tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post729758293478048483..comments2024-03-04T02:09:30.979-06:00Comments on One Man's Pony Ramblings: My Rules for MLP Fan FictionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-50454132316899115262013-08-31T06:29:54.226-05:002013-08-31T06:29:54.226-05:00I don't want to sound mean but what a terrible...I don't want to sound mean but what a terrible un nice thing to say. What's wrong with humans in Equestria, video games, and other? I think they are great. In fact, someone can make a really great story about a lost space human falling into Equestria and sharing some wonderful things.<br /><br />And I think limiting any culture or fandom is not a honest thing at all.<br /><br />-wwwareaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-74475565974007309002013-08-22T19:26:30.940-05:002013-08-22T19:26:30.940-05:00Love this.
Of course I would say that crossovers a...Love this.<br />Of course I would say that crossovers are worth it for those that manage not to dilute Equestria but rather celebrate it while filling that "white space" not with fanon and headcanon, but with potential. Showing that all it takes is a catalyst and boom. The characters and world will practically fill it themselves. I don't view FiM as a half blank slate. I view it as a big bang waiting to pop.DPV111https://www.blogger.com/profile/01437920503784386649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-48563430156515115432013-08-02T16:22:43.700-05:002013-08-02T16:22:43.700-05:00I have a lot:
Of general writing rules that I'...I have a lot:<br /><br />Of general writing rules that I've developed over the years for no real good reason. I try my darnedest, for instance, never to start a story or even a chapter with a character's name. Why? I don't know. And I try even harder not to let the first paragraph of a story or chapter have more than 50 words in it.<br /><br />With Pony stories, I'm in general agreement with your rules, I find, but I'm always willing to throw a rule aside if there's a story there. I mean, I would never have imagined in a million years writing anything "rated mature for sexual situations." But the idea that became "<a href="http://www.fimfiction.net/story/35560/Biology%3A-A-Romance" rel="nofollow">Biology: A Romance</a>" and "<a href="http://www.fimfiction.net/story/66270/history-a-romance-continued" rel="nofollow">History: A Romance Continued</a>" wouldn't leave me alone, and I'm quite happy with how those stories turned out.<br /><br />That's the bottom line for me, I guess, as far as rules go. They don't hafta make sense, but they <i>do</i> hafta help me make whatever story I'm working on into something that's better than it would've been without the rules.<br /><br />MikeAugieDoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03335437708896110261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-70186807986778542852013-07-30T19:49:21.320-05:002013-07-30T19:49:21.320-05:00I can completely understand your point. I have rea...I can completely understand your point. I have read and admired khat's epic Fallout: Equestria. It's an extraordinary work of sustained imagination that, like you suggested, deconstructs and twists every aspect of the MLP universe.<br /><br />But I know I don't have it in me to write such a thing. Reading it made me weep at times. Writing it would have killed me.<br /><br />I have ponder taking a stab at a side-story to Iceman's "Friendship is Optimal" (a truly great story that you read right away). But I don't know if I have it in me to try.SprintFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08437344843403709820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-717108368365833522013-07-30T19:41:09.436-05:002013-07-30T19:41:09.436-05:00Just to emphasize my (Cloud Wander's) point ag...Just to emphasize my (Cloud Wander's) point again: these are my personal rules. They grew out of my experience with MLP:FIM. Your own rules are certain to be different, as they reflect your own experience.<br /><br />I'd really like to hear more about readers with different rule sets. Not just what the rules are, but how you came to realize that these rules defined your goals as a fanfiction writer.SprintFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08437344843403709820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-47946619241805936252013-07-29T21:17:00.557-05:002013-07-29T21:17:00.557-05:00“My worldview! What have you done to it?” I cried....<i>“My worldview! What have you done to it?” I cried.</i><br /><br />That's my favorite part of this essay:<br /><br />Right there. Because it's the essence of what fanfiction has come to mean to me the past two and a half years. Something happens in the show, and I as a writer want to make it make sense. And of course Cloud Wander has written my current favorite Ponies in Tartarus story, "<a href="http://www.fimfiction.net/story/112060/it-is-my-fate-to-enter-every-door" rel="nofollow">It is My Fate to Enter Every Door</a>."<br /><br />So happily ever afters for everyone!<br /><br />MikeAugieDoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03335437708896110261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-8958281217166070152013-07-29T18:34:13.894-05:002013-07-29T18:34:13.894-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Bad Horsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10735227563256689679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-79127593021389361702013-07-28T04:50:54.159-05:002013-07-28T04:50:54.159-05:00While showing respect goes without saying, most of...While showing respect goes without saying, most of these rules aren't really ones I agree with. Or at least, they're not for me, anyway. Particularly since they're the kind that's more suited to show style stuff, and while I obviously like the show (why else why would I be here), when writing or reading I prefer more subversive stuff. I'm the kind of guy who likes to parody, de-construct or otherwise massively shake things up, and that'll often include putting in gore, or crossover elements, or humans, or diabolical villains.<br /><br />Though, that said, no single style of writing is for everyone, and I can see why you wouldn't want to write about such things yourself.DannyJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13273313206696087395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-59636045876646757462013-07-27T18:40:05.864-05:002013-07-27T18:40:05.864-05:00Well, I can say I've failed at every single on...Well, I can say I've failed at every single one of these.<br /><br />The first two are obvious, but they are really the only "rules" anyone should care about when writing a derivative work like fanfiction. The show itself sticks to certain "rules" because, well, they have a set goal in mind they can't deviate from: make little girls happy, and make money.<br /><br />Why should fanfiction be constrained by any of these rules at all, save the first two, or perhaps three? I am among the first to cringe when people write yet another human in Equestria or clopfic, and yet we can see several stories that worked quite well with both these elements. The point of the show is not to be "kind" or "nice," it is to believe in your friends and let them support you as you support them, whatever the situation. Even if, in several episodes, the entire world is on the line, it's better to be one with your friends.<br /><br /><br />As someone who has written everything from crossovers to eldritch horror to harmless comedy, I can't say I agree with all or even any of these. What matters is that the writing speaks to the reader, that it stirs them and makes them think, whatever the content. If it tells a story and tells it well, that's what matters. That's what FIM taught most of us, if anything: it's not the wrapping, it's the package. If ponies can survive being made into a better show, it can survive being made into strange fanfiction.RedSquirrel456https://www.blogger.com/profile/10691209284116971853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-67924999697671175842013-07-26T16:57:46.489-05:002013-07-26T16:57:46.489-05:00Well, I can agree with quite a few of those, but I...Well, I can agree with quite a few of those, but I draw a line at "be nice". MLP as a whole has always lived off villains that were pitch-black, in order to better contrast with the protagonists. FiM is better than the other generations at establishing backgrounds and motivations for those characters, but even so, if you need an antagonist for an adventure story (as I did), that character should come across as evil. Of course, nothing is keeping you from then turning that character over to the side of light - the series itself has established that this is possible sometimes, as with Nightmare Moon. But there have been other villains who got petrified, shattered and/or blown sky-high, and unless they're established as truly vile creatures, the show's target audience (and not just them) will tend to wonder whether they deserved what they got. Compare the fate of some Disney villains (oh: SPOILERS!): <br /><br />Scar, betrayed by his own servants; Dr Facilier, literally dragged off to Hell; Rapunzel's "mother" in Tangled, aged to death and then thrown off the tower. None of that is really kid-friendly, yet as long as the feeling exists that these characters truly deserved it, you can get away with it.<br /><br />On the other hand, if you're in for Slice of Life, Romance or Comedy, that rule makes sense. Antagonists in these kinds of stories should not be inhuman (inequine?) monsters; their motivations need to be understandable, even if their actions sometimes aren't.Osperonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-51176569853353810372013-07-26T10:35:48.745-05:002013-07-26T10:35:48.745-05:00Rules, huh. I guess I only have one of these: writ...Rules, huh. I guess I only have one of these: write for the ultimate good of your reader. I despise it when authors set out to troll their readers; nothing wrong with evident trollfics, but when the story is written well and plotted well, leading up to an ending that only serves to disappoint, enrage or dishearten the reader with no meaningful message... While bone-chilling endings such as that of 1984 can hardly make anyone happy, they drive a deeper message across, and that's what I want my stories to have. It's possibly hubris, but I aim for my stories to impact the way my readers see things in their lives for the better. And doing the exact opposite just strikes me as such a waste of opportunity for both parties.Cascahttp://www.google.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-90136209147827986992013-07-26T07:46:02.963-05:002013-07-26T07:46:02.963-05:00I think the reason I don't have any set of rul...I think the reason I don't have any set of rules like this (though I do always try to stay close to canon when I'm not intent on destroying or subverting it, and respecting the characters goes without saying) is that I'm not trying to write fanfiction, per se, but stories. No video games and no gore is well and good if you want something that's similar to the show, but like I've always said, if you want that, then just go watch the show. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to create the story I want. "Show-like" is a fallback for me for when I don't need gore or sex or crossovers or humans.<br /><br />Also, am I the only one who didn't immediately cleave to liking Rarity after <i>Suited</i>? It took until <i>Dog and Pony Show</i> for me to stop hating her, and that episode really worked wonders. Going back to <i>Suited</i> afterward, I can appreciate it better, but at the time, it didn't appeal to me.Present Perfecthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16195959811544391904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-68317364057399168422013-07-26T01:49:11.859-05:002013-07-26T01:49:11.859-05:00"No gore."
Welp, I failed already.
In ..."No gore."<br /><br />Welp, I failed already.<br /><br />In any case, I don't agree with a couple of the rules you've outlined, but that's just how my own views on fanfiction work. I cannot agree more with #2 and #3, though. Those are the principles that make fanfiction different from original fiction; you are using a world others have built, and you should play with their toys like you would want them to play with yours.<br /><br />But I don't see anything wrong with crossovers, clop, humans, or anything else, as long as it's done well and has actual work put into it. So far, the only one of those I have <i>not</i> seen meet my criteria is clop, and that's mostly because I haven't really been looking at that genre too much.InsertAuthorHerehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16563861820054827515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-34176464307686597042013-07-26T00:27:15.620-05:002013-07-26T00:27:15.620-05:00I didn't even think about Battleship as a Hasb...I didn't even think about <i>Battleship</i> as a Hasbro property while watching <i>Read It and Weep</i>! Not sure if I should feel stupid about that<br /><br />These are all great rules, though I do have a bit of a problem with #4. HiE fics are generally terrible, but I absolutely adored <i>Brony Hero of Equestria</i>! It's funny, I initially took issue with this rule because I thought it'd exclude one of my own fic ideas (a ponification of Hitchcock's <i>The Trouble with Harry</i>), even though I have no intention of ever writing it. Talk about irrationalHolly Oatshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01703437987958922954noreply@blogger.com