Pony Fanfiction Thread

Chapter Six of Damaged Goods is drafted and Jesus Christ, I regret not making the flashback chapters their own story. There were only supposed to be two chapters of this! Now the final count's going to be four before we can finally get back to the present.

This story is about to become the longest entry into Single Point yet.

edited 21st Aug '17 5:23:31 PM by TobiasDrake

Chapter Six of Damaged Goods is now live.

Granny has a homophobe that reject Applequeer used to be a cliche in fanfiction. To the point I remember an amusing parody of it and some authors go out of their way to avoid.

@Tobias: My Twijack thing was originally only supposed to be like 12 chapters and ended up being many more. I know that feeling.

I was actually reluctant at first to go that route simply because it seemed easy, if that makes sense. But then The Perfect Pear happened.

The flashback segment of the story was originally envisioned as only two chapters and was basically supposed to be the story of AJ and Crystal's romance paralleled by Crystal and Rarity's friendship. But as I got to writing it, more and more I found myself pulled in the direction of the struggle of being gay in a rural environment. I'm sure it is cliche, but not without reason; as the only canonical parental figure in AJ and Big Mac's life before Bright Mac and Pear Butter were introduced, Granny's the obvious go-to for parental disapproval.

With AJ's coming out, I wanted a variety of reactions and that meant somepony had to be the asshole. Just going "I'm gay!" "Cool! Everyone supports you 100%!" felt wrong, like it would be dismissive of real people's experiences. AJ's coming out felt like it needed to be painful on a few levels.

Given what we knew of the characters from "The Perfect Pear", it just didn't sit right that this duty should fall to Bright Mac or Pear Butter; two characters who once had their own star-crossed romance. If anything, they'd understand better than anyone where AJ was coming from. Granny seemed the best fit, but it also didn't feel right that she'd last very long because of said star-crossed romance.

There's a profound parallel between AJ's coming out and her parents' Romeo and Juliet story that I wanted to highlight. The lessons Granny Smith learned from that made her better prepared for accepting AJ than she might have been otherwise. She's a crotchety old bat, but she's on her own offscreen journey that will one day bring her around to even accepting Grand Pear as a member of the family.

I tried to make this feel like a step on that journey; a short struggle with who she's been for a long time, overcome by the reminder of what she doesn't want to be.

While I respect what you were going for, and obviously can't speak for everyone, I'd like to state for the record as a Real People that I wouldn't be at all bothered if somebody chose not to remind me of the bullshit we go through.

Like, it's a two ways thing, I'm just saying choosing not to show homophobia wouldn't feel at all disrespectful, to me.

That's good to know. For the most part, I've tried avoid homophobic drama in my series and instead presented Equestria as a sort of rainbow spectrum of LGBT acceptance. However, because my series is meant to explore the complexities of life, love, and what it means to be different, I've worried of late that avoiding that particular elephant in the room was effectively whitewashing over a serious problem. I worried that to continue avoiding it would undermine my intention of crafting an LGBT-friendly take on Equestria.

It's refreshing to hear that is not the case.

I just had the dumbest idea for a one-shot fic ever. So, me being me, I decided to write it anyway.

edited 24th Aug '17 3:49:17 AM by Zennistrad

Aaaand it makes the front page, ya bastard.

~

So, another one of my meta-ideas, RE: OCxCanon pairings.

Heart Throb is a haemonculi, created for one purpose, to romance/seduce Twilight Sparkle and make sure she is happy. His creator doesn't have a sinister motive so much as a warped if benevolent view point.

Twilight, at first, falls for this, Heart Throb is very well-designed. However, the truth of his existence comes to light. At first, there is anger, the assumption that his purpose is sinister. When the truth is further delved into, there is pity. Pity for a pony who was created to serve another.

I'm thinking the entity in question is the cutie map's creator, benevolent but out-of-touch, quite capable of doing dumb, hurtful shit with the best of intentions. Heart Throb's compulsion to love Twilight is broken and he's free to pursue his special talent of accompanying lonely ponies. He immediately tries to seduce Rarity.

edited 24th Aug '17 9:25:24 AM by God_of_Awesome

I haven't posted a whole lot in here lately, but I thought it would be worth posting that the RCL did an interview about one of my stories.

Although that is a very funny Breath of the Wild comic, I am unclear on how it relates to what you were just talking about.

Welp, I'm a moron.

Here's the actual link.

New draft that's ready at a decent time? Witchcraft and heresy!

Aaaand From Dusk to Night's new chapter is live.

edited 31st Aug '17 5:03:29 PM by KuroiTsubasaTenshi

Finished book 3 of Savage Skies. That stuff is addictive.

Chapter Seven of Damaged Goods is drafted.

Jesus Christ, we're finally done with that flashback sequence. Seriously, that should have been its own story. That was supposed to be two chapters. Finally, the third act can begin.

edited 4th Sep '17 5:39:51 PM by TobiasDrake

Man, I hate it when everyone is wrong, and still sympathetic, at once. Now including Celestia, it would seem. I'm suddenly flashing back to "Apple Family Secrets", though in that it's mainly AJ who's pissed at Sunbutt, not the other way around.

Also changed my mind on Sketch- he's an asshole, though not entirely without a point (as I suppose is the intent, since you can say that about most of these characters at different times). What kind of "disruptive influence" was AJ supposed to have been anyway? As I understand it, Ponyville's practically a farm town so it's not like she's some kind of "dirty commoner".

You are edging distressingly close to Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy with the ceaseless face dumping Applejack got.

I was afraid that might happen. I'd hoped that the fact that all of the plot elements introduced in the flashback sequence are Doomed by Canon would give readers sufficient time to brace for impact, but perhaps I turned up the drama too high. I'll think on that.

Chapter Seven is live.

If people are sufficiently invested in a work, they probably would think on that kind of meta level. Even if they do, though, it's generally known that fanfic tends to deviate from canon at times, so the trope may never have crossed their minds.

That is true.

Also, Yami, your question isn't being ignored. I've been thinking about how I wanted to answer it because there is an answer, but I'd meant to leave it in implication. Implication is a tricky balance, however, and it's too easy to think you're being subtle and clever when actually you're just being vague and confusing.

There's a point in the next chapter where it can be more directly addressed without breaking pace and be used as a springboard, so I decided it would be best to handle it there.

[Sorry, new accounts cannot post external links.]

Cool. I didn't think you were ignoring me; I just reiterated it in my comment because different people may read/discuss in different places.

Back to writing! Hooray!

Also I'm kicking around the idea of a Sunburst/Shining Armor story.

Rereading my "first" pony story, the one I didn't withdraw later on, and reviewing my current, longer work, and it seems I lost a bit of my charm, that Lemony Narrator thing I had going.

I've been considering going back and editing previous chapters to include some of it, because I feel like it's what I've been missing and the piece needed to overcome my Writer's Stumbling.