Obligatory

So, I was sitting around today, feeling horribly unproductive, when I started thinking. That is a dangerous moment in its own right, but I stuck with it. I should write, I thought. It's been far too long, and I really do want to get started on that Pixel Bit/Icy Storm story I promised (I have the whole thing written in my head already). But see, I couldn't manage to actually open up Word and start typing. Dunno why, it just wouldn't take. Then I realized something that would serve as an excellent delaying tactic, so I can postpone what I should be doing until Smash 3DS comes out and then vanish from this world.

My account is just over a year old!

I know a lot of people have these huge spectacles planned for this stuff, but I cannot claim to be that clever. I'm probably just going to ramble on for a bit, so consider yourself warned.

As some of you might know, my appreciation for pony actually came from my appreciation of good romantic tropes. While browsing the Black Hole of the Internet, I managed to come across a certain trope talking about the infamous confession scene from SoME. That was the start, and what started my liking of Sparity. From there, I found some fantastic artwork by the ever talented Pia-sama, which lead me to my first and still favorite pony fic. 'Of Age', of course.

I could tell the whole story of how I learned and grew as a writer, and I prolly will tell a bit of it, but most of you can see that for yourself. Yet again, some of you are aware that I do not update my older stories with what I have learned since then. My first stories: Chains, Greed and Generosity, Memento, etc, are all in the condition they were submitted. You can see from reading them how much I have changed over this one year. Growing is something that shouldn't be hidden. We should never be ashamed of the fact that we were bad writers once. Everyone who is good, was once bad. I think a lot of writers forget that, and it becomes so easy to look down on those who are less skilled than you. Remember, there was a time you didn't know what a dangling participle was, or how to do proper dialogue attribution, or even knowing how to properly weave a story. Don't consume your own young, nurture them.

And that is what this is a celebration of, I suppose. I had a lot of help along the way, and I'll likely have a lot more before I'm done. I think it's fair to acknowledge the people I remember as having a profound and directed effect on me. Writing an inspiring story is fine, but I am more directing this to the people who went out of their way to help me.

Let's start with probably the most under appreciated of em all, fferror. When I finally realized the importance of a proofreader (a tough realization for someone like me) and how deficient my writing style actually was, he was the one who answered the call for help. Though the story he did most of his proofreading for ultimately floundered, from failures all my own, I learned a lot from having him rip apart my stories. What I learned from this was that a proofreader isn't just a glorified grammar checker. They can catch parts of the story and characterization that sound off, they can tell you when they got bored or what parts were just wrong. Besides that, they can also tell you what is right. Fixing mistakes is one thing, but an author needs to know where they succeeded as well; what parts resonated strongly with the reader and enhanced immersion. This, slowly, teaches us things which cannot be taught.

You see, the true bane of many a writer is being a story teller. This is heavily based on a solid understanding of characterization and a lot of research. Before I write a story, I re watch any show scenes that might display characterization quirks I overlooked. I verify my information to make sure it doesn't contradict the show. I do my homework. That's the start, sure, and it is something all writers should be expected to do. "I haven't watched that episode in a while," is not an excuse. The truth weight of story telling, however, cannot be taught. It has to be learned.

It is only by getting into the character's heads that we can truly craft an excellent story. The characters need to make rational and intelligent decisions based on what we know about their established personality. It doesn't mean the final answer has to be rational, but it has to be rational to the character. Being an experienced roleplayer, I already knew very well how to get into the head of another character, but it was fferror who showed me that portraying that is just as important. Having a character act right is good, but it still needs to be interesting and engaging for the reader. It is easy if you are doing a tense scene, but much of MLP is relaxed and casual. In times like that, it can be a bit difficult to flesh the characters out and I still struggle with that.

Next up, Waterpear. This might surprise them more than the rest of you, but they provided one of the first instances I can remember of a critical comment. Even the comment I'd received from The Descendant wasn't really critical, it was just stating a simple mistake and then praising. You see, I started writing on FF.net a long time ago. Everyone there gives a circle jerk of positive reinforcement. If people give a negative review, it is akin to something you would expect to see on 4chan. This was, no joke, the first time I had ever received a critical comment. It was what really caused my love for critical comments, because I cannot fix the problems that I do not see. I wouldn't have realized the true value of the comment system without this one moment, so I find it very important to my growth.

This one is going to be a bit conflicting, so buckle up. Draconian Soul, you're up. This was a guy that I met through "Twilight's Library", oddly enough. I already knew of him from his Lavender story, but the TL Skype was where I really got to know him. If you were in the chat in those days, you know how often we butted heads. Still, he wouldn't be here if I didn't learns something important from my interactions with him. The guy had a stubbornness that defied all reason. He seemed determined to dislike things by default, and a personality like that tends to grate on nerves very easily. He was a positively merciless proofreader (Training His Relief) as well as quite outspoken.

No, I'm not here to complain about him. Despite all of our disagreements, fights and what have you, DS is still a good guy. He's not the best guy to have a casual conversation with, no question there, but he has plenty of wisdom to share if you can put his attitude aside and listen to his words. This was key when I actually gained some popularity, because then I had to deal with critics. Some critics would mercilessly rip a story to shreds, as critics do, for things that were mostly personal opinion. Stylistic choices they didn't like. While I still did question many of those reviews, I learned that sometimes you just have to accept the validity of others views, even if they are being a total ass with how they say them.

This mindset, in a way, lead to the creation of my latest story, 'Subconscious Desires'. I love Sparity, that is no secret. However, to write the story I had to address a lot of the legitimate complaints that detractors of that ship present. I may not have liked how quite a few of the people presented these arguments (one name springs to mind, but no drama here) but to ignore all of their points because we don't like the mouth that conveys them is foolish. These alternate views, on Rarity's character in particular, served to make the story much stronger than it could have been otherwise. I wasn't ignoring the other side of my view, I was accepting it and moving with it.

That, in the end, was how I dealt with DS. Like the ideas, dislike the conveyance.

Also, I like Celestia, which is a mortal sin in his book. SUCK IT, DS!

Moving on, we have my current proofreader. This section of the blog is dedicated to a delightful chap known as Mook Massa- I mean, Prak. If I had to pick one word for him, it would be professional. I very rarely see him get upset, angry, or even raise his voice at all. Well, I mean I don't see him at all but you knew what I meant. He's proofread three stories for me so far, and even through the mountain of errors he always finds, he is polite, to the point and perfectly happy doing it. If something exists that can ruffle this guy's feathers, I haven't seen it yet. The lesson I learned from him came from a 'Told Ya So' moment or two... or five. It's happened a few time so far. He would recommend a change on something that seemed silly, I would rebuff it because of a stylistic choice, and he would shrug and let me go through with it.

Then I would publish and get it harped on. That has happened in all three stories he's proofread for me, without fail. Ego is poison to a writer. I am reminded of Evil Overlord List Rule Number Seventeen.

"When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their advice."

We are the writers, the creators. While some things I do are things I will keep (like being purposely deceptive with description and dialogue in a scene. It's good if done sparingly), I needed to understand that there are some things I can see that the reader will not. I need to present it so they can get maximum enjoyment from it, not I. If your proofreader is ballsy enough to tell you something feels off (many of them won't, which defeats the point) you should listen to them.

This last one might be reaching it, but there is a point to be made here. Take a bow, Kilala!

Ah yes, the inspiration for most of my recent stories. If you don't know her or her work, then my stories have likely been pissing you off for a while now. As a writer, Kilala is as green as can be. Structurally, the stories are a mess. Grammar, spelling, punctuation and syntax errors all over the place. Telly descriptions and overall sloppy writing abound. But, and here is the rub, I love her stories. Why? Because they feel alive. This girl nails characterization so perfectly that it just blows me out of the water. People wonder why her OCs took off so spectacularly, and that is why. They are not just color combinations of their parents. They are individual characters, with their own personalities, dreams, fears and LIVES. Every time I see a Sparity spawn that is a purple dragon/pony thing with a bouncy green mane or something like that, I just sigh and click the back button. But this?

You tell me that doesn't look original. Sure, the color dynamic is right, but look at that design and tell me it doesn't interest you at all. That's the trick. She knows, like many good storytellers do, that it is the characters people care about. This understanding comes to me as naturally as breathing, but I didn't understand it until she paid me the compliment that 'The characters act exactly like I envisioned them!' to one of my stories for her characters. To me, this concept of character driven stories was just a given, but that is not so. It isn't about knowing that something works, you have to understand why it works. Why do people care? Why do they get invested?

In some ways, my writing benefited from my schooling in engineering. Knowing something works is all well and good, but if you don't know why it works, then it is useless. In order to tap into my true potential as a writer, I needed to understand what it was about my writing that people liked so much.

All right. I think I've rambled long enough. As a finale, I am going to list as many writers as I can (or until I get tired) and give a short sentence about them.

Ready?

-RainbowBob: Nicest guy you'd ever wanna meet, odd considering what I know of him. Rock on, man.
-Flint Sparks: Having someone to look up to isn't a bad thing. Don't dismiss your own accomplishments because they don't feel as important.
-Frission: Determinator given flesh. Pouring your heart and soul into a story that goes largely unnoticed is heart wrenching. Don't give up, your time will come!
-Truffles: The King of the In Box. You could make a library with all the bad fanfiction you've read... wait.
-YipYapper: First impressions suck. We should always be open to changing opinions about people.
-The Descendant: Leave your comfort zone! You're an awesome guy, but you tend to hide in the arms of the familiar.
-Ebony Stallion: If you constantly search for the approval of others, you will lose sight of why you wanted to create in the first place. Create what you want to, and put your all into it.
-Arwhale: Life's a battle. The only alternative to slugging it out is to leave the field in a forfeit. Don't rush it, bide your time and go for the right hook!
-Skeeter: What can I say? You review all of my stories like clockwork, and I have no idea how. I swear you are more a living computer sometimes.... or the Shogun of Sorrow.
-The Messenger: One day, you will leave a sensical review on one of my stories. One day...

Welp, that's all I've got. It's been a fun year, kids, but I'll see you later!

-Lumino

Comments

[Ebony Stallion]

Well, thanks for the mention. Happy one year, Lumino.

[lazyreader19]

I've only know of you for about 1/12th - 1/6th of that time span, but congratulations nonetheless for the year of existence. Also congrats on being able to churn this out on what seems to be a whim.

Also, have fun with Smash Bros.

[Arwhale]

Thanks, Lumino. I'm starting to realize it's worth it not to rush. Always just ends up leaving me feeling miserable whenever I do.

Congrats on a whole year, my friend, and I look forward to hearing more from you in the future!