• Member Since 13th Oct, 2013
  • offline last seen Apr 20th, 2021

Jordan179


I'm a long time science fiction and animation fan who stumbled into My Little Pony fandom and got caught -- I guess I'm a Brony Forever now.

More Blog Posts570

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Aug
23rd
2014

Influences on My Writing - Part II - FIMFiction Writers · 3:41pm Aug 23rd, 2014

II. FIMFiction Writers

Obviously, my concept of the characters, Equestria and the universe in which they exist has also been greatly influenced by some of the other writers here on FIMFiction. Taking them alphabetically (by first letter of start of User Name, as I only know the real names of a few of them), here is an incomplete list, with plenty of linkage.

Alara J Rogers

She is notable for her characterization of Discord, and writes a particularly-believable backstory for him, Celestia and Luna. She also has a good handle on just why Discord and Fluttershy like each other. This backstory is inconsistent with mine because I base mine on Alex Warlorn's concept of the nature and history of those three, but it's very well done, and I base a lot of my concepts of Discord's personality on her characterization. She has thus especially influenced Divine Jealousy and the Voice of Reason.

Light Rain is an exploration of Discord's relationship with Fluttershy. Specifically, it shows how Fluttershy brings out the better side of Discord's nature. Elements of Opposition is an extremely dark story about her main-verse Discord trapped in an alternate universe by a Mane Six driven mad by the actions of the Discord from that universe (whom they killed), who horribly torture our Discord and plan to use him as a weapon of conquest. Traitor tells Twilight's Kingdom from Discord's POV, and in the process provides rational explanations for the plot holes in the Season Four closer -- I recommend this to anyone who has griped about those plot holes, or simply finds Discord an interesting character.

Alex Warlorn

Alex Warlorn is the reason I started writing My Little Pony fanfiction. He took not only G4 My Little Pony but also every other generation of the franchise and fit it together within a single chronological structure (and one with an aborted side-branch at that!) and a cosmology which turned it into epic science fantasy, of the sort that E. E. "Doc" Smith or Michael Moorcock might have conceived. Not only that, but he provided a conceptual framework which theoretically allowed incorporating any and all other fanfiction (including crossovers) into his main fanon verse. And did it in a way which prevented them from constantly intruding, which is harder than it sounds.

My own stories are very heavily based on his universe. The Cosmic Concepts, both Alicorns and Draconequii, the long history of Ponykind (I've sketched out 10 thousand years of it in my own main chronology, and they're older as a species), and the backgrounds of Luna, Celestia, Discord and several other characters all come from Alex Warlorn's story verse. Not only wouldn't my universe be anywhere near as interesting if I hadn't read his work, the chances are that I wouldn't have even bothered to write MLP fanfics if I hadn't seen his example of how to do it. (I still would have liked the show, it was the show that drew me to the fandom).

I very highly recommend that fans read his main stories starting with Pony POV Series Season Zero: Discorded Ponies and continuing from there. Some of his stories are tremendous high points, especially for someone who likes the deep background, but they're pretty much all worth reading. Even the non Pony POV stuff. If I could summarize what makes them special aside from the deep background, it's the respect that he shows all the characters as real individuals -- even the minor, less-likeable, or unlikeable ones.

Ardashir

Ardashir showed me how to do a Human in Equestria story well with My Little Balladeer, which is about Manly Wade Wellman's mystic and rustic folk-musician scholar-hero John the Balladeer fighting against an evil human mage who is attacking Equestria. The story is especially notable for its extremely good characterization of both of the humans (hero and villain) and all the Ponies they meet. Everybody is in character, nobody does things just because it would be cool from an external brony POV.

He also wrote a story which is both one of the best screwball comedies and simultaneously serious examinations of the condition of non-Pony sapients in a Pony-dominated world I've ever read, Wolf in Pony's Clothing. This is about a young sapient wolf, Ardi, who finds himself in consequence of a series of unfortunate events magically disguised as a Pony; and about a Hive of Changelings hidden closer to the Ponies than they realize. This story had a major influence on my concept of the Reconciliation -- it's second only to Without a Hive in its handling of the Changelings as characters. There is now a sequel, Manehattan Madness, which is also quite excellent.

Ardashir personally is an intelligent and pleasant middle-aged man with deep roots in history and fandom, who I would sum up as being well-grounded in reality. This shows in his writing -- characters behave naturalistically even in very extreme circumstances. He also fully gets the Equestrian ethos as an Industrial Age rather than Information Age society, and presents their strange version of 19th to early 20th century technology very well. I recommend him to anyone who likes background, Changelings, characterization, comedy, and especially Rarity, who's an important character in all three of his longest stories.

Chengar Qordath

What can I say about a writer whose work has seriously influenced my concept of Equestrian history, but whose most famous protagonist (his version of Cloud Kicker) I really and deeply despise? Chengar is a technically-brilliant writer with a serious understanding of world-building, who knows how to present different cultures and subcultures, and characters from those different cultures and subcultures, with a virtuousity which shows that he's deeply grounded in science fiction, fantasy, history and social history. At the same time, his Cloud Kicker is a compulsive nymphomanaic and moral monster who destroys the lives of everypony who knows her, in rough proportion to how close they let her get to them emotionally, and does this all in the serene belief that she is exemplifying a higher code of ethics which other ponies just aren't cool enough to understand. The fact that the other Ponies who meet her in story regard her behavior as admirable or at worst amusing, rather than horrifying, led me to invent the demon Winning-Through-Degradation to explain the anomaly.

I had to modify some aspects (because Chengar's world has a serious stallion dearth, while mine has only a minor one) but Chengar had a very strong impact on my concept of Pegasus culture and Luna's relationship to the Pegasi. You can see some of this in Fluttershy's internal conflict and her flashback to her make-believe with Rainbow Dash in Dragonshyness and her contemplation of suicide in her flashback in A Robust Solution. I really like the concept of the Pegasi as a Kind with a barely-restrained heroic military past, and one whose old militarism is both an asset and potential threat to Equestria.

In a more negative sense, it's leading me to make my Cloud Kicker a badly-fallen Pony who might have been a heroine, once -- and one who lost her demonic powers when Pinkie Pie defeated her, at that. She's a tragic character, because the corruption she embraced she chose when she was still a young filly -- she didn't fully grasp what she was going to do to herself and others -- and yet even in my main verse where Pinkie and Paradise stopped it before it got too far, she did horrible damage to many Ponies. And this was the direct opposite of what she intended -- she wanted to be a heroine with lots of friends, but became a villain who destroyed lots of friends.

The story which most dramatically presents the monster that is Cloud Kicker is The Life and Times of a Winning Pony. The one which best presents the historical background of the Pegasi is The Lunar Rebellion. They are both very long -- the second one is especially worth reading.

Cold in Gardez

Cold In Gardez has written a number of good MLP fanfics. The one that means the most to me is a mood piece, unusual in that its characters are cities and its component stories really histories, told in the confluence of events and the relics they have left behind. we learn of Derecho of the Pegasi, the Heartspire of the Unicorns, Lith of the Earth Ponies, and the city which rose where the Everfree rises now.

Lost Cities has been a lode I've mined for so much background ... connecting the story of Derecho with the Coming of the Wendigoes and the Middle to Late Crystal Empire and the family background of Fluttershy; mentioning the Heartspire as the location of a library Wind Whistler might search for the lost lore of Discord's first advent; and Lith as one of the places (along with the Crystal City, Derecho, the Heartspire and Trottingham) where powerful Lawful magic made it difficult for Discord to penetrate during the millennium of his rule; and the Royal City mouldering beneath the vegetation of the Everfree.

Really excellent work -- everyone should read it who loves the creation of Pony history.

Phoenix_Dragon

Phoenix Dragon deserves mention here for two reasons. The first is his concept of the Changelings and their culture, which is the best version of them I've ever seen done. He's created not one but three extremely memorable Changeling characters: Princess Ceymi (who I used without even filing off any serial numbers as one of the main characters of Collateral Damage), Azure/Sky, and Nictis/Meadow Song (both of whom I've mentioned or implicitly mentioned in background in other works). He's extremely good at characterization, and these are but some of his main characters -- his version of both the Mane Six and his OC's are all extremely vivid, plausible descriptions of some very non-standard Ponies (his Rainbow Dash, and his OC's Spark Wheel and Cotton Candy, are among my favorites of his non-Changelings). His writings were one of the main reasons I came up with the concept of the Reconciliation (of the Changelings with the main Three Kinds), which becomes very important to the outcome of the Shadow Wars.

He has two complete novels and one incomplete one, all of which are linked. In rough chronological order they would be Without a Hive (Nictis' Coming of Age story, and the one which introduces most of his important OC's), Fragments (the story of Sky), and finally A New Way (the sequel to both Without a Hive and Fragments, which are converging tales).

I strongly recommend these stories to anyone who likes Changelings. He's notable in that he regards them sympathetically but unsentimentally -- they are a race who, after all, live essentially as succubi and for the most part despise their hosts, but they are neither monsters nor is their current parasitic relationship with Ponykind the only one possible. He is also extremely good at writing both comedy and tragedy, repeatedly done in those stories, often with Mood Whiplashes within the space of a single chapter, and always delivered with force.

Scoots2

Scoots is a highly intelligent, nice woman who teaches something involving literary history (if I'm wrong, Scoots, tell me and I'll edit this part). She is an extremely skilled writer, who is especially skilled at characterization and comedy. She likes to write about Pinkie Pie, Cheese Sandwich, and their relationship. She has done the best characterization of both of them that I have ever seen anywhere, including in my writing (actually, I've done Pinkie stories but no Cheese ones so far, though in my main verse they do fall in love). I enjoy well-written Pinkie Pie, because I think she's a truly awesome creature. Her concepts of their characters have greatly influenced mine, particularly their serious and silly approach to Laughter, and Love.

Another interest of hers is Canon AU, which means alternate universes which exist in canon. The two most obvious examples of this are the Humanoid world of Equestria Girls and the mirror-verse from the comics' Reflections arc. She's good at fleshing these worlds out and also (which is more difficult) logically extrapolating ways in which the characters and their relationships both to each other and to the world around them would be different in different worlds. Her work on the Equestria Girls universe is influencing my concept of that continuity.

Her work includes a series of short stories and longer works about the main versions of Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich (and how their friendship deepens into romantic love) starting with "Swear on Camembert." Side stories to that series introduce her versions of Braeburn, Trenderhoof and Flash Sentry. There are also two other series, one set in the Reflections-verse, of which the most dramatic is The Glass Council (King Sombra's council and most loyal friends must deal with the aftermath of his corruption and self-banishment); and the other set in the Humanoid-verse, of which the main story is Equestria Girls: The Looking Glass World of Cheese and Pie -- an extremely-good portrayal of the Humanoid versions of Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich, and how their relationship develops and differs from that of their Pony counterparts (Scoots very much gets that Cheese Sandwich isn't just a Ponified Weird Al Yankovic, and that in consequence his Humanoid version isn't just Weird Al, even though there are points of obvious similarity).

I think that anyone who likes Pinkie Pie, Cheese Sandwich, or either of the two Canon AU verses -- or, really, romantic comedy with well-written characters -- should read Scoots' work.

Addendum

I'm fairly sure I missed someone who has influenced my work. I apologize in advance to whomever it happens to be!

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Comments ( 7 )

Thank you! Yes, I don't have the epic sweep of the other writers you mentioned, but I do want to read their works now (and have Alex Warlorn's high on my list.)

I do think of the Equestria Girls characters as humanoid, not human. They're an echo of the Equestrian universe, and not the other way around. It also neatly evades making the "real" world too intrusive. The Mirrorverse fics are going to continue, although I want to wrap up the EG fic before September 27th. And thanks again!

2393967

I don't have the epic sweep of the other writers you mentioned

Ah, but as Pinkie Pie might put it, party cannons are more fun than real cannons. (And, as Luna might put it, also easier to clean up after).

Thanks for saying that I've influenced your own work even slightly. I don't think I'm on quite the same level as the other authors mentioned here, but I am very flattered to be mentioned along with them. And let me add, I think your own writing with the Shadow War is well done too, even if I don't always comment on the stories!

2394254

While it's true that Alex Warlorn's work first influenced me to write MLP fanfics, it was your work which showed me what could be intentionally done in the long form and which influenced me to attempt and complete my longer fictions. You've helped get me to write regularly again, after over a decade of being blocked. I really appreciate that.

If only I could be so incandescent. :-) Thank you.

You have a wide range of writers that inspired you. Though the Shadow Wars is not the only verse on the site. Besides you I been focused on CvBrony's Rites of Ascension, and Tundara's Myths and Birthrights.

2394514

While it's true that Alex Warlorn's work first influenced me to write MLP fanfics, it was your work which showed me what could be intentionally done in the long form and which influenced me to attempt and complete my longer fictions. You've helped get me to write regularly again, after over a decade of being blocked. I really appreciate that.

Thank you very much. It does make me glad to hear this. :twilightsheepish:

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