The Siege of Cancelled Harmony · 2:12pm Sep 8th, 2015
For the few of you who enjoyed this unlikely tale of warrior Linky taking on the rest of Ponyville, I regret to inform you that this story is finished. Outside of Mare Serenitis, you're probably not that broke up by its passing, but I feel obligated to write a blog about it anyway.
The first thing I should mention is that Linky has been a citizen of two universes since the inception and execution of A Gentleman's Price. As such, there are two significantly different versions of her present in my writing. In Siege, she is presented as a Genghis Khan, a pony that goes against type and is decidedly not from pony Scotland. She's also presented as kind of a joke, all while kicking ass and being cool in spite of it. I've mentioned the major issues with Siege in the comments months after the fact, so I won't recount them all here.
The AGP/Gentlemanverse version of Linky does not have the same backstory as Lilyverse Linky. She came from another country with her sister, has a silly accent, and suffered a terrible loss.
The third chapter of AGP, set in the Gentlemanverse carries the leftovers of this version of her.
When I started writing Siege, I had this ridiculous notion of how Fimfiction works. I thought people wanted action and excitement and worldbuilding and all that sort of thing. People don't want that at all! If you checked "also liked", you'll see a bunch of other worldbuilding fics that were roundly ignored. There are still a handful of "next big thing" fics being written, but those are being created by writers with far greater skill, and subject to a brutal RNG. For you non-gamer types that means "random number generator" and it's working against you all the way.
I also made a huge number of mistakes in the presentation of the concept. On top of the concept being inaccessible, it just wasn't delivered all that well. Firesight did his best but it couldn't make up for a story trying to be too many things.
Live and learn I guess.
The next story involving Linky will be set in the Gentlemanverse, and the so-called "Lilyverse" is dead.
Well, not quite dead. More "subsumed" into the greater Gentlemanverse.
So, that's it! I'll write another Gentlemanverse story with her in it once Feathered Heart is completed so that I won't impose myself further on the lore of the universe. When will that be? Maybe 2020, but that's probably being optimistic.
Aww, too bad. Worldbuilding and "life" stores are great things but sadly seem to be vastly unpreferred compared to the next generic adventure tale.
Siege was very silly, but that was part of its charm. I'll miss it even if no-one else will.
I will however await the next story with much anticipation as I do like the effort you put into your characterisations.
I have noticed recently though, that there seems to have been a pretty huge shift in the kinds of stories which are being worked on - almost all of the recent ones are almost exclusively focused on a "grand adventure" or some catastrophic event.
Even sequels/continuations of primarily worldbuilding stories are now being shifted toward a more action driven focus, and personally I think this is not really a good thing.
Of course I am biased given my stated (unfashionable) preferences.
3378612 I've seen the preferred list on your user page. I'm fairly similar in my own views of what I like as well. I love character-driven stories and have a preference for the feely use of first-person. Regarding your dislikes, I also start to dry heave whenever Equestria Girls comes up. It's like seeing the magic of MLP die before your eyes.
Humanized and anthro are also things I've never really understood.
In defense of the original Fallout Equestria, I'd point out that all the misery the ponies go through derives organically from the situation they find themselves in — for the most part. It is based around on a videogame after all. Think of FoE like Quintin Tarantino's movies: violence and Quintin Tarantino are inseparable, but violence itself is never glorified. There is catharsis from good prevailing over evil and a reward for those who successfully slog their way through the non-stop feel train. It is fundamentally different from that guy who writes Spike rapes the entire mane six stories because he's angry and confused at the world.
All the other FoE stories? I've got no desire to put myself through them, and especially not Project Horizens; a story that seems to revel in how miserable it is, to the point where Kkat herself can't bear to read it because it's too depressing. Yikes!
Take heart that we will see Linky again someday, just in a different context and she'll be the Linky you grew to love. Thanks for reading!
I feel thy pain. I'm sorry it didn't work out in the end. I liked the concept of Siege and still do, but yeah, in hindsight it was hard to make work. People want clop or epic adventures and unless you're someone with a thousand followers and twenty stories already under your belt, it's hard to get people to like simple slice of life stories or Genghis Khan allegories. Or maybe they don't work as any more than one-shots and it's hard to make an entire story out of them.
Sorry my editor's touch wasn't enough this go around. Live and learn, like you say. I look forward to seeing what you come up with for Linky in the future. I do like the AGP version of her. Hell, I think you could rewrite Siege with this version of her...
3378612
Well, writing epic adventures doesn't guarantee readers either. I'm having a very difficult time getting new readers to my latest story, Rise of Firefly. Stories that don't involve the main six or familiar characters and/or aren't adult often don't get a second or even a first look unless you're a real popular author. Which is a shame, because I'm a clop author who tried to write something more general-interest only to find it didn't really sell, at least not so far.
3379618 Re-writing Siege with AGP Linky? That's a pretty neat idea! So, Linky and Carrot Top came from Caleponia and teach the earth ponies how to fight. No godawful triangle, and Linky gets the girl at the end. Maybe this story can be saved. The sad part is I will have to change the story drastically to conform with site rules. You know what that means... (sigh) it will become porn. Granted, I'd kinda like to write that, but I'd be selling my soul for upvotes. Writing something like Fertile Ground — coming soon, folks! — is fine because I directly told people in AGP that Lily and Rose have had sex. Linky isn't really about that.
I'll think about it.
It is a shame that some authors get all the breaks while others get ignored. So much potential is never realised in favour of perpetuating whatever has the most loud praise next to it this time.
But I suppose that's the same everywhere in every field, not just writing.
I did try reading FO:E, but it just didn't do anything for me. Nothing positive at any rate.
Violence itself is not a huge issue it's more the focus on it that I find to be a problem. There's plenty of stories I've read which are at least somewhat violent and I've had no issue with, hell some of them are on my favourites list.
But none of them are built around it and/or set on a stage which forces the story to incorporate it into everything. And the world of Fallout is not a happy place, at all. (And it's never something I've ever gotten "into" either.)
I found this which I think adequately illustrates my feeling toward the "other" equestria.
i12.photobucket.com/albums/a224/Tifi78/Pony/correct_thought_zpscobzc0qj.gif
Keep writing stuff. The pair of you are good at it, even if you don't get all the (any) attention.
I'll give Firefly a go at some point once I get some time away from mundanity. Curiosity an' all....
Saving Seige?
*pricks ears*
Doesn't need to become porn though if you were aiming for avoiding it.
Yes the characters and thier realtionship will drag you that way, but what's to stop you pulling a curtain over it and leaving it as allusions etc?
A "T" rating is a fair bit easier to promote as well.
Heh. Really though it's what you're most comfortable with.
3380434 Well, Firesight doesn't have amazing follower stats at below 100, but his followers -- myself included -- absolutely love him and his work. He's writing fantastic stuff, but it isn't "pop". He's still underground despite generating a lot of buzz. Eventually he has to break through, he has far too much going for him.
You will absolutely love Firefly! Try his other stories too, they are fantastic!
I don't have nearly the same buzz that he's got as you've probably noticed -- being much newer to the site and newer to writing in general. I owe Firesight a lot for all of his help in sanding off the rough spots and allowing me to develop as a writer much faster. I am getting some attention in the Gentlemanverse sphere, mostly as a clop writer. I really enjoy writing clop, and my favorites list is filled with some pretty tasteless M-rated stuff, but Siege... it's just not right for all that. Siege is about honor, camaraderie, and seeing a largely marginalized group within bronydom achieve success against all odds. Your comment sealed it for me: there's no way this will be ever be M-rated.
Once my next story is out of the way, I'll start re-jiggering the characters a bit and see if I can get something going. An AGP Linky will change the nature of the story considerably and I don't foresee any issues with getting moderators to let me re-launch.
Thanks for your supportive comments.
And I hope you won't mind my next story being a bit... self-indulgent.
Edit: I feel you on FoE, I really do. I liked it, faved it, and stick up for it when I can. Deep down though, you can't read something like that without absolutely hating it on some level. I don;t know how far you made it in but I felt a part of me die by the time Littlepip managed to get through Ponyville.
What I mean to say is, you remind me much of myself and I could imagine having the same position as you if the circumstances behind me reading it had been different.
You do what you need/want to do. Writing this stuff isn't a career it's a choice, and it should never be a chore.
Indulge away!
I've queued up Firefly, and I'll start on it when I've finished this painting. (Let me tell you how much I hate emulsion right now.)
[e]
Turns out I'm already subbed to one of Firesight's other stories - Five Star Service.