Some Items of Business · 4:51pm Jun 25th, 2017
Few things I'm gonna ramble about because I'm a little frustrated and gotta let off some steam.
1. Mane Six Families
Okay, now that 'The Perfect Pear' has come out (in Australia, but still), I know what all the main family members of each of the Mane Six look like. I want to try my hand at family pictures for the Mane Six. I've got some idea on how I want them to go in realms of personality and poses for each pony, though I'm open to suggestions of what could be added to enhance the pictures.
The real question is if I can actually not be lazy and actually get to it, or not pull myself apart with worry over neglecting other stuff (that is not real life work, because we all know that comes first).
2. Party Ponies Through the Years
Something I thought would be interesting is touching on Party Ponies who have lived throughout Equestria's history. Like, how they looked, what time period they're from, what their main discipline is, and what differences personality-wise from other party ponies they have (a generally cheerful nature and desire to spread joy is always a must, but there are different traits and nuances to set them apart). It'd run from olden times to the modern day, starting with whoever could be considered the first party pony (maybe Chancellor Puddinghead, who showed the abilities, but the first to actually fulfill their party calling in my 'verse is Jamberry Rune), and ending with the youngest current party pony (Sparkleworks, at age nine). As of now, I don't have a clue who in my small pool of NextGens is a party pony (sorry, don't really count the CheesePie kiddos--they're more "halfers" like Maud Pie and Tomato Sandwich).
However, I also need ideas for some party ponies to add to the list. You might already know who'll be on my list (Jamberrry, Ponyacci, Pinkie Pie, Cheese Sandwich, Party Favor, Bananas, Comedy Gold, Sparkleworks), and I do have a few more ideas on who else to throw onto the list (like Bananas' pioneer ancestor, and a couple based on a couple of Disney characters I've taken a liking to recently). But, if you've got any ideas for party ponies that don't contradict anything, then throw them to me, give me a description, and I'll try to give my best interpretation of them.
3. Story Tag Problems
I'm having a little debate over whether or not the Comedy tag belongs on Brotherly Bonding Time anymore. On the one hand, I still write insane scenarios and goofy antics in the story; on the other hand, it's pretty easy to notice that the story has gotten a bit darker in later chapters, based on Cheese "losing his sense of humor" as Tomato put it in the latest chapter. Not to mention I wonder if I could throw the Dark tag on it, but giving the cover art, it might seem a little misleading (especially if I kept the Comedy tag--people might think there's dark comedy, and well, I'm a little skittish on that).
Ugh, I'm always having problems with story tags, simply because I'm never entirely sure just in what direction my story would go. Sure, I always had some key components of BBT's finale in mind, but I've been spending months trying to figure out how to turn it into a grand climax and tie it in with the themes of the story and the character arcs of both Cheese and Tomato.
4. Miscellaneous
I've been getting favebombed by people in an old fandom of mine on DeviantArt (the weird part is that I thought that fandom was dead). And they're watching me for that stuff even though I've long since moved on. Um, yeah, fave my old, cringey crap all you like, but don't expect any more. It's a weird kind of embarrassing for them to like old stuff I drew on MS Paint around 2010.
I suddenly have an idea for a crossover fanfic, which I usually don't like since they're usually about one franchise outdoing MLP in some way, which implies favoritism toward the so-called 'cooler' franchise. Like, this idea is about one of the Three Caballeros getting spirited away to Equestria and ending up in some trouble for being a talking bird, while the other two have to figure out a way to rescue him. And the twist? The one who's spirited away is not Donald.
But, I shouldn't write it right now, I've got other fics that need attention. Ugh, I wish I could clone myself to work on my unfinished fics. I hate neglecting them, but I also want to get that freakin' longrunner of mine done as soon as possible (I at least want it done before Artsy Notes returns from her mission, which is in November 2018, so I have plenty of time).
But, it's hard to work on it when you can just sense the readers just leaving, which is not helping me out of a slump that started with that illness I had last November. It's weird, it feels like people have been avoiding me ever since I got sick (as if the illness was somehow contagious through the internet), even though there's more likely more mundane reasons they're silent.
So, um, yeah, I'm kind of lonely. It's not like when I first came here, where I expected people to ignore me so I could easily write more for myself--no, it feels like I'm being left behind, so I'm questioning why I even bother. Sorry if Brotherly Bonding Time's little serial mini-story format is scaring you off and that I'm somehow becoming a worse writer than I was when I was writing The Rock Farmer's Daughters.
Sorry for sounding a little bitter there. Been wanting to vent for some time now.
Anyway, better end this on a high note to attempt to cheer us all up.
Uhh...
Here have a baby elephant!
I think Brotherly Bonding Time works fine as a Slice of Life without comedy. It's always been about Cheese, Tomato and their relationship together, more than the hilarious hijinks they get up to.
Stories change all the time, I think keeping Comedy and just slapping Dark on there as well is fine, it doesn't make people expect "dark comedy," just know that the story gets darker later on.
As for losing readers, it happens. Doesn't mean your story is getting any worse, or that the format is poor. Just keep doing your best.