Cadence, Contests, and Writer's Block · 1:14pm Feb 10th, 2013
Blog Number 13: Lapis Lazuli Edition
January 2013 Contest
My latest story, The Last of Lapis Lazuli, was a submission for the January World-Building Contest for the World-Building Alliance group. The prompt was to write an origin story for one of the species of Equestria (normal and alicorn ponies excluded), with the first 5000 words being judged. The results were released earlier today, having been intended for release by the 7th before the site got hit with a storm of problems. There were all kinds of conditions and details, so if you want to find out more, the prompt post is here. If you're interested, they're hosting a second contest for this February with a different prompt here.
The good news is that my story got a good score of 4.17/5. It seems there were problems with Sombra's flat characterization, a bit of confusion in the third part, and a little too much darkness and despair for the prompt's requirements, but otherwise I'm pretty chuffed. The judges really liked my OC, and it seems I have some good grammar, pacing, and world-building with the origin of the crystal ponies. Mostly, I scored well in all the categories the judges used.
The bad news is that I didn't win. I didn't even make the top three. Naturally, I'll try again for the February prompt, but darn does it take a bit of wind out of my sails.
Thoughts on Games Ponies Play
Well, for a start, I like the allusion made in the title. It's not often you get a nod to the "soft" sciences in fiction, or at least those bits of it that aren't Freudian pseudoscientific nonsense and "early 20th century armchair psychologist" stereotyping.
While I'm at it, I might as well place my thoughts on the latest episode here. Naturally, spoilers, so...
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK! SPOILER ALERT!
You can't say I didn't warn you.
On the latest episode, I don't really have much to offer intellectually. I do think it felt a bit underwhelming, though I was really pleased we got to see the Empire and its wonderfully animated crystal ponies again. I'm ashamed to admit I was guessing "wrong passenger" before they got off the station, though I was surprised they'd confirm it so quickly rather than leave it ambiguous. Not that the claustrophobic southern tourist wasn't nice or anything, but less screen-time on her and more on the Empire, Cadence, Shining Armour's training regime, and/or Dash's family would have been more enjoyable. I don't blame Rarity for admiring the crystal spa, either. Wonder if Lotus and Aloe will keep blushing every time their customer gushes about it over the next few weeks.
How exactly were Cloudsdale supposed to host the Games? It's a cloud city for pegasi. How are the other ponies supposed to get up there? And I hope we get to see some of the Games in season four. The prospect of Pony Olympics is just too good to pass up.
And it's about time they showed some pegasus family members! I wonder if Rainbow's dad was a record-breaker in the past, but I guess we'll start seeing fics about that any moment now. I'm increasingly of the opinion the staff put in details like that almost entirely for fans to do something with, as nearly all the Mane family members save Applejack's and Twilight's are superfluous to the show.
Also, is it just me, or is Cadence always being used as a cosmic punch bag whenever she appears? Debut double-parter: gets locked underground in a forgotten cavern. Season three opener: deprived of sleep for days to keep up one whopper of a protection spell. And now this episode: has her Empire's chances of hosting the Games slowly go to pieces while Rarity makes a humongous mess of her mane. She's got nothing on Rainbow, though. I can't think of an episode in which Rainbow doesn't get dealt a bad hand at some point, whether it's crashing into things or having circumstances pull the rug out from under her hooves.
Lastly, yet another contrived ending that either doesn't make sense or rushes things for a happy ending. Season three seems to be replete with these: Sombra's awesome (if quick) defeat got minimized by a basic test; Pinkie clones getting zapped based on a poor test; Babs getting amnesty for her sob story excuse; Trixie's utterly unbelievable "apology"; Dash appearing out of nowhere to save Scootaloo; Rainbow's disillusionment getting a U-turn at the last second; the totally predictable (and anticlimactic) stunt with the fake Timber Wolf and the real one, with Rainbow and Twilight of all ponies running away; Discord's near-total personality change; and now the inspector feeling kindly disposed to a lack of fanfare despite learning seconds before that there was fanfare, that it was very nice, and that she got splashed on twice because five ponies forgot the most basic greeting -- how to ask someone's name. I'm not saying the episodes as a whole are bad, nor that earlier seasons don't have examples that are just as bad, but it seems too obvious here, and I'm hoping that both the finale and the next season pick things up again. Having a happy ending doesn't mean having a dumb ending.
SPOILER ALERT HAS BEEN LIFTED! CLEARING THE ZONE FOR TRACE CONTAMINANTS! READING THREAT HAS BEEN CONTAINED IN QUARANTINE! RETURNING TO NORMAL MODE!
Tap my shoulder if I'm overdoing it.
Writer's Block Confession
I would like very much to produce a piece of work on par with All of a Fluttershy and Through the Eyes of the Hurricane again, but I might as well be honest; I privately think my ideas and/or writing style will not go over well, and I'm wrestling with a bad case of writer's block. Plus, I have a track record of not finishing what I start because of unexpected drops in confidence...
I need a sounding board. Somewhere where I can discuss my ideas with others without worrying about getting them stolen or bad-mouthed (bad-mouthing is not the same as constructive criticism, I hasten to add). If anyone knows such a place, I'd be mighty grateful.
Impossible Numbers out.
Statistics
New Stories?: The Last of Lapis Lazuli was released a couple of weeks ago. See above for details.
Story Count: 14
My Total Story View count: 8,405
Age: 60 weeks, 5 days
My Follower count: 50
My Followed count: 61
I used to be in the #EquestrianStudy writers chat. There used to be a lot of idea tossing there, and it definitely worked as a sounding board for at least some of them. That was two years ago, though, I have no idea how it is today.
Heyo, don't take it that bad. As I said in the Results thread, 8 stories scored above a 4. 8. That's some seriously tough competition.
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Is that on this site's chatroom? Only I've never used the chat option before, and I'm not sure if you're referring to a website or not.
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No, it's one of the EqD chat channels.
I've never been in the FimFiction chat channel, but I hear it's full of cloppers. No idea how much truth there is to it.
You know, I pretty much agree with everything you said in the spoilerific part of this blog post, eh... especially about the episodes written by Dave Polsky (which is nearly 1/3 of season 3). :/ I'm so glad that Amy Keating Rogers is apparently back on the show for season 4, eh!
Congrats on the good score, eh! And my condolences that you didn't make the top three. I like reading what you write, eh!
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Thanks! To be honest, I still don't understand why they brought Polsky back (or gave him so many eps to work with - you'd think Powell the newcomer could do with more "practice"), or why Rogers left in the first place. They already had some good writers in McCarthy, Larson, Morrow, and Fullerton, (heck, even Williams had her moments), and Rogers was right up there with them.