How I Write #2 - Experimentation!

Wall of text about how I've tried to improve as a writer below:

I don't think I'm a good writer. I have a lot of failed English writing courses to thank for that. Because of this, when I started writing, I was constantly being driven to improve. I wanted my stories to be enjoyed by as many people as the writing deserved. I wanted to be a good writer.

As such, nearly everything I've written has had an underlining design to helping me improve.

When I first started, I was terribly uncomfortable writing for the characters of the show. It felt wrong to create events and dialogue for the characters I loved.

So, my first writing project, Fallout Equestria: Ties, was all about OCs. It was my first writing project, and it's pretty terrible. I'm afraid to open it up these days. It was first person present tense for crying out loud!

Still, from there I got down some important basics, especially formatting, which hasn't changed much since I stopped writing FoE:Ties. (though I think my formatting's improved slightly)

Moving on, I started my Final Fantasy crossover, feeling more comfortable meshing mlp and FF9 than trying something pure mlp. It was my first venture writing for characters of the show, and I had a rather enjoyable time writing it, especially for Pinkie and Discord. Looking back on it now, The Ninth Fantasy is a solid edit from being approachable by non-final fantasy fans. I'm not sure if I'll ever get around to that edit. I mean, the story's over 200k words long!

When I got as far as I did, I was feeling pretty unsatisfied with how I was approaching the story. It didn't feel all to original.

So, then came along a silly little idea, which caught me off guard with it's reception. I knew I had something amazing, and expanded on it, which became the Trioverse. Luna's Protege was my first stab at tackling things from the show, and adding my own take on it. I am still surprised by how well received it was. Indeed, I'm very happy with how you all took to it. It helps boost my confidence when I see any of the entries I update appear on the ticker. (even though I don't consider myself a good writer.)

There wasn't too much experimentation between Luna's Protege up till Shadow's Flare, as I was quite happy with the turn out LP, FCC and Midnight's Radiance had. Halfway through Shadow's Flare, I hit a writing snag. It didn't help that my creativity was being pulled towards Chrys. (this is ironic, because now my creativity is being pulled away from chrys, back to trixie on Magic and Confetti)

When I started working on The Teal Changeling, I wanted to start moving forward again, improving my style. I started thinking more about setting a scene, and it was also when I started moving away from thought bubbles, which is pretty dominant in all my previous stories. With the Teal Changeling, I also wanted to tell a longer story, which may have not have been the best choice, as I've come to learn that I work better on smaller stories than longer ones.

Another thing I was aiming for in the TTC, was making good original characters. The flop that was FoE:Ties kept me distant from OCs for a time, and I wanted to get back into it. I didn't want to just make likable OCs like Momo, Dud, or SSarah, but despised ones, villains, such as Sledge and Mantis.

While TTC has some light moments, it's ultimately a dark story. A father trying to kill his daughter. A secret war. Cities being destroyed. Countless ponies caught for love harvest. I'm surprised no one's told me to add the dark tag to it! With all that glumidy-dum, I was feeling a little driven to write some more humorous.

So instead of going back to the FCC, I started something new, something short that I could maybe update once a week, and that was Magic and Confetti. And the confidence I gained concerning original characters was brought along into this comedy.

MC wasn't my first attempt at comedy. I had another story where I tried to put comedy first, and I did a very poor job of it. So much so that I pulled it off fimfiction and discontinued it. MC is an experiment too. It's another step away from being in the character's heads. I write those chapters with the intent of showing, and only showing. I'm trying to get across how the characters think and feel by their expressions and how they react to stuff. I'm trying to leave room for you, the readers, to put everything together. I'm ... not to sure if I'm pulling it off or not.

Truth be told, I didn't feel as if I had 'Show, don't tell' down until I started writing the Trioverse. Comparing word count, the Trioverse is still shorter than 9th Fantasy and Foe: Ties combined, that was a lot of words written trying to get that idea through my head. Oh, another interesting fact, the Trioverse is almost 300k words long!

Anywho, MC is also another dedicated stab at comedy. And I feel that at least is coming across well enough.

Which brings us to Loyal Knight.

This was my first attempt at romance. It was also a means of 'breaking the ice' for me. I knew well before I started writing it that it'd be my worst rated Trioverse story, so I had to psyche myself up to write it. And I hoped once I'd finished it, I'd be a little more prepared for other entries in the verse that would have a similar reception.

I'm not sure if it worked. In fact, I was quite depressed after uploading the first chapter, and finishing the story was hard. I think that's why I bounced back to Magic and Confetti instead of TTC.

My Trioverse stories have a fairly good rating ratio. I feel that's because even though my Twilight, Trixie and Sunset are different from cannon, they're still similar enough to be enjoyable. Characters being in character was a painstaking endeavor for me when I started up the Trioverse, and writing The 9th Fantasy helped with that.

Cadance, however, is not similar to her cannon self. She wasn't made a princess at a young age, so that's one character defining trait she has in the show she doesn't have in the 'verse. Another character defining trait in the show that she lacks here, is her relationship with Shining Armor.

The events taking place before Shadow's Flare revolves around Cadance and the Crystal Empire, and now I'm just as apprehensive to write that story as I was for Loyal Knight.

And... I'm just rambling now, aren't I? Well, back on topic:

Experimentation. It believe it's an important part of writing. Seeing what works, making yourself more comfortable exploring certain things. It's helped me become a better writer. And though I'm still not a good writer, compared to where I was one year ago, I think I'm a passable writer.

And well, as of writing this, 294 of you seem to agree. So, thanks for following a passable writer like me.

What's the next experiment waiting for me? Can't say, I'm still focused on what I'm trying to achieve on MC, so when I feel I've got that down, who knows?

What about you? Do you try experimenting in your craft/hobby too? I'm under the impression it's something just about any creator tries to do...

Anyways, thanks for reading this long blargle about how I've experimented over my writing 'career', and I hope you continue to enjoy my future contributions to the creative world.