Underappreciated Author Spotlight: Some Authors in the Middle Ground · 7:35pm May 3rd, 2019
Yet another blog I've been meaning to get around to for months, and finally here I am with some time to type it out. This round, I've got a trio of authors who have a fairly substantial following already, but they're borderline cases. They deserve more followers, yes, but they also don't have that critical mass where they regularly get a lot of views on new things they publish. They're also not new authors, so most people who'd read this probably already know about them, but maybe this will get some attention on a few stories that readers hadn't given much of a look before. See who after the break!
First up is a long-standing acquaintance of mine, Chris. We missed each other in inhabiting the old /fic/ writing help threads, but I soon became acquainted with his One Man's Pony Ramblings blog, and then later through the early incarnations of the /fic/ write-off. I haven't read as many of his stories as I should have, but still too many to discuss every one of them here, so I'll hit some of the highlights.
The first of his stories I read was Letters from a Senior to a Junior Changeling, and it's a pony take on C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, which I've never read. As an aside which won't help readers, this is the first story I ever put a lot of effort into reviewing. Prior to that, I'd only done proofreading and catching obvious plot holes, but none of that was to be found here, so I had to think hard about the story in order to have useful things to say to the author. This was the key moment in my path to helping authors with stories, because it forced me to open my eyes to a lot of the deeper topics present in better writing.
Anyway, it's a series of letters from a supervisory changeling to one on a mission, and it's clear the mission isn't going as well as planned. Because epistolary stories are pretty much the same thing as all-dialogue stories, it can be hard to subtly present things like characterization and emotion, since we don't actually get to see any of the characters in action. That becomes even more difficult when the author has to consider what the letter writer would reasonably include, which is often far less than the author would like the reader to know, so Chris has to take some creative ways to get all that across, and it works well. There are only a few stories I've encountered that I'd point to as good examples of epistolary work, and this is one. 2.5k views is a pretty standard number for the time.
Going Up is a beautiful little tale of friendship and the lengths some ponies will go to for their friends, even when those friends don't understand what's going on and lose their patience. One fanfiction genre I really enjoy is children's-style stories, and while this one doesn't take on the simple language often contained in one, it still has that very innocent tone that leaves me smiling. I liked the imagery in this one so much that I referenced it in one of my stories. It's no wonder that this one has gotten a lot of views.
To Make a Spark is one I helped with, somewhat anonymously at first, and it's more of a fairy tale mood, but another that's well done. It's not a spoiler to say that it's a Cadence origin story, and it's a sweet one at that, but the thing that stuck out the most to me is a comment Chris made back after I'd reviewed it, and that was to say he likes the idea of ending a story right on its climax. I'd never really thought about that before, and it's well done here. I found the idea intriguing enough that I even tried it on a few of my own stories, probably most effectively in Method Acting.
Wyrmlysan is another fable-like story, albeit told with a lot fancier language this time, and this one oozes atmosphere. Not a lot happens, but it's nice seeing a pre-banishment badass Luna holding her own against a imposing dragon, plus some interesting history plays out as well. I had the pleasure of helping with this one as well, plus I gravitate toward atmosphere pieces.
A White Hearth's Warming was an interesting experiment in that Chris was requested to write a Sunset Shimmer story despite never having watched any Equestria Girls material and having only secondhand information about her. This was a wonderful look at a young version of her who already had the headstrong seeds of rebellion implanted, but who still loved Celestia and took an "I know better" approach to doing something she thought was for Celestia's good (and her own, of course). If you like feel-good holiday stories, this one won't disappoint.
See, that last one was published over 2 years ago, and now we're down to only 1.3k views. Chris's newer stories have gotten 691 and 222 views before he hit on another that exploded in popularity with over 4k, but readers are harder to come by anymore, and fewer are willing to look at someone who isn't still churning out material. Despite having some well-read stories and being around a long time, he still only has 389 followers. That leaves an awful lot of people who are missing out.
I'll leave one last link. Chris has compiled his stories below the 1k publishing threshold into an anthology, as a lot of us have done, and I could recommend a number of these as well. It's a difficult thing to tell a self-contained story in such a restrictive word count, but among the shining examples of how to do it all well (and through epistolary means again, no less), I present The Play's the Thing.
The next author I'd like to spotlight, and one who's very unlikely to ever acknowledge she deserves it, is PatchworkPoltergeist. She's another who has been around since near the beginning, and her first story, Somewhere Only We Know, is an early fandom classic. Unlike many stories that garner that title, though, this one holds up. For me, this story had a sneaky effect. It's definitely sad, but more in a contemplative or conceptual way. Upon finishing it, I had a clear feeling that it was a good story, but more for the idea of it than its actual impact. And for some reason, the emotional impact of it hit me about a day later. This is a very cruel kind of dramatic irony, where the characters aren't oblivious to what's going on but just on the verge of being incapable of grasping it. I'm less of a sadfic aficionado than I was some yeas ago, but I still have a soft spot for them, and this will forever be among my favorites.
With Your Shield Or On It is a nice action story, but one of those that's more than the bombast. It's about the characters behind the action, and Fleetfoot plays a wonderful role here as someone with an "every soldier comes home" mentality toward her colleagues, to the point of endangering herself for their sake. What I love about this one is that there isn't some big payoff from the inevitable fighting. It's not about that. For as much of the story as it takes up and as well-written as the action is, what they did had little to no effect on the bad guy, and they may not even realize that. In the end, they're still heroes for their courage, and this is my favorite interpretation of Fleetfoot I've seen.
For most of her time in the fandom, however, PatchworkPoltergeist has picked out a couple characters she took a real interest in and developed them with loving care. And that means a lot, considering neither one is inherently lovable. One epic story focuses on Silver Spoon, The Silver Standard. Unfortunately, the length of this one outstripped my ability to keep up with it, so I only read a small portion of it, but it's a lovely look at giving some real depth to a character many love to hate (or redeem). The thing is, this isn't a redemption story, not really. It's a look at a complex character who didn't really need to be redeemed in the first place. Not that she's an angel, but because she realistically imperfect.
Not surprisingly, PatchworkPoltergeist then set her sights on the Rich family, with appropriately rich characterization. I've never read A Diamond and a Tether, though it no doubt deserves all the accolades it's gotten. I came in later with Menace to Propriety for stories that focused on Diamond Tiara, but this is actually further along in a continuity I did keep up with that focuses on Spoiled Milk and later Spoiled Rich, and it's absolutely worth your attention.
And Yet, What Riches Still Await lets us see her as Spoiled Milk, and she's an absolutely sympathetic character here, world-weary and meeting Filthy Rich under non-ideal circumstances, but finding they have an awful lot in common. As much as the fandom likes to treat Filthy as a villain (as does Legend of Everfree, for some reason), he's presented as fairly affable in the show, and he is here as well. I just adore Spoiled's characterization through this whole series, and it works wonderfully as a presage to the character we know Diamond Tiara to eventually become in the show. They're both a product of their environment, and as hard as it is to do this, the bad things they do are rarely seen as malicious, more born of some mental quirk they have that doesn't allow them to understand closeness and love and family like most people do. And there are real people out there like that! A common way that turns up in real life is that autistic people in some cases fundamentally don't understand things like relationships and social behavior and love, and what really hits me about these stories is the tragedy that Diamond and Spoiled simply can't partake in those kinds of things normally and quite possibly never will. That's a very quiet yet devastating kind of tragedy, one that hearkens back to the impact "Somewhere Only We Know" had on me. Yet they make do the best they can.
Diminishing Returns looks at a now-married Spoiled Rich and how she's desperately trying to fit in among the expected social circles and her ready-made family (Diamond Tiara is her stepdaughter). She becomes a slave to decorum and procedure, and she has an almost Twilight-like devotion to The Process For Its Own Sake. And I really feel for her in this. Filthy tries to help her through it, but because of her quirks, he can't deal with her the way he would an average pony, so he muddles along and provides her what comfort she'll allow herself.
And finally in "Menace To Propriety," she's still present, but the story focuses on Diamond Tiara, who's a delightful mix of her mother's neuroticism and a childlike need to push the limits on everything. She's constantly testing her mother, sometimes for the fun of it, but sometimes because she actually cares and is trying to prod her mother into situations beneficial to her. Of course they never work out that way, so Spoiled's view of Diamond's intentions remains skewed negative, but buried in there deeply is that the two do really love each other. It's hard to balance that with the surface-level meanness Spoiled displayed toward her in canon, but this story manages it. And then comes the pet. Diamond is absolutely the last character you'd expect to support someone who's seen as undesirable because they're different or defective, but she champions the cause of this "irregular" bird, and it's just one more example of how she's got a sweetness locked inside that'll always be at war with parts of her personality she can't help, making her just as defective. She'll never see it that way, but there's an unconscious affinity that's not only heartwarming but thoughtful.
Lastly, Love, And Other Felonies takes a look at a long-suffering genre, that of the alternate futures Starlight Glimmer caused, and the Nightmare Moon one has to be the most popular. I won't dwell on the romance aspect of the story; while shipping's not really my thing, I will say that it was done convincingly here. What I liked most about it was the ending. There are lots of possibilities about how these realities would resolve themselves once Twilight fixed the past. Are they parallel universes that will persist? Do they get erased such that they never even existed? Do they decay in a way that the denizens can perceive? This one had a clever way of tying all that together with the canon that has existed since.
Some of the best character pieces around, and PatchworkPoltergeist has 561 followers. Not bad at all, but a fandom classic from the early days and an enduring series about popular side characters seem like they should garner more. She still regularly tops 1k views per story, which isn't easy anymore, but that last one is a popular ship, and it's only gotten 572 views. The readers don't know what they're missing.
Third, we have Norm De Plume, who's also a long-time writer. He has 17 stories, but 13 of them get an M-rating, so they don't show up in my list. As it turns out, I've only read 2 by this author, but they're good 'uns.
This Mirror Left Blank is a wonderful piece of headcanon about the nature of alicorns and how they can keep themselves from becoming a threat to others, plus how one surprising character deals with her realm. This story could be a lot longer than it is, but it's a great introduction to how this world would work. We get to see the edges of it, and it's kind of two-pronged, as the central idea for the story is cool, but there's a certain amount of fridge logic to it as well. I love how there are both internal and external failsafes to these mirrors, but even going back to basics, this is just such a novel concept that it's cool to even think about. Many stories survive on the cool idea alone, but Norm's a good writer, so of course he backs up the idea with good characterization and dialogue. This is one story that's stuck in my head over the years.
That first one was written for an EFNW contest, and the other Norm De Plume story I've read is from another contest. He must like those. Hell, all four of his non-mature stories are from contests, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out a significant number of the mature ones are, too. As Horns and Halos Surround You reminds me of "This Mirror Left Blank" in that we're introduced to a high concept that has tons of world-building implications, but we only get a look around the edges of them. Ponies all have those angel and devil versions of themselves that sit on their shoulders and whisper in their ears, as is a cartoon staple from the ages, but most are just a representation of the characters' inner voices or short-term sight gags. These are real creatures that have their own rules and society, and they operate both in tandem with and independently of the ponies. When one of Rarity's gets injured, she needs a temporary replacement. That would seem to set up some drama, but the recovery of her assignee is never in question, so it doesn't introduce any tension to the story. It's more about the interpersonal relationships between these critters and their ponies, plus what Rarity learns from her substitute about the pony she normally accompanies. The effect is that it's a light story without much deeper meaning, but the character play is fun, the world-building is cool, and yet again Norm has a very imaginative concept to sink your teeth into.
409 followers is nothing to sneeze at, and I don't know how many his M-rated stories have earned him, but his last E-rated one only got 301 views. The non-pony cover art and a description that doesn't hint at the involvement of the two pretty popular tagged characters might be to blame. One E-rated story a year might not be enough to keep up interest, but I guess it depends on how people use their follows. To show recognition for an author worthy of it? Or to be sure they'll be notified when the author posts something new? The former would imply wanting the latter as well, but I could see people passing on an author they don't think will be posting much. That's a shame, because it doesn't cost them anything.
Check out my previous underappreciated author spotlights:
Casca
Lucky Dreams
Ceffyl Dwr
Miller Minus
Impossible Numbers
Newcomers Edition with PapierSam and President Dead
It's strange to think of either Chris or Patchwork as underappreciated, but I agree with more attention for them regardless.
I really liked both of those Norm de Plume fics. :D
5053042
Yeah, I was gonna say this, too.
5053042
I echo this. We even had patches on Barcast. But I suppose in pure follow counts, you aren't wrong. Just goes to show that follows mean nothing in the grand scheme of skill.
After all, I'm awful.
It’s always weird to me when authors FAR better than myself have less followers than me. Sure it might have something to do with the sheer number of stories I publish, but it’s still weird.
5053042
Norm is a damn good writer.
Sadly (because I always love finding new, good authors), I already know these guys. But somehow, I missed This Mirror Left Blank, so thank you very much for that!
- MLP: FiM
- Adventure
“It's a rare man who is taken for what he truly is.”This was the very first tale I read when I first became aware of this site, and when you mentioned the author I was sure you'd mention this gem.
It is her take on Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn. Please don't let the size of the tale daunt you, for it is worth every chapter.
I'll vouch for all of these authors. Patchwork happens to be one of my favorites in the entire fandom and someone I consider a much better writer than myself.
This is going to sound completely cocky but, when I started reading, I hoped that I would be one of these authors. Which might be because I'm lacking a little confidence in my writing lately. I still love writing ponyfics and I still dream of making it REALLY big as a pony author, despite MLP: FiM ending and despite the scary prospect of a reboot for Generation 5. Which I already don't care about, so no writing for that, which is part of the reason why it's a scary prospect.
I also have just finally worked myself out of a rather lackluster writing quality that was caused by some event in early 2017 in the last couple months.
Yet, my writing style feels generic and boring lately. Which my readers don't seem to think, as I can see when I look here, for example.
I don't know if my writing really isn't yet back to where it was when I wrote "Princess Flurry Heart, Destroyer of Worlds!" (still my best fic, so far) or if I'm just selling myself short because I'm depressed that MLP: FiM is ending, but that is how it feels lately. It feels like something is missing.
5053099
That's not one I've read, as it's pretty rare for me to take on a story longer than 50k or so. I just don't have the time it takes to get through one that long. I have no doubt it's a good one, though.
Hey Pasco!
I just got back from a trip to New York, and so now that I'm at a computer instead of on a phone, I wanted to let you know that I really appreciated the kind words here. You already know this, but for anyone else who happens upon this comment: Pascoite talks a bit about how editing my stories has helped him be a better author, but what he doesn't say is how much better those stories got as a result of his work. In addition to his indefatigably meticulous line-by-line work, he has a knack for finding the kind of meaningless digressions and dithering to which I, like so many writers, am prone. Couple that with a great eye for how different presentation decisions will sit with readers, and I can say without hesitation that every fic he's helped me with has been significantly, and some dramatically, better for his efforts.
Anyway, it's always encouraging to hear someone cite you as an author worth reading, and doubly so when placed in the company of Patchwork and Norm. Thank you, and more importantly, thank you for all the help you've given me and so many other authors over the years.