About · 5:30am Jan 7th, 2012
Why write stories? Why write stories about ponies?
I love writing as a hobby. In my professional life I'm a communicator, which means I supposedly have a grasp on the written and spoken word. Writing about ponies is, for me, an enjoyable extension of what I would have to do anyway. The fandom here is incredible; in many ways it surpasses the actual show.
I'm supposedly known as a comedy writer, which is a bit odd because my best story, The Glass Blower, is certainly not a comedy. That said, writing stuff people enjoy is definitely my priority.
The one thing I don't write is stories mixing humans and ponies. Why? Because stories about ponies are already stories about humans. Everything on this website, every single story, is about humans, about us. We may put them in odd, four-legged pastel forms, but the ponies we're writing about are humans, with the same human needs, wants and desires as anyone on Earth. The forms they wear are an artifact of the story-telling process; a way for us to simply and simultaneously idealize our characters.
When you write, you're writing about humans. When you write, you're making the reader ask a question about what it means to be human. The best writers are the ones who make their readers ask the most insightful, meaningful questions.
How many readers you have, or how many comments you get, are irrelevant. If you can make one person ask a profound question about what it means to be human, you've accomplished more than the author who slapped together a vulgar clopfic that got 10,000 readers.
In your own reading, what questions have you found yourself asking? If it's not too personal an inquiry, of course.
Don't discount the value of clopfic. Lust is an emotion as well.
Although, I must add, clopfic doesn't make any of us look good to the outside world. Sigh.
I can't agree more.
"The Glass Blower" is absolutely amazing by the way, easily in the 10 best fics I ever read.
the question then becomes: when can we expect more insightful stories from you hmmm ?
Your insight into the human condition is why I finish all your stories instead of just start them. Thanks for writing this blog entry.
3950 My favorite philosophical theme is how people can often be their own worst enemies. I'm interested to hear Gardez's response.
I didn't even realize blogs could have comments on them! And then it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to read them. Not the best feature, FimFiction :(
I guess the question I find myself asking when reading is, "If I were in the position of the main character in this story, would I have the courage to do the right thing? Am I as good a person as this?"
A lot of times heroes fail to do the right thing in stories. That's fine; stories would be boring if heroes could only ever do good. But in real life we often fail to do the right thing as well. Stories expose us to situations we're unlikely to encounter in the real world, but they make us think about how we would respond to a challenge.
There's value in that, I think.
Gardez, at the risk of "THIS", well... THIS. I consider making my readers question their lives or gaining some insight the highest mark of achievement I can attain from writing.
Thanks for this.
I like you.