Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[JadedPony]

I'm just hoping I'm doing more good than harm.

You show a lack of confidence when you say things like that. It is time you learned a valuable lesson that all people, literary inclined or not must learn: Never show doubt in your work. You can have doubt, but never show it. Acting as if something may be wrong will give people reason to think there is something wrong then they will go out of their way to see your work in a negative light. It is a matter of human nature. A great deal of being successful in life is simply acting like you have everything totally handled and hoping no one notices that you don't.

Let me tell you a funny story...

Fake it till you make it:

[O. Hinds]

I still find it kinda baffling that you guys managed to brush through chapters so quickly back in the day, and all over IRC.

I'm amazed too, honestly, and I was there. I'm not really sure why things slowed down.

You show a lack of confidence when you say things like that.

This seems to be a common problem for the members of the writing team, really…

[JadedPony]

It's a common thing for everyone in every profession and it's not hard to see why. You are raised in a system where your actions as a child are more often scolded than congratulated.

Look at the public education system's English classes for example :

[Vinylshadow]

I found college boring because they assigned me papers on topics that didn't interest me

Dropped out because it was a waste of money in the long run

[JadedPony]

I found college boring because they assigned me papers on topics that didn't interest me

Dropped out because it was a waste of money in the long run

It's not worth getting a 4 year degree for most people. That is for sure, but getting a 2 year degree at a community college is worth it. You'll be locked out of some jobs entirely if you don't have a degree in something but you can use some degrees for everything. Like Psychology you can apply towards any job, civics is a good degree for almost any job. Engineering, general computer science degrees are good for job hunting, English degrees will get you work because communication is a huge part of most jobs. If you can pick up multiple languages, get a linguistics focused degree. In some states you can not work directly for the local government in any capacity what-so-ever without a 2 year degree. Or at least that use to be the case.

A friend of mine and I helped set up a newly opened library computer network, laying the lines and setting up the system to ghost off of a pristine drive so if anything went horribly wrong they could just reset the whole machine and then once the library was about to open we went to apply for the jobs of being the network admins and the state said we couldn't have the job maintaining the system we had built for them because we were still in college and had not gotten our degree yet.

I was like, "Well, then who should we give the passwords to your network to because right now, we run the system we built." and the lady taking the job applications was like, "Wait, what?" I explained the situation to her and she tried to get us cleared but the state regs were clear. You couldn't even be a librarian without having some kind of degree. Government at work.

[Somber]

You're right that the fight with the legate needs more.  I don't have work friday, so I'll see what I can do with it.  The issue we had with Snipe was that he wanted me to make EXTENSIVE and INVASIVE changes to Horizons, and seemed to think that it was necessary for the story to remain viable.  What he wanted would have required a fundamental rewriting of Horizons.  It wasn't that he couldn't be honest.  It was that he didn't understand that I couldn't simply do what he wanted me to and accept it.  You were right about the party.  You're also right about the fight.  There are some things that I need pointed out to me or I'll be lazy and settle for 'good enough' and the fact is readers deserve better.

Now some of your mirth with certain events do give me pause, but I can deal with it.

[Vinylshadow]

That's what friends do - be honest, even if it hurts

Although phrasing it in such a way to lessen the kick might be a good idea

[JadedPony]

There is a kind of unspoken format for critique which is "I thought (Problem part) could have been better because (Why you think it's a problem.) You could consider (Offer alternatives).

I find that usually works out pretty well because you aren't telling the other person what to do and you are giving a reason for your opinion. Just saying, "This is bad." doesn't help. Part of the critique process is identifying why you perceive there to be a problem in the first place and considering the way others might see it. Especially in writing, you should always ask yourself, "How would the average person see this?" because as a writer, you have a living, breathing, world in your head but your readers don't have that point of reference so you may have to reemphasize points to keep them up to speed on events.

[Caoimhe]

I'm glad of the editing choices PH has taken. More fics should be edited by this method, else you end up with Past Sins which I find unreadable due to the constant repetition of scene descriptions and character thoughts over and over. Seriously, that story could be 50% smaller with editing.

[JadedPony]

The team work really has paid off. FOE:PH is my pony crack.

[tylertoon2]

The team work really has paid off. FOE:PH is my pony crack.

Can I get this quote bronzed and hung above my fireplace?

[Evilgidgit]

Have there been any ridiculously hard decisions to make during story direction or character actions?

[Silver136]

The team work really has paid off. FOE:PH is my pony crack.

I gotta redownload the story on my new phone man...gotta get my fix man, where's my fix; WHERES MY FIX?!?!

[Vinylshadow]

*casually snorts chapter 13*

amidoinitrite?

[JadedPony]

Speaking of pony crack, what was your favorite high from FOE:PH? I think my favorite chapter was Flank and the mysterious bartender. She was freaking awesome. So very, very close to redemption... yet so far.

Also Charity the Cap-monger is perhaps one of the best characters in the FOE universe. I absolutely loved her and Velvet together. That filly is a force of nature.

I still have to avoid that episode of MLP where they sing the song that broke my heart in Fluttershy's clinic. RUINED! That chapter just WRECKED me for days. It was such a good set up and the action was well thought out then in the end the "Bad guys" were... just... and she had to... It wasn't fair damn it!  

Also.. :

[decumos]

Yeah, that scene in Medical Center left me devastated as well.
My favourite chapter is the one with the confrontation with Sanguine at the Chapel and his speech about actions he had to commit to get to Blackjack.
Also, I just LOVED pretty much all the memory orb scenes with Goldenblood. He is my favourite character in PH because of that.

[Silver136]

My biggest PH high? God, there are so many...I'd have to say the Big Mac assassination though. Psalm and Goldenblood are my two favorite characters so having them both in such a brutal situation was both awesome and awful.

[JadedPony]

Psalm might end up hurting me if we ever met. I can't stand depressing, sad people. I will bother them politely until they cheer up. You'd be surprised how effective just sitting down next to someone and not saying anything is. Just sharing space makes a lot of otherwise withdrawn people open up.

[Silver136]

I'm that withdrawn person, and trust me it doesn't work with everybody. Someone like me (and probably Psalm) stays away from people out of fear of being judged or accidentally doing something they'll regret (again). It mostly just bothers me when people do that to me.

[Caoimhe]

Flank was a highlight for me especially in the description of whatever drug BJ was on when approaching the town. It didn't just instantly effect her but gradually made itself known. Somber's dialogue perfectly showed its effect. It didn't just suddenly make her feel superequine but graduated into it. That shit was spot on.

E: Oh, also saving glory in... what was it, the Filly Flashers' place and then at that Enclave place? Those were tense, but I am a sucker for lesbo romance and 1 on 1 character stuff since you can get a lot of depth out of two mains together.

[JadedPony]

I'm that withdrawn person, and trust me it doesn't work with everybody. Someone like me (and probably Psalm) stays away from people out of fear of being judged or accidentally doing something they'll regret (again). It mostly just bothers me when people do that to me.

Fear is the mind killer. Watch the episode with the ponytones. watch how Fluttershy comes to realize her fears were not as bad as she thought. This is an important lesson. If we let fear control us then we will accomplish much less in life and be much less happy.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cehkm_my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-episode-79-filli-vanilli_fun

My family is a bunch of people who are paranoid about everything. They worry constantly. I had to willfully break myself of the bad habit of living in fear once I moved out of my family home. It's hard to let go of, but you can do it, one step at a time. Overcome your fears; be awesome! You can do it!

[Icy Shake]

I'm that withdrawn person, and trust me it doesn't work with everybody. Someone like me (and probably Psalm) stays away from people out of fear of being judged or accidentally doing something they'll regret (again). It mostly just bothers me when people do that to me.

Seriously, this. Also, for a lot of introverts, having a strange person just "in their space" for unknown reasons is uncomfortable and unwelcome.

Flank was a highlight for me especially in the description of whatever drug BJ was on when approaching the town. It didn't just instantly effect her but gradually made itself known. Somber's dialogue perfectly showed its effect. It didn't just suddenly make her feel superequine but graduated into it. That shit was spot on.

E: Oh, also saving glory in... what was it, the Filly Flashers' place and then at that Enclave place? Those were tense, but I am a sucker for lesbo romance and 1 on 1 character stuff since you can get a lot of depth out of two mains together.

Flash Industries. That was pretty good, but I kind of wish it hadn't deflated as quickly as it did. One of those cases, I think, where it worked better reading as it was released than going directly from one chapter to the next.

One of my favorite stretches is the lead-up to Star Point, through to a bit after P-21's suicide attempt. I guess the whole issue of what is and isn't enough to keep the characters going resonates with me.

I'm that withdrawn person, and trust me it doesn't work with everybody. Someone like me (and probably Psalm) stays away from people out of fear of being judged or accidentally doing something they'll regret (again). It mostly just bothers me when people do that to me.

Fear is the mind killer. Watch the episode with the ponytones. watch how Fluttershy comes to realize her fears were not as bad as she thought. This is an important lesson. If we let fear control us then we will accomplish much less in life and be much less happy.

Yeah, and everyone else learned that it's not their job to fix her, and that any expansion she wants to do can and should proceed at the pace she wants.

[Scienza]

If we're talking high in drug sense, then Flank (for obvious reasons that have been said already)

If we're talking highlights, Lucidity all the way.

[Silver136]

I'm that withdrawn person, and trust me it doesn't work with everybody. Someone like me (and probably Psalm) stays away from people out of fear of being judged or accidentally doing something they'll regret (again). It mostly just bothers me when people do that to me.

Fear is the mind killer. Watch the episode with the ponytones. watch how Fluttershy comes to realize her fears were not as bad as she thought. This is an important lesson. If we let fear control us then we will accomplish much less in life and be much less happy.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cehkm_my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-episode-79-filli-vanilli_fun

My family is a bunch of people who are paranoid about everything. They worry constantly. I had to willfully break myself of the bad habit of living in fear once I moved out of my family home. It's hard to let go of, but you can do it, one step at a time. Overcome your fears; be awesome! You can do it!

To clarify, it's not so much being judged as being feared. I fear making mistakes similar to those I made in Elementary and Middle school, both of which resulted in people being terrified of and avoiding me. So as to not repeat those mistakes I became a huge introvert. I was already a shy person, so it wasn't that huge a change.

[JadedPony]

Oh, yeah, I'm an introvert as well, so I know how infuriating it is but some times you need someone to push you out of your comfort zone. Someone did it for me and it really helped. It's not for everyone, but for me it's better than wallowing.

Randomly I learned something hilarious today!

Winter_Wrap_Up:

[Caoimhe]

So all Horizons had to be was just a really big snow machine? Amazin'!

[O. Hinds]

71! We are in the endgame now, everyone, and the end of this chapter, well… Somber says that it’s a herald of things to come. Brace yourselves.

[JadedPony]

It's out? Cool. I'll check it out in the morning. I just finished catching up on Dr. Who. The last episode was AWESOME. Sleep time now!

[Guest]

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[Guest]

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