). I want to tell you all about where I've been, what I've been up to, and share my journey with you guys. You were all around for some of the best times, and I felt it's only right to open back up again andDusk Quill on... Pop Culture · 10:02pm Feb 7th, 2013
Hello everyone! This is about to be a bit of a rant blog, so feel free to ignore. It's sort of like the segment "What Grinds My Gears", if anyone has seen that episode of Family Guy. If I notice something or reach an earth-altering revelation on the meaning of life (42) or something, one of these might pop up. I also have a quick little update regarding Skyfall at the end, so you can just skip down to that if you'd like.
You know what I've realized truly sucks? The pop culture of FimFiction.
It genuinely isn't fair at all, and makes no sense to me. Sure, we all know how difficult it is to get on the Feature Box unless you write the next Harry Potter-esque story, or if you sell your soul to the Devil, but that's not what I'm talking about. A few stories that get really popular have very good reason to be. They're well written, have a solid plot, and take you on an enjoyable journey. But what I'm noticing more and more of is people just appealing to the masses with half-baked stories that get ridiculous amounts of views and likes just because they sold out to what works.
For example: if your story...
- Is a half-hearted or greater clopfic
- Uses all canon characters (no OCs)
- Has Fallout Equestria anywhere in the name
- A shipfic between the Mane 6 and a canon character (again, no OCs)
- A crossover with another decently large fandom
... you're almost guaranteed a place in the Feature Box or Popular Stories section, regardless of how well done it is. This is especially true of clopfics.
Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against clopfics. One of my favorite stories, Romance Reports, is a clopfic, but it's a very well done clopfic. That one deserved its popularity. At the time of writing this, there are three clopfics and four shipfics in the Feature Box. I make it my point to at least give every story that makes it there a chance, but... some of these have poor grammar, are missing punctuation, and the plot either makes no sense or is so overly done, it's (forgive the pun) like beating a dead horse.
In summary, it doesn't matter how good your story is, as long as you use the right tags and stick to the same popular status quo, you'll be a "popular author".
Hell no, that's not about to happen. I forget which group it was, but I saw a thread where every member said what stories they wouldn't read. A good majority of them said:
- Anything with a gore tag
- Anything not including the Mane 6
- Anything with OCs
- Anything with non-canon Alicorns
- Anything with OOC characters
A good chunk of these people also admitted to disliking the story right away just for certain tags on a story. And this was a group of 300+ people. How is that fair? Fallout Equestria is heavily gore dependent, but people love that! Silent Ponyville, one of my all-time favorite stories, is also gore dependent, but look at the views that has! Why were they so successful? Because they appealed to the fanbase of both games.
I've seen so many OC stories or violent stories that have beautifully written original plots, realistic characters, and a good message in them, but because they don't adhere to what the people want, they're either ignored or downvote bombed so hard, they don't have a fighting chance, while the ones that slap the tags on people like to see get site-wide recognition regardless of their quality.
I write with OCs.
I don't write with the Mane 6.
I write using the gore tag.
I personally think it's much more difficult to create good OCs than it is to use a premade character. You have to completely invent a living, breathing entity, with its own personality, mentality, and livelihood. I'd much rather read a story with a decent OC than a cookie-cutter shipfic with Twilight and Trixie (Celestia knows we have a surplus of those).
So I'll probably never get any recognition for my work. That's disheartening, but you know what? I don't care. I write what I like because I like it. They're the ideas I have in my head. And if I can please one reader with sincere, genuine work, then I'll take one view over a million for writing a conformist story I didn't have my heart in.
Tl;dr summary: Pop culture sucks here. If you don't write what the people like, you won't get noticed, regardless of quality. If you write what people like, you'll get noticed, regardless of quality. If you write OCs, you're pretty screwed. But that's okay, because a few people will still love you for the heart you put in yours. And maybe one day the site will wake up and realize the diamonds hiding in all the rough.
Now, the news about Skyfall...
Yes, it's almost done! Which means the next story in the series will be coming along sometime soon! I'm actually really excited to get started on it, since it will be my first time closely collaborating with another author. I am very open to co-writing and collaboration, so if anyone reading this has ideas they love and was waiting for this day, shoot me a message!
Silverstein has also solidified a suggestion I had in my mind for a little while now. Those of you who have read both my stories know about The Frozen North Offensive, or at least know about it in general. Well, what is it? What really happened? We know the gist, but not many details.
Well, this could be your chance to tell what happened!
I am not planning to, nor will I probably ever get around to writing about The Frozen North Offensive. If I do, it'll be some time in the distant future. But you are all very welcome to write your own adaptations of it, and give our lovable maniac Night Shade his time in the protagonist spotlight. I'm leaving this opportunity open to anyone and everyone. Send me a message if you'd like to run with this idea, and I'll make sure you have all the resources you need to get started. I'm very excited to see what everyone comes up with!
And I think that's all. Thanks for bearing with me, everyone!
-- Dusk Quill
This one goes out to all my dark/warfic writing homies out there...
Peace!
Silver out!
Geeese... it seems like you took a look at my brain and said: "I'm going to write that down."
Yeah I agree with the Pop-Cultre of FimFiction. I mean don't get me wrong I love this website but yeeeaah... the featured bar is rather broken, which sucks because I feel like it's tough to find a good story, or just a story that you might enjoy in the normal list. The stories are packed in like sardines. I remember I found YOUR story on pure luck. I could have easily missed it and have missed your work. And lets face it, I've read several stories that aren't as well written as yours.
Heck, there's one story that I'm apart of the team that's on it (feel like I'm kinda ineffective and even though I'm a "critic/pre-reader" I feel like the points I make aren't often really fixed or taken seriously... I mean I don't even get to see the chapters before they're published! ...ehem... sorry /end rant] xD) anywhere where was I? ...right the story that I'm apart of. As I said I feel/know that your stories are sooo much stronger. And yet it has over 500 thumbs up, thousands of views and the author has over 100 watchers... now the team works their heart outs (and thankfully he keeps it pretty clean of grammar mistakes) but in terms of a story yours is stronger and I feel it's a better story. (Not that the plot of his story is bad just the follow through isn't as good as it could/should be.)
And his work is hardly the only one that gets onto the featured list while great stories like yours languish with a only a few views. It's actually gotten to the point for me when I look through the featured list I'm pretty skeptical of so many stories (even if they look like they might be a really good one) and I find I'm falling back to the author's that I currently follow... the ones that I trust to write their stories well. I guess I could go onto a huge rant about how people just aren't good at identifying good writing or not but... well 1) I think I've written enough, and 2) hey they're reading and enjoying it!
Anyways... I guess the best way to really try and get a lot of views (without "selling out" to the idea of shipping and all that wonderful stuff that you listed) is to try and find some large groups and as Jess Cox says... "advertise like shameless whores" ...so you "sell out" just in a different way!
Actually that whole thing got me thinking/reminded me of my own stories that I'm currently working on. I have two that are actually getting onto paper and another that I'm just thinking of... and I'm kinda wanting to work on story #2 more but I feel like #1 would get more views and get me more followers so I've been tempted to get the 1st bit of #1 done and then post it before really getting to far along with #2 simply to try and boost my number count...
Yeah yeah... "sell out" :P
Of course one way to really help get good views is to get featured on EQ Daily... but I've heard that that's REALLY hard and they're pretty picky. I know they don't do humanized at all, pretty sure no clop, but I know I've seen HiE... but yeah I think they're really strict there... or if you could get people to advertise your stories that'd help...
anyways I've taken enough of this virtual space!!
AAwwwwwaaay!
806485
806492
Thank you for all the kind words, but I wasn't thinking of my work in particular when I wrote this rant.
It just really irks me when I see stories with strong content in it and they get overlooked, outright ignored, or bombed without having a chance just because they star an OC, or they're based on war/violence, etc. I'm familiar with the analogy "sex sells", but it's getting ridiculous now. I mean, go and look at the three largest groups here.
1. Clopfics
2. HiE
3. Shipping
It's so upsetting that it's come to the point where all people want to read is something overtly sexualized or something that's been done to death. Any originality or break from the norm isn't appreciated anymore. Like you were saying with the story you collaborate on, I don't mind that. The writers are obviously putting all the heart and effort into their work, so they deserve some credit. But my stuff and several others' stuff gets ignored because it has a Gore tag, or features OCs.
I'm not even gonna start with EQD. I appreciate them as a news source, but they are so strict on their fanfiction, it's ridiculous. OCs are even more persecuted there than they are here. So I'm not gonna touch that with a 50 foot pole.
As a big fan of Jesse Cox's Let's Play series, I appreciate that reference! And feel free to rant. This is 'space for rant' (*ba-dum-tsssh*)!
806810 I didn't think you were thinking of your own but it was an easy comparison.
Yeeeaaaah FimFiction gives me PLLLeeeeeenty to vent about.
That said I feeling like shipping is number one there followed by clop and then HiE... now the sad thing is that I've read some pretty HiE stories (heck some of them where my 1st stories that I read when I came to this site so I've got a soft spot for 'em) and I enjoy the premise... I just love the idea of having to deal with cross-speices/universe cultural shocks... and there are several stories that do a really good job getting that... or at least have a feeling of "other." But... le sigh... so many of them have become self inserts and going off to meet the mane 6 and have tons of adventures and being a boss all round, maybe even ship one of them with themselves... uuugg... rather than... you know taking yourself and making sure you're an interesting character (like having all your flaws as well as strengths... and making sure they flipping affect the story so you're not a bloody marry/gary sue who's perfect and has life land in your lap) ...and if you're going to be awesome at least bloody well work for it! Take Rust's HiE story! (If you don't know him he's the creature behind the Chessverse... even though -fun fact- he has his own stuff under non-cannon) He gets his throat bloody cut out in like the 3rd chapter and becomes a mute who has to communicate through other means... and then he has to deal with ponies who hate him just because of his race... I have no idea if it was a self insert or not but really... I don't care because he suffered and worked for every relationship and every achieved goal he set out to get... you know... kinda like how you have to in real life/a good story... can't just fall out of the sky, befriend Glida, and learn how to fly and walk as a griffin, and then kill a full grown dragon by flying down it's throat and then take one of it's giant scales to make a freaking great sword all in your first week... sorry... I think... uhhh... I think I got a bit excited there... and have been venting a lot of built up... well words for authors that when I speak to them I'm usually more "proper" and "dignified" ...and "polite" so I seem more... well like someone you should listen too... but right now I'm just venting...
807742
Ding! Ding! Ding!
And you just said the secret word that ruins almost everything for me. "Self insert". This, this right here, is exactly why we can't have nice things as OC writers anymore! So many self inserts have been (like you said) Mary/Gary Sue characters, OC Alicorns, or just troll OCs for the sake of upsetting someone, that we all get a bad rep. And I admit, there's a good (probably) 80-85% of bad OCs either not thought-out well or made just as trolls. But that ruins it for the rest of us who deliberately make good OCs.
Hell, I'm even fine with a self insert if they're not some sort of perfect godlike deity and actually have a three-dimensional character with strengths, weaknesses, and challenges, like you said. I think self inserts can be done so well, but are almost always done so wrong that nobody even gives them the time of day anymore. Now, I'm not saying everyone should be all, "Oh look! A red and black Alicorn in what clearly looks like a trollfic! Let's give it a chance!" But it would be nice if the legitimate ones weren't crucified to hell before anyone even glimpses at them. I stil lfollow the premise of 'love and tolerate', and I know most of the fandom doesn't believe in that anymore, but whatever happened to 'treat others the way you want to be treated'? At least give someone who's making an effort a shot, regardless of their genre, protagonist, antagonist, etc. It's usually pretty easy to tell the legitimate stories from the half-assed, trolling ones.
But I feel like I've probably said enough. As painful as it is to watch and deal with, it's the status quo now, and we authors who choose to write the unpopular material have to accept anonymity, regardless of our effort or quality.
Oh well. It's not gonna stop me. Like I said, I'd rather write for the one reader who likes my content than the thousands who would seek to change it.
-- DQ
808248 glad you're just writing for yourself and not thousands of followers! xD
And yeeeaaah... I could go on for AGES about my thoughts on a lot of these things... but I think at this point I might just start going in circles and rather than do that I think I'd rather write, or go to rehearsal xD
...who knows maybe I'll actually get my own stories off paper, onto the screen and then online sometime! xD
Treilacl... AWWWwaaaaaaaaaaY!
808370
Well, if you do decide to ever put them up here, you know I'll definitely take a look at them!
And likewise, I have a story to finish!
808406 Get to it then! ...and... yeah... maybe I'll get them somewhere xD Just... just... just... [error 502] ....I think my brain is gonna blow
806810
Shipping I don't mind if its done well. Shipping attached to another genre (like adventure for example) I find those pleasant sometimes. I tend to like shipping more if its an attachment or complements a story, usually not a story that ONLY has shipping and nothing else.
Silver out!
I started to read my roommates a vampire and shipping killed it. The story we talked about will have large amounts of development.