). I want to tell you all about where I've been, what I've been up to, and share my journey with you guys. You were all around for some of the best times, and I felt it's only right to open back up again andQ&A, now with Answers! · 7:33am Feb 24th, 2013
So a friend of mine within the fandom suggested I do an open, anonymous Q&A session, mostly for kicks, but also for PR to try and attract some more interest to my page. I don't know if this will actually work, but I'll do it anyway!
So come on, everybody! Send in any and all questions you have, either by comment (if you're brave enough) or by message (I imagine this will be the best way) and I'll compile them all into a blog and answer them all. Any question is accepted, none will be turned away! So if there's anything you've ever wondered, wanted to ask, or were just plain confused by, let it out!
Q: So how did you get involved in MLP:FiM?
A: A question I fully expected to pop up! It's a funny story, actually. I despised the idea of MLP:FiM for the longest time (meaning during the entire extent of Season 1). I hated the fame it got, and couldn't understand the manic obsession over it. As you've all probably guessed, I detest fads and insane, inexplicable popularity.
Well, that went on for a while, until the following July rolled around. I was home from university, and I was driving my younger brother around when he admitted to me that he had watched the show... and liked it. I was appalled, since he had hated it forever along with me. But the more he tried to justify it, the more I felt my heart break. And then he told me I should watch it... just one episode, to give it a chance. Seeing as how I love my LBBFF to death, I did him that favor... and two sleepless nights later, I had watched all of Season 1.
I was hooked. The animation, story, characters... they were all so lovable! And then I discovered the fanbase shortly after, and the rest, as they say, is history!
Q: How did you get into the fanfiction part of it?
A: I love writing. I love reading. I love English. Best subject in school, and I had been doing creative writing for so long... I wrote several fanfictions for Balto Source way back when, when the site was actually good and alive. Stories always appealed to me. It takes writers so much effort to create a solid story, I sort of admired all the people who put so much effort into that side of the fanbase, and many did it mostly without recognition. I could relate.
And for the longest time, I was afraid to contribute. I'm so hyper-critical about my work, I never felt like I would do the fandom any justice if I even began to type. So I wrote about a half dozen short stories for myself, mostly for practice and humor. And then, one day in September, I took the plunge and joined FimFiction and decided to publish one of my 'just for practice' stories. That grew to become The Griffon War: A Soldier's Memoirs. And here I am today.
Q: How long have you been writing?
A: Since I was 10 years old. It began in 5th grade, when my teacher gave us an assignment to write a short story on 'friendship' (ironic, huh?). I ended up writing a 27 page story on two survivors of a plane crash and how they stuck together to get home. And that began the insanity, where each simple writing assignment became a creative writing challenge. I would turn a five paragraph requirement into 30-page tales. My teacher was so floored by what I was doing, she ended up showing some of my work to her husband, who worked as an editor for Penguin Publishing. I had no idea she had done this until he came into class one day to talk to me. He told me that if I ever wanted to try to get anything published and get seriously into writing to come talk to him.
Talk about an ego boost!
From then on, I just couldn't be stopped. Even I couldn't stop myself! I can't recall how many stories and worlds I created over the course of my middle and high school carrer... It just never stopped.
Q: What gave you the idea for Fleethoof's story?
A: Oh goodness, so many sources... Books, other fanfics, movies, TV, real events, music, games... and a lot of my own imagination to tie it all together. It helps to have a deep rooted interest in whatever you write. For me, that's the military, warfare, military history, and patriotism. Oh, and I'm a hopeless romantic at heart, so I had to give the characters some real situations everyone could relate to, regarding love, loss, and sacrifice.
It's really difficult to pinpoint one precise source of inspiration for the whole story series. It began simply as the story of one Royal Guard, not exactly meant to go anywhere, and that quickly evolved. Stories have a funny way of doing that...
Q: How often do you write?
A: As often as I can. I know, I know, that's such a cliché answer, but it's the truth. Whenever I get the opportunity to, I write. I write about anything: the next installment to Skyfall, a random one-shot, a short story, etc. It's just good practice and keeps me fresh. Right now, however, I'm taking a little rest after three nonstop works. It's good to step back and take a look at other people's work too, ya know?
Q: Where did you learn how to write so well?
A: That I would have to give credit to my parents, for encouraging me to read all the time, and to my English teachers, who encouraged me to never stop writing. It's true when they say the more effort you put into something, the better you become at it. I'm a living lifetime testimony to that! Seriously, one of the best ways to improve your eye and mind to English is to read as often as you can. If I'm not reading something here on FiMF, I'm reading a book, or play, or anything. I, like Twilight Sparkle, highly recommend reading. Books are damn sexy!
Q: How do you write? Do you schedule time for yourself as "writing time" or do you just sit down whenever you feel like it and then start writing?
A: Oooh, with this question I kinda have to answer both ways... Most of the time, I'll just sit down and get to writing when I have the time, or when an idea pops into my head and I think "Oh yeah! That'll work well! I like that!". Other times, like times where I know I won't have anything else to do (e.g. during a flight across states), then I'll tell myself ahead of time that I'll write then, and plan ahead. More often though I just do it on a whim.
Q: How do you keep track of all of your ideas?
A: Journals, my friend. I highly, highly recommend keeping a small journal or notebook with you. You jot down ideas as you think of them, make mind maps, create characters, sketch drafts, etc. Then you can go back, edit and revise, or completely remove anything you wrote when you actually get to the writing phase.
Q: When you start struggling with getting the words on the page do you have any tricks or tips that you use to help get through the rough patches?
A: Depending on how bad the 'rough patch' is, I'll either try to draft my way through it, or completely set the project aside and come back to it later. Sometimes when I get really stuck, I'll write a scene in an original format, and then rewrite the same scene a different way, with different words, actions, etc. And I'll rewrite it again. And again. I'l lend up with, like, up to a dozen different drafts of one part, and be, like, what the hell am I doing?! And then I'll go through each one, see which bits I like, what parts I don't, and compile them together into one scene of all the best.
Listening to different types of music while imagining these scenes changes the mood and feel of it too. I might picture a part as being aggressive, but when I write to slow, sad music, it fits better as a somber moment. Influences play a big part in how my mind works in getting the words out. Sometimes it just requires the right setting.
If that doesn't work, I just walk away, fuming and muttering a few slanders about Celestia's flank, and go get a cup of hot chocolate.
Q: If you find yourself stuck on a certain part do you ever skip over it and go onto something else more interesting or do you push through the hard part until it's done?
A: I typically won't just skip over it, but I'll try to work through it, and if I can't, then I'll put it aside and write something completely fresh that's sort of related to what I'm stuck on. For example, if I'm having difficulty writing an intimate moment between Fleethoof and Cadence, I might put it down, write a short story about, oh... I don't know... Rainbow Dash and Soarin' falling in love, sometimes I can draw better influence when starting from a blank slate. Then I just transition that emotion to the other characters when I feel like I've nailed it.
But I do try to write on through it. I often think I've deleted more words than I've written! But as my best English teacher told me once upon a time, "The best way to work through the crap is to write all the crap out on a page, and find the gold at the end."
Q: Will we see any other species' Spec Ops units?
A: Ah, a very keen question! All I can say is... maybe. I have a few things worked out already, and let's just say that Skyfall Team has quite a few challenges ahead of them!
I will give you a quick taste of what's to come in the next story: we'll see another nation introduced, discover their relations with each other and with Equestria, a long-running war will be revealed, and some secrets will come to the light. Keep your eyes out, my friends! Skyfall isn't the only dangerous thing lurking in the shadows of the world...
Q: Who is best pony?
A: HA! I was waiting for this! My favorite is Twilight Sparkle, hands down. I love her booky, intelligent, down to earth personality. Plus I could spent hours—even days—reading. I can relate to her.
Q: Who is best princess?
A: Hmm...
I wonder...
... which princess...
... will he choose?
Q: Why did you devoured souls of those poor poor chickens?
A: Because Scootaloo is best chicken.
That's all the questions I received so far! This turned out much better than I expected, so thank you so much, everyone! Keep sending in more and I'll update this entry as we go along!
With love,
-- DQ
I got a question. Will I every be as awesome and cool as you?
860707
I can't resist... I... must... say it...
Vehemence, I moustache you a question.
...
I'm going to Hell for that... Anyway, I wouldn't say I'm "awesome" or "cool". I'm just doing what I enjoy, and since you are too, by that logic I'd say you're already as awesome and cool.
And that's my inspirational message of the day!
860716
And on that fateful day, Vehemence's small ego grew three sizes that day.
Wow...In fifth grade my stories got blasted out of the sky. I mean it was BAD.
...I was trying to fly a biplane through a nest of SAM installations. (Not happening!!
)
My first story in fifth grade was supposed to be a mystery. Complete disaster. A humiliating defeat for Silver kind.
After I read it to the class, they were like:
I pretty much sucked for a while.
Here's a fun fact about Silver:
I'm actually still a nugget (rookie).
Silver out!
Hey thanks for the rapid Q+A! Didn't think I'd see these for another week! ...or maybe time has just gone faster than I thought!
...and now... now I kinda really want to start writing (but I should go to bed) and I don't know WHAT I want to write... my stories I have in mind are kinda floundering at the moment and I'm not sure where to go with them... the main one I've got going is... actually now that I think about it, it has some similarities with Skyfall. Except with what I have in mind I've been thinking the more cloak and daggers and intelligence wars between agents rather than the more military-isk style that you have. I've also been uncertain as to what tech do I want to go with. Do I want to go with a more modern feel like you've got going or do I want to go with a more medieval age feel to it? Also I've been trying to write the character's childhood, his growing up and the development of the RSS (Royal Secret Service... aren't I creative? ...and yeah that name could very well change xD
) But I've been thinking that maybe I should skip that part for now and just head to the part where he's... you know... more an adult.
...and well THAT just happened... sorry 'bout that!
I think the writer in me is just getting frustrated with the poor shell of a writer it's trapped within... MUST. ACTUALLY. WRITE. SOMETHING. ANYTHING. AND. FINISH. IT. 
860872
I used the time spells from the Canterlot Archive. I went into the future, pulled all the upcoming questions, and answered them now
Actually, I was going to wait until next Friday, but I received so many more questions than I expected! And I'm still getting and accepting more, so expect this to update pretty frequently.
Well, it sounds like you've got a good start to run with though! You could do an in-between with the tech of the story: like a Cold War style spy fic, sort of like the James Bond novels (if you've ever actually read them, most people haven't). Or go for a Renaissance style and do an Assassin's Creed-esque, Shakespearean tragedy kind of deal. You've got so much option and leeway, it's almost ridiculous! If you're looking for a good starting pace, try doing short stories of anything at all, anything you like! It'll get the cogs moving and the brain going!
863332 Looking forward to the next bits!
And yeah it's crazy just how much freedom writers get for the tech levels in Equestira.
As for short stories... I was never really any good at those 
I usually just start crafting and see where the story takes me... with some planning of course but usually the story takes over... at least that's how it usually goes with my writing. 
...not that I've really done a ton.
Yay, my question / rant / thingy got answered!!!!!! Ignore half of it, I was starting to ...... waffle a little
I now have a slight erge to write ..... but I have some work to do :( and school work, and ..... you get the idea .... ¬.¬