Friendship is Magic, but Shipping is Science!

Well, perhaps not "science" but it is formulaic. We'll get to that. Hello everypony! This is the blog of Avery Strange, aka AVeryStrange, aka "that weird shipping author with the big ego". Kidding! Well, kind of, it takes a bit of an ego to assume anypony on the internet cares about what you have to say. Anyway, a bit of an introduction. With Equestria Daily disabling anonymous commenting I decided to go ahead and set up a blogger account. Sure I could use the name/url option just fine, but I felt I may as well make one of these to streamline my commenting. But, since I have it, why not use it? I know, I know, I already have my journal on DeviantArt. I figure this blog will serve as a place for my longer rants and for things not directly related to my stories, whereas my journal will become more of a news outlet. Also, since long entries eat up space on DeviantArt, this will be a nice place to ramble.

This first post also actually marks my 10,000th page view! I have a screenshot of it but I'm terrible with my image editor so I can't get a nice picture of it up. What do you want from me, I'm only a writer! Heh heh, sorry about that. Anyway, you bronies are just crazy @_@ . About two months ago, after seeing all the wonderful fanfictions out there, something in me perked up, and ideas started to come to me. I've always been imaginative; my childhood was spent daydreaming about characters from my TV shows or books, so this was nothing new. What was new was that I convinced myself to start writing these down. The first few were terrible, let me tell you. The first ponyfic I ever wrote is this goes-nowhere TwiShy fic that is simply beyond repair (sorry, never showing it :P). I know, I was a shipper from the beginning. A few false starts later, and Thunder & Lightning happened. The first thing of substantial length, the first where I wrote a story with rising drama, a climax and conclusion. After convincing myself of the virtues of internet anonymity (I'm a private person), I made myself a gmail account, used that to start up a Deviantart account, and posted it in 16 tiny parts. It was incredibly sloppy. I didn't know what I was doing, but I was also thinking "Well, what does it matter how it's divided if you can just hit next or previous?" I was being quite silly, but I didn't expect anyone to find them out. I just put them up there, figuring a few people might come across them and leave it at that. It was more for my benefit than anypony else's. A few people did notice, I got encouraging words, especially since it was so obvious I was a total newbie. Then... Spark happened

I can't even remember where the idea originated. I loved TwiLuna, but I wasn't having an easy time finding a lot of it (Okay, so I could've looked harder in the Equestria Daily archives... there's a lot of stuff there you guys!) I also, at the time, very much disliked Celestia ("Trollestia" was a term I was familiar with, but only in reference to canon events). As I wrote the story it grew out of control. I needed an obstacle that Twilight's teleportation couldn't bypass, and it always intrigued me how in the show she doesn't understand how she teleports but does it anyway. So before I knew it I was explaining the mechanics of magic, and then as Nightmare Celestia became the villain of the story I naturally had to write some origin for them, and golems eventually came around. Twilight's origin was clear shortly after. Anyway, I'm rambling and have gotten extremely off-topic. My point was that it was a crazy time that really showed me both how much I could do as an author and where my limits were. After posting that, one of the first comments I got was a sweet brony telling me that I should post this to Equestria Daily. Again remembering that it'd be "Avery Strange" putting herself out there, and not me in any personal sense, I followed the guidelines and emailed this to Seth. I refreshed hourly until it went up. Then I emailed Seth for listing it as "Twilestia" but that was my fault because he has a section called "major characters" in the submission format that I listed "Twilight, Celestia, Luna" in when clearly he just wanted the ship :P . Anyway, back on topic, to my surprise, a lot of you loved it! A few critics hit the nail of the head with the story's drawbacks, but it proved to be the beginning of quite a successful string of stories.

And in two months I've gotten just shy of 250 watchers and over 10,000 pageviews. I hope I deserve it. You all have been very kind to me - even my biggest critics are just so polite. Most of the time, at least, I was told Spark was a "Piece of s##t" for harming Celestia, but hey, haters gonna hate.  So I've been thinking about how to Celebrate 10K pageviews. I don't have much for you guys, I'm sorry. I can't throw out something quick like an artist might be able to, and was unprepared. I'd have to have started preparing back at 7K, I suppose. So, anyway, this is what I can give you: my thoughts.

Firstly, finally getting to the title, I'm going to explain why I've made the claim I can ship "everypony". I claim this jokingly of course, but my point is that people aren't considering enough shipping possibilities, and I've hoped I've proven that there are good pairings out there that aren't being explored. My stories don't fit a mold, certainly not, I'm not saying there's anything cookie-cutter about anypony else's stories either. But there are things I consider in each story in order to make it successful. For those interested, I'm going to share them now. For those who don't care, there's some goodies at the end.

1) What brings, and keeps, two ponies together? This may seem obvious, but it's the groundwork for the entire story, so it requires the most attention and is often all but ignored in ships. If done right, the story takes on a life of its own and can become far more than just a shipfic. A good example would be "Off the Edge of the Map" which, while only light-shipping, clearly could've been heavier on the romance without detracting from the story (albeit not too much heavier, I recognize). For those that haven't read it, just briefly it's that a stunt of Dash's manages to send her and Fluttershy into the middle of the sea, and they face death time and again on their way back. The thing is, this premise is excellent for a few reasons. Firstly, you have all the time in the world to build the relationship, as you can make the trip back to Ponyville anywhere from a day to a month to a few years (though obviously you'll have to spend more time on non-shipping elements in the latter cases). Secondly, you give them a reason to be in one another's company and interact heavily. You need your reason to not just put two ponies in the same room but get them to talk to one another. Nothing breaks the story flow quite like than having one pony just randomly show up just to be part of the ship. Even if the reader knows what they're getting into, it's a pretty obvious "oh here comes the shipping" moment. Twixie stories are typically pretty bad at this, having Trixie show up as if for the express purpose of falling in love with Twilight. "The Ballad of Twilight Sparkle" for example deftly avoids this by having a solid reason for the timing and why they've been brought together. Of course there's an exception to this, but we'll get to that.

2. There needs to be common ground. Separate from "why they're together" is why that togetherness leads to a relationship. You could have Trixie and Twilight marooned on an island, and if you wanted to you could write it so that they end up hating each other - it's quite easy. Both being independent, a bit bossy (if you don't believe me, Twilight is really quite bossy in Dragonshy, Winter Wrap Up, Art of the Dress...) but otherwise likely having different ideals would easily lead them to split over methods of survival, how to reach help, etcetera. That old addage "opposites attract" is deceptive. Even ships like Jackity (Rarity x Applejack), when done right, give the two ponies something to bond over. Whether it be a surprisingly similar mindset, their roles as older siblings or business owners, or even a rodeo (it's been done) there needs to be a reason for them to enjoy one another's company. This is all obvious, but you'd be surprised how many take this for granted. Again, a good number of Twixie fics take it for granted, as do a few Rainbow Dash ships.  But the thing I'm hoping to show here is that so long as you can find common ground, you can find a ship. Luna and Rarity are both eloquent artists in their own rights, and with the right interpretation you can make Luna just old-fashioned enough to agree with Rarity's views on ladyship. Vinyl Scratch and Pinkie Pie both love to party and to dance. Madame LaFlour is a useless sack of flour, and Sweetie Belle... I'm kidding. Have I shipped these ponies? No. But with the right premise from (1), I've given a reason for a bond to form. This is what makes crack ships work.

IIV) Give a reason for the relationship to turn romantic. Again I'm going to site "Off the Edge of the Map" here because it's such a great storyline and counter to heads-over-hooves style ships. Dash's and Fluttershy's bond tightened over their adventures, but being best friends or having shared experiences does not mean you're in love with somepony. Often this reason takes the form of a single event, a moment where their relationship is tested and proven. But don't get me wrong here. Love cannot be justified logically. "Just because" often works, in some manner, though this is far overused. But there needs to be a reason why this relationship is different from their friends. Since I'm going to assume that anypony following my blog has read my stories, let's work with Kindness's Reward. Fluttershy was primarily attracted to Trixie due to her inner strength, a recognition of her passion and dedication, something Fluttershy found lacking in herself and longed for. Trixie, despite how she seemed, was also a very receptive, empathetic pony, easily swayed by Fluttershy's mood (you'll remember how often I had Trixie "inexplicably" obey Fluttershy's requests or react to her body language). However, to various degrees these traits can be found in her friends, and actually many of the same things I explained here are why people ship Fluttershy with Dash (passion), Pinkie Pie (empathy), or Applejack (a bit of both). Side note: Yes AppleShy isn't common but it was in one of the first fics I read, it's stuck with me Anyway, so I of course had to have a reason Fluttershy fell for Trixie yet hasn't fallen for any of her friends. In this case it was partially the level at which she got to know Trixie, having heard her entire life story, and another part was the level of response she got from Trixie, who, having no other friends, came to care deeply about what Fluttershy thought and listened to her in a way that we've seen the rest of the mane six do not (Dragonshy, notably). Every fic needs to have something like this. The relationship has to stand out as special. Notably, this makes it very easy to ship some ponies (Trixie, Vinyl Scratch, Luna) who have few or no connections (in canon or fanon) at all, so long as you don't make them come across as desperate of course.

2x2) There are levels of romance. A few people "criticized" Luna's Day Out for having Luna and Fluttershy "fall in love" in a day, when sadly they simply just didn't understand the fic's purpose. Luna was heartsick, and Fluttershy ended up crushing on her. It was two infatuated ponies testing the waters, not two madly-in-love mares consummating their love. Now, almost everypony goes for the "soulmate" level because it's so satisfying. The kind of ending where you can hear wedding bells in the distance. But sometimes a satisfying ending can be two ponies simply snuggling together in front of a fire, or agreeing to see one another the next time one comes to town (I'd complain about how nopony ever has Trixie stay a roaming mare at the end of the story, except I can't really make that criticism...) or whatever. I'm not just talking about light-shipping, though that is part of this. Some stories simply work better on a gentler note. A side note to this: you can also explore different stages of a ship. That's the exception I was talking about earlier, you don't always need to focus on the premise if you dive in after the initial come-together moment to explore from there. In Thunder & Lightning I actually have Dash and Scratch together off the bat, but this story focused on changing their relationship from "hooking up" to "being together" - in another way, what started as I primarily light, non-serious relationship turned into love. The thing is, you still need to reference the original coming together, to give context to their current state if nothing else.

16-11) The ship can't happen in a void! Only rarely can you reasonably set up a scenario where it's just the two characters (*cough* Spark *cough*) and in any case supporting character can add a lot. They can provide drama, they can be a vehicle for tightening the relationship (example: say Twilight's just trying her hoof at dating, but can't bring herself to confess her crush on Rarity. Dash, who's she's confided in, could threaten to spill the beans herself unless Twilight does something, taking a tough-love approach to helping her friend. It can be more subtle than that though) and just generally make the world more realistic. Obviously you don't always need to fit them in much, you rarely need so much as a side-plot, but it makes it seem like this story is actually something that's unfolding in the world of Equestria

Penultimately, ship fics can be driven either by events or the characters themselves, not that any story is solely reliant on one or the other. Thunder & Lightning was very close to entirely character driven, Dash's laziness kicking off the story, Fluttershy's feelings of betrayal providing most of the drama, etcetera. In Kindness's Reward, it's an event that provided the linchpin for Trixie and Fluttershy's love, the whole dragon thing, but much of the drama was produced by interaction between Trixie and Fluttershy. Which way you go depends on how you want to tell the story, and your vehicle for romance. Ship fics lend themselves to adventures, where two ponies fall in love by working through tough times together, learning about one another and coming to rely on one another's support. But you can very easily go the slice-of-life route that fics like "The Melting Pot" do so excellently. Most of this should fall into place as you're writing, but it's important to identify where your focus is, and make sure not to neglect either side improperly. If you're stuck on how to make two different ponies come together on their own, throw something at them - maybe Octavia's house burned down, and the only pony she can turn to is her old music school roomie Vinyl Scratch. Or if the story stalls, see if that's because you haven't had enough happening. On the other hand, you'll want to make sure your characters can explore their evolving feelings. You won't need anything random to happen if conflict, drama and plot can evolve naturally from your last plot point where Twilight freaks out that somepony else has a crush on her or something.

Now, lastly, is what for lack of a better term I'm going to call the "style" of the ship. I often describe my stories as "fluffy". I write ships where the relationship is always reciprocated, with plenty of happy endings, trying to give a warm fuzzy feeling. But there's a lot of different ways to express "love". You can have a "racy" story without writing clopfic, and sometimes it can actually be done eloquently, though of course it won't be everypony's thing. Still, neither will anything else. You could write something more dramatic, a love triangle, or perhaps a love hexagon or who knows what. Remember that "ship" is only short for "relationship". Which means that a successful ship may never have the two ponies express their feelings, whereas an unsuccessful one might have them hook up but fail to have any emotional involvement. Your readers have come to see a bond develop, not to read about pony makeouts (unless you took that racy thing and ran with it....). Unrequited love can be interesting to explore, or you could explore less conventional relationships - perhaps Trixie and Twilight keep up a rivalry, but it's simply their way of connecting with one another, so to an outsider their "love" is quite dysfunctional. Of course you don't have to make something unique for the sake of it, but you don't want to start writing cookie-cutter "they met. They talked. They fell in love. The end" kind of stories.

Well, I hope at least some of that helps. Now, I'm not handing down lessons here, or anything like that. I'm simply explaining what tools I'm using to make ships, cracked or not, happen. If you're not interested in any of that, I decided that for the rest of this celebratory post I'll just talk about... ships! And a bit about myself.

My favorite ship of all time? Probably TwiLuna. Followed closely by TwiShy, Rainbow Scratch, Flutterdash and Flixie. As you can see, I kind of like shipping Twilight and Fluttershy, and it's kind of funny that they're my favorite characters but not my favorite ship. TwiLuna I like because I feel Twilight deserves an intellectual equal, somepony who can appreciate her passions like none of the mane six seem to. TwiShy is just full of cuddles and d'awwww. Rainbow Scratch... the coolest canon pony paired up with the coolest fanon pony, enough said 8) . Flutterdash, well, I just feel like Dash needs somepony to rein her in and Fluttershy needs a knight. Which is also why I like Flixie.

You know I hated Celestia, Trixie, and Pinkie Pie right after season one was over? Celestia was just too perfect, except for being subtly mean, Trixie was just a tool for a really in-your-face morality episode, and Pinkie Pie was less a character and more a prop for both comedy and plot-convenience. The fandom has changed my mind on the first two.... still don't really like Pinkie Pie. But it's amazing how that can happen at all. Cumulatively, we've created an awesome world, and have explored every one of the characters in depth like the show could never manage. We've given them backstories, hidden depth, complex emotions and relationships... I'm pretty sure I know some ponies better than I know some of my friends. Perhaps why I usually don't have any trouble giving them voices in my fics.

I don't think I'd write a self-insert anytime in the near future, but I have wondered about what my OC would do in Equestria. Perhaps she/I would write trashy romance novels... it's not creepy if she's a pony too, right? Hehe, despite the fact that I'd never touch clopfic in real life, the idea amuses me. I've heard of this "conversion bureau" thing but I really like more the idea of just telling the stories of your pony-self in Equestria. Problem is, it leaves Equestria saturated with artists and writers. We need some more bricklaying ponies, you know? I may write an OC fic one day, but of course, I'd need a few other OCs to help populate the story.

I cannot think of anything else to write. Once again, thank you for all the love, I hope to return take that love and harness it for my next mushy fic xD . If you have any suggestions for what I should write here, I'm all ears (note I'm talking about the blog, not my stories). Thanks for sitting through all that!