Silver Standard Halftime. Ask Me Anything! · 2:40am Oct 13th, 2015
So! As my outline stands, we are officially in the middle of The Silver Standard. ...More or less.
Crusader of the Lost Mark means the fic isn't ending where I'd planned it to end, and in retrospect that's for the best. The second half--at least in brainstorm mode---was sort of unfocused and I'd been having a hard time figuring out what on earth to do with Flight to the Finish because aside from one small bit, I had no idea what to do with it. Now it's been given to me on a silver platter and what is now the conclusion is, in outline, much stronger.
Canon-balls are like wildfires, I guess. Burn everything down but stuff grows back better.
So that's at least one extra chapter, putting us at more like... 40% rather than 50%. Close enough. I'm rambling now, back to business.
As per tradition and to make up for not having an update this month and because real life doesn't give me time for the in-depth look at CotLM I'm opening the floor for an open question and answer session. OAnything about the story, about my other stories, my opinion on pickles beets, whatever.
What are your thoughts on pickle beets?
Someone had to do it, right?
If you had to engage in a battle to the death with one former ruler of the Ottoman Empire, who would it be? And what weapons would you use? Assume that you're both at peak condition, with an hour of prep time.
I've only read The Silver Standard thus far, but I know at least one of your other fics focuses on DT.
Did you originally write DT and SS because they were already characters you liked or because you felt the need to explore them and their motivations in order to make them likable/relatable?
3466124 If you hadn't I was going to.
3466124
Look, I know Pickled Beets isn't the fanciest pony in Ponyville, and I know there's better stuff at Sugarcube Corner but Hayseed Turniptruck's wife worked hard on that beet cake. She added a fancy pink frosting just for Diamond, too! At least try a slice Diamond, sheesh.
3466186
Screw prep time, I'm just gonna up and use a taser glove to punch Abdülmecid II right in his dumb face and then I'm taking his hat.
3466229
For me, that's kind of the same thing. If I want to explore them, I already like them and vice-versa. My favorite characters aren't just the ones I relate to, but the ones who are interesting, the ones who have juuuust enough to go on, but the canon cannot or will not explore. Not totally flat, half inflated. If Diamond lived in Canterlot or if she were an older pony, I'd shrug it off and go eat some tacos, but Diamond's like, nine. Nine and so angry. In Ponyville, of all places. Why are you so mad, little horse?
And no, I don't think Spoiled Rich has answered this question; partial answer at best.
Meanwhile, Silver Spoon has even less to go on, but there's plenty to dig around in, especially by the end of season four...and almost never utilized. It bugged me that fics focusing on her were so often so half-assed. She's "just a follower" people say, and it's the "just" that really bugs me. As if we can all just stop there: she's a follower, mystery over. No. Why is she there in the first place? She can't be just a simpering follower because A) she doesn't simper, she pouts snobbishly and B) she's been on Di's page almost every single time. She is here because she wants to be here. The question, then, is why.
Frankly, if the reader likes Diamond and/or Silver, then that's awesome, but that's not my goal. Likability goes hand in hand with tastes; they were both already likable in my book. Reader doesn't have to like them, but gosh darnit, they are understand them.
My question for you is simply a variation of the Riddle Vary's gave Tyrion in Game of Thrones. Three great Ponies sit in a room a Princess a Priest and a Rich pony. Between them stands a common sell sword. Each great man bids the sell sword to kill the other two, who lives and who dies.
Assuming Silver Spoon is the sellsword who lives and dies? Assuming its Diamond Tiara?
Of course that's the riddle in its most simplistic form, others could have been added, ones parents, ones friends, a representative of the masses in general, but best we keep it to three I think.
Who's your favorite "background foal" in Silver Standard, ie. one of the kids aside from DT and SS?
"We're all the hero of our own story."
Are Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara the heroes of this story? And if so, are the CMC the villains? Either from your point of view or the characters'.
What are some of your favorite books, and are there any writers you use as models for your own work?
Since I asked, I should volunteer the fact that one enduring favorite of mine is Will Cuppy's The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody, which I also use as my model whenever I try to write wittily. Of course I can't do it as well as he did, but I find that if I aim at Cuppy I can usually hit Dave Barry (who deserves it).*
*See, that's an attempt at Cuppy right there.
3466380
Hmm. Lemmie stew on that a bit and I'll tell you when I'm a little less sleepy.
3466417
Hmm. I think it's probably Dinky "The Dink" Doo, since she was the first one who really decided to come into her own while I wasn't looking. I didn't exactly plan for her to end up as the cool one, nor for her to be into spooky stuff but apparently she did. She also filled the power vacuum, since while Diamond is popular, she's a different brand of it, and there's more than one or two kids at the top of the ladder. Sometimes a character's personality will just pop out of nothing--and aside from being cute Derpy daughter, I had next to no fanon to base of off--and I love when that happens.
Berry Pinch is a very close second, since her presence always spices up a chapter just by way of not being intimidated at all by either Diamond or Silver and more than willing to butt heads with them. Which is probably why Diamond likes her and Silver doesn't.
3466618
I'd say so, yeah. Both fillies have their own stories of their own going on, and they're respectively the heroes. As for villains, Diamond absolutely sees the CMC--more precisely, Apple Bloom--as hers, though it may not stay that way. Silver doesn't respect the CMC enough to consider them villains, though she certainly dislikes them.
As for me, I approached the story as having no heroes or villains, just protagonists and antagonists.
(That said, I can imagine Silver as a Bond villain so easily it hurts.)
3466860
Favorite book's been Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn since 2000, and I'm pretty sure I get most of my more flowery descriptions from him. Runners up include Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, Valente's The Orphan Tales, and the short stories of Langston Hughes.
3466982
Oh, The Last Unicorn! I love that book too. You know who else did? Sir Christopher Lee.
You've probably heard about the fan letter he sent to Peter S. Beagle.
Could you please explain the grammar rules about titles such as 'princess', 'king', 'queen', 'captain', 'general', 'admiral', 'doctor' etc.?
Are they supposed to be capitalized or not, or is it situational, and does it matter if it's dialog or narrative?
3471570
They're capitalized when they're part of someone's name or title. For instance "here comes the captain" vs "here comes Captain Spitfire".