The Great and Powerful Writing Seminar of Obnoxious Awesome-isms!

by RavensDagger

Day Four

Day Four

Generic looked at the melancholy Twilight, waiting at the far edge of the stage, with eyes full of pity. The crowd, even larger than the previous days because of the spreading stories and crazy news, all stared at her in suspense. It was already way past the scheduled time to start, but the eager unicorn who had seemed so occupied with time just didn’t seem to care anymore.

Finally, with a depressed sigh, Twilight trudged to the edge of the stage. “Hello everypony, she said in an unenthusiastic tone. “Today, we’re going to learn about...” She looked to the side of the stage and, with a weak glow, her horn’s magic levitated a piece of parchment over. “Coping with depression. Ha. How appropriate.”

She looked down, letting her mane cover her face as a single tear streaked from her eye to her chin then fell with a small splat on the wooden stage. “Oh, poor Twilight.” whispered the yellow pegasus, in her customary position to Generic’s right, to herself. With a determined frown, she looked up. “I have to help her.” With a few wingbeats, the pegasus flew up to the stage and meekly floated over to her friend, resolutely avoiding the stares from the crowd as she did so.

She gently laid a hoof on Twilight’s back. “Come on, Twilight. I know you’re sad that they didn’t accept your story, but I am sure that if you talk about it you’re going to feel better. And maybe everypony can learn from you?” She smiled kindly at her friend.

Sniffing, Twilight looked up. “Thanks Fluttershy. You’re a good friend.” She stood up with newfound courage. “And you’re right! The show must go on!”

“Great. I am so happy for you.” Fluttershy started flying back towards her spot.

“Sorry for the, uh... delay, everypony. Now, my friend Fluttershy and I will teach you all how to cope with the anxiety of being a writer!” The yellow pegasus froze in mid-air.

“Um, well, Twilight, you see, it’s not that I don’t want to help, but, well, you know how I am with big crow-”

“Excellent! Thank you so much for helping me, Fluttershy. You wouldn’t believe how much this means to me.” Twilight gave Fluttershy a crushing hug, squeezing the blushing pegasus.

“Um... you’re welcome?” said Fluttershy with a squeak.

“Great! Now, let’s get started!”

“O-Okay.”

A long silence engulfed the stage as both ponies remained quiet. Twilight nudged Fluttershy, who jumped slightly and began to speak. “Oh, um, well... If I’m taking care of a hurt animal, it always helps to know what made them hurt, so, um... how about you tell us about what you did to get your story to that point...”

Twilight looked uneasy again. “Okay, I guess that could help... Well, the submission process was rather easy. All I had to do was fill out a form of information about my story, then send it.”

“That does sounds easy,” said Fluttershy, smiling hopefully. Hearts melted throughout the crowd.

“Well, not really. You see, the form has a lot of little intricacies. It’s kinda like they want you to fail. I read and reread it over and over until I was absolutely positive that I hadn't made a single mistake. It is, after all, their first impression of your story. ‘Best to make it perfect,’ I told myself.”

“I see. Then what happened?”

“Well... I had to wait for over three months for their response.”

Fluttershy gasped, “Three whole months?! Oh, poor you, you must have been so worried. And those poor pre-readers reviewers must have so much work to do.”

“I did get one response rather quickly... but it was just a letter that said “Off to the pre-readers.” Not all that helpful, but at least I knew they had seen it. I guess if they hadn't said anything, I would just have sent a bump or something. You know, a polite reminder.” Twilight looked away, knowing what was going to be asked next.

“What happened when you finally got your response?”

Tears stained the edges of Twilight’s eyes. “Th-they refused!” Then, to the crowd’s great surprise, she began to shout. “Those idiots shot down the thing I spent months, years, working so hard on... And all they gave me was a one-page review saying nothing but ‘It’s half-baked and the plot has been used a hundred times before!”

Fluttershy backed away in surprise. “Oh my Twilight, that isn’t very nice. You have to remember that the pre-readers reviewers are also ponies. They work very hard to write reviews for all those stories. I’m sure they didn’t mean to offend you.”

Twilight looked down shamefully. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I did kinda overreact. And maybe those thirty three-hundred-page-long pieces of angry mail were a little bit too much. I ought to be more understanding and patient next time.”

“That’s okay, I’m sure they would be happy to hear that you’re sorry.”

“Yeah, but... that isn’t all...”

“Oh no. What else happened?”

“Well, I also sent my story to this place called FiMFiction. They accepted it right away! But, then ponies commented on it...”

Fluttershy smiled gently, “I’m sure they were all very positive.”

Twilight returned the smile wanly. “Some were, but others... not so much.”

“Oh my. Please tell us, Twilight.”

Twilight gulped. “Well, one stallion by the name of ‘XxSuperponehhatorxX’ said that it was the worse drivel he ever read, and another called ‘TheG&P-TRIXIE!!1’ told me that I should jump off a cliff. Then she started ranting at me about ursa minors.”

“Oh no! How horrible, I can’t believe that ponies would be so mean to you! You don’t deserve that sort of treatment, Twilight. The best thing to do is ignore those bullies and, if they persist, ask Rainbow DAsh to do something about it. she always made my bullies disappear,a then she would bake me a batch of warm cupcakes. But if you can’t do that, I’d suggest that you simply ignore them.”

Twilight sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right Fluttershy. I’ll just pretend that it never happened.”

“Oh, not for all of them!” Twilight looked up at Fluttershy, surprised. “Some of them might be a little mean, but they may be right. Maybe some are offering constructive criticism... they’re just a little rude about it. It’s perfectly normal to make a mistake or two. You’re never going to get anywhere without making at least a few! It takes a fall to learn how to stand, and sometimes it takes a flop to learn how to write. Don’t get discouraged, don’t let those meanies tear you down, and just keep doing your best!” Fluttershy had grown more confident and vehement as she spoke. Many ponies in the crowd began clapping their hooves against the ground and a small cheer arose. The shy pegasus turned a deep red and hid behind Twilight, who gave her a supportive smile.

“Come on, Fluttershy! You were doing great!”

The mare reappeared from behind Twilight and, with one last glance at her friend’s smile, continued. “Um, okay. Here goes.” Fluttershy took in a deep breath. “Even some comments that look like constructive criticisms can be nothing more than the opinion of the reader. No author wants to lose their integrity by doing everything their fans tell them but, still, listening to the reader every once in awhile is a good thing! It proves that the author pays attention and listens, and it connects the creator and consumer. All you need to know as an author when it comes to dealing with fans is how to distinguish between somepony’s selfish opinion on your work and somepony’s honest attempts to help.”

Fluttershy turned to Twilight suddenly. “Twilight, can you give me your transcript of your traded mail?”

“How did you know that I kept...” There was a silence as everypony stared at her. “Right...” Twilight magically rummaged through a nearby pile of books and floated the appropriate volume over to the serious-faced Fluttershy, who placed it on the floor and gingerly opened it.

“Thank you, Twilight. Hmm. Well, here we have a message from somepony called ‘idunnolol’. They said ‘This fic was needlessly abstract like French cinema and overly conceptual science fiction. Both of which I have seen and read far too much of.’ This pony clearly had no idea what he was saying. They may not have liked your story, but they didn’t have to be so rude about it. They also let their review be coloured by their own preconceptions, and that’s just bad practice. Now, this pony called ‘sox-R-gr8’ said, ‘Twilight, I find that you have great writing talent. However, I feel you could flesh this out more and get a better impact.’” Fluttershy looked up and smiled happily. Several fainted as the adorable reached critical mass. “Now, this pony wrote something that could be considered a rebuke. But, if you look at it again, you can see that it’s actually quite helpful! So, really, nopony should lose hope in their ability to write just because some no-good, inexperienced meanie criticised their work. You should just try even harder!”

Fluttershy finally wound down her rant. She looked down, hiding behind her mane. “Y-You know, if that’s okay with you...” Another silence gripped the speechless crowd for a while, then they broke out into a cheer. “Oh, no, please, I don’t deserve that. Twilight, make them stop... please?”

The gathered ponies’ hoof-stomping died down. “Um... thank you very much?” squeaked the cowering Fluttershy, and the crowd visibly held back a collective “D’aww.”

Twilight smiled, her confidence having returned a little with Fluttershy’s aid.. “We hope to see you all tomorr-” She was interrupted by a familiar flurry of fireworks and smoke accompanied by Trixie’s piercing voice. The show-stealing showmare emerged from the crackling cloud with a flourish of her cape.

“We?! Trixie shall be the only one to present tomorrow’s instalment! If your debacle of a tale is to be believed, you are the last pony in any position to teach these simpletons on tomorrow’s topic!”

Twilight stole a glance at her notes again. “What? What’s tomorrow’s... Oh. Subject matter. Thanks, Trixie.” With that, Twilight trotted from sight, head bowed. Fluttershy followed her, still blushing fiercely from the crowd’s approval.

Trixie looked down her nose at the crowd and waved a hoof vaguely. “Well, go on. You’re done for today. Scoot.”

The crowd began to disperse, Fluttershy’s speech having warmed their hearts too much for even Trixie’s abrasive nature to get them down. Generic left the field with a spring in his step. Maybe he would submit his latest piece.

Comments

[Eustatian Wings]

I'd add that quality is more a property of the fic than the author, even though author skill is important. It's really almost inspiring to see a good author write something bad (or to have written something bad in the past). If even your idols make mistakes, there's hope for you.

I hope you don't mind me making you an example, Raven, but the dieselpunk story is worlds better than this.

[RavensDagger]

414992

Haha, true. Still, I spent too much time on this to let it rot in a useless Docs file, might as well finish it off and post every chapter. Only one left. Then I'll try to get back on track with SGW (Chapter seven wasted three weeks of my time, and I am still not satisfied with it. Chapter eight is comming along nicely).

[Meandering Road]

An entertaining guide. Useful and well-done- and I like how you've been including many other characters as cameos.

[Unknown-Brony]

The other chapters were fun, the third one by far. But this one? Hmm... I found out it passed out quickly.
But, I liked it. Such comments can hurt the writer and they might get a little bit... more pissed. But, the show must go on!
I actually wanted to thank you for pointing out this, because I know it happened to me a lot. I don't expect my work to get anytime soon in EqD, but I'll work to try to reach it

[RavensDagger]

1572589
EqD is a good goal to set. Write your best, edit your hardest, then they'll systematically point out every little thing you did wrong. It shows you where to improve.

[Unknown-Brony]

1572741 Well, somehow they always point out a huge bunch of mistakes, or just accept. It's too much of a difference for me
But hey, the show must go on

[Themaskedferret]

So....are you ever finishing this?

[RavensDagger]

2744133
Probably not,

I'd need to give it a full re-write. I've learnt a lot in the past year.

[Themaskedferret]

2746149 Darn, Well any chance of a rewrite?

[Fabian Corcair]

2744133
Considering since it's been six years, and the author hasn't been here for two, as far as I'm concerned, this fic is dead as a doornail.

Go, and let it float down the river in peace