Well Hello There Feature Box! · 8:52am Jul 9th, 2012
Wow. Red Wings in the feature box? I honestly never expected that to happen.
I'm going to take this opportunity to say a little something.
First of all, to all the people reading my story: Thank you.
All your favorites and views have been awesome, and the comments and waves of "thumbs up"s have been nothing but encouraging and helpful. This is a great community that I've joined, and for a long time I've felt like I've been "on the edges" of the fandom, working on the sidelines, enjoying the writing and music and art. Being able to contribute and feel like my story has meaning is awesome. Most of all, I'm glad that everyone is having fun reading Red Wings. I've had a great time writing it, and interacting with all of you. If I was on the edges of the community before, now I feel like a part of it, and that is partially all of your faults. Again, thank you. Here's to more chapters and more excitement.
Now, to the other half of the the story. Spanish Announce Table Goes First.
I crept into the MLP writing community because of Spotlight, a great artist and all around cool guy. I'd always been wary of fanfiction, and reading online stories in general, just because of prior experiences. He made an amazing piece of fan art for End of Ponies, "All The Colors Died With Her". I saw this piece and the included links to the story, End of Ponies, in the comments section, and I jumped in, expecting the worst but willing to chance it. Anything that inspired that level of emotion was worth a look, at any rate.
That's where I 'met' shortskirtsandexplosions. I devoured End of Ponies. I laughed, I cried, I had an amazing experience with a great piece of writing set in a unique environment. I fell in love with the Wastelands. It was while reading a currently in-progress and now halted arc that I came up with the idea for Red Wings.
I started participating in the chatter surrounding End of Ponies and encountered other people, namely TheBrianJ, RazgrizS57, and WardenPony. They, along with other characters like Demetrius, theworstwriter, Vimbert, PiercingSight, and Ion-Sturm, worked on editing End of Ponies and, later, Background Pony (Where Brian and Raz first joined the madness, I believe). I started "helping", posting brief reviews and not really knowing what the hell I was doing, but apparently I was helpful, because Skirts started listening to me.
Fast forward several months. Warden, Brian, Raz, and I are helping Skirts edit Background Pony, and I work up the balls to ask Skirts about side stories, and specifically if I could write a side story for End of Ponies. I gave him the rundown, and we ended up talking shop on the story for hours, until we'd worked out all kinds of cool ideas. I won't claim that Red Wings is all mine. Skirts has had his hand in this from the beginning, but he's placed trust in me to write something that is worthy to stand next to End of Ponies and build up his world. For that, I'm really, really grateful. It's been a load of fun.
So, I started writing, and for some reason Warden, Brian, Raz, and Skirts jumped in on helping edit the story. I probably asked them, but it still feels like they did it because they were actually interested. Thank god they did, too! This story exists in its current, refined form because of them. They make certain my i's are dotted, t's crossed, and that I'm not messing up everything horribly. I still occasionally screw up and it somehow magically gets past them, but I chalk that up to trust. When I see that they've gone through and that everything has been checked off their lists of commentary, I trust that everything is ready. And, with very, very few exceptions, that trust has never steered me wrong.
Now, here I am, 700+ Views, 100+ favorites, and a lot of happy readers enjoying seeing a new side of the Wastelands, or exploring them for the first time. This feature, and the success that I have had, is their fault. I mean, yeah, I write things, but the magic happens somewhere between my words hitting the page and me pressing the 'submit' button after my four good friends and fellow writers and editors have made my rough draft into a presentable piece of work.
Thank you, Warden. You're a powerhouse of editing skill, and your technical know-how is always useful, and I'm honored to have your help. You occasionally mention 'not being a good writer', but I don't think there's ever been a time where you haven't rewritten a sentence or paragraph and I've not thought to myself, "Damn, that's good." When are we going to read some of your stuff, huh?
Thank you, Brian. Your commentary is always helpful, and your reviews are always fun to read and help to steer me in the right direction. You have this uncanny ability to see when I've locked myself into a holding pattern of repetitive writing, using the same type of language over and over again like I tend to do when I'm "in the zone". Thanks for that, because I'd never know better if you hadn't called me on it.
Thank you, Raz. Your expertise and ability to spot my mistakes has made this story a far, far better read than it would have been without you. I know sometimes I might question your suggestions, but that's because you're almost always right. So keep calling me on my mistakes, because if you didn't then who would?
Thank you, Skirts. Your protagonist is fun to hunt, your mentoring is excellent, and your help is invaluable. I don't really know what else to say. You catapulted my little side-story into the spotlight with some kind words and a hilarous blog post, and from there on out I've been riding this wave of awesomeness. At some point, I started making waves on my own, but that first set was all you. Your kind words of encouragement are a constant source of inspiration.
Finally, an extra-special thank you to the most important person in my life. Terra is my wonderful girlfriend, my best friend, and the artist for the cover of Red Wings. Her support and tolerance of my long hours of writing and editing is what makes my work possible. They say that behind every great man, there's a greater woman; for me that woman is her. I love her very much. Thank you, honey.
That's all I've got to say. Go read Chapter 3, and enjoy!
And to think I once encapsulated you with a John Cena Youtube Clip.
F'naaaa
Keep it up, j00.
-SS&E
Oh, you flirt.
I'm just glad to be of service, my good man. I believe I'm the latest to jump on our little bandwagon. I love how we can all come together and edit each other's stories, and it gives me something to do instead of blankly staring at my keyboard when I want to type my own things. It's actually satisfying to help others, and I noticed I've developed an eye for catching contradictions. Just ask SSaE.
Just remember that I know a lot about WWII-era weapons, aviation, tanks, and ships. Because for some reason I love the bloodiest war in modern history. I will always be there to point out everything, even if it's something trivial and harmless. But it's better to catch something that's fine then to miss something that's wrong, isn't it?
I wish every author would recognize their pre-readers and editors. I honestly would probably not have said that if I didn't start doing it myself, (which I greatly enjoy by the way). As with any fic, it needs prereaders/editors, or else this:
s19.postimage.org/uw6x81ijl/Exhibit_A.jpg
Fortunately, Red Wings isn't that.
s19.postimage.org/3zmxzpzq9/Exhibit_B.jpg
I've just want some sort of excuse use those two images, even if they don't work.
My nose is a running faucet.
~RazgrizS57
>>RazgrizS57
Somehow I don't think your images worked, though it may just be my work computer that thinks so.
>>PropMaster
Don't let a fleeting thing like an hour on the update side of the feature box at 2 in the morning get to your head; you still suck at writing.
I don't expect most fanfic authors to acknowledge their pre-readers, (known more commonly in the real publishing world as beta-readers of course--I've been one of those for one of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books.) but if you read a published book quite frequently the very first thing you'll see is an author's note thanking his/her editor and a few other people. Because of the way the literary community surrounding MLP:FiM has grown, we've crossed a threshold where editors are almost a necessity--more so than any other fandom's fanfiction as far as I know. Of course, we also tip-toe around canon so much more than any other fandom, but that's an entirely different discussion.
Authors bring a story to life, they bear the mental child a story is from fetus--where the seed of an idea penetrates the thought processes--to birth, but the editor(s) serve as the hospital staff making sure both the parent and child not only survive the ordeal, but do so in good condition. Maybe the analogy is weird, but I think it's surprisingly accurate. Not all births need doctors, and not all stories need editors, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a child or story that's better off without the additional support. I didn't expect to release a torrent of discourse, but it looks like I can't help myself.
It's always fun to work on creating a good story.