Well, so much for this ride then · 1:56am Aug 15th, 2012
Hello there, loyal readers. As you've probably noticed, "L'amore è femmina (Out of Love)" is now over and done with.
Unfortunately, I don't have anything else planned at the moment. Rest assured, there will be more. That little flame icon with the number next to it does have an addictive quality to it, and I do intend to make it burn again. I just have no idea right now as to what kind of story I'll tell next. Inspiration is a rather fickle beast, and it might strike from anywhere, be it an episode of Doctor Who (because not every television series going into a new season this autumn is MLP:FiM), a book, a movie or one of my tabletop RPG games (allow me a little shoutout to all German roleplayers out there, DSA players in particular. Ich spiele einen Achaz in einer Gruppe mit einem Thorwaler und zwei Zwergen. Und der Charakter lebt noch).
I have two little bonuses for you, though. Both of those contain massive spoilers, so if you want to avoid those, turn back.
First off, a little scene from the end of "Quédate conmigo", the seventh chapter of "Love Will Set You Free", to be found here. (with thanks to Jade, cover artist for "Love Will Set You Free")
And second, a companion piece to the cover art of "L'amore è femmina (Out of Love)", which is hidden here. (with thanks to Madmax, aka Madame Castafiore)
30 chapters. 31 Eurovision songs from 2012 used as names (because "L'amore è femmina", unlike "Love Will Set You Free", didn't have a chapter of that name). My apologies to the 11 songs that didn't make it in: Waterline (Ireland), Would You? (Belgium), Woki mit deim Popo (Austria), The Social Network Song (San Marino), Zaleilah (Romania), Love Unlimited (Bulgaria), Euro Neuro (Montenegro), Love Is Blind (Lithuania), Aphrodisiac (Greece), Love Me Back (Turkey) and I'm a Joker (Georgia).
This was an incredible ride, full of highs and lows (the highs outnumbering the lows massively). It started out as a little idea I had going around in my head, because even though I'm probably the biggest Spike/Rarity fan this side of the Atlantic, I am fully aware that they wouldn't work as depicted in the show. Most of my favourite Sparity fics age Spike in order to make the weird kid-falls-for-adult vibe disappear, and rightfully so (here's looking at you, "Like Fine Wine", which I still hold up as the pinnacle of how to do Sparity properly, its status as a clopfic notwithstanding), but that wasn't the route I wanted to take. Instead, I wished to do a little vignette showing Spike finally coming to terms with Rarity being far out of his league, inspired by one of the best Eurovision songs I've ever heard, an opinion I'll stand by even though the song got trounced at the contest proper. "As you kiss him in the moonlight, with heavy words I say"? I heard that line and just knew I had to do something with it
I have said multiple times that I can't tell where I took the turn into an adventure story with only trace amounts of romance, but I thoroughly enjoyed writing it. I'm fully aware that I'm not a perfect writer by any stretch (my EqD rejection should make that clear), but for someone whose first language isn't English, I like to think I'm doing pretty well at this whole spelling and grammar thing, and I think my dialogue has improved as I've written more of it.
159 favourites on "Love Will Set You Free", and 106 on "L'amore è femmina". 69 watchers. A short stint on the featured box. I never would have believed I'd come this far when I started publishing these little stories.
Thank you, Martin Terefe and Sacha Skarbek, authors of Love Will Set You Free (the song), and thank you, Engelbert Humperdinck, for showing that 76 is by no means too old to perform at the biggest music festival in Europe, and for kicking this whole thing off. Le Royaume Uni: dix points!
Thank you, Kaliopi Buklé and Romeo Grill, authors (and, for the first, performer) of Crno i belo, my favourite song out of the 42-strong lineup in Baku, for showing that even a country I'd given up as absolutely hopeless at this competition can produce absolute gems every once in a while. L'Ancienne République Yougoslave de Macédoine: douze points!
Thank you, Lauren Faust and team, for giving us this wonderful show. Look back three years and think about what "My Little Pony" meant at the time, and you'll see the incredible turnaround here. Fantastic work.
Thank you, Knighty and Poultron, for creating this community and keeping it going.
Thank you, my favourite writers of MLP:FiM fanfiction: determamfidd ("It Takes a Village"); SleeplessBrony ("Like Fine Wine"), Caffum ("Loss", which got me into pony fanfic writing), Zyxx ("Zestar Apple Flambe" - get moving again, dammit! ;) ), and especially SuperGiantRobot ("Quit Dragon Your Heels"), who pestered me into starting this writing thing.
But above all, thank you, readers, favourite givers, upvoters and watchers (I'd thank my downvoters too, but it remains the most astonishing fact that I don't have any). You got me into continuing what was originally supposed to be a short oneshot, making the Eurovision 2012 fics into what they are now.
We shall meet again, somewhere. Probably right here, on this very website, in another story of mine - or yours.
just rember that when you post the next one that you update out of love to tell us that its out so we dont have to keep checken you r page
288019 I do believe that's what the "watch" function is for.
Why did EqD reject your story? I'm smelling some butthurt towards ABxS coming from them...
330514 That may be it, but that actually didn't factor in their rejection. Mostly, it was because they perceived a tendency of mine (which I readily admit to) to tell rather than show. I've been meaning to re-write "Echo (You and I)" - the chapter that's the worst offender in this regard - for the longest time, but I haven't the faintest idea where to start. (Honestly, I do have thoughts about that, mainly to do with making Luna's infodump more exciting to read than an Excel spreadsheet, but I know how much work it'll be.)
330556 Don't give up, then. I bet you can find a good editor here, or get some help at Ponychan.