Fireside Chat #4: The Crystal Human Chapter Five · 6:16pm Aug 26th, 2023
(If you want to read the previous Fireside Chat, you can find the link here.)
Hello, and welcome to the fourth Fireside Chat, the series of blog posts where I seem to change the description of what I talk about in them every time. As always, this will include spoilers, so make sure that you read the chapter this post is about first.
I am very tired, so I’m just gonna jump right into it this time. No pre-titlecard gags today.
Chapter Five: Writing Fluttershy and Rarity, Scrapped Ideas, and Why I Will Probably Try to Avoid Writing From Pinkie Pie’s POV for the Foreseeable Future.
You know what? I’m bored. Let’s start from the last one on the list and go in reverse order. Just to switch things up a little.
So. Pink horse. The party pony. “Miss Anything-And-Everything-All-Of-The-Time.” Pinkie Pie.
We didn’t even see the world from her Point of View, yet I still struggled with writing her. As I said in this blog post from a few days ago,
“I feel like it shouldn't be so hard to try and balance Pinkie Pie randomness while making her an actual character, all the while keeping her faithful to how she is depicted in the show at this point in time, but it really is.”
So I asked for help. And you guys delivered. I would like to thank everyone who gave me tips and advice on how to write Pinkie. You guys really helped a lot, and it’s advice I’ll definitely be going back to whenever I have to write a scene with her again (and trust me, there will be more scenes with her).
But I think that, at least for now, I’ll avoid writing stuff from Pinkie’s POV. I’m not saying I never will, mind you, just that I won’t do it anytime soon.
Oh hey, it’s rejected idea time! Let’s see what we’ve got today!
Let’s see… it’s… “Write an entire chapter from the Point of View of Spike the Dragon ''.
Yeah, I ended up scrapping this one because I haven’t the foggiest idea how to write a story from the perspective of a child. I did give it my best shot, but in the end it sounded far too adult for a baby dragon. He even said “shit” once!
That last sentence was a joke, but you get the idea.
The second scrapped idea was “Switch between all of the Main Six on the first day and then pretend they don’t exist until they show up on the Crystal Empire’s doorstep.” I scrapped this idea because I thought switching perspectives so much would’ve been confusing for the reader. (Huh, I wonder why that sounds so familiar?) So I gave that idea the ax… well, part of it, at least.
You may have noticed the title. Both how long it is, and how it says “From the Perspectives of Kindness and Generosity” at the end. That’s because I plan on jumping back to the train every once in a while so that we can see how the journey is going and get to know the ponies we are already so familiar with.
The thing is, each time I do this, we’ll see the train ride from the perspective of two different elements (except Pinkie, as I stated earlier) each time. I wanted to strike a balance between knowing what they are up to, as well as not just outright ignoring them for most of the story. This is the compromise I came up with.
And now, writing the Elements of Kindness and Generosity.
Let’s start with the fashionista first: Rarity is an enigma to me. She is probably the character I studied (and by study, I of course mean binge watching Season Two and bits of early Season Three) the least before starting this chapter, and I think that it shows in how I wrote her. While I’m content with how she turned out, I guess there is this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I didn’t give her the justice she deserved. That I should’ve taken the extra time to study her character more so that I could get it just right, instead of just ‘passable’.
That could just be my own self-doubt and paranoia talking though. Idk.
As for Fluttershy, she is not the character I studied the most, but I did pay more attention to her as a character in the show than I did Rarity. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if that showed in the way I wrote her. Sure, she’s not as much of a pushover as some other fics might portray her as (which is what I was going for), but she just feels a bit… I don’t know, bland, I guess?
Again, that could just be self-doubt and paranoia talking, but I’m not sure.
So. That’s it. The end of our little chat.
Actually, no. One little thing I wanna address. Specifically, this line:
"Thanks, Rarity. That helps a lot." Twilight replied as I took a glance at the other book: "Languages and Writing Systems of the Early to Mid Celestial Era, by Lord Blank Page."
Yes, that is a reference to the character Blank Page from Hiver’s Pageverse. Just a fun little Easter egg I decided to throw in there to a series of stories that I really enjoy, and one of the first HiE’s I ever read. Expect more like it in the future.
And finally, for tonight's post show entertainment, I would like to remind you all that while they have driven through actual warzones, the most dangerous place the former Top Gear presenters Clarkson, May and Hammond have ever been to is the great state of Alabama.
Thank for reading, and take care of yourselves,
-Phoenix
Pinkie seemed like Pinkie to me!