Q&A (And a Status Update) · 7:04am Aug 23rd, 2023
Hello everyone!
A lot has been going on behind the scenes lately, so I'm sorry for my relative silence in the past few weeks. I am still working on my next major series, and I also have a few smaller fics in the works as well, so keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks for those.
Let's see, what's happened since the last blog post? Well, I finished "Stoking the Flames," which I am very proud of. I made a few jokefics like "Unbothered. Moisturized. Happy." and "Cloppenheimer," I went outside my comfort zone with fics like "Well, Off to Visit Your Mother!" and "Played for a Foal," and I squeezed in another fic about Hopeful Skies and Passing Comet in "What Are You Doing?!" Oh, and there was also the 69th fic special, "Anon and Mrs. Cake Do Some Baking." Just to reiterate on that last one, that fic was meant to be a one-off joke, nothing more. I know it's rated M, but I just made it so due to the "charged" circumstances surrounding that story. I have no intention of writing clop, ever, so have no fear.
However, what I really wanted to talk about is a bit of a Q&A type deal? I feel like calling it a Q&A makes it seem more grandiose than I am intending, but... what else should I call it instead? 
I've been getting a few private messages lately asking about my writing process, the things going on behind the scenes, etc, and I wanted to make this post specifically for those of you that have any questions for me regarding my fics. I'll do my best to answer to the best of my ability, and doing so here makes my answers more public in case anyone else has the same question. That said, I do still reserve the right to not answer a question that I am uncomfortable answering (try not to ask about my personal life outside of writing, please!), but I will otherwise answer whatever I can.
I don't expect there to be all that many questions, if any at all, but I figured it would be better to have this post than to not. I'll just take a lack of questions as a sign that I'm doing something right, haha! 
With that, I leave you all with a question of my own: What types of shorter-form stories would you like to see going forward? I tend to write simpler stuff like "Bug Trap" and "Error 504" as a sort of palate cleanser for myself between working on bigger projects, and if there is something you would like to see from me regarding those types of stories, please let me know! I'm always open to new suggestions! 
And that's all I had to say! As always, thank you for your time, and remember to be kind to one another!
(Psst. Keep an eye out for another blog post from me sometime in the next couple of weeks. I have a little surprise coming up in the form of a teeny tiny update to an older story of mine. I'll be adding something I've never had in any of my fics before, so while it is small and you shouldn't get your hopes too high, I'm very much looking forward to it!)
What's your process for writing stories, how do you get so much done so fast? I've seen you post like probably at least over a dozen fics over the past several months, and you've shown no sign of stopping. I'd like to be as productive as you are on that front, but I find it hard sometimes to actually sit down and write. So how do you find the time for it, do you have any special methods to avoid procrastination or something? Any advice you could offer I'd really appreciate it.
How do you pick the characters you write about? Do you ever worry about picking a character too often or too little?
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For me, unless I'm writing a longer-form story like "Return Trip" or "Stoking the Flames," I can typically write the whole story in one or two sittings. Usually, that's because I get the idea ingrained in my mind in some way, write out the pivotal moment I thought of, and write out the rest of the story around it. Really, the hardest part for me specifically is having an idea. Once I've decided on what I want to do, it just becomes a matter of sitting down and doing it.
I don't really have a problem with procrastination since I enjoy writing so much. Of course, I don't know everyone else's story or their point of view, but in the past, if I've found that I'm not enjoying the process of writing a story, I'll just scrap it entirely. If I'm not having fun writing it... what's the point? An example would be just a few weeks ago. I started writing an entry for the Fourth Annual Cozy Glow Short Story Contest, but I quickly ran out of steam and realized I simply wasn't enjoying it. So, even though I had well over 3,000 words written down, into the trash it went!
To approach a similar issue from another angle, I tend to make shorter stories alongside my longer ones. That way, if I feel like I'm getting burnt out, running out of ideas, or I'm having a hard time articulating what I want to say, I can take a break from that story and work on the other. I personally tend to struggle much more with longer stories, so taking breaks to work on shorter ones not only helps spark some creativity, it also means that I'm actually finishing a story instead of having droughts of nothing while I work on my longer stories. I think that's a major contributing factor to how I seem to be able to write frequently when compared to other authors.
Otherwise, I'm not sure what to say for time management. I guess my best piece of advice is that if you have an idea, just start writing. It doesn't matter if it's bad or meaningless, just get some words onto the paper. Starting is the hardest part, and you can always touch up what you wrote later. Or, if it doesn't pan out, you can rest assured knowing that the idea wasn't going to work instead of procrastinating just to write something that you might never finish in the first place. Apart from that, if you don't feel like writing... don't write! It's as simple as that. As soon as writing starts to feel more like a chore than a fun hobby, it's (in my opinion) no longer worth doing. Remember, you're writing for your own sake. We're lucky to have a platform like this to share our works with others, but it's not worth if it you're not also enjoying the process! (Plus, sometimes that lack of enjoyment can bleed into the quality of an author's writing. Then nobody wins!)
I hope that answered your question. I'm far from a professional, I just really enjoy writing. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can produce going forward!
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Sometimes somebody will request a certain character (I've made blog posts in the past specifically for that purpose), but otherwise I'll write about a character only when I think of an idea surrounding that character. With the exception of my obvious bias towards alicorns (I wouldn't have pushed myself to write a fic about Flurry Heart otherwise), either I write a character because I already have an idea in mind, or I'm writing that character to challenge myself. Ponies like Celestia and Twilight are personal favorites of mine to write, but I also find writing for characters that don't get as much time to shine like Ember and Opaline to be a fun challenge as well.
I don't really worry about picking a character too often. I wear my Celestia obsession with pride, after all. Besides, that's what tags are for! If someone doesn't want to read a fic I write about, say, Derpy, they'll know not to read it going in. Everyone wins! As for the opposite problem... not really? I find it fun to write characters that I haven't before sometimes, but it's not like I'm under any pressure to do so. For example, I doubt many people will care that I've only written a Pinkie Pie story once before. If they do, well, I'm not going to force myself to write something that I'm not passionate about or have an idea for. Otherwise no one would be having fun, haha!
A start of a story is with one question, and ends up with an answer that you wouldn't known. How would you answered such a question that meant for everything?
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I have a lot of ideas for stories in my head and a lot of them I really like. My problem isn't that I don't know what to write, but that it takes me too long, and I want to do more faster, while still putting out quality work. More recently, I've started making outlines for my stories, and I think that has been a big help in deciding the overall skeleton of the story before I start writing, but the problem is I still just find myself procrastinating a lot. I do enjoy writing my fics, and I do enjoy doing them, but sometimes I just find myself wanting to play a game or watch a movie and end up putting off my work. Even more recently I've started listening to music while I work, which has seemed to help me stay focused when writing, and while I've only used this method a couple of times at this point, I'm really hopeful that it'll help me stay on track going forward.
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I'm afraid I don't understand what you're asking.
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It sounds like you're already making good progress finding something that works for you! Unfortunately I'm not really sure what else to say given your scenario. Once I'm sitting down with an idea that I'm ready to put to paper, I personally just don't have an issue with procrastinating. I hope it doesn't sound like I'm saying "well just stop procrastinating, I don't do it!" That's definitely not my intention, I'm just not really sure what else I personally can say. I don't really have any advice I can give for a problem I myself have never faced, you know? Otherwise I'd just be regurgitating the same old advice we've all heard before from high school literature class, like "make a rough draft first." I'm sorry if this isn't very helpful.
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That the title of every stories tells us.
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Don't worry about it, you've been great.
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I'm afraid I still don't understand. What "question at the start" and "everything" are you referring to?
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An idea to tell a story.
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To be honest, most of my ideas come from dreams. I'll wake up and think "oh, I can work with that" and I immediately jot down the idea. Otherwise I might be inspired just by watching an episode and imagine how a character might react to a similar but different situation, or how an idea might be expanded upon beyond what the series has shown. Or, I might just see a piece of art for a character that I think is cute and decide to write a fic about them. With the exception of some of my bigger series like the one I'm working on now which have been in my brain for a few years and a few other notable exceptions, most of my ideas are spontaneous.
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Your limitless imagination amazes everyone
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I notice that you tend to write lots of slice of life and romance one-shots. Is this because you are a fan of the genre and/or it’s natural to write, or is it because you struggle or don’t like writing other types of fanfictions?
Also this one is a little personal, but I try to stylize any projects/one-shots that I write to reflect on books or novels I’ve read and that stuck with me. Do you have anything like that? A personal favorite of mine are the Claire Vanderpool books, with its style of two stories in one (one being modern day, the other being a sort of prequel in the past).
Last thing I want to add is that you are definitely my favorite author on this site, your stories are fun and refreshing, not to mention it’s nice having an author I can go to for wholesome/fluffy stories. If you have 1000 fans, I am one. If you have 10, I am one. If you have one, I am him. If you have zero, I’d be dead.
Jokes aside, keep it up man!
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I do slice of life/romance one-shots because it's like comfort food for me. When it comes to things like shows and... actual books, those types of stories are a rarity. I just think it's nice to have a fun romp once in a while where you know that nothing will really go wrong, and if it does, it will mostly be consequence-free. A little bit of escapism never hurt anyone, haha!
I am not opposed to writing non slice of life/romance stuff at all. In fact, my next fic is going to be quite a deviation from the types of stories I've written before. And to segue into your other question, this fic is directly inspired by a certain video game that I beat not too long ago. A few of my stories have inspirations like that, but I don't really stylize them to reflect it. I've played with different styles before (look no further than CAM_09 IS OFFLINE), but for the most part I do that because I think of a strange idea that sounds fun to attempt more than because I was inspired by something else. Sometimes trying different styles just doesn't pan out and the fic ends up an illegible mess!
Thank you for all of your support! I kinda just write what comes to me, so I'm really glad to know that there are people like you who enjoy reading my stuff as much as I enjoy writing it!
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Thank you so much!