The Old Guard

Just reading about the end of Seattle's Angels and it reminds me of a place that Wanderer D and I had been decades ago (yeah, decades - we're ancient!) Back then, the FFML had been in a flux as it had moved on from anime to general fanfics, and a lot of people were leaving as a result.

I guess I'm seeing that now in it (though I don't think Wanderer is meandering off.) Still, it's a reminder of how transitory life can be.

"Kathy", I said
As we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now

It took me four days
To hitch-hike from Saginaw
"I've come to look for America"
- Paul Simon

Things are different between then and now. Now, I've had decades more of writing under my belt, including novels. I'm getting ready to launch a couple major projects this year, and I'm not the young Sailor I was in those days, but a middle-age man. And yet, in many ways, the game remains the same: we sit here, writing stories for all and hope that you will enjoy.

I know I've written polarizing stories. Ones that had people on edge. Ones that made people's hearts skip a beat. And I'm glad you've enjoyed them.

But things are changing. The girls are gone, the teens abandoned. The ones to take their place are not here, and whether that's due to the pandemic or a toy company's mistakes, is not my concern. No, I've got my eye on the horizon on other projects, and those tug at me now more than ever.

For the record, I'm not planning to leave here anytime soon. But I've already started slowing down, because I've been working on streaming, music, novels, fonts and webcomics. And now something else. I hope the readers who have been following are interested, because what's to come is off the rails and off the reservation here. A splitting of the soul online, in a sense.

Just, if you are interested, let me know. There's not much time before DESTINY AWAITS gets wallpapered over with FOR HER, leaving the path obscured.

Comments

[HorseWordFan]

So TL;DR: Fewer horsewords now, more different stuff?

[Shinzakura]

5631558
I'll probably be making an announcement soon.

[Zekromic]

.But things are changing. The girls are gone, the teens abandoned. The ones to take their place are not here,

Man, you have to remind me of that

[Wanderer D]

As long as there are stories, we'll keep on going and the girls and teens will keep doing so too.

But yeah, I remember when the FFML opened up to general fics and that sort of... killed it. Fimfic at least should always remain with ponies.

[Shinzakura]

5631918

As long as there are stories, we'll keep on going and the girls and teens will keep doing so too.

Just so long as the last one out closes the back cover of the book.

And yeah, things change but the words still flow on.

[NachoTheBrony]

I track the beginning of the end to Episode 100 (Slice of Life), where Hasbro sang the swan song to the brony community, focusing the content of the show exclusively on the intended audience. Good for them, though, as they managed to keep the main show going for almost a decade, plus several movies and sideshows and a comic book series.

Bad for us, though, as we were left adrift. The brony community has lost its vibrancy. The people I follow have either settled down or are long gone, or like Estee and B_25, I have begun ignoring for my own mental health. The stories I follow are either finished, long abandoned, or both. We won't shut down, but we are now a legacy community, remembering the good old days and waving our canes at newer generations. We will now move from anime conventions to Star Trek conventions, getting into geeky debates on whether John De Lancie played a better ROB in Star Trek or in MLP.

At least I enjoyed myself. And my only current gripe is that my new fandom, Worm, is very far from mainstream, so I will have even less opportunity of meeting fellow fans in real life.

I will continue hanging around here in Fimfiction, but I'm conscious that I'm slowly drifting away.

At least now I'm old enough to do a Gendo Ikari cosplay without looking ridiculous. How would it look if I did a Spear of Longinus to go along with that?

[Shinzakura]

5633029

And my only current gripe is that my new fandom

A plan is being worked on.

[NachoTheBrony]

5633059
Please tell me you've picked up Worm. Taylor Hebert needs writers as good as you.

[Shinzakura]

5633091
Unfortunately I don't even know what Worm is. I was referring to something else.

[NachoTheBrony]

5633095
Well, if you ever feel that you have a few days to spare, head over to https://parahumans.wordpress.com/. Worm is basically the greyest superhero universe ever, which also happens to be written by somebody who apparently dislikes plot holes in other superhero universes and tried to do better. And Worm is also one absolutely awesome sandbox, which has every fanfiction site on fire.

If you like approaching new fandoms through crossover fanfiction with fandoms you already like, try this story:
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/152059/a-friend-in-need
Basically, Twilight Sparkle botches a teleport spell and ends up in a harsh realm.

Or follow this other link and find one you like among 1,100 Worm crossovers currently in Fanfiction.net:
https://www.fanfiction.net/Worm-Crossovers/10867/0/?&srt=1&r=10
I recommend "Quintessence" and "Theology", both by Darth Marrs. One is a God of War cross, the other one a Star Wars cross. Both are awesome stories by an author I admire a lot.