Afterthoughts: Magical Curiosity (and the Next "Short Story") · 1:30pm Aug 24th, 2018
Now that it's over, let's see what went on with the story.
Magical Curiosity Afterthoughts
It's too long, too unfocused, too unwieldy. A short story that devolved into a degenerate attempt at a normal-sized novel.
The beginning, however, wasn't all that bad. I wanted to write something that was not heavy for me, something that I could take on with no serious consequences. Something fun, something a little daring but still fun. It was also my first Equestria Girls fic, and if you've seen a few of the comments in the earlier chapters, it shows.
The first sign that the fic was going downhill was when I considered having the Equestria Girls cast meet with their pony selves. Counting Sunset and Starlight, that's fourteen characters to interact with each other—and that is not something you should do if you want to write an "off fic", if you know what I mean.
The next sign was when the Slice of Life tag no longer applied. As others had pointed out, it became an action-adventure-drama kind of story, which was fine if it had started out that way but it didn't. I now don't really know if I should keep the tag or switch it to Adventure and/or Drama.
What broke the camel's back was when I decided to make the global magical change a major factor in the story. On its own, it's not a bad idea. However, it was tacked on to a supposedly slice-of-life fic about high school life juxtaposed with magical curiosity. Because of that, the fic is split into two different parts without me knowing until it was too late.
The take-away? Stick with the fic. Don't overfeed it. Keep it lean, keep it simple.
Which leads to my next, well, "short story".
The Light in the Tunnel
You know what they say? That one man's trash is another man's treasure. Well, what happens if both men were the same person? And that person was me?
In case the previous section's tone did not make it clear, I don't really like Magical Curiosity. I do like it because people read it, got something out of it, and I got something out of it, too—and, I've contributed another piece of literature to this wonderful community.
However, as I've said before, I have a cynical view on writing. What I write is surely not the next My Little Dashie—not even close. The fics I write I consider to be the inferior version of this or that related fic. This applies from my first story all the way to Magical Curiosity.
Yet, even if I think Curiosity is pretty much trash, I see a little treasure in it. That treasure is what would happen in a world after everything became Equestrian and magical.
A Magic Turn of Events
...is the title not of my next short story, but my anthology of short stories set (usually) after the end of Magical Curiosity. It plans to explore the many little ideas I've had over my time writing Curiosity but either couldn't due to time or did but didn't do so well.
You may be asking, "Isn't this inspired by FanOfMostEverything's Group Precipitation?"
Yes. It was.
However, there are two differences that I believe will set the two anthologies apart. One, the chapters would be considerably longer here, which means there'll be less of them as well. Two, the conditions in both worlds are different enough (with Precipitation's magic humans compared to Turn's ponies, yaks, griffons, changelings, and other creatures).
In a way, this anthology is my true off fic before the Earth-meets-Equestria long fic that'll come October at best, November/early December at worst.
Sorry to bother you. Have a good day! 
We'll call this story a learning experience, yes? Practice makes perfect after all.
But on the other hand, stop comparing your work exclusively with other people's stuff, storms take it! Only ever staring at what others have done makes it harder to see the quality of what you yourself are making. How many people need to chime in before you believe your work is of good quality?
Is it perfect? no, but nothing is. "perfect" is a destination, something to chase, not something to catch. Some day I want to hear you admit that you've made something worthy of your own standards.
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Certainly. Each and every story of mine is a learning experience.
However, having learning experiences is one thing. Actually learning them is another. Other than the basic writing advice almost every writer here knows of (No purple or brown prose, for example), I haven't really learned much. The only thing I could say that sets me apart is having a somewhat snarky/lemony narration, and even then, that doesn't appear often enough to help me out.
And, what good is it if I see my work as...well, good? I always put my fics on a low light, which means that there's always a little part here or a little spot there that needs polishing—and I'm more likely to see it. If I believe my fic is good, then I'm tempted to become complacent and say, "Hey, I can keep this sentence the way it is because I'm good and only a few will notice."
Comparing my fics with others can yield something interesting: A drive to be better—or perfect, as you've stated. These other fics have something I can learn from—when to adjust the pace, which word to use with which, and so on. Sure, they're flawed, too, but they have less of them.
I admit that this is partially due to my frustration of not being good even after registering a million words here. They're clunky, repetitive, and just inadequate fics dressed up in good grammar and characterization.
To tell the truth, I was on my way to tearing up when I re-read that. I know that the appeal to hard work never works in the realm of logic, so I can't say, "I've been writing for a long time, so this should be good." Despite that, I still continue this Sisyphean journey of making something good.
And my standards? I want to make it so good that many critically-thinking commenters will say, "You've thought this out well. The characters and the story is on point." I may be self-aware, but that doesn't mean I'm a good judge of my own work. This is why I'm grateful for commenters who say anything constructive on my fics; they're a gauge on how I'm doing. Ratings and bookmarks are nice, but I'll only say my story's good if those thinkers believe it is so.
Anyway, thank you for your kind words and that needed harshness. I need that once in a while to snap out of it.
Glad to hear you're both learning from your mistakes and sticking to this world you've made. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
(And it's not like Group Precipitation is perfect. Twenty-conspiracy pile-up, anyone?)
I've literally never heard of Group Precipitation until I read this very blog post, and I've been on this site for a long, long time. I've seen the mentioned person several times posting in the comments of this or that story, and have even read some of their works occasionally, but this is the first I've ever heard of this particular series of works. That being said, I go into each work fresh, and completely weighing it on its own merits, never once comparing it to any other work until it is finished and comparisons can be made (that is, if I'm aware of them). On its own, this was a mighty good read, and I've enjoyed it, even if it did indeed stray from where it was originally supposed to go, and veered off into the wild blue yonder.
Looking forward to the next stories, and seeing where this world goes from here.
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I had been wondering about that. Between human Sunset and those f
ing faeries, not to mention the Vaucoi and Ravnica High, I've kinda lost track of who's doing what and have no idea where things are going. It's still fun when it gets an update, but after 300 chapters we're only halfway through half of these plot threads, and half of them haven't been updated in months, and going back through the entire story to remember everything isn't really feasible anymore. Which makes me sad, because a lot of said story is a literary gold mine.
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This is what happens when you offer a platform for everyone to chip in, and then everyone does. And then gradually drift away from the project and/or become convinced that everything they contributed was garbage midway through the plotline whose ending only they knew.
I definitely could have coordinated the testbed better.
Another point in your favor, Comma; much greater cohesion.
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Maybe that's accurate for you, but I know that for me, it's more a matter of principle. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right (as far as I know). This perfectionism is draining and is sadly part of the reason I haven't written anything recently.
All this said, I am looking forward to your upcoming anthology.