Context · 6:20am Oct 14th, 2014
A great value of fanfiction is in the context that automatically surrounds any work you create. Biblical Monsters for example, would have difficulty being such a focused, tragic tale of miscommunication without the MLP context. In some sense, this whole site is one big collaborative writing project.
I've been popping in occasionally over the past two years, and that's what I'm going to continue to do. In early 2013, I had a lot of stuff going on (mostly academics) that I needed, and moreover wanted to give my full attention to, so I basically stopped everything to do with ponies (apart from reading Chris's blog and downloading the occasional pony ePub for my new ereader), because at that point my participation in this fandom was quite time consuming. During 2012, my most active time in the fandom, I was kinda bored and disillusioned with my studies, and writing all those horse words gave me a much needed creative outlet. But things have really picked up since then, and over the past two years I've learnt a lot and enjoyed myself in the process. RogerDodger will be happy to know that I no longer need my hand held with Git, for example.
I've published some slight scraps and experiments as a sort of palette-cleanser, and I'm toying with the idea of writing another story or two -- I may even have started a first draft. I could probably also be coerced into continuing one of the aforementioned scraps. But not immediately -- I've got a few months of academia left, and then some holidays, and then I go out into the real world of work, and who knows what'll happen from there.
I haven't been watching the show. I've seen a few early episodes of Season 4. I have zero interest in Equestria Girls or anything related to that, because a huge part of the appeal of this show for me is the setting and the non-human characters. But maybe I'll watch some of S4 at some point. Should I?
I was a little saddened to see the state of the /fic/ boards on MLPchan (closed) and Ponychan (still with threads I OPed on the front page). I'm guessing all fanfic activity is basically entirely centred around this site now -- not to disparage this site or anything, I just happen to like the way image boards work. But that's just how it goes. And this site is certainly head and shoulders above any other fanfiction site on the net in terms of presentation and features. The only thing I'm missing is an option to writing in Markdown.
I've seen a lot of familiar faces still hanging around these parts. How are you guys doing?
I am feeling much the same way. I pop in every now and then to see how things are going. It doesn't bother me so much that I don't watch the show any more, nor does it bother me that you don't watch the show. As for me, I've got a lot of other things going on in my life now - some fun things, many constructive/positive things, and some stressful things.
Speaking of good animated series, I fell in love with Adventure Time not long ago; how I love it. It makes me feel all giddy inside to watch it, like the way FiM made me feel. It also is not without subtlety, social commentary and double entendre. I could even say that I think these things hold true for the show beyond how they did for FiM. At any rate, your avatar with Finn the Human riding Luna was one of the things that convinced me to try watching more of it and get into it, and it's interesting.
You know what else I got really into? Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra (FINAL SEASON?
). I remember you saying in a response to a review how the wandering nature of Long Distance was loosely inspired by Airbender and it gave me a deeper appreciation for that story.
Where am I going with all this? Let me tell you: what's important is that we have taste, you and I. We might not watch the show as much as we used to (though I think I'll try it again soon!) but let us remember what's good about the show and what we like, and continue draw inspiration from everywhere we find it, regardless of how silly it might seem, and whether it compels us to write great stories or just to strive for creative/spiritual edification in our lives in general.
Hey, Ezn--it's been a while! Glad to hear you're doing well. And you too, Demetrius! Haven't seen you in forever and a half.
The /fic/s have been either dead or mostly dead, and most of the fanfic activity has moved here. The IRC's been pretty much quiet for the last year and half, too. Most people moved to EQD, Seattle's Angels, or the Royal Guard, or have left pony. I think Skype is now everyone's preferred method of communication.
Equestria Girls won't interest you if it doesn't looking interesting to you. It is, however, in my opinion the best Spike episode ever made. I liked EQG 2 and thought it was good, but it isn't really pony. Season 4 has had some really good episodes and some really terrible episodes, but it's worth watching all the way through, I think.
Ezn, I think you're going to want to focus on your studies until you've secured a job or have a sturdy enough GPA to get into the grad school you want, whichever you're pursuing. I say this because I made the mistake of screwing around too much my final year (and the year before that), and now I'm graduated and still looking for a job... Unwinding is good and necessary, but all things in moderation, I think.
Also, while you're still a student, you may want to take a look at the Github Student Developer Pack. It is seriously sweet.
But now I'm rambling. How's life?
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Good to hear from you!
That's really great, glad you're enjoying it. I'm actually quite behind on AT myself, been meaning to catch up, and all my friends have told me nothing but positives about the new episodes.
Very glad to hear that. ATLA is probably my favourite ever cartoon, and while Korra made some missteps in the first and second seasons, the third season was incredibly strong and the fourth is looking to be even better.
Also check out Rick and Morty and Gravity Falls if you haven't already. Those both come highly recommended.
:D I haven't been writing quite as much as I did back then, but I've got out a few original pieces, and I like to think I'm still finding my weaknesses and improving on them.
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Good to hear from you too, Filler. I've missed you lot.
Skype, really? That's upsetting. That's no replacement for IRC...
Hmm, okay, I'll take a look at some point.
Fortunately, a good internship has secured me a job as soon as my studies are complete -- signed the contract and everything. It also helps that my skills are in high demand and short supply in my country. Still gotta focus for this final push, of course, but I've got things nicely secured for the immediate future.
Already done it. It really is incredible, though I haven't used much of it beyond the DO server credit.
S4 is definitely worth it. And yes, Fimfic is now the center of the MLP fanfiction world, even above EQD.
I realise "hanging around" is a relative term, but HEY EZN =D
>Ezn is still alive.
I've missed you, bro. Demetrius and Filler too.
Yeah, Filler kinda already said it. The boards have been bleeding to death since the split. Combination of more editing groups popping up on here, and EqD no longer redirecting authors there since we were so divided. I never realized how much traffic we got from them. I and like three others still monitor the Training Grounds thread, but yeah the place is a ghost town. You should join the skypechats. I know a lot of us would love to chat with you again.
Save yourself the trouble. I watched it out of curiosity, and it was awful. The only thing that could be considered remotely good is Spike as a dog, and Twilight/Flash Sentry shipfics.
As for season four, I say watch it. The Twilight with wings thing sorta grew on me, seeing as how they used it to good effect. I don't really watch the show anymore unless I'm looking for inspiration, or if there's a new episode out.
DUUUUUUUUUDE I am so in love with those two shows right now. It's all over my tumblr feed. Have you seen the newest episode? Gaaaah, I really love what they did. I can't wait to see more of this show.
Gravity Falls too, although the second season feels like an entirely different show. But I guess that's the point. Nice seeing you around all the same.
Glad to hear your school life is going great. As much as I've missed having you around, that all comes first. Keep up your studies and set yourself up good. I hope to see you around more once you've got your life on track.
Oh, and the one thing I forgot to say: How you been?
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I used to dread the dominance of FIMFic back when the Feature Box was the only way this site had of highlighting stories, but now that we have Seattle's Angels and the Royal Canterlot Library prominently featured on the site and providing better reading suggestions than EQD with commentary included, I don't think it's a bad thing at all.
Love ya, Arc.
:)
Y'know, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what a number of people said would happen, slick as MLPchan was. Is ol' Ion Sturm still around?
I'll see if I can dig up my old account. I'm not the biggest fan of Skype for a number of reasons, but it's not a completely terrible program I suppose. Unless they still haven't updated the Linux version.
Skype name: eznpony.
I think Spike as a dragon still wins.
I know, right? That last bit of the latest episode had me fangasming on the floor.
I feel like, with this season, they decided to take everything meh about the first season and just get rid of it. The Dipper/Wendy subplot always made me cringe and really went on for a little too long, but I really enjoyed how they resolved it. Every episode this season has been fantastic, bar perhaps the most recent one, but that certainly wasn't bad by any means.
Ponies or no ponies, it's a great time to be an animation fan.
I've been pretty good for the most part. Really just got a thesis to finish up and some exams to write.
Incidentally, all that time spent writing really helped me out this year, now that I have to put together a thesis -- many of my classmates are really struggling with it, especially the people who did my subject (Computer Science) because they wanted to do mathsy things instead of writing stuff. Never regret any time spent honing a skill.
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See above comment. Forgot to tag, haha.
I'm still happily hanging about and spending more time on pony than is perhaps normal. Surprising to me is how I've managed to parlay my appreciation of various writers into friendships and even some EQD stuff.
I'm eagerly awaiting more of your adventures and exploits in the real world.
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Eh, he’s popped in on occasion with his deliciously creepy gifs (gosh I miss those) but I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him for a good long while. It’s almost like he brought the whole life of the board with him, y’know?
Yeah, I wasn’t a fan of the most recent one. I can see your point though. Honestly, I think I’m most impressed by how Stan has managed to keep his secret, meanwhile openly stating that he always knew. Bravo, Stan the man.
True dat!
Haha, I know exactly what you mean. Man I wish I’d known /fic/ back in high school. Writing essays would have been a breeze. Of course, I graduated in 2011 so I would have had to have found it during my last few months of school. Still, can’t say thanks enough for the time I had. I learned so much, and the skills I learned have been pretty darn useful. Things change I guess, but we never forget the times we had.
I think I just had an epiphany. Thanks, man. I kinda needed that.
Hey, it's Ezn, and he's not dead!
Seriously though, nice to see you around. If you're still checking out my blog, you'll know about where I'm at these days: still doing the reading/reviewing/occasionally writing thing. Never seen the EqG movies and don't really plan to--even if everything I'd heard about the plot/characters/music/etc. was uniformly positive, I still don't think I could stomach the character designs. I mean, the disturbingly anorexic limbs and bulbous heads make me feel a little queasy just from the image and gif exposure I get via places like FiMFic; an hour and a half of looking at that is probably more than I can bear.
But I digress. Good to know you're putting RL ahead of ponies; keep doing that, it's a good policy. Hopefully we keep seeing you around as your time and interest permit, though, because it was always fun to see your comments pop up on my reviews, and you put together some nice stories for us to enjoy.
2532477 and 2532151 ! Great to hear from you both.
Speaking of the old board... Sturm, I think the last I saw of him was the pic of a bunch of chickens with Bach 'shopped over their heads ("Bach Bach Bach Bach Bach"). It's astonishing how slow the board is now; that post is really old and still visible on the front page. It's kind of like a wildlands preserve in an area near where I live. It is closed for restoration but every time I sneak in there, being careful to stay on the trail and avoid disturbing the plant life, the severity of the California drought makes it so that nothing changes. There is no restoration. If I were to break a single leaf off any plant, it would probably have the same number of leaves when I return to the area a month or so later.
I have no issue with FimFiction becoming the go-to website for fanfiction. It deserves that fame and reputation and traffic for all its custom-built advancements and the work that goes into making it work.
So yes.
In other news with me, I have a new job. I work for an ISP/Colocation provider! Pay and benefits are good but the commute is rough and I may be relocating in a few months. I also am now an avid homebrewer. I made my first all-grain ale about ten days ago and it came out great!
I agree with Filler. Get the career going. Stagnation is no fun.
Whoa it's an Ezn.
Yeah, the chans are dead, but don't lose sleep over it. As much as we have fond memories of /fic/, it's hard to deny how unsuitable its ephemerality is for writing. /fic/ was great despite itself because of all the cool people that were there.
I really like the way Fimfiction works to curate discussion. Blog posts are like OPs, and you only see those by people you're interested in.
I haven't really been all that involved lately, though. I keep the write-offs running, but that's about it. Nowadays, I spend all my time procrastinating uni assignments.
Speaking of which, I'm also on my last semester of uni. So I'm pretty close to the point where I have to figure out what the heck I'm doing next with my life.
You can! Convert your markdown'd horsewords to BBCode with this.
Yeah it friggen sucks. No one invites me to their Skype chats.
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More blog posts are probably in order then!
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:D
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Rumours, greatly exaggerated, etc.
Haha, yeah.
I guess we'll see in time. I've always found it much easier and more fun to write with a prompt or some sort of background than just trying to pull words out of an empty slate, so there's certainly an itch deep inside me that writing fanfiction scratches. I'll probably be around, time permitting.
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That's a great image, thanks for that.
I attended an ISP conference once. The best part was the seminar on peering that seemed like a really dry extended joke about hookups.
I made inkomboti (traditional Zulu beer) for a school project once. Cheap, smelly and about a quarter sediment. Never been much for alcohol because of that and other reasons, but I have enjoyed some craft ales on occasion. Pretty cool that you're brewing it, hope that goes well!
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I suppose that's true. The main thing I feel is missing is the anonymity -- I've never really liked the idea of forcing people to make accounts on a site just to be able to contribute, plus it was nice being able to identify as "Author of X" for write-offs.
I was in the same boat up until I did an internship I really enjoyed and got my job offer. So I know what I'm doing for the next few years, at least. It's a weight off. My advice is to just apply for things, do interviews, and maybe play companies off against each other for better salaries (a few of my friends have had some success doing this). Or come up with a really cool idea and start a business, I guess, but that's a whole lot harder.
On the one hand, Roger, I respect your Perl skills, but on the other hand I think you're insane. Not as insane as a PHP developer or anyone who willingly uses Java, perhaps, but still insane.
I feel like a salaried job with specific hours will give me the structure to have more free time, because at the moment I'm a post-grad student who's finished all his courses and just has a thesis to finish and exams to write, and so while my time is flexible, I've constantly got this nagging feeling in the back of my head that I should be working now, which I maybe wouldn't have with specific work hours and free time outside of that. That's certainly how I've felt during my internships, but I guess we'll see how things go.
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But that's the biggest problem,
and the whole reason /fic/ survived as long as it did. You got to see posts from people you knew nothing about. I found the best stuff from people I'd never met before, and my favorite fanfiction ever was discovered when somepony rolled through the training grounds. Imagine if we only saw posts from people we already knew back on /fic/. We'd never get any new people. Heck, the board never would have gotten off the ground in the first place. And imagine if I was only reading Ezn's replies, I never would have noticed that you said this.
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Me? Who was it who totally ran off into the sunset like a majestic unicorn, claiming "You don't need me anymore"? I've been sitting here wondering where all the awesome people ran off to.
Which reminds me. What ever happened to that Gummi project or whatever?
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Finding new people to follow isn't really difficult. There's a well-woven network at play between stories, groups, blogs, and the comments on each.
Hey, glad to see you around again. Not that you know me, but the very first pony fan fiction story I read was by you. So glad to see you are still poking your head in from time to time.
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I ended up, instead of continuing work on a huge system from scratch, building some enhancements to Tinyboard that would make review threads have a sort of built-in queue tracker. I also built lots of enhancements to how Tinyboard parsed and generated links, making it far easier and less glitchy to edit posts. I opted to do this instead of working on Gummii because the community was starting to thin out, and I realized that getting something good soon was better than getting something ideal later, because soon there'd be no reason to do anything.
The problem was, I didn't have the right commit habits, and the guy in charge wasn't thrilled with the prospect of merging my changes because they were too much all at once in very few commits. (I embarrassingly forgot his name, but I remember he was the Big Macintosh mod on Ponychan). He sort of insinuated that the only way my code would get adopted is if I were to completely reset my branch and re-commit the mass of changes I'd made in smaller chunks. While I now understand why he wanted me to do this, and my commit habits are now far cleaner and more professional, it was very disheartening and I felt totally minimized by it.
After it was all said and done, MLPChan faded away. Thus, there was zero demand for my Tinyboard modifications, and they never saw the light of day.
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Oh. That in combination with other news, I has a sad now
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I think that's Hawkeye Pierce
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It's not all bad; I learned an important lesson. A corollary to "necessity is the mother of invention" is that lack of necessity is the mother of vain pursuits. Not that there's anything wrong with vain pursuits; one can learn by doing in them and gain valuable skills. It is just important to remember while doing them the real practical reasons for doing them, if any. Having delusions about how something is going to be useful in the future can only lead to disenchantment, whereas doing something for its own sake is art.