Fillychan

I really fear that we are hitting the bottom! I think we really squish anything we can from the Funtasia promo. Until the next Dracco/BRB update, I don't see what else can we dig. :/

Maybe looking if there is some detail to ask to BRB on Twitter? The alphabet stuff is quite interesting, but without other words to examine, is a dead end.

I stopped looking at my Filly twitter feed actively when it became nothing but arguments about FiM. I should probably catch up with it a bit. Anyway. At some point we're simply going to be squeezing blood out of a stone when trying to find any new content to discuss. We're going to have content droughts, but we've had them before, and we're probably going to see some really inactive periods, but we've seen that too. I'm in it for the long run. Even if I'm a bit slow with stuff sometimes, it doesn't mean I've abandoned this thing. (I've actually got a decently sized to-do list for Filly related stuff, you can blame my lack of time for why it's not all done already. I do intend to do all of it, hopefully over the next couple of months.) I fully intend to wait for it to come out even if fan activity has completely stopped by then. I think a lot of people are genuinely interested but are waiting for the show to drop, for more content to appear, or perhaps they simply don't feel like taking part more than they do. Everybody participates as much as they feel like they want and can.

I was expecting a new trailer by now, but it seems like the pattern is broken and it isn't coming. That could potentially be a bad sign. I really hope it's not.

This post got a bit depressive, so here's some content: http://www.noris-spiele.de/data/Storage/Web/SERVICE/Filly-Princess-606013370-D.pdf

Filly board game!

>>375
The amount of trailer material is already more than needed for making missing (&non-existent) things up, though.
Especially the background art part.

Obviously, for every fan community "canon is above fanon", which makes for it being a community not disjointed diversity, and for it bearing direction. Though, when canon is the only valuable resource for them, essentially no one ever writes fan stories, and people copy pictures instead of ever drawing. Which is nice and weird.

Communities are fueled by their source material, and then their own work is what makes them powerful and independent from canon twists. As long as it doesn't disappear because of accidents, calamities, copyrights, which is usually a calamity too, and community's rejection of old material.
(sorry if wrote something wrong - my intent for this post is philosophical rather than practical)

That being sa(i)d. Both imageboards and blogs have rapid thread sinking. Is there anything equivalent to artistic forum? (Fimfiction group forum is, except that. everything should be fim related on fimfiction).

>>and RaichuWizDom only posts there in the event of huge Filly-3D-model breakthroughs these days...

Duly noted. Been a little scattered between projects, I guess. Filly-wise, I'm expecting to be able to get back on track next month, at the latest. Fixing Edward's a first priority for that, including figuring out how the clours work on those models. Getting the eyes perfectly right will take some tinkering, too, but prett sure I've got the general technique right. I could try my hand at another Filly fanfic, but where to put it and what it'd be about is, well, iffy without any new info.

Anyway, challenges/speculation: how do Fillies practise their magic? What is their dominant paradigm?

Hmm, quite a lot for me to answer to now. So let's start with the challenge list:

>Maybe looking if there is some detail to ask to BRB on Twitter?
Hmm... uh, try to get BRB to tell how they think that Cedric's English voice sounds? Does he sound like a Don Juan, a high-pitched teen prince, a dignified royal, a high pitch, a low pitch?

>The alphabet stuff is quite interesting, but without other words to examine, is a dead end.
I've tried this morning to assume that all the Bopomofo letters were accurate (but extremely stylized), so I tried to get something out of the poster's subtitle too. I got stuck at approximately "Angb-" and promptly threw in the towel as well. It'd be an extremely little word pool for me, but I guess this one will be on my list for a short while longer.

>Both imageboards and blogs have rapid thread sinking. Is there anything equivalent to artistic forum? (Fimfiction group forum is, except that. everything should be fim related on fimfiction).
Isles of Funtasia at http://chat.deviantart.com/chat/IslesofFuntasia, is a DeviantArt group with its own chat group. It is arguably the only Filly chat group I have never visited, because it requires a DeviantArt account, and so I don't actually know if it's still active or not... Skundi has been speculating in a Fillybooru (Fillibooru?), although >>379 explains that he hasn't found the time for it yet. Other than those, I don't know of any decent alternatives.

>how do Fillies practise their magic?
Greyfeather got a more or less explicit confirmance on Twitter, at https://www.fillychan.com/files/fil/orig/1430929249272739.png/magicmirrors.png, that the Academy students' magic mirrors function in part as a magic wand to cast spells with, settling an old matter from the October 2014 trailer. That seems to exclude unicorn horn magic by a country mile, although the tiny question of where the mirrors go when they aren't being summoned, is perhaps remaining.

>What is their dominant paradigm?
Now this one is quite a challenge. I assume that paradigm here is "view of life", in which case I seriously doubt if Filly toys has even mentioned the Fillys having any paradigm. There are no gods, no prayer houses or locations, there is no perception of atheism, science is a part-time job and a hobby, astronomy appears to actually have at least a small effect on things, and angels are treated as proper Fillys.

Princesses, if we excludes Abra and Cadabra, are treated as normal enough Fillys that they can take part in comic stories, even if as an end-speech deliverer as a part of a crowd, and seldom are the princesses hailed or been strangled by old traditions. Filly Funtasia is a bit of an open question, but I'd at the time of writing say that the Fillys somehow have no paradigm! This'll most certainly be on my list, though.

>>379
>I stopped looking at my Filly twitter feed actively when it became nothing but arguments about FiM. I should probably catch up with it a bit.
Oh. Uh, right, it kind of escalated when Greyfeather told Zejgar about The Last Unicorn, which Zejgar turned out to absolutely love, a big love which by extension spread to G3 some days ago too...

>I'm in it for the long run. Even if I'm a bit slow with stuff sometimes, it doesn't mean I've abandoned this thing.
>I fully intend to wait for it to come out even if fan activity has completely stopped by then.
You are perhaps the last person I would ever accuse of having abandoned Filly, except perhaps your two months off in the summer of 2014, so don't be afraid of that! I'm in this for 1) Something to do, and 2) Great friends to be with. And trust me, even with 2013-Ponychan in mind, all of you guys are much better friends and share many more of my interests than I've ever known on Ponychan.

Getting less to do and less friends to be with could be a major blow to me, although I doubt I'd be mad enough to leave the fandom unless I was the only man remaining in a moribund set of fandom sites.

>Everybody participates as much as they feel like they want and can.
That makes a lot sense sense, although I often feel personally that the Filly fans should participate to a higher degree...

>Filly board game!
That game looks very basic. I think I saw a Filly boardgame set with Ludo and Ladder Game once, that had more in-game content than this one, frankly...

>>380
>Obviously, for every fan community "canon is above fanon", which makes for it being a community not disjointed diversity, and for it bearing direction. Though, when canon is the only valuable resource for them, essentially no one ever writes fan stories, and people copy pictures instead of ever drawing. Which is nice and weird.
Once again, despite advices not to do so by Skundi and at times Zejgar, I can compare this situation to FiM, where "fanon is the almighty canon". Filly fans does consider Filly canon very highly, but as a negative result, the amount of known Filly fanfics since 2006 is a single-digit number, despite 1 3/4 fics by yours truly.

>Communities are fueled by their source material, and then their own work is what makes them powerful and independent from canon twists.
Independence is awesome, but what I know from some 20+ fandoms, is that powerful-enough fandoms can reject or massively oppose canon plot twists and turns. Not all fans liked Optimus Prime dying halfway through The Transformers, for instance.

>(sorry if wrote something wrong - my intent for this post is philosophical rather than practical)
It's okay, I can read it perfectly well if I focus enough on the text. I notice that you are fairly Russian; Zejgar is also pretty Russian, although he will only write Russian in Russian-only chat places (though perhaps a thread on /int/ may or may not court him?).

>>381
>Duly noted. Been a little scattered between projects, I guess. Filly-wise, I'm expecting to be able to get back on track next month, at the latest.
Sounds promising, I assume. From what I remember, you've been multi-tasking 3 or 4 major projects for six months' time now, but we don't get to hear much about them. Was it a pegasus or gryphon (or both) novel you were writing again? If it's the latter, I feel confident that Greyfeather, who operate several art feeds about unicorns and gryphons, would love it near-automatically, in which case /off/ is an open place on this site.

>I could try my hand at another Filly fanfic, but where to put it and what it'd be about is, well, iffy without any new info.
You've already given us one fic, but if you have zero inspiration about the plot for a new one, I can make due without demanding you to make another one. Even I know how painful it is to write a fanfic without inspiration.

>>382
>Skundi has been speculating in a Fillybooru (Fillibooru?), although >>379 explains that he hasn't found the time for it yet. Other than those, I don't know of any decent alternatives.
Yeah, I could start working on that once my other major Filly projects are more or less finished, if there is interest in such a site.

>>382
>Maybe looking if there is some detail to ask to BRB on Twitter?
Hmm... uh, try to get BRB to tell how they think that Cedric's English voice sounds? Does he sound like a Don Juan, a high-pitched teen prince, a dignified royal, a high pitch, a low pitch?

I'm not sure if they really speaks of VA for now. I think I have addressed the question some time ago on Youtube but without reply.
If I get the time, maybe I could figure out how approach the question.

> Isles of Funtasia at http://chat.deviantart.com/chat/IslesofFuntasia, is a DeviantArt group with its own chat group.

I'm following all the know Filly groups (or at least, all those on Funtasia Daily) and they are all stop.
The problem is that the activity is linked with the cartoon, not with the toyline, and without a new trailer the activity there will be zero for the next nine months (or more)... :/

> That seems to exclude unicorn horn magic by a country mile, although the tiny question of where the mirrors go when they aren't being summoned, is perhaps remaining.

Could be teleported with a spell or summoned from an alternative dimension/plane of the reality. But maybe the question is worth of another tweet to BRB.

> Oh. Uh, right, it kind of escalated when Greyfeather told Zejgar about The Last Unicorn, which Zejgar turned out to absolutely love, a big love which by extension spread to G3 some days ago too...

Is hard be left by TLU unaffected. Not that anybody should like it, simply is a very strong story under many points of view.

> That makes a lot sense sense, although I often feel personally that the Filly fans should participate to a higher degree...

Hmm. I can say that even the Bronydom was quite small in the first times, and the interesting stuff comes after the numbers raises. And interesting stuff comes from capable drawers or animators, or from who catch a good idea (but that don't mean he/she is capable to develop it).

There is a thing that I could say, but is personal. A good things that MlP has done (and still do) is give some interest into anthropomorfic animals even to who did not never really cares of them before. And I started to take a close look to unicorn stuff (I was following closely griffin one from some time before) right starting from FiM, becouse I was surprised how unicorns are really funny creatures to watch and use, and is surprising that there is much other funny and interesting stuff outside FiM that is worth to be watched. Also, putting FiM in a much larger context, the anthro/unicorn narrative strand, make it much longer enjoyable becouse you see better what it do well, and what not, with the subject.

A thing that I liked more from bronydom in the first times is that was more creative, and remember me the "golden age" of the home computers in '80, where was much of funny, strange but original stuff. And in particular, varied and different stuff, and that was the best part: you found something that attract your attention for a reason to another. Unicorns are offering to me a variety that I was missing from some times, from silly, stupid stuff from the seriuos and epic one. And sometimes I'm find again some stupid crap that surprise me :D.

Enlarging the interests sometimes help to rejuvenate the old ones and find ispiration for new stuff.

I could suggest that can help looking if there is some other stuff similar to Funtasia, and give some space here. /Off topic/ is very general, could works if adding a section for cartoons or equine-cartoony relate stuff (maybe changing MlP in "horses" or "ponies")?

>Was it a pegasus or gryphon (or both) novel you were writing again? If it's the latter, I feel confident that Greyfeather, who operate several art feeds about unicorns and gryphons, would love it near-automatically, in which case /off/ is an open place on this site.

In general I avoid to segnalate fanfics, becouse reading these is a intensive activity that is very fandom-specific, and I simply haven't time to check if a fic fits into my kind of audience.

But if is a original works, this falls under what my audience seeks, so you are welcome to send me a message if you like ads it.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stories-of-Griffins-and-Unicorns/1425460401001288
https://twitter.com/gr3yf3ath3r
http://griffins-unicorns.tumblr.com/

>And interesting stuff comes from capable drawers or animators
Yup, no pressure at all, lol.

>> That seems to exclude unicorn horn magic by a country mile, although the tiny question of where the mirrors go when they aren't being summoned, is perhaps remaining.

>Could be teleported with a spell or summoned from an alternative dimension/plane of the reality. But maybe the question is worth of another tweet to BRB.
I vote for headspace: being able to focus is a perennial skill for magic users in fiction, and constructing mental places is one of the basic exercises. It's also, I'm told, something taught in the U.S. army to stave off boredom in captivity. Or something. An imagined storage closet, or even a bedside cabinet, would do. Doubly so if the mirrors are mental constructs in the first place; items that are imagined first and then forced into physical existence by concentration/energy/whatever. And then, being an item that's made of magic, that makes it easier to run other magic through.

>In general I avoid to segnalate fanfics, becouse reading these is a intensive activity that is very fandom-specific, and I simply haven't time to check if a fic fits into my kind of audience.
Yeah, that sounds familiar. Fanfics have their own built-in audience, but it's hard to break through to a wider audience. And within the fanfics, there are some fairly exclusive genres.

>But if is a original works, this falls under what my audience seeks, so you are welcome to send me a message if you like ads it.
It is an original work, actually. The basic premise is: the son of two pegasi refugees is growing up in griphon lands, it's a world where everyone gets their magic from gods in some way, and he's at the age where he ought to have communion with a patron deity of his choosing. Only, he was homeschooled for one thing, and his parents never taught him about pegasus gods because they wanted him to choose freely. They never really 'forced' him to get a patron, and he never felt the need, so he never bothered. And so he gets a bit of an identity crisis when he has to go to public school, where all the kids have had communion, know who they are and how to live, and have their own basic magic.

He ends up deciding that he does want magic, magic of his own, but the only ones who know how to do pegasus magic are his parents. And they only agree to it if he agrees to join one afterschool club, to try to socialise a little bit. The central conflict is between the MC and a bully, but that's the part I'm still editing and trying to get right. It's basically your standard magical school narrative, but with the twist that magic is something you learn in your own time. Everyone's got magic, but it's more personalised and the focus is on sense of identity first, powers second. Getting communion is a rite of passage, and gives one ability to start with.

I don't know if it's relevant to note, but griphon culture is also portrayed as very tolerant, even of refugees of an enemy race. They act like racism doesn't exist, even when there's clearly someone being racist right in front of them. The idea is that because they're the only race in the world that's a mix of two animals, they basically had to learn tolerance. They're half bird, half feline.

There's also some questions raised about what constitutes racism and discrimination, like whether or not it's racist that the main character has to go to a vet instead of a griphon doctor, practical stuff like that. Oh, and the griphons are all white eagles in the face, but their hind quarters can be different species of great cat, so there's panther griphons and tiger griphons. So in this griphon society, there are tiger moms who are literally half tiger. The whole thing's meant to be thought-provoking, yet lighthearted, but... yeah, heavy editing required, still. I'll be sure to send it through when I get a final version to publish, if any of that sounds interesting to you.

>>417
>>417

>It is an original work, actually.

I gave a look at the premise, and I saw some issues, but put these down is requiring me some more time I thought. I will add something when I can, now is better if I skip on what matters.

Anyway, I need three things for publish some kind of article/news, a synopsis of the book, some kind of cover, and where the readers can buy/download/read it. When you are ready with these things, contact me.

Let me embolden you to go ahead with this work, becouse I think the genre needs of other works like this. A good thing of FiM and of the bronydom is that it have showed a side of the stories with anthropomorfics that maybe was undestimated from some time, me too I have understimated. Maybe FiM make awaken all us. In the bronydom there are some project that follow different settings from the cartoon, obtaining interesting results, like Ponyfinder or BUCK the Legacy. These show that the concept behind the "ponies" (but, keep in mind, FiM has not created) could be much more than a cartoon. Unfortunately, this stuff remain bonded to the view to be "fan works" and can't free themselves from the links with the original font. This is their strenght and at same time their weakness. They can do much more, and don't undestand.

Is clear that the gods and magic comes surely from the cutiemarks, but what really is important is that finally somebody wants reinterpretare this theme in a different way. You can touch things and explore different views that who sticks to FiM can't do, becouse the cutiemarks are wired to the specific moral and message of FiM, a specific interpretation of its theme. You can make a jump foward that others can't. That mean make something really new and make grow our world.
I ever wonder if FiM could be the start of something into the Anthro genre, but if this is true, what must happens is that other take ispiration from it and explores other ways that it can't cover. It could be far the perfect story with anthros, but it gives a way to see them different, and this can't stop here. If this happens, then all what FiM as done is meaningless. Bronies boast so much about how "important" is the show, but they should look around what is its true artistical weight than being distracted from pop culture references and memes.
And yes: in all this there is Funtasia too. I wonder if it can do some things that FiM is unable to do, and push foward the bonduaries of the Anthro genre. And a good reason why I feel that Funtasia is very important, but is another story.

Anyway, go on and finish your job. I think you are doing something that could be worth of attention.

>>434

>It is an original work, actually.

Ok, sorry If I took so much to reply. I get some time to look the premise and find how cover some points, from what I read I think there are some issues. Nothing of heavy, some points are not clear to me or that could be done better.

>The basic premise is: [cut]

the son of two pegasi refugees is growing up in griphon lands, it's a world where everyone gets their magic from gods in some way, and he's at the age where he ought to have communion with a patron deity of his choosing. Only, he was homeschooled for one thing, and his parents never taught him about pegasus gods because they wanted him to choose freely. They never really 'forced' him to get a patron, and he never felt the need, so he never bothered. And so he gets a bit of an identity crisis when he has to go to public school, where all the kids have had communion, know who they are and how to live, and have their own basic magic.

Let's see. I think there is need to check the worldbuilding/setting foundation as first. Keep in mind that don't exists "right answer" in writing, only things that fit better than other of what kind of result you seek.

The first point is define better how the gods must be undestood in this context. That depends from the concept you want follow to define your world, in their turn these define how will be the relationship of the main character toward them.
For example in the D&D settings, the gods are just powerful creature with immense magical power: they can lose their power and become mortal, and mortals can steal it, or become replacement for fallen gods.
In FiM the setting don't establishes gods or religions, but have some concept very close to these. Luna and Celestia are similar to semi-godness: they control the stars, are (apparently) immortals, and they are physically present in their world. Cadence and Twilight are mortals raised to semi-god status thanks their actions. The only divine entity can be the concept of "Harmony" or "Magic of Friendship", that is a cosmic and abstract forces, its nature is undefinable, but is the thing that guide Ponies toward their destiny.
Give some space to define the nature of the gods, keeping in mind that through them you define the rules of your world, and with that also why the main character must choose a deity, what are the conditions he could submit himself, how works this bond (and, for that, if there are some exceptions and conditions which this bond can be untied, or make him lose the magic), and how this in general affect the life of the character and his future choises.

The second point is define better the mind of the parents.
A problem of some stories is that the characters appear be forced to do some actions just for plot needs. That happens when the characters motivations and beliefs aren't explained (what is their final objective, their wishes?), or when these actions are in conflict with their personality. I think the parents falls in this problem, isn't clear or convincing why they don't teach nothing of their gods to their sons.
I find strange Normally, the religion, or the lack of, is part of culture and traditions, components that are part of the identity of a person. Is common that the parents give their beliefs to their sons, religion with that. In part I see you take in account this, becouse the main character feels the need to know the gods of his parents (and therefore, his original culture) to define his identity.
In this setting the "gods" are a part of a person characters and choises of life. Clear, this share the same idea of the cutiemarks, they identify the aspiration or the way-of-life of the character; but this also make strange that the parents don't teach something to their son about their origin, their culture and their way of living: is part of the identity of their race, their family, and, whatever the main character like or not, their origin.

Personally, I think also that the meaning of the liberty is seeing the parents let free their sons to follow the path he really wants, not that they don't teach him nothing of their past for not "influence" him. This for explain a point of view of the readers: if you don't explain the reason of the characters, the readers don't understand why he should believe you. Anybody of us have an opinion on something, and if you don't explain your in the story and in the characters, if you don't tell how we should see the things you are telling, the reader use the own, and that could not be what you want they use to interpret the meaning of your story (often, is a thing that a writer don't want happens).

Explain what experiences, choises, problems, or misfortunes led them to choose to shun their son from their gods. Explain their beliefs. The decision to keep their son far from their gods is a conseguence of something, they could have lived something that made them think is the best thing to do.
Is not important what you explain, what kind of past you tell for them. This depends only from what kind of story you want tell; the only thing that matter is you need to cover this point in a way or another.

The fact the parents are refugees suggests that they were forced to leave their country for something that they did or had, but also is the reason why they did not pass their god to their son, they do not want he has the same their problems. Is possible that they were persecuted becouse of being in opposition of their government, or being of a minor god that was objected from their people, or they thought that their god or society was "bad" (for some reason) and choose to cut the links with it, adopting the griffin culture for make a new life. In all these cases, I think the parents wanted avoid their son run in their same trouble, and preferred that he follow the griffon culture instead: one that they haven't issues against.
Or they could be atheist, in this setting I think is more close to perceive a deity just a tool to gain some magic only for self-interest or opportunism, but there is no trust or devotion. In a fondamentalist society, a lacks of faith could be a reason to being persecuted.
Anything you are thinking for that works, if have a clear meaning in the story; what is important is that you deepen the background and make it works for the plot.

I will finish the rest soon, next time!

>>463

>He ends up deciding that he does want magic, magic of his own, but the only ones who know how to do pegasus magic are his parents. And they only agree to it if he agrees to join one afterschool club, to try to socialise a little bit. The central conflict is between the MC and a bully, but that's the part I'm still editing and trying to get right. It's basically your standard magical school narrative, but with the twist that magic is something you learn in your own time. Everyone's got magic, but it's more personalised and the focus is on sense of identity first, powers second. Getting communion is a rite of passage, and gives one ability to start with.

The problem of the cutiemark in FiM is that its meaning as narrative element is bad defined: sometimes the idea is that they express the skills, other times the identity of a pony (that is not just a skill). There is not a uniform definition in the FiM setting, and is not clear what the writer are meaning with the cutiemarks becouse there is no a clear manner to interpret them. A metaphor must be explained very well, or it make only chaos.

I suggest you to define exactly what is the concept behind this magic, very careful, becouse is what express part of the meaning of the story. Define with attention its rules, and of what methapor stand of.

Also, explain with attention why he needs so much make "some friend": is part of the story, and should be explained with care. Making friends is something that could occour any time in the life: why is so special, or a need, for the main character make them now?


>I don't know if it's relevant to note, but griphon culture is also portrayed as very tolerant, even of refugees of an enemy race. They act like racism doesn't exist, even when there's clearly someone being racist right in front of them. The idea is that because they're the only race in the world that's a mix of two animals, they basically had to learn tolerance. They're half bird, half feline.
There's also some questions raised about what constitutes racism and discrimination, like whether or not it's racist that the main character has to go to a vet instead of a griphon doctor, practical stuff like that. Oh, and the griphons are all white eagles in the face, but their hind quarters can be different species of great cat, so there's panther griphons and tiger griphons. So in this griphon society, there are tiger moms who are literally half tiger. The whole thing's meant to be thought-provoking, yet lighthearted, but... yeah, heavy editing required, still. I'll be sure to send it through when I get a final version to publish, if any of that sounds interesting to you.

How much you care in this theme? A writer should tell of what really he care and love, not what he think is acceptable or interesting from others.
Writing is ever a question of personal interests, thoughts, and about what we really love and hope. We have no reason to talk about a theme that have no meaning for us.
If these themes interests you, then you must tell what you really think about. If you just try to appear "acceptable" for the others for being liked by all, you are only lying to yourself and the reader will see that.
A good story is something personal, becouse writing is a extremely personal activity: you need to say something really your to give a meaning to a story.

The points you raises around griffons are good: how they handle these issues in everyday life? The way to interpreting these is all up to you, providing that is really what you like.
I think that many small situations like these are led by misunderstandings than ill intentions. Pegasus are a different race/species, and isn't surprising that griffons could be unprepared to deal with their problem. A griffin doctor has no reason to study equine anatomy, or the shops sell shoes for equine hooves, if the pegasus are just a minority that their needs don't affect the stability and workings of griffon's society. Somebody could call racism here, but I would think is just a outcry that not take in account the hystory of griffons and their biological differences.

For the rest, contact me when you think are ready to advertize, with the stuff I listed in the previous post.

>>487
I think I do cover all the points in the story itself, but not in its current state. There is going to be a lot of rewriting done.

I should also point out that the inspiration by FiM is very limited, and it actually takes way more inspiration from the Niko movies, especially how the gods work. In fact, the original concept was just a much-needed headcanon retcon for those movies, but I digress. I was going to put a long list of answers to your concerns, and they are noted, but I'm still in the process of editing and rewriting, so even those answers may change in time.

Back to mysteries in Filly, though: is there a 'Higher Power' in the Filly world? What's the main concept they revere or hold dear, like Harmony in MLP?

>>488
>I think I do cover all the points in the story itself, but not in its current state. There is going to be a lot of rewriting done.

If you find yourself to do too much rewriting, is a sign that your objectives could be unclear. Sometimes happens to start a things, look it and undestand that is not what we are trying to have.

What is your work metod?
Some writers are "freewriters" (even some very famous ones), becouse they can't focus on stritch projects and need improvisation to handle a plot. This also mean they find themselves to redone some older parts.

My work metod is to create a "blueprint" of the plot, where I sketch the events that I want happens, how I want handle them, and most important, what I want that this point mean. And sometime I add other notes, depending of what comes in my mind,for example if I think there is something of funny to do to the characters. Why I write this, in first instance (see, is even the same question all the time). I see immedietly if there is something I not like, and I do the draft only if I like the result.
G.M.Berrows use a work metod very close to my: she create a table where she put all her notes and key-events before make a first draft.

Where other ways to work, but I like understand why are you rewriting so much.
Maybe we can pass to another thread if is worth to discuss this again.

>Back to mysteries in Filly, though: is there a 'Higher Power' in the Filly world? What's the main concept they revere or hold dear, like Harmony in MLP?

I'm unsure if there is a "cosmic force" behind the Filly world, at least if exists, appears to me less evident than the Harmony in FiM, which has many direct symbols = Alicorns, the Elements and the Tree of Harmony.

Any Filly race appears to me a distinct culture, even if there is common beliefs between them, they could have different ways to interpreter these. Maybe the only common thing is the "magic", but again if we check well, some races have more "magical skills" than magical powers under the form of spells; Princesses don't seems have magical spells at all.

Maybe the leaders of the various races are the only things that could be connected with some higher powers, like Princess Crystal (she disappear mysteriously at Midnight), Princess Scarlet (she rule on other kingdoms of Butterflyes), and go on. Maybe they are chosen from some higher being or by the magic to handle the role of leader/protector/whatever, sometimes gaining some weird trait (like Crystal) or leading a strange and enigmatic lifestyle.

>>490
>>What is your work method?

I tend to write the way animation is made: in my outlines, I plan for my key scenes, and once those are set, I just start writing, assuming procrastination doesn't get to me. I write in chronological order, and the key scenes tend to not change throughout edits. Tween scenes or filler, those are often made up as I go along.

The first draft of the story was written for NaNoWriMo, so some of the things in there right now are very much filler just to get my word count. Another issue is that these aren't established characters, so it's only after it's all done that you get an idea of what's in or out of character.

Then there's just the profiles and names. My bully antagonist was originally a Cernunnos follower, but now I'm probably going to make him a Thor follower because who the Frigg knows Cernunnos nowadays.

My first version is too fanficcy, basically. Too much stuff about the history of the world that's not relevant to the story at hand. The conflict also feels a bit forced. In a fanfic, I'd be able to rely on previously established canon and have avoided this in the first place. Now I have to make the canon that has it all make sense.

>>a sign that your objectives could be unclear

Yeah, it's exactly that. What I want to write is something thought-provoking but funny, something that'll drive SJW's insane if they ever read it, and do it with magical talking animals. What I ended up with right now is a mess of magic lessons and dodgeball, and not enough racial/religious comedy or thought-provoking stuff.

It's one of Pixar's rules of storytelling, I think: you don't really know what a story is about until you finish it. Then you rewrite it.


>> Maybe the leaders of the various races are the only things that could be connected with some higher powers

I kind of like the idea that the different Filly leaders know and meet each other from time to time, and maybe convened to form the Academy.

That does raise the question, though: how is the Academy run? Is there some sort of democracy there, or is Princess Sparkle the one who has to make all the decisions?

>>496

>The first draft of the story was written for NaNoWriMo, so some of the things in there right now are very much filler just to get my word count. Another issue is that these aren't established characters, so it's only after it's all done that you get an idea of what's in or out of character.

Then try this: put aside what are you doing and come back one step. The storyboard phase is where you develop the main concept, but seems you need to revise better what main concept you want tell.
Write down a synopsys of the story: that help to undestand what about the story should be centered. If you find to being unable to explain the story in few word, is mean that you have not a clear idea in mind; anyway write down what you have in mind, look again what you have written, and then look what things sounds more interesting. Does not matter how much complex is the final idea, the important thing is that you can explain the final objective in few words. It must not long more than a dozen of words, or few more; if the idea is really complex, you could allow two short phrases. Less words, better is: few words mean you know what is the main idea, and what is the most direct way to make it. Is a start to understand what really you find interesting to tell, even to yourself.
This is the approach of the "elevator pitch" used in the business world: imagine to being in an elevator with somebody who could being interested in a your idea, and finance it if he like it, but you have only 30 seconds or less. You must be very quick, very clear and direct, and very persuasive. The same things works in the storytelling, if you can be direct and quick, mean you know how being interesting for your audience.
Is a very useful approach to cut off unecessary stuff from our toughts, undestand what is the most important thing to write, and how being very clear and expressive.

Then, make an abstract of the plot: list the key events, but don't develop them deeply, just pen down what happens, how, and what is the meaning. In this phase, you need only to link the various key events, and eventually intermediate steps, between them in logical manner. This give you a track which you check if all the things you want to do works, if something missing or must be changed: here you can see if the plot has errors or problems before to write the draft, and if the final result is what you really expect to obtain.
Fixed these points, any other changings are secondary becouse don't affect those points which explain the meaning of the story.
Could happens that you want change one or two point later if you find a better idea, and the track allow you to check how these changings affect the plot and how, and how handle these modifications.

Better also if you define the characters before the plot itself. Much of what a character will do depends of his personality, and you need the right personality for the right action.

The "storyboard" metod is better comes after this phase: here you develops the fixed points explaining what happens and how in the details, for example what are the gods of the characters (if they are not plot-twister, the gods can be assigned later; for that reason is better have a track). Probably there is already much that will works, and require less works that you think if looked in the right angle, so don't delete nothing until you end the track of the plot. When you know what the plot must be, become very easy find what missing and what adding in what you already done.

>I kind of like the idea that the different Filly leaders know and meet each other from time to time, and maybe convened to form the Academy.
>That does raise the question, though: how is the Academy run? Is there some sort of democracy there, or is Princess Sparkle the one who has to make all the decisions?

Possible that the leaders knows each others. They are very special figures and clearly their story isn't common.

I think the Academy is a mix of both: the headmistress is Sparkle and has the last word, but she needs to take counsel from the other leaders before take an action. Probably she has some degree of liberty for some small minor duty of her office, but for the major question I guess they vote or at least come to a general consensus of the main conduct. The cupcake-monster-stealer show a pretty intense debate of how handle the situation, and is clear that they act after they generally agreed that fight or capture is was the best course to take.

>>497
Going back to synopsis and cutting things down to size is what I've been trying to do, actually. Thanks anyway, do need to tryand stick to it now. The other three or four projects just delay the whole thing, not to mention persistent procrastination problems.

Regarding how the school is run, I gathered that they do make decisions together, but what I wonder is: who takes responsibility? Suppose something happens to one of the kids, who's held accountable? Are there teachers assigned to groups of students for that sort of thing, maybe?

Actually... what would a Filly school counsellor look and act like?

... I think I just made another OC ^^

Since there are in the midst of the literature discussion being asked about Filly mysteries, and I've had a month to observe Filly material a bit further without actually being aware that I've been observing, I think I can now answer some of the questions.

>>496
>That does raise the question, though: how is the Academy run? Is there some sort of democracy there, or is Princess Sparkle the one who has to make all the decisions?
Of course, this is a hard one to answer so far. In the teacher room discussion in October 2013, most of the other teachers were arguing for the wildest of emergency procedures, while Sparkle was just sitting around. She's probably listening to the several arguments (which seem pretty lopsided), or she isn't the one to easily be carried away by invading monsters.

In April 2014, she was in a dark room with either Ashia or Luna when Bella called up their stationary mirror, so she does partake in school works with at least a degree of activeness. It could go any way, but allegories to ways to control nations does not cut it here. Only school allegories can. The teachers are in a group of the facility's workers and argue how things shall be done and how to run things, while Sparkle is the principal who get the final say and the largest chunk of the "outside-the-Academy"-exterior work and paper work.

>>488
>Back to mysteries in Filly, though: is there a 'Higher Power' in the Filly world? What's the main concept they revere or hold dear, like Harmony in MLP?
I've thought a bit. I've read a bit. I've observed a bit. After a month, my initial assumptions are now as clear as light. Pardon the text highlighting, but basically there is no higher powers in Filly! Some princesses (Sparkle, for one) are stated to spread harmony, good moods, or strong moods in Jewel's case, but this isn't really a point of. Harmony is so guaranteed that no one thinks about it, and no one even think about holding it as a virtue, because it is a certainty in life.

There is the studying of stars, the required secrecy of the Magical Land, and "old forgotten rituals" as per Filly Princess, but none of these are supernatural and has decent or solid footing in at least one of the Filly settings, even if it may not be the setting of the toyline that mentions it. I cannot remember anyone using terms like "Oh my God", "Thank [deity]!" or "ungodly". There are no rituals to get more luck, because it's not unheard of for physically present Fillys to have or influence luck already. No rituals for weather, as several of them control that too. No one ever truly looks up to their ruler as a deity; more as a town mayor or something. No bending down to honour them. No nervousity as to the importance of the ruler or of the ruler's theoretical ability to punish you.

There are no gods, no word-exact supernaturality, no virtues, no spiritual code, no stories of tales of long-dead people (Princess Gwen of the Ice Fairies' epic settlement creation tale can still be somewhat fact-checked as she is still perfectly alive.), what there is of astrology is a physically present thing in such things as zodiacutie marks and zodiac pets, as opposed to weekly magazine writers hoping for the best.

With only Lalaloopsy coming not too far away, Filly is in the best of my knowledge the most atheistical fictional universe ever made. And I love Filly for it!

>>499
Correction of me:

>but this isn't really a point of. Harmony is
but this isn't really a point of concern or matter in the Fillys' everyday lives. Harmony is (...)