Here's to many more!
Writing Pinkie Pie! · 11:40am Jun 19th, 2015
Writing Pinkie Pie is always an adventure. On the surface, she’s a bubbly, cheery bundle of fun. But beneath all that… okay, she’s still bubbly and cheerful. But there’s more to Pinkie than just smiles and laughter. In fact, I’ve found that she’s one of the most interesting characters to write.
(This is the second post I'm copying over from my Wordpress account, so if you've seen this before, don't worry - you're not (necessarily) going crazy 
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The thing to remember about Pinkie is that, although it may not seem like it, there’s a reason behind everything she does. She’s not just crazy comic relief, doing things purely because they’re funny or random. Sure, maybe it seems random to everyone else that she stores various ‘useless’ objects all around Ponyville, in case of emergencies. But something convinced her that she could expect some kind of emergency in the future. An emergency where a ball/fishing net/cannon could potentially avert disaster.
As authors, it’s our job to figure out why she does the things she does, and help the reader understand that she’s actually a very deep and thoughtful individual. In my opinion, this is the best part about writing her character.
One author who I’ve seen write Pinkie particularly well, especially in this sense, is a guy called Cloudy Skies. If you’re looking for pointers on how to delve into her mind and thought process, I’d heartily recommend checking out any of his works starring her. Fair warning, they’re all brilliantly written shipping stories.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that she’s very blunt, and she doesn’t do anything by halves. By that, I mean that she won’t beat around the bush about her thoughts or opinions, she’ll usually just come out and say it. If she’s got a hunch that Rainbow Dash and that new stallion in town have got something going on, she’ll start ‘hinting’ at it right away…
“So, what’s goin’ ooon? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, winky face?”
“I like your new ‘FRIEND’, Dashie. He seems very ‘FRIEND’-ly. How long have you been ‘FRIENDS’?”
…or she could go the opposite way, and be completely clueless about it for the rest of the story (and maybe figure it out at the very end, only when everyone else has been and gone).
That’s not to say that she’s insensitive though (except in that one episode where I think she’d probably had too much something). Quite the opposite, in fact. She LOVES making people happy, and she really doesn’t like it when they’re not. So, if she feels that her own feelings are going to bring one of her friends down, it may be that she actually keeps them to herself/bottles up her emotions. Needless to say, this can be pretty dangerous territory, and can make for some really interesting scenes and stories.
One final thing I wanted to mention is her physics-defying ability. This can be loads of fun to play around with in different, small ways. Pinkie Sense is one of those. Her ability to ‘pull things out her mane’ is another. As with any ability like this, it’s important to not overuse it. It’s easy to get carried away with those powers of hers and end up sidetracking from the story, with her friends wasting valuable narrative time trying to figure out how she’s in two places at once, or how and why she threw that house over the mountain.
A general rule of thumb I stick by is that it’s okay if it’s…
A) Meaningfully advancing the narrative (i.e. the scene at the end of Maud Pie)
Or,
B) Just a little thing for comic-relief, or to add extra fun and depth to a scene
For example, I had her eating a cupcake that seemed to regenerate its entire mass every time someone looked away for a second. It wasn’t necessarily physics-defying, maybe they just missed her finishing the old one and pulling out another? It added an element of fun and “Oh, Pinkie”, to the story, without going overboard. The cupcake skit, though it was literally only a few sentences in a novel-length story, is something that seems to stick in people’s minds – because it was short, sweet, a little funny, and gave that scene a bit of extra feeling.
So that’s just a few things I’ve noticed about writing Pinkie Pie. If you’re new and looking for pointers towards writing her character, I hope this helps you out. On the other hoof, if you’re a seasoned Pinkie-vet, then maybe you could share some of your own thoughts on writing her?
What do YOU think about Pinkie’s character? Please leave a comment and get some discussion going. Cheers!
Actually, I'm working out a story that gives an explanation for Pinkie's behavior and abilities. Don't tell too many people, but I'm going to reveal that she's actually part draconequus and is related to Discord. Think you can keep that surprise under your hat?
3509007 Ooo, that's a very cool idea. Yeah, I'm reasonably good at keeping secrets
Let me know if and when you post it and I'll take a look!
when I'm soberso that won't be an issue