I hope that the rest of your seat is still okay · 11:04pm Nov 7th, 2014
BECAUSE YOU CAN FINALLY LEAVE THE EDGE
THAT'S RIGHT
IT'S HAPPENING
Oh my god, is that
IS THAT
IT IS
It's a HARPFLANK AND SWEETS UPDATE. Oh my goooooooood. DID I NOT SAY that I was still working on it, just very very very very very very slowly? I DO NOT LIE, MY FRIENDS. I AM NOT A LIAR. OH MY GOD IT FEELS GOOD TO UPDATE YOU CANNOT EVEN BELIEVE.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, though, I'll be honest, I'm a little out of practice. I'm happy to put it out there, I want people to see it, but I'm not sure it's as good as it could be if I was still putting words on a page regularly. Still, go read it, and I'll talk about it after the break.
BREAK
HAD YOU GOING FOR A MINUTE THERE DIDN'T I
The second thing is, wow, it kind of sucks. I don't mean, like, "bloo bloo I am so bad bloo bloo," but you can really see my lack of dedication seeping through the cracks. The finale is barely a finale and when you look at the episode as a whole very little actually HAPPENS. Also the emotional arc is like, an actually kind of important one but is over in about three seconds? It was originally intended as a kind of filler while I wrapped my mind around some other stuff but, well, we all saw how that turned out. Also, my increasing reliance on people having read all the companion stories is maybe starting to hurt the narrative maybe perhaps sort of definitely all the time. The whole LyraBon thing is based upon a bunch of emotional stuff that happens in OTHER STORIES, and on reading this back that was one of the things that struck me most.
Also man I have to stop writing Harpflank and Sweets stories about disillusionment. OR SHOULD I, HE SAYS, SUDDENLY REALISING AS HE TYPES THIS THAT DISILLUSIONMENT IS LIKE THE CENTRAL THEME OF THE WHOLE THING
OKAY NOW HERE'S THE BIG ONE. I mentioned other stories, and that brings me to the this-is-probably-going-to-be-hugely-misunderstood-by-people-who-don't-read-blog-posts part.
HARPFLANK AND SWEETS IS NOW MARKED AS COMPLETE
BUT
IS
NOT
COMPLETE
and I'ma tell you why. Harpflank and Sweets was never intended to be one story. "Harpflank and Sweets" was originally the first story, with the mega-cello and the fish and the constant stream of fandom references (IT WAS SEASON TWO OKAY CUT ME SOME SLACK WE WERE ALL DOING IT), but it grew into this whole thing because, man, I just really enjoy writing that stuff. I really really do. Every time I come back to it I'm all "OH YEAH I TOTALLY LOVE THIS WHY DID I EVER STOP" and then me being me gets in the way.
Anyway, the point is, Harpflank and Sweets is not a story - it's a bunch of stories that, over time, happen to have developed an overarching narrative. I mean, that was always the WHOLE JOKE, that I was dipping in and out of a narrative that was much bigger than the snippets I was relaying. But over time all the stories being in one place, and that infernal "incomplete" tag, and, dear god, please don't take offence at this everyone who knows I'm talking about them, all these reviewers whom I wub and respect saying they "won't review it because it's not complete" started to twist that for me and it became something I had to finish rather than a fun place to play around in. So, as of now, I'm marking it as complete, because every "chapter" in that "story" IS complete - because they're EACH THEIR OWN STORY. When people talk about "Harpflank and Sweets" (har har like people talk about harpflank and sweets) I want them to be talking about the things that make up what it is, not the story that it isn't. Also I want people to review it COUGH COUGH
"BUT," I hear you say, "YOU HAVE OTHER H+S STORIES THAT ARE SEPARATE." Okay, fair point. But the difference is that they are not Harpflank and Sweets The Thing. They are... asides, appendices, things that I thought up and wanted to write but didn't put in the main thing because they're not EPISODES. Everything in the story called "Harpflank and Sweets" is Harpflank and Sweets. Everything else is A Harpflank And Sweets Thing.
So, yes. Mods, if this is ILLEGIT, then I'll change it back. But so far as I'm concerned, it's a collection of related things and if I don't mark it complete now, it never ever will be. And I think that would suck for me most of all.
WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE NEXT BIG THING
A million years ago, someone commented on Traditions (jesus can you believe that is the LAST STORY I PUBLISHED?). This is the comment, and I'ma address it now.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HARPFLANK AND SWEETS CANON WHEN YOU GET RIGHT DOWN TO IT
Do what this guy did. Take what you like, and that's what's true. You see, for me, I just like writing about my versions of these characters. Yes, they're just basically OCs. Yes, Derpy is COMPLETELY CONTRARY TO ALL OTHER PORTRAYALS OF DERPY TO MY ETERNAL SHAME BUT SECRET PRIDE. Yes, they're NOT THAT GREAT AS CHARACTERS. But I just like using them! I liked writing about ponies because I had a world pre-made for me that I could just write stories in without having to think too hard. And then I made my own world using parts of that one, and I can write stories in it without having to think too hard. And that's all Traditions and Forced Introspection and all that other bollocks are. They are STORIES THAT ARE SET IN THE H+S WORLD, BUT NOT NECESSARILY H+S STORIES, EVEN WHEN THEY FEATURE H+S.
BUT
They do inform each other. Like I said before, the LyraBon stuff in S2E21 is even more awful and shoehorned if you haven't read Interval or Forced Introspection, where the depths and nature of Lyra and Bon-Bon's friendship has been explored a little. And, in my head, Vinyl and Tavi are definitely not boning on an annual basis and do not have a weird platonic passive-aggressive-not-love relationship because, well, that's dumb. But I wanted to write that story and Vinyl and Tavi, MY Vinyl and Tavi, were in the right place for that story to be about them. That's not really a story about what happens in the H+Sverse, it's a story about the Vinyl and Tavi from the H+Sverse. What I DO think about Vinyl and Tavi's relationship will have to wait until the Hearts and Hooves episode I swear I will write one day.
Anyway, the point is, if you read an H+S story and you don't like it, throw it out! It didn't happen. Or, it did, but not the way I wrote it. BUT the stories I write about H+S come out of the characters I have in my head so they are generally pretty true representations of the characters AS PEOPLE so even if the stories may not actually be true, the characters probably are. Which is a bit confusing but WHATEVER. Like, using Traditions as an example again, even though I don't really think Vinyl and Tavi are doing what they do in Traditions, that story IS about my Vinyl and Tavi. Anyway, basically, nothing is canon, except for everything. JUST TO MAKE LIFE SIMPLE FOR YOU.
Okay, I'll shut up now. Hope you enjoyed the story, and my blather. If you're still paying attention or, god bless you, still writing H+S stories after all this time, COME ON LET'S DANCE COME ON LET'S DANCE BABY
EDIT: Harpflank and Sweets has been added to "i might read this later"
Bookshelves are just the gift that keeps on giving, mirite?
There is no continuity; only insano.
Glad to see you're still getting a little done each time. It's a fun ride whenever a new episode comes out. I sure as heck have gotten enjoyment out of this wacky universe you've created.
Now to get around to reading the new stuff! I'll be sure to leave my thoughts on it after I do.
2580482 Yesterday's promise of an update was, I confess, largely a CUNNING PLAN to actually make myself have to update so I didn't feel SUPER GUILTY
also, uh, yeah, sorry for not running this one by you AGAIN. I really appreciate all you've done for me over the years but sometimes I just NEED TO GET THE THING OUT, you know what I mean? Not that I assume that you'd do it, but... you would, right? =p
2580496
Of course!
I actually kind of like that you did that. So many people here get so wrapped up in this not-really-a-character's made-up characterization that few writers take the time to give her a personality beyond the meme.
In regards to your tagging issue, I really think there should be an "open-ended" tag. It would be more suitable for lots of stories than anything we have.
Also I LOVE H&S SO MUCH OH MY GOSH
Continuity is bullshit. Fuck continuity!