You see a pony running through the Everfree... · 12:31am Jul 13th, 2014
And said pony is promptly eaten.
How many fics have you read that this happened? The pony is rarely given a name, and possibly not even any distinguishing features. But it happens now and then in fics I read. Usually in the first few chapters, before everything gets set in motion.
So... am I the only one bothered by this? This character was created for the sole purpose of dying horribly, because the author wanted to make a point of how dangerous the Everfree is. Why?
Why do we need that? Please tell me. As readers we already know that the Everfree is dangerous. A character from Equestria will know. A non-Equestrian will be on guard anyway, and if not just have them encounter a danger themselves!
This reeks to me of a very lazy habit when it comes to "characterizing" the Everfree forest. It's like Death By Backstory, but with a scope limited to a few scenes at MOST.
So yeah. It's been bothering me.
Hope I don't see happen again,
conantheponytarian
First blog in years. And this is something I find little problem with because it isn't good or bad. It is kind of . . . just a novice tool. It is something easy and straightforward that gets the picture across. And in that case, it is fine.
Honestly, I would probably just tell said authors that they should explore other ways to show the danger, preferably by the protagonist going through the forest, or maybe a tale from some survivor of its horrors, or paintings, stories, and history. There are many ways to do this.
But while I agree with your point, you have to realize that not every author thinks outside the box. It is actually fairly hard to, especially when we live in such a formulaic world.
I mean, there was that one time I created a Lunar Guard with a name and everything, whose sole purpose was to get mutilated by being run over by a tank, just to drive a three-chapter buildup to a Forrest Gump reference.
4385856
I never said it can't be done well. What prompted you to comment on a 2+ year old blog anyway?
4386678 Miller is getting attention recently. I remembered that you helped with that and had a look at your profile to see what you were up to.
4386729
Spent time away from editing, even though I have been doing stuff now and then for CVBrony(Rites of Ascension). Back in college, so free time took a dive...
I clicked on the blog only to realize I'd already commented.
Well anyway, since the last time I was here, I came to the realization that the "nameless character dying violently to drive the plot" could be a variant of https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WomenInRefrigerators