Writing for Derpy...

This is going to end up as a mild rant, so if you don't like ranting, now's your chance to hoof for it...

Everyone else,

I came to a realization a couple days ago...not many authors know how to write stories for the mailmare. I came to this after a featured video starring Derpy on Equestria Daily... which made her into a complete imbecile. A Mr. Bean imbecile.

Ignoring the fact it was a ripoff of Mr. Bean, and that it takes an actor of tremendous capability, (Rowan Atkinson) to pull off an utter imbecile that is even slightly believable, it wasn't really funny at all. It was an utter fail.

When you make a character so completely one-sided that if they turned sideways they'd disappear, you're being lazy. As a support for the main characters, it can work for a short time, (the shorter, the better). After that point, the freshness date is superseded, and they lose total credibility. If you're using them as a main character, it blows up almost immediately.

Twilight Sparkle is into books. Cool. Now, besides the finite supply of book jokes, how long can you hold a person's attention if all Twilight ever did was book jokes? Twenty seconds, and everyone and every pony is flipping through the channels to find a test pattern to interact with.

Now, make Twilight a bookworm, an astute, powerful mage, a leader of a very capable team of wily, competent, capable warriors, a graduated pupil from a very exclusive school tutored by one of a ruling Diarchy, an Alicorn Princess that has a young dragon as an assistant...

Yeah.

Derpy is clumsy, has funny eyes, and likes muffins. And in my stories, almost as smart and clever as Doctor Hooves, was the top Wonderbolt until she had to turn it over to her second Spitfire because of her vision, then went to college, before her gizmo failed and she left in tears, loves her little filly Dinky with all her considerable heart, has a cuteness field that just overwhelms ponies with adorable, and can be just as strong and resolute as the Mane Six...

I'd rather read that, then watch an imbecile with a turkey on her head...

YMMV

Sincerely,

Crystalheart

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

I have her as a loving mother, dedicated postmistress, and experienced mage who uses a form of magic few in Equestria have even heard of. She also has some incredible luck—more bad than good—and a sense of direction that, while it works fine in two or twelve dimensions, has some issues with three.

So yeah, definitely agree that greater depth is needed for any starring role.