Art or no art? · 5:07pm Apr 11th, 2012
Important! So, the new character tag limit is 5 characters! I've already done my part and brought down the count for all my stories, don't forget to help us out and do the same!
So, why is this important? Well, it streamlines the search engine and makes it easier for readers to find the story, for one. Second, I think it is an important thing for an author to realize who are the characters that are really taking center stage in the story, I mean, TER has a BIG cast, but not all are main characters, as important or moving as their roles might be, so I can boil it down some. Same goes for TSC.
Also, remember that having the Mane 6 tag or the CMC tag, doesn't mean that any of them is less important! If you want to highlight that one of the M6 has a main role over the others, make sure to tag that pony along with the M6 tag!
Thanks for helping the site!
Hey everyone! 
As you can see if you look left on my user page on the bio, TER and TSC are going very well indeed! I think both will be much closer to that coveted 100% by the end of today. 
So you will soon have both! Isn't that exciting?! 
I'm excited! 
Also, why do ideas come and stick my head?! I have this most awesome idea for a FIM story... 
but... it's too much! Not until I finish TER at least! 
So, anyone here is any good at drawing? I'm thinking of eventually compiling a TER and TSC "Ultimate Edition" (TER after it's re-written, probably) and if anyone wants to donate fanart for that, it would be awesome. Now, the reason I say "Donate" is because, well, other than a few DA points, I'm pretty tight at the moment, so I hate to ask just like that, but I thought I'd throw it out and see if anyone wants to help. 
And don't feel bad if you can't, I'm not holding my breath, I know how much work it takes to create good artwork of any kind!
I'm particularly looking for a few scenes which I have in mind, 
so if you're interested, let me know! Also, there's a scene in TSC coming up that HAS TO BE 
DRAWN! you'll know which one it is when you read it 
Also, 'Question Time':
Spoiler-ish Cover Art for Fics (think Past Sins), good, bad or meh? And why?
On that subject of cover art, it depends on the story. Specifically it depends on if a story is well written and interesting enough all the way through to no need to suprise the reader to keep the captivated.
>looks left, sees blank space on side of website
>looks further left, sees wall
>looks even further left, sees cat
>asks cat if it is Wanderer D
>cat says nothing
>disposes of cat
Yes, yes, YES. The 'spoilers' are vague enough that readers won't get the all-important context until it pops up in the actual story itself, and can even mislead the reader like some sort of visual red herring, like how everyone thought Twilight was gonna' get hung in Past Sins, because that was depicted on the cover art, but then she was rescued at the last second. But most importantly, if it's done well, it sells the story, draws readers in. That's what the summary is for, selling the story, but a catchy summary AND an awesome cover picture just catches that many more potential readers. Can't have a successful story if you can't get people interested enough to give it a try, preferably at a glance. I honestly can't think of any cons to having cover art... maybe the commision fee if you can't get someone to do it for free? a.deviantart.net/avatars/t/w/twilightshrugplz.png
Personally? I'm all for awesome cover art even if it does contain spoilers. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, while that might be true for descriptive purposes the words tell the story behind the picture! It is for this reason that the story is read, to find out why things are the way they are in the pic. Also good art can sometimes be what draws a person in to read a story in the first place. More than one story I've started simply because the picture looked interesting.
67268 YES. So true.
As for the art you want, I got a friend who I might be able to convince to do a piece or two, though he doesn't actively read any fanfics.
He only just got through the first two chapters of Fallout: Equestria, and I've been bugging him to read it forever! 
And don't forget to send it to me so I can spaz all over any grammar, punctual, or spelling errors that the other prereaders didn't catch, okay?
I CAN'T WAIT!!!
And, I've actually never read TER. I know I said that already, but... I guess I'll have to.
One scene I'll probably beg my friend to draw for TSC is when Twilight turns to crystal, or when Sweetie is dissolving away into yellow motes of light.
Still, that is just so awesome, and TSC just screams Quantum Leap to me.
67286
I'm exactly the reverse, lol. I've read The Empty Room, but not Sweetie Chronicles. I really should read that...
I know of a few people who say the "hype" over Past Sins turned them off, and I guess the cover art was most likely what they were thinking about. It certainly attracted a lot of attention -- which I think is good if (and only if) the story is worthy of it. In my opinion, Past Sins lived up to what the picture promised.
I've also seen a few fics that tried to follow the lead of Past Sins by having an epic piece of cover art done, and then the story wasn't really all that.
In your case, knowing what you've been writing, I say go for it.
67293 I agree. Past Sins didn't disappoint, even with all the people hating on it. I had to dig out the old chapter ten to see what they were complaining about, you know? And it was just So AWESOME!
Well, not the unedited version.
Yay @ big progress on TER/TSC.
As far as spoilerish cover art goes, I find that it generally works well as long as it isn't really messing up a big reveal. In the case of Past Sins, it's pretty easy to guess as early as chapter 3 what's going to happen in the rest of the fic, but for something like TER there's a very twisted plot where, if I recall correctly from the EQD comments, people were guessing the twists maybe a chapter or two in advance, but not really figuring out the big picture until pretty far in, and therefore you'd need to be more careful with a spoiler picture in that case (although the current picture for TER can be a spoiler for those who pay attention to detail and it works pretty well anyway, lol).
alas, I have no arting skill with computers. oh, and I'm very much for the spoilery fanart. very very much.
the cat deserved it
67278
My art at best is drawing a hoof superimposed on a colored over Iron Cross...... so I'm not your guy.
I
the progress on 
's story and 
journey.
Don't spoil the ending, but maybe make a somewhat cryptic picture. Something that could be seen as a precursor to many seperate storylines yet only 1 being correct.
TER needs a sequel; The Not So Empty Room
I like to have as much information about a story as possible while reading.
I do not mind spoilers one bit.
I also hate vague synopses.
I also prefer the cover art to be directly relevant to the story in some way.
Past Sins, Crisis Equestria, and Alicorn, though the cover art is a bit spoilery, also drew a lot of attention because it was INTERESTING. People actually have to stop and look at it; and knowing it references the story piques their interest.
There are plenty of books and especially comics that have this type of cover art and it never hurt them one bit.
Unless there is something that the story demands there be no reference to until a certain point, I consider this type of cover far superior.
67379
Because I cannot think of anything that hasn't been already said, here is my piece.
I agree completely. Done. Thanks for the assist DPV111.
I vote good. All it does is tell the potential reader what happens, and they have to read for themselves to see WHY it happens and how they got to that point.
I love doing fan art. It is definetly improving me as an artist. Did some work on backwards through the mirror and end of ponies. What scenes do you have in mind? I have been kinda short on ideas lately and I loved your stories to death. I wouldnt mind at least giving it a shot at least to get me back in gear.
Spoiler-ish Cover Art? Doesn't bother me, as long as it doesn't tell the whole entire story. I think that's what makes most people read a story in the fisrt place.
About that fanart thing: I'd love to do that. In fact, I was thinking about drawing some fanart of TER weeks ago, because it's my favourite FanFic and I just love the way it's written. I haven't read TSC yet (shame on me!), but I wanted to do that anyways, so I guess now would be the perfect time for it. However, give me some time to read TSC (and re-read TER, because I kinda forgot half of the story again
), let me know wich scenes you have/had in mind and we'll see if you like the way I draw them.
I CAN HAS SWEETIE CHRONICLES?!
But seriously, all cover art has spoilers, thats the nature of cover art, the idea is however to keep the spoilers clever and obscure enough, so the reader doesn't recognize them until AFTER the depicted seen, not before.
Your rewriting The Empty Room?, I might have to check that out then...
Fan art you say? No promises, but I'll see what I can do...
Noticed the updates did not include finishing the moons twilight. Any info on how thats coming along.
could be good or bad, you can tease just enough to intrigue, or you can outright spoil and ruin everything.
Like lets follow past sins, it had twilight about to be hung, teasing as we wonder why. Now if it had Nightmare moon standing over a pile or Ursa corpses or something we'd know that regardless of reason she murders a lot of things. CMC crying, we wonder why and it intrigues, now lets say they were cying over a corpse. We know what causes it and we don't feel surprised. it all depends on how much it reveals.
70171 Working on it! I don't have an update for it because I'm stuck with the other projects, but I'll put it up sometime soon!
71764 Alright just been impatient with that story. Its a brilliant story