State of the Author, Spookmonth Edition · 9:37am Oct 9th, 2019
There's a lot of unfinished business going on here, none of which make for a good blog post by themselves. So that's an issue. Let's see what happens if I put them all together.
I'm currently working on chapter 7 of The Seven Trials of Clover the Clever, which has proven to be one of the complicated ones. You know, the ones where you discover only well into the process that the second scene of the chapter is one of the most difficult and emotional moments that can happen to a person in their life and you're like "Shit, I didn't see that coming. Now everything else in this chapter has to follow that. Whoops."
Season 9, and the show, is almost over, and I haven't said a damn thing about it since the season premiere 
Not for lack of material to work with - all in all I think this season has been great. You know, in spite of constant leaks and early releases and the dance macabre of avoiding spoilers.
But I wanted to try to put a blog together about Daring Doubt, looking back at the whole cycle of Daring Do episodes. Something about the last one occurred to me that made me see all the previous episodes in a new light, but it kinda resisted my efforts to compose a blog about it. So here's the summary: the Daring Do episodes aren't just adventure genre pastiches, they're also about Rainbow Dash leveling up as a reader. From the first episode where RD discovers the joy of reading, to the last where all the Daring Do rogues' gallery become writers of their own stories, each episode introduces RD (and whoever else is around) to a new way of looking at the text and how it connects to the world around it. It's all about reading, on a deeper level than is immediately obvious.
Imposing Sovereigns II is unfolding now, which I love to see. I loved the first contest, and I always had a bit of pride over the fact that it was here on my humble blog that FOME first broached the idea that would become it.
I haven't signed up for the new contest, for lack of good ideas... But I'm always looking for some. I do notice that right now the slot I had my eye on, which was previously filled, is now open again. Because another thing I've been thinking about a lot as the show reaches its end is a third story about Flurry Heart and the Cake twins, a story about looking to the future and not knowing what's hiding there. And it would be extra amusing to me if I completed the trilogy as all contest entries.
I'm going to my book club tonight, to discuss the story "The Viy" by Nikolai Gogol, a good old-fashioned ghost story for the October meetup. You can read it in English translation here. It was made into a film in 1967, apparently the first ever horror film shot in the Soviet Union: You can watch that here, dubbed to English. I thought it was actually very entertaining, a nice way to spend 70 minutes on a cold autumn evening.
How's it going with all of you?
I am grateful for that blog catalyzing the concept of the contest in my mind. And if that slot does get reoccupied before you claim it, Star Swirl and Clover are both available.
Personally, I'm working on my own "author meditates on the show ending through a narrative" story, which I hope to get out before Saturday night. I can confidently say no one else is going to tackle the subject quite like I will.
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As it happens, this chapter of mine does have a princess struggle with challenges that would fit into at least a couple of the categories, but it would be somewhat impractical to submit it on its own
...Well, damn. Now I'm actually considering it.
They usually don't
Looking forward to it.
That's frikkin' brilliant, that is!
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It's a shame that blog post never really took shape. But to expand on it a little bit, each Daring Do episode introduces some new aspect of reading.
The first episode introduces Rainbow Dash to the joy of reading itself.
The second episode introduces Rainbow Dash to studying the life of the author, and how her experiences have shaped her books.
The third episode, through Quibble Pants, introduces Rainbow Dash to fandom, to the plurality of views on the text. It's no longer just her and her idol and how awesome she is.
The fourth one is, ahem, contentious. But it has Caballeron telling stories to smear and deceive, to Rainbow Dash’s frustration. It’s still about telling and hearing stories, but shows that the power of stories has a real-life impact, for better or worse.
The fifth and final episode shows that the author is a fallible mortal just like everyone else (immortal alicorns and unquestionable truth talismans aside), and that even if it is well-intentioned her perspective is just one among many.
Taken together, the sequence follows the growth of a reader and her understanding of books, from the basic to the more complex. The presumable next step is for Rainbow Dash to start reading other books entirely
It’s also about the relationship between stories and reality. Starting with the second episode we are continually reminded that the texts are not just products of the imagination, but are informed by the real world, that they are not neutral and objective renditions of fact but have a certain voice and perspective, that this voice and perspective may be good but isn’t infallible and that there are other competing voices and perspectives that aren’t being heard or seen. These are all worthy things to consider in literature in general.
...And I think that's all of my notes on the matter that are at all salvageable
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And now I need to go and watch all the Daring Do episodes back-to-back!
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And that's when you discover that I'm actually full of bullsh*t
No, but I think it's an interesting idea. I won't claim that all those episodes were really designed with this in mind, and I may be working too hard to make a cartoon show for kids Say Something Deep, but it's interesting nonetheless.
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Naw... stories shape reality!