Alright, enough Spiderman. It's time to get down to business. GoldenEagle159 is here. But just call me Gold or Eagle, okay?

Oh, you don't know me? Here's a quick introduction: I'm a young teenager with diabetes who is smart. Just go to the introductions page from Klondike and scroll down a bit to find a full introduction in the comments. I'm also the dude who had the epic Spiderman war with StayOuttaMyShed and ended up getting 2 threads removed.

So, you may be thinking: "Hey Gold, why the f*** would we want to learn about setting? All I do is put stupid OCs in Ponyville or Canterlot and I have an awesome story!" Actually, if you are actually thinking that, you're an idiot. In case you don't know, setting is both time AND place. And it's not as simple as putting a lifeless pony inside one of the canon cities, you know.

So, the one I really want to talk about is place. First of all, Ponyville and Canterlot aren't the only places in Equestria. Equestria is an entire country, and there's an entire world around it. And, since most of Equestria isn't canon, you make up a town or city anywhere, far or near a canon place, and you haven't ruined anything. Another thing is that anything that isn't a pony or animal in Equestria, that thing isn't going to be accepted very well. Seriously, why would a mythical human just randomly be accepted into Ponyville? They would be sent to some lab or something. And neither would a griffon, either. Third, Cloudsdale and Ponyville aren't the only places a Pegasus can be. They are gifted with power of flight, so they can fly wherever the f*** they want! Fourth, the Mane 6 are probably not going to be anywhere that isn't near Ponyville. So don't have them be in Manehatten! And if they ARE going somewhere, make it an epic quest and give it an Adventure tag! Fifth, Equestria isn't the only place in their world, like I said earlier. Make it like The Giver (an old, really great book) where the place outside it is absolutely nothing like in Equestria! Finally, the ultra-cliché: Ponies on Earth. Don't just send them to New York or your home town or something! Send them to a desert! A remote island! Antarctica! It doesn't just have to be in America! (F*** YEAH!)

Part 2: Time. Don't screw this up! If technology isn't as advanced as in the FiM canon universe, have it be really far in the past in the past! Ultra-cool technology that is awesome? Far in the future! Those are the basics. But when you mix both time and place to create setting, you have to choose the right combination. Since Granny Smith founded Ponyville about 2 generations before the show, any time before that has no Ponyville. And I'm not sure about Canterlot, but I say it's probably around 10 generations. And remember, there ARE such things as “Ancient Civilizations”, even in the magical land of ponies.

Alright, tip time. First, have setting reflect yours genre(s). Dark fiction? Why not put it in a graveyard, or a haunted house? Adventure? How about somewhere that ISN’T just one place?! Comedy? Have the setting reflect on the comedy you use! Romance? Why not the partners watching a sunset on a balcony? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Second, make the stuff accurate! Don’t make an ancient Canterlot have a robot Princess Celestia! If you do that, just give me your address and I’ll be sure to eventually come by just to slap you on the face. And don’t have a future where there is no different technology than the regular time. That’s just silly, you idiot. Third, if you’re going to send some ponies to earth, try not to be cliché; send them to the future and have them fight robots or zombies, or send them to the past and have them fight Aztecs or something. And, again, have a cool setting instead of your town or something. And finally, once you’ve mastered all of the other elements of setting, have setting change during the story. Don’t just stick your OC in Ponyville and have them be confined there for the rest of their life! Have them explore other places! (Canterlot does not f***ing count, got it?) Make their environment change during the course of the story. Why would Ponyville not gain ANY new buildings, businesses, parks, etc. during a pony’s full lifetime? Add buildings to the scenery eventually, or, if you want a challenge, get rid of some buildings! Burn someone’s house down with combustible lemons! Make something explode! Make buildings crumble to the ground! Just be creative!

So, this concludes this segment of Gold’s ramblings. Tune in next time for a high chance of Spiderman!
P.S. If you have any more tips about this, put it as a reply! I’m not a very experienced person, nor am I even a certified teacher in this group. You all probably have ideas I don’t, so make sure to say them!

And this sir, is HEBNECUS. (I mean Genius)

338010

You covered this topic REALLY well. A philosophy of mine is DONT BE LIKE LTD!!!

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Break the boundaries of yourself and write in the HUGE world that Equestria IS!

Stop using norms of shit fan-fics and write outside of the box, (The only good fic that was in Zebrica that I ever read was Along Came a Spider for fuck sakes.)

Honestly, NOTHING is more disappointing than seeing a fic with an "Adventure" tag and having the WHOLE DAMN THING IN PONYVILLE!! IT MAKES NO SENSE!!!!

Anyhow now that im done ranting Eagle, well done.

338010 The Dental Desert.

338010 One setting I really enjoy (for the time section) is winter. You can do so much with it, it's the end and beginning of the year; and also it figuratively symbols death and revival. A snowy day can be one of joy or sorrow for a character depending on how you act it out. In the Description lecture I utilized winter to cast an unsettling mood, but also gave it a glimmer of hope with the snow 'dancing on the wind'. It was dark, cold, and no one ventured the streets, save for the main character. I conveyed that he was depressed without ever truly going into detail that he was, all because of setting.

I don't care how well you can make a character, or even an entire cast; if you can't nail settings, then your characters will just be floating around in a sea of nothingness.

Neat post. I have violated many of the tips given in this post, but that was, however, weeks ago when I did so. It's informative but also a tad strong, as it seems to indicate that Ponyville and Canterlot are both less than good places to start your story. The whole acceptance thing? The world is chock-full of mythological creatures, hostile and not. If a human was, say, accompanied by one or more ponies, the others would be likely to stare, but little else. After all, if a friend of theirs trusts them, how bad could they be? They can be bad, as shown in the character development lecture. (They might be vulgar, arrogant, snarky, and generally assholes, for example, as the lecture says.) However, humans are unknown to everypony and/or mythological in Equestria, so the first reaction is to observe and assess. That's how I see it, but I'm not a good author, so don't take my word for it.

338092 Tell that to the sixteenth-century Spanish conquistadors. They sure did a lot of "observing and assessing" when they landed in South America.

Seeing as ponies suffer from many of the same downfalls as humans, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume some of them would "shoot first and ask questions later", so to speak.