A Major Announcement · 11:06pm Jul 8th, 2015
I have an announcement to make, and... well. It's good news! But it's good news that might be a little difficult to explain, so bear with me.
I am about to explain it using a sports simile! Not a metaphor! A SIMILIE! Now give me ten laps.
You know how, sometimes, you pick up something as a hobby just because all your friends are doing it? Like, basketball. And then it turns out you're really good at basketball, and you play it all the time, and you actually make a lot of friends in the basketball community specifically? And it just turns into this really warm, positive, constructive part of your life. You get a lot of exercise and better yourself as a person and actually learn a lot of great skills you can apply elsewhere.
But then you start thinking about the way you and your friends play basketball. Specifically, that instead of using a regulation basketball, you smush a little magical horse into a circular shape and make it bounce. And you know that strictly speaking that doesn't matter, because a tiny smush-horse bounces just as well as a regulation ball, but serious basketballers don't take you seriously because all they can do is ask why you play with a tiny smush-horse instead of a ball. And you try to explain that the tiny smush-horse is actually really deep and nice and conducive to basketball, but they don't listen. And of course the tiny smush-horse tries to comfort you because she's a really nice mare named Pickup Game, but despite her best efforts you really start to feel it's really impairing your ability to play basketball more seriously.
Oh, Pickup Game. I'll always love you. No matter what they say.
Don't be jealous, Twilight. You had your chance.
In short, I'm diversifying my writing. Into not-pony writing and serious novels. This does not mean I'm leaving the fandom (I'm doing a Bronycon panel!) or even that I'm leaving ponywriting. I'll still post short stories and writeoffs and edit for ponywriters and generally be around. But it does mean that a few of my longer fics... well. I only have so much time to write. I can write a novel's worth of Siren Song or I can write a novel's worth of My Average Sized Humans fanfiction. They’re both equally good from a writing point of view (don’t get me wrong, I am damn proud of Siren Song) but humans mean a lot more potential readers, and that’s important to me.
Pinkie sees what's about to happen.
This does mean that Lies We Tell to Children, Siren Song, and A Series of Events are all canceled. Each one will get one final chapter posted over the next little while, showing what would have happened. Siren Song in-particular will get the big setting bible put up, a series of scenes I pre-wrote, a bunch of behind the scenes content, and all the other secrets of Vision revealed! Plus, like. I wrote ten million words of Siren being adorable and evil and I want to use them.
And you've been good and patient with me, so here's where I get to the good news part of this good news. I'll be continuing to post information about my original fiction up on this blog, and where it can be reasonably done, adapting it as ponyfic for full posing. No promises—if I post it up on FiMFic it'll be a proper adaptation, not just find/replace "he/she" to "tiny horse," but hopefully I can keep some steady content coming your way.
Thanks for following, everyone. I hope you enjoyed my work, and that you continue to enjoy my work in the future! With any luck, I may just manage to entertain you without the benefit of four hooves and a cute furry coat.
Best of luck with official basketball. I'm sure Pickup Game understands. I know I do.
Well, I am of course sad about the cancellation of your great work here, but I hope you have good luck with your new writing.
i.imgur.com/QWMG2Kh.gif
I can't believe you'd do it!
Which way will the possible sequel line to Dressing Room, Deep Cover, and Butter Up go in this?
They're one-shots, suggesting you may get around to writing more of them; but they're part of a single fiction, suggesting they'll be left as is.
Not surprised. You're good at what you do.
Course in 20 years, people are going to all be talking in college about the crazy MLP fandom and how the Literati emerged to overwhelm the world of literature and put up all the post-modernists against the wall.
What happened then was an exercise for the fanwriters.
I demand stories about tiny smush-horse. >:B
The very day I catch up on Actingverse you post this? Jaxie, you wound me greatly. I'd tell you you'd better write damn good humanwords to make up for it, but I suspect you were going to anyway.
I don't blame you. But you may find it's harder than you think to leave the ponies.
What's your Bronycon panel?
Well, I'm a bit sorry about "Lies We Tell to Children," but I still have the rest of the original "Siren Song" to finish. I'll hit you up later, and good luck with the other projects.
I know the reasons why I, myself, pretty much pushed original fiction out of my life in favor of fanfiction - the boring lack of originality or creativity in most novels you'll find at the library; the heavy restrictions most published authors face in terms of the length, genre, style, etc. for their stories; the pressure they face to put out mediocre stories of the same type they've already done, quickly; the lack of that wonderful sense of community and intimate relationships you can build within a fandom, both with your readers and your fellow authors; the fact that everything within a fanfiction community is free, most authors asking for little more than upvotes and feedback on their work.
But, from what you've written in your stories and here, it seems obvious that you're a pretty smart guy who's considered his options. If you're willing to forgo an income on your work, original fiction allows you to write literally whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want, not tied to the whims of a show or its fans. That freedom is generally restricted if you want to market your work, but hey: you can (potentially, and with great effort) make real money as a conventional author, which is something you can never do writing fanfiction.
And to be honest, you're one of the few fellows in this fandom whom I clearly recognize as good enough to become a conventional published author, if you're aiming to make a profit at it. If you have a lot of writing discipline and are as savvy at the business side of writing as you are at storytelling, then I've no doubt whatsoever that you can be a success. Siren Song is certainly better and more interesting than, say, 90% of the original fiction that I've read, even if it will never be finished.
Anyway. As you can probably tell, it does make me a little sad to see one of my favorite authors starting to move on from the community, and that one of my favorites series will never see completion. But I'm also happy: happy that this fandom can produce storytellers with the technical skill and talent necessary to compete outside our own (relatively) little circle and happy for you as an individual that you're making for yourself the opportunity to write the stories that you want to write. After all, if someone would rather write about bipeds than pastel ponies, I can accept that. Perhaps not fully understand, but accept.
So let me be one of the first to wish you good luck in your new endeavors. I don't think it's necessary for you to "ponify" any of your original material; if you post links here, and if it features characters and concepts as intriguing as the stories you've featured on this site, then I'll take a look. I may even pay for it, if the price is right.
Just... make me one promise. If you end up writing the next Dune or whatever, don't let yourself get pressured into writing a hundred sequels, alright? Some of my favorite original authors know how to keep a series fresh. Others... need to learn how to quit while they're ahead.
Good luck. ~ Sable
P.S. I do kind of wish you would choose a different word or expression than "serious" when referring to original fiction and authors. I know what you mean - many original fiction authors do take their work more seriously than their fanfiction counterparts, and most professionals certainly do - but it can still come across as little different than talking about "real" fiction or "real" authors. At least to me.
good news! he starts off with, Siren Song is cancelled he follows up with.
Somehow i just can't equate that with good news. At all. I've literally been waiting forever and a day for the next chapter of Daring Do. I don't think the word disappointed would begin to describe what i'm feeling here, especially because i know you had so much planned goodness and suffering for it. Buggers. Siren Song and Daring Do has always been the very pinnacle of pony fanfiction for me. Haven't found anything better than it so far.
Best of luck with your novel thing project i guess.
Luck in future endeavours, will you be leaving the stories up or should folks start making their own copies?
I'm in a semi-related situation (actively trying to balance novel editing with pony writing), and would gladly pass along any and everything I've learned about the serious writing world if you'd like. Best of luck!
3221236 ...don't let yourself get pressured into writing a hundred sequels, alright?
But they wave these little pieces of paper with really big numbers at you. Remember, the first word in Sell Out is Sell, so price yourself high.
I'd probably be sadder if I hadn't basically given up on seeing the rest of Daring Do, anyway, so at least I'm getting a series bible and a bunch of disjointed scenes.
I do hope you're finishing your Acting series, though.
Good luck with your original stuff, but it's harder to make it in that world than you might think, though you certainly have the talent.
Gay
Well, whatever human stuff you do write, let us know. We are humans too after all......
Also two of the three fics of yours I was following canceled? Well then.
3220881
You guys are the best.
3220889
Thank you. And thank you for reading this far! I hope you'll enjoy the other things I make. :)
Siren Song Cancelled...Cancelled?... Cancelled?... I'm going to go cry in a corner now.
3220910
Oh, don't worry. I'll write about humans, but I'll always be thinking about ponies.
3220933
I can't promise when I'll get to them, but they are not canceled.
3220940
Awww. Thank you!
And yeah, the MLP writing community is amazing. I would never have had the chance to learn as much as I did without it. CiG and Blueshift and EE and Pav and Pascoite and you TD and all the fans. You guys are great.
3220964
It's Pinkie Pie. It was always just Pinkie Pie in a clever disguise.
3220973
Actingverse is not canceled! Though I can't promise when I'll get to it.
3220996
Why you gotta keep pulling me back, baby?
When Worlds Collide: Crossover Writing.
3221073
Thank you! I think you'll like it. And of course, I'll still around for editing.
3221236
Thank you for writing this, Sable. It was really nice to read, and you're right. I'm not trying to make an income off my writing—I just want the freedom to write things that are worth reading. For a long time, Fanfiction gave me that freedom by offering such a warm, supportive community. But now that I'm on my feet (and now that I have more writing friends who aren't going anywhere ^_^), fanfiction is starting to feel more restrictive. I want a chance to branch out into more things, and things more people can read.
And I promise, I'll remember to quit when I'm ahead. There's nothing un-serious about pony writing. Some of my best fics took themselves very seriously. And dammit I'm proud of them. :)
3221268
Thank you! Really. But... if you've read Siren Song, then my being arbitrarily cruel shouldn't be a surprise.
Basically, it's good news for me.
3221318
My account ain't going anywhere.
3221503
Thank you! Sent a PM your way.
3221744
UGH JUST LIKE HUMANS THEY ONLY WANT TO READ ABOUT THEMSELVES.
3221893
You'll get to see all the scenes I've done though.
They're great.
Thanks for not dropping and running. Best of luck out there in the real world.
3221849
"I hope you'll enjoy the other things I make. :)"
Well, I can't be sure of that, of course, but I'd say that there's a reasonable chance of it. :)
3221894
"I can't promise when I'll get to them, but they are not canceled."
Ah, glad to hear it!
On the one hand, I'm curious to see why horsewords are limiting, and to see what happens when the weights come off. On the other hand, this hurt quite a bit more than I thought it would. On the foot, it looks like you're going to drop a huge amount of
training datainteresting content on us.Any chance you can dump the rejected drafts and overviews for old chapters as well?
Anytime someone goes through a shift in goals, I have to ask. What's the motivation, and what's the plan? With fanfics, I assume the drivers are upvotes and comments. As far as I can tell, the drivers of original fiction are awards and money.
3221897
I'm very glad to hear that, and I'm not perturbed at the prospect of having to wait. (You've heard "fast, cheap, and good; pick any two"? Actingverse is good and I ain't paid a dime.)
But I realize that there was something more important for me to say, since my first comment may have come across as too "BUT MUH FICS" when you're obviously contemplating an important decision. There's a lot of authors on this site who also do original fiction, but -- save for some of MrNumbers' blogged minifics and Skywriter's "Torn Apart and Devoured by Lions" (in Machine of Death) -- I haven't put the effort into tracking their other work down.
I don't know if FiMFic's planned eventual expansion will include original humanwords, but since the announcement I've been hoping it does, so that I can consume those outside fics the same way I already get horsewords. My experience here is that good writers usually aren't strictly good comedy writers, or good AppleDash writers -- in fact, they aren't strictly good ponyfic writers. They're often just good, and that goes double when they already have proven range, present company very much included.
My point is, at first I was sad that a good writer like you wouldn't be giving me as many horsewords. But I wasn't following your ongoing longfics, and seeing some non-pony fiction from authors I like was already something I was excited for. In that light, it's hardly upsetting that you've decided to get a head start. Hell, who know, maybe I'll even (gasp) visit a different website to read some of it!
Also,
3221909
I don't know if you ever were actually considering taking things down, but either way thank you for not doing so. I can sort of understand why authors feel the desire to, and I know I don't have any control over it, but as a reader, seeing stories I love disappear from my FiMFic shelves is just as disturbing as if they vanished from my physical shelves.
Anyways, sorry for the text wall, but this announcement is, as you say, major.
PS MOAR SEXY BATPONIES
You’ve just proven you’re willing to kill multiple series, at least one of which you are personally invested in, now you’re asking us to follow you to human fic land where not only can you do the same again but we’ll be expected to pay good money for the privilege? Shit like this is precisely why I try to wait until a series is complete before wasting my time on it.
I still wait Siren Song (Book 2)!
I am sad to see that one of my all-time favorite MLP authors is moving on with his writing, but kind of happy to see it as well. You can never really reach your full potential when working with only one medium. I can't wait to see where you go from here, and hope that you can give a link to where else you may be posting your work.
3221935
It's brown and dirty and the creatures have tiny eyes and almost no one is willing to nuzzle or let me brush their tail.
3222116 While I can understand the hurt feelings you have (I do to, believe me.) I think you're being a bit harsh. Writing fanfiction isn't the same as writing original fiction.
As well, thus far there's been no mention of having to pay for future works. For now I'd say try and relax a little and imagine that this is likely hard on the author to. Having a story be unfinished is indeed a risk and you're very justified in waiting til a series is done to start it.
That doesn't mean it's fair to lash out at others if you're hurting though.
Well shit.
I can't promise I'll follow you to 'human land' but I will give your stories a shot.
Hope you'll find the success you wish for. You've shown you have the skill necessary for writing stories that really take off but that can't be all it takes for being successful. Otherwise there'd be a couple more established novelists among the authors on here ;)
Thank you very much for all the shivers you sent down my spine and the hours upon hours your stories had me glued to the screen. It's been fun!
3222040
Boo. :)
Subject matter. Unless I'm writing a story that's just an original story with tiny horses, I basically have to write about Equestria, the Mane 6, etc. Which don't get me wrong, is a HUGE field to cover, but I do want to write about other things. Also, TBH, I want writing I can show my parents without them worrying I'm gay.
It's not fair but it's true.
For right now, my goal is publication of any sort. Sci-fi periodicals are fine for starters. Continuing to improve as a writer. After that, we'll see.
ugh dammit, been waiting forever for daring do and now its apparently dead.
3228524
Someday, someone will find a way to let people make leveraged trades based on any conceivable discrepancy. Maybe then the money will make up for any loss of revealing ponyfics to parents.
3228989
well you'll get the summary!
Writing it up now.
Found this blog via the Vision update pre-note. (Rough. XP)
Thank you for the everything you've written up to this point and left for us to see. You've helped reshape my idea of a primary protagonist should or even can be, and that's probably going to stick with me for a long time to come.
Cool! I'm excited to see some original works from you. Do you plan to upload online for free, or paid. And if you plan to sell it, will there also be physical copies available?
3229185
I appreciate that we are at least getting a summary, but it's still disappointing. You had this fantastic story and while I understand why your stopping, I cant help but be disappointed. A summary isn't the same as a story.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
*Sobs in a corner*
Can't say I am happy, or think this is good news.
But good luck out there.
Will the Bible contain what eventually would've happened in the story?