Blog Post #22 - 8+ Years · 2:13am Mar 10th, 2021
Jesus Christ, it's been over eight years since I joined this website. Eugh. Time flies, I suppose.
So, what would I say of my time on this website? A few words describe it, though they carry mixed emotions.
I've always dreamt of making a story that got popular enough that people really wanted to talk to me about it as much as I wanted to talk to my favorite authors on this site. Unfortunately, I didn't jump on that train until it was way too late. Part of me thinks anything I do now isn't going to do nearly as well as I hope it will, but who knows. I will admit, the idea of this fandom dying does sort of dissuade me from investing too much time into any of my projects - though there are still quite a few authors out there still cranking out stories that are well received, so we'll see.
I also want to rewrite literally every project of mine from the ground up. They say "perfect is the enemy of good", but this is more along the lines of I don't even think it's remotely good. I haven't read or touched The Girl I Left Behind Me or She Wore A Yellow Ribbon in literally years, and it'd take nothing less than an act of God to make that happen, honestly. If I do, I would want to literally tear it apart and rebuild it from the ground up. I wrote The Girl I Left Behind Me in 8th grade, and it definitely reads like it. I had the absolute most basic knowledge of life in the military and used Google Images more than any sort of actual educational source.
Now, I study US Military History of the 20th century, and looking at that story makes me cringe. It's Hollywood, there's no genuineness to it. There's no humanity. Yeah, he has PTSD but he's not this unhinged murder hobo that could go off at any moment. He's a man with an illness. That's it. I was writing a victim of PTSD instead of a man who just has PTSD. Even in the rewrites, the character was more like a coin. He's got a light side that cracks jokes and is human, and he's got a dark side that struggles with his past and regrets. But at the end of the day, he was still a flat character. Maybe you disagree, maybe you don't. But I know I could write a better character now. And it's also full of random shit. I just tacked on whatever I thought was cool and tried to see how many things I could put in a 1400 word one shot instead of just keeping the story clean and tidy. So to fix this, I wrote a sequel series that proceeded to explain none of that and only add more without resolving any of it.
This is all not including the stuff I deleted off the site, but you get the gist. I am deeply dissatisfied with my own writing.
Textbook Soldier, I feel less of this on, but there's several things I'd want to change.
SPOILERS FOR TEXTBOOK SOLDIER
I want to either get rid of or severely push back Sunset and James's little romantic whatever the fuck that was. It's cringey as fuck and way too soon. The word "simp" comes to mind. Can you tell my romantic experience is rather limited? Plus, I also just tried to flex my intense knowledge of WW2 US Army field gear, and I crammed on as much of his shit as possible. It's nowhere near a combat load, and you don't need to know all that. Then there was the scene one user very aptly described as "gun porn" where for no reason at all, James just starts explaining the parts of an M1 Garand to Sunset. Again, me trying to flex knowledge instead of telling a story. If I ever rewrite Textbook Soldier (Again), which isn't out of the realm of possibility, I'd clean it up a lot.
I've also been toying with another idea, but it probably won't ever see the light of day. If it does, I'm going to have it fully written and edited before I even upload the first chapter. That way if I want to tear it apart and start over, there's no expectations.
Anyway, I just wanted to rant. I saw I'd been here awhile and started thinking of all my projects. Hopefully, I can get some things going again. I'm thinking of buying a laptop to carry with me. I used to have one, and that was how I got like 60k words of Textbook Soldier written before uploading the first chapter. I have a lot of downtime at work, but work computers are severely limited due to document security and confidentiality reasons. i.e., no Google Docs on work computers. Maybe that'll be my tax return purchase, who knows.
Also if anyone wants me to do blog posts on James's field gear and equipment, let me know. I also may do it anyway. I enjoy talking about that sort of thing, and if anyone wants to hear it I'll be happy to tell you.
Well, I'll see you when I see you.
Best,
Backslasherton
Best of luck down the line!
Frankly, your stories are the exact gratifying content for my odd fantasies of, oddly enough; crossing over anything military with MLP lol. Also, seeing your assessment towards your old stories are pretty informative and vicariously gladdening to see you improving.
Looking forward for more content from you! Best of luck!
5473391
I appreciate the kind words. If you've never read it, the absolute best Military Human in Equestria story I've ever read is ARTICLE 2 by Muppetz. Muppetz wrote it while on active duty in the US Marine Corps and it's very good writing. It's got a good blend of Science-Fiction that gives justification and context for how he ended up in Equestria while not distracting you with tons of stuff you don't understand. As opposed to most science fiction stories that say they're like 20 years in the future and yet have this drastic technological advancement with holograms and laser weapons. This one is just genuinely 20 years in the future. Most of what he's talking about either already exists and he's just scaling how prevalent it is into the future, or it's something that could conceivably be developed soon. Culture doesn't really change, and the main character, Shane, is still just a Marine doing grunt things. It's great, highly recommend.
5471637
Appreciate it!