First Fic

Right, hopefully sooner rather than later I will be putting the first chapter of my first fic up, thus opening myself up to the views and (hopefully constructive) criticism of the FIMFiction community. This is the first bit of proper creative writing I've ever got to a publishable length, which I'm pretty happy about, but whether it's any good or not is another matter entirely.

Regardless, I've enjoyed writing it and have some ideas about where to go next; it's not a standalone piece, and indeed may be the start of something a lot larger. Currently, my writing schedule is largely limited by work and IRL, but hopefully the next part will be up in the next few months. I may also post some spinoff material to build the world up a little, but again that depends on timing.

There will be some information coming out with it in an author's note, to answer any questions people might have, but I will also include them here for ease and to fill up space:

1.) Individual events of the show's canon (i.e. reference to specific episodes) will not feature too heavily in this. I will be using elements of the Main 6 and the supporting cast, but It is set about a decade after season 5, and the event mentioned in the first 500 words is meant to act as an effective series finale to the current series. That's not because I don't like the show or elements within it which are not used (e.g. Equestria Girls) but as with other fics of this kind, the tonal shift is quite significant.

2.) While I am largely using history as an inspiration for this fic, please don't read too much into what I say and in which roles I put the various characters and groups. I'm not sticking to one bit of history alone, nor am I looking to create a parable for modern foreign policy or the like. I spend my days reading about an imperfect world, and if I'm going to write one, it's at least going to be a different one.

3.) Tone of character and characters is going to be slightly different in individual cases and it may very well be that people don't like how I write certain canon characters.

Partly, this is because I suck at dialogue.

Partly, this is also because the canon changes I've included will have affected the characters significantly. If the fic continues, it will hopefully become more clear why these things will have happened and why characters have changed, but I'm aware that people may not like this. Even though I certainly have favourites from the show, I'm not intending for anyone to come out of this wildly better or worse than anyone else, and if it does seem like this, I apologise, because it hasn't been intentional.

4.) I think I've spelled most things correctly, but I appreciate any points people find. I will not, however, be changing my proud, British spellings for American ones. Because tea and shit.

Anyway, in the event that someone reads it, I hope people enjoy my flailing on a keyboard, if nothing else than for an excellent illustration of how not to write fiction.

YCTTSFM