• Member Since 1st Feb, 2012
  • offline last seen 12 hours ago

JMac


Hi. I'm just some guy, you know.

More Blog Posts93

  • 253 weeks
    Hi, There

    I wrote something. You may have missed that because it's for a contest entry, and I don't like to promote those before the contests is over; but I did write something.

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    7 comments · 494 views
  • 284 weeks
    My Hearth's Warming Stories

    October really rocked for me. I did not get one reading of my ghost story "Skittish" for Nightmare Night; I got two! Thank you, thank you, Neighrator Pony, thank you thank you, Zachmoviefan!!!

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    3 comments · 360 views
  • 359 weeks
    Why I Wrote My Most Despised Story

    About a week ago I published my twenty-fourth story. It has gone on to become the lowest rated story I have ever written. I sense I have some 'spainin' to do. Why did I write "...And I Will Name Him George!"?

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    12 comments · 697 views
  • 360 weeks
    New Story - And It's Something Of A Departure For Me

    I don't know if all of my followers have gotten notifications, but I've just published a new story. "...And I Will Name Him George!"

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    3 comments · 508 views
  • 373 weeks
    Quizzical Greystone Meets Her Old Magic Tutor

    (this takes place in the future; eight, perhaps nine, oh let's just call it several seasons into the future. Spoilers may occur. Or maybe not. If concerned, consult a calendar then relax).

    The banging of the door knocker at the entrance of the Castle of Friendship rang through the castle's front hall.

    "I will get it," called Quizzical Greystone.

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    17 comments · 659 views
Jul
8th
2015

Moon Dancer and Quiz · 3:46pm Jul 8th, 2015

When "Maud Pie" came out I was inundated with messages about how "OMG, you have to see this, Maude is just like Quiz!!!" To this day I have readers who cannot be talked out of the notion that MLP:FIM stole my OC.

Nothing of the kind happened after "Fences Amended" came out. So, why does Moon Dancer remind none of you of Quiz?

Probably because Moon Dancer is bitter. I went out of my way to show that Quiz's social problems are nature not nurture. There was no triggering incident that drove her into seclusion, the way there was for Moon Dancer. Quiz didn't have a bestie she was reaching out to and who left her. Quiz thought she was content, and never reached out to anypony. And bitterness? That's an alien concept to Quiz (second only to boredom, which she is immune to, for feelings she doesn't understand). Anger she understands - though you have to hurt someone close to her, rather than hurting Quiz herself, to get a rise out of Quiz. Even then, you'll never quite achieve Flutter-hulk levels of anger (maybe). Bitterness? You have to hold on to the past for that. Anger is all about the moment. You have to cling to past slights to brew bitterness. Quiz doesn't do that. She wouldn't see the point.

Still, I'd like to introduce them. And I can see how. In my head cannon there are two require courses at U. Canterlot that even the most precocious of incoming freshmen cannot test out of. One is Dr. Careful Measure's Lab Procedures class, and the other is Moon Dancer's Research Methods (she does have to move on and do something with all that studying, right?). It's going to be so much fun to get Quiz out of elementary school and have her make the jump to college! Except there's so very, very, very, very much I want to write before I do that. Sigh.

Don't worry that I'm taking a moment for this brief digression, Chapter 16 of Basements of Doom is underway.

Report JMac · 411 views · Story: Quizzical ·
Comments ( 10 )

Berzerker Quiz doesn't rage. She's more terrifying than that.
She doesn't outwardly change her behavior, except to the perception of the people closest to her. She just calmly, with the same monotone mannerisms, seeks your pain.
She becomes an inevitability, a golem of wrath. Something unknowable and eldritch to the flighty pony-brain. A pursuit predator, from whom your demise is eventual, but just as assured as though you had angered a hydra.

...Yeah, I kinda want to write a short fic about this, though I'll re-name the character so as not to confuse.

3219552 You know, I have a wife who acts just like that....

There is also a greater degree of physical similarity between Quiz and Maud, which is easier to notice. Both have a love of the world's minerals, neither are exactly what you would call colourful. (Debatable, Maud is grey and purple.) Both speak in a monotone. (This I think is a BIG factor, as Quiz's voice is/was somewhat defining.)

Of course, when you really look at them, the differences become more apparent, but the similarities are very obvious right from the start, and that tends to stick in people's minds.

As for Moon Dancer, I just don't see much in the way of similarities, largely due to the reasons you listed above.

3219552 I don't know how I feel about this...


3220224 If she hears you said that I shall deny all knowledge of you.

3220768 Well, to be honest, they're all a little like that...

I went out of my way to show that Quiz's social problems are nature not nurture.

That's not entirely true. There was no single triggering event, but your first Quiz story clearly showed that living in the shadow of her other siblings and the way her peers made fun of her twisted her nature and exaggerated parts of it and largely revolves around undoing much of that damage and restoring her to more healthy state-- one that just happens to still be very quiet and mostly serious with a streak of dry humor.

Nonetheless, you're right that Maude is much closer, being a monotone, quiet, mostly grey pony who is just naturally interested in minerals and not in standard pony things. Actually Maude is less interested in standard pony things than Quiz but also much more self-confident. Quiz is more like some kind of hybrid off-spring of Maude and Fluttershy, especially early on.

The ideas keep going all the way to space.
but the current road blocks stop the momentum.

fun times ahead

Have you ever considered writing stories out of order?

Or, to be more plain: Just because you write a story about Quiz in college does not mean that you can't then go back and write other stories that happen while she is still younger. There is a chance of continuity snarls since you are defining later point on her character arc that you then have to make sure the earlier ones don't diverge her from too much, but some authors can do that just fine (others have different talents).

3672217 No, I prefer to write things roughly in order (though that's getting complicated - eg. does Wonderful happen during the same winter as Adventures in Cake Sitting, or does it happen the following year? ). I do daydream about future Quiz, both in college and as a young mare. But the closest I've come to writing about that is the spoilers at the beginning of chapter 5 of Wonderful.

Fair enough. I have no idea how rare or common the particular talent I described might be... I actually have no idea if I have it myself.

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