How do you get through (or around) a section that you have become frustrated with?

what inspires you to write?

The first of many? Dis gun b gud.

But seriously. Darkdrome7, FelixDawn, and apple short. That needs to be a panel. The triumvirate of horribly awful amazingly awesome fan fiction.

But in all seriousness, are you going to post another blog on the 24th? I'll probably forget by then...

Well, a basic question: What got you into writing MLP fanfic?

Where do your pony (i.e. non PoE/HiE) fics inspirations come from?

How does one write a halfway decent introduction chapter, particularly when a character in the horror genre find themselves both in unfamiliar body and environment?

A simple question then.

How do you finish? By that I mean, you're writing a long and deep fic, you have an ending in mind but you're stuck in that slightly squishy middle part. How do you maintain your motivation?

When it comes to stories that last longer than just a few chapters (~5 max), how do you manage to draw out the story in a manner that doesn't seem forced?

What's your editing process like (how many editors do you have, how many major revisions do you typically go through, etc.)?

How does it feel to be so awesome?

I'm guessing it's today, right?

What are something you might do when encountered with either writer's block or get exhausted of inspiration in a story or idea?

423957 Yes...today is totally wednesday

In the process of writing a story, (hypothetically) you write a story that was meant for romance but ended up being an adventure comedy. What would you do, try to salvage the original romance story or integrate it with the adventure/comedy?

Everything I write ends up really stale. How do you add "flavor text" to make it more living without making it pointless padding that serves no real purpose?

How do you avoid the the-perfect-is-the-enemy-of-the-good effect while writing?

423952
Ask yourself

424009 Why? You're saying I'm awesome? Why does everyone think this? No! I'm not awesome!

423962 I had just woken up!

423947 If I were in your stead, which I am in actually with my current fic, I'd keep the ending hypothetical. For example, I had originally planned an ending for my fic but due to the plot and its sub-plot, the ending cannot remain as it it. Well, that's my advice if you don't want to write yourself into a wall.

Out of curiosity, How many 'current projects' do you try to limit yourself to, and roughly how many ideas do you have 'on the back burner'?

How do you deal with harsh criticisms of your stories?

What determines popularity? Not just as an author, but a well-known person who others can like and recognize?

are their any things you would recomend NOT writing, to be sucseful? is their any thing you you're self would not write?

424010




Only if you considering writing some of the best stories on the site and having your own fan group not awesome.

Question: How do you know what the "right" amount of detail is? How do I avoid being descriptive to the point of boringness, while maintaining a colourful scene?

424042Stop... just stop. Okay, best stor- are you kidding me? My crappy sappy stories are NOTHING compared to... What, My Little Dashie? Yeah, let's bring that one up. I'm not a good dog gamn writer, and if you think I am, you need to go suck your felf, because I am a horrible writer, and everyone knows it. I've read stuff on this site that is truly moving, and makes me extremely emotional, so to say I'm a good writer would be like saying Santa Claus looks skinny. Stop writing these stupid fan comments, because they're NOT appreciated.

424051

My crappy sappy stories are NOTHING compared to... What, My Little Dashie? Yeah, let's bring that one up

I will have to politely contest this. I find your stories better than [shiver]My Little Dashie.[/shiver]

Well, it depends which stories, but some of them are better than that thing.

Yes! By the sun on Celestia's rump, I will love the crap out of those streams!
Luna help me, fanfic panels on those various cons are always my favourite.

I will drop a question if I find an interesting one that hasn't been asked bazillions times over.

EDIT:

5:30 PM UK Time

NUUUUU!!! Will the streams be recorded? 'Cause I will be at work then. Crap, please say they will be recorded and uploaded somewhere.

Question:
"Is fanfiction serious business?
Traditionally, fanfics are just the imaginings and fantasies of fans, written without consideration for quality or integrity. It's an outlet more than a hobby or a profession or a passion.
But with a surprising amount of competent authors and fics in the community, should the community be doing more as a whole to encourage, or even enforce, professionalism in fanfiction?"

424056 You know what... What the euck fver. You keep telling yourself that, but my fictions are still crap regardless of your opinions.

What is your opinion on fan-generated content like fanart(musical and artsy), but also stuff like translations, sidestories or parodies, that is based on your stories? Do you oppose, accept or encourage it, or do you handle it from case to case differently?

For Pen Stroke and anyone who has written horror: Say you are writing a first-person horror story. What elements are important to give the audience that bone-chilling scare and feeling of being in the main characters horseshoes (so to speak)?

And you didn't invite me.

media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m138ybY3Vg1qgqg4d.jpg

For an average sized fic, what is a good schedule to adhere to for writing ?

(Only applies to long/very long stories) How do you keep writing? Does it get tiring?

(Personal Question) When writing stories, do they come out like you expected it would?

(Personal Question) How do you come up with OCs? Do they pop up unexpectedly, or do you model them after another character/person?

(Personal Question) How do you write? Do you go at it and sit down for hours then publish it without any editing? Or do you write paragraph by paragraph and then meticulously edit each word?

Have you had any stories where you gave an honest effort to put something together, but for whatever reason, the pieces just didn't fall into place and you had to abandon it? If so, when did you know you reached this 'breaking point'?

Also, as authors, what do you feel is the hardest part of writing a story?

(This sounds like a fun idea. Looking forward to it!)

424076
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Luna_apple.png

How do you know that your plotline is good? How do you know that, what may make perfect sense to you, isn't just a meandering jumbled mess to the people who read it?

We have three authors of great skill

three authors of great skill

great skill

Such words...*dare I say it* rustle my jimmies to the highest degree...

But hey, there's nothing an invisible middle finger of pettiness can't fix!

Anyway, question: How should one feel if they know that they have a story (or stories) in desperate need of an update? This question also applies to having multiple stories in progress as well.

Where do you find inspiration for your stories?

To both:
Q:How do you think the fictions affect on the fandom? Is it in good or bad way and do you think some of us may learn something more than just proper English?

424060 I'm not a fantastic author, but personally my opinion is we should definitely encourage quality writing, but enforce it... certainly not. As you said fanfiction is a means that anybody with the inspiration and inclination to do so can turn to to express their creativity. If you try to enforce quality control on those of us who don't necessarily have the raw ability and talent of others on the site, than you are robbing them of their ability to express themselves. Not to mention this site is a wonderful place to turn to for those who want to improve their writing ability, they can put what they make out there for others to see and criticize, which I feel is a valuable opportunity. While I have not published any of my writing here yet, I know I will at some point, and I want that opportunity to get input from other authors and readers out there.

As far as means to encourage quality writing goes, while some outstanding authors do unfortunately fail to get the recognition they may deserve, I would argue that most authors with real skill and talent do get noticed by the community here on the site... and it is shown. If seeing your creation get liked, favorited, and read by hundreds of readers (and perhaps even featured) isn't enough to encourage good, quality writing, I don't know what is.

Again, the rambling observations of a nopony... but hopefully they still carry some significance.

Question: How do you think that the popularity of an author affects the popularity of a work itself regardless of the quality of the work? Do you think newer authors get overlooked sometimes merely because they are unknown to the fandom so far?

Question: Where do you get your inspiration for writing from? And how do you manage to channel that from a general concept into a story that portrays all of the emotions and ideas that you wish to show?

Question: When focusing on the narrative of a longer story; say around 25 chapters, how do you formulate your general storyline, and is there a ratio of heavy narrative, character development, and action that you would consider "optimal?"

For long fics (with which I'm sure the panelists have lots of experience):
Do you allow the input of your readers to influence your story's plot? For example, if someone points out a way in which a situation could've been handled better or more naturally by the characters, do you consider their comment and perhaps make revisions? In another example, if something that could be considered a plot hole is brought to your attention, do you retcon, modify the chapter in which the inconsistency arose, address it in a future chapter or discuss it in the comments?

In a similar vein, do you think it's better to release chapters one by one—as you write them—in order to receive feedback from your readers, or is it best to publish several chapters—perhaps the entire story—at the same time?

424656

You're not a nopony.
But that is not what my question asked, bro.

Question:
"Is fanfiction serious business?
Traditionally, fanfics are just the imaginings and fantasies of fans, written without consideration for quality or integrity. It's an outlet more than a hobby or a profession or a passion.
But with a surprising amount of competent authors and fics in the community, should the community be doing more as a whole to encourage, or even enforce, professionalism in fanfiction?"

Professionalism does not = Quality. I don't blame you for making this mistake, but now I'm gonna f***ing rant.

Not every story is going to be good, or a good idea. Not every author is going to be skilled or competent. That's fine.

It's the "consideration" not the "quality or integrity" that is defined by professionalism.

YOUR attitude is professional, regardless of how good a writer you are.

Professionalism is treating your own story with respect. It is encouraging and accepting critical feedback from your readers. It is having someone take a look at your story before you publish it to make sure it's readable. It is using a spellchecker. It is having someone whose English is good editing your story if yours is poor. It is giving a shit about the fact that you are not the story's only audience.

It is also about the fact that just because you can, does not mean you should. Not everything you want to write about should be published and not everything you think about should be written.

Within the fandom, fanfiction is probably the least consumed media. For any fan based community to survive, it needs attention. It is one thing to come to this site for the first time and see a front page full of fics that are not very good. It's another to see a front page full of fics that are complete no-effort unreadable pieces of garbage. And it's another to see fics about children fucking.
I have been an avid reader in the fandom for a year and a half. But the front page of this site still makes me want to flip. What effect would it have on any of the curious bronies we need to keep this community fresh and alive? It's like someone trying to sell you a new home while the previous owners' corpses are strewn about the yard. It is not appealing.

This is why sites like EqD are so important. They at least provide a buffer for entry level fic readers. I know I would not be reading fanfics today if I had started on FiMFiction. It would have scared me away right off the bat. Tripe like Cupcakes being so renowned is bad enough. Many fans start out on fanfiction via EqD, and because of EqD's arguably high standards, these experiences tend to be positive. EqD and FiMFiction both have something in common, they require readership to exist. But while EqD maintains a wobbly level of self respect in what they feature, what is this site, the largest fixture of the fanfiction FiM community, doing to show that this community isn't traditional fanwank writing, but one where "fiction" comes before "fan"? Nothing much.

My question asks how seriously the community as a whole should take itself. I mean it's just fanfiction, but it's better. Everyone here knows it's better than that here. Everyone here knows that the quality and proliferation of quality here is unprecedented. Should we be taking that fact seriously? Should we be trying harder to show our good side? Should we be trying harder to subdue our bad side?

I love creativity and embrace it wholeheartedly, but creativity without effort isn't actually a positive thing.

424803 Can I hug you? I'll hug you.

424849

I need an adult!
No wait, I need tequila!
I'm not drunk enough for platonic physical affection!

I have grenadine, but no orange juice!

scranton.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw1932-132450129983.gif

While this assuredly varies a lot, when writing a story, how much of the arc, sub-arcs, and other incidental elements of the plot do you plan into the story before much writing is done, and how much is written 'on the fly,' as it were, as in perhaps writing the story by a basis of per-chapter or few-chapter section? That is to say, what influences you towards which end of the continuum of planning? (That question is not nonsensical, right?)

It'll be 2:30 Thursday morning for us Western Aussies. This always happens

As for a question: I'd like to know how much planning goes into each of your works; as a whole and chapter-by-chapter. Do you rigorously plan out each event that's going to happen or do you sometimes come to a chapter and write it as it comes to mind?