Mortem: the surprisingly popular fic · 7:25pm Jul 26th, 2016
Hello, yes, this is my incredibly overdue follow-up of Mortem: the last Necromancer. Now, before you ask, I have a good reason for taking so long. I was making sure that it actually happened and I just didn't dream it, because of my god guys I don't even know where to begin with this.
Keep in mind that the day I uploaded that fic, only a couple hours earlier I wrote a blog where I was amazed that Fancy seeing you here got featured for a day. Mortem was featured for a week, with five of those days it enjoyed top position. There are actual good writers out there who haven't had that happen to them.
Now, I am incredibly grateful that so many of you read and enjoyed my story, I really am, but I don't deserve this, for many reasons. I think the most obvious one comes from the fact that this is my first attempt at necromancer fanfiction, a large and popular part of the fandom and fanfic community, and it has somehow become the second highest rated Necromancer fic ever, only losing to 'Roll for initiative', which I assume but am not sure isn't full-fledged Necromancer fic. I mean I don't understand or trust the FIM fiction rating system, and it's not that hard to believe someone going from nothing to the top of a sub-fandom. Only it is for me, as I've never read a single necromancer fic. Foal Necromancer has been on my to-read list for as long as I can remember, but I've never even skimmed a story involving a necromancer, so I shouldn't have the highest rating one. Please, once you've read this, find a Necromancer fic and Like it, it probably deserves that place more than me.
Anyway, enough self-deprecation (which is difficult because I'm British), I am truly amazed by how Mortem did, and am just so happy that so many of you liked it. It was one hell of a ride, reading all your comments, laughing at your funny ideas, or just resisting the urge to intervein with some of your debates, it really was a fun week. I had thought that From Caramel to Toffee was my peak as a writer, and all subsequent fics were just to help me get better at writing, but Mortem has completely dwarfed that peak. Which has given me a new and very much impossible target to beat, something I am incredibly happy with.
Now, enough of that namby-pamby thankyou stuff that no one really cares about. New fics are coming, infact, the first draft of three new one-shots have been written. But don't get your hopes up to much though, I have purposely written these not to do so well. Why? Well, I need to get my feet back on the ground after the success of Mortem, which some potential failures will hopefully do. They are all incredibly random and weird, in the third person (something I need practice in), and one of them is potentially controversial. I am going on holiday soon, but I should get at least one out before then, hopefully.
As for any potential sequel to Mortem, something you may actually be interested in. Now, this may disappoint you, but as of now, I have no plans of any kind to revisit him. This doesn't mean I never will, I have had a couple of idea's on a spin-off or a direct sequel, but Unless I get a good idea that I can develop enough to make me want to write about him again, I won't. But, (this may be of little consolation, but I'lll say it anyway) I have got something that helps develop the Far Western Kingdoms and have planned a fic that will include them. It may not sound like much, but the more I develop them, the more chance We'll see our old pal Mortem again.
As for the big finale to this incredibly long follow-up blog, I have two. Two of what? These bad boys.
I KNOW! AUDIO BOOKS. LIKE ACTUAL AUDIO BOOKS OF A THING I WROTE!
These two guys were great and I thank them so much for putting the time into reading my fic. Illya Leonov especially put a lot of time and effort into making his super professional, there were sound effects and extra voice actors (ShadowOfCygnus and Neighrator Pony). I was not prepared for it. I spent the half an hour listening to it just with the cheesiest grin on my face. You should also listen to them. They're not just for my personal enjoyment.
But... but I wanted to meet his band of homosexuals, and hear about the adventures of the Deadly Swords, and... and...
Awr.
Well I'll take a peek at anything you right in this continuity and maybe hope for a necrocameo. ^_^
I loved that story, it was a perfect blend of misinterpreted information, self deprecating humor, deadpan (pun intended), sarcasm, and a very real character. That's what I liked most about Mortem, it was character driven which is one of my favorite types of stories, followed by world building.
I am also considering doing an audio reading, as I felt the Neighrator's pony's reading was a bit too monotone for this fic. I want to really emphasise the snark and blissful ignorance of Motrom, which is the primary source of comedy in the story. I will send it to you personally when I'm done!
I wanna know how its surprising? I mean this came out very well, the humor and jokes were amazing!
(I had to edit as I realized I completely had a mind jump into the random zone.)
It’s a reasonably short, relatively lighthearted one‐shot with an interesting premise and a likeable protagonist. (Can I even call him a protagonist given how we’re only reading his letters?) Competently written longer stories often gain cult followings but the sad truth is that competently written short stories will almost always rate higher simply because more people will give them a shot due to time constraints. Additionally, a lot of people were utterly uninterested in a serious take on necromancy in Equestria were more than willing to read a comedy about a necromancer.
Sweet, that's where the best insanity comes from! Followed.
4114462 Yes please, I'd love to hear it
If you do, it will definitely get a place on both the story and this blog.
And thus proves that you are loved by hundreds you British bunt.
Now stop wallowing in self doubt and let us love you!
4115552
Being well written doesn't necessarily equate to high rating either. I mean, half the feature box is populated by low brow smut at any given time with the mature content filter off. What are the most popular fanfictions? HiE self inserts. Bottom of the barrel stuff right there in terms of quality.
Honestly, the fact the story was so well received in spit of Fimfiction's incredibly low standards of taste speaks more for how well written it was. It provided just enough exposition and narrative to provide a coherent story, with a tasteful helping of gags, while being lean enough to not drown the reader. And yes, longer stories do tend to have higher barriers to entry.
4116865
Well, no duh, but the author was wondering why this story rated as highly as it did against competition from within its own field. He appeared to have been assuming that most people reading his story were fans of the “necromancer genre”. I was pointing out (part of) why its appeal was far greater reaching than the cream of the crop of more serious necromancy focused stories.