• Member Since 7th Mar, 2013
  • offline last seen Jan 24th, 2019

Jankis


More Blog Posts1

  • 540 weeks
    Confused Ramblings of a Brony.

    Writing is hard.

    I have two ideas for My Little Pony Fan-Fics floating around in my head (well, I have more than that but only the two that I want to write):

    Read More

    1 comments · 329 views
Nov
20th
2013

Confused Ramblings of a Brony. · 2:50am Nov 20th, 2013

Writing is hard.

I have two ideas for My Little Pony Fan-Fics floating around in my head (well, I have more than that but only the two that I want to write):

One is a story about the Cutie Mark Crusaders that I came up with while watching Ponyville Confidential (A story that I am surprised that has not already been written by somebody else, at least that I can find). I tried to write this one. I really did. It even has a story number here on Fimfiction. It is at 467 words and was last edited May 4th, 2013. I know what needs to happen during the first couple of chapters, but I can't seem to make that go from what is in my head to what is on my screen. I have a very hard time with "Show, Don't Tell." I can look at what I have written and see that I have 'Told', but I don't know how to rewrite it to make it 'Show'. And then I get frustrated, and give up.

The other is really a whole universe, and not just one fic. Taking place over ten years after Twilight's Coronation, it is a dark Equestria divided by Civil War (Not Twilight's Fault). I have been working on this one since before Season 3 started. I still have not finished a draft of the Prologue. I could sit down and tell you what needs to happen during the Prologue, start to end. But that would just be telling you. I can't figure out how to show you.

This is really not a new problem for me. I have always had this disconnect between what is in my head and what is on the screen. I have at least four non-pony stories in my brain, demanding that I write them. And I can't. I can tell you what happens in the stories, but I can't tell you the stories.

At the beginning of the Month, one of my friends told me that he was writing for NaNoWriMo. So I said, you know what, I am not even going to try to put down 50,000 words, but lets see if I can do just 100 words a day, something set in my Civil War Universe. November 19th: Word Count: 0. I have come up with a character (though he is still nameless), a Pegasi Stallion from a little nowhere town East of Manehatten. In my head I have drafted pretty much his entire life from birth until the prologue of my main story, and a little bit beyond that. On screen, nothing. I don't even know where to start.

So, rather then struggling with my lack of ability to write narratives, I am just going to (for now) do what I do best: Tell about the world. I am going to start writing (non spoilery) world building blogs to flesh out the Equestria of my story. Maybe actually getting some words down about something will help me learn to better collect my thought and actually express them properly. *shrug* It can't hurt anyway... can it?

Coming Up: DAoC World Building Blog #1: Princess Twilight Sparkle's Treatise on the Hearth Warming Eve Pageant (Maybe).

Also, and Idea that I had for a fic that I have no intention of writing: My Little Pony / Codex Alera Crossover fic. "Hail, Hail, Gaius Octavia." That's all I have. Somebody should write that.

- Jankis

Report Jankis · 329 views ·
Comments ( 1 )

I know what needs to happen during the first couple of chapters, but I can't seem to make that go from what is in my head to what is on my screen. I have a very hard time with "Show, Don't Tell." I can look at what I have written and see that I have 'Told', but I don't know how to rewrite it to make it 'Show'. And then I get frustrated, and give up.

Try this: Tell the whole darn thing. Then study it, not thinking about show vs. tell, just looking at the story itself, and figure out what the story's structure is. What are the key points? What's the source of tension? Where & how is it relieved? What sort of voice / mood / pacing? Whose point of view should it be in? What does each character want in each scene?

Revise it until you've answered all those questions & got it trimmed down to just the bare essentials of the story. Then rewrite it as "showing" if you can.

I don't always write that way, but it could work... :derpytongue2:

Login or register to comment