Any questions? · 12:40am Mar 26th, 2017
SO.
Every now and again, I daydream about doing the panel thing at some MlP-con or something. To coast by on my 'celebrity' as THE BEST PONY FANFIC AUTHOR IN THE WORLD (for all of like 24 hours) or something. But then I realize that would require me, y'know, going to a MlP con in the first place, not to mention having to convince who knows how many people that I'm worth listening to.
But then I thought "oh hey, I've got followers, don't I? I bet at least SOME of them are paying attention!" Which brings us to ... well, right now. I wouldn't quite call it an "AMA," as I fully reserve the right to not answer questions, or just give nonsensical answers-- but at the moment, I feel like overthinking pony-based fanfic ... and, well, here we are!
I figure it should be good for a lark.
Why do you love RariJack?
What are your thoughts on TwiShy?
How about PinkieDash?
Do you ship anything other than those ships?
Do you plan on doing any more Equestria Girls stories?
Why "Tumbleweed"?
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More Equestria Girls stories? Possibly! Probably. I don't have any definite plans as of yet, but if I think of something I'll hammer it out. Most of my EQG stories (or pony fanfics in general) hinge on mashing pony stuff up with things you wouldn't see in the show (like booze or LARPing or heavy metal or whatever), so I really just need to think of what I wanna shoehorn in next.
Tumbleweed's the name of an old, OLD OC of mine from a long-gone online RPG. I liked the name, however, so I've used it as a moniker for a couple of other sites, and ... well, here we are!
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Rarijack is canon I tells you. CANON.
Though really, I tend to ship stuff based on two things: 1) Arguable canocity, and 2) comedic potential. Which Rarijack has in spades. Plus, I'm a sucker for the cheesy 'classy Lady falls for the rough and ready type' trope.
TwiShy? It ... can work. Not my ship of choice, but I guess there's potential there. I don't really MEAN to ship them in my stuff, so much as I can't resist adding in gags about how Fluttershy is secretly super-freaky. Though I suppose there's potential for an 'Everybody loves Fluttershy' story, or something like that ...
PinkieDash is fun. It's a ship that's really all about fun. I dunno if I see them as a proper couple, but they definitely might fool around for kicks sometime.
As for other ships? Well, Korrasami is canon and features kung-fu lesbians so it's pretty much the best thing ever. Or there's also Chromedome/Rewind, which is almost as good by virtue of featuring giant robots. Or maybe even Cover Girl/Brawn, which is EVEN BETTER because it's from Tom Scoili's Transformers vs. GI Joe which is the best comic book ever--
Or wait, did you want pony stuff? Well ...
I actually kinda like FlutterDash-- mostly for the 'opposites attract' sort of thing, not to mention the loads of history between the two to build on. I ... might actually be able to make a fun shipfic out of this, but I'd need to think of a proper twist or gimmick to add to it.
As for other stuff, LyraBon is about as canonical as anything will be for background characters on a kids show-- but honestly I don't see myself doing much with the pair just yet. (Though Secret Agent Sweetie Drops may pop up in something if I get ambitious).
Oh! And Ditzy Do/Big Mac. 'Cause crosseyed mailponies need love too, dangit. That was supposed to be another undercurrent in a lot of my stories but I never really followed through on it. Hm.
EDIT: And I almost forgot SunLight! That one's fun 'cause they're both nerds, plus the whole dimensional travel thing adds a really interesting wrench into it.
Alright, I'm a little later on this than I intended, but I gots one for ya!
One of the things I find most consistently delightful about your stories is how much you're able to keep them hilariously funny without ever losing sight of the characters or going too mean-spirited in the comedy. As someone who often worries his stories are too dry and humorless, I'm curious what, if any, steps you take to maintain that particular balance?
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Yeah, I'm with you on that I think. I love the way that the two characters play off each other.
Plus there's an awful lot of material you can work with.
"I didn't mean to ship them, it just happened!" Yeah, suuuure buddy.
Admittedly it amused me perhaps more than it should. Doubly so because Fluttershy was the only pony who Twilight didn't end up interacting with during your "nobody loves me" story.
It isn't a major ship for me either, but I have to admit it got some laughs in your stuff. Though probably mostly because it was being terrible about Fluttershy. :V
I have to admit I haven't seen much TwiShy that I've actually liked. I think my favorite was the also-comedic Fluttershy Comes Out Of The Closet.
It is a fun ship. I really need to write something with it, seeing as a lot of the people who seem to write it have vanished off into the aether.
Oh, you.
Amusingly, I somehow ended up the admin for the FlutterDash group, so I think I'm legally obligated to encourage you to write one :V
Ironically it is probably a secondary level ship for me. I like the idea, but I've only enjoyed a relatively small number of such stories. Though I suppose I've written two stories with FlutterDash or implied FlutterDash...
Fair enough.
Ah yes, I remember those mentions.
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Oooo, this is a good question! I've been mulling over it for awhile now-- I just haven't had the chance to sit down at a keyboard and hack out a reply 'til just now.
In any case, there's an old quote, allegedly by noted 19th century Shakesperian actor Edmund Kean (or maybe by someone else, depending on who you ask).
"Dying is easy. Comedy is hard."
Far funnier, and far more talented folks than I have written whole books on comedy, so condensing it down into a pithy reply seems like something of an understatement. Heck, I might even get really ambitious and write up a proper blog post, but in the meanwhile, here are a few thoughts.
For one, pony-fic is fertile ground for comedy, as, well, we're working from a silly kid's cartoon. Lauren Faust has created a bunch of solid characters to work with, so that makes the fanfic writer's job a lot easier. Understanding those characters is key to writing good pony comedy (or heck, understanding character is key to writing just about ANY comedy).
In addition to understanding the characters, there's also the matter of sympathizing with them. To put it simply, it's better to proverbially laugh WITH the characters, than to laugh AT them. Basically, the comedy should come from "ha ha Twilight did something silly" instead of "ha ha girl's cartoons are for babies." The best parodies come from a genuine love of the material-- one need only look at the work of Mel Brooks or Edgar Wright (both favorites of mine) for examples.
A few other key points of comedy are absurd juxtapositions and exaggerations. I freely admit most of my comedy stems from pretty much mashing up "Ponies + A Thing" and seeing what happens. Which is great! It's inherently absurd to add, say, booze or giant robots or whatever to a kid's cartoon. And again, the thing that separates MlP from a lot of other stuff is that the world is ... well, I don't want to say 'coherently' built, because I'm sure the writers are making up a lot of junk as they go along, but it's far more in depth and 'lived in' than most other cartoons out there today. Which makes the inclusion of whatever random elements you want to shoehorn in ... well, maybe not plausible, but at least thematic.
As for exaggeration-- again, silly cartoon. And again, Rarity. Rarity is a super fun character to write, because she's very particular and very vocal about her tastes. Which makes it easy to have an entire story hinge on, say, Rarity flipping out over Applejack's new haircut. </shameless plug>.
So yeah. While there's been a lot of good comedy written about terrible people (Arrested Development, It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia, et al), applying those kind of tropes to MlP ... well, it's good for a laugh, but at the same time, if you don't do it right, it makes you seem like an asshole. Which tends to bring up uncomfortable questions such as "Why is this grown ass man (or potentially a woman but who are we kidding here) so mad about a wholesome kid's cartoon?"
There's my rough thoughts on the matter-- hope they prove at least somewhat educational! :)
4473260 Thank you VERY much for this informative, insightful, and interesting response. ^_^