I finished Some Hugs Last Longer Than Others · 12:03am Oct 3rd, 2018
A long time ago, years ago actually, I said I'd finish my last fic. I did try a few times, a couple different finished versions have existed. But they were all terrible. Some Hugs was a problem story from the very beginning. The concept seemed like comedy gold. Pinkie Pie glues herself to Rainbow Dash. Hilarity ensues.
The first problem is right there. That's the entire joke. Pinkie Pie glues herself to Rainbow Dash. That's already the punchline. The only place to go from there are some visual gags that aren't really effective in text-only form. Sure, an amorphous duct taped-together Pinkie Dash monstrosity trying to make a peanut butter jelly sandwich might be pretty silly, but it doesn't make for good reading.
The next big problem was that the concept is extremely stifling, not just for the characters, but for the writing. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are both super physical characters who thrive on movement. They're at their best when they're flying, exploding, tromboning, etc. It's part of what made Pinkie Dash such a fun ship. Combined, they become a two-pony flaming trapeze act. Except when you literally velcro them together, instead they become a clumsy stumbling idiot ball. That's all made worse by the basic premise of the fic.
What hurt me most of all was having to use an already published and so basically unalterable introduction as a jumping off point. It's not a good intro. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie have to hide the whole time, so not only are they physically constrained, but where I was able to take them as the author was super limited too.
I tried a few times to make the fic into a silly goofball fest, Pinkie and Dash stumbling from one ridiculous situation to another, but it never felt right. This final time I decided to move most of the story into the internal, to make it a little more of a serious examination of Dash's internal state, make her confront her social anxiety in a realistic way.
The result is something that I'm at least satisfied enough with to label complete. I'd be pretty curious to know how it compares to my old stuff, because I honestly don't have a clue. I'd like to know from an outsider's perspective if it seems exactly the same, or have a couple years more writing experience led to a better story? I wrote it super fast, so I kind of expect not. And I really haven't been writing much of this gooey silly fun fru fru type stuff in the meantime. But I'd still be curious to know.
So, hey, check it out.
And you know, how are the ponies and the community doing and stuff? Another season just ended, right? How was that?
It's actually still going on. :B The leaks are unstoppable, ridiculous and irritating.
Only caught up to season 7 I think, it was pretty good. There's that whole bronycon bookstore thing that's happening maybe but I haven't heard anything about it since that post so who knows. It'd be pretty cool though.
I often change old stories. I haven't yet changed the beginning of an incomplete story in a way that would confuse someone following it... but there's no law against it. I'd blog about the change, and post a notice on the next new story chapter.
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Yeah, certainly would have been possible. But you gotta draw a line somewhere. Eventually you've gotta cut stories off from yourself, let them be separate individual things out in the world, or the revisions and second guessing go on literally forever. That line for me has always been publication.
Regardless of how you feel about it, it’ll always be my favorite multi-chapter fimfic.