Another Interview I Did! · 9:05pm Nov 27th, 2017
So I did a short interview awhile ago for Wungiel and some Polish MLP magazine of some sort and here it is!
(I've now been translated into Polish, Japanese, Russian and I think one other foreign language. So why hasn't anyone translated my work into Canadian, huh? Am I not "popular" enough here? Sad. 
)
1.Hello, and once again thanks for agreeing for an interview. First of all, would you like to say something about yourself to our readers, who are not familiar with you, or your stories?
Hello all. I am naturalbornderpy. A nice, polite Canadian that just so happens to write about ponies on occasion. I started writing mostly "thriller", "horror" type material before gradually shifting towards more "comedy", "slice of life" stuff. So I would say if you want a short, dumb comedy to read for a bit, I have several of those available. And if you happen to be a fan of "dark", I also have some of those. Romance? Not so much.
2. Which of your stories is your favourite? Why?
My favourite story is still "Sombra the Highly Unmotivated". It started off as a one-shot that a few people liked, so I continued it, hoping to wrap it up in around five to six chapters. Then more people started to read it, so I thought of making it longer. Then suddenly it got "dark" and quite fast. Too fast for some. But I love dark. So that was all fine with me.
I think what makes it my favourite still is that it combines comedy and slice of life elements with darker, more serious topics. It also has a big ol' tearjerker ending which I still love. As far as an outline went, I really didn't have much. I went from chapter to chapter and tried to end each one with a hook. And then, thankfully, the story still managed to make (somewhat) sense by the end. To most readers, at least.
3. Is there something in your stories, that you wish you had never written?
I'm sure there's a hundred bad jokes that I would've liked to delete. Or moments in some of my darker material that just went too far. Actually, a better answer is that I have two stories I really should delete right this second, but haven't. "Discord Forms a Cult" and "Dead on Arrival". Stories that made me chuckle while writing them, but quickly turned sour once released. Very lazy comedy in both. Shame. Shame.
4. In your fanfics you pay a lot of attention to villains from the TV series, both in comedic and serious ways. Which of them is your favourite?
Although I write about Sombra a whole lot, it would still be Discord. He's basically the reason I got into the show in the first place and is basically also the reason I started writing fanfiction. My first story, called "Strings", was my take on what Discord would do if he really was as twisted and powerful as he could be. I had planned for it to be a short story, around twenty to thirty thousand words. Yet it the end, it was around one-hundred and twenty thousand. Clearly, I had a lot to say about "evil" Discord.
Why do I write about villains so much? I just find them more interesting than heroes. Heroes have one job to do most of the time. Stop the bad guy. Villains can get worse. Get better. Be terrible at their job. Be undermined. Be misunderstood. Or perhaps I merely feel bad for all MLP villains. They really never stand a chance most of the time. No matter how much they plan, one rainbow beam to the chest is all it takes. Then again, it is a kid's show. So what do I know?
5. If Sombra and Discord appear together in one fic, they are usually more or less antagonistic toward each other. Is that a rule? A habit of yours? Or merely in every fanfics you’ve written, it’s just a convenient plot point?
I wouldn't call it a rule or a habit, more that it just makes sense in my head. They both consider themselves "terrible". They both consider themselves "powerful" and "above others". So it made sense that they would never truly get along. Or if they did, it would be that backstabbing-like relationship that could crumble at any moment. But I would say that about all of MLP's villains. I can't see them getting along. At least not for long.
6.Do you prefer writing horrors or comedies? Which of them needs more effort on your side?
I like writing horror stories more, but find them a lot harder to create. Or create and have them succeed. Dark stories are damn tricky when they involve colourful ponies. Readers tend to have their own views and opinions about each character, so if you suddenly have Twilight Sparkle doing something nasty and terrible, they'll hate the story straight away. That's why I've tended to invent original characters to help carry my darkest material. Or just have Applejack do it, being as tough as she is.
Comedy is a lot easier, no doubt. At least for me. If you think of a good situation, the jokes come freely. My comedies are mostly dialogue based. One character bantering to another and so on. I don't do any "pie in the face" type stuff. Some writers can pull that off. Not me.
Pulling off a comedy seems easier because the goal is simple. Did the reader laugh? Yes? Then they've enjoyed the story and it did was it was supposed to do. I can also tell if a comedy is working when I'm chuckling to myself while writing. Dark/horror stories not so much. There are times when I believe I've written something great, only to have it be met with lukewarm reception. It's harder to gauge what "dark" material will work and what won't. But having said that, I am far more proud of the dark stories that I've written that managed to find an audience than the rest of my work.
7. Which story or which author was your biggest inspiration when it comes to storytelling and fanfiction writing?
It might seem like a typical answer, but Stephen King got me into writing and storytelling in general. He's far from perfect, but I think that's what I like about him. Especially his short stories. In a book of twenty of them, five can be great, ten can be mediocre, and five more can be terrible. But that doesn't stop each of those stories from actually being an idea. After reading some of his work, I've never looked at the world in a more different way. Anything can be a story now. That person catching the bus. That person mowing the lawn across the street. The person that never stops smiling. All you have to do is add a twist and let your mind wander.
Neil Gaiman is also quite excellent. As is Clive Barker's "The Thief of Always". I really don't read any comedy books. Just comic strips from time to time.
8. Have you got some unused ideas for fics, or maybe unfinished stories? Do you have plans to use them in the future?
For every one story that actually gets published, another five ideas just fade away. Usually for good reason. Stephen King once wrote (see how much I like him?) that an idea is much like a cup without a handle. Or that an idea isn't complete until you find those two or more parts that really make things come together. My biggest obstacle with story ideas is usually the ending. I'll have a great villain or disaster in mind, but struggle to figure out how to stop it. Or how to wrap everything up and hope in makes sense. I tend not to start most stories unless I feel confident about an ending. Like a lot of writers, I've been burned on that before.
I have a few stories that I'd like to finish. Like an ending to "King Sombra Wants Back Inside His Empire" as well as two more stories in the "Bug"-verse. The first story in that series being "Don't Let the Bed Bug Bite". And then there's one story I've been meaning to get out for close to a year now. About Discord traveling around the multiverse with a human he's kidnapped for some reason. I spent a week writing it. Got to twelve thousand words or so, and just felt it wasn't clicking as it should. Having said that, I'd like to give it another look soon and see what can be fixed. I'd be very bummed if that story never got out one day.
9. How long it usually takes you to write a complete fanfic? Do you have everything planned from the beginning to the end, or do you allow for a bit of improvisation?
My current routine is to get a full chapter or one-shot out on a day off. Meaning that I start somewhat early and hopefully finish before four or five. If it's only a two thousand word story, it's quite doable. Anything over four or five thousand, and it'll probably take more than one day. I've become accustom to doing this as it sets a goal. "By the end of today, I'll have something out." That drives me a bit. Keep in mind that I always have notes. Lots of notes, so I can just get writing and keep writing. I also don't use an outside editor because I'm impatient. Lazy, too. But, honestly, you should use one if available.
Now a days, I have most stuff planned. Beginning, middle, end. My comedy notes are mostly just lines of dialogue that I cross out once typed. And these ones I definitely improvise a bit. It's common to be writing a scene and have a whole other bit just materialize. My more serious work is a lot more barebones. "He goes here." "She reacts." "End." But I do try to know where the story is going nowadays. In the past, I've had outlines with giant gaps that I thought I'd figure out as the story went along. And then it never did, and I ended up with chapters and chapters of mindless filler, all to get to the cool stuff I promised earlier. It's a terrible way to write.
Cool stuff, though I have feeling like I saw this before. Must be some previous interview.
And hey you must fix the great injustice. Translate it and make it more Canadian, eh!
Until her mind breaks ...
Guess it's time for me to dust off your earliest story "Strings" and see what your debut as a writer was like.
4736360 From what I understand... pretty mixed. Some okay parts, but a lot of filler. Although I heard Sombra was good. I've definitely changed a lot since then. For better or for worse.
4736264 Sadly, once you do one interview about writing or MLP, all interviews start to sound the same. Unless it's Bendy asking the questions. Then it's all about butts and Princesses and more butts.
Seriously. I was briefly interviewed by that guy. "Butt" I digress...
"#Sombra is best Discord"
I think this tag broke my mind.
4737005
Well clearly Bendy asks the important questions. Which princess has best butt?