Dialogue Attribution: Different Rules for Fan Fiction? · 10:21pm May 12th, 2012
As a young, growing, and highly creative fandom, the MLP community can afford to demand higher than average standards in its fan fiction. In the short time I've been a brony, I've come across many willing to pre-read, edit, or offer writing advice.
Some weeks ago, I read through an MLP fan fiction writer's guide (that I won't name) and nodded my head in agreement at its advice; most of it was standard instruction on grammar, style, and writers' etiquette.
But then I came upon one section that made me frown. This guide gave advice that I disagreed with and that also went against what I have read in other books on writing. The section was on the subject of varying sentence structure and avoiding word repetition. It recommended that instead of simply using names and pronouns to designate characters, a writer could throw in descriptions. He could, for example, write "the fuzzy purple Unicorn" instead of "Twilight."
Although I don't pretend to be the greatest literary stylist the world has ever seen, this sounds like bad advice to me. Let's take the following passage, which I just composed on the spot:
"John!" Bob shouted. "Are you saying you've had a flux capacitor in your basement all this time?"
"We thought that technology was lost in the big war," said the tall man. Fred picked up a cupcake and popped it into his mouth.
"You knew I needed a capacitor to finish my latest experiment," said the guy in the jacket, shaking his head.
Janet rolled her eyes. "Why is it so important?" asked the bald lady. "You can buy those things at any hardware store."
Though obviously not a work of genius in any case, this passage is unintelligible: is John the tall man, or Fred? Is Bob or John the guy in the jacket, or is it someone else? Compare that to this:
"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted. "Are you saying you've had a flux capacitor in your basement all this time?"
"We thought that technology was lost in the big war," said the orange Earth Pony. Applejack picked up a cupcake and popped it into her mouth.
"You knew I needed a capacitor to finish my latest experiment," said the fuzzy purple Unicorn, shaking her head.
Rarity rolled her eyes. "Why is it so important?" asked the white fashionista. "You can buy those things at any hardware store."
Chances are you can follow that passage if you're already familiar with My Little Pony, but that's no excuse. Writing guides usually suggest that you should use consistent designations for characters for the sake of clarity. If you find yourself writing a character's name over and over until it's monotonous, the best solution is probably not to switch out the names for descriptions like "the bouncy pink Earth Pony," but to revise the passage for brevity. The passage likely has some content that can come out, and it probably relies too heavily on one type of sentence.
"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted. "Are you saying you had a flux capacitor in your basement all this time?"
"We thought that technology was lost in the big war," Applejack said. She picked up a cupcake and popped it in her mouth.
Twilight shook her head. "You knew I needed a capacitor to finish my latest experiment."
Rarity rolled her eyes. "Why is it so important? You can buy those things in any hardware store."
This is not to say that you can't occasionally mix it up, but you have to be sneaky about it. The rule is to use names and pronouns to refer to the characters, but rules of composition can be broken if a real gain results. In most cases, however, using a physical description in place of a name or pronoun will only make the passage clunky and ambiguous.
A MLP/Back to Future premise isn't implausible for a fan fic. Pinkie Pie is known to stash random stuff (eye-patches, balloons, balls, party cannons) around Equestria. So who's to say that the bouncy pink Earth Pony can't have a spare flux capacitor lying around? Now, just add some plutonium and Dr. Whooves' TARDIS/Delorean...
I think somepony already wrote one, actually.
My Little Time Lord? I remember Doctor Whooves actually being a reincarnation of Dr.Who. I'm also aware that in “It's About Time" Twilight uses a time travel spell to try to prevent Skynet from becoming self-aware... I mean to prevent whatever catastrophe "Future Twilight" foretells. Though, of course, a TARDIS/Delorean offers a two-way (and potentially one-way) trip, while a TT spell is only temporary.
I mean I think there's a Back to the Future crossover somewhere on this site. Pretty sure I saw fan art featuring Pinkie Pie looking over Marty's shoulder as he does the famous gape at his watch. Can't remember what the story's called, though.