I've been thinking today about how I choose to express myself artistically and came to some personal realizations about some things. So, this blog is aimed at myself, but if it resonates with any of you, that's great; which is why I chose to write this.

The MLP fandom is made up of an incredibly talented people and some have pulled their talents together to make a name for this community. There is so much fan music, fan art, and fan fictions out on the web. Being a naturally artistic person myself, I know that I can be a part in adding to this fandom. And I have so far with writing a MLP fan fiction; with more stories that I haven't published. But upon some introspection, I realized that I've abandoned other original endeavors for ready-made ones. What I mean by this is that I have ideas -- original ideas -- that I have just sat on for awhile now in favor of writing or drawing MLP related things.

Now, there is nothing wrong with fan works -- at all. But personally, I feel that I have paid way too much attention to it than cultivating other original ideas that I have. And now I know why. It is much easier, for example, to write for pre-made characters that already have their own personality and back-story than it is to make your own. It is much easier, to write in a pre-made world than it is to design your own. For me, I paid more attention to MLP related things, because I didn't know how to create a likable world and characters on my own. And this is mainly because I filtered it through what I see in MLP. How can I make such lovable characters? How can a fashion such an intriguing world? I became intimidated from deviating from what I knew worked; but I also was lazy in putting effort into my ideas as well.

I came to the realization that I, in a sense, feared originality. I feared that I couldn't live up to -- or write up to -- what I saw in this show. But this was wrong frame of mind that I didn't know I had until today. I compared and in that comparing I discouraged myself from trying something new. When in reality, I can build a unique world just as intriguing and even more so in its own way. And I can create lovable characters the resonates with the reader. The only true limit is not only my imagination, but the limit that I place upon myself. That's not to say that I won't write fan fictions or draw art -- because I still enjoy doing it. But what it does mean is that from now on, I will pay equal (if not more) attention to my completely original ideas.

Again this, of course, is not meant to put anyone down for MLP fan-works. This is personal to me and what I've come to realization about myself. Feel free to comment, if you'd like.