S.A.M = Sweet Apple Massacre
I should preface this by saying I am an author who is NOT against fan fiction. George R.R. Martin is and also a few other authors have voiced there displeasure in fans creating works while using the characters of TV shows and other media. To this? I ask...why? If someone wrote a fan fiction of Darak the Minotaur (my character) as long as they gave me credit for creating him, I'd be quite overjoyed honestly.
In the years I've been writing, I've written a few fan fictions. Nothing overtly sexual like how most think of fan fics, but stuff that hopefully fits nicely in with the lore. I wrote an Alien fic which I'm still quite proud of, I am now in the middle of writing a fan fic of one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time, District 9. Which brings us to the topic of this post.
I was researching other fan fics, famous ones. You know there's a Lord of the Rings fic that's longer than Tolkien's original work?
Anyway, I was once a Brony-and Big Macintosh was my favorite. Well, Rarity was my first fav then when I started working on a farm, Mac took the place. For some reason, a video in my recommended list was titled "Sweet Apple Massacre" reading. I skimmed through the audio. Upon further research-I guess this is a sort of famous fan fic in the Brony / My Little Pony fandom? Or infamous. I guess.
I read it. My curiosity got the better of me. Do I have regrets about reading it? Well, not really. While the content is horrific, it's so sloppily written that a lot of horror and gore and trauma is lost. I've read extreme horror. Jon Athan (Author of Do Not Disturb) is one of my favorites, and his prose are really effective. Really gross and vile things happen, but I care about the characters so it works. I've read about slow torture and sexual assault and all that-all within really good writing that feels emotional.
Do I think Big Mac torturing his siblings is horrible? Yeah. To give the fic credit, the idea of a big, hulking, red horse going psycho is scary. Also, Mac is strong. Like really strong. That also adds to his imposing aura. He's the big brother of scared ponies (basically kids) and he tears them apart.
The story goes to places I never would in my own writing, even in horror. I just have a hard time writing really extreme stuff like that, especially involving animals and kids. So this author went to a place I never would as a writer. But I don't really applaud them. I could also write gory fan fics of MLP, Guardians of the Galaxy, Gargoyles-but I don't think it would be all that impressive. To just write a bunch of torture porn starring 'family friendly' characters. When writing fan fiction, I only go as dark as the original material.
The thing about Sweet Apple Massacre that fascinates me (along with many other fics) is the mystery. Who is the writer? I know the fic is a joke, meant to gross out MLP fans-but I still want to know more about an author who could write such a weird and fucked story.
I actually think the writers of some fan fics are onto good ideas. The idea of Big Mac being a psycho? That actually could work in a stand-alone, original story. A world that has talking animals and that has a deranged killer on the loose. But I feel like S.A.M is too short to really get into the colorful world of MLP. If someone paid me to write SAM, I would've first of all invented my own world. I wouldn't want to use MLP characters. I'd maybe do 'inspired by'. Then, I'd spend a chapter or two just in the fun and colorful lives of these ponies. Then slowly introduce the terror-filled things. Slowly build to the climax of one of the characters going crazy. Having Big Mac go slowly insane would've made a really interesting angle.
What I love about fan fics is that this (and stories like it) could only exist because of the internet. Only in this day and age can we write and share our thoughts, even if...maybe we shouldn't. I think I love the mystery that surrounds fan fic authors. Most don't show there faces, some are good, some are bad, but all put in the effort to write. A lot of authors probably started out writing fan fiction and become writers. I think that's really cool.
So, I will never bash fan fiction-unless it something like S.A.M which is so appalling and I wonder if I'm going to hell just for reading it.
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