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Aragon


Quoth the raven: "CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW" (Patreon)

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Aug
26th
2015

The Gayest Time of Them All · 12:29am Aug 26th, 2015

Finishing a story you’ve been working on for a long time is weird, but let me tell you, it’s even weirder when the first thing that comes to mind afterwards is “This is it. This is as gay as my stories get. For now.

And yeah that’s exactly what I thought when I finished the story that, as per now, is completely posted on Fimfiction: A Gay Old Time. A story of which I’m proud as hell, even though it flopped harder than my nether regions when I go to bed with a beautiful woman and realize too late that she doesn’t have a goat with her.

Seriously, though, A Gay Old Time is gay. Really, really gay. Both as in “happy” and as in “I think I can detect two heterosexuals in the whole freaking story, and they really bend the meaning of that term as the fic goes on.” I didn’t really plan it that way, and I don’t really care for it that much—let’s be honest, chums, that’s not exactly new in this website.

It’s also a sex comedy, in the sense that there’s a lot of sex going on, but you won’t see any of it. The rating is “Teen”, because I think the comedy is more important than anything else, but… Yeah that could have been written as a clop story and it would have made sense. Luckily (or unluckily) for you, I don’t write porn. So, comedy it is!

Also shipping, I think. It counts as shipping. I mean, the characters keep fiddling with each other, and without spoiling anything (I know some guys haven’t read the story yet because they were waiting for it to be completed—that’s part of the reason why I’m posting this blog) the thing is tagged “Romance” for a reason. It’s really secondary, though. Y’all know I’m in this only for the giggles. You want sappy, go read Donny’s Boy or whatever.

So! A Gay Old Time. I started that story with a simple thought: let’s make this short. I told myself I’d write a 1,000-words story, because I’ve never done that before.

Then I said okay, uh, let’s go for 4,000 words. I can do that.

Then I said that, well, shit. 6,000. 6,000 words is a good number.

Two days later I sent a message to my main editor, crying, because the goddamned fic was 22,700 words and growing. Gagh.

Long story short—fic ended up being 30k, and about everybody who knows me told me that yeah it was predictable.

So anyway—I started A Gay Old Time with the idea of it being just a random bunch of funny scenes, unrelated, that shared a setting. It was just a party and like seven million characters—let’s see what happens!

What happened was that a plot appeared out of nowhere, and before I knew it the fic was an actual story, and not just a bunch of jokes hastily put together. Hey, fine by me. I mean, I guess this one’s better, and who am I to say what no to the characters? They wanna live, yo.

This story is interesting, in the fact that it made me realize a couple things. Mainly, the main dichotomy I’m facing lately.

Thing is—I write for fun. Or at least, I used to write for fun. I thought it was an interesting thing that entertained me during my spare hours, and it also taught me how to tell a story—something that can be really useful in my daily life (I’m studying to be a lawyer).

But on the other hand? I try to get better. Try to. And there’s a point in which mere practice is not enough, and if I don’t want to be left behind (as I feel I am, ‘cause some of my friends are really talented and that pisses me off) I need to work harder. To go out of my comfort zone, to try to create stuff that I haven’t written before.

I have a really set comfort zone, I’m afraid to say. I write dialogue-heavy stories, with many characters, schizophrenic plots, and I have a handful of tricks and shortcuts that I use all the time. If you’re one of those weird guys who read all my stuff, try and list them all in one comment! Whoever wins gets a prize. I’ll write a story for him, or I’ll at least include his OC as a cameo in my next fic.

I like that, but it’s holding me back. I need to work on my prose. I have a couple ways to get around not writing descriptions (and one of those I like so much I’m not changing it, no sir) and some gags or setpieces appear in many of my stories. The Sassy Raritea scene (a scene in which Rarity appears prominently, drinking tea and being sassy) has popped out in at least three of my fics.

And they’re fun to use! I use them because I like them, and because they actually work. But sometimes I write stuff that doesn’t do that (Today is a Good Day to Die comes to mind) and if I manage to pull it off? Dang, son. It’s not just fun—it’s exhilarating. But writing like that is both exhausting and frustrating.

So, there’s the dichotomy. Do I write for fun, or do I write to get better? It sounds like a no-brainer, but I also get scared now and then—what if the people is used to one particular brand of humor and they dislike the new stuff? Writing out of my comfort zone is not easy—it takes long, and the results might be really bad. What if the public gets tired of waiting?

So far, I’ve been trying to juggle with those—I work on a Not Comfortable Fic, and while I’m at it I pop one or two Comfortable Fics to give ya lads something to chew. But I can’t just write a story in one go without it feeling half-assed, so I end up working for weeks on them, and they’re not easy-to-digest anymore. I like my comedies with a minimum amount of depth, and that means length, and that messes up the plan, because I’m supposed to work on those fast. Look at A Gay Old Time, for example. That was supposed to be 1,000 words!

I gotta choose, and I think I won’t be happy no matter which way I go. So, eh, screw it, I’ll keep on juggling. If anything, that’ll force me to learn to write faster, which is kind of cool in itself. As I write this, I’m working on three main stories—a sequel, an original (NONCOMEDY!) story y’all will think is boring, and a standard comedy that will be tagged “Everybody” because it’s been too long since that.

But yeah, I can’t promise they’ll be out soon. I’ll try, but things are hard and half-assing is for idiots or people with more talent. I can’t promise you I’ll get better as fast as some other guys out there, but I promise I’ll try to evolve and keep doing stuff I’m proud of. So far, I can look back at my stories and say I’d write them again if I had the chance. And I think that’s what matters.

Now comment on this thing and tell me I’m pretty. Been feeling down lately (hence the lack of forced jokes in this blog—the dick joke is a mandatory one, because one of my best friends hates them) so that’ll cheer me up.

Report Aragon · 773 views · Story: A Gay Old Time ·
Comments ( 13 )

You're pretty. :twilightsmile:

And you'll get better with time. The stuff you've written that I've read is great, and jumping out of your comfort zone isn't easy. That's what you need to practice, and it sounds like you are, so forge on!

You smell.

You're also pretty.

But you still smell.

Yeah... He is right, it is pretty damn gay.

But Aragon, surely you know that leaving your comfort zone and doing something different is the only possible way of expanding your horizons!

N-not that your horizons are small! I'm not saying that. They're actually quite... perky? No, no. I don't think that's the right word. Look, point is, your horizons are not small, by any means.

That is to say, it's certainly not a bad thing to have small horizons. I'm sure that they are much easier to manage.

He says as she silently works on his third TwiDash story in a row.

I find you quite pretty good person!

Also, yeah getting out of comfort zones is difficult. Comfort zones are there for a reason. BUTT! If you want to get outta it, JUST. DO IT.

Anyways, toodaloo! I'm always excited for more of your stories! They always end up so much better than I hope for, and I mainly hope for them to make me laugh, which, of course, they do.

If you’re one of those weird guys who read all my stuff,

Ooh ooh that's me.

try and list them all in one comment!

Dammit something that requires skill. I'm going to try anyways because why the hell not.

There's obviously the Raritea thing.

You switch between the main scene to another scene for a paragraph or two where a character in the other scene says 'I feel proud for some reason' or something like that after in the first scene in which the character's son is said to have a very successful sex life.

You make characters significantly OOC from canon, or fanon in the case of Long Story Short Things Went Downverse, so every line of dialogue the character says is already a joke without even needing to create further humor.

You use puns.

You don't have characters laugh at other character's jokes.

Instead of describing things, you just cover it up with jokes, so people never realize you never actually described the setting.

You feel horrible that people don't actually care enough about your stories to actually compile a list of tropes about them even though they read them all. The exact level of horribleness is equal to the amount one feels when one realizes one had the opportunity to get a fucking cameo in one of Aragon's fics but one fucked it up.

You're beautiful darling. not get the heck back on skype so i can stroke your ego and we can have ridiculously fast conversations.

boy you about ugly as heck

Get out of that comfort zone; I did it by posting a story. Make breakthroughs. All that good stuff.

Well, there's no reason you can't alternate between works where you push the envelope and when you're too exhausted, spend time on one of the ones you're more comfortable with, other than maybe not having the time to work on them all.

As for Gay Old Time flopping... I can't speak for anyone but myself but when I hear Cutie Mark Crusaders comedy I go "Okay" but then I hear "Sex" and I go "Nope".

3417847

I'm doing that right now. Kind of? Something to write for myself, and something for the readers -- although it's hard to juggle so much stuff to write. Pushing the envelope in all fronts, though, so meh. I'll pop up a short, fast comedy like the old ones for the fans at one point; I just gotta move my arse and do it.

Also, hey, the CMC are aged up. Otherwise, that story would be weird. I get people not liking sex comedies, though -- they're a special kind of evil.

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