So, the Fic I just submitted, Between Bassdrops and Bowstrings focuses on Octavia and Vinyl as they come to realize that they do indeed love one another. This means that the two don't start knowing this, and a good portion of the story follows Vinyl in a relationship with Neon while Octavia laments over her fear of confessing her love. It does end in the two of them together - I am a blatant VinylOcti shipper - but in an effort to make the story more real, I made bigotry and uncertainty play a large role in the character's minds.
In my headcannon, Equestria - more specifically 'old school' cities like Canterlot - are heavily bigoted against anything that isn't the norm. If you aren't a pony, stay away. If you love within your gender, they don't want you. And, in this story, Octavia spends several years there, being brainwashed by their ways before returning and falling in love with Vinyl.
Anyone who has ever battled against discrimination and the mindsets that those kinds of barriers place on people know what I was aiming for, in this story. I just wanted to clarify that, in the end, it is a story about mare-love. Vinyl is bisexual, while Octavia is a lesbian (Though she does get drunk as a skunk and sleep with a stallion once) and the two do fall in love. This story is mostly about the bumpy road, leading to the discovery of true love.

Is that still an okay story for this Group? When i read the rules, it said that the relationships needed to be mare-on-mare exclusively, but I find that the struggle of a lesbian, trying to accept who she is in her heart and face the fear of discrimination that everyone faces when they approach such topics to be a powerful subject... Something that isn't addressed nearly enough.

-Inkheart

5268639 I really need to check this story out.

but I find that the struggle of a lesbian, trying to accept who she is in her heart and face the fear of discrimination that everyone faces when they approach such topics.

This just sounds incomplete to me. Do you find it exciting? Do you find it troubling? What?

5268670
Wow, I must have been drunk when I wrote that sentence.
Hold on... Fixed.

5268639 I can't really answer the main question but I do have a little insight as to the point you made. It takes one hell of a writer to address such things without screwing it up badly. This is why I personally avoid it. I already have enough I still need to work on as it is.

5268734
Heh... As someone who faced a similar problem - though on the opposite side of the gender scale - at one point in his life, I suppose writing this topic came easily to me. The trick is, don't lay too heavily on it. By the time it becomes a problem, it'll be second nature and you won't even consider why you feel like you do. You just feel like, should you ever say how you really feel, the world will despise you for it. Everything will crumble.
That's how I felt at the time, at least.

-Inkheart

5268760 My statement was born of observation and not my own experiences. I've also seen just how awkwardly and even inappropriately other writers have handled this kind of thing. It's rather off putting and immersion breaking when it's not done right. Also you really do kind of walk on eggshells as it were because including negative stereotypes is hard to avoid and harms the point you're trying to make.

What you've said does make sense though. It's very clear and concise. So that helps make your point.

5268799
Thank you. I can understand how people would make the mistakes of putting too much attention on the bigotry. Ironically, the bigoty I menioned doesn't show too heavily; instead the rift in musical genres is the primary focus of the upfront bigotry. It's ironically Neon Lights who is the most verbal about this bigotry, being a Dubtrot musician in Canterlot.
But I digress, I'm just worried about stepping on toes in this Group. My story isn't your average love story; I wanted to make it feel more natural. Love doesn't just pop up in the story, but is a battle. Octavia needs to fight against Neon, as well as her own inner demons to get Vinyl's heart. Pretty soon, actually, the hard work will start bearing fruit.
I confess, I went for irony; the ship is started on an actual ship.

-Inkheart

5268821 You're welcome and it's good that you're thinking ahead. Hopefully someone can answer the actual question as well, I know that would be helpful. And speaking of being funny that bit of background info is very funny. Life is really odd that way sometimes. It sounds like there is a lot of hard work that will pay off.

I have my own lesbian ship I've been trying to work on starring Megan and Sundance from G1 and it has been a pain. My goal is to write a very sweet and fluffy story that helps me to work on the romantic build up. Something I desperately need to work on.

5268855
Yeah, I've been bouncing this story around in my head for two years, and wrote it about a year ago. Right now, I'm in the editing/revision process, before I upload the final chapters here. it's been a long labor-of-love, but I'm proud of it. Admittedly, Vinyl and Octavia are just a focus for the story, which is more of a thank-you to all the brony musicians who made my life a little brighter with their music.

My advice? Don't think about the final product, think about the road to the results. Romance is different from any other genre in that it takes very strange, winding roads in it's development. Horror is based on the weakness and ineffectiveness of the characters; if a character in a horror story can fight back, it is little more than an action story. Action is easy; explosions win. Okay, that's a gross understatement, but it's still among the easier genre's to write. Slice-of-Life is difficult in sometimes, people meander and have trouble finding a way to keep the story interesting... But romance?
In a romance story, you are best starting from the beginning. My fic starts while Vinyl and Octavia are still fillies - when they first meet, to be precise. I skipped up to when they were older, but the meeting is just as valuable as anything else. I plan on releasing a few 'Bonus Chapters' after I finish the main story that highlight just random moments in their lives. The inner thoughts of the character are just as valuable as they are in horror. In a horror story, having a character lament on their inability to do anything and their fears of the unknown is vital, while in a romance, one must be able to express the reason, rhyme and reaction to the character's feelings and their own opinions on them.
Gods, that got confusing fast... I hope you got something from that rambling jumble of bleh...

-Inkheart

5268916 I think I get what you're saying, I think. My current problem is that all I have is the vague idea that I need to start with Megan's high school graduation. The rest of the road is completely unknown to me. I need some help to better work things out.

5269349
That's the easy part, friend. The advice is simple; look at the characters and ask yourself; 'What will they do next?' Will Megan and Sundance be separated for a time, going down different roads? Will they follow similar paths, or at least ones that will guide them closer together?
In my story, it's the former. I gave development to their time apart and how hard it was, remembering all the time spent together. Eventually, neither of them could stand the distance and they're brought back together of their own free will. This is one possibility, next to the 'Fateful Meeting' trope, where some event forces the two back together again, after a long time apart.
If you keep them close together from the beginning, you've got the challenge of developing them as they spend time together, first as friends and then as more. I'm a serious romantic, but I don't believe in love at first sight. I believe in infatuation at first sight, and by that, I mean this; a person could feel like they're a good match for someone, but instantly knowing they're your soulmate is a little... eh... too easy.
Let me give an example; Hotel Transylvania, if you've ever seen that movie. I enjoyed the movie - it was adorable and awesome in a lot of ways - but I wasn't a huge fan of the 'Zing' concept. That idea that, just by looking into someone's eyes, you know they're the one for you. It's too cliche, too easy. Love is anything but easy and it's never so clean-cut.
I suppose this is what makes Romance so difficult. People either avoid cliche's, finding themselves caught in a difficult position, as love and love stories are chock-full of the damn things... or they succumb to too many cliches and their story suffers for it. The trick is to find a balance between the two. Some cliches are simply, bluntly, just the truth. They are common factors in romance stories, because they are common factors in romance, period. Picking those out of the bunch is a big help, for any writer or artist.
Tell me if I ramble too much. And feel free to ask me to clarify anything I get all babbly about. I rant when I get impassioned about something, and when I rant, I tend to veer around the logical tracks like a sailor on shore leave.

-Inkheart

5269372 Megan will be seeing her regularly again for the first time in five years after her graduation. And since this is off topic more than a bit just message me and we can pick this up there.

I really do hope your question gets answered though. I'll admit I'm a little confused about it myself.

*I bust in through a wall*
Sure.
If it's not mare-mare exclusive, it just has to be like a main focus of the story is this groups motto.
So sure, also checked and it's already in. So I guess someone already decided.

Meh.
FF, out.
*Fly through a skylight*