Production Notes: ACT 1 · 12:34am Mar 28th, 2014
First entry, yay! I thought I would write up some of my thoughts on the creation of “My Little Apprentice”, since I didn't think they the coherent presentation of those thoughts have any baring on the story I'm trying to tell, and thus don't belong in the author's notes as anything more than a URL pointing to this location. I apologize in advance for any typos or errors in my presentation here. This blog entry hasn't been edited or pre-read like my story is and is thus bound to have some mistakes.
On, and apparently there was some sort of glitch where some of you saw chapter nine had been posted when it really hadn't been. It's a good thing too, since chapter 8 hasn't been posted yet either. I'm sorry for the confusion and/or disappointment that may've caused. At this point Saturday/Tuesday is my release schedule, usually around 12:00 MST, though that varies somewhat depending on when I actually wake up, and may be a few hours earlier or later on those days.
But personally, I didn't think it would be much fun to talk about sources of creativity and inspiration and still confine myself to such a rigid formula. This blog is as much for my own purposes as any curious reader. If nobody reads this entry, I won't be nearly so terribly disappointed as I would be if nobody read the story. It's just a blog entry, after all.
I'm not sure if anyone is even interested in this sort of thing. I suppose if absolutely nobody reads this, then I'll know that future works and future additions to my present work will not warrant the effort to express my thoughts so and this will be the only entry on the blog here. Guess we'll find out.
So, what inspired My Little Apprentice? That question cannot be easily answered. I suppose it began when I stumbled into this site, and wandered into the works of Chatoyance and her take on the Conversion Bureau. There was on the one hand such an interesting and vibrant universe there. At the same time, however, I was personally dissatisfied on two counts.
1. Most severely, it seemed like the humans of that world weren't accurate to my understanding of human nature, of which I've made myself somewhat a student in my own small way. Rather, they seemed to me a single character in a Bioware RPG where the player is purposefully making all the most evil available choices because they're going for the achievement with maximum renegade points. It was a “what if”, but not in the way I like to ask that question in writing. Her universe seemed to me the question of “What if whenever given any possible choice, mankind chose the worst possible option? What would the world be like? Well she's written over a million words about it, so no need for me to add anything there.
That was my original plan, way back when. To write another TCB universe story, set in her world specifically. As late as my drafting of chapter 1 this was still my intention, and it was one not wholy abandoned until the draft of chapter two was complete and my mind began to finally settle into the patterns that MLA (not story, not the boring one) would take.
2. The ponies and their universe did not seem accurate either. While humanity always took the worst possible choices, it seems that ponykind in her universe could not help but make the best ones, at least when taken as a group. Granted just as there proved later on to be some humans with good traits in her stories, there were some bad ponies too (usually former humans). But the show and Universe I loved was not that way. It was complex, with ponies whose personalities are so human that it's easy for a human audience to project characters and actions to things from their own lives. I wanted to capture this feeling, a feeling of almost eerie parallel between Equestria and Earth. The question of “Why is Equestria so familiar to us?” Has been answered before in many ways, but I wanted my own take, one that mimicked my own understanding of physics as closely as possible.
I freely admit that I am by profession a student Programmer and not Physicist however, and thus my understanding of the advanced concepts I describe is not to be taken as perfectly sound. I have done my utmost to be consistent with both the nature of mankind and the depiction of the ponies in the show. I intend not to skirt around the best and worst in each. To illustrate the Gurrings and the Sombras as well as the many more content to simply live their lives. Only the story's completion will prove the success or failure of that endeavor.
I will now attempt to list, in some order, the different themes and works and events that inspired MLA (again, the story). I warn you that some of these things were taken quite directly and thus there may be some concepts spoiled here. Glimpsing behind the curtain may spoil the magic for some. If you are one of those, I suggest you stop reading here. If anyone is even reading here to read me here.
1. TCB as envisioned by Chatoyance. While I have entirely abandoned her universe as the location of this story and strongly disagree with her on many points, reading her work was the single greatest motivation for me to write my own. Some of her concepts and ideas may still survive into this story, albeit heavily modified by my different way of seeing both worlds.
2. The works of Carl Sagan. Some of his more popular quotations that find expression in this story are: “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe” and “We can’t just conclude that science puts too much power into the hands of morally feeble technologists or corrupt, power-crazed politicians and decide to get rid of it. Advances in medicine and agriculture have saved more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history. Advances in transportation, communication, and entertainment have transformed the world. The sword of science is double-edged.”
3. The concept of the Singularity:
4. For the technology of the pony world, I was heavily inspired by some of the wonderful inventions of the victorian era and the old west. See Babbages Difference Engine: . I suppose this was bound to rub off on some of my perceptions of their culture as well. By no means did I want the ponies depicted as primitives, though the humans in this universe would be many strides ahead.
5. This paper published by Max Tedmark of MIT. was taken out of context and to its maximum logical extreme for this story
6. For the future of the human world I had many ideas upon which I based my predictions, and patterns upon which I artisticly patterned them. After all, creating the humans of this story was as much a work of art as it was plotting some possible directions for the growth of our own present-day earth.
• Artistically, I was most interested in the societies of Ghost in the Shell and Deus Ex, both of which describe the impact of very likely future technologies on society. How does mankind react to bodies that can be switched and replaced on a whim?
• Bioware's Mass Effect universe paints an optimistic picture of man's future, and is also quite beautiful. The estute reader may notice parallels between the Earth of ME3 prior to the reaper invasion and the one Second Chance sees in her visions.
• For how human beings behave in large groups, no work was more seminal to me than Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy. I wanted something rooted in historical facts and not goals and ideals, and this fit the bill nicely.
7. The idea of the Omega Point: IE: When time is viewed from a non-linear perspective, the universe has Already reached a point of maximum complexity of consciousness. When viewed from our linear perspective, it is this future attainment that draws on a sort of universal evolution toward that point, which can and must occur. There are many interesting ramifications from this idea, the most notable of which is viewing the universe and all its parts as a gigantic macroorganism. This view renders everything, from the stars to earth societies, as organs and cells within this organism, which is steadily evolving and growing toward an end that it has already reached. Unfortunately, we are aware of only three dimensions and are thus unable to perceive it.
8. Technology. I wanted to build a future world for humans made up of advancements that seem likely in our forseeable future (with the exception of the way to travel between universes, which is required for the story but for which there is no real precedent or even predictions of one that I know of) Such advancements as:
• P=NP?
• Nanotechnology
• Microfabrication
• Moore's Law vs The Power Wall
• Nuclear Fusion
• Artificial Intelligence. Our final invention?
• Nuclear Pulse Propulsion
This list does not contain interesting but as-of-yet entirely infeasible things like energy-shields and matter transporters or faster-than-light travel. While it might be possible that ways to do these things in the real world might one day be discovered, as of yet those discoveries are unmade and thus these things are not present in this story. With the possible exception that unicorn magic can do all three of these things, and I have tried to remain as true to the cannon of the show as possible.
Except for Equestria Girls. Love it or hate it, its existence removes many of the interesting things that the introduction of a human can bring for a story and so I have ignored it entirely when writing this. As of yet the events of the story have taken place after season 3 but prior to season 4. There will begin to be more of an overlap with present show cannon as the story goes on, more particularly as I move out of Act 1 and into Act 2. Act 1 as I understand it will end with chapter 9. I suppose this means the story will be about 27 chapters long? That's a very approximate measurement. At the present rate of chapters being released that means we should be done with the story in two more months.
I'm still not sure if I can keep up the present release schedule, however. I'm doing fine for the moment, but posting as often as I do requires I complete a NANOWRIMO every single month while the story is in development. I have thus far managed to keep that up, but there's no telling if my creative energy will keep up for that long.
It hasn't been a problem so far, and I'm several chapters ahead of present release. My stockpile in the event of some sort of educational emergency with my real career I guess. I wish FimFiction let me schedule chapter publication, because that would be simply wonderful. That way I could get hit by a bus and the chapters would still be released on time, at whatever time I decided that “on time” meant.
I wonder if that feature is planned for sometime in the foreseeable future.
Also, feel free to make suggestions for what you want to see in the story/from the future of the story. I do take these quite seriously, as some of you may've noticed. Well, you won't have actually known, but I have already made changes to the direction of the story based on some of your suggestions and ideas. If I haven't posted the chapter yet, then it isn't written in stone, and I do take what people say pretty seriously. As long as it's constructive, that is.
And that's enough rambling for now. I suppose I'll see if anyone cares before I do anything like this again for Act 2 or future, yet-unwritten stories. My present plan is to write two novel-length stories (MLA being the first) and one shorter novella to go between them and connect them. We'll see if my plans actually end up happening.
ah so that explains what tech level we were seeing through Luna's eyes...
smbc-comics.com/comics/20100803.gif
But seriously, I love "My Little Apprentice". It's one of the stories I most look forward to reading when a new chapter pops up in my favorites list. /)
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And if you need to slow down the schedule, that's fine. Just don't stop completely, m'kay?
Dont feel the need to update twice a week on our account. Once a week or even twice a month is preferable to you getting burned out and quitting(I've seen this happen far too often).
Interesting! Personally, I'd like some info about the development of Second Chance's character, because she's almost uncomfortably like me, to the point where I could pretty much be her. We like all the things, think in much the same way, are mature for our ages, share many of the same skills, and she lives near where I lived for much of my life. I'm creeped, personally. If it turns out she loves to write, I'll be downright scared.
1963470
Fear not, for I doubt that this story is a look ahead at the future in store for you. You know, probably not, at any rate.
But on the off-chance that it is a look at the future, take me with you? I mean, an apprentice needs an assistant too, right??
1964637
Sure, why not?
Wait, did I just agree to take you with me on the off chance that after the world ends, I am transported to a land filled with magical ponies and put into the body of a unicorn filly?
....
1964714
Are you honestly implying that in this hypothetical scenario, agreeing to take me with you is the strangest part?
1960291
Indeed. In order to make a story where travel between worlds, a higher level of technology was required. Part of that may've stemmed from reading Chatoyance as well. I love high-tech, but the way she depicted it was both grim and not terribly realistic to the way technology actually effect society. Thus, a change had to be made.
1960499
I really appreciate the praise, honestly. It's knowing that people enjoy reading it that makes all the late-nights of writing worthwhile. I get to explore this wonderful universe, and other people can come along for the ride. It's perfect.
1960682
And don't worry. I don't expect to get burned out. When I'm in a writing mood, that's all I do for fun almost, apart from read. It takes the place of my usual video-gaming, which is highly unproductive. This is much better. Lets me actually have something to show for all the time I invest.
1963470
Interesting question: Who is second chance? I could probably devote an entire blog entry to that, and maybe one day I will. For now suffice it to say that figuring out her personality was the impetus for the entire adventure. I wanted to tell a story about people. Well... ponies, and that required a very human, very believable protagonist. Of course, in order to be able to write the story I had to take a little of myself, which meant in this story I decided on the "engineer" archetype. There are many ways to respond to Equestrian strangeness, and I wanted someone who would take the analytical angle as opposed to resisting or merely accepting anything that was unusual, because neither of these are interesting to me. As for who she is and the things she likes... all that just sorta grew up from the initial identity I pictured.
Lots of the HiE stuff focuses on the inherent Evil/Good nature of Humans/Ponies. I wanted a character who was both a plausible human being /and/ someone who could challenge the stereotypes. Someone who could be a moral gray AND sometimes lean on one side or the other. Perhaps she's also somewhat of an ideal, that rare and genuinely good person despite any opposition or threat. A large part of this story will be about testing that character. What does it mean to be good? What's a good person, vs a good pony? Is there a difference? Good questions.
As for how she ended up so similar to you, I have no idea. Lots of little coincidences? Unless you don't believe in that sort of thing, then I dunno. Fate? Luck? Pixie Dust?
1964714 1964762
I strongly recommend against this option for any travelers to Equestria. It is my humble belief that the costs far outweigh the benefits. Second Chance has a very rough time ahead of her, and wouldn't recommend anyone attempt to go through what she has. If you don't believe me, just wait for chapter 11. You'll see what I mean.
Urrrgh.
Hmm ... well, so long as it's not 'hurr durr humanity are teh evilistest evar!'
That actually brings up a very important worry of mine as I read this. It seemed to be that humanity 'did ourselves in' so to speak and while that's not necessarily a bad way to start an HiE fic, it does tend to set a more fatalistic and grim tone for the human species than I would personally ascribe to us. Throughout your writing this, you seemed to be walking an edge between 'humans are bastards' and a more moderate stance that I prefer. But that may be where I was worried. You weren't so far over as to be a parody of, say, Chat's work but you weren't quite so forgiving of humanity nor so allowing of pony faults as I tend to read. But maybe this was just me reading far too much into your work than I perhaps should have (and by that I mean ascribing certain intents to your hand that were never meant to be there as a reaction to my own perception of your writing).
So far, my fears of 'ponies are intrinsically good while humans are intrinsically bad' being the basis of this work have gone unfounded and for this I am ETERNALLY glad but humanity is still being shown in a less-than-nice light vis a vis Chance's dreams and we've not seen the 'bad ponies' (excepting Pinkie Pie's paranoia) that might make human and pony closer together in moral or ethical dilemmas. I'd very much like to see more pony badness (and maybe this Chapter 11 is going to show that off a bit more) to show that ponies may still yet go the way of humanity in their own world.
Seek ever balance and all - despite how much the universe seems to abhor the idea. PS, I greatly dislike Chat's vision and opinion of humanity so if you would be so kind as to not go down that road ...
EDIT: TL;DR - I'm worrying about nothing, continue on.
1965388
Have no fear, my good sir. I promise you will not be disappointing by the truth when it is finally known. I won't go into spoiling the future of this story, because what fun would that be, but I can promise you that this is not a world like TCB, where human greed and unrecoverable evil-ness lead to our destruction and near extinction. The world as I see it as more nuanced. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a parody or a deconstruction of what Chat wrote by any means. Not that I know what she's thinking, but for me it's telling a story first and making a political point last. Very last. Super last.
Please, don't abandon hope! We'll see more "bad ponies" too. Just hold on! By the end, I have no doubt you'll be satisfied with the journey and the destination.
Neat
I see a missing quotation mark (in #1) and a 'cannon' in place of 'canon'