romance writing/mane 6 character interpretations (Long!)

Not sure if I'm at the midpoint with Summer Sun. Sort of, I guess? I've gotten some pretty good feedback (::insert Fluttershy yay::) which leads me to believe I'm not doing TERRIBLY with characterization.

I guess what I'm struggling with now is story structure.

So here's the thing about writing romance -- everyone has done it, everyone is doing it, and we're all essentially feeding off the same basic themes over and over again. Some of us manage to make them look newer, but a lot of the elements of romantic fiction (or fanfiction) are essentially the same. Boy loses girl (or boy loses boy), obstacles standing between two characters that merely want to be together, be those mental or physical, miscommunication keeping two characters apart...

Basically, you can structure romantic fiction in a variety of ways:

Internal Harmony, External (Physical) Conflict: Two characters are well aware of their affection for each other, but some external force stands in the way of the consummation of their relationship, in the form of an obstacle that one character must overcome to reach the other. Adventure/Action mesh. Example: All sorts of video games, including Kingdom Hearts (if you want to be very blunt about what Sora feels for Kairi, which is never actually STATED but shown through interaction.)

Internal Harmony, External (Social) Conflict: Two characters are well aware of each other, but some social force stands in their way; parents, a caste system, an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend; basically human forces instead of a freaking DRAGON. Drama mesh (clearly). Example: TECHNICALLY Titantic. It's very clear that the two main characters are in love with each other, and whereas the disaster is a backdrop for their story it isn't their story in its entirety. A damn ship might be on the verge of sinking but the drama is between Rose, Jack, and that dude Rose is supposed to marry that I can't remember the name of 'cause watching that movie made me cry like a little girl. (which I kinda am)

Internal Conflict, External Harmony: Two characters do not have physical roadblocks or social ones -- their troubles lie in learning to communicate with each other, coordinating their schedules, having other romantic interests (which I don't count as external conflict unless the other interest is actively standing in the way of relationship progression); basically, anything that has to be worked out between two characters. Example: A million sappy romance movies in which things could be resolved in twenty minutes if we weren't all so awkward when interacting with each other.

Internal Conflict, External Conflict: A mixture of issues. Two characters have their own problems, and are struggling to sort them out while being bogged down with an external conflict that may or may not be related to their romance. A great example of this is Katara and Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Unlike internal harmony, it is unclear as to what Katara feels for Aang despite his obvious attraction to her throughout the series, and their relationship sails through the waters of an impending/ongoing war with the Fire Nation (at one point Katara is literally like 'I don't have time for this, Aang. We're fighting a WAR.'

I tend to like the last one best, as it's more engaging to watch a story in which the entire story is not the romance, but it's an important element.

That said, I'm at an impasse.

When writing, you NEVER want to bog your readers down with details, unless they're unique (if the story needs to full of different pieces for a special reason that's more engaging that just saying "Rrrrrr all this crap happens"). I've got an antagonist, since I'm going for the latter (internal-external), and I have an idea what I want to DO with that antagonist. I don't intend to merely recreate a Mario game with a 'rescue the princess' type scenario.

I guess I just don't want to kill the story with too many elements. Pinkie Pie is an important element, and despite the pairing it's gonna become clear at the end that the two MAIN characters are Rainbow Dash and Pinkie (but mainly Rainbow Dash). I hope I'm not going to screw up anything by throwing Pinkie's part into the batter now, but before this her involvement really wasn't relevant yet. I suppose my entire idea was to do a shipping fic from Rainbow Dash's perspective that attempts to reason through her falling in love and learning to deal with it without straying too far from her character. Which, for her character type, wouldn't be a straight, two chapter process.

For Rarity, who would recognize what was happening AND what she wanted almost immediately, it wouldn't take much. I severely doubt it with Pinkie Pie, who for all her randomness isn't exactly a stupid pony (nor insane, the way some writers choose to portray her ::shakes fist::) and would probably also recognize it rather quickly. Whether Fluttershy noticed immediately or not isn't the issue -- it's the fact that she would most certainly have trouble acting on it. She'd likely be very afraid that the pony she's interested in doesn't feel the same way, or that she'd be intruding for having feelings for them at all. (Y U SO CUTE)

The other three are where problems would arise. Generally having commitments and ambition stand in the way of certain things, or at least mean that one would be less likely to pay attention to them. In the sense of Applejack, she has her farm duties (and she's almost always seen working) and might not immediately welcome something that distracts her from her responsibilities -- unless they meshed up with them somehow (another farmpony instead of one that required her to spend a great deal of time away from the farm.) I don't imagine she'd be too ignorant about what's going on, if at all, but that doesn't mean it would be an easy ride.

Rainbow Dash's ambition to be a Wonderbolt might probably work the same way. I see a lot of fanfics where you see her falling in love with another character and her focus becoming that relationship instead of anything else -- which is strange, because its sorta as if her dreams go right out the window at that point. As seen from the show, Dash is the kinda fanpony that might sell her left forehoof to meet her idols in person (pony...?). It isn't just a passing interest (the way Rarity's dream to live in Canterlot appears to be; she doesn't mention it every five minutes); it's her raison d'etre. Her obsession with speed, athletics, being a showpony and joining the Wonderbolts are sort of the driving force behind a lot of her actions (alongside being the loyal 'I'll take anyone out that bothers you' friend). If you're attempting to stay on point with the character, it is very unlikely that something would completely distract her from her dreams -- and if it did, it probably wouldn't sit well with her. So even if she did walk into Sugarcube Corner, see Pinkie shaking her rump at the camera, and immediately get a neverending wingboner, it still doesn't mean that she'd forget about wanting to be a Wonderbolt. Even if she initially forgot, it would probably return to her at some point. That, or she'd probably feel resentment for the pony she likes for being a distraction and upset with herself for being distracted. I also don't think it would be too farfetched to make the claim that it's possible that she might not fully understand what's happening at first. If someone's been occupied with another interest their entire lives, they may or may not have been bothered with (consciously or otherwise) things like dating.

Twilight is a bookworm. She's still learning what friendship is. If she's never really had friends, I severely doubt she's been around the block. Hell, Twilight is still on the stoop, before you even get to the block. With her it would probably be your typical 'what's happening to me?' I'm not saying she would be completely in the dark...but she might. Usually a character that's always been too busy to form platonic relationships with other characters probably hasn't dealt with romantic relationships either. Plus, it's Twilight, who read a book about running before running. I can thoroughly see her character reading a stack of books on romance. :3

At least, that's the way I interpret the Mane 6 reacting to romantic relationships blossoming in their lives. Everyone interprets a character differently; I just hope my interpretations are at least not too far from what could be considered in-character. o_o

...I just rambled a lot. I'm sorry!! O_O

Comments

This is a very interesting way to look at shipping, and I agree whole-heartedly with everything you said. What's always interested me with shipping is the many different approaches on which the writer can take: the way you're tackling your story so far is one of my particular favorite approaches, which I applaud you for.

The one thing that got my curiosity peaked, however, was your mention of Pinkie. While I'm curious to see how a shipping story will turn out where only half the pairing is the main character, and instead somepony else, I feel it's a bit awkward considering all the interaction Dash and Shy there has been so far, and with only so much Pinkie. I feel it's a bit odd to not call Fluttershy a main character considering all she's been through and done so far.

Still, this has been one of my favorite shipping stories thus far, so I'm sure you'll handle it fine. I look forward to the continuation.