Writing Guide: Anonfilly (01/23/2020) · 4:57am Jan 24th, 2020
Anonpony is a character trope originating from 4chan's /mlp/ board. While it's hard to say when exactly Anonpony was 'created' or 'who' created it (given that all users of the widely popular forum are Anonymous) It's estimated to have originated some time in the time frame of 2015 to 2016.
Background of Anonpony requires a teensy bit of a look at /mlp/'s other titular character: Anon. Anon is a character that is immersed into Equestria "somehow" and usually gets into shenanigans, falls in love, falls victim to unknown horrors, goes on marvelous adventures with any number of the characters that we've come to love and know through the show. Anon has no "regular" or "consistent" personality, but instead relies heavily on relate-able decisions, showing Anon's train of thought through using second person, and of course, the lack of description of what they look like. When you write Anon, you are not writing "The green man in a suit". You are writing you. Or more formally, the colloquial you. While you are more than welcome to also write "the green man in a suit." Anons vary vastly from person to person. There is no "one personality" to follow. Anon's, their actions, and personalities vary widely from Author to Author, and from Story to Story.
Anonpony, or more specifically, Anonfilly, came out of a few general story tropes.
1. You went to Equestria. BUT, you're a pony now. In fact. You're a young pony. And Female. Good Luck. Shenanigans.
2. Twilight did mAgIcAl SpElLs and now you are a young filly.
3. Screw all the human stuff. You are just a young filly in Equestria now. Have Fun.
In general, most Anonpony and Anonfilly stories were written in second person, as per /mlp/'s titular style of greentext. If you haven't done research before into what makes writing Greentext different from Writing prose, I'd heavily suggest doing your research. I once did a panel at Babscon with Regidar and ABagOfVicodin regarding this topic, and while they can be similar, they lend differing bad and good habits.
Once many writers began writing from /mlp/ to Fimfiction, or vice versa from Fimfiction to /mlp/ a marketplace and exchange of ideas began exchanging at an even higher rate than the original invasion of AiE in the 2013-2015 years. Anonfilly began to hit Fimfiction, and began to become widely popular due to not only /mlp/'s art community, but also pony twitter adding their own takes on Anonfilly, and her usually brash form of humor mixed with cuteness.
With this also meant that many writers began to 'adopt' Anonfilly into third person stories. And what that also meant that Anonfilly began to diverge heavily from their original template, Anon. Anonfilly was no longer a "placeholder" character that allowed writers to not have to tear someone out of the experience with a terrible OC style, but now her own green and black style based on Anon.
Today, Anonfilly is commonly used as a "you" character, that's used for second and third person style stories, but also used as a filly with an Adult mind that's more than happy to be crass, sexual, a memelord, and shitposter. But, the key part being: Everything they usually do is cute. Even if they don't want it to be.
But, that's just my personal take and my own personal knowledge on the character. I'm more than happy to say there's likely gaps in my knowledge, and there can entirely be room for someone else to take the idea of the character and roll with it into something completely unique that's worth it's own merit.
What do you think? Am I totally fucking wrong? Probably. If other folks have valuable input that I haven't shared here, I may add it above with a citation to them. Hope this helps someone! In my opinion, more stories is better than less.
Missing a word. Normally I'd be like whatever, but I assume a lot of people will be looking at this for the contest.
5191026
Well, I'm sorry to hear that you're reading ones you dislike. There's nothing wrong with not liking a genre of fiction, but I've been writing Anon and helping Anon writers for about 6 years, so I'll agree to disagree with you on your points of personality. We've had this comment chain before, Jake. And I know you won't change your mind.
I'm sure there's more than a handful of Anon authors who wrote something in greentext, didn't consider how greentext doesn't translate to prose well, and then published it without a pre-read. Or folks who see Anon as a clickbait trope, and use it to try and get easy views or upvotes. While that's disappointing, it's the reality of the site we work on, where clickbait is rewarded over skill or effort.
On the whole though, I will actively disagree that the use of Anon implies bad writing. More than a few Anon writers I've mentored and worked with are published authors working under pen names.
But, considering that this is a writing guide hosted on one of the accounts on the site that's tied for the most Anon stories written, perhaps the better place for this conversation would be a private message.
5191021
Fixed! Thanks Trampoline!
Based on what I've observed I'd say this guide is pretty accurate. Two thumbs up!
5191029
You can thank me by getting me on the barcast interview
Sounds about right, Anonfilly typically has more of a set personality compared to "Anonymous"