cool, sexy and cute and it's a very crossover friendly verse.

Anyway, those of us at the Negima Fanfiction Thread have basically gotten to know each other quite well and bonded and we're well known for our biggest fics or the type of fics we write.

My biggest project for that fandom is an AU. AU's are nothing new in that fandom, but I became ... infamous for it due to the nature of the premise. "What If? the protagonist switched places with a minor character at the start of the story?' (Of course, it's a bit more complicated than that as I gave myself several rules I had to follow, which I can discuss if yu want. For example, the former protagonist isn't a minor character).

Now, one of the things that exist in the Negimaverse are pactio cards, which grant special powers. They always bare the image and Latinised, allcaps name of the one that ones them, as well as a Latin, allcaps title for the owner.

One of the members of the thread is an artist and he created pactio cards for each of us, giving us titles based on the fics they were famous for. As my fic had the most AU premise, that's the title I got.

Unfortunately, the fic has largely stalled as I'm at a part which involves complicated Time Travel, which I hate writing. Paradoxes are infuriating. However, hopefully I'll get past it and continue faster.