Love, Tolerance, and a Side of Fries... · 4:01am Mar 6th, 2014
Flabbergasted, to say the least I am flabbergasted. Astonished and dumbfounded, but I am not speechless. I have plenty of words for my growing audience.
The first set of these words is this; I never expected such amazing support for “A Mother’s Love…”. In my own browsing for stories to read I’ve seen it several times at or near the top of the popular stories list and I truly have all of you to thank for that. Now that said, not all those responsible are likely to read this but I still want to verbalize my immense gratitude for every person out there who read the story. Y’all are the best.
This may sound odd, but I especially want to thank those who disliked it. I really feel that if the story had received zero dislikes I would have become indifferent to writing further. After all, if I’ve already written something perfect then what point is there in writing anything else that will never measure up to this?
Even in that regard I knew all along that the story wasn’t perfect, but it’s nice to see evidence that I truly cannot please everyone. Even though “A Mother’s Love…” is my magnum opus, I feel energized and excited to move forward and write more and more with hopes of perhaps surpassing it in the future.
Next I want to talk about the implications of the story’s success. I have now gathered fans(or at least folks who like me well enough to want to see more of my stories)… crazy I know but you might be out there reading this. Seriously though, I can’t remember how many comments asked if I had a continuation planned or simply asked me for more. The short answer is, yes. The long answer is that I actually have more than one plan for expanding the continuity of “A Mother’s Love…”.
The first plan is rather simple and I’ve spoken on the subject in several comment replies. It involves writing a collection of short stories. These shorts would mostly deal with warm feelings and happy endings, chiefly around the joy filled adventures of our young protagonist. I don’t really want to write like that… I like happy endings, but I couldn’t stand risking making my little OC a Mary Sue. I want to write her happy adventures but I don’t want to pigeonhole myself either.
Thus my second plan came to me. I can write more than one collection. Each collection would deal with a different part of her life. One would be a set of cutesy filly tales of her life at a young age. Two the slightly more matured part of her life dealing with just before and just after receiving her cutiemark. Three her young adult life where she would be dealing with the issue of finding her place in society.
Then my third idea came to me.(Probably the one I’m going to use) The short story collections will have continuity. Like actual continuity, I will write it in a way that each short story can stand alone but over time they will reveal a greater plot. So long story short, look forward to the continuation soon(As in hopefully by the end of the week).
Next of course is where I talk about celebrity endorsement… I don’t really have any. I also don’t have a record deal in the works… which is good considering I’m not that musically creative… I can sing, also I play at the harmonica a bit, but not enough to warrant a record deal.
Last but certainly not least, I would like to know how others would view alcohol consumption in a story. More to the point where do y’all think it should be rated, ‘E’ for Everypony, ‘T’ for Teenagers, Or ‘M’ for Mature. Oh or ‘P’ IS FOR RAINBOW! I only ask because I have an otherwise light hearted comedy in mind for the future.
Well if y’all made it this far, thanks for sticking with me through my incoherent ramblings. So see you next time.
~ So hath proclaimed the writer Mayhew Cullen and as it is in his mind, so it shall be. ~
The third idea sounds good. I remember reading a TwiDash fic that had a similar idea with it. While not new it is a good idea.
And as for alcohol consumption. Id put it under T for Teen. If this was 15 years ago it would probably be M for Mature but not now. Heck my stories are T for Teen because of language.
1900443 Well it has been said that there is nothing new under the sun.
And yeah that's what I was thinking as well, I was just hoping for a little feedback to see if my thoughts were completely skewed from how other folks think on the subject.
You know, this blog post reminded me that I hadn't read your story yet!
Just finished it, and I really like your writing style. I would like to see a continuation as well.
And I agree with 1900443
The third idea would be pretty good, and will allow you to create a story that is much deeper than anyone else had previously thought. It would also allow anyone to enjoy any one of your stories without having to worry about the age rating. For example, people who only read stories marked everyone, though they will not read other stories marked Teen or Mature, will still be able to read and understand those with the appropriate rating. Hopefully that makes sense: I'm running on 3 hours of sleep.
As for alcohol consumption, I would say having it Teen by default, unless it is mentioned in passing and is not a main part of the story. Even so, I would still be hesitant to put it under Everyone.
Hope that helps, and I look forward to your next stories!
1900488 Thank you it helps quite a bit. Also I'm really glad you enjoyed my story. In addition I never thought of how plan 3 would help with the ratings part of things.
As for mentioning the alcohol in passing... I can't do that as it is a major theme of the story I have in mind.
While I liked, okay really liked, A mother's love and I would love to see more about Crystal Dream I have to say if you want to do a serious piece then doing in the three stages would be best. Make it three different arcs. Let us see her as a young filly, then move into being a young adult. The dealing with Alcoholism is an issue that would fit. Even though she is an adopted daughter she is still the daughter of Celestia.
That's a lot of pressure on someone. Constantly being compared to the princess in control of the sun. Being reminded about how fair and wonderful she is, and being told that she has to meet up to her mother's standards.
I could see her turning to alcohol in order to deal with it. So, *Puts on sunglasses* Thrill me.
1900544 If it's a major theme, then it would have to be Teen at least. I can't see alcohol drinking itself be marked higher than teen, but other events that may happen afterwards could decide if it is mature or not. For example, if the drinking later leads to somebody getting stabbed– with vivid descriptions about the stabbing– then the rating of the story would most likely go up to Mature, but because of the description of the stabbing, not the actual drinking.
Of course, if there is a lot of drinking, I would get a second opinion on whether to change it to Mature.
In fact, I think someone asked a question about this in the comments on the site blog post about the EFNW contest. Go check it out: it may help with this. Link here.
Third Idea sounds good. Stories are always better when there's an overarching connection, at least in my opinion.
Alcohol should probably be rated Teen just in case.
1900563 Well I never really thought of having Crystal deal with her self-consciousness and the stress of overwhelming expectations with alcohol, That might be an interesting way to go, I will think on that... in the FUTURE!
I was actually planning on a whole different short story involving a trio of characters after a long night at a bar. I don't have much of the story down yet, but I don't have a timetable for that one so... it can wait.
1900579 Thanks for the link, along with your thoughts on the subject it was pretty helpful.
1900612 Well so far at least the consensus is clear.
Go with option 3 and Tequila is for Teen.
As for alcohol consumption, it depends on how it's handled. If it's being handled lighthearted - like a young adult's first exposure, or someone who likes a drink with dinner - I'd say it qualifies for E. If it's something more serious - like dealing with an alcoholic - then make it T.
1901419 Hmm, I'm thinking it will end up being rated Teen. Since the focus on the story will be on the interaction between three very drunk, consenting adults in a bar while continuing to order more drinks as they complain about their jobs and life. So I think the fact that they are abusing alcohol in such a way Teen fits best.
1902619
Adults drinking while complaining about their life? Yeah, teen.
...here's a good way to base it. If it's something you could see kids doing, rate it E. If it's something okay for adolescents to do, it's Teen. If only adults, then it's M.
1902640 That's a pretty good way of looking at it. Thanks!