Collecting Butterflies; or Interesting Fics and other tidbits · 5:43pm Jul 9th, 2012
Blog Number 3: Anniversary Edition
Firstly, Happy One Year Anniversary to FIMF.net! It's hard to believe this site is really so young as all that. Then again, MLP: FiM is only eight months older (based on when it premiered), so I shouldn't really be surprised. Secondly, I have my own "anniversary". I've been on here for thirty weeks now, (joined 12th December), and I've found plenty of good stories to read. I've even turned out (a few) stories of my own during that time.
Thirdly, the usual statistics.
My Total Story View count is 5,426. It's not much of an increase from June, but then I haven't been seen to be doing much since my last blog, so it's inevitable really. Nothing new has been added to my story list, which is a real shame because I would like to get some one-shots published. It is time I got into the habit of writing more often, and learned to avoid distractions. Ten stories is fine, but I want to achieve a little more than that. After all, if you wrote 1,000 words a day for an entire year, you'd write 365,000 words (unless it's a leap year, but that's irrelevant). That's more than enough for a few decent-sized fics.
My Follower count has gone from 28 to 29 since my last blog. By contrast, I've found far more users to follow: 34 as opposed to the 20 from last time. I've also added more stories to my Favourite List and to my Reading List. I am reading far more than I am writing, which might go some way to explaining my lack of output.
Out of interest, I checked the figure for stories posted on the title page above (it says 30,000 stories), and the actual number is 15,131 - much smaller than the one given! I'm guessing the 30,000 figure includes unpublished stories and those not yet submitted, which would make more sense, but it seems quite a peculiar claim to make all the same.
A Note About Stats
Why would I drag lists and numbers out for you, dear reader? I confess that, in part, it's to help others as I would help myself. I have difficulty writing at times, and it feels terrible when your own mind refuses to be inspired. I suppose it helps me a little to get some perspective, or to try and find a way to engage my interest in some way by thinking more broadly, but if I incidentally help anybody else, then why not make it public on a blog? It is therapeutic.
Another reason is that it acts as a progress report. I find it helps to leave checkpoints from time to time, like flags along a marathon which tell you how far you've come. Disappointed as I am that I don't seem to have come very far at times, perhaps a pattern will emerge that I can learn from. Again, if it helps a casual reader, so much the better.
Lastly, I just like collecting trivia and curios, little pieces of information and snippets or quotations that seem to capture something. In the old days, writers used to carry "commonplace books" in order to capture ideas out in the field of public life - an overheard bit of speech, an odd sign, an idea that the mind churns out suddenly, even an observation. It's a bit like a butterfly collector going into a meadow with a net and several collecting jars, but much more economical. Perhaps, if I muster enough confidence, I could use this blog as a kind of commonplace book, and you've got to start somewhere. On that note, perhaps something on here might catch your interest too?
Of course, quality is better than quantity, and no amount of mathematics can deliver that. With that in mind, I've provided examples below of fics that manage to capture both quality and a respectable amount of quantity.
So, What Specimens Have I Found So Far?
I've been reading quite a few fics since June. Fluttershy's Bad "Hare" Day was far more engaging than I'd predicted. The animal characterizations were spot on (and part of the fun, of course), but the best thing was seeing a familiar aspect of the show given such an original and well-developed outing. It could be a canonical spin-off and I'd gladly watch it. Special mention must go to Angel Bunny, whose characterisation - both nasty and nice - couldn't have been done better. I strongly recommend Pegasus Rescue Brigade's other long fic, Shipping and Handling, which turns what could have been a gimmicky play on words into an engrossing story about Ditzy's conflict between her job and her personal life.
Other fics I've read include Forbidden Fruit, which was surprisingly deep... perhaps a little too deep in parts. I don't mean that I dislike emotional complexity, far from it - especially when the story concerns one of my favourite characters - but it did tend to slow down the adventure aspects, and it did feel a little manipulative in parts. Whip and Wing was great, and a fine example of a Daring Do story. Surprisingly, it felt a little short, like more could have happened, but that's a small complaint and the treachery, derring-do, and memory stuff, plus the fact that Daring almost upstages Indiana Jones at his own game, are what makes it a ripping yarn. I also liked the second ending of Raiders of the Cutie Mark, which despite a few technical issues and a hurried beginning goes out and gives the CMC their cutie marks, and it's pretty sweet. Read it for the main quest and for the second ending alone.
I've found some touching sad fics, but sadly nothing that'll tempt me to read more of the genre unless it coincides with another genre. Our True Colours and How To Woo Your Lady in Nine Easy Steps were interesting takes on their respective characters, with the former making Pinkie a little more tragic than her canon counterpart. Pinkie always strikes me as being the least emotionally rounded of all the cast, so it makes a nice change to see her given more dimensions (like a tragic side) once in a while. I wonder what, if any, explanation will be given in the show for her suddenly going from rock farm to Ponyville bakery. My pet theory (headcanon, is it?) is that the Pies are cousins of the Cakes, and Pinkie was sent there by her parents to give her a proper chance to live up to her cutie mark. As for the Spike and Rarity romance story, it's a good read that loses the comedy someway near the end, which is a shame as I quite enjoyed the dramatic irony. Not that I disliked the tugs, but there were times when it seemed the writer was trying a little too hard to tug, mostly during those last few chapters. I don't think I'll be tempted to go out of my way to read another romance specifically, all other things being considered, but the embarrassment comedy is still good fun and I'd recommend it for that alone.
Lastly, The Moonstone Cup was a great adventure story. Its strengths are in the dramatic confrontations, the world-building, politics, culture clashes, and history that it creates, and Twilight getting to grips with all these and her own issues. Easily my favourite part was during the final, but I won't spoil it. Using Trixie as an antagonist was fitting, but after that I kind of lost interest even during her character development to being a nicer person. (On a side note, I confess that I don't understand what all the fuss about Trixie is. Her character design was quite nice and could have been used for a protagonist, I guess, but that's only skin deep. I otherwise found her gratingly annoying in canon, and I find she's rarely portrayed interestingly in fanon.)
Last Word For Now
There's a lot of potential in the Ponyverse. I half wonder at times if the crew behind MLP: FiM deliberately put in new stuff every episode to fuel fan works. You notice this a lot in Season 2, with its world building episodes especially, but they all have it to a degree. I could be projecting, of course. I can't wait until Season 3 to see what else we receive.
Anyway, I've typed enough for now. Here's hoping that, when we next meet, I've got a little more to show for it. Nil desperandum, after all, and there's plenty of material out there if you can find it. In the meantime, have a good week and enjoy the summer!
EDIT 23/11/2017: Impossible Numbers, out.
P.S. Look up Penguins of Madagascar, "Operation Lunacorn Apocalypse" if you can find a video of it (say, on Youtube). A unicorn toy tries to destroy the world and four commando penguins try and stop it. I kid you not.
