How did it happen that I wanted to create my own story · 1:02am Nov 29th, 2012
There is TL:DR version below.
It all started after... Season 2 ending or a little bit earlier when I read My Little Dashie.
This is where I found that fanfiction is actually a stories that can be not just "clopfic".
Yep, because of Harry Potter fanfics featuring sex and... sex and that was known to be most common I thought that "fanfiction - stories where they make pairings".
Looking at current situation and rants about "Hey! Stop the clop! STOP!" I think I get where that comes from. But... Hm. No buts. *Snort* In that meaning too.
Finding something that was not a clop, not a badly written story really surprised me.
And mood then? "I have sad nao".
But it showed that it is okay to feel emotions, not just make it look like you feel them.
Next was the Cupcakes. Or it was the first one. Maybe second one after all.
It impressed me how alternate universe can be created based on few minor adjustments.
It was good, it was the good horror. I am not saying "Best story ever" or something. Just it got like from me.
And I found that I really, and I mean it, really like grimdark and gore. Now I get why I laugh at some horrors, they are just not scary.
Cupcakes feature something that follows main character all along. Sense of impending doom. Something I found only playing Doom 2: Hell on Earth.
Yep, find what person liked in childhood, what made him/her feel good / bad and strike that point. Critical hit chance: Maximum.
Later I found many stories here, reading them from Feature box with 80 000 words per day.
That was a crazy month. Later I went to lower, but then tested. What is my maximum word count per day if I only read and read all day?
It was 100 000 (ofc, approximation). 
Also I found that lots of stories get faved and people give likes a lot. And in comments it is okay to show how you felt about chapter, story, characters actions.
Really, bronies are great community (the good part, every community got bad parts).
Levels of tolerance towards all categories of people is astonishing.
Seeing what stories are really good and what go for "lulz" I thought "Well, I have written a sci-fi stories in my LJ, why not do something here?".
But after making first draft, second, third... Yea, I found that I write almost "spiderses" in bad meaning of the pun. 
So, what do?
Read, read and read.
A system was found.
Story about ponies and only ponies. No OC and closest to canon or even filling gaps of canon. This is highest quality stories usually.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/53/The-Empty-Room
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/13854/Rainbow-Dash%27s-Tallest-Tales
Conclusion. Do not try yet. It would be like throwing a child's picture into gallery of professional artists and trying to glue it to the wall. No, just no.
Alternate universe stories. One minor change or some major change and consequences. Still respected by community. Some even more than canon close, but slightly more negative votes.
Fallout: Equestria.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/662/Fallout-Equestria%3A-Heroes
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/7688/The-Third-Generation
OC stories. More downvotes, less high quality writing. Usually they are written before author makes something epic and close to canon.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/22618/Flitter
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/25125/The-Keepers-of-Discord
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/59972/The-Red-Maned%2C-Black-Coated-Alicorn-Mary-Sue-gets-Even
Random stories. Random is random. Realm of Discord, god of chaos. Well, he is one of them, if you count all the multiverse and ... rambling stop.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/58146/Twilight-Sparkle-Plays-With-Dolls
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/25025/Cave-Johnson-and-Twilight-Sparkle-here%21-Let%27s-do-this-for-Science%21
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/48543/Twilight-Trips-on-Acid
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/53727/Cooking-With-The-Queen [This one goes to AU too, but... you will see]
Trollfics. Same as Random. Quality will vary. Some are good, some are not.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/57548/Spitfire%27s-First-Time
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/42916/The-Saga-of-Dark-Demon-King-Ravenblood-Nightblade%2C-Interior-Design-Alicorn
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/52783/Double-Sun-Power
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/53297/Ponyville-SWAT
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/57685/My-Little-Devil
Point of Random stories.... Uh... 
Yea, I get that I said something stupid.
Point of Trollfics. To make you rage.
Nothing yet collected more rage than ... Wait, warning. Gore, violence, child abuse, more gore. Story rating is NC-21
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/27133/Iron-Cake
This is rage collector.
While it has good style of writing AND transfers images to one's head very good, I might say I'd be better off without them. I like what writer did, but I dislike the story. So... Didn't like or dislike. Fair warning again. You don't want to read unless you are less than 21 years old. Because reasons. 
And lowest quality acceptable to have pack of likes is... Human stories.
"Oh noes, something happened and now I'm in Equestria!... Wait, that is GOOD! YAY!"
Read this one first: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/29688/O.i.E.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/34702/Why-am-I-Pinkie-Pie%3F%21
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/12350/Griffin-the-Griffin
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/47050/It-Was-a-Pleasure-to-Burn
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36298/Mass-Effect%3A-Salvage
Human stories are OFTEN crossover, but not always. It just happens that way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs8tyeadQqw
I don't even know why I linked this. 
This way a plan appeared. I should do an AU story but with Human in Equestria. This will allow me to get likes and comments that will criticize what I did AND will point me in the right direction. 
1. Write myself as character
2. Check + and - stats
3. Write a story
4. ... 
5. Profit!
"Now hold on a second." 
"What is it?"
"Self inserts are the worst kind of stories!" "Why are you even thinking about doing one?"
"Exactly because they are expected to be bad. This way if I make it a little bit better than bad, it will be accepted. Right?"
"Well, there is logic in that statement" 
Now I got outline of the story, tags, some words thrown on the wall and some of them even stick.
Question remains... How many chapters I should do ahead or maybe even make a whole story and post it... how?
Also, writing clop is almost a guaranteed to hit feature box if you got enough viewers.
But real chart of thought looks different.
1. Make a story
2. Get likes/dislikes
3. Be recognized as good author or as a fail.
4. ...
5. Profit!
And I find this... Odd. Am I seeking attention. Why would I? 
Okay, I do. Why? 
Ponies make me think weird. 
TL:DR version.
Oh, hey. I was just thinking what led to me being here and writing all this. Ponies! Yay for ponies! 
Oh yea, and do read linked stories. They are cool!
Most of them.
P.S. Wall of text. Yay!
Saved for history and looking back.
And Edit.
Forgot to mention http://www.fimfiction.net/story/14590/The-Cupcake-Chronicles
Totally worth reading.
.-.
550147
Sorry. I don't know what that smile means.
550329
'-'
550337
Let me guess. Big surprise? Shrunk pupils?
550344
._.
550346
Please say in words!
If this is a game, I give up before it gets to next stage.
550349
wat r da point of this bleg post?
why am I even following you?
550355
I don't know. Why are you following me?
Point of blog post. Sort out my thoughts by writing them down as they go and re-read to actually see if there is some hidden thought involved.
" thing.
It really helps.
Especially re-reading in a day or two.
Plus, it is kinda "I am writing a story! Teaser time
Plus trying to see if it is at least written in understandable way. Or am I rambling again and there is "I don't want to read all that scrap" thought?
For me it is hard to actually say something and be understood. Even when I am speaking Russian. It is like I do only moonspeak and only real nerds understand me. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra_cry.png
550364
You rambled quite a bit,
go write a story or something
and trust me
do not make it a self insert.
just do not
;-;
550371
Then I was correct.
Worst kind of stories. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png
And... Kinda used to start from worst since I play lots of games that say: "Hey, you got some scrap metal in your hands, now don't be afraid, all you need to do is make an army of killer robots and conquer the world. Here, have a wrench and a nail as a bonus".
Plus, what difference if it is self-insert or not if character will eventually be different from me? I just need a core that I can actually poke with fingers and see how it changes. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Twilight_crazy.png
When first word is said in story... Character stops being me and becomes a character. It must have a scale for everything (will be using Fallout SPECIAL system) even morale and be balanced with pluses and minuses.
Plus | Minus
Good looking | Asshole
Strong | Idiot
Kinda that way.
Or you thought Mary Sue type (?) where
Plus
Good Looking
Strong
Smart
Minus: None.
550402
'-'
>Good looking, Strong, Asshole, Idiot
Ladies and gentlemen, our average douche.
550410
I have a list of characters that act like that.
So yea, they are common.
Not saying what real parameters will be there.
And let's see... Just to name one: Beauty and the Beast. Gaston.
And he is a character.
550410
One more.
You gave me an idea for gore tag use.
Make a side character with exact those parameters and get him killed. And describe corpse.
Okay, I won't do it like that, but still, this is an idea.
550482
Alrighty then.
I used to be wary of OC heavy fics, but stories like Unmarked and The Parliament of Dreams changed my mind about them completely, with both stories easily being in my top 5 fics of all time. They were the ones that encouraged me to work on my own OCs without fear that I was ruining MLP, and I eventually began writing a story that I've been working on for about 8 months.
As for self insert fics... Most of them are pretty lackluster and show a lack of imagination on the author's part. They're almost always picture perfect characters with hearts of good which can do no wrong; at least if you had a character that was a complete bar-steward it would make for a more interesting read.
No kidding. I could not do cannon for my life. I also made a bet with myself. If we got X-Com art two days in a row I would make a fanfiction. And you see the result.
First with X-Com x MLP:FiM fan fiction... it don't help with that I had not even played the game on my own. And that I just had watched all the episodes up to that point.
Soo true. It made me like Cupcakes to 100. A good redemption.