Future plans and introductions · 9:11pm Oct 15th, 2012
Um, hello everyone. Gosh, there's a lot of you. I'm used to the audience of these things being quite a bit smaller.
Thanks to everyone who read my story I am pleased you liked it, and absolutely stunned it was as successful as it was. Special thanks to the fine folks who took the time leave an interesting comment or drop me a line. It's much appreciated.
Right. Now there were a few question that got asked more than once in the comments so I decided to answer them here.
Q: Moar?
A: Yes. I will be writing more fics. My writing pace is, experts agree, best appreciated against a geological or possibly cosmological timescale, so you may have to wait a bit, but there will be more. There's a section after this little FAQ describing the sort of things I'm thinking about.
Q: More Civil Service/Dotted Line/Funny?
A: Yes. I do like my little collection of OCs and I feel I can possibly tell more stories with them. I have around three ideas I'm experimenting with, right now, but I can't commit to anything at this point. I can tell you that the current working title is "Against Stupidity...". Apparently the theme for the titles of my eventual Equestrian Civil Service stories will be famous quotes and ellipses.
Q: Are you Terry Pratchett?
A: Oh, dear reader, flattery will get you absolutely everywhere. ;) I am not Terry Pratchett, clearly, and he writes, approximately, one zillion[1] times better than me. The style this is written in, however, is heavily inspired by Sir Pterry[2]. So are the footnotes.
Q: Do I detect a reference to...
A: Probably. I did put a lot of references in[3], but the main thing I was riffing on was, of course, Yes (Prime) Minister, an absolutely brilliant British comedy[4]. If you haven't seen it, try to. It's amazing.
[1] A number between a grillion and a bazillion. Clearly.
[2] Who is, unsurprisingly, my very favorite writer.
[3] Including an incredibly obtuse one to Deus Ex: Human Revolution I'm very proud of in an incredibly nerdy way.
[4] It's three men in sombre suits talking about politics. It's the funniest thing on television. Yeah.
Now, speaking of future plans and fics here's a little rundown of the sort of things I'm thinking about. Be advised, that none of this is set in stone, it's just the sort of thing I'd like to write at some point in the future.
1. A short sad romance fic featuring Twilight. This is a bit of a challengefic for me. It features just about everything I'm not good at -- romance, sadness, brevity[5], and no dialogue or world-building.
2. Another story featuring the Civil Service. No details as of yet, I'm still experimenting with various ideas and then pestering my pre-readers. A lot. Some, I fear, may acquire restraining orders. :)
3. An experimental horror/mystery piece inspired in part by House of Leaves[6].
[5] Says 'verbose bastard' right there in my bio.
[6] Which I can recommend if you have an extensive education, a high boredom threshold, interest in cryptography, and no pressing need to sleep for about a month. It's one of those books.
Well, that about covers it. I leave you with a story recommendation: Bad Horse[7] recently wrote a story by the name of Fluttershy's Night Out which I helped pre-read. Now I give you fair warning, the story is pretty sad and may leave you feeling conflicted. If that's your cup of tea, follow the link and give the story some of the love it amply deserves.
The story's rated "Mature" but you can rest assured that it is not clop even in the slightest.
[7] He's bad! Also my pre-reader!
Dude, you're a GRAD student, and a teacher. I'm a senior in college and I barely have time to write, let alone breath. I'd say if you're able to write anything at all, you're doing just fine. Also, looking forward to more, as well as that Twilight fic, because I don't think I have enough sadness in my life
Keep it up, Ghost.
Anything written by you and inspired by House of Leaves is worth a look, in my opinion. Well done on the success of your story, by the way! We need more writers like you. Your style is highly reminiscent of both Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, two of my favorite authors, and I love how well you evoke the extremely dry/british humor so typical of their writing, while bringing a bit of your own flare to it. This brings me to the all-important question: have you read Good Omens?
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Goodness, yes. A number of times.
Congratulations on the newfound popularity! At least I have the pleasure of saying I was watching you before it happened. And, incidentally, read your story before it was popular (before it was really released! ...I'm so hipster.
Forgive me.)
I feel quite convinced that were your writing to be released at the same stately rate at which mountains rise and Grand Canyons are cut into the landscape, it would still be well worth it. Press on, thou verbose specter, press on.
Lies. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png
Got Flutter's night out in my read later, but I just got through a story where Rarity dies, so I am holding off on the sad for a bit.
Looking forward to any and all potential future works.
Congrats on the success, you definitely deserve it.
>best appreciated against a geological or possibly cosmological timescale
Oh Ghost... I am following Koba and Dagg's OWoC. I can deal with the tectonic shifting that is your writing pace.
That list of things to come? Sweet mother of [diety], why do the good authors write sad stories!? I can't HANDLE that! Seriously! I've told Koba and Dagg countless times: I'm a feeler. It is -- probably -- unhealthy for me to read sad stories! Oooooooo... Why do the good write sad!? Whyyyyy!?
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Oh, I sympathize. I cringe every time I see that [sad] tag, I really do. That's why I'm fixin' to write a sad story, you see. I want to see if I can. If it is any consolation, the mood I'm going is more melancholy than outright 'your tears will shed tears of their own.'
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Dammit, that's like someone telling me soreness over outright pain. Lingering pain over the sting of a pulling off a band-aid. I'd rather take the sharp cut of a sword over the internal bleeding a mace will leave me with. Melancholy usually hurts my little heart more. But I'll still read your story. Do you know why? I'm a sucker for anything written by someone with a larger vocabulary than me.
First thing's first: I want to thank you a bazillion times over for finally (indirectly) convincing me to watch Yes Minister; your fic was sufficiently amusing to overcome my natural inertia. It's absolutely brilliant and funny and I can't thank you enough for that final push. I really think you captured many of the things that make the show so great. Very much looking forward to more in that vein.
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A small consolation. You see, occasionally I have to get things done, and well-written [sad] fic tends to absolutely ruin my mood for a good part of the rest of the day. Productivity plummets. Yet I still do it now and then. Humans, eh?
I'm not big on sad or horror in general, but I'm game to at least check out whatever you produce.
I just finished watching the last episode of Yes, Prime Minister. I actually felt a little bad for Humphrey near the end. I liked The Hollowmen quite a lot too, if I was after something a little more locally made. Not quite the same thing but...
Anyway. Yes. Writing. Your story was certainly well written, entertaining, and had a cheerfully on-ball but blasé Celestia. Dotted Line's realisation of that truth was great.
Reading your story convinced me to reread Thud! That is, I think, praise.
MORE! YES! THERE WILL BE MORE!!!
Err... Ahem. I am pleased to hear this.
*squee*
2.bp.blogspot.com/-KyMDhpJhgDE/ThyVAXKDx-I/AAAAAAAAAHo/4QepHs49-B8/s400/Squee+Twilight.png
>Oh, dear reader, flattery will get you absolutely everywhere. ;)
[citation needed]
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Well, dear reader, what everywhere did you have in mind, precisely, mmmm?
Sorry. Had to.
I shudder to consider the potential implications of a Leafy Salad / Captain "Well I get lonely sometimes" Lancaster crossover collaboration fic-tacular adventure.
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It's really really obscure and incredibly self indulgent. So don't feel disappointed by that.
Note that there is a pony named Sans Serif, a typography term. Note also that Serif is close to Sarif. Note that Sans Serif is described as a 'frenetic' pony. And finally note that David Sarif's mail address and chat nick in the game is "freneticpony." Yeah. Please don't throw things at me.
428894 Yours, of course!