There are still new people coming into the My Little Pony fandom, if in smaller numbers than there once were. Some of these are interested in fanfiction, or at least become so. The tricky bit these days is likely to be deciding what to read first. There are a small number of stories that everyone will have mentioned to them – Fallout: Equestria, Past Sins, My Little Dashie, Cupcakes – but they're not necessarily the best places to start, for reasons of length, quality or whatever.
This is the thing that occurred to me a day or two ago: what would you recommend as a first reading list for someone new to the ponyfic side of the fandom? Let's assume that they are familiar with the show itself, but not with anything else. Let's further assume that they're reasonably genre- and character-agnostic, but that they don't want crossovers and don't want clop. What do you think would make a good sampler for such a reader?
My starting recommendations:
ReplyDeleteThe Best Night Ever
Whom the Princesses Would Destroy
A Cup of Joe
Princess Celestia Hates Tea
The Flight of the Alicorn
Hard Reset
Those are six of my favourites. They all offer something different, with a variety of lengths, characters, maturity levels and genres, but they're all excellent.
DeleteMore broadly I'd just start by recommending good stories. Anything that got five stars on One Man's Pony Ramblings is worth reading.
My only slight hesitation is that all the stories I've listed are over five years old. I think that reflects the time when I got into the fandom, but it means a lot of them have been overtaken by canon, and there's nothing based on the more recent series. I don't know how much that would put off a new reader, but some suggestions for more current stories would probably be a good idea.
I've never read The Flight of the Alicorn (partly because it's 227k words) but I've read and enjoyed the other five. And thanks -- that's exactly the sort of reply I was hoping for. :) I'm going to try to come up with my own little list (not necessarily exactly the same length) in the moderately near future, probably as a separate post.
DeleteInteresting point you make in your second para. I'll admit it does bother me a bit sometimes how rarely I find a story I really love written in the past couple of years. Even when I do, it's nearly always written by someone who's been writing since 2014 or earlier. I get why that's likely to happen, but I do find it a little sad.
Boy, geez, gosh, ugh.
ReplyDeleteI'd say find yourself a reviewer via Big Master Review List, go through their stuff, and check out what they recommend the most. If you find you don't like it, try again with someone else and a better idea of what you yourself enjoy. Repeat until favorites list is full. :V
I wouldn't suggest starting with the Royal Canterlot Library, on that note. We kind of approach fanfic from the perspective of people who've been reading it for years and are thus jaded with simple concepts. V:
Though most of the people who are still reviewing have also been reading ponyfic for years. :P Actually, I'd welcome a few new reviewers almost as much as new authors.
DeleteMeaning text-based reviewers, of course. I expect there are dozens of them on YouTube. But those don't really count. :P
DeleteI might suggest Warren Hutch's "Earth and Sky", because it's the first long-form story I could think of that hews pretty close to show-tone. But it's been a while since I've read it, so there might be some pinkish eyewear involved here.
ReplyDeleteIt's marked as a sequel, though. The shorter Windfall is the first in the series. I haven't read either, so I can't say much about them.
DeleteIf memory serves, I think I actually read the first half of EaS (which was still updating at the time) before I went back and read Windfall. It struck me as more of a "happened to be set in the same universe" sort of deal, rather than direct sequel. Still, you're totally right that it might be off-putting.
Delete"Let's further assume that they're reasonably genre- and character-agnostic..."
ReplyDeleteY'know, I don't think that's a very safe assumption to make. I'd bet that most people would react best to their favorite pony in a genre they enjoy reading. What would probably work best (IMHO) would be a spreadsheet with a character axis and a genre one... with two or three excellent stories in each cell.
I wish I had time to do up a spreadsheet in gdocs... maybe mine EQD's pony days fic listings.
Y'know, I don't think that's a very safe assumption to make.
DeleteIt's a silly assumption to make, really, but the artificiality was deliberate in this case as I was looking for replies that were as simple as possible. Spreadsheets don't play well with HTML blog comments. :P
By the way, I mentioned this post at the Worcester meet on Saturday, and The Celestia Code came up very quickly. From more than one person, too.
"Spreadsheets don't play well with HTML blog comments."
ReplyDeleteBut I LOVE to over-complicate things!!!
That's cool about TCC! Oddly enough, a disproportionate amount of my hardback sales are to Commonwealth countries.
But I LOVE to over-complicate things!!!
DeleteReading this in Pinkie's voice gave me a disproportionate amount of amusement.
Ok, new ponyfic reader. Stories to get them hooked. Got it. You want short stories that punch above their weight and get the old creative juices flowing. Starting off a newbie on Fallout Equestria is a bad idea (unless they’re a Fallout fan) or Stardust (unless they’re an XCOM fan). So here we go.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fimfiction.net/story/44054/shipping-sickness by Skywriter
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/20685/sunny-skies-all-day-long by PhantomFox (of course)
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/274373/national-geographic-presents-big-princess-week by Cold in Gardez
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/54117/whom-the-princesses-would-destroy by Ghost
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/22329/pinkie-watches-paint-dry by AbsoluteAnonymous
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/97996/lady-prismia-and-the-princess-goddess by Skywriter
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/121985/100-move-50-fire by Estee
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/158936/small-town-charm by Cold in Gardez
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/29271/princess-celestia-hates-tea by Skywriter
transition into longer stories
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/5170/project-sunflower by Hoopy McGee
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/60491/an-affliction-of-the-heart by Anonymous Pegasus
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/41596/past-sins by Pen Stroke
About right?
This got marked as spam because of all the links, and I only noticed just now. My fault! Of those I've read, which is most of them, I'd largely go along with the ones you've posted (though I'd add your own The Lazy Dragon of Dragonvale). I've always had very mixed feelings about Past Sins, though: I really like its Twilight, and I don't actually dislike Nyx -- but some of the memetastic stuff has dated badly (eg Fluttertree) and I found Spell Nexus a right pain until the big twist about him.
Delete