Of Incomplete Works and Self-Inserts · 2:08pm Aug 6th, 2020
Howdy. Can't even remember the last time I used the blog post interface. I suppose it was only once -- and now whatever nonsense I decided to sully my account with is long gone -- so I could hardly be given grief for finding it foreign. That ain't what I'm here to talk about though.
For whatever reason, I've been thinking about some of the ancient fics I absolutely loved when I first got into this site and the fandom itself. I'd often read grimdark stories that were usually horrible, Rainbow Factory and Cupcakes being the ones that jump to the forefront of my memory, and, of course, I read the big fics like My Little Dashie, but above all, I gravitated towards a particular kind of fic. For whatever reason, the four firing synapses in my brain consistently got stuck on the idea of human in equestria fics. Particularly ones with main characters that were obviously simply the author's self-insert.
I'm sure everyone on the sunless curse of a site has read at least one HiE fic like that and if they have, chances are it was probably poorly written and without an ending. The main character was probably flat as receipt paper and about as interesting. Maybe they had some gimmick that kept things interesting, or maybe they didn't. Point is, they were bad and for whatever reason were absolute ambrosia to me back in 2012 and 2013. I read fics back then in droves that I probably wouldn't even make it through the description of nowadays.
Even back then, when I was in the fetus stage of comprehending how writing worked I knew they weren't good, but I read them nonetheless. They were always a quick read because, like most of the fics on this site, they were incomplete. I ain't gonna sit here and lament that these stories were never completed or some such, and I ain't gonna just sit around reminiscing about the good 'ol days too much anymore. Lord knows it's probably a good thing some of those fics never got finished. Probably would've summoned some kinda shoggoth of illiteracy had they been.
There is a point to me rambling, though. Maybe even two. First being this: a story doesn't need to be good to be enjoyable. And I don't even mean in that 'so bad it's good' kind of way, either. I think a story can still be damn fun to read and even real engaging even if it's written poorly or not a stellar concept to begin with. I ain't making excuses for these stories, mind you. Bad writing is bad writing. Just it can be overlooked for the sake of enjoyment on a good few occasions if one decides it's worth
Second point being something I need to get through my own thick skull properly. Just because an idea has been done before doesn't mean it can't be done again and better. I rag on HiE pretty damn hard but one of my favorite pieces of literature is a HiE fic, that being Through the Well of Pirene. It alone is proof enough that with the right amount of creativity absolutely any concept can be made into a masterpiece.
Don't rightly know why I'm writing all of this down considerin' how sure I am I'll regret even posting it. I guess it's just been rattling around in my head, is all.
Should probably mention I'll likely be posting more here. Both stories and blogs. All I've got to my account is this few paragraphs of nonsense, a specter of a blog from 2013, and fetish smut that I still haven't gotten around to editing and I'm aimin' to change that. Got a few larger stories I really need to refine the finer details of before I get into them properly, but they're there and in the works. One of 'em's Fallout Equestria, the other two are an entirely different kind of post-apocalyptic and a cyberpunk story.
Mmm, one last thing on the topic of my own writing. It's not that I don't write. I just rarely post what I write here. I jump from story to story often. Have trouble staying on just one idea. I've got a few things I've been workin' on, though. I just gotta get enough done to justify posting 'em publicly. The one thing I refuse to do is add to the massive pool of incomplete stories on this site. I've seen too many phenomenal stories that haven't been updated in six years. I don't want any of mine to be like that six years down the line.
S'all I got to say. Thanks for readin'.
5330845
Much appreciated!
I, in fact, created it because I was displeased with a lot of HiE fics I read, but really liked the concept.
5391746
I don't think I've ever had a notification give me that much of a heart attack. But yeah, it sucks that so much HiE isn't very good. Pirene really is a diamond in the rough in that regard.
5391768
Hahaha that's affirming. I'm glad to see my name carries some surprise.