State of the Lemur - 05/29/2015 · 5:06pm May 29th, 2015
So, very recently, this curious marsupial reached 1k subscribers. On top of that, about two weeks ago, the entire East-Horse series reached about two million words in length. For those playing the home game, that's nearly four back-to-back Background Ponies.
Now, numbers aren't everything. IC's legacy is one that's consistently plagued with typos and plot holes and overused tropes. Still, for what it's worth, it's an entertaining legacy, and I'm proud of the marsupials who have been keeping up all this time.
You want to know what's crazy? Back in 2004, I wrote an even crappier fanfic (that I would eventually delete and re-upload) once a chapter every two days. I didn't stop until I had reached over 2.7 million words... in the course of 18 months. And that doesn't count the 3k+ word sequel that crashed and burned as well. Here in poniworld, it's taken me nearly three years with a single story to achieve the same ludicrous scale.
Long story short, you think I'm kaizo now, get a load of me when I was still young and virile... ew...
Nietzsche damn this game
Every season, I keep my eye out for "that one lemon" that'll define itself. You know what I'm talking about. In S1, it was Over a Barrel. In S2 it was Mysterious Mare-Do-Well. S2 was One Bad Apple and S4 was Simple Ways.
So far, I'm hung up between this episode and Appleloosa's Most Wanted. Granted, this is... reaching, to say the least. Both episodes weren't atrocious by any means. Some might be quick to raise a point, but I personally don't feel too terribly insulted by the tropes employed in the latest episode. The biggest crime, if any, is shoehorning the entire plot for the sole purpose of implementing a Last Crusade contrivance with Gilda deciding between friendship and the idol.
I'm particularly cheesed that we're not given a chance to witness the effects of what Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie have accomplished in Griffonstone. No matter what way the apologists might swing it, I see this as an example of a cartoon show running out of time and just having to make due. It's worse that they even made Gilda conscious of how BS the protagonists' early departure was. If there's any consolation, I suspect that we're witnessing a pattern where Gilda, Greta, the Our Town villagers, and other "new friends" will be revisited later on in the season's conclusion, during which we'll finally bear witness to the ultimate effect of our Mane 6's influence abroad. And, no, I've specifically chosen not to look at the spoilerized leak of episode titles.
Lemon or not, this episode had lots of deliciously adorable .gif bait.
The .giffiest of bait(!)
That's another pattern with less-than-stellar episodes. They almost always have one or two moments worth squeeing over. Ohhhhh the memories.
Also, for what it's worth, Pinkie Pie pretty much carried this episode. And we all know that nothing stupid ever happens to the show when Pinkie Pie carries an episode... right?
This is something that's been on my mind for a while.
Oftentimes when I google myself, perv into Skype conversations, or just read fanfic comments in general...
I notice that a lot of SS&E apologists tend to summarize my writing with "Well, that's just Skirts' usual style." Many times when marsupials put up blarghs reviewing my stuff, they'll state: "The story's nifty and the idea's sublime, if you can handle SS&E's distinctive writing style." It's not uncommon to see the occasional "Skirts' style may be off-putting to some, so proceed with caution."
Exactly what is my "style?" Is it the matter of diction? Is it the choice of words? Is it the syntax or the paragraph structure or the pacing? And think hard before you spout out "Lulz, it's all purple prose!" 'Cuz while that may be true of my earlier works, I think it goes without saying that my narrative mechanics have gotten noticeably... stupider over the years.
If someone was to ask me, I'd say that my "style" consists of heavy dialogue and unnecessarily sluggish real-time pacing. I write everything as if I'm filming it with a portable camera in text-verse. I'm not really a writer; I just transcribe fictitious sequences as they happen in my head. A true writer would know how to condense, paraphrase, and summarize. But I can't seem to get a grasp on that. I don't know how to properly juggle in-depth scenes with broad-reaching narration. As a result, everything I write comes across as transcripts of Stanley Kubrikish scale pony episodes. That's not writing, that's vomiting with style.
I just get the feeling that the entire horse literature world has been forced into labeling my material as "unique" and "stylized" whereas the far more concise (and honest) description would be "bro, he friggin' sucks." A lemur can be as based as he wants to be, ignoring all proper writing techniques and creating epic works to be proud of. But in the end, after all the gasoline has been guzzled up and we're remembering the Internet as a phantasmic burp between bullet exchanges across the Australian desert, the best we can ever say about such an individual is "he was based." And then that's when the next Chinese nuke falls.
And if this blargh as a whole feels too "meh" and whiny, then let's forget it all by focusing on something far more beautiful than the whole of us combined:
Aw yeah. That hits the spot. I'm sorry, short implosions and what?
-SI&W
I would agree that the dialogue is the biggest part of the SS&E "vibe." You tend to write out sounds and grunts/groans sometimes. That's actually a lot of what appeals to me about your writing: for all your wordiness, you write some goddamn beautiful dialogue.
And yeah, the whole purple prose thing has gotten way better than past stories, but even now, you tend to be very flowery and descriptive. Lots of adjectives where one may not be needed, per se, but it all works out. You're still kinda long-winded at times, but it's not really noticeable anymore, at least to those of us that have been reading your for a while.
However, I do think a lot of it is intangible, or at least due to innate talent which you seem dead-set on denying you have. You can break every rule, and—for the most part—make it work. At Bronycon last year during the writing panels, nearly every rule or bit of "Don't do this," would be followed by, "... unless you're Short Skirts."
I am starting chapter fifteen of Background Pony
And I love it, one of if not my current all time fave story that ive read.
Ive read other things you have written and I couldnt describe your style.
I am beginning to wonder if I can even distinguish stylistic differences in writers.
Your work flows wonderfully, its expressive and you dont shy away from big words.
There are things ive read that are mediocre or bad. Thats not mostly due to bad spelling, grammer , I can overlook that if the idea of the story is intriguing and flows well. Bad flow makes for bad reading experience. And I notice that more then anything else, more then most proofreaders it seems.
Damn hellspawn distractions, now I lost my train of thought, if I had one.
How about this, those you use the "its SS&E's style are simply to simple minded to appreciate the words you craft so well.
Your "sort of kaizo" is like 10 of my "Super Kaizos".
I don't see anything wrong with your "style".
Don't try to please everybody and don't think too much about the odd criticism here and there.
So many ppl love your stories ESPECIALLY for that unique style of yours.
I find myself criticising single aspects of your work or decisions for plot-points or pacing now and then.
Doesn't mean your overall work isn't simply fantastic or you should change anything for my individual liking.
If so many love what you do, you must be doing something darn right and as long as YOU like it too, keep doing it without overthinking it too much.
And the size of your stories... can get a little off-putting, UNTIL one actually starts reading them.
I'll never understand those who down-vote your work just because they don't make it all the way through...
I wanted to start reading the Austraeoh-saga for quite some time now, but I'm actually scared a little... so much I'll have to catch up to xD
Long comment short: I love your work and I love you for putting so much time and effort into it!
Don't take "unique" as "bad" cause "bad" is the last word I'd ever use for what you do!
3107908 There is no time like the present to start the amazing Austraeoh saga. You can do it!
Some writing is points to make: some writing is a place to live.
You're deft and colorful and deeply committed to the act of writing, and your writing is a place to live. It's pictures and emotions that aren't fundamentally about change or progress (for all that Rainbow Dash flies east). It shows when you try crazy things like a pone Finnegan's Wake (Joyce is another author who really liked to depict).
To become the other kind of writer you need to be more of the person and less of the camera. You're a fine camera, admirably selfless in representing things, but you'll have to take sides. John Gardner correctly said that the mark of a great novelist is that they can see multiple positions with sympathy and earnestness, and any number of people have said you're only as strong as your villain; you've got to lay aside that cameralike impartiality and care more, but undermine it by turning around and caring about the villains' concerns. And then, pick a side to defeat… and take the bullets with that defeated side. Sharing the victory is easy, but sharing both the victory and the defeat is the mark of a writer.
And remember, there are plenty of better writers who don't count because they don't write. If only one word in a hundred is awesome… you've put together quite a lot of them, and what else matters?
I would say the 'style', from those I have read, is one of pacing more than anything else; it's that oftentimes, in longer works, there are a lot of words where nothing in particular -happens-. Background Pony is the easiest example of it, where the 'style' part of it that wore over time was just that...well, we were listening to Lyra's eternal internal monologue, and while it was intriguing, when you read thousands of words of it and not much else was happening, it began to wear after a while. And that's where, I think, the 'purple' comes into it - not that the prose itself is overly lurid, but when it is twinned up where the pacing is very slow, where there is a lot of material that could be cut but is not cut, that's where the purplishness comes in.
I don't think you know how heebie the jeebies are rustled whenever you mention that abandoned TT fic. That or you love to torment us.
I agree with a lot of the things that have already been said, so i won't repeat that, but if i had to pick a thing from your specific "style" that i find grating, it would probably be your liberal use of made up words and nonsense. To be fair, i don't know if it can actually be considered part of you style, since it's not something you always do. I didn't notice a lot of it in Background Pony or your one-shots. But the east-series and Appledashey, mainly, is saturated with it. "Melon-fudge", for one. Other good examples escape me right now, but you know what i mean.
Now, i don't mean to say that i dislike it entirely. Sometimes it's humorous and charming. But other times it's just way, way over the top, and it can be a bit of a chore to parse through it all.
That's all the criticism i have to offer, though. Your "wordiness" doesn't bother me, nor does the pacing. Sometimes it's fine to stop and smell the roses. Or, you know, read about roses and then think of the pictures you've seen of them on the internet and imagine the smell, all the while making sure the door is locked and the curtains drawn so the Outside world can't get in. Again, you know what i mean.
You write, for lack of a better word, the feel of a scene. There are certain words you use more than others, you are one of the few who uses sound effects, you pick some strange topics and weird subjects to write about, and a dozen other little things like that. I could say they add up to something more, but they don't. You could work hard and scrub it all out of your writing, and it would still be your style.
Because even if I have absolutely no idea what is happening in a scene, or an entire story (which, as it turns out, is not exactly uncommon for your stories), I still get the mood, the emotion, and the impact on the characters. And, sometimes, the impact on us. THAT is what sets your writing apart.
Well, at least you're self-aware.
I'm too busy to analyze your style, but I love it.
And I love you.
Quick edit after reading other comments: I agree that the whole "transcribing what I see in my head" is the best thing about your style. I really don't like reading very much, I like to watch stuff. When I read your stories, it feels a lot like watching a movie. So for people who like reading for the "art and craft of writing" or whatever, yeah, SS&E probably isn't their thing. But for the cinephiles settling for ponywords, you're a god among us.
So modest. That's nice. But you don't realize what you've done.
Allow me the liberty of comparing your writing to another beloved topic: Pro wrestling.
1. There's lots of it, and the action get dragged out with lots of filler in between
2. People who hate wrestling criticize it for the following reasons: it's "trash TV", it's "fake", it's not a real sport, the winner is predetermined, everything is scripted and the plots are contrived and clichéd
3. People who love wrestling are the ones who openly acknowledge point #2 but they don't care about it. They're just here to have a good time, to suspend their disbelief and participate in this performance, this experience that they're in the middle of. They don't care that it's scripted or that the rules don't really matter.
4. I don't think I need to elaborate on point #3 since I would just regurgitate the arguments from that wrestling video that you yourself posted not too long ago (which was really good, I might add).
5. It's not about the technicalities and the athleticism of real wrestling; it's all about putting on a show that's genuinely entertaining for thousands of people.
That's the way I think of it. As far as your "style" goes, I'd describe it as "experiential", "dynamic" and very, very much character-driven. And I think the reason I like that is because that's what life is like. Life is not a 3-act play with neat little intermissions and conclusions; it's not Macbeth, but it is Austraeoh - it's something that we are just kind of riding out to see where it takes us. There's always something new on the horizon, and the curtain never falls. Sometimes it's tedious and sometimes it's awesome, but it's all part of the experience.
So maybe it just happens to be that this unplanned, dialog-driven, seat-of-your pants action is the easiest type of writing to do. So what? I recall you talking a long time ago about how you had difficulty writing traditional "stories", but that if you had some characters in your head and you could get them to sit down in a room together, you could get them talking all day long. Is that lazy writing? Maybe. But you just do it so well that I don't even care. I absolutely love your characters. I love Lyra and Josho and Kera and Moondancer and Roarke and all these wonderful personalities you've kindled in my head. EVEN THOUGH, yes, it's completely unrealistic for Mayor Mare to lay her heart out about her daughter in front of some random green unicorn that she met 20 minutes ago. Yes, Granite Shuffle is a walking cliché golem cobbled together from war movies and dusty copies of Death of a Salesman. And yes, Rarity would never give multi-page, whimpering monologues to every random customer that walks through her door.
The characters are fake. But they're real in my head, and these dialogues are written, and your writing is a way of exploring that kind of human interaction, always asking "What if?", using these fake characters in front of a flimsy backdrop to tell a very real story. Heck, if you want to get really meta, then you can apply the thesis of Background Pony to its own writing: it doesn't matter how bad the prose is or how it came to be written, the only thing that matters is what change it had on the people who read it.
Also, yeah, you do have very distinct onomatopoeia, most notably having a character stutter whenever they start crying, and the use of "snnnnkt" and "hhhhcckkt", which appear 173 times so far in the Austraeoh series. I would like to do a more in-depth linguistic analysis of your overall style, but I don't have the time right now.
I love this paragraph.
I'm not sure how to describe your style. I just think it's funny how much you love the words petite, kaleidoscope, and little hoofie kicks.
Part of why you're my favorite is your variety of styles. Apple Cider Doughnuts is simple and warm. Background Pony is depressing as hell. Sunset Shimmy is humorous. Out of Character is crazy fucked up. Austreoh is ... Austreoh. And it all works.
I enjoyed the Griffonstone episode. For me it's Bloom and Gloom > Castle Sweet Castle > The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone > Appleoosa's Most Wanted > The Cutie Map > Make New Friends But Keep Discord > Tanks For the Memories. I see by the Equestria Daily poll that the two most popular episodes are the ones I didn't care for. Well, it happens.
I think that this paragraph (sentence?) from Hello, Sedna is basically your writing style at its most concentrated and exemplified:
I'd basically be agreeing with literally everyone else here if I typed what I was going to say, so I'll just say this:
Trying to please everyone in your audience is extremely hard, if not impossible. You're always going to end up pissing someone (or somepony, somedragon, etc.) off with your poniwords.
----
As for the latest ponysode?
Ehh, s'alright.
Wasn't the greatest episode, wasn't genuinely bad either. Come to think of it, I can't think of any episode of MLP that was honest-to-goodness horrible.
Heh. Yeah, bros, this guy sucks. I mean, seriously.
But it could be worse. He could suck AND not post what he writes. Then we wouldn't have this kaizo appledasher who writes millions of horse words for no gorram reason. And even if I haven't read a single story of yours that you've posted in ages, I still like you and respect your ability when you're able to embrace the refiner's fire and you have a gift of getting other people invested in your work, no matter how self-deprecating you are.
Not going to lie though, all I really want to see from you is the latter half of a certain time-traveling adventure of wastelands and pastel paradises.
sometimes I wish your donation button was real
After reading that last bit, I now have the desire to see what the product would be like if you wrote and directed a movie.
If anything, I'd say your style leaves little to the imagination. This isn't really a bad thing as others have pointed out, it's just that when I read your more recent stories it seems like you want to get down every detail, leave nothing to be misinterpreted. For your comedies, this is great and it's not really an issue. But it does tie into the points you raised about sluggish pacing and heavy dialogue when you try to write things with more meaning in them. There Is Love Beyond What Lingers and The Numbers Don't Lie come to mind.
I'd say it's more of a reliance on dialogue to explain meaning rather than show it through action. And when you try to do that instead, the pacing slows. I for one don't mind a slow pace, so long as a story feels consistent and everything contributes to its progression in some way. But I also notice you seem to fall into a dependence on similes to express your scenes rather than letting everything speak for itself, and those similes are often ill suited. I fondly remember Scale being hit with that problem, and while they don't detract from whatever's happening, they can distract.
I don't know, I'd say your style right now is a bit on the unfocused side and leaning more towards tell. It's not something really concrete. You like to shift between using a lot of dialogue and not as much narrative, or vice versa. I think if you were to find that balance, you'd become a much better writer than you already are.
At any rate, as long you're having fun and enjoy writing, it shouldn't be much of a concern.
Your style is an unlimited pile of words and Dr. Pepper that somehow mated and produced beauty.
Seriously though, your style is unique. Like 3107840 pointed out, you write groans, for example, which not many people do but it gives it a very visceral feeling that just.... changes the feel of what's happening. Maybe it's because you're writing what you're seeing in your mind, but it makes it more gripping, somehow. And sure, you go purple plenty of times, but the thing is, it doesn't draw attention to itself, it's something you sorta realize after you've read one of SS&E's stories. "Wow, that was heavy on description!" But at the time it's so fluent and continuous and rich that rather than stop someone from reading, it drags us in, embracing us into the world you're showing us through your words.
When people say:
I can pretty much guarantee it's an observation they make after they finally shake themselves from the total immersion, look back and think: "wow."
I guess I can't objectively say it's perfect or beyond improvement, but what it definitely is, is unique. And I mean that in a good way.
Well, your "style" works incredibly well for you. Call it what you want, but either way, it's beautiful and artistic just the way it is. Even if your writing style is different from most other writers, that doesn't mean it's bad writing by any means. Whatever you think you're doing wrong, you make it work quite well. I actually wish there were more writers who wrote like you.
I also applaud your ability for character usage, both from the show and OC's. If it's one thing I admire most about fanfic writers is how they're able to take the characters from a series, and successfully derive their personalities into their stories as if they know the characters inside out and can predict their every move in any given situation. Needless to say, I can't do that.
I mentioned in a comment somewhere recently that I usually don't care much for OC's. Most of the time, they're like a hard pill you are forced to swallow, and it takes a while before it settles into your system and you finally feel better from taking it. Your characters are never like this though. They are delightfully weaved into your stories, are obviously well-developed, and never fall short of serving a greater purpose. Even your most sadistic and unlikable characters add some sort of flare or spark into everything. And let's not forget the character development. That alone is enough squee over.
...Of course, I'm no writer so I'm not one to judge or give a thorough analysis. As a reader, however, I'm extremely picky, and I don't favor a lot of writers. You've earned that honor ten times over, and I believe your other followers could say the same.
Glad I'm not the only one who thinks this season is...lacking per say. I haven't been enjoying or looking forward to most of the episodes as much as I did during the last one, and that makes me sad to think about.
Although, Rainbow does make best Twlight replacement.
Regarding your style, I can't really add a whole lot to what others have already said, except to say that you do have a very distinctive style, more so than most authors on this site, and that style is one of my favorite things about your stories. I love how visual it is, the dialogue is some of the best I've encountered in this fandom, and the flow is always very natural (for which reason your pacing has always felt like a strength to me, rather than a weakness).
Your stories, especially the older ones, can be wordy, but even that isn't inherently a bad thing. I know that for about the past hundred years or so the literary world has had a fetish for concision and efficiency, and that's all well and good--concision and efficiency are certainly worthy attributes. The only thing I dispute is the notion that any other kind of writing is therefore invalid. The only bad kind of writing, in my opinion, is that which fails to serve the narrative, and your style has never done so. If anything, your style often contributes to the tone of the story (Background Pony stands out as an example to me).
I realize this might be falling on deaf ears or rolled eyes. This isn't the first time your lamented (mused?) about your self-prescribed shortcomings, and if the reassurances you've gotten over the years haven't put your mind at ease, I doubt it will now. But still.
That isn't to say you're perfect, of course. There is always room for improvement. And if I had to pick one gripe I have, it's that your writing is often very unpolished. I know that's probably just a result of the hurdling, Kerouacian fugue states from which your stories seem to spring, and you yourself have admitted to doing little to no editing, but that's the big thing that stands out to me.
Damn, I guess I ended up adding quite a bit. Oh well.
Also, I liked the new episode. It had tons of humor, shittons of world-building, and closure on one of the oldest character arcs the show's ever had. You pointed out the ending, and lack of resolution, as being a problem for you, but I sorta think that was the point. The episode ended when, and how, it needed to, as far as I can tell. Anything more would've been a case of a overstayed denouement. The point of the Cutie Map concept isn't that the Mane 6 swoop in and solve all a town's problems. Rather, they lay the groundwork, and let the locals, whom the Mane 6 have touched and influenced, see the work through. That's what was done in Starlight Glimmer's town in the premiere, and it's what was done here. They aren't saviors so much as sowers of the seeds of friendship. Or, that's my take on it, anyway.
*shrugs*
tl;dr
But more seriously, when I'm reading for enjoyment, I'll read fast, and don't care if I make mistakes. In order words, I'll only ever notice bad style if it interferes with my half conscious reading style.
That said, I've never noticed anything off putting about your writing.
However, nothing frustrates me more than having a great setup to story, and watching it fall flat in some critical manner, like the pacing getting weird, or the characters just being ever so slightly off.
Your writing style is just that, a style. Great authors are not remembered for their style. They are noted and differentiated from it, but great authors have great stories.
Great is all relative. For the purpose of the site, and the expectations and desires of your readers, you are more than great. You are actually legendary.
That said, if you were still to question your writing style, try writing something completely different.
Can you write a technical manual? Can you write a new report? How about a research paper? All of these things can probably make you more aware of your own writing tendencies.
For your purposes, I think your style is well suited. Becoming aware of it, and developing new styles can help create new dimensions to your writing, though that is typically a subtle and tenuous thing.
Lastly, I'm not a writer or even an amateur. I do appreciate communicating effectively, but I only practice in professional technical contexts, so take my supposed insights with a grain of salt.
That's hard. I've been trying to do that all my life. Most writers start with words and some relationships between the things in the scene, and never get as far as a complete specification of what physically happened.
If also like to note a distinction between style, motifs. Skirts likes to use certain devices, and will fall back into some familiar patterns. This is separate but often conflated with style. My previous comment applies to either however; simply replace style with tools, or devices, or patterns. Any reoccurring element that appears across a writers works
I actually really enjoy the way that you write, more so than I enjoy most other distinct styles of writing. To put it simply, your writing method of transcribing scenes from your head is what I love most, as it makes the scenes feel almost more realistic and authentic. It's the reason why I keep reading as much as I can of what you write.
(Not having read any comments, here is my response)
I think you have a very distinct style. I'm positive that I could easily detect one of your stories in a dozen others solely based on the first few sentences.
As for what defines it exactly, I'd say detailed descriptions, a certain sentence structure, usage of large amount of words, and of course the way you interpret the main6, which I find to be both engaging and largely consistent over most of your work. The aspects I can list probably only make up a small portion of what really defines it though, I'd say most of it is stuff you recognize instinctively.
(Following is a rather long summary of my history with your writing, with debatable relevance for the blog post)
So, I have spent the last year pretty much reading almost everything you published on fimfiction, and I am therefore massively influenced by your style, to the point that reading stuff from other authors is often encouraging, as it reminds me that not everyone is as much better than me as you are.
Judging the quality of your writing as a whole is difficult. Even restricting it to the SS&E account, quality, magnitude and ambition varies so heavily from story to story that it's difficult to make general statements. I believe that complete creative freedom will result in the highest quality output, but if it's unfiltered it will also lead to a ton of - for the lack of a better word - clutter. You're really the perfect example for this: BGP, EoP, Gift, Herald, and Scale are all masterpieces. The rest I'd say varies from great over silly and enjoyable (or disturbing) to occasional pointless or boring.
I would still probably consider you to be the best author I know, but I did go through quite a bit of disillusionment when I discovered your Alts. A common problem when consuming a ton of stuff from the same source is that it tends to get predictable, which sadly happened for both Appledashery and Austraeoh. Never is this more true than when I come across fight scenes: I immediately know that I will now read several pages of well written but completely inconsequential action before the Rainbow Dash wins, so I just get bored and wait for them to end (usually, I can even roughly estimate for how long these scenes will go on). This is certainly the biggest issue I have with your writing, and it is why I tend to prefer stories which are more sparse on action, like the more comedy heavy arcs or most of the stuff on your main. Another problem is that most of your stories follow implicit rules. In Appledashery, I know Rainbow will always win, I know nopony will die, and I know that each arc will take roughly so and so long with exactly these and those characters. And once I know how a specific thing will end, it is much harder to keep me interested.
My relation to the Rainbow flies east series is worse, and kind of sad. I thoroughly enjoyed Austraeoh, got increasingly disengaged throughout the second half of Eljunbyro, and gave up completely somewhere within Innavedr. Aside from the aforementioned lack of suspense during fight scenes which is even more prominent here, it also lacks believability in other areas. The only reason Shell is still around is that you feel compelled to have a villain, and the only reason why Dash is still around is because she's the protagonist (dunno if everyone would agree here, but it does seem pretty clear). To me, I think it became uninteresting once you decided to turn it into a gigantic and epic story of good and evil. The villain, the complex world, the many recurring characters, the futuristic technologies, the fights; the story didn't need any of that. In the original Austraeoh, Rainbow was simply traveling on her lonesome across the word, exploring different places on her way, but leaving behind everything after a few dozen pages. Had it stayed like this, I would still be reading. As is, I find it increasingly plain and at this point barely connected to the MLP universe. It doesn't take place in Equestria, it only features a single character from the show, and it doesn't really stay true to the more fundamental qualities which makes pony culture different from human culture, so what is there left to set it apart from a generic fantasy story? That might not be a problem for some, but I'm not interested in generic fantasy stories.
I think it all comes down to how much passion is going into what you write. Maybe this is wrong and you're extremely passionate about Austraeoh, but to me, it feels like you're mainly writing these two stories because it's comfortable and easy and people will read it and maybe just because you haven't had any real inspiration for a while. Just ask yourself - do you really care for either of them as much as you cared for BGP? If the answer yes, then there's nothing wrong with what you're doing right now.
Concerning your writing I don't have much to add. Ah, skip it; I'll add nothing.
About the Griffonstone episode, I think it's safe to say that it destroyed virtually all griffon head canon in the fandom. Griffons as second rate Ferengi? Who knew? They finally showed us a griffon town, one once occupied by a king no less, and… well… really?
Heh, finally found you. I've seen "SS&E" more than a few times, but never got around to asking what it meant. Now I know: it's a good author.
I should add that I lived inside Discworld for a number of years when my own world was appallingly empty and pointless.
Again, some writing is points to make, and some writing is a place to live. I totally get that you feel inadequate because all you do is spew out an endless trail of the latter that leads nowhere. No special destination: it just goes.
Try to remember that there are people who find that valuable because a path is not only a path TO. It is also a path FROM.
If the path you're on is a path FROM, and you're incredibly grateful it's there, it's very important that the path doesn't just stop.
So, carry on, tireless pathmaker. It's appreciated, as you know.
Even though length is often a harbinger of fluffy, insubstantial writing, your long stories have proper pacing and immersive, in-character (references withstanding) behavior and language. Narrating within the context of the MLP universe (..."Rainbow Dash deflated like a slashed Manehattan tire...") keeps me deep in the story world between character dialog. Disregard those that criticize the amount of character interaction.
On Fimfiction there is a clear incentive to short, serialized character portraits and hasty romances. Feature-box bait is almost formulaic.
Personally, I admire the risk and dedication you take in telling the stories you do. Of all the renowned MLP fictions, yours are the stories that I remember because they are the stories that made me care. Not only that, they don't need cheap tropes to do so. I go to your page when I want to 100% not roll my eyes during a story. Exceptional authors on FimFic always have a few relative flops, but your few stories that didn't take are still a pleasure to read because they are done right. Sad as it is, skill is so rare among fan fiction that I think in your case it is also mistaken for style.