Shipping, OC's, and other things · 12:07am May 3rd, 2013
First, on the recent updates - originally, I had planned on having a chapter called "A Short Calm" which would have a section for each of the mane six. When Applejack's (which is more of Apple Slice's) section reached 2.2k words, I decided to break it down into pairs. As for the chapter before that, I'm surprised that no one's noticed the Lord of Cinder reference, although I may have placed so many of these things that they're not worth noticing. Or Celestia's moment simply overrode everything else. As for edits, BP chapter 6 has gotten the treatment. The next chapter will have a Rainbow Dash and Rarity section in them. Yes, that's right Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie will be lumped together again. Notice the patterns emerging?
On Shipping - the last chapter certainly got a bit shippy. I was hesitant to include any romantic development in the story when I first started writing. Ultimately, I decided to go for it anyway because I believed that it was a good source of characterization, conflict, and tension. The results have been rather mixed. Nevertheless, it's not a decision I regret.
Upheaval as a whole has taken some flak for having shipping in it, more so than having a red and black alicorn OC or for depicting the mane six getting hurt. Some readers just don't want shipping in their war fic. That's a perfectly reasonable complaint. I don't think the two should be mutually exclusive, but I understand that some people just don't want to read about shipping in general when they're trying to read a fic about something else. Then there are some who think shipping an OC with a canon character is automatically bad. I don't get it. I don't plan on getting it. Tell me the pairing is bad because the personalities don't mesh at all, because the writing is stilted, because the situations are contrived and boring. Sure, those are good reasons to dislike it. They're reasons that make me want to go back and examine my writing to see what I did wrong or if I should just remove those parts. But if the reason is "OC/canon character shipping = bad", then no. I don't care if you've read ten million fics with bad OCs and bad OC pairings. The association is still flimsy, it tells me nothing and I find it ridiculous and superficial. It's just as silly as saying "You can't pair Twilight Sparkle with him! Twilight Sparkle is my waifu!".
On OC's - In all honesty, I wasn't aware of the stigma that having a red-maned, black-coated OC carried when I started writing the fic. If I had, I would have never given Black Rose that coloration. I knew I was already pushing it with Terrato: an OC alicorn related to Princess Celestia. I wouldn't have taken that extra risk if I knew that it was a risk. The coloration bit simply caught me by surprise. But really. Color? That's the new standard for being a Mary Sue? You don't need to go into a power fantasy, wish-fulfillment, purple-prosing, all-about-me rampage? You just need to be of a certain color scheme? I think it's just silly. Silly and lazy. Everyone knows what lazy writing is, but I think there's such a thing as lazy reading. Making snap judgments like this is definitely a symptom.
Some responses
>> Obsidian Well, as this latest chapter implied, Celestia has killed before, who she previously killed right now is a mystery. Probably the reason why she didn't kill Lexarius/Discord is because as shown, she really liked him, so she couldn't bring herself to do it, same with Luna when she was possessed by Nightmare Moon. However, she's willing to kill those who can't be reasoned with and she doesn't care about.
You sure that was the reason why Celestia refused to just outright "kill" Discord? Why did she trap him in Vestibulum instead of sending him back to the Eternal Herd?
When I started reading it, I was unaware there was a stigma against OCs in general. I guess I got really lucky that I chose to read a story with not just good OCs but good alicorn OCs too.
And once finals finish up next week, I'll see about getting some more done.
FINALLY! Someone else gets it!
I can't say how many stories I've read where I just felt like the readers weren't paying attention. I think that there's a lot of lazy reading going along at the moment... I mean someone is a bad character because of colors? Really? Or a story becomes a "bad self insert" if it's in 1st person view? ...
I think I'll cut out now before this turns into a huge rant! ANYWAYS! Yeah, I agree with your thoughts on lazy reading. Though at times I see comments that are thought out and show that the reader was paying attention. These comments make me happy. 
I for one really like your OCs. If it wasn't for them and their relationships with the cast (Crimson's strange attitude towards Dash is a particular favourite of mine) I would have been bored with this story ages ago. And I support a ship for Vanguard and Twilight for this story, he's that interesting a character.
Really people have a problem with OC, OC shipping and color schemes? Seriously? I will admit I wasn't aware there was a stigma around Black Roses color scheme. It is a color scheme that people like and as such tend to use for their own characters. Still just because a ton of people like something doesn't mean you should avoid doing the same if you have well justified reasons. Black Rose is a very compelling villain for the series and I doubt she would be quite as intimidating if she was a different color and went by a different name.
As for OC shipping, it gives the world a richer deeper feel. While I might not want to read a chapter about the characters going on dates together I do want to see them develop as characters. If two characters develop closer together in a believable way then that is perfectly fine.
While there are ships that I believe float better than others, each story is a different universe. Think multiverse theory, where characters are similar but are slightly different. I have seen Twilight paired with many different cannon and OC characters. From Rd to Caramel, from the Doctor to Vanguard (possibly). As long as it makes sense in the story it is ok. Because while Twilight had this whole adventure with Vanguard that played a part in her developing feelings for him, in some other story something else happened so that she fell in love with someone else. It's not a big deal unless the characters are being forced together.
honestly this is what shipping should look like in a story . none of this love at first BS relationships are formed overtime through shared experience's. And usually progress slowly compared to what some on this site would have you think.
and honestly i think its ok to have a villan as a bit of marysue
This was about the 2nd ponyfic I ever read with barely any fanfic exposure prior to that (but massive amounts of non-fanfic exposure), so it never even occurred to me to not like the OCs because they were OCs. As far as I am concerned, characters are characters and they are either well written or not.
Also, count me in for not even noticing the red and black Alicorn OC as being a red and black Alicorn OC.
Just ignore the shipping people, they're so deeply entrenched in their OTPs, that they can't climb out, I don't understand them either.
As for black and red alicorn OCs, I can sort-of explain, for you see, the most common coloration for bad alicorn Mary Sues and Gary Stus (male version) was black and red (double points if it's red on black stripes), because to be frank, it does look kinda badass, and they're always alicorns because they're the most powerful. To go along with the stupid character is a stupid, usually badly written, plot, usually involving the seduction of one of the main six in a 'love at first sight'/throwing themselves tail first at the OC, and the OC usually being absolutely perfect, able to do no wrong, and generally being a Black Hole Sue
Parody fic showing off all the tropes commonly associated with black and red alicorn OCs:
The Life of Mary Sue the Red Maned Black Coated Alicorn
Fortunately these stories seem to be dying down (I haven't seen any recently) as they now carry a stereotype of being terrible, and apparently it rubs off onto amazing characters who just happen to look similar
you didn't know about the stereotype when you chose Black Rose's coloration? Here I was thinking you were doing some kind of subtle 'take that' to the black and red alicorn stereotype by making her such an amazing character.
Hmm, so apparently I was wrong that Celestia didn't kill Discord out of mercy/love/kindness, my next guess is that she trapped him in stone because she was angry at him for what he became after being her idol and she didn't want him going back to face trial in the Eternal Herd for whatever reason
While I know that a lot of alicorn OC's get royally thrashed I love Terrato mainly because he was something I'd never seen before: an alicorn that was Celestia's brother. His existence, and the realm he ruled being outside of Equestria proper, and the concept of the whole thing was so different and intriguing compared to most stories I'd read that I couldn't help but love the story and the characters within it.
I believe the reason there is such a bad stigma to OCs, OC and main cast shipping, and any alicorns is because they are so often done horribly. Half the time they are self inserts of the author. So people make judgments that because some people have done terrible jobs with the concepts in the past, it must mean all authors do a terrible job with it. And that is just a bad attitude to go about it with.
But with Upheaval I have seen none of that. All the characters have been well thought out, and up through Breaking Point (I haven't gotten to its sequel yet) I thought everything has been well handled where these topics have been covered. It's all about characters and execution for me, and thus far both have looked good to me where Upheaval is concerned.
You have people who simply can't handle "OMG! You can't ship Twi with anypony but Luna! My OTP! This SUX!" Don't get overly discouraged. Write a good story, the rest shall follow.
Tbh, I totally forgot that Rose has this color scheme; not that I really care or cared in the first place.
As for the shipping. I really enjoy some well handled romance in long, adventure stories like yours, so this is actually a plus for me
While I have had my share of reading bad OC's, yours are by far some of the most well written characters I have read. It is a shame that just because of a few OC's and some color scheme that people don't give this fanfic a read. I really enjoy reading your story and always look forward to a new update.
on the shipping with an OC part, the problem really comes down to development time; OCs are almost always terribly underdeveloped once people start shipping them, and when you compare that to the canon-character, well, you have quite the black on white comparison. if you want to ship an OC with a canon-character you need to build them up immensely first, im not talking about giving them their own story beforehand, or running a 2-3 chapter background check, cause that brings up the same issues as with shipping them; you need to gradually introduce them into a universe over a novel-length of a story before you should even think of shipping them with someone who already has an established background. there needs to be an attachment to the character before you put them in a situation where you can tug on that attachment.
now, you practically have 400,000 (40,000 is novel-length) words where you've been slowly introducing your OCs without really giving them a background check, so im not gonna complain...
I personally have no problem with Canon/OC shipping as long as it sounds realistic. I agree with Mossflower (#13), you have given your OCs plenty of time for the reader to relate to them, so the canon character's attraction to them doesn't seem completely from nowhere. I personally like the pairing of Twilight or Applejack with Vanguard.
Well, part of the problem with a red and black OC is it looks unnatural in cannon Equestria with all the bright, fun colors. It stands out.
In Upheavl, however, as the world is much darker and not so fun and happy, there really isn’t the same problem