A Simple Exercise

by Burraku_Pansa

A Simple Exercise

A Simple Exercise
by Burraku_Pansa

The first words are always hard. Hard enough, oftentimes, that one might tell oneself that it’s the hardest part. An easy enough thing to say, when faced with nothing but a blank page, but then again, most things are easy to say. It’s a simple matter to think a thought, and almost as simple to express it verbally, but to write it down? To set in ink? To attach your reputation to it as it becomes tangible and nigh permanent? That can be difficult.

“Mom should’ve named me Writer’s Block...”

A lavender unicorn sits at a writing desk. Shoulders slumped, she stares past the quill hovering before her, observing, quite dejectedly, a blank piece of parchment. An inkwell, filled nearly to the brim, rests beside it on the desk, surrounded by minuscule splotches of the dark liquid, some of which are beginning to stain the wood beneath. The unicorn dips her quill once again into the small ceramic container, as though going through the motions would finally spur her on to touch the utensil to the page.

Moments pass. The quill, already having been thoroughly coated before this most recent dunking, drips yet another splash of ink onto the desk. The parchment remains pristine and bare.

“Darn it...” the mare grumbles. “Why the hay is this so tough?” She thinks back to her days at the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns, but fails to recall ever having this much trouble beginning a piece of writing. No, she could develop and start working from a thesis faster than most of the other students could even choose a topic. Why, then, was she having so much trouble now?

‘Maybe that’s the problem,’ she thinks. ‘I’ve always written papers or letters, but outside of that one creative writing seminar, I haven’t tried my hoof at fiction before...’

The seminar in question had been a requirement, she remembers, and beyond putting forth what was necessary to be done with it and move on to her physical and arcane sciences courses, she hadn’t given much effort. Now, though, she struggled desperately to recollect the sorts of things a pony with writer’s block was supposed to do to rid herself of it. Writing exercises had been almost a daily occurrence to get the proverbial juices flowing, yet it seems she can barely conjure into her memory any of the specific topics...

“Aha!” she exclaims suddenly, having summoned one such topic to mind. “A three-hundred word description of the room I’m in...”

The unicorn raises her head and surveys her residence. A roughly circular room, the area smells strongly of the wood that it is composed of, or perhaps more aptly, is carved into. A multitude of shelves holds a veritable army of books, bindings nearly every color imaginable. And if tomes aren’t organized neatly along these shelves, then they are strewn haphazardly along lecterns or tabletops fashioned from the stumps of trees far smaller than that which forms this library.

Candles primarily light the room, though they are giving way to the slowly-brightening shafts of light that pour more and more noticeably in through the building’s windows. One beam of light currently falls upon a large, rather intricate wooden bust that rests on the room’s central table. This carving has an interestingly-styled mane; it is more a mohawk than anything else. This leads one to wonder whether it is a pony at all, and not a zebra, whose culture might more readily adopt such an appearance.

In the stillness of the library, a scant few sounds pervade the peace. Soft breathing can be heard from two sources. One is the purple unicorn, still looking intently around herself. The other is an owl perched nearby, staring equally intently in no particular direction. If not for the gentle puffing-up and deflation as it breathes, the owl’s earthy tan, brown, and orange color scheme would allow it to blend right into the woodwork. Beyond the breathing, a light snoring can be heard coming down a set of winding stairs that leads upwards to other areas of the building. The gentle whooshing of the candle flames as they dance in a small draft is just barely audible as well. Presently, another sound is added to the list as the unicorn turns back towards the desk and begins to scratch away slowly with her quill.

‘A library,’ the parchment begins to read. ‘There are’ … ‘books.’ … ‘The whole room’ … ‘smells like’ … The unicorn blots the previous word out with a liberal smattering of ink before continuing... ‘nice.’

The scratch of quill on parchment halts, and a few moments pass in relative silence. “Arrgh!” the mare groans, plainly frustrated. “Okay, that’s no good... What else can I try?” She balls the parchment up and tosses it over her shoulder. As she opens a drawer and lifts another page out from the desk, a thought strikes her. “Oh yeah! An interview with a historic or fictional character! That one was actually pretty fun to do...”

She takes a moment to mull her options over. “Starswirl the Bearded? No, he’s who I did this with back in class... Daring Do?... No, too mainstream; too easy. Maybe I could use Princess Celestia?”

The owl promptly turns its head to the unicorn before letting out an inquisitive “Who?”

The mare, likewise, turns to the owl. “Pfft, like you don’t know,” she says. “One of Equestria’s ruling sisters? The mare who I’m the personal student of? The one who sent me to Ponyville to make friends?”

“Who?”

“My friends? Oh, you’ve met them. Pinkie, AJ, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Rarity’s the one who made you and Spike those bows you like so much, remember?”

“Who?”

“Oh now I know you’re pulling my leg, Owlowiscious. Spike’s like a brother to you!”

“Who?”

The unicorn giggles. “A bit one-sided, little guy. We’ll have to work on that...” She turns once more to the desk, the smile that she’d developed from ‘conversing’ with the owl slowly fading. “You know,” she says aloud, “writing exercises might not be what I need right now... Maybe some actual exercise could do the trick.”

With that, she stands up, legs wobbling slightly. After shaking the tiredness out of each, she starts towards the front door, opens it with her magic, and steps out into the bright new day.

- - -

A/N: Well, this author is off to his Filipino Kali class. Maybe I’ll write something soon. Until then, so long, folks!

Comments

[CluelessDetective]

Pretty good!

[nemryn]

Somewhere out there, there probably is a pony named Writer's Block. She has the worst special talent.

[Burraku_Pansa]

326806
Thank you kindly.

327011
Heh, maybe it's not quite what it sounds like, and her talent has something to do with finding/grinding up inkstones? One of my story ideas actually has to do with ponies that have misleading names and cutie marks.

[VitaminT]

I know that feeling. The craftiest self-insert I've read. I hope you really talked to a pet too just so I know I'm not the only crazy person that does that.

[Web of Hope]

This carving has an interestingly-styled mane; it is more a mohawk than anything else. This leads one to wonder whether it is a pony at all, and not a zebra, whose culture might more readily adopt such an appearance.

actually, I always assumed it was a pegasus, since they've been depicted as being very roman in their designs, and the helmet crests are still prominent in the guard.

[Web of Hope]

2001601
Oh no, I talk to my cat all the time, you're definitely not alone

[gamexpert1990]

I can only wonder if I will ever actually write a story of my own if I keep reading stories about other peoples bouts with writer's block... (Even though this is only the second story I've come across on the topic so far.)

[funbrand]

Wow. Nearly three years after this was made i find this story, and com none other than Majin Syeekoh himself! He made a blog post about it, hence why I'm here! Though you probably have, and still are, keep up the good work!!

[Burraku_Pansa]

5505664
This is the part where I give you vague and nigh-worthlessly impersonal advice about getting past writer's block.

Just get a seed of an idea, open up a document, stop thinking, and type, then after you can't anymore, go back, clean it up, and try to make it into something unique. If that's not your style, then do the opposite: Before putting fingers to keys, think up ideas until your brain is in pieces, and once you have one, think about it until your brain-pieces are in piece-pieces. Fall in love with that idea and all the directions you could take it, and then start typing, letting it all firm up.

If you've brought writer's block up elsewhere, I'm sure you've heard every perspective on how to get past it, so the above two methods are probably just two more drops in the janitor's bucket of mop water, so this is the part where you probably file them away as future options for if you ever work up the will. But therein lies the problem: working up the will to even try pretty much any method to get past writer's block is already the whole of the battle. The real advice is that you get past it when you get past it, so just be open to those rare moments when you think you might actually be feeling that thing you vaguely recall as being called "motivation". It all sort of snowballs from there.

To close out this block of thing you didn't ask to hear, let me say thank you for taking the time to give something of mine a read.

5505710
I'm actually a little shocked, out of any of my fics, Syeekoh decided to put this one in the spotlight—it's easily my least favorite of what I've published here. I'd definitely recommend you try one of my more recent things. Thanks for the attention, all the same.

[gamexpert1990]

5506600
I believe that vague advice is sometimes far more worthwhile than any overly-specific advice could be, mainly because it's more malleable to interpretation.

I haven't really brought up the topic, I just happened to stumble across another story regarding it a while ago.

As far as working up the will to do so, I'm going to try and hold myself to a resolution of writing and publishing a story here sometime within the year...

I may not have asked to hear that, but it is information that I truly do appreciate all the same. Thank you. Oh, and I'll also be sure to check out some of your other works.

[Imperator Chiashi Zane]

2453600 It's a recognized and accepted part of both writing and programming. In Programming, it's called Rubber Ducking

[Web of Hope]

5507679 I'm familiar with the concept, and heartily approve its use

[Majin Syeekoh]

5506600 I'm actually a fan of the second method myself—some of my shortest stories have had days of planning put into them lining everything up just right.

As for why I chose this story, well, there are two reasons:

1. It's your shortest story.

2. I have a soft spot for metafiction.

The fact that this story is so well-constructed and is still your least favorite speaks volumes of the standards you set for yourself.

[Myrandall]

Very nice. It's not often I see such a well worded short on this site.

[Burraku_Pansa]

5693347
Thanks for that, and for the watch/favorites.

[Azure Blackstone]

You, uhhh.......you have an admirer.

[Burraku_Pansa]

6365404
Heh. I'm well aware, and I find it increasingly hilarious.

[Captain PonySeidon]

It's So Meta Even This Acronym!