FAILURE. It happens. · 6:03am Dec 4th, 2012
This is a blog post about writing. A confession, even. Which means that you're entirely within your rights to skip it and stuff. Though I will thank those of you who have read this in advance for putting up with my whiny self indulgence. Because that's what the internet is for!
Anyway, as I mentioned before, I was going to give a go at the 'National Write a Novel Month' thing. And, well...I made it about as far as I usually do- 12k words in, and I just sort of let it go. There's all kinds of reasons for this: the story never quite 'clicking' with me as it should have, the lack of a proper villain to antagonize my protagonists, the fact that most of my writing for the last...while has been about talking magical ponies (and my novel was not), the fact that I didn't really keep myself inspired and connected to other NaNoWriMo people, and so on. That's also before the RL stuff, too! In addition to my Real People Job keeping me busy 6 days a week, I also found time in November to do the following:
1) Saw Peelander Z perform live. There was a bass squid monster on a unicycle. Very glad I went.
2) Watched Miami Connection, which is a movie about a band full of Tae Kwon Do black belts who fight drug dealing biker ninjas. In Orlando. It's the sort of movie where any given scene will make you either yell "WHAT?" or "YES!" at the screen.
3) General socializing (read, nerdy gaming stuff. GURPS may have been involved).
4) Did I mention I work 6 days a week? 'Cause I do.
So yeah. I figured I'd get that off my chest to somebody out there. Still, if nothing else, I got the chance to think about my own writing, and I came to a realization a bit ago that some of my best work (or at least what I consider to be my best stuff, like Whatever Happened to Captain Cloudsdale or Vengeance and Fashion) really draws on themes of identity. Or, rather, themes of mistaken identity, as that's a pretty good way to start a comedy. Hey, I studied Theatre in college, so I can point and say it's classically inspired, or something. And so, the inherent paradox of someone claiming to be someone they are not (or better yet, someone unwillingly labeled as such) provides the nesescary ideological conflict needed to sustain a story. Yes, this is me analyzing some of my own fanfic, because if nothing else, studying Drama will make you both overly analytic and terribly self-indulgent.
Of course, now that I think of it, ALL my stories (or at least my pony stories) develop once I think of a few cheap jokes or gags, and then think up some silly way to string them together. Though there are times when I fear that "Rainbow Dash plays matchmaker (and is terrible at it)" is a gimmick I've gone to a little too often (or, well, twice), so I may have to shelf that one for a bit.
Which leads me to wonder- what next? I've got maybe a thousand words of an intentionally horrible PONY STORY already written, but I'm still on the fence about whether or not to continue it or not. I've also got some vague ideas for a story that doesn't even involve any of the mane six, but would involve some (well, -one-) fan favorite minor-character pony. Or, for something slightly less shameless, I've also got an idea for a story about writing itself, which could be fun, but also terribly masturbatory (figuratively speaking. No clopfic for you, pervs).
So yeah. There you have it! Maybe I'll actually get productive soonish!
(Yeah, right).
.
Write a story where Rainbow Dash is a terrible matchmaker for herself. it would be deep.
Write what you want when you can. That's what fanfiction's all about. As for NaNoWriMo, you tried, which more than some people (like me) can say.
Man, don't eat your heart out just because you were too busy to finish your NaNoWriMo entry. You're still a damn good writer, and Vengeance and Fashion is still amongst my top five favorite comedies ever. You have a penchant for writing absolutely hilarious stories about completely ordinary settings, and I'd be very disappointed if you were to abandon I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, even if RD plays the matchmaker (which isn't so terrible, by the way). However, you're the writer, and if you feel you want to write something else, don't let me influence you. I have confidence you can write what you want, and you can write it well.
So, cheer up! Everything is fine in the best of all possible worlds and we love your writing!
P.S.: "Because that's what the internet is for!" -- Young man, I do believe you may be mistaken.