Why I wrote this drivel · 4:42pm Sep 24th, 2015
This is pretty much where I bitch about the quality of writing on this site. I never wanted to write a story. I don't plan on writing another one. I'm not a writer. I'm just some asshole who likes a good story, especially a "Human in Equestria" one, which is the problem.
Why is every human that ends up in Equestria either military, a brony, or a loser? What about the common man? A working, family man with a wife, kids, two-story house in suburbia? You know, someone I can relate to. No tragic backstory, just raising a family and paying the bills. Just keep it simple. Why does this not happen? This story is not necessarily something I want to write, but I sure as hell want to read it. This short story is basically just a rough template of what I want to see.
The rest of this post is just me nitpicking the bullshit I see far too often on this site
We really don't need your main character to be special (I use that term loosely here). Just make them relateable. A person would not fight a timber wolf or manticore with their bare hands. Would you? You may like to think you would, but let's be realistic here, you would just shit yourself while it tore you to shreds. Oh, your character just punched a small animal or person because it said something you didn't agree with? Congratulations, your character is a piece of shit, and not worth reading about. I don't care what the reason was, or if I'm supposed to look for some "deeper meaning" or some bullshit like that, I've lost interest. You may not like the way my dog barks, but you wouldn't kick it unless you're a piece of shit. Make the character do what it can actually do, not what you want it to do.
Oh look, Diamond Tiara is bullying the Cutie Mark Crusaders. My character is going to show her that bullying is wrong by being a bully. But it's okay when my character does it because it's my character, and therefore not a bully. You know what, go down to the local elementary school and start picking on the little girls there. Show them how heroic you are by shoving them in some mud. Take their backpacks, pull their hair. I'm supposed to be able to relate to your character?
Oh, humans are such horrible things! We're always starting wars for no reason and we have nukes! I just looked outside my window, and I don't see any war. I do see my children playing outside though. Is that the war you're talking about? I've never been in a war. I don't plan on being in one. Let me guess, "Just because it doesn't happen to me does not mean that it doesn't happen." To which I reply: The yak episode. You know, the guys who wanted to go to war over the wrong shade of blue or something. Yeah, Equestrians sure are morally superior.
Darth Vader could have done this force choke he does all the time, but he didn't want to offend. groan
The Lich King could have done that Army of the Dead skill instead, but he didn't. facepalm
Shao Kahn is suddenly a good guy now and - fucking kill me
If you're going to use an established character, keep them in character. That goes for the ponies too. If you don't like the way an established character is, then don't use the fucking character!
If you don't like it, go write your own dumb story asshole!
I just did
I'd like to add a few things.
Crossover stories where they just take pony shells and follow the plot of the other franchise. Lazy, stupid, boring. Should be banned from the site.
People might give me flak for this but stories where the grammar is broken. Come on, this one's so easy to fix. You can get grammerly or ask someone to look over it for you. This includes proper verb tenses, which seems to be my biggest issue. Sometimes authors will switch from talking in past to present tense, in the same scentence. Maybe I am a Grammar Nazi, but this is so fixable.
And to touch on some of your points:
People who write OP characters think writing a story about a plot being shaped by a character is more interesting than having actual character development. Rookie mistake.
And not just consistency with character-sometimes, the plot is messy as well. Keeping characters in character is easy, but you'd think keeping the plot in the right direction would be easier. It's like people forget that the story is centered around the plot....