The One in the Arena · 10:43am Sep 12th, 2014
art by PonyEcho
It's been several months since I last took a blog to just say "thank you" to all my fans and friends, and to the Fallout: Equestria community as a whole. Since then, I've gotten a whole lot of new watchers. (I now have more followers than Knighty!? 
How did that happen?!) As usual for these blogs, I want to thank all you -- for the wonderful comments and favorites, for sharing your kindness and your friendship with both myself and others, and especially for all the labors of love that through which you have added to this wonderful community. But this time, I want to do just a little something more. A while ago, one of you sent me this beautiful quote:
Truer words have rarely been spoken. In the Equestrian Wasteland, these words ring true for every hero who stands up for what's right. It speaks of every character we have drawn, written, or otherwise imagined and shared who has been willing to light a candle in the darkness. To every character who has drawn a line in the sand.
art by Pinkuh
full resolution available here
But even more so, it speaks about each of you who have drawn, written, sculpted and sewn. Everyone who has composed, sang, read and voice-acted. Every one of you who has created, and then been brave enough to share those creations openly, regardless of the slings and arrows that might come your way.
Several days ago, a fan who was struggling with his own writing asked me for encouragement. I told him to keep practicing. I advised him to focus on improving his grammar, spelling and punctuation. (Perfection isn't required -- not even professional writers are perfect; that's what they have professional editors for -- but clear and effective communication is.) I told him not to allow himself to give up, or to become frustrated even if it takes years to be able to really express what he wants to through his medium. I told him that hard work and dedication will pay off.
It was good advice. But as encouragement, it could have been better. As encouragement, I should have included the quote above.
So now I'm passing that quote on to all of you.
Thank you.
"Littlepip's Approval Clap" by Teschk
P.S.: Barring something unusual, next week's journal should be the next piece of "Origin Story". I've got four "pads" written of what I suspect to be about ten -- each being the most crucial part of what would have been a story chapter. (And for those who pointed out that pieces of a Daring Do rough draft would make a far from ideal OTP, you're absolutely right. But it's a framing gimmick. And besides, this is the universe of Fallout: Equestria, where a wasteland pony with sufficient know-how, a lab coat and a tin of Mint-Als could hack Twilight Sparkle's personal terminal... cryptography was clearly not the ponies' most advanced science. 
) I and hope to have the fifth finished before posting the next.
Until then:
check out Official Firestreak's entire amazing Fallout: Equestria soundtrack
Wait. Who was that alicorn?
Ahhh, Theodore was such a good man for noble quotes.
2448802 That is a character in Fallout Equestria: Heroes. To say more would spoil things. Read the story.
*have
(i'm so sorry, i promise i'm not a grammer nazi
)
i might be one of those new subscribers you were talking about, i followed you because you wrote fallout: equestria, i heard it was good and i like fallout in general
potentially more Fo:E? WOOHOO
...I have a problem
2448802
From the Heroes pic? That's Platinum Haze.
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Thanks.
Fixed.
On the blogs, that's no problem.
Also: *I, *I and *I'm.
Good O' Theodore, he was a good man.
It's blogs like this that make me glad to have joined the Fo:E community. They always leave me feeling warm and fuzzy inside. :3
Pure, undiluted, inspiring awesomeness, that's how
I always find it amusing that Knighty isn't the most followed since, you know, he made the site.
hi hi
I'm a fan of the The Man in the Arena, but of course, doing and critiquing are not mutually exclusive. Sometimes failure can be as important as success. But only if you learn from it. And that is where good, honest criticism can make all the difference, and why it is important for people who are criticizing to have compassion. Without help, it is very possible to learn the wrong lesson from failure. It is dangerously easy to think that you are a failure, that you should never have tried in the first place.
- Seth Godin
- Syndey Smith
Congratulations on amassing so many followers! You've made one of the largest story universes there is, and that's good reason to be popular. You more than earned it.
To be fair to Twilight said pony was a stable-tec technician. And all software that isn't used to control turrets is bound by literary customs to degrade in some way. Or something.
As far as my advice to an author, get an editor; if you're just starting, beat the plot until every damn hole is filled (Rather essential when lots of magic is involved, moreso for non FoE stories since the original already has most of it covered); if you're having difficulty getting views, look around at successful stories, or even when you upload; if there's an idea in plot you want try but are unsure, ask your viewers if anyone is willing to preread/plan, or go our and find one (who's suitable, you want someone who knows the genre well); and if you're out of ideas, you can try some quasi plot filler (for lack of a better term). There are groups on the site for most of those things.
okay okay unrelated but I've been re-reading Fallout Equestria (in print form!) and i jUST REALIZED THE SYMBOLIC PARALLELS BETWEEN PINKIE AND LITTLEPIP AS FAR AS THE END OF THEIR PTM ADDICTIONS GO
like, that pinkie was going to start fixing herself the very next day, just as pip claimed she was going to go seek treatment after she had "gotten some sleep"
and both of them were confronted with something that would take away that option; pinkie with the apocalypse, and pip with breaking monterey out of tenpony tower
this is where things get especially interesting, though, because pinkie has to overcome her obstacle to survive, while pip has to fail.. and both of them came very close to succeeding in their plans, pinkie with the raid on four stars and pip with her seemingly functional plan to bust jack out of tenpony.
except one had her friends, and one didn't.
i'm presently in the middle of everypony meeting spike, so i was yelling at my house for a good bit there. spike feels get me every time.
there are too many feels in the book kkat why did you make the book so sad
Hype. Not undeserved, but all the same...
This is... a lot better than the kind of "criticism" and "encouragement" I typically see around the site. Thank you for posting it.
I very much appreciate that quote Kkat, and I would very much like to reciprocate.
cdn-media-2.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2013/07/quote-Aristotle-we-are-what-we-repeatedly-do-excellence-88930.png
That was a great quote. Thank you for sharing it with us. I need to keep reminding myself to keep on trying and improving bit by bit while at the same time learning from my mistakes so that I can do a better job next time. Anyway, I hope you're doing well.
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Thank you!
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I think you may be misusing that word. In this blog, I try to clarify the distinction between hype and acclaim.
Daym, that's a pretty good quote, thanks!
I absolutely adore how you encourage your followers to write their non-canon expanded universe side stories in that horrifyingly amazingly setting you created for us to get lost in.
Not too long ago, (actually six months ago) I nearly gave up writing my own sidestory because of the stygmatism many FO:E stories get - simply for being FO:E. Then you swooped into that forum thread and told me ... * sniff * to never be discouraged. Thanks Kkat! And I'm still writing it today because of that - because of you.
I just realized I haven't followed you yet ... strange.
Let me rectify this conundrum.
A great chunk of advice from a great author. You got a Twitter? dA? Anything else?
I honestly can't think of many fics that have had a bigger impact on my inner canon than FoE. I still look at the copy I downloaded sometimes.
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normally people with several hundred or even thousand followers wouldn't give me a moments notice lets alone reply
you sir/ or madam are incredibly awesome
You're just incedibly inteligent and lucky. That's why you have beaten knighty by followers - the only thing he does is codeing and we shouldn't disturb him with some writing...
Are you going to write any more MLP: FIM fanfictions?
2451082 I always thought Kkat was a great writer of the female gender... (curse your anonymity)