Being a Better Writer: Embracing Conflict in All its Forms · 8:53pm Apr 11th, 2022
Welcome back readers! It’s Monday, and another Being a Better Writer article is upon us! Though first, I do have two bits of news. Don’t worry, they’re both short.
Welcome back readers! It’s Monday, and another Being a Better Writer article is upon us! Though first, I do have two bits of news. Don’t worry, they’re both short.
Time for an interview! Whether due to bravery or ignorance, Kwakerjak has happily agreed to be one of the first.
And now that I know, it certainly explains a lot of what the show feels different.
Hey, everypony! How are things? Crazy finale, huh? Anyways, here's another topic that's been fluttering about in my mind. I've talked about dialogue tags in the past, but let's go more in-depth and look at how to do them right.
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So, quick recap: a dialogue tag is that thing that follows a bit of dialogue to to tell you who said it and how they said it. Like this:
"Welcome to the club," said the doorman.
Season 5 had a bunch of new writers join the staff, and a few old veterans periodically tackle episodes. A few Season 4 writers also got to return for some episodes. So, how do the writers stack up overall for the season? Which writers hit their stride, and which seemed to struggle?
Well, let's find out. Season 5 had a total of 13 writers (Jim and Jayson don't count, since they are part of the storyboarding department)
This Workshop ties pretty well to the last post I just talked about. It's also, admittedly, something I'm not very good at: establishing a narrator identity. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about Watson and Doyle.
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Suppose you're watching a TV show, and all of a sudden, the characters get into a big argument and go their separate ways. You see this and ask, "Why did that happen?"
Hey, everyone! Let's talk a little bit today about problem-solving. Conflict is the main part of stories, so solving them is naturally very important. But does everyone come at problems the same way? You may surprised to learn that there are basically two main ways people can take on problems. Here to help me are two young ladies, Lily and Holly. Let's do this a la the Dating Game! *Spanish Flea starts playing*
Welcome back! So, very quickly, first the news, nice and quick: There's a Labor Day Sale. You should check it out. Boom, done, on to the next docket: The Dragon Award winners have been announced, and there are some who are very unhappy about it (guess who?). If curious, check that out here.
Just like with Season 5, we got a lot of new writers this season (in fact new writers were quite common this season). So how did the writers fare this season? Which returning ones hit their stride or redeemed themselves, which returning ones did poorly, which new writers did well, and which new writers struggled? Well, let's find out.
Including the returning writers, we had 13 writers this season. So how do they stack up?
I figured it would be better to end these top ten/top five lists on a positive rather than a negative note. So, here it is, my list of the top five strongest writers of the show so far. Like all my lists, this one is by no means official, so feel free to disagree. Chances are you will, considering who some of my picks will be (which if you've seen my list ranking all the writers, you'll probably already know who's going to make the cut).
We modern-day peeps love happy endings. Tell me, what was the last movie you saw that didn't end on an uncompromised happy note? That's not really how life works, though. Life isn't always that easy. Sometimes victory comes at a very high price. So let's talk about stories that buck the trend of happy endings and go for something a little more somber.
Hey, all! It's been a while, huh? I know I have a different Workshop written up elsewhere, but it's been in development for so long that I must have just forgotten about it. Anyway, I was having a chat with one of my clients when we got into the discussion of how many scenes should be in a chapter. It turns out that the term "scene" isn't as self-evident as I thought it was. What if people were confused by my usage of the term "act" in my previous Workshops? Seems to me like I should go
Welcome back readers! As you may have guessed from this posting date, I had another Monday shift at my part time, hence why you’re getting this today (I’m at the moment writing it up during the early evening of the 22nd, so you’re reading this in what would technically be the future). Nothing too unusual there.
That's right, you read that right. I already posted this to my dA journal but I felt it was necessary to post here too!
I know right now the USA freaked out over having had a solar eclipse but you know what, today is also Fanfiction Writer Appreciation Day and I feel like layin' somethin' out there on the table for you guys.
To all my fellow fanfic writers:
((whether or not we're in the same fandoms,
no matter how often you do or don't post,
After giving out some of my thoughts on the writers in regards to the strongest and weakest overall, I feel like the time has come to update this list. Here's the previous version, from the end of Season 6. Like always, I mean no disrespect to any of the DHX staff, and just like before I'm not counting Jayson Thiesen, Jim Miller, or Lauren Faust, even now that it seems Jayson Thiesen will be leaving the
All of us are embedded with ideas and concepts we've picked up from our culture. These ideas appear in our stories so easily that oftentimes we don't realize that there could be any other way to tell it. I'd like to take this moment to look at these assumptions and illuminate some alternate possibilities. (Think of this as a prototype Formula Breakers.) For starters, let's check out:
The Call to Action
I went out with my buddies to see a movie late last night.
I won't tell you the title, as it isn't important for our purposes right now, but I will tell you that it wasn't that fantastic a film. It was ... I suppose "adequate" is the best word I could use to describe it. But nothing more. The film wasn't exactly grand. It was simply ... a film. A sequence of events, with some action, some attempt at drama, etc.
So hello everypony, My name is Midnight mane and as the title suggests, I would like to start writing a fanfic. My only problem is I don't know where to start, I got the whole story practically playing in my head. But when I try to get it out, I just get lost in words. So if you have any advice on how I could get more organized I would greatly appreciate it.
I'd like you to take a moment and look at a list of all of your characters. Beside each character's name, write either "Good Guy" or "Bad Guy." Now, here's the question: was that task easy for you, or was it difficult? In lots of media, this won't pose much of a challenge; every character is either thoroughly aligned with the heroes or unrepentantly evil. Perhaps your story fell down those same lines; let me assure you that this is perfectly fine. But perhaps you might like to take a moment and
My dads name is Jim, so thats akward.
Well, it's true. I pretty much only come here to check stories I love, and occasionally binge read new stories. Yeah, lets just say back in fall 2015 I made it into my local college, and since then I've only had winter break and this summer off.