One year. · 12:04am Apr 3rd, 2016
Today marks the first year anniversary of Memoirs of a Magic Earth Pony, but that wasn't where it began.
It's funny to think how long ago I started considering the idea that Starswirl the Bearded was an earth pony, and since today's a special day, I figured it would be a good idea to talk about it's creation.
In October 2013, I was in a competition called Oneshotober, where every participant writes a story a day for the month. It was, without a doubt, an awesome experience, but I didn't think that one of the random ideas I came up with would end up being a full blown novel.
For some reason, which I can't remember to be honest, I thought 'we have this starswirl character, and no body really knows who he is. I mean, we know he's this powerful unicorn that did lots of stuff with magic, but other than that, we don't know anything.' So, I let my imagination wander, seeing if I could find something to latch onto for a story.
Well, I personally love stories where the odds are stacked against the protagonist. I think it's something we all face, if not feel, from time to time, and I started with the idea of Starswirl being an Earth Pony. Once I had that plot device, pretty much everything fell into place. In 1000 words, I wrote a small story that detailed his entire life, posted it to FimFiction, and promptly forgot about it.
Well, if you know my writing process, you know that I like to put things on the shelf to age. In this case, I set that story on the proverbial shelf and let it age for about a year and a half. That's a long time to wait, and most of that time was spent on an extended hiatus from writing horsewords. However, there's something tantalizing about the outlines I write, and I often find myself pouring over old outlines I've written, seeing if they're worth the trouble to pursue. Well, 1 year ago, I found myself looking back over the concept of Starswirl being an earth pony and it just... hit me.
My roommate and another one of my friends were in my room, and I told them the entire story over the course of a few hours. It was a rush, and everything from Starswirl's attempt to the magic/mathematics parallel were invented there on the spot. I've never had anything so coherent hit my mind, and when it hit me, I couldn't help but write it down.
The rest? Well, there's a saying that most everything is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. If the inspiration was what started my journey, a loooooooot of work has kept it going. I've made huge progress and if you start reading Memoirs, you'll likely see that manifested in my own stylistic evolution.
But, how did 1% carry me all this way? I mean, inspiration is pretty cool, but novelty can wear off in hours, and it's been nearly 9,000 hours since then. Well, this is where you guys come in. Every single one of you. You have no idea how much I appreciate everyone who's read this story. I mean, hell, I wouldn't make someone sit down and read my fanfiction, but you guys do. You take time out of your days to give me a chance, and I fight every week to make sure that opportunity doesn't go to waste. I want to hug you all, and I'm one of those non touchy introvert dudes. Regardless, today is special to me, and I wanted to share that with you.
Oh, and as an aside, if you've actually read this blog post, I've got a happy fun outline for two ponies that are an interesting... dare I say... couple. That's right, I've started some preliminary sketching and a few scenes of a... Romance! Yeah, I swore I'd never do it, but after a few skype calls and a little too much carelessness, I wrote two characters (other than the ones in this new outline) into a corner the other day. They were alone, and things happened, and I actually think I wrote it well. I didn't publish it, and I won't because it just didn't work, but for those of you wondering, well, you can probably figure out who as I'm only actively working on one story right now >.>
So yeah, things are in the works, things that I've never never really looked into before. So yeah, thank you all for believing in me, because I'm starting to believe in me too.
Congrats mate. I haven't been a super long term follower, but this is defiantly something to celebrate. Plus regular updates are wonderful, even if I never expect it out of anyone.
3844735 Thanks! also, even if you haven't been following me from the beginning, I still appreciate you all the same. Those regular updates are how I try to show my appreciation. I've busted my ass to get those released on time, and I'm actually settling in for a long night of writing so I can be ready for next week.
... Are you doing the thing I think you're doing?
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yes. With the characters you're thinking of. <3