Humanity Displaced · 10:34pm Jan 28th, 2019
So I wonder if anyone knows this about me, but a large part of what got me into the fandom was the Human in Equestria genre. Misunderstandings, Your Human and You, the Non-Brony stories. Hell, I probably wouldn't have ever watched the first episode if ToasterWaffleKun (irl friend) hadn't gotten me to read 1000 Virgin Mares by sending me snippets of the funniest dialogue. Diaries of a Madman is one of the stories I always have time for, even if I'm not in a pony mood in general.
I'm not entirely sure what it is about the genre. Something about a normal (ish) human being thrust into a magical world just really appeals to me. When I step back, I realize that it's a common theme in most of my non-pony reading too. As a kid, of course, there's plenty of stories about children having fantastical adventured in the back woods or under the bed. Calvin and Hobbes was a staple of my childhood, of course, and many others! As I got a bit older, The Chronicles of Narnia was a huge influence on my reading and writing. I didn't realize it, but I'm sure that formed a lot of my tastes growing up.
There have been a number of other influential books since then. I remember tearing through Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court when I stumbled across it at my aunt's house, and I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks after. And Ted Dekker's Circle (Black, Red, White, Green) were both chilling thriller and a fascinating take on the genre, where instead of being literally transported to another world, Thomas Hunter visits it in dreams, dreams that feel much more real than the reality he wakes up in.
All these stories have heavily influenced my reading habits, and in a way my writing, I suppose. I tend to like solid world building, and consistent magic systems, along with character driven plots. I don't know how much of that really shows up in my writing, especially given how much of it is porn, but I was aware of it influencing me quite a bit in Neighbors. Though not directly into a fantasy setting most of the time haha.
As for reading, I don't really follow many HiE stories on fim anymore. I've read most of the classics, and in general I think I've come to the point where I prefer to take the pony world as it is without the need for OCs. That said, fim sort of broke my connection to typical print and paper books, so most of my reading falls under online serials right now, mostly originating from Reddit's HFY board. Although there is also The Wandering Inn, which I found on recommendation by another blog a few months ago.
Hey-o! Thought I'd get off my butt and do some catching up with my fave FiM friends. It's pretty interesting to hear how you got into the Fandom, and moreso the stories that influenced your reading and writing. After I got over the apprehension of the pony hype back around season 3, I finally gave MLP a shot and found the "outcast finds friends and purpose" story to be the initial draw to me. My writing here probably doesn't reflect it as much, but I'm very partial to stories centered on losers, outliers, and outcasts as unlikely heroes.
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Hey, always good to see you around!
Yeah, the whole "Ponies are for little girls!?!?" thing held me back for quite a while. I think it was Luna/NightMare Moon that got me hooked. I watched the first episode and thought... holy crap, that's a pretty hardcore villain for a little kid's show. And that was just the first two episodes. And yeah, misfit, snarky, no-nonsense Twilight got me to stick around past that haha.
I don't think I read as many stories like that myself, because they always make me kinda depressed, even if they end happily. But they can be a lot of fun when they get pulled off right!
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Yeah sometimes outcast protags can have sad story lines, but I guess it always was cathartic for me. I loved Narnia growing up as a kid too tho. The Magician's Nephew was one of my favorites. Come to think of it, Harry Potter was kind of a mix of the two, huh? Misfit escapes into a world of magic. Geez no wonder it was a goldmine, lol
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I can see that! Hm, I think the Dragons in Our Midst books were kind of like that. I guess when you put it that way, it is probably something I like, just not something I've ever gone consciously looking for
Magician's Nephew was great! Looking back, I think the Horse and His Boy may have been the best of the books, especially for a stand alone story. Which is funny, because I never understood why other people liked it so much when I was younger
But all of them were really good! My favorite was Voyage of the Dawn Treader, I was SO disappointed when the movie came out... Especially since the first two were so good.
I think you may have cracked the code on Harry Potter! I never got into it myself, but largely because my parents wouldn't let me haha. Witchcraft and Satan, you know. I tried to watch the movies, and they were fun, but not quite up to what everyone was talking about. I probably ought to give the books a try some time! I did read Methods of Rationality though, and had a LOT of fun with that.
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I confess, I haven't read all of the Chronicles of Narnia. It's on my bucket list of things I need to get around doing. I find it interesting that you managed to read that series, but your parents refused Harry Potter, lol. I mean-- I suppose the protagonists aren't actively learning magic in Narnia (as far as I remember) but there's still a great deal of magic and mythical creatures. I just find the lines people draw for what's acceptable and what isn't as strange. I've been wrestling a bit with my writing from a faith standpoint myself, and such questions enter my mind.
So! You've never read Potter, eh? I will say that the books are infinitely better than the films-- EXCEPT perhaps, the first Deathly Hallows film, which does a wonderful job of capturing the stress, paranoia, and desolation of the book without dragging the reader through quite so much tortured searching. It was quite an improvement from the source (though the second Deathly Hallows film failed in carrying on this improvement, IMO) I have issues in general with how the HP series ended, but it's been a while since I've read it. The other books are rather enjoyable. I think I've read 1-5 at least two times each. The first three books I must have read three or four times each. You should give it a try! You might get into it. The films cut out quite a bit of world building and subplots.
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Heh, well, you know. Narnia is supposed to be Christian fantasy. What with Aslan being a Jesus proxy and C.S. Lewis generally writing Christain-y things. Idk, more I think they just got caught up in the general anti-HP movement. They had no problem with Star Wars and were mostly cool with Bionicle. There were some odd decisios there, but at any rate Im glad for what I was able to get away with haha.
Yeah, I've heard the ending of the series is... kind of a letdown? I read that thing about Harry basically being a jock from a rich noble family who grows up to be a cop haha. It has kind of that "Well, you're grown uo so no more magic for you!" vibe. Which kinda sucks. But I could probably get into some of the earlier books.
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Christian fantasy is something I want to read more of. My Christian faith has grown in the last year, but I get alot of mixed messages about what is acceptable. I have my own views that aren't in line with mainstream evangelical thinking, views that some would take as radically liberal, but I'd still like for my work to be in keeping with my new faith. I know Christian fantasy and science fiction has grown alot in the last few decades, but re-reading classics is absolutely something I want to do. Like...I've never read The Lord of the Rings, and it's considered the pinnacle of Christian fantasy.
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Well, I can't say I'm really into the faith anymore, and it's best to keep an open mind with that kind of thing. Honestly, for all their issues, I think the Catholic church might have a better approach at least as far as trying to marry science with their faith and accept both. But all that said, I can recommend a few series I enjoyed when I was younger!
Dragons in our Midst (and the sequel series) by... I wanna say Brian Davis. Mostly some good modern urban fantasy with the last descendants of dragons dealing with slayers and with people who want to use their gifts for evil (the setup is that dragons were another intelligent species before the Fall, and since they didn't take part in the sin they still had certain blessings/ acted as guides for the humans that still believed, etc)
The sequel series plays around more with biblical times, like the Tower of Babel, and with a lot of Arthurian legends.
Ted Dekker's books are a lot darker, and less blatant, but he's a Christian author and the Circle is such an interesting series. There are also a number of books outside. He fills a very... interesting niche of being a Christian horror/thriller writer.
Narnia are the most well known, but CS Lewis also did a Sci Fi trilogy which... the name escapes me but just looks up Lewis' Space Trilogy and it should come up haha. They're a bit more mature than the Narnia books, and I particularly liked the second one.
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Thanks for the suggestions! I try to keep an open mind always.
Have you ever heard of Ellen White? She had quite a few things to say about the Catholic church. I haven't even scratched the surface of her work. She's apparently the world's most prolific female author.
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Cool! Hope you find some you enjoy!
Im not familiar with her, no. What kind of stuff dores she write?
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She's most known for her religious writing, but she also wrote about education and health reform. She did a fascinating book on what brought about the schism of the Catholic church and the Protestant churches, but goes in depth about things the papacy did to secure power. White was pretty central to the establishment of the Adventist church in America. Her work is easy to find, if you're curious. I've been listening to The Great Controversy on YouTube.
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To be honest, it really doesn't sound like something I'd be super into. I hugely prefer fiction, and when it comes down to it, reading about the real world is generally kinda depressing haha. But she sounds very accomplished! I wish I could churn out content that fast.