Pinkie Pie is Hard to Write.

Any tips on writing the pink party pony, especially for a story like this one?

Comments

[xavex]

I feel your pain and I probably suck as well. Though I can guess Pinkie Pie is a child like mind, yet her actions are mysterious/random with a purpose. That's what I'm estimating which she may break the fourth wall sometimes. Don't overdo the fourth wall breaking unless it serves as a foreshadow, help with plot, or need a good reference. That's the only advice I can say until someone offers a better one.

[Alcatraz]

Maybe she ate too many cocoa leaves and is perpetually high from the cocaine in the leaves?

[Cast-Iron Caryatid]

My only suggestion is to not get carried away with it, and especially do not try to include all the visual gags that she would have in a visual media. In visual media, events and jokes can happen alongside the primary focus of a scene without distracting from it overmuch, wheras writing focuses entirely on one thing at any point in time.

Just write her as a silly pony, and hope Applejack doesn't sue.

[skx31]

I'm going to qoute JaketheGinger on this:

What is essential to remember about her that people might forget?

Pinkie isn’t random. She follows her own logic, usually based on the question: “What can I do to make ponies happy?” Given that this is a vague question with many possible answers, it can appear that at times she does act completely random. Try to find the logic in her actions. If you do, you’ll have a much easier time understanding her.

For example, in Green Isn’t Your Color where Pinkie randomly pops up from seemingly the most illogical of places, growling FOREVER! at Twilight. From an outsider’s perspective, this seems like a weird joke or just random shenanigans. But the sole reason Pinkie does it in the first place is to remind Twilight not to break a friend’s trust (remember, this is season 1 and Twilight isn’t so clued up on friendship yet). In Pinkie’s view, she’s simply taking measures to prevent a messy friend break up, in which nopony would be happy at all. And that’s simply a crime for Pinkie.

I highly recommend those Q&A's regarding the main 6.

[AstralFlame]

Yes be as random as humanly possible then be even more random

[Inucroft1]

My method is- avoid writing for her at all costs unless necessary.
Not a good method and not that helpful to you though...

[shirotora]

3494245 Not at all. There is a method to her madness. Everything she does is to make others happy. She just doesn't let minor details, like the laws of physics, get in her way.

I'm one of the few people that (according to my readers) can actually write her well. If you'd like, I can help you.

[Saris Daddy]

My method is just let her do what ever she wants. You know her character and whenever she is involved my chapters tend to go completely off from my original idea but that's fine sometime you have to listen to your characters if you want them to stay in character.

[Drynwhyl]

Don't make her an obnoxious spastic that's solely obsessed with parties.

[Saris Daddy]

3494257 I tend to have the same method regarding AJ because her accent is totally hard to write if you are not a native speaker of the English language.

[Coyote Fire]

Pinkie has her own logic, like others have mentioned in previous posts. I think that her powers also follow the Toon reality breaking rules of "I can do anything, but only when it is funny" think Roger Rabbit. She can know things and break the 4th wall, but sometimes it is only when it is funny or will put a smile on someone's face (including the reader's/ watcher's) that might be a good formula to use for her.

[Architect Ironturtle]

Pinkie Pie makes perfect sense in context. The trick is that she's always out of context to her surroundings, or the story as a whole.

Take this line here:

Although she couldn't care less about time loops. Keeping everything just so to prevent a paradox was always a pain. And so boring! All those rules. And rap lyrics. For some reason ponies who did a lot of time-travel paperwork had to submit their documents in rhyme. Celestia knows why.

How are time travel and rap related? Not at all, except through a character named Dave Strider. A thought that on the surface is a non-sequitur is in fact Pinkie following a connection no one else can see.

The world Pinkie Pie sees is ever so slightly off when compared to the world everyone else sees. Give her a set of rules that only she follows/knows she is following/understands, and go from there.

[Ardwolf]

Pinkie Pie is easy to write, as long as you keep the following in mind:

1) Everyone's her friend--especially the strangers she just met.

2) She's extremely intelligent, and knows MUCH more than she lets on. If the author has some plot twist, she'll know what it is, and either help or hinder based on which will help her new friend. (i.e. she has stunning powers of 4'th wall observation and intervention).

3) She has amazing powers, but sometimes forgets to use them--except when it's toon funny.

4) She has Batman-level planning skills for the most astonishingly unlikely scenarios. Which then happen 9 times out of 10.

5) She is RELENTLESS when it comes to cheering up ponies and is almost never afraid or sad herself. Like, ever.

6) She may have the vocabulary of a 10 year old but she's incredibly perceptive, and depending on where you are in the canon time line, either completely tactless or able to give exactly the right advice on a character's problems in exactly the right way--but she'll hardly ever do so in a way that is immediately obvious, but always is in hind sight.

7) She can pull almost whatever she needs from A) her mane or B) a tree or C) thin air. (See #4 above). She usually says "I always keep x on hand because you never know when you're going to have an x emergency!"

8) Listen to her in your head as you go through the scene. If it sounds like Pinkie then you're doing it right.

So, have fun with her! She's a hoot to write!

[Grtgfbll]

I just follow 3 rules:
1) turn off all mental filters and let the words flow onto the screen (editing should catch any mistakes that clearly not "Pinkie")
2) Pinkie is as smart as (if not smarter than) Twilight. NO EXCEPTIONS!
3) she focuses that Intelligence on making others happy and obscure knowledge (parasprites and the Mirror Pool/Pond)

[GildedSteel]

Occasionally let her slip a comment that almost seems as if she knows more than what she lets on. I say a similar thing for Discord. Write 4th wall breaking characters as if they are actors playing their roles.

[Living Madness]

Boy do I understand where you're coming from.

Childish Lexicons work like "Silly-Billy" or superdy dooperdy (not sure if that's how it should be spelled.) Good one to put in sometimes if your afraid you don't think it sounds like her.

Also having her get the wrong end of the stick in conversations, Lead into innocent innuendos or something is pretty good I find.

Just don't make her all silly with no bearing to the story (even in the Three Stooges all the members were all relevant to the plot). I've read some stories where shes pretty straight forward and enlightened (in between some subtle antics or another) and it works just as well, in fact it actually adds to it. Allot of people fall into the trap of just throwing her in their story as a one dimensional goofy character. Its why shes my least favorite to read on this site.

Hope that this comment has been Witnessed! (Sprays silver paint on face.)

[Psychomaniac]

Write her with a smile on your face. If you're not having fun with her character, you're doing it wrong. Embrace the crazy. She might try to interact with you as the author. It's best to let her tell you what she wants to do. Writing for her character is usually a fun experence if you let it be. Don't be afraid of her. She wouldn't want that. She just wants to be your friend and help you smile! FOR THE LOVE OF PINKIE, SMILE!!!

[Saris Daddy]

3496083 wait that was my advice too ... are you spying on me?

[Jaded Hearts]

Copy how other people that you like write her.

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/86542/winds-of-change by Masterweaver is a portrayal of Pinkie that I really like.

[Jaded Hearts]

3494507 In other words, Pinkie Pie is a benevolent Eldritch Horror.

[Architect Ironturtle]

3496648 More or less. It's more accurate and interesting than constant 4th-wall breaking, anyway.

[Immortan Joe]

3494277 I'd appreciate it if you could look over the chapter/Pinkie, people are telling me I need more pre-readers as it is. Even if it is a one time thing.

[shirotora]

3498584 Sure, just PM me a link.

[Immortan Joe]

3498653 I'll do so when I finish.