A small interview with Justice4243 · 6:40am Aug 3rd, 2014

HB: Today we interview a man with raging passion or maybe a passion for rage.
He's the author of 'The Wheel and the Butterfly'. It's Justice4243!
Happy to have you on board for the interview. How are you this fine day?

I’m good. It’s a nice day here in Portland and I’ve got plans and plenty of time to write, so I’m pretty upbeat today.

HB: I remember visting Portland for a week. Wonderful transit system up there. So how'd you choose the name Justice4243 and is it okay if I just call you Justice?

Justice is fine and what I usually go by online.
There’s kind of a mish-mash of things going on with the name, but I started using “Justice” after I watched Afro Samurai. The name comes from the gun-toting villain of the series voiced by Ron Perlman because it was one of the coolest characters I had seen.
“42” is probably easy to guess. I can’t quiet remember why I added “43”. At one point I dropped it from the name but started using it again when I watched LotR: The Two Towers the extended edition, and “43” was the number of kills Gimli got in the battle of Helms deep, beating Legolas by 1, so I started using it again.
How’s that for convoluted?

HB: To be fair, I've been hoping for a convoluted answer to that question some day, and you sir delivered. Moving on, how where you introduced to MLP:FiM?

I used to spend time on a web forum with a bunch of people I liked chatting with. They started getting into it when it first came out. They’d talk about the episodes and have pony avatars and such. Eventually curiosity got the better of me and I tried watching from the beginning. As soon as I saw the Celestia/Luna Taijitu or “ying-yang” in the opening of episode one I knew I was in trouble. I’m a sucker for symbolism and could tell this wasn’t going to be an ordinary children’s television show.

HB: Do you have a favorite Pony? Also, do you have a favorite shipping?

Rarity is best pony. Oddly enough, I don’t find myself writing her very often but I like that she has a career, ambition, and can be a bit odd when no one is looking or if she’s just with friends. I guess I identify with her a bit.
Favorite shipping is hopefully pretty obvious at this point. Now, favorite non-crossover shipping would probably have to be Sweetie Belle and Button Mash… which is also probably pretty obvious.

HB: How long have you been writing? Did you ever write stories before FimFiction?

I only started dedicated writing when I began The Wheel and the Butterfly, so about a year ago.
Before that I would write goofy, script format stories about random stuff that crossed my mind and would just post it to whatever web form I was hanging out at. This would often by something like looking at a myth from a religion and scripting out dialogue to go with the what seemed to be a rather nonsensical event by modern day standards, I did quite a few stories with Zeus on that note. Other notable examples include a short story where a grisly peanut butter vs jelly war was solved with bread, and writing an entire Hamlet parody.
Once I got into MLP I wrote a few mini, tongue firmly in cheek ,fan-fics with a reluctant alicorn self-insert who was pretty lazy and drunk most the time and flanderized versions of the mane cast. Those where pretty fun.
There’s also a couple Homestuck Daverezi fan-fics buried deep in my Tumblr somewhere.

HB: Whilst I think about Dan vs. Zeus, can you tell me if there are any authors that you look up to?

Funnily enough, I spend much more time writing then reading, so I don’t follow authors that much. There’s a couple I follow that have been writing longer than me who’s works I do really like. First is CassandraMyOCisBestpony who writes some pretty funny stuff as long as you decide to be in on the not-so-subtle joke. Next is MythrilMoth who is simply an excellent writer and has typed up many of my favorite fan-fics.

HB: Okay, now let's discuss your story. The Wheel and the Butterfly is a crossover story between MLP (duh) and Dan Vs.
Now, I'll admit that I'm not a fan of crossover fics, And overall I tend to stay away from them. Additionally, I tend to avoid Human tags as well. So it is no small feat to get me to enjoy a Human/Crossover story. Justice, what inspired you to write up this particular crossover?

Shortly after I started watching Dan Vs. was looking for fan-art of either Dan Vs. or MLP. I stumbled on Technaro’s art of Dan and Pinkie. A few pictures later I was a DanPie shipper.
I decided to scratch this itch by looking for shipping fan-fiction between the two, but found there simply wasn’t a lot out there. Certainly not enough to sate my thirst, so I started thinking up my own story and eventually decided to type it up. It’s probably worth noting one of Technaro’s pieces inspired an important plot element of the story, as well.

HB: Do you remember how you got into Dan Vs?

Probably because of the work of Mixermike622 of Dan Vs. FiM and Flufflepuff fame. I started watching Dan Vs. and I kept watching because the show never failed to get me to laugh.

HB: He did make some great comics to be sure. You do a good job incorporating the cast of Dan Vs. into the story. How much time goes into planning each chapter?

“Not very much,” is probably the quick answer here. Some arcs and chapters I’ve been working out in my head for weeks, months even. So, for many chapters I have a pretty good handle on what will happen and how it will end but details like dialogue and probably most character interactions don’t come until I start writing. And sometimes a reader suggestion or idea hits me and things change a bit. A chapter can also go for much shorter or longer then I intended depending on if I think I’m at a good stopping point or not.

HB: Wow, it sounds like you've had this story idea running for awhile. The full title of the story is 'The Wheel and the Butterfly (a Dan X Pinkie Pie Saga). This leads me to two questions: Why that name? And why that pairing?

Dan himself sort of explains ‘The Wheel and the Butterfly’ during part 2. Basically, there’s an old saying, “Who breaks a butterfly on the wheel?” Where a “wheel” is an old torture device used for breaking limbs and a “butterfly” is well… a butterfly. The idea is putting forth a lot of effort for something rather simple and I felt the imagery fit the two characters well.
“Dan X Pinkie” was simple so someone would know what the story is about by reading the title and “saga” was because I sort of knew if I actually wrote everything I wanted that it’d be rather epic tale.
As for the pairing, I think Dan and Pinkie are somewhat perfect for eachother in that their childlike impulsiveness is something that I don’t think many others would get. Their personalities also work as great contrasts, so both get to play straight man or foil depending on what’s going on. Finally, MLP has shown us Pinkie will go to great lengths to get someone to be her friend, while Dan responds surprisingly well to people treating him nicely. Despite appearances that these two are opposites, I think it makes a lot of sense for them to be together.

HB: That might be the best ship explaination I've ever heard. They do bounce well off each other, either anchoring each other down or pushing each other up, depending on the situation. Consider me converted.
I came in a little late and almost ruined my sleep schedule reading your fic when I first found it. Presently the word count is over 530,000 with two side fics that expand on the story. Justice, were you planning on writing an epic length saga from the beginning?

Sort of… I knew I had a lot of story to cover. I had no idea how many chapters it would take to get the story out or that I’d frequently stop to add additional pieces like side-stories or arcs that are mostly about developing the characters and less about dealing with the main plot. I certainly wouldn't have guessed I’d be writing well over 100 chapters or hundreds of thousands of words in the course of the story.

HB: What interested me most about this crossover is that, unlike most crossovers I've seen, this one throws a MLP character into the crossover world instead of the other way around. What made you choose to throw Pinkie into Dan's world instead of Dan into Pinkie's world?

I knew I wanted Dan to swear vengeance on Pinkie pretty early on and had an idea of how I wanted that to play out as well. I had trouble picturing Dan having much success against Pinkie in Equestria. Sure, it’s easy to picture Pinkie making him upset, however his fish out of water situation sort of places him at Pinkie’s mercy, a somewhat scary thought, but Pinkie ultimately means well with just about anything she does.
Reversing that situation is not nearly as pleasant, in fact it’s rather terrifying. Dan’s not quiet an evil monster, but it’s almost impossible to sway him from vengeance when he sets his mind to it, and he’s capable of some pretty heinous things. I wanted a rocky start between the pair and letting Dan have things on his terms would make for plenty of bumps in the beginning.

HB: Giving Dan the home field advantage for a rough beginning? I can dig it. Now, I'm not spoiling anything when I say that Dan and Pinkie hook up (it's the title for Pete's sake), but it does take quite awhile before they hook up.
So my question, and be honest: Did you want to build a more realistic relationship by easing into it, or were you ship teasing the readers?

Quite a bit of column ‘A’ with a bit of column ‘B’. I mean, the ship teasing gets so bad that even the characters are cognizant of it at a point. This, like many things in the story, developed because I had an initial plan that sort of went awry when the characters got involved. Most of the first few arcs and the order of them are pretty close to what I intended, however I never really saw Pinkie and Dan getting really affectionate with each other as early as they did until I started writing and realized it was rather natural for them to start “the shipping” as some of my readers put it. So ship teasing was also a way for me to apply brakes to their relationship and make sure the “hook up” was a major event in itself and not something that happens in the midst of some other crazy event or life threatening danger.

HB: Do you recall any chapter(s) being particularly difficult to write?

I rarely have too much trouble getting through a particular chapter. Though, the arc with Terrifi-Guy and the ending especially required a bit more thought and mental energy than pretty much any other arc I can recall.

HB: Do you have an ending planned out or are you leaving that open for now?

This is a pretty straightforward question that I sadly don’t have a straightforward answer for. I think at one time I did have something of an ending planned, but then I thought of more material to cover even after that. In any case, I wouldn’t expect the crazy train to be coming to a stop anytime soon.

HB: That's reassuring; I know I'm still looking forward to more. Alright, this has gone on longer then I expected, so let's rap things up with my favorite question.
Justice, do you have any words of advice for up-and-coming authors?

Figure out a story that’s important to you and write it. It can be something that you feel is missing or maybe just something you want to write your own take on, but the important thing is you write and don’t stop writing until you’re done. On that note, don’t be afraid to talk to and get guidance and ideas from your readers. They’ll likely become part of your motivation for continuing as you continue.

HB: Justice, thank you so much for the interview. I look forward to the next chapter and I hope you have a fantastic day.

Thank you! The next chapter is in all likelihood, coming soon, like always. I hope you have a great day as well.

HB: Folks, thank you for reading and as always be sure to follow Justice4243 and read The Wheel and the Butterfly A Dan X Pinkie Pie Saga. It's long and intimidating, but I assure you that it is a crossover worth your time.
This is Hesitant Brony signing off.

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