Status report, and "the beginning is in sight" · 10:21am Jul 30th, 2019

Hi there, I am Ying Long, someone with a non-existent work ethic and an "update schedule" sparser than the Grrm himself.

I had, to heavy regret of mine, shifted mainly to drawing in these few years. Initially, it was entirely out of "spite", since I had witnessed so many excellent writers with well-written stories without good story illustration, and I wanted to DIY. It then morphed into a perpetual sense of unhealthy inadequacy. (Happens to most artists I heard.)

I have neglected the writing part of my creative output, and for this I constantly feel bad about, since the fulfillment from earning positive feedback from mere written words alone, is something entirely different from that from having someone praise you for drawing a really cute pone.

To my consternation, picking up the drawing stylus seemed to have severely impacted my ability to stay focused and persevere through writer's blocks, since I inevitably crave for the quick and certain positive feedback of drawing adorable art. Learning to draw turns out to be a choice that was both rewarding and handicapping. I still have no way to properly deal with this yet, and I appreciate any suggestion to increase my writing output.

Anyway, it seems that the "official support" for the current incarnation of MLP:FiM (and EqG) is coming to an end.

Of course that means no new official materials. However, a minor blessing to fan creators is that it means the official worldbuilding is complete, and for those who want to be largely faithful to source materials, they no longer have to tip-toe around, fearing elements of their stories being jossed (Warning: This is a link to TVTropes, and it can potentially decrease your productivity by up to 80%) and engendering reader dissonance. I did feel quite disheartened when that happened, so in part, I am indeed waiting for the series to conclude to resume creative writing based on external source materials. (The other reason being the ongoing conclusion of my graduate school work.)

As long as there are still people enjoying the official and derivative works, I can see this fandom at least trudge on. The fandom has shrunk somewhat, but the core is there. In a sense, it's like Microsoft calling off the official support for Windows XP. Despite that, it doesn't erase that fact that XP still is a beloved and versatile OS, and doesn't stop some people from sticking to it even in the year of 2019. Fan works, like fanfics, are like forked projects, they can get an intriguing life on their own.

Still, I am prompted to write this blog post, primarily because of my accidentally exposure to certain leaked materials that intrigued me greatly. They would be properly spoiler-tagged, but to be safe, please kindly avoid reading on if you care a lot about them, thank you.

Folks, I am just absolutely floored to see the actual body swapping as a plot element to appear in an official episode (S9E18). The slightly cynical part of me would chuckle at the use of a 'cliched' trope in a rather 'cliched' way (to solve a lack of mutual understanding... via zebra potion), but I am mostly overjoyed to get a nod from the creators and seeing this trope in action in the official series. As someone who is intrigued by delving into the subtle psychological aspects of characters having to switch perspectives and adapt to them, the interactions between the switched party thereafter, and even the complexities of changing species and gender altogether, that is honest-to-goodness to me the sweetest parting gift from the writers! Oh horseapples, I would be lying if that did not reignite the fire under my writing chair...

Report Yinglung · 286 views · #writing #last season

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