• Member Since 22nd Feb, 2012
  • offline last seen January 10th

A Hoof-ful of Dust


You can't see the forest...

More Blog Posts18

  • 333 weeks
    The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

    So, one, I'm alive. Had an extended stasis period, but I never forgot the fandom, especially the ever-increasing corner at FimFic. Hi. How about that movies, huh? That happened.

    Read More

    5 comments · 558 views
  • 442 weeks
    Curtain Call.

    So, that's it. All of Both Sides Now is posted, so if you're one of the people who tracked it and was waiting for it to be done before reading, you can do that from this point on. It was a fun experience -- hard work, but ultimately very rewarding. Once again, I'd like to thank everyone who made it better than it was to start off with, and also really anyone who read it and liked it.

    Read More

    11 comments · 560 views
  • 444 weeks
    Fan Service.

    Let's talk about shipping.

    I like shipping. It's where I gravitate towards when it comes to fanworks. It's cute and fluffy and, for all the flak that it gets from vehement anti-shippers, has the potential to be deep and meaningful and reveal a lot about the shipped characters and maybe even touch a little on the human condition... but when it doesn't, it's still cute and fluffy.

    Read More

    9 comments · 494 views
  • 446 weeks
    Dotting the Is, crossing the Ts.

    Hey, so... that story I was working on, the one with Twilight and Rarity and the dual perspectives, the first draft is finished. Would anyone want to do me a huge favour and pre-read it? No hurry -- it's 30,000 words, so it's not really a thing for one sitting. There's sex, but not all of it is sex. It's unsubmitted on my account here, but I could put it on Google Docs if that's how you roll (I'm

    Read More

    9 comments · 452 views
  • 451 weeks
    We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

    So while I was away, I managed to write my 15,000th word of that Twilight/Rarity thing that came up a little while ago; it feels like I'm more than halfway done, but I can't tell just how much more. With short stories that are only a scene or two in length it's difficult for them to drift away from your original idea when you

    Read More

    1 comments · 453 views
Jun
24th
2014

Choose Your Own Adventure. · 8:07pm Jun 24th, 2014

Hi. How's it going? I sort of came to the realisation the other day that I don't really know a lot about the people that are following me, and... well, that's bad, because it's a nice gesture, to want to be notified when a writer does something. I'm not all that great at the more social aspects of FIMFic, but the userbase seems overall more cool than uncool, so I should try to engage with it a little.

Anyway, I have a bunch of ideas for stuff to write next, but they're all jostling for attention (I'm led to understand this is a common problem), and I thought I'd try to kill two birds with one stone and get some feedback on what sounds interesting; I'd hear from some voices who like my stuff and I'd also then feel like I have some obligations to live up to. I don't want to hold a vote, or anything, because that always seemed... tacky, somehow, so I'll just lay out what's in my head and you can feel free to chime in on what should (or shouldn't, ever) exist.

- Something dark and experimental about Lyra and a lesser-known cryptid. Probably will end up being very non-linear. I know the point I want to make with this story and a lot of the themes I want to put in it, but I've been putting it off because apart from a nice interpretation of Lyra's cutie mark the story doesn't need to be told with ponies at all, to the point that I was thinking about purposely avoiding ponifying any of the real-world references.

- Twilight researching into the history of bat-ponies and uncovering the real reason you don't see them much (spoilers: it's genocide). Totally going to steal the story-within-a-story-within-a-story structure from "The Wind Through the Keyhole" and use some archaic (or a rough approximation thereof) language for most of it. I know most of the beats for the story, but I feel like most of it has probably been covered before by some 50,000+ -word epic.

- Clop comedy about Soarin and Derpy trying to have a first night together, but everything just keeps going wrong. This basically writes itself, I don't know why a) this hasn't been done before and b) why this ship isn't, like, a thing.

- (Friend)shipping Pinkie and Dash a year after the Cheese Sandwich episode, where Pinkie gives Rainbow a really quiet low-key birthday full of subtle sweet touching stuff as opposed to the usual explosions and fun fun fun. I'm usually rubbish at Pinkie's more emotional side, but I've been listening to the songs from that episode and I think I've got a pretty good handle on it. Plus, writing from Dash's perspective, whee.

- A spiritual re-write of my first story on this site, stripping off the junk and repackaging the good ideas. Like a sequel, but not really. I've written a bit of this, but it's raw as hell and needs a lot of polish.

- A thing where Sunset Shimmer plays D&D with Snips, Snails, and the Great and Powerful Trixie (which also is the name of her low-level illusionist character). Not sure how serious this will end up being (not very, I imagine). Not completely sure how to make it work, but should be worth it for writing Trixie as a LARP dork.

So that's the look of the crossroads I'm at. Any sound good? awful? like they need a bit more explanation? Please, tell me about it. If I can pick a direction to head into, I promise I'll try to stick with it, I'd just like a bit of a sounding board first.

Report A Hoof-ful of Dust · 505 views ·
Comments ( 12 )

the last one would make for a fun chuckle

Thanks for inviting us into the party in your head! It's pretty rollicking so far, and I've had a chat with a few of the odd folks you invited. Here's a couple of tidbits from those conversations:

The PinkieDash Friendshipping story was veritably bubbling with excitement, though to my mind she sounded less like she was talking directly from Dash's perspective. But it's hard to tell since she/they were so excited by the idea of manifesting more fully.

Derpy and Soarin looked perplexed for a moment when I approached them, but the set of their wings and the expressions that flitted across their faces shortly thereafter were both priceless and fraught with potential. I think they'd appreciate being given a chance!

Your first story looked at me with such hopeful eyes that I couldn't help but have my heart go out to her. Somehow I felt like it might even be important to you and not just the story itself to make something new of it. We spent some time talking and I hope you'll spend more time with her soon.

The other partygoers all had interesting things to say as well, but those were the standouts. Take it all as you will. I had a blast and look forward to the next one!

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

......


ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!

The D&D one would be amusing as heck, i would like to see that one

2231183
Oh, I'll use the stuff I find interesting eventually; I'm either really good at remembering little story details or really bad at letting ideas go, depending on how you look at it. But I'm strictly single processor, no multitasking when it comes to writing (I have no idea how people juggle multiple long-running stories), so I at least need to pick an order.

2230984
2231612
This I think is the oldest idea -- it struck me in one of those universe-lines-up revelations that of course EQG!Trixie plays D&D (or the equivalent thereof), because the Great and Powerful Trixie is her character that she's a little too into being -- because aside from that one little flash of brilliance I don't know what else to do with it. I have a loose idea, but it's pretty weak.

I do like EQG's Trixie design, though. Hoodies are cool.

2231001
You... are very perceptive. This is all super-useful stuff.

The Pinkie/Dash thing feels very old-school -- that could be because they were sort of the first pair within the Mane 6 that the fandom really latched onto, because of how early in the series' run the Gilda episode shows up. I doubt I'll loose the thread of this one soon, the whole feel of it sparks up every time I listen to Pinkie's Lament.

Why isn't Soarin/Derpy a thing? He seems like just as big a klutz/bad luck magnet as she is; he's dropping pies and getting kicked in the face by a wild flailing Rarity/Spikezilla and plowing headfirst into the ground... I'll get to this, too. I've got, y'know, ideas on having sex go wrong.

But that last one... it is important -- personal, even -- which is both the reason I do and don't want to work on it. I don't inject a lot of myself into my writing, at least not directly, and this is kinda closer to nerves than I would usually go. Might make it great; might make it terrible.

So now I have some things to think about.

2232476
Thank you kindly! It is not the first time this has been noted, but it is always good to get a positive and appreciative confirmation.

As for how your personal fic would turn out... well, I think that of all of them, that one is the one about which you might care least about others' opinions if you choose to do it for yourself, as (per your original post) a spiritual re-write.

I have no doubt that most writers - certainly myself! - want to see their fics succeed in the minds of others. But many artists (also myself included) do pieces that are just for them. Doing what's best for you can be a tricky balance, since "best for you" is nebulous and can include "that which will bring me acclaim".

But perhaps that one will be the exception. Whatever you choose, I hope it brings you satisfaction.

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

I would say that you should just tell everyone to go screw themselves and write whatever the hell you want, and then also say that if you have a bunch of ideas but none of them stand out to you, it means you probably don't care enough about any of them to bother writing any of them, and you should probably keep looking until something really grabs you.

But it's been a long time since I read anything good involving Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash together, so you should write that.

2233122
Well, yeah, but I wanna write all of them, and I probably will (try) in some form or another. Mostly I wanted a bit of a sounding board, since if I talk a little bit about things with different people then I'll end up at least facing a direction.

Pinkie/Dash feels like the old-school part of the fandom. All the kids these days with their RariJack...

2233383

but I wanna write all of them

Don't we all? Every time I've been in a situation like this one, where I have a dozen or so different ideas, and when I list them all out they all seem good or like something I would enjoy writing, but no single one of them is getting me really excited, I want to write all of them, but I just can't motivate myself to actually do so. A lot of times, if I just wait and look around, eventually I'll find something else, something totally new, that I think is really awesome and immediately start writing that instead, which is a lot more fun than forcing myself to write something I'm not excited about.

Pinkie/Dash feels like the old-school part of the fandom. All the kids these days with their RariJack...

No one writes PinkieDash anymore. Actually, RariJack has never seemed popular to me, either. I don't have any idea what the popular ships are.

Which is all the more reason for you to write some Pinkie/Dash! :raritywink:

2234286
You know, that's a great point. That's been my process too, and I've been beating myself up for not having the motivation for working on all this stuff I want to do, but maybe that's because they're only like 60~% formed. Time helps; good ideas ferment, bad ones rot away. Thank you.

You never wrote any of these :<

Serious Lyra sounded like a lot of fun. You can pull off 'oppressive and dark' contrasted with strong character, I like that.

Soarin' and Derpy sounds kinda -adorable-, though, and I think you'd be able to handle it in a way it was sweet and respectful (but still hilarious) instead of dumb immature feature-bait, too.

Hope you eventually write something, and that the rest of your life is going well!

2701399
Well, never say never. Just because I didn't write any of them yet doesn't mean they're lost forever. I'm just, y'know, busy with life and a small person who's almost learned to walk and stuff. (I think her favourite pony is Fluttershy, but it might be Rarity. It's hard to tell.) I've been spending my downtime on vidya games, which is just the best way to get your brain to switch off, but I have been getting that itch to write again. I think it might be seasonal, I feel like I've gone through this cycle before. Anyway, I'm definitely not out of stories yet.

Login or register to comment