Fragments of fiction, and the validity of non-canon stories. · 3:33am Jun 16th, 2019
So, like many fans of the orange winged wonder, today was a momentous episode for Scootaloo. I teared up at a few moments, and although the episode was predictable, it was a feel-good episode that reaffirms just how special the Crusaders truly are.
I won't spoil anything for the folks that haven't seen it, but suffice it to say, many MANY Scootaloo stories have officially been relegated to the realm of Alternate Universe.
My first story Scootaloo and The Cabinet of Seers, still unfinished, hinged upon the mystery surrounding this filly. Obviously, it's fan fiction, so it doesn't mean a darn thing as far as "official canon" goes. However, when I first started the story during Season 4, all of the events were, however unlikely, plausible. When the Crusaders got their marks in the magically musical if poorly paced "Crusaders of the Lost Mark," I accepted that the tail end of my story would become a branch of a branch off the fertile fandom tree of fan fiction. But today's episode rendered the entire premise of my story objectively impossible.
Now I have a worry no doubt shared by members of the community that ventures into the world of Alternate Universe stories. What if Nightmare Moon won? What if Sombra succeeded? What if Diamond Tiara became the mastermind of a group of Robin Hood-esque con artists alongside the Crusaders and gamer-turned-hacker Button Mash? These things didn't actually happen, and more to the point, do fanfiction readers actually care? All fanfiction requires a suspension of disbelief to in order for readers to engage, but what happens when the story you are selling directly contradicts the established lore of the universe? If the story is good enough, does it even matter? Will readers still give it a chance?
I don't know the answer to that question. I want to say yes, but my opinion is but one. A friend of mine was a mite distressed by today's episode, and when prompted, explained that a large portion of the fanbase virtually ignores Alternate Universe stories. That's distressing to me for a few reasons:
1) Tons of great stories are immediately dismissed regardless of quality.
2) Author's might feel compelled to sacrifice storytelling for the sake of maintaining continuity.
Neither of these feel right to me. The same friend of mine put a ton of effort into an alternate universe tale of Nightmare Moon winning in another dimension, and a doppelganger refugee escaping to "our" Equestria, but his story didn't seem to find an audience. I don't know precisely what the cause was, but perhaps there is credence to his theory. Or it might be anecdotal. Who can truly say? I would love to hear from you guys on the topic.
Full disclosure, I have several stories swimming in my head that aren't necessarily "non-canon," but rely on original characters in the starring role. I feel this suffers from a similar problem in reader apathy; without established characters or events to act as a "safe zone" in an author's imaginative outpouring, would would-be readers be willing to invest the time to give it a chance? Is it better to use original characters to tell a story rather than try to shoehorn an existing character into the same role for the sake of familiarity?
Hm. This blog post turned into a big questionnaire.
I would love to see a good discussion on such a (seemingly) polarizing subject!
Thanks for reading, and sticking around!
Let this spell this out for you.
I 100% prefer YOUR WRITING, to the dumpster fire that is season 9 and it's ilk! And in particular I prefer YOUR WRITING to today's episode! If you are lost in the dark, and need a light to sail by, let THAT be your light!
No, seriously, I MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH prefer your narrative regarding Scoots than what the show has decided! Let that be heard and understood!
What, did today's episode give her parents and wings?
Because my flightless chicken orphan will never be anything else unless she earns it for herself with gumption and hard work and sweet connections to deific-like beings. Fuck the canon. ALL fanwork is technically AU because it didn't actually happen in canon.
5075187
Amen.
Alternative universe ...
I believe in the metaverse. for me Al least everything is just another alternative universe
5075187
Hail.
Just do the story the way you want it. All continuities are alternate universes anyway.
Personally, I find AU's way more interesting than fics that try too hard to stick to canon. A lot of times they feel like the writers vision gets compromised trying to bend to the evolving canon (though I guess after this season it won't matter.) But maybe that's just me, the idea that people ignore AU's seems like bizarre to me because most of my favorite stories are AU
5075167
I gather you didn't much like the episode? Or much of season 9...
What's been your biggest qualm?
5075753
I am actually a little bit guilty of this in Scootaloo and the Cabinet of Seers. Not so much bending the story, but putting in slight references to future events (Twilight mentioning a tutelage that would eventually become Twilight Time for the crusaders, one of the seers telling Twilight that "she'll play her part").
I have decided to embrace my own continuity instead though. Especially with the rumors put forth about Twilight's future role and Celestia's retirement, there's no way that I could accomodate it in a meaningful sense!
5075793
A lot. That is all I'm saying least I go into a rant.