Difference between Canon FIM and Fan-Fiction FIM... · 12:09am Mar 20th, 2012
As fan-fiction writers, all of us who work on our stories face the same disgusting and downright moronic attitude by some readers (and even other authors and pre-readers) who tell us 'this doesn't feel pony' or 'this doesn't happen in canon'.
I say moronic because it is pretty stupid to compare the two on an equal creative level.
So, what is the big difference between Canon FIM and Fan-fiction FIM?
Answer: Any FIM Fan-fic that's well written makes sense. And I'm sorry, but the series is not limited by something as flimsy as sense. At least not anymore.
Think about it, when we write, we don't write for children. We write for teenagers and upwards. Our themes, even the 'slice of life' ones are, generally speaking, more complicated than what a 3 year old could fully understand.
The emotions that we put in the stories are not something that children of that age could relate to; our stories don't teach a simple moral that can be easily boiled down to a short letter to Princess Celestia. In fact, the few fics that do so that I have read are comedies that generally have an ironic or sarcastic undertone to the letter, or deal with something that is not going to happen anytime soon (one would hope!) to a 3 to 12 year old (Or older even).
We worry about consistency and plot, we worry about the characters remaining true to their personalities (to different degrees of success) we take them several steps beyond what the Canon world does: we explore fantasies and darker sides along with the funny and cute... but for all of that to catch the attention of our readers, we have to make sure it makes sense. If we want our readers to carry on reading, we don't just throw random stories that sometimes don't even compute with what was told before (by us, the writers).
Want an example?
Let's say I write a hypothetical story. We'll call it "The Unicorn's Brother' Next to each line describing my story I will write down the mildest purist fan/reader reaction most appropriate in parenthesis.
~~~
In my story, I have an awesome stallion OC. His name is, Bright Knight! (Ok? I HATE OCs but... let's see where you take this.)
In my story, Bright Knight is not only cool and looks as tall and strong as Big Mac... he's also a Unicorn! Yay! (Gary Sue)
In my story, Bright Knight is... Twilight Sparkle's brother! Who she hasn't mentioned in TWO YEARS! At all. To anypony. (Gary Sue)
In my story, he's so cool and so nice and so smart and kind and worthy and cool that he is going to marry... a Princess! (Waaay Gary Sue)
And, in my story, not only is he marrying a Princess, it's an OC Princess who happens to be an Alicorn! (WTF?)
Oh, and Spike gets a phoenix pet! (Are you for real? Why?!)
And Twilight can teleport a bunch of ponies to the wedding! (Ok... not reading anymore. This doesn't make sense? Since when can Twilight teleport that many ponies? Why would she suddenly have a brother? And another Alicorn Princess? No. This is BS, you suck as a writer and creative. Stop writing!)
~~~
Now, in case you didn't notice the reference, change "Bright Knight" for "Shining Armor" and the first five points of my fic are things that are ACTUALLY going to happen in MLP: FIM.
Do we hear an uproar about it? No. We heard an uproar about saying "Derpy!" in an episode, which actually has a background and reason, but, here's this happening and everyone is patiently waiting to see what will happen.
IF that were a fic it would torn to shreds in less time than some pre-readers can say "I hate Grimdark because it's non-pony to me!"
Why do we allow that? (Or some of us, since the moment I read about Shining Armor and Candece I was royally pissed-off)
Because, unlike what we read in fan-fiction, we don't demand the series to make sense. The series is non-linear. Each episode happens in a totally isolated manner and is (at best) sometimes referenced again. It's Star Trek.
So, why do some readers (read: puritans) stick to telling us that what we write doesn't make sense when compared to canon? Or that it's not worthy of being considered "pony"?
I think bottom line, it's that a series that is not supposed to make sense in a linear-sort-of-way, translates into frustration to readers that expect simple ideas and non-conflicting interpretations of the show. The fact that there's a reason as to why X happens to Y only feeds their aggravation and hatred for a story.
Anyway, expect certain stories to be updated in a week or so.
~WD
RIGHT ON, BROTHAH! PREACH IT! SHOUT IT TO THE RAFTERS!
CAN A BRONY GET AN AMEN HERE?!
Amen.
that was glorious man.
good job. you nailed fandom reactions to... just about anything perfectly.
though even if the show makes his personality different. i will always see shining armor as a ponified Zapp Brannigan
36498
to start... AMEN BROTHER!!!
Second, I agree... to an extent. I see the show as a "rulebook" for my stories. If it says X in the show, I can't go ahead and say Y unless I have a damn good reason. A damn good example (that everyone breaks) is Trixie. Everyone writes her (even in really good fanfics) as this super amazing and powerful unicorn. However, I don't see that ANYWHERE in Boast Busters. In fact, other than TRIXIE'S TRICKS (her special talent), she seems highly mediocre.
Now obviously if you do say she's super amazing, rivaling Twilight in power, I won't scold you, but you get what I'm saying
Hmm... no idea if that just made sense or not... OH WELL!
I shudder to think of a 3-10 year old finding out about this site (or heck, even Equestria Daily) and seeing all these crazy people putting the pretty ponies through such turmoil. Their brain would explode (and then implode (then exploded again!)) with how twisted some of the fan made content is.
It kinda puts in perspective what the community expects out of the writers of the show itself and fanfic authors. Readers of fics have high expectations due to being relatively older than the target demographic while watchers tend to let things slide on the show. Though, there have been a few grumblings on some things the show allows. This upcoming wedding episode is probably going to be a jumping off point for some fans, whether it's any good or not.
I'm not sure how I feel on it. Like you said, fans of the show (myself included) generally take things in stride when new elements are introduced in the series. However, adding new things in a fanfiction better have a darn good explanation behind them or it's rejected post haste. It's frustrating for myself and others, I'm sure, not to have that much leeway.
Interesting post. I'm sure there will be quite a discussion on it. Us poor writers need all the love and support we can get!
You got point.
It's a complicated subject. I've been known to point out canon errors in stories, when I thought it looked like an error rather than a change that the author made for a purpose. And sometimes I've been wrong about that, too, which is a bit embarrassing.
Also, a huge amount of stuff in canon is wide open to interpretation. Such as: tech level, actual powers and nature of alicorns, how pacifistic pony world actually is, Equestria's size and prominence in their world, how other races and nations are situated, and many smaller issues.
I did feel some unease when Twilight teleported her whole group of friends in that last episode. I consoled myself that it took her two tries, was probably the first time she ever attempted this, and they probably didn't go very far. (I'm especially biased against long-distance teleportation.)
I haven't raised an "uproar" about Shining Armor or Princess Cadence yet because I haven't seen how they are going to be handled in the show -- but I do, in fact, worry about FiM jumping the shark with that sort of thing. And I am, actually, writing a fic (I'll post chapter 1 real soon now) that elaborates on my feelings about bringing in more alicorns.
So, what's the worst that could happen? It's possible FiM could evolve in a silly direction where it's much less useful as a basis for writing our more grownup fandom-style fictions. However, that's hardly the end of the world, as we can always ignore the stuff that doesn't work for us, even if it means disregarding practically everything from the end of season 2 onward. And I suspect that was the conclusion you were leading us toward.
If I'm savagely disappointed by how Princess Third Wheel is handled in the show, I can always write stories about a world where she never existed. And if I get comments calling me out and saying "What about Princess Cadence?", I'll just tell them how it is.
I SUPPOSE, eventually, my world might become so disconnected from canon that other fans would have trouble relating to it, and I'd spend too much time explaining, to such a degree that it would no longer make sense to stick with FiM at all. However, we are still a long, very long way from there! By that time I might have gotten FiM out of my system and moved on to other things anyhow, who knows? It's really not worth worrying about now.
I, in my not-so-very expert opinion, have said something that boils down this exact same thing:
If you really feel the need to hate on fanon, just get the Alt Universe label.
Fanon is created by the FANS. Canon is created by a board of directors or animators or Lauren Faust and Co, depending on your preference. That means that when I write something, I'm adding it to FANON. I'm not supplying or denying Canon. If I want to ignore something that happens in Canon, like, for example, Flim-Flam, who's very existence wouldn't help or hinder the plot's movement, then I don't see why I can't. If I want to say that Discord was defeated, but what happened in the episode RIGHT AFTER never occurred, than that is my choice. It is my story, after all. If I want Derpy to be called Derpy, than damn it, I'll call her that. And if I want her to be as derpy as in the show, and yet somehow completely eloquent towards two of the main characters and yet nopony else, than why the hell not?
I don't care if you say my story can't possibly happen, for the reason that a unicorn who got fused with a phoenix is absurd, then I say why not? The Princesses are technically Unicorns with a more Earth Pony-esque girth, and the wings of a Pegasus. They are OP like all hell, and all I got is a Unicorn who can explode and reform.
And actually, Fallout Equestria has a similar character. She's killed by washing her ashes down a drain a little at a time. Mine'll die in a less... grotesque way, definitely, but I'm not making a Marty Stu here. He's able to retain great amounts of fire. His mane and tail are burning appendages that can be used like whips. So, what's the problem?
As I said. If people have a problem with thinking that something would never happen in reality, then they need to just stop whining, and pretend that the "Alternate Reality/Universe" tag is applied to the fic.
To stay within Canon should always mean in terms of Ponies that you keep the characters as they are and maybe add more to their character in a logical manner. Such as Twilight would never suddenly start burning books Nazi style.
Likewise, Fluttershy won't just magically become a hunter.
To say all fanfics need to be geared to 5 year old girls defeats the whole purpose....
Wanderer D, stop being all philosophical and write your stories!
THE CANON ISN'T CANONICAL!!!! TAKE ITOFFG!!!!fAFkaeihf;aol!
36935 ... You know, I can't really tell if you missed the point of the post, or are purposefully ignoring it...
37116
I actually posted this in the wrong forum/comment section lol. Oh boy I need to go to bed......
A well thought out and interesting blog post. I don't think I have ever had that problem of not thinking of things as "pony" enough. The only things that will turn me off a story is poor formatting (I am OCD about correctness and poor formatting makes my eye twitch while reading), wildly out of character personalities or just bad OC ponies.
Very much looking forward to the updates Wanderer D!
I can agree with this, i talk to somebody on a regular basis and he can't stand grim dark because he seems to think 'no way would it happen EVER'.
I could argue the same with so many things he has read.
You sir, are somepony who gets it. Truly, I couldn't say it better my self.
Oh, and storIES? As in plural? lets see, your only writing two stories at the moment so... Dose that mean more Sweetie Chronicles?!!!
Edit: Oh wait, are you actually writing three stories?
Current projects
The Empty Room
Progress: 30%
The Sweetie Chronicles
Chapter 4 - 40%
A New World
Chapter 4 - Published
Looks like Sweetie Chronicles is still in the lead, so I'll keep my enthusiasm
39525 Actually, it's 4 stories
38751 It's a constant thing, if something 'dark' happened in the show, we would maybe be surprised, but we wouldn't question it as much as if it happened in a fic!
37223
Thanks! It's good to know there are those who enjoy stories for their merit rather than their 'ponyness' 
37044 Meh, who cares about the canon? They might make it work! The problem is the comparative demands we subject fan writers to!
36935 I'm... not sure what you mean by that, the point here is that bronies demand excessive detail and justification from fan writers, while they happily accept the same idea as long as it comes from the source regardless of how illogical it is.
36566 They hide behind canon because its the only weapon they have that they can use with impunity in several cases to try and destroy a story.
36547 All good points. I honestly don't know how they can make it work, but if anyone can, it's the people behind FiM fiction. It still works as a good way of bringing up how some individuals like to destroy ideas just because they don't come from the source they would prefer.
36508 Well, a good story should always have a reason behind what's happening, right? Some might be satisfied with the reasons you have and some won't. But readers should take into account that we are writing for free and giving our time and effort to tell a story and hopefully entertain our readers. If they can blindly accept as absolute truth something that happens on the show regardless of how illogical it is, what stops them from suspending their disbelief for a story?
36505 I see it as a 'guideline'.
I'll take it as a source, but if I encounter something that suddenly pops up (i.e. Rarity's parents) I'm not going to go back and change everything to fit them in.
39983 Yes, I agree, and it is a flimsy weapon, at best.
"The pen is mightier than the sword, but only if the writer is untoward."
"The man with the plan, is the one I'll follow. The man who whines, is the man who'll wake up with a hole where his head was."
"If dissent and doubt are what you bring, than take your things and soak in a spring."
"If the Fighter does not Fight, then he is nothing. And if a Writer does not Write, than he is just complaining."
"This town ain't big enough for the two of us. So, ya'll can start a new housing development by speaking to the town's mayor, or I get to beat the tar outta you fer looking so ugly."
Not really sure what that last one relates to, but... Words of Wisdom, everypony. RESPECT THE WRITTEN WORD.
As far as princess cadence goes, she is a unicorn as said by Faust. I will either pretend the wings are not there or fake. This just seems to be a gimick by hasbro to sell more merch. Also, FOUR STORIES AT ONCE! How do you keep all the story lines on track and not bleed into each other?
46294 5 if you count 'The Moon's Twilight'
I don't know, I think the stories are so wildly different that there is little chance of getting them mixed up 
40055
Also, as an addendum to what I have stated previously, the "Canon" weapon at it's finest:
"Y U NO HAS RAINBOW BE STRAIGHT??? GAWD, J00 SU><0rZ 4T WRITING SO I'M THUMBING THIS DOWN. NOW, IMMA GO WRITE MY VORE FIC WHERE PINKIE KILLS TWILIGHT AND RAEPZ HER DEAD FAIC WITH ENTRAILS. BECAUSE THAT IS TOTALLY CANON.