Another Fiasco: Loving Submission · 11:40pm Jul 26th, 2019
Good news? Well, I sure got a nice big pile of likes! We're not even twenty-four hours into this thing and it's hit 34 likes. That's pretty decent! Far short of the feature box but not bad. A Gentleman's Price didn't feature on launch either and this story outpaced that one which only managed 32 likes over 24 hours.
Look... I tried. 
I gave myself an impossible task: Put Roseluck in a situation where abuse was practically insisted upon without Roseluck being abused in a genre that demands pony blood in the name of the almighty zebra erection. I could have done more to take Roseluck out of the fire. Firesight is suggesting that maybe Roseluck be given an out from her broodmother gig with an explicitly stated alternative that doesn't involve Zebras poaching land from the ponies. THing is that would have been my first angle if I were writing in the style of The Scent of Prey or A Gentleman's Price. If you're reading this and haven't read my other stories... ya gotta trust me on this!
As it stands, I am not going to retcon this story. Fact is Roseluck's situation, however questionable, is what is called for for the fetish aspect part of the story. This style of fiction is irredeemably abusive and I had no business touching it. I don't like that fact and am quite ashamed I didn't foresee this dilemma and just play this is a straightforward romance.
Why did I subject fimfiction to this cringe? I just wanted to challenge myself. I want to live up to names of those who inspired me in the first place. Sadly it seems that 2019 has been the year I lost my mojo. Even my FoE story despite its accomplishments was a Wilson-Rating disaster, however not as bad as LS.
Perhaps I'm fated to not write features. Maybe the angles I give myself are just too hard. I could probably write for the Wilson rating and roll with inoffensive human/pony pairings with lots of handholding and "by you leave, M'lady". Thing is there are only so many different ways for a man to have sex with a cartoon horse, ya feel me? Like in the grand scheme of fimfiction and despite its popularity, it really isn't that hard or interesting compared to Fallout Equestria or Turnabout Storm or Progress or Story of the Blanks or... you get the idea. The ponies are awesome because they're ponies. At some point, this stopped being interesting to the majority.
I am a stubborn ass and I'm not giving up but I need to think about my options here. What do you all think? What do you want to see me try next? I listened to a suggestion from a random user. Let me know.
Edit: I'm going to make likes/dislikes visible on Earthmother again. I can't hide from my failures.
I told you privately, but I’ll tell you this again--I think you’re way too hard on yourself. You took an overused clop trope and tried to redeem it; tried to make something new and different out of it, coming up with an angle neither I nor many others would have been able to. I found Loving Submission a very unique take on the whole Zebra/pony thing, trying to incorporate certain tropes while still giving a plausible reason for why it was that way. I’m not all that surprised by the reaction, but I would look more upon the likes you’ve garnered than the dislikes. This was a risky story but I don’t have any major issues with the way it was written. As you said, I might have done certain things differently, but that’s only because I’m me.
My rule of thumb is very simple: if I like it, I write it. From all reports, you greatly enjoyed writing this, and that’s no small thing. Muses should generally be followed, and likes and readers will come in time. I guess what I’m trying to say is, stop being so hard on yourself. Breakout hits are very hard nowadays, both for the reasons you noted and the fact that, well, the fandom is starting to wind down along with the series. The fact that you got a new FoE story to feature is an amazing thing, so I wouldn’t exactly say you’ve lost your writing mojo. You’re challenging yourself and trying to write things that are new and different, which is more than I can say for a lot of authors. Unfortunately, new and different is usually not safe and popular. All you can really do is build your own private audience over time, and in the end, I’m okay with that if it means I get a solid cadre who enjoys my stuff.
Being a stubborn ass is necessary out here. Fanfiction is a cutthroat business, to be sure and it’s very hard to make a name in it. I’ll do it as long as I’m enjoying it and I’m getting something out of it. Make that your mantra as well, regardless of whether you’re getting the likes you want.
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Thanks, amigo!
And I'll just admit it here for my own sake... issues with abuse notwithstanding, I loved writing this. It felt liberating.
Sorry it didn't go well. I didn't have time to read pony today, but to be honest, the description has me saying "not my thing" and I'll probably give it a skip. We've got an embarrassment of riches here. I alone have:
Even when I see a must-read story by a trusted author that has to preemptively go into favorites, I probably won't get around to actually reading it in time to help with the Featured Box.
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Ouch! Looks like it will take you years to slog through all of that.