Stepping Down from Fanfic Writing; Focusing on Life, Career, Game Dev · 3:49am May 27th, 2017
This blog post might not come as any surprise given the last new chapter of anything I posted was a year ago. I meandered away from the site for some time, unsure if I would feel like coming back. I'm making this blog post because I'm pretty sure now at this point I won't want to write ponyfic any time soon. I really regret leaving A Darkened Land unfinished, since I did truly enjoy writing quite a few parts of that. Even including the mostly finished Arc 2, the story would still have some odd 80,000 words to go and I can't picture myself slogging through that when my heart isn't in it.
Right now, I would much rather dedicate that time to learning art or doing game development. I'll be finished with university at the end of summer and finally go out into the world with my degree all ready to make my mark! . . . or so I suppose. In the time leading up to that I need to focus on my gamedev portfolio.
I've still been writing in the past few months: lots of essays for school, story documents for the game I'm working on, and long-winded comments on small forums. Somewhere along the way, this hobby developed into a blasted itch and I can't help but scratch it once in a while. I can firmly say at this point that I would rather write original fiction than ponyfic at this point. Let's face it: my stories were becoming increasingly out there with regards to the source material. Even a new romance fic idea I had would have required I slap the "AU" tag on it. (Are tags a thing still?)
Anyway, with any luck maybe you'll see me published in the future: either on steam or—if I muster up the fancy to really try for it—on a bookshelf somewhere.
Another one bites the dust.
We'll miss you, but it's good you're leaving your creations up for future readers.
If you mean HorseGame, please be sure to drop a post here about it when it's finished. I tried the demo a while back, and I'm very keen to play the full thing.
You should still come by and say hello sometime. We'll miss you.
Sad to see you go, but it's understandable. Good luck on your future projects, and make sure to post another blog post here if you do publish something!
Welp, if you can show up to cons once in a while, that would be nice, but I understand completely as I'm in a similar boat.
Best of luck!
It was a joy and an honor to help you where needed.
See you around.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Thanks for the stories you had done. It was fun, and best off luck.
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Nah, I'm not sure where the development of that is. The main dev turned out to live in my city (we met up. Small world huh?) and he got hired by a smallish local game studio, so I'm not sure if he's spending as much time on it now.
The game I'm working on is something in UE4 and inspired by titles like Journey, INSIDE, etc.
Man, I'm gonna miss your writing. Don't be a stranger, alright?
Good luck with your future projects.
We come and we go, you're moving onto better things and that's awesome. The best of luck with everything! And hey don't forget to drop a few little pony easter eggs in those games and books of yours!
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), but I think it's time to move on for other pastures. I wouldn't really have much to do hanging around here.
We'll see. The community in this fandom is great (for the most part
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I'm not so sure I will. More likely I'll hope that by some happy accident people who have read my stuff here manage to find their way to stuff I publish in the future. Ships passing in the night. Maybe I'll be ousted from having shown my face at cons, but otherwise I plan to keep my work here anonymous.
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Cons were breaking my student-sized wallet every time I've attended. Maybe if I could find an alternative to staying in a hotel, but as it is, it's just way too pricey.
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Thanks, Skeeter. You were always such a positive and great guy to be around.
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It was a blast. This fandom--the writers I've chatted with, the editors who've worked on my stories, and the readers who've given me feedback--have taught me how to write and shaped me into the author that I am. This site is a really unique place. I thank Knighty greatly for it.
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Thanks. It certainly does take some measure of luck to make a splash in the big pond.
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Maybe... but no promises!
~*~*~*~*~
Lastly... dang, I didn't think I'd get too sentimental about this after being away from the site so long, but after making this post it feels more real somehow, you know? It sounds silly to say this site was a chapter in my life, but really it was. I wrote somewhere over 300,000 words of ponyfic. I visited the site for around 5 years. Countless hours writing and revising. But more than just a lump-sum of time, it's more about how I personally believe I changed and grew from my time here.
Just once you go into something with the simple wish to write about lesbian horses making out. . .
So long everyone. You've made it a heck of a time.
4549998 Ouch :P. Well your wallet is more important. Good luck with saving. and so long!
Best of luck. You probably don't know, but Flying High, Falling Hard was the first story I ever read on any pony site. Sometimes you just want to read about small lesbian horses or something, I dunno. Blew away my expectation of this site and others about it being ridiculous stereotypical fan fiction, and I've found some gems. (There are some really interesting concepts flying around this place. EQ From Dust is a good example, I'd say.) Been having a good time. Thanks for that. Enjoy making life decisions.
Aw darn, I'm also sad to see A Darkened Land unfinished but I understand your wish to move on.
You may not remember me but I'm one of the people that approached you after BronyCan last year, looking for advice on my fanfiction. I spoke to you about a story I was working on (I will post it... one day), and I still remember your advice about writing around pivotal moments.
Ooh, will definitely keep an ear out for that.
Thanks for the awesome stories and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors!
Hi Soundslikeponies,
Don't know if you're still keeping an eye on things here from time to time, but I really enjoyed reading your TwiDash fanfics "We'll keep in Touch" & "Flying High, Falling Hard"; I re-read the former recently and it's still as touching as when I read it first years ago, while I'm skimming through the later for the memories, as it is the story that got me into the pairing. I also appreciated you responding to my DM back in 2014, explaining your writing process.
Best of luck with your game dev career! I would definitely consider purchasing a creation from an artist as talented as you.
Take care of yourself.