As a struggling author, I was wondering what you guys think is the best way to make a meaningful entrance into the FIM fiction community. I've been lurking around this website for almost a whole year and still haven't posted a story of my own, so I was just wondering:

Is it better to start with a one-shot or go ahead and write a multi-chapter story?

Or perhaps you'd recommend getting practice some other way? What are your thoughts?

972415
I dunno. I'm starting with a three chapter, 10k word... wordy thing. I plan to write stories and throw them at groups until I become rich and famous and totally not lonely anymore.

Hm. I should give you more encouragement than that. Don't stress about what will be 'more popular' or anything like that. Write what you want to write. Tell excellent stories. A grand entrance may seem appealing, but staying around and being the life of the party itself will make you remembered.

Actually, thought. What do you mean by practice?

972415
I just had an idea for a story, so I got myself an account and I started posting it. Then I got another idea and finished the second story before the first one. I'm not sure if there's a "correct" way.

972415
What I did was just start writing my own story. I didn't really care of the outcome of it, I just wanted to write.

Now, I have one main story, a completed multi-chapter turned one-shot (It's an HiE, more specifically a SiE), and another short story that is nearing completion.

If you like to write, then write for yourself, not souly for the pleasure of others.

972415
That's hard. From one who's planning to make a technically "re-entry":

If it's a one-shot, it better be special/unique. Well, any idea should be unique, no matter what story.

Multi-chapter, I say start it out with at least two chapters each minimum 2k and maxing out at a nice 8k.

You just jump in headfirst, that's what I did. Just pick something, write and post it, if people don't like it then that's on them, so long as you are satisfied and have fun with your writing.

You know, I don't think there is a 'best' way to debut. A multi-chapter story will get you on the front page a bit more often as you update, but there are plenty of one-shots that have become famous on their own.

It really just comes down to if you can get the attention of readers. If you can get your debut story featured on EqD, that will draw in quite a crowd right from the get-go, but that's a very difficult task right there, and there are a lot of writers who've been burned by the attempt. Another thing to do is join groups and submit the story there--so long as the groups are appropriate for the story and vice-versa.

Having some friends already on the site helps too, they can look it over and edit it, and may even provide you with your first few upvotes and favorites, which help make the story look like something new readers could get into.

Really, the best you can do is cast your line and hope for a bite.

972415
I'd say the best thing you can do to establish yourself is write everyday (as writing is a skill you have to practice), get lots of feedback, and start networking. Once you have something that you want to post, and once you get it polished and in a final draft state, make sure it gets around to a lot of people. Do review trades, comment often, and submit to EQD (it can mean the difference between a following of a couple hundred people and a couple thousand).
It's easier once you've established yourself just a little, as the momentum of your stories will keep building on its own, but until then you have to do a lot of reaching out to others.

972415
There is but one rule to this game. You've just gotta write. As for what, that's not as important as really putting yourself into your writing and having fun with it.

One can always tell when an author has fun with their project and good stories are made all the better for it.

972415
I started with a one-shot myself. It was part of a writing contest, just to get myself to actually do it. After that I came up with an idea for a multi-chapter story to test myself and see if I could write something of 'novel length' from beginning to end. And I haven't regretted a moment of it.

I'm always willing to read a new writer's story and give feedback, especially if the author is looking to improve in the craft and will take the feedback seriously. Feel free to send me a PM when you get around to writing it and I'll give it a read.

Thank you all for the support. I'm really quite amazed at how fast I go so many responses!

972498
I may take you up on that, but don't be expecting it anytime too soon, I've struggled for quite some time and I expect to struggle a lot longer before I can actually write something I would deem "postable"

972415
For me, I started with something I thought would be entertaining and fun to write. However, do at least plot out your story before you submit though, else you have to keep tweaking your plot as you write (for multi-chapter fics, that is).

972526
I feel that feely feel that feels like a feel.

You see, I've been complimented on my writing before by friends and teachers but I'm just so fucking insecure.
I just want to have something I could deem readable to post here but I just look at my work and keep noticing errors everywhere.

How the authors for Cupcakes and My Little Dashie had the confidence to publish those abominations is beyond me.

There's really no right or wrong as far as whether to begin with a one-shot or a chapter story. You should just go with what you feel you'd enjoy writing more. If you really enjoy reading one-shots and have a good idea for one, go for it. If you prefer chapter stories and have a good idea for one of them, do that instead. I went with a chapter story for my first, as I enjoy longer stories much more than I do shorter ones.

One shot. Worked for me! Do something that will appeal to everyone. And remember you'll be unbelievably lucky if you get featured one your first fic. And mediumly lucky if you get ~50ish likes, like my first fic was.

But just in case, be sure your story is a minimum of 4k words when you submit. Stories are no longer featured if they're less than 4k.

Just write something off the top of your head, you know? I find that in many things artistic, not just writing, that if you try to 'build' it, instead of 'create' it, it turns out like shit. Know what I mean? Your story shouldn't have to be engineered, it should just come from your heart, so to speak.

972568

I feel as though we have the same problem. Although the fact that you called "My Little Dashie" an abomination is most disconcerting.

972583
Meh.
I tried to read it but it just irked so much that I started getting cramps.

972575
Red, I think I did that with most of my stories.
Any way to fix it?

Even my one-shots have bibles.

I made my debut with a one-shot. But it was 60k words so...

I attempted my debut by writing for the Lunaverse.

Didn't end well, so I deleted it, and wrote a dark little two parter.

972601 Nope. You're screwed.

Idk, maybe it's different for certain people. But I know for me, anything artistic has to come from the heart and soul. At least the very base of it. If I try to design it, it just sucks. It might be OK, but it just wont be... great. I mean, once you got the basic plot down, and all the important scenes, porlogue, etc, a lot of little details get engineered, sure.

EDIT: where the hell are your stories?

972733
Inside of my head, waiting for me to stop sucking at writing.

The ones I've been complemented on aren't online and are of my own creation. Nothing colorful shetland related.

972415 I just didn't care about what to start with, I just put stuff down that I wanted to and made sure I could keep going and that was it. I've yet to write a one-shot...

972583 MLD went through various rewrites. Originally it was terribly written, then it slowly got better as more people volunteered to help clean it up. So, depending on when you read it, it either sucked, was okay, or was good.

972415

Here's my advice, it is not, actually it is NEVER the debut that is the most important. It is whether you can learn from your debut.

It is always very nice to have excellent writing skills prior to debut (for obvious reasons). Having read lots of fanfiction does help as you know what is popular and what is not. To pick the perfect story idea (one short or multip-chapter) that will be very popular and that you like is nice. To know what your specialization is, one shot, multi-chapter, adventure, dark, comedy, HiE, that is nice too.

But problem is, writers rarely make their debut with all those skills. When I debut, I had decent writing skills and I knew what was popular and I thought I had a good idea. What I misjudged was my own motivation and the exclusiveness of the idea I ended up roadblocked on my first story, which was FAR too ambitious :P I'm determined to continue it, but its difficult.

I learnt though. After some time I applied all my skills, everything I learned from writing my debut story, into an idea that spiralled into a story, that literally hit 700 likes to 10 dislikes.

Thus, it is never the debut that is important, it is what you learn from the debut. YOu always want your debut to be as good as possible, but what you should be prepared is to always learn from it.

972415 & 972746
I think both of you guys are way overthinking this.

It is absolutely admirable that you care so much for your readers that you only want to present them with the best you can do, but I'm afraid without just posting your stories and seeing their reactions you will never reach the point of best you can do.

Remember, this is only fanfiction. All of us are amateurs (maybe not all, but those can be counted on the fingers of one hand), and therefore we need to be very leniant and forgiving for minor and even major flaws; otherwise the entire concept would fall apart.

And a debut story shouldn't count for as much as it does. You never how much previous experience an author had had and you never know how far a particular author will go. And in the end, this is the internet. You could at any point create a new account, only tell people you consider important about it, and post a new "debut story". It's kinda smokes and mirrors.

And if a story doesn't get the amount of feedback you'd want it, you probably know there are always wayys to ask for some, for example "Authors helping Authors" ot the "WRITE group" or probably still some ponychan services.

So, what I'm trying to say is basically, just do it. Stick your neck out. I won't bite and I don't think anybody else will. Or to conclude with more inspirational words than I could come up with:

Who has never failed, has never tried anything new
---Albert Einstein

972415

Well, everyone in the world has already responded to this, and I'm still somewhat new as a writer, only having 5 published stories, but lets see what advice I can give.

For a first story, I'd go for something manageable. Think about what characters you can relate to the most or think like the most. Make one of them your main character. Watch a few episodes involving them, to make sure you have a feel for how they talk. You may want to do the same for secondary chars. Transcripts are useful for this, too.

Try to come up with an idea for a story involving them that isn't really ambitious. Ideas have a way of expanding when you are writing them anyways. For my first fanfic, I literally started writing with no idea other than "Twilight eats a piece of cake". Of course, I rewrote most of that once I actually knew the main theme of the story.

Which is another point. Don't be afraid to rewrite. You can stash away text you are throwing out pretty easily for later salvaging if need be.

Assume that you are not going to be in the featured box on your first story. I haven't been there yet with 5 stories. Of course, most were below 4k when I posted them.

If a story is multichapter, only post the first chapter, and make sure you have at least a day or two between chapters. Every time you post a new chapter, it's more time on the main page. I generally pick up at least a favorite or two, if not a couple, every time a new chapter of one of my continuing fics comes out.

Keep in mind that people that read one of your fics are likely to pick up another at some point. The more fanfiction you write, the more you'll have people that are reading most or all of your fanfiction, and the more popular it will get.

And no matter what, write things you have fun writing. I did not at all intend Just Winging It to be one of the main fanfics I was writing. I needed a break from something else I was writing, and remembered that I had a version of Scootaloo sitting around who'd been diagnosed with only a 20% chance of flying.

So, I just thought "Ok, Scootaloo tries to beat the odds on flying, and wacky hijinks ensue.".. Soon I was dropping in references to Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, and Red Dwarf, and before long, she was strapped to a metal table in Twilight's basement as Twilight stuck electrodes all over her, and went all mad sciencey, to arcs of electricity.

And I was having a blast writing it, so I did a bunch of revising, started publishing chapters, and, well, it's my second most popular fic. Though it may drop to third at the rate one of my other fics is going.

Groups. Add your fanfics to any relevant groups, preferably not all at once. There are several generic ones that'll accept any fanfics, like this one, and there are groups for most of the characters. Refer to the list on the front page of Twilight's Library for an idea of groups to add it to.

Oh, one last point. Any time you talk about one of your fanfics in a post, always mention it by name and make it a link to the fanfic. Same goes for groups; I run Twilight's Library.

972860>>972849>>972808
Thank you all for the advice!

I hope I can put it to good use.

972415
I got somewhat lucky, I took second in a contest with my first fic, though I had some exposure before that. I guess that's a pretty good way to go, but you could also just write, add things to groups, and let your writing do the talking. Just promote it a bit, and pique people's interests, and hope that everything works out alright. If all else fails, I'm sure by then you'll at least have a small base of followers, which is better than nothing.

I've been writing fir a long time, but I haven't written anything for a while before I posted my first story on here. That, plus my general unfamilarity with most of the MLP universe, meant that it wasn't all that great. I got my dkills back through one good story and a couple not so great ones. I'm now working with a couple of prereaders to make my best one yet.

972746 Well, idk what you did for your actually-written stories, but for me, the trick is to just write. Not when you want to, not when you have time to do it, but when you have words in your mind and you need to get them out. Having stories in your head is good. When one of them gets to the point where you find yourself thinking about it at some random point in your day... it's time.

975537
I had a time limit.
I just suck so much that I'm going to drown myself on ice cream.

Chocolate ice cream!

Do it! Just do it! I took my fic to creative writing shops, had a published writer look at it, posted it and got four dislikes in a few minutes. And I feel better for posting it!

975875 Well you don't have a time limit here...

Personally I think you should do what you feel like doing. I started out going straight in to writing fan fiction and I'm still getting the hang of it since I received lots of down votes but I'm happy for myself that I went straight in to writing and wrote what I wanted to write instead of whats popular out there.

There is no right or wrong way in making your debut.
I suggests a one-shot. This way you can test drive your writing style and see the readers reaction.

4868527 Impressive work.

4868538 Thank you? I don't know how to response to this. No offense.

4868563 Sorry, but this thread hasn't been used for over two and a half years. Most of the people using it have moved on. The picture above was about the fact that you brought a long dead thread back.

Oh. You're welcome then. I'm still new to the groups.

4868580 Ah. In that case, welcome to the groups. Hope you have a pleasant time.

972415

In my experience, one shots are more effective, since they yield better results in terms of likes and followers than long stories for less investment of time and effort.

Other than that, it's really no different from any other advice on posting stories: Have a good title, cover and description, publish it when there are a lot of people around, use the groups efficiently, and is possible be a very good writer.

Just don't expect a huge success right away. Unless you are ludicrously lucky, you'll have to build up a following one story at at time regardless of what you do.

Edit: I've been led into a trap! It is the necromancer!

972415 I came to this fandom about the time this thread was made. I started of with a novel. It still isn't finished.

It's better to start of with one-shots, else you have a lot of the same mistakes to fix later on. It's also harder to fix long stories than short ones.

Oh, and, 4868527

4869185 you're welcome.