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PatchworkPoltergeist


Some dork on the internet that likes ponies and flower symbolism way too much.

More Blog Posts53

Jun
16th
2016

Working Within Borders and the Art of the Foregone Conclusion · 4:48am Jun 16th, 2016

The rough draft for the second half of Luxury of Failure is too goddamn long and has too many words AHGGHH nearly done and final draft is already a thousand words in. Proposed upload is in two weeks, max.

It's also a chapter in which you already know the ending. In fact, you already know the ending to many chapters, due to the nature of the fanfiction Silver Standard is. At least half of the story takes place during canon, but from a different lens. The borders are strict and confined; there's only so far one can go before it trips into straight up AU territory.

Nothing wrong with that in itself; plenty of media's built on that concept, especially villain/protagonist turnarounds. Of course, a good number of those stories also move the goalposts to cast villains in a woobiful light and the former heroes as pompous, hypocritical bastards all along. Also, the villain gets to win through a loophole somehow because it'd be a right bummer if our protagonist was doomed to fail. (Looking at you, Maleficent.)

This, I do not do and thus, as soon as the reader realizes what episode they're in, they know Silver Spoon is (probably) doomed to fail.
When I mention this to people who aren't my readers, I receive incredulous looks. Why would I write a story everyone already knows and has seen the end to? And an ending where the protagonist fails? All the time?

And every time I explain that it's really not as bad as it sounds. Aside from the appeal of seeing another side to a story, narratives benefit from the protagonist's struggle. In addition to a number of internal factors, the CMC's barrage of wins give Silver Spoon something to fight against. She gets knocked down, but she gets up again you're never gonna keep her down, even if Diamond Tiara has to drag her up. There's no satisfaction in an automatic win; characters need to fight for---and, more importantly--deserve their victories.

More to the point, however, the conclusion to the episode centric chapters simply aren't the focus. It's not a plot driven story.
The question isn't "will Silver carry the flag at the Games?" The question is "Why did she attack Scootaloo?" "Why did she fail?" "How does she feel about it?" "What are the consequences of this action?"

Often, I'll write a scene that takes place right before or after something we've already seen in canon. After all, the reader has already seen the episode, so it's usually not necessary.
If I do transcribe part of an episode, it must A) be absolutely necessary to see and B) justify the reader's attention and time. That means Silver's inner monologue takes precedence over canon-dialogue, and sometimes I'll have her attention fade in and out of whatever's happening as she plots/sulks/plans/fusses/snarks about what's going on without deviating from the scene too much. It's a hell of a tightrope walk and I don't even know if I succeed in those scenes half the time.

Without a doubt, those scenes are the hardest part of this story and feels like pulling teeth every goddamn time. If it was just a matter of transcribing dialogue it'd be easy, but it's not. It's body language and tone and music cues that now have to be narrative and how the hell do you even work with song cues (are the numbers even in-universe?) and matching the pov narration with action and at the same time making the prose provocative enough to keep the reader's attention.

It's also something I highly suggest all fanfiction writers do, especially if they're aiming for the similar feel to the show, or learning how to write a canon character. Not for publication, just for practice.

...Which means I need to translate a Pinkie Pie scene in a couple weeks. *reluctant horse noises*

Comments ( 7 )

As is often the case with the show, the key interest of The Silver Standard isn't where the characters will end up but how they get there and what they do to do so. You capture that excellently, using canon as a backdrop for Silver Spoon's own journey. I eagerly await the next chapter.

I don't even know if I succeed in those scenes half the time.

Oh, you succeed. Those scenes are one of a dozen things that I love about TSS. :) I'm really looking forward to seeing how you tackle the next part of FttF. ^^

Why would I write a story everyone already knows and has seen the end to?

I think there's a subtle humor and simultaneous horror in inevitability. Indeed, this is probably why horror movies are scary; you know something bad is going to happen and you can't stop it. As an example, I really got that feeling from The Butterfly Effect; even though there's no direct threat or enemy in the movie, I found it absolutely chilling because of the way it played events out of order, building up anticipation for the horrible things that were coming.

I'm not comparing TSS to a horror, of course. But I get that same powerful sense of anticipation every time it becomes clear that the story has or is about to rejoin the show's narrative, and it's glorious. :pinkiecrazy:

Well, why does anybody go see a production of Shakespeare? You KNOW what's gonna happen to Hamlet. How can you possibly create suspense?

About a million ways, is how.

Alternately, why would anyone read historical fiction? If your protagonist is at Pearl Harbor the evening of December 6th, 1941, everybody knows what will happen next. So is a story like that worth attempting? Absolutely!

EDIT: Whenever I write Pinkie Pie I think of Gracie Allen:

Villain protagonists are the best protagonists. A good storyteller makes his protags suffer, which isn't hard to do when your character is the bad guy, destined to lose. A good storyteller is also supposed to have his character change over the course of the story, usually for the better - and who has more room for improvement than the villain?

Of course, some writers try to cheat by simply giving the hero protagonist the trappings of villainy and vice verse for the villain antagonists, ala Malificent. That's almost always disappointing to me. In my mind, a good storyteller should be able to make the villain's POV so sympathetic that the reader sometimes has to remind themselves not to root for the bad guy, the television show Breaking Bad being a superb example. After all, in real life almost no one sees themselves as evil - everyone's actions make sense in their own mind. Authors just need to recognize that mindset and bring it to the page.



Anyway. Even if Silver Spoon is just a minor villain show-wise, I'm very much enjoying the way you're bringing her to life; you're doing a truly excellent job. Keep it up. ~ Sable

There's no satisfaction in an automatic win; characters need to fight for---and, more importantly--deserve their victories.

And that's one of the frustrating things about the CMCs. A decent fraction of the time sure, they maybe fight for the win, but don't really deserve it.

And an ending where the protagonist fails?

Ash Ketchum knows that feel.

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