Still Alive · 2:42am Nov 9th, 2018
It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm sure many of you are scratching your heads to remember just who I am. Needless to say, my plans for future stories didn't go quite as planned, and life has been pretty crazy since I was last active on here. I'm going to ramble a bit, so I'll put a tl;dr at the bottom.
Back when I wrote Rifts I was just starting college and working on getting my associate's degree. Now, I've obtained that, a bachelor's, and in less than a year, an MBA. School has been my life for a while, for better or for worse. In a year that'll be changing, but that's a whole other story...
I suppose I've just fallen out of the fandom. I stopped watching MLP around the middle of season 4, and what I've heard of how the show has progressed has given me some mixed signals about whether I should go back and catch up, or leave the happy memories I have of the show intact and untainted. In the last few days I've been doing a lot of reminiscing, actually reading new (well, old, but new to me) fanfics, and checking up on the state of things. I think it's sad how many stories were left unfinished with no word from the authors, just a "last seen online" date several years old. That's one of the reasons I'm writing this: so that if anyone ever wonders what happened, I've at least explained myself.
From what I've gathered, it seems the fandom has been in a decline for a while. The next Bronycon will be the last, the show is likely ending with the next season, and the future is uncertain. I recently looked up to see if there was a brony group near where I currently live and saw that there was...in 2013. I'm sure there will forever be some diehard bronies that will keep things going, but the magic I felt in 2012 and 2013 might just be gone. It's really a pitiable thing, since this whole brony phenomenon has been a wonderful thing. People united under the ideals of love and tolerance and (for the most part) were focusing on positivity and happiness in a time where the world seems all too lacking in those things. I'm not sure where else I could go to find something like that again.
In regards to any future writing by me, the odds of my writing another MLP fanfic are quite slim. I've been out of the loop for years, and while I once was abreast of all the current happenings, fanons, personalities, and trends, I have no idea of where things have gone now. If I did write something it would be writing from a generation past, which would have an understandably limited audience as things have moved on. I haven't given up on writing wholesale, however, and I'm early in the process of writing a wholly original novel. It's set to be a fantasy novel of the isekai genre, which has quite the parallels with the human in Equestria genre I've always been so fond of. I'll likely post something about it when it's finished, but that's likely years down the line...though, if anyone is still here (and still cares) then, I'll be letting you guys know. I'll never forget that I got my start in writing here on FiMFiction.
So now, I'm unsure of what to do with the fandom. It still holds a special place in my heart, and when I check in on here every so often to see that people are still reading Rifts all these years later and presumably getting some enjoyment out of it, it does make me happy. I'm glad I was able to leave a complete contribution to the fandom, even if looking back there are a million things I would have done differently. For those who are still active, what would you recommend? Should I watch through all the episodes I've missed, or leave it as it was? Is it worth trying to get involved in something that's now on the decline, or is it better to keep my memories of what was? I'd appreciate any input on the matter.
Anyway, that's about it from me. Now you know where I've been and what happened, for better or for worse. I'd be happy to respond to any comments on here, though I question if I'm halfway-relevant enough anymore for any of you to care much. At any rate, thanks for reading, and I hope all of you have been doing well.
tldr: I'm probably not going to be working on another fanfic, but will eventually post about an original story here some years down the line. How have things been, and is it worthwhile to try getting involved again?
How have things been, and is it worthwhile to try getting involved again? If you mean the fandom, yes. But that's up to you, would hate to see such a great writer up and leave, granted I understand since you can't exactly make much profit off fanfic writing.
he next Bronycon will be the last, the show is likely ending with the next season, and the future is uncertain.
I talked to someone who runs booths at ALL of the Bronycons and he claims that smaller cons make quite a bit of cash still which means Bronycon is likely still very profitable. He thinks it's likely someone will buy out the con and keep doing their own.
Good to know, Cold Spike. Suppose I'll have to keep an open mind to things, if nothing else. Thanks for your input.