• Published 9th Mar 2012
  • 17,559 Views, 1,168 Comments

Contraptionology! - Skywriter



When life gives you lemons, make robot monsters.

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appendix a - Author's Note

* * *
Contraptionology!

by Jeffrey C. Wells

www.scrivnarium.net

(with gratitude to the pre-reading powers of Akela Stronghoof and S.R. Foxley)
* * *

appendix a: Author's Note

And that's it! Recommended closing credits music (and, indeed, a good overall "Contraptionology!" theme): "Madness", by Muse, off of The 2nd Law. While we're at it, recommended Moody Jealous A.J. theme: "Red Red Red", by Fiona Apple (naturally) off of Extraordinary Machine (again, naturally).

Thanks for sticking with me for my first Pony novel and, indeed, my first novel of any sort. I have written single, (basically) coherent novel-length narratives before (witness "Tales of the Starbuck Avenger!!!"), but these were all more collections of short serialized fictions than they were actual "books". Each one took me, like, six years to write, and the structure shows it; the head of a new chapter would sometimes have to contain a bunch of recap information because at times an entire year (!) would pass between installments. This one was an attempt to do things differently for once, to complete a single consistent story in a reasonable time frame (within the space of one calendar year), and I'm pleased as lemon-poisoned science-punch that it seems to have worked. The structure of the piece was basically planned out from the beginning, including all the Chekhov's Guns (yes, even the "language of bees" one) but some minor changes did crop up in the writing. Apple Bloom was supposed to stick around for a lot longer, for example, providing the audience's perspective as a sane character amidst the increasing absurdity of the world, but things got so bad so quickly that it was simply inconceivable that stubborn little A.B. would continue to brook it all, and she unexpectedly wrote herself out. This also delights me when it happens, even though it meant a little restructuring. And for all that I tried to wrap everything up properly, two dangling ends remain in this narrative.

First: the Junior Rodeo, mentioned early on, was supposed to be the setting of the last epilogue scene, with Apple Bloom playing the Nightmare role; but midway through the writing of the piece I happened to check out the "Epic Wub Time" fanimation, and I thought Jessi Nowack's portrayal of Vinyl Scratch – a character for which I had previously had no particular affinity – was hilarious enough that I felt I had to give DJ-PON3 a guest spot.

Second, and more profoundly, this story was not originally supposed to have literally happened within the confines of the universe. Twilight Sparkle's early lines about how her cure-all for jealousy is writing fantasy fiction was supposed to be subtle foreshadowing for the eventual reveal that "Contraptionology!" was a work of fiction penned by Applejack to try and stave off the jealousy that had gripped her in the wake of the events of "Infernal Machines". Another hint for particularly attentive readers was to be the fact that Iggy the Salamander's monosyllabic utterance is just slightly different in "Infernal Machines" than it is in "Contraptionology!" Pre-reading reaction to this was a bit dubious, inasmuch as it rendered likeable red-herring antagonist Professor Danger functionally nonexistent (inasmuch as he is mentioned but never shown in "Infernal Machines"). One pre-reader also commented that this really isn't the sort of story that Applejack would write, no matter how strange the inspiration particle was that struck her, a criticism that was – sadly – spot-on. Make of the above information what you will. I still don't know whether this story actually "happened" or not.

Anyway. Many thanks to Akela Stronghoof and S.R. Foxley for helping bring "Contraptionology!" to print. Each provided valuable insights as to how I could make this story better, and each served as an all-important venting-box, allowing me to release fresh new fiction into the world immediately after writing while I was still itchy and excited, while at the same time allowing me to maintain a fairly disciplined and measured public release schedule. The improvements are theirs; the remaining errors are mine. Additional thanks to my homegirl and "Skin Horse" collaborator Shaenon K. Garrity for the brilliant title-card, which replaced the terribly pedestrian screen-capture I had been using for a good chunk of the posting run. It really needed one. Thanks also to my spouse, Feech, for listening to me babble on about cartoon horses far more than the call of duty would require. It is, unfortunately, a practice which will not stop with the completion of this story.

Finally: Apparently the portrayal of Twilight as a disembodied brain-in-a-jar was compelling enough that there is now an Askblog-style Tumblr dedicated to the concept: check out Ask Brainy Twilight for all your distressingly-adorable hunk of unicorn neural tissue needs.

Thus concludes "Contraptionology!" It's been a trip. Thanks to each and every one of you for reading, and for – where applicable – showing your support in the discussion section during the writing of this piece; whether or not I responded to your specific comment individually, please be advised that each one was appreciated (even the ones that took me to task a little). And for those of you who've been burned by too many abandoned stories and were waiting for the "Complete" tag (I'm rapidly becoming one of you), I hope you enjoyed the thing presented in one fell swoop! I'd love to hear how you think the timing and pacing comes off when you read it all at once instead of over the course of several months. In either case, if you have enjoyed this story, please consider recommending it to the ponyfic repository of your choice and/or your friends. Word-of-mouth is best word.

Once again, thank you all.

sdg,

Jeffrey C. Wells
November, 2012