A New Conundrum · 5:29pm Jun 15th, 2019
Okay, thanks to the latest episode of MLP:FIM; The Last Crusade, we finally see Scootaloo's parents and aunts.
So what do I do with my stories? In the past, I have had to modify my stories after the names of Pinkie Pie's and Rainbow Dash's parents were officially named. As well as a canonical name given for Derpy.
But with my series that started with Twilight’s Love Volume One: It Begins which was written before Parental Glideance, I had invented a past for Rainbow and Scootaloo. When Parental Glideance aired, I decided to just leave it as AU. I'm going to leave The Last Crusade as that as well. A universe where Scootaloo and Rainbow's past was quite different.
It may be the easy way out, but I can not see any other way of making the series fit to cannon. So if the nitpickers out there want to comment on the story vs cannon, I just say:
If you want a story that jives with cannon. Then you are welcome to write one.
The stories I have written have been enjoyed by hundreds of people (literally) so I will let them stand as they are.
Stormbringer.
I agree with you 100% on the folks who demand canon out of stories. If they want a canon story, they can go write one. I for one find AU stories fun to write and provide more flexibility when it comes to writing stories. If people are going to bitch about it not being canon, then that is their problem not yours. Don't let them get you down, write things the way you want to. Don't let the writers of MLP dictate every single aspect of your work.
I've also run into this problem with my own story. Canon repeatedly decides to tell similar stories with the character to what I had planned, and it's become necessary to mark my story as AU. I plan to stick to exploring the relationship specifics of my own story rather than modify it to fit canon.
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Actually, I have had one person criticize me when I changed some names to fit cannon. I have no problem with that if it doesn't change the story.
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I've dealt with that too. This happened back in season five right after the airing of Amending Fences. What I have done is in stories since then, if Minuette is going to be more in character and in a normal role, she goes by the name Minuette. In my stories where she is a not so pleasant character, I usually have her go by the name of Colgate. That is especially true in the Terror in Equestria series which I started back in 2013....when her character tag on here was still named Colgate.
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I agree that if it doesn't change the story, correcting the names is an acceptable edit.
That said, I agree with your main blog point: changing the story itself to fit new canon is not acceptable. You're writing a particular story, it should remain the story you're telling. That's what the AU tag is for, honestly. Writing stories that don't fit canon, but make use of the setting, characters, and various other elements in a way that canon can't use them. Changing what needs to be changed to tell the story that needs to be told.
I'd like to note that one of my reactions to The Last Crusade, now that I've had time to reflect on it and let the ideas percolate, is that Scootaloo's parents are jarring. Not bad characters, exactly, but I don't think they were predictable from anything we've seen. "Distant and absent from Scootaloo's life a lot" doesn't really foreshadow what we got. There is also the fact that they're both blatant references to Mick "Crocodile Dundee" and Sue Charlton visually, and Mane Allgood's name is a reference to Jane Goodall (a real person). Referential characters make for a lot of condensed impact "in the moment," but they're obnoxious with longer exposure. Writing fanfic about them is likely to be unpleasant.
I feel like the "you'd have to change the story" is unavoidable with what we got, and thus Mane Allgood and Snap Shutter will not fit into any existing stories.
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You've hit the nail on the head. But perhaps it could be fun to write a story about Scoot's parents, about in the wild without any cannon ponies in the story.
A new series for me. sometimes it is daunting to start a new one.