Because I saw NintendoGal do it and I'm nothing if not unoriginal.

When, and why, did you start to write fanfiction?

I think the first fanfic I wrote was when I was 14. It was a Kim Possible story called "A Tattered Soul" and it was as every bit as melodramatic and angsty you would expect a fanfic written by a 14 year-old hack to be. It was 9 chapters and totaled at 800 words. No that is not a typo, eight hundred words. I did a sequel called Just a Few More a week afterwards.

After that, I wrote Animal Magnestism, a Pokemon fanfiction. It is actually notorious for being the ONLY HumanxPokemon pairing fanfic to NOT include sex scenes. The series went on for 4 stories.

I became well known with Tale of the Valkyrie (Which Doomsday Ascending is tied to) which spawned into an original IP all on it's own. An instant mega-hit that struck 4.5 million views in the three years it was on FanFiction.Net. It also managed to piss off some guy in Spain to a highly laughable degree.

What is your favorite novel? Have you ever used some of your favorite author's techniques in your fics?

My favorite novel is Memoirs of a Geisha. I often use the writing style of Slash Firestorm in my writing, however. In fact, Tale of the Valkyrie was conceived after reading Sinners while drunk.

Most favorite and least favorite ship?

None for either. I don't get drawn to a pairing, particularly MLP pairings.

If the writer is good, they can make any pairing look good to me. The choice of characters doesn't matter. If they use characters with no previous chemistry, it's a perfect chance to create some. Plus the writer would have some real challenge on their hands.

That being said, I'm more lenient in criticism to less popular pairings. I'm also more critical to pairings that are very popular, or a writer's personal favorite, as cliches tend to come into effect. I only ever criticize actual writing style and story structure when dealing with romance.

Favorite Pony?

Nyx.

Favorite episode of MLP: FIM?

Lesson Zero.

Have you read "A Mother's Love, A Daughter's Passion?" It's a clopfic between Twilight and Nyx, and since you love Nyx so much...

Not only did I read it, the authoress is my next door neighbor. I was her betareader. I thought it was very well written and very atmospheric. It also looks like the start of a full story, so I'm going to keep an eye on it.

How to I keep my character from being a Mary Sue?

Does your character have a personality more complex than a piece of wood? Congratulations, you've already failed.

You see, Mary Sue is a common piece of criticism for Original Characters, yet means absolutely nothing. There are a lot of fanfiction readers of many many MANY different fandoms that only want to read about established characters, and will try to smack down anyone with a creative thought. So when you make OC's, the only ones that people who use the term "Mary Sue" will accept, are meaningless background characters that have nothing to do with the story at large.

If your Original Character is the protagonist, this will come at you by default. You cannot avoid it.

As for people who seem intelligent and analyse your character yet still use the term 'Mary Sue", they often mean your character is cliched in a certain sense (of which they will usually tell you what sense) or One Dimensional. The use of Original Characters will come with people screaming "MARY SUE" so you've gotta get past that.

Because if Mary Sue was an actual character type... Superman, Batman, Harry Potter, Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Indiana Jones, and every other character who has ever beaten the bad guy or been the hero would be a Mary Sue. Every character more interesting than a tire-mark would be a Mary Sue.