Underappreciated Author Spotlight: Jarvy Jared · 9:48pm Apr 12th, 2022
I have encountered Jarvy Jared in three phases: first, his early writings, second, his development as a reviewer, and third, a reprise of reading some of his newer stories. As I check today, he has 212 followers. Why you should add to that count, after the break.
Jarvy Jared began posting ponyfic in mid-2015, after the fandom bubble started to deflate, so of course he’s not going to have the massive follower count that people from that era could. Still, the fandom was anything but small then, and he posted stories regularly. As I glance over them, the genre and character tags are the kinds of things that should have attracted plenty of readers, so I’m not sure why the view counts are as low as they are. Sometimes, you put a quality product out there, and people just don’t show up.
If I might posit a couple of possibilities… the first thing I notice is that the two longer stories in his early portfolio have an OC as the main character, and those are always a tough sell. That’s nothing on the author, though—if he wants to write an OC story, then more power to him, and that’s obviously not something that inherently makes a story bad. It might explain the lower traffic, though. And the other thing I see is that the story synopses are a little on the vague side, which I’ve been accused of, too. It’s a hard thing to make a synopsis enticing without giving away enough that the reader can get the gist of it from that and move on without opening the book. As will become a theme, Jarvy Jared gets better at this: his newer stories (I’m glancing at Braeburn Discovers the Eye in the Mirror as an example) do have more enticing descriptions.
That’s my guess at why he has fewer followers than I’d expect from the quality of his writing and when he was posting stories. But who knows.
The first story I read by Jarvy Jared was, strangely enough, his first story. Go figure. Oh the Choices is a bit of a philosophical piece. Twilight is ushered into a featureless room and given a choice of two objects in it: a golden hammer or a cup of water. There’s no guidance given, no indication of what either choice’s consequences might be, no hint that there will be any lasting effects. But Twilight’s not the type to get a question wrong, not if she can help it.
She spends the bulk of the story reasoning her way through the conundrum. Do the objects represent something? Is it an innocuous exercise, or will serious things result? Who’s even behind offering her this choice? She naturally assumes Discord would be responsible for such a thing, but if so, he’s not showing himself.
I felt like it came across a little heavy-handed, but I need to qualify that. Philosophical discussions aren’t always the easiest things for a general audience to follow, and if an author wants to make sure everyone can keep up, that’s fine, to a degree. And hey, it’s the author’s first story. I sure don’t want anyone judging my current capability from my first story, but I’m also not going to say it was terrible. I think Jarvy Jared easily made a better first cut at it than I did. (Of course, he may have had experience elsewhere before coming to this fandom, and I wouldn’t know.) Still, following Twilight’s line of reasoning is interesting, and the solution she comes up with is rather clever. This is the kind of story I’d look at and say this is definitely an author with a good baseline skill level and plenty of potential. That alone will get you into the top percentage of quality on the site. Pretty good story, and worth a read.
Next, oddly enough, I read his second story, A Prose By Any Other Name… well, I only started it. Yeah, I said it’s no fair discounting a story just because it’s about an OC, though this was at a time when I was spending four to five hours a day doing editing/reviewing tasks, so I barely did any pleasure reading at all, and especially for a story of this length, it would have been extraordinary for me to stick with it. Translation: that’s on me, not the author. I didn’t drop it because I thought it was bad. I just knew I didn’t have the capacity to keep up with it.
So what impression did stick with me? I only read the first chapter, but it already showed a notable progression in experience from his first story. It also deliberately tackles a theme that I like to see in stories, just because it adds realism, and that is the concept that nobody is an absolute. Too many stories, especially OC ones, paint the OC as perfect in every way, except for some hastily superficial flaw tacked on to avoid accusations of a Gary Stu, and all his opponents are strawmen. Here, nobody’s completely bad, and nobody’s completely good, which is always a good way to add realism. The world just works that way.
After that, we go through a time skip. Well, I do remember another story of his that was posted in the intervening years, but he appears to have deleted it. During this time, I began to be aware of something else about Jarvy Jared: he joined a number of reviewing groups (I didn’t notice whether he joined them all at once or migrated through them in series) and often left rather insightful and thoughtful comments on other stories I was encountering for one reason or another. It wasn’t until a year or so ago that I started reading through many of the reviews he did for those groups. Any of you who have tried such groups on this site will know they can be a very mixed bag. You might get someone who lauds you for your perfect grammar even though you wrote the whole story as one run-on sentence with no punctuation. You might get someone who pans your story because they don’t like Raridash, and you had the audacity to write one.
But no, Jarvy Jared was easily in the upper echelon of whatever groups he was in. It’s not often he reviewed a story that I’d read, but I wish I’d found his posts back when he was writing them so I could give him kudos for his good work there.
As I said way back in my first guest column on Chris’s blog (and even further back than that), reviewing and editing make you a better writer, for reasons that I won’t belabor here, since they’re covered in the linked column. It should come as no surprise, then, that after he started reviewing a lot, there was a commensurate improvement in his writing.
An Unspoken Agreement is a quick-hit piece that takes on a common topic of “we’re all getting older,” but I like the way it presents things. You’ve got an older stallion heading to the graveyard, and he has some purpose there, but of course, figuratively, he’s also heading toward the graveyard. It’s mentioned more as something for the reader to chew on, as even though Rarity and Twilight are dancing around the subject, they don’t really notice how on point he is. I’m not always up for philosophical works, but this is really atmospheric (which I do like), and at only 1500 words, it’s not going to waste your time. Not so someone reading it in isolation would care, but it shows a great maturation in what the author wants to do with a story and how he structures it to achieve that.
Afterward, I read Gracefully, which, well, is about the same thing. Except it’s that Rarity has hit the point that she can no longer fool herself. She’s getting older, but Twilight isn’t. Immortality angst stories are nothing new, either, but it’s not often you see one from another’s perspective like this, especially when it’s not someone like a child or lover of the immortal character. Naturally, Discord has a few relevant comments to add, and it’s a more sedate version of him than you normally see, but I could buy that, after how much time has passed. It’s one of the better immortality stories I’ve read, and a rather quiet one at that.
Now, on to Silver Whistles, which even goes ahead and titles the ship (Silver Zoom and Windy Whistles), written for a shipping contest. Unusual shipping was not required, but this one sure is (Silver Zoom is a background Wonderbolt who I’m not sure even has an official name).
Silver Zoom has no desire to go the the Grand Galloping Gala at all, but Wonderbolts are expected to attend. So he puts in whatever minimum face time will get him off the hook, and is about to leave when he runs into Windy Whistles. And something about him is rather compelling.
No, this doesn’t have him horning in on Bow Hothoof. There’s an in-story explanation for why Windy is available. What follows is a lengthy but atmospheric conversation where the two explore where life may be going for them, and it meanders through a couple of different locations as they fly around. There’s not much plot to cover, but it is a nicely character-revealing discussion, and I’ve always admired stories that can present dialogue that goes on for page after page yet still makes it feel like it wasn’t very long.
Oh yeah, and Jarvy Jared won the contest.
On a Riverboat to the Sea is a nice character study as well, and it progresses through two plot threads. For one, Twilight Velvet has become a celebrity because of who her daughter is, whereas she’d rather be able to remain inconspicuous if possible. Even more so, since she’s trying to take a vacation. In the other thread, she becomes acquainted with a couple of other passengers who are in a unique situation. I wish I could discuss it without spoilers, though in this case, it’s not like the plot development comes as a surprise. As soon as I saw the young griffon and the mare interact, I could tell what their relationship was. So it shouldn’t surprise you, even if it surprises Twilight Velvet.
It’s a pretty obvious allegory for something that happens in our world, too: interracial adoptions. They’ll always draw double-takes, and, unfortunately, people who think they’re inappropriate, in addition to people who would have prejudices independent of the adoption issue. And the parent knows none of that is ever going to get better.
I do think the child got completely excused for some pretty extreme behavior (it could have gotten quite a few ponies killed), but that doesn’t detract from the message: it takes genuine love to adopt someone into a family, and it’s very much akin to the same kind of acceptance for any type of outsider. A nicely touching story, and well-played as to how Twilight Velvet uses the influence she never wanted to have in the first place.
Lastly, we have The Parable of the Toymaker and unfortunately, it’s another one I didn’t finish. I’d reviewed it when it was submitted to Equestria Daily, and only the first two chapters were published at the time, so that’s all I read, but it was a great beginning.
Of course Argyle has his dreams of ponies living together in peace. He believes they once did and that they can again. He sets off across the sea in search of someone who can make the figurines of the Mane 6 that Sunny is seen playing with at the beginning of the movie, since he can’t just ask anyone. Best case, any random pony would just think he was weird and refuse to talk to him. Worst case, they may start screeching about heresy and looking for an authority.
But he does find someone who seems oddly and similarly invested in the concept as he is. This stallion’s daughter isn’t sold on the idea, however, not to mention the fact that she needs to keep it hushed. It’s a nice setup, and I really should follow through to see how the rest goes…
For now, though, consider giving Jarvy Jared a follow. He had a promising starting point, showed continual improvement even after that, and he’s become a good reviewer as well.
Check out my previous underappreciated author spotlights:
Casca
Lucky Dreams
Ceffyl Dwr
Miller Minus
Impossible Numbers
Newcomers Edition with PapierSam and President Dead
Middle Ground Edition with Chris, PatchworkPoltergeist, and Norm De Plume
NaiadSagaIotaOar
Orbiting Kettle
Jay Bear
CoffeeMinion
yes, he's done some good stuff :D
Flustered Jarvy noises here
Well, I can't say I would ever have expected this... Is it so weird a thing to say, I consider myself neither over appreciated nor under appreciated? That might be rubbing the nose a little too close to self-clout in either fashion, to be honest...
Firstly, thank you for the shout-out! It means a lot, truly. I'm rather surprised that you've apparently been somewhat aware of my presence for all seven years I've been on this site. I've never really tried to cultivate a remarkable or noteworthy presence here - for me FIMFic was just the most convenient place for my to express my appreciation for a show I encountered and fell in love with years after its "peak" had been reached (as many have said, much, I must admit, to my annoyance). I don't even do a whole lot of self-promotion these days, mostly because my output is certainly not very high, and I dislike spamming, asking people for their attention. The fact that anyone should read any of my work and appreciate it never fails to amaze me.
That you should have read many of my earliest work is both an incredibly humbling and embarrassing experience. I'm surprised that there's at least some sentiment to suggest that some of my older stuff stands up, or, at least (or at most, I suppose, if I am to be coy about it), is readable. It is regrettable that I don't quite hold such a high opinion about those things as you might (or others might). As a lot of my older work was written in, God save us, high school, that stuff tends to dwell on the edgy, philosophical "I am a super smart lol" kind of character that I thought I was back then. Looking back on even something as small as "Oh The Choices" (and it's sequel), I can't say I fully agree with my approach to those kinds of stories. That dwelling on philosophical quandraries feels rather pretentious, which I've come to realize doesn't make for good writing.
I was surprised to see you even bothered to give my first fanfic novel a read. It's no uncommon thing for an author to say they dislike their work - but I really must say, there are a lot of faults in that story which would incline me towards saying, "Hmm, maybe you shouldn't." Still, I must acknowledge two things about it - first, that it was my first attempt at writing something for the Fandom (I began writing it before Oh the Choices); and second, it was my first attempt at writing a novel. In high school, no less. Much as I cringe at my old work and think that they're not particularly things I'd recommend, I think that fact remains a point of pride for me.
My newer stories (which, I would say, range from the stuff I wrote from 2019-2022), are stronger and far more cohesive. I think that's because I tried to remove my ego from those stories, to take a more focused approach to writing. I did a lot of growing in that time, thanks to attending college, so that likely contributed as well. I moved away from abject philosophical questions, because I didn't want to write more mouthpieces, and embraced character as the defining aspect of storytelling. I also read more, and thought more critically about writing as a practiced form. I've been trying to be more mature without being overt about it.
This may be an odd thing to do, given that this site is for fanfiction, but I've never believed a work is any less valuable or compelling if it so happens to be a fanfic. Thus, the mindset I have writing fanfics, is really the same I have for writing non-fanfics. If I can do it well, or at least try to, then so it shall be.
At any rate, I think my newer work is far, far better than my older stuff, by miles. I'm not trying to reinvent things, or make a name for myself - I'm just trying to write a story in the most authentic and accessible way I know. And while my output is slow, and while I am busy, every now and then a new pony idea comes to mind, and I like to try and see it through if I can.
Thank you for the spotlight! I hope that you enjoy some of my other (preferably newer) work, and I hope I am able to consistently deliver.
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more flustered Jarvy noises
Already done.
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I completely agree that there's nothing about fanfiction that inherently makes it of less literary merit. More that it's easier for a larger number of authors to gain an audience, it may attract more practitioners who see a more accessible route to writing than general fiction provides (and so maybe increases the fraction of those who are unskilled and don't really work at increasing that skill), and it often allows the shortcut of the reader already knowing who your characters are and how your world operates. Even with all that, there are numerous gems around this site that I would call genuine literature. It's a bit of a shame they'd have to be rejiggered some before a general audience could understand them.
You made me realize I had liked and favorited Parable of the Toymaker, but not followed the author. Thanks for helping me correct my mistake!
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Glad you did, and I hope that'll lead to you finding some more stories you'll really enjoy.