Ditz and Spitz: Questions? (SPOILER WARNING)

Hey all,

So, out of pure curiosity on my part and to avoid a whole mess of spoilers on the main story page, I figure'd I'd make this here blog post and ask y'all for any outstanding questions related to anything in the story, to be asked and answered through comments.

Poinger

Comments

[MerlosTheMad]

What made you write that story, was there anything that inspired it specifically?

[Fixit Wrenches]

Why did Ditzy change her mind when Dinky came around? Her last "flash back" was her storming off to the clinic (I do believe).

And why is the press and paparazzi so..... vigilant with the Blue Angels Wonderbolts? Especially "retired" Wonderbolts? Usually they mob them (sport celebrities) at press conferences, but then leave them alone for the most part...

[Poinger]

1229160 This is probably the hardest question for me to answer, or at least, it is the one I've thought about the most.

I actually started writing because, like so many others, I was bored in a class, and writing was much easier to get away with than my preferred method of ignoring lectures, which was reading a book. I'd done some similar things, such as writing D&D backstories and character concepts, but as my gaming group was on hiatus and I'd been watching the show for a while at that point, ponies were the subject of my writing (it was about halfway through season 1 ).

At first, it wasn't actually writing, it was more fits and starts of ideas that more often than not got discarded, similar to what I'd been doing for D&D backstories: thinking of an idea, then seeing how/if I could make that idea fit within the world provided. Having everything fit together and mesh within the canon of a world is very important to me: the better something fits within the world it exists in, the more plausible and engaging it is to a reader.

I'd had some ideas poking around in my head about Ditzy, as she was starting to rise in popularity at the time. On paper, she was a perfect character: lovable by anyone, caring as a mother, and easy to fit within the canon given her status as a background pony. I started to pick up on theories, stories and artwork about her, just over the course of daily EQD and such, and had actually contemplated a couple of ideas about her as a Wonderbolt.

But these ideas did not click: they did not fit within the world. Rainbow Dash's obsession and Ditzy's popularity were obvious obstacles: why would not Ditzy be insanely fawned over, even in Ponyville? The eyes presented another problem of being an active Wonderbolt, as would her child (whom I was adamant would exist in my canon.)

I began playing around with the idea of her being a retired Wonderbolt, though this still had problems, when I stumbled on the art, now the cover art, that TheParagon drew. Seeing not just Ditzy, but more importantly Spitfire out of uniform, sparked an idea: what about before they were Wonderbolts? Before Spitfire wore the suit? The original idea was actually that Ditzy was the one who had trained Spitfire to be a Wonderbolt, and they still hung out together as celebrity and secret mentor. This eventually developed into Ditzy trying, and failing, to become a Wonderbolt, where Spitfire succeeded.

Everything clicked together. Within that frame, I could fit everything within the story inside the canon world, as well as inside of common Ditzy canon: a relative unknown would not show up on Dash's radar, and fer failure could be tied to an accident which causes her eyes to skew.

I won't really go into the details from there, but basically the story grew and developed and I eventually got over my fears, got some major editing, fixed some major issues, and published it and... here we are.

[MerlosTheMad]

1229239

Wwooow, okay next question, and this one is admittedly because I like spurning more stories and authors to keep writing... But what's next for you? Going to retire as a one hit wonder or try and take the gold again?

[Poinger]

1229214 Well, Ditzy's last flashback, as in, the last she experiences as the story progresses, is walking out on Slate. Her traveling to the hospital was in the hypothetical "here and now."

As to the press vigilance, the issue came about due to a number of factors: first, Ditzy hadn't exactly retired, she had tried and failed to become a Wonderbolt, only failing due to scandal and a spectacular bloody mess. Another factor was her relation to Spitfire, who remained a famous figure, and vanishing from the scene of popularity, which created a want for closure. Rough, ROUGH, mind you, analogy is the Hudson Hornet from Cars.

[Poinger]

1229273 I've got a couple more ideas bouncing around in my head, and I'm not exactly in a non-active state, creatively, given my Hunted Luna project.

I've got one idea I want to work on, but I'm not as pumped for it as I was for D&S, given some of the factors involved. It doesn't click for me quite as well, and some of it is INCREDIBLY cliche, though some of it isn't, but still.

Currently, I'm only working on Hunted Luna, but, yes, I do want to write and publish at least that one idea (Thoughts of Love), thought I have been toying around with a sort of New Lunar Republic Idea, which I'll just call Sunrise.

[MerlosTheMad]

1229306

Wewt, I can't wait for another story from you brother. Thanks for answering my questions, ^^.

[Poinger]

1229314 No problem, glad to do it. Thanks for giving me some questions to answer

[Fixit Wrenches]

1229287

Thanks... But I was thinking more along the lines of why the Wonderbolts or individual Wonderbolt members get a lot of full-time paparazzi attention? Like they can't walk down a street without being harassed.... Why is that? Are they THAT big?

[Poinger]

1229338 Ah, like that... as to what I personally think, I believe yes, that this is so: Wonderbolts are among the super-celebrities of the pony world and, while perhaps not constantly hounded, Spitfire, at least, as their leader, warrants a lot of paparazzi attention, especially were she to do anything normally out of character for her (re: secretly sneaking into Ponyville at night.)

Within the story, it is important to note that the conditions are such: it isn't very prominent, but early within the Chapter "Harsh Words" Spitfire makes a passing reference to a "Fillyfooler" rumor going around about her that has sparked a lot of paparazzi attention already, which explodes when she is discovered to be visiting with Ditzy.

This is a little sidestep of the issue within the story to help it slip into the cannon, whatever the canon ends up being: maybe the Wonderbolts get paparazzi like flies and maybe they don't, but they're famous enough it's safe to say a member would if there was a fillyfooler rumor going around said member.

[Fixit Wrenches]

1229359

I never understood what is wrong with "fillyfooler" when the mare population is 3 to 1... it's polygamy, or snuggle up with your girlfriend... *SHRUGS*