100 Follower Special (AMA) · 9:56pm Jun 22nd, 2014
Welcome back to part two of the 100 follower AMA celebration… thing. For the purposes of this blog, the acronym: AMA, now stands for Answering My AMA.
Right… In the order of asking the questions… Let’s get going.
What is your favourite pony/pairing? (Karrakaz)
In terms of split-second decisions, I’d probably say that Rainbow Dash is my favourite pony (I’m boring like that); however it’s kinda tied between her and Twilight Sparkle. This is also reflected in my stories as some may have noticed…
In terms of pairings… TwiDash. I’ve written mini-prompts for about 6 of the other pairs in the Mane 6 shipping circle and… well, even though I’ve been exposed to Tchernobog, Jake R, and one or two other dedicated shippers of everything, I still prefer TwiDash, partly because I like the idea, partly because they are the two characters I find easiest to write.
Which type of story do you like reading and/or writing? (Karrakaz)
Uh… not to be cliché about it, but it really depends. I’ll focus on reading things at the moment, but the two seem to intermingle in their tastes…
I’m quite a bookworm; I should probably say that quickly, I’ve read a story on most genres (pony related and non-pony related), What I seem to get through quickest though, is a mix of dark thrillers and Sci-Fi fantasy novels. There’s something fascinating about a magic system which has been created by a good author (personal favourite authors for this sort of thing being Brent Weeks and Robin Hobb… maybe a few others too), just as fantastic as a good murder/crime novel by an excellent author (Simon Kernick is my example for this).
I like getting lost in a world, in the characters, in a story. I can’t exactly pin down defining genres because there are just too many, however it’s a general rule that I only read something that I find interesting, and more often than not, my interests are decidedly fantastical and (arguably) epic.
Writing is… different again. A lot of what I’ve written is on this site and a great deal of what I’ve written is very narrow, Slice of Life stuff. Sure… there’s an odd attempt at something a bit greater and a bit more expansive, but I find that SoL stuff comes a lot easier to me when I write it; it’s the sort of thing that I can go out for a walk at 3 in the morning, come back at 5 and write feverishly until 7 with a brand new Oneshot sitting complete in front of me.
Besides that, I enjoy writing romantic things, but it tends to be between two characters in particular, and more often than not, it seems forced when I set things up, so I’ll move swiftly past that…
I also like writing dark stuff; dark is fun. Not the GrimDark: gore and explicit details and torture and things (although that’s… interesting too). There’s fun in a subtle darkness; the kind where everything seems… off. And there’s a lot of fun in writing such a thing. It’s a much more agreeable genre that matches my temperament… I suppose I should explain that.
There’s something about the- uh… cynical and jaded nature of the world that seems to shine in dark novels. It’s a lot easier for me to throw in a glib remark or a sarcastic taunt that works and propels the story. There’s a lot to be said about a story in which the hero sets out on a quest, accompanied by a web of conspiracy that closes in around them, mostly that the author was probably having a great amount of fun whilst writing it.
Do you have any form of writing you’ve never tried but would like to? (Karrakaz)
Not especially so… I’ve never exactly been able to pin down my current/prevalent style to such a degree as it fits in a specific form. I’ve also written a lot of stuff… I’m fairly certain that there are few forms that particularly interest me left… Parodies and satirical pieces aside...
How old are you? (Karrakaz and Twilight_Scratch)
Old enough to know that the me four years ago was an idiot, and wise enough to realise that the same thing will be thought of the current me in four years’ time.
What country do you reside in? (Willsons and Twilight_Scratch)
The land of the United Kingdom.
How many toes do you have total? (Willsons)
Many… I have several small toes, eight long toes, four feet, and four big toes.
What, in your opinion, is the meaning of life? (Willsons)
The meaning of life is, as is everything, 42.
Have you ever been stabbed? (Willsons)
Felt like it once or twice…
Stabbed by pain counts, right?
What is your average WPS typing speed? How many mistakes do you make in a minute? (Willsons)
Never really count it to be honest… it’s more of a constant tide that ebbs and flows. At times, I am bloody fast with my typing, mostly when I’m typing syntax and when I’m in the zone and I make a lot of mistakes. However… thanks to the power of the backspace, they don’t last long.
Do you know if there is a character limit in the comments box? (Willsons)
I could make a very educated guess… 65,535 characters seems like an appropriate number.
How did you come up with your name? (Willsons)
I didn’t, my parents did.
Who is your favourite person on this site? (Willsons)
Me.
Who is your least favourite person on this site? (Willsons)
Myself.
Where does magic come from? (Willsons)
In the MLP universe… objects. These objects can be a pegaus’ wings, a unicorn’s horn, and an earth pony’s bones. They can store different amounts of magic depending on the ‘object’, meaning that someone like Rainbow has a greater amount of magic in her wings than Fluttershy has in hers.
Do earth ponies have magic? (Willsons)
Working on the explanation that I made up a few seconds ago, yes. Their magic is focussed into their bodies as opposed to onto the world, as it is with the other two races. They have resilience. It’s not quite the same as endurance, but it could be mistaken for it.
This would be more of a getting-up-after-being-felled sort-of-magic; determination… that’d be another word for it. It doesn’t make them invincible, but makes them a damn sight harder to break.
Could humans ever have magic like the unicorns in the show? (Willsons)
Yes, although it might be a bit of a dark explanation… as I previously said, magic comes from objects; parts of ponies. If a human happened to fashion an implement from such a magical artefact, they would have magic befitting the magical well present in that artefact.
Puts a different spin on Merlin…
How many questions have I asked you? (Willsons)
A fair amount.
What is your favourite story on this site? (Willsons)
I don’t particularly have a single favourite story. There are stories that suit me at times better than others. A Bluebird’s Song, Dreamworlds, Then Tomorrow Came, Equestria’s Twilight, Dawn of a new Day, Simulacrum, Growing Pains, Playing with My Heart, Valkyrie, the Hard Reset series, Wonderbolt, and Winds of the Past. All of them are in my favourites, and some of them are still incomplete, but they’re the ones I re-read the most often.
What is your favourite piece of literature ever? (Willsons)
I refer to my previous answer… there’s too much good stuff to just pick a single one. There’s the Farseer Trilogy, the Golden Fool Trilogy, the Night Angel Trilogy, the High Lord Trilogy… those are, again, the ones I come back to the most.
Who is your favourite artist? (Willsons)
Leonardo Da Vinci
What is your favourite pony song? (Willsons)
I went through a phase about two years ago of listening to the stuff this fandom made… then stopped. So, as out-of-date musical pieces go… Sinking Ships, from the FlimFlamFilosophy RD Presents series.
What is your favourite non-pony song? (Willsons)
You’re going to make me choose from a library of about 4.6k items? I’d rather not… thanks all the same. Although it’s probably an amalgamation of Gorillaz, Blur (Yes, I know they’re the same person), Lily Allen, Radiohead, Danny Baranowsky and a lot of other artists that make a lot of good songs that I like…
If you want to listen to a good song, try ‘Creep’ by Radiohead.
Why didn’t you put a limit on how many questions could be asked by one person? (Willsons)
Because I saw and see no need to do so.
What is freedom? (Willsons)
Something that America invented to further differentiate itself from the third world. America is no more free than Britain is.
Do you like the sound of your own voice? (Willsons)
Nope. I make an exception for stream-of-thought monologues, though it’s more the words and the thoughts that the words force that matter there as opposed to the voice.
Are you left handed or right? (Willsons)
I am not left handed, so I guess that means that I must be right… Excellent, my proclamations that the future lies in staying on the computer all day and not seeing a lick of sunlight are completely true; thanks for that reassurance.
Have you lost any of your adult teeth? (Willsons)
Yes. If you get a choice… go for general anaesthetic, pulling out molars is not something you want done to you whilst you are conscious.
Do you have a beard? (Willsons)
Nope. I prefer to stay clean shaven; stubble distracts me.
I’m going to stop now, is that okay? (Willsons)
That’s completely up to you.
Do you mind if I come back in a bit? (Willsons)
Of course… though it might be a bit late now.
Favourite pony ponies in order (Twilight_Scratch)
I wondered when someone would ask this, thank you for contributing your question for such an end.
I’ve already stated my favourite two ponies out of the mane six, Rainbow and Twilight, however my preference for those two characters is also backed up with how easy they are to write.
There is a middle ground, containing Applejack, followed by Rarity. These are both characters that I am able to write and whom I am indifferent towards; I’ve just never seen something in them that has set my world on fire in terms of wanting to write something about them. If you write something that you like about a character that you’re indifferent about, it might help change your opinion on them… sadly, I haven’t.
There’s a very, very, VERY big gap between those two and the final pair: Fluttershy is next, followed by Pinkie… and the reason why they’re there is that, for all intents and purposes, they are simple. There’s a multitude of other problems with them from my position, but I’ll go into them in a bit.
Fluttershy suffers from something known as retcon syndrome in the episodes. Every time she learns to be assertive and to not let herself be a pushover, she manages it for a week or two, then forgets all about it. She’s a very uninspiring character to write about too. Imagine a quest… something epic. Let’s say that a single pony has to go to the temple of the ancients, hidden deep inside the Everfree forest, and retrieve the lost gem of Luna (who bet it in a gambler’s den).
Writing a story where Fluttershy goes and gets the gem is perfectly realistic… hell, I have an idea on how to write such a thing, but I wouldn’t find it as fun or as realistic as if I wrote Rainbow Dash or Twilight into the role. My view on her is that she is a pony of simple tastes who will get mildly interesting only once she’s been provoked.
Now… Pinkie. Remember when I said that I found her simple? I’ll go ahead and assume that dicks have been ripped in between the time I said that and this paragraph. Pinkie is renowned for being unpredictable. She’s the comedy character of the show to put it in a blunt way. Constant unpredictability makes something predictable and, therefore, simplistic.
I know a few people who would insist that this is because she hasn’t been written properly yet; that she has all these character flaws and insecurities that make her complex and enjoyable to write about.
I personally don’t see it. I’m sure she’s got complexities and certain nuances that show her to be a much more complex character than I’m making her out to me. But that doesn’t change the fact that I detest her character. Maybe I wouldn’t mind a Pinkie with a personality that knew when to shut up and how to stay on topic… but I’ll never know, because that’s not Pinkie.
Maybe some nuances make her more bearable when she shows them, but when she’s not affected by these nuances, writing her into a story, especially a shipping, is hard for me. I don’t know about a lot of people, but I certainly wouldn’t like to be stuck in a relationship with a chatterbox that was constantly popping up out of no-where to ‘check-up’ on me.
Pinkie is an extrovert… it hardly needs stating. But here’s a little technique of mine for writing her… I shut off my brain filters and write. That’s it… The fact that Pinkie hops from thought-to-thought without a second glance is irritating to me. Actually… I find the majority of people with that particular personality off-putting. Pinkie is everything I hate about that personality put into one character.
To recap… Rainbow, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Spitfire, Background pony 15-122, Fluttershy, Background pony 126-481, Pinkie Pie.
Do you think the answer to life, the universe, and everything is 42? (Twilight_Scratch)
In the land of Douglas Adams, 42 is everything. In the land of Terry Pratchett, 42 is substituted for Ankh-Morpork. In the land of me… 42 is substituted for 00101010 (or 2A if I’m in a bad mood).
Well this was amusing and a overall interesting read. Thanks for doing this.
Same here! Wimbledon welcomes you!
2226971
Wimbledon would have to get up and walk to me to welcome me. Somehow, I think it would raise a few eyebrows at the BBC if that happened.
2226847
It was my pleasure... mostly. Might have been some pain in there too.
2226971
2227756
Silly British people.
2227756 Yeah, but it would be fun at least. I think TFL and South West Train service would want to kill whoever moved due to all their logistics. (131 to Kingston now has to go along the M25)