Q and A Answers! · 2:16am Aug 22nd, 2015
If your question didn't make it or you have another, let me know and I'll answer below!
Question 1: MisterCables: "You've probably answered this in a blog post already, but, what went down with "Entangled Pathways" that made you decide to cancel it?"
Once a sore subject for me but it now feels like ancient history. Long Story short I got burned out. The more I matured as a writer and the more I aged at the tender age of 13 I thought my characters were awful. Braeburn felt very Mary-Sue esque to me at worst, and at best just a soapbox for my generic opinion on gay abuse that I more than subtly ripped off straight out of Sensations (Which I have problems with now but I guess I owe it to my success). My head canons with Braeburn and Soarin have both matured over time and I don't think many people would be outwardly homophobic in a fairly NEW town like Appleloosa. I grew tired of writing long before I concluded the story, and to be honest I wasn't really sure where I was going. I moved onto Melting Snow and then years later Blossoming Roses and I think I've really matured as a writer over time.
Question 2: CrackedInkWell: This here's a bit of a what if. For both of the couples (Big Mac x Careamal and Blue x Fancy) let me give you the following thought experiment. Suppose that these two couples get a very unique opportunity to not just look into each others dreams, but their worst nightmares. And let's say further that they get to see and hear their significant others fears being played out and that they can't do anything to change that dream, even if they tried. And after they've seen each others nightmares, here are my two questions: what did all four see in their beloved as dreams and what would they say to one another?
I'm going to interpret this as what each characters worst fears are.
Big Macintosh: Being Alone. It's a simple fear, but one that Big Macintosh has because of the sudden death of his parents. He's always been big and shy but it was the first time he felt powerless. He's strong physically and can protect Caramel from just about anything, but he still fears things that he can't keep him safe from like sickness. This fear extends to the rest of his family but Caramel getting sick often has been known to give him nightmares. He fears losing everypony he loves and being unable to stop it as they all drop like flies around him. Caramel sometimes needs to just hold Mac for a bit and have him stay silent for over an hour if he wakes up from one of these dreams.
Caramel: Caramel's biggest fear is mostly just being annoying or worthless. He has self esteem problems on top of his depression and his mind circles around to make him feel awful and then on top of that he feels worse for feeling like he's being a huge burden to those around him for being sad. Sometimes he'll just start crying late at night when he can't sleep and start apologizing to Mac over the tiniest thing that Mac hardly even remembers because he just gets so worked up and lets tiny things build. He apologizes for his weight and his fears and then he says he's sorry because he can't stop apologizing. Mac usually thinks he's being silly and tries to just be there for him, but again it usually makes Mac feel powerless to the point where he wants to cry because he can't make Caramel happy.
Prince Blueblood: Blueblood has this simply fear of being imperfect. Though at the end of Blossoming Roses he was somewhat able to overcome these fears, he still feels them. He was told from a young age how he should act and what to strive for and anything but it meant he was being bad. He had an abusive father whose love was always verbal never physical, though he didn't understand it as abuse until he was older and realized how miserable he was. He can't stand being in the public eye for too long because he feels like he's in an act that he can't complete, he can't be happy and therefore he can't be perfect. He mostly feels empty and alone, putting up walls so those around him won't harm him or get close to him and see the real him, see the broken mirror that he feels he is. Fancy's love alone might have saved his life if Blueblood continued down the same path.
Fancy Pants: Fancy Pants has an interesting fear of being forgotten and growing tired. He feels as though he will some day lose his talent and be forgotten about and his years of effort will be just a page on a magazine. He feels too old for Blueblood's love at times and needs reassurance that his feelings are true even after long times together. Like Blueblood he puts on an act of being happy, though unlike Blueblood he uses those around him as his shield rather than isolation. He feels like he will crack if left alone too long and can't stand the silence of his own thoughts to taunt him. Blueblood is the only pony he can be alone with for long periods of time without conversation sparking. He fears he was never more than talent less and lucky, and that the prime of his youth is going to vanish in the blink of an eye.
Questions 3: Rubyfire377: "Do you have a favorite video game?"
Oh good a simple question!
Dark Souls. Dark Souls 1 is quite simply one of the best games I have ever played once I got past the machinist game-play the lore is simply beautifully told and the scenery is breath taking. You truly feel as though you are wandering around a forgotten kingdom on it's last breath before death overtakes the world. It's the one game where you aren't a hero, but an observer who fights his way through what was left of the world around you and it's up to you through the clues and descriptions and scenery and details and exploration to decide what happened to the world, as little dialogue is given to you to explain it.
Dark Souls 2 has none of this lore. Do not ask me to rant about Dark Souls 2.
Question 4: Redstreak: How do you keep yourself motivated to continue working? I started a story a couple years back but because of work and school I got a bit busy and left it alone for a bit. I keep thinking about it and expounding on the story in my head. I tell myself at least once a week"I'll start on this again" but then never do. What's your advice for that?
Personally I like to motivate myself to write in honestly just loving my work. I know that may sound a bit strange, but it's this way of my mind literally won't let me stop thinking about my story, mostly my characters and their dialogue and feelings and thoughts, and nothing makes it stop except writing it out. I like to listen to music and try to fit it to my characters or story, for an example I actually related Let it Go of all songs to Blueblood.
Mostly this version.
You need to really be in love with your ideas and characters to get motivation for a story. You need to be excited yourself to see what you can put your cast through and how they will overcome their problems or even fail them. I'm not going to tell you "Just Write" like a lot of people will, because sometimes the spark just isn't there. Sometimes though you really just do need to sit yourself down and write and see if the spark just isn't acting up. I personally have mostly started writing in a coffee shop near my house, giving myself a set location to write helps me I find. Emotions help me write, that's to say emotions of my character. Some of my best work is oddly enough characters getting angry or crying.
Question 5: HowlingMoon: "Will there be a set date with continuing stories such as Falling Debris or Rose Red Wine? I love those stories."
Haha... fuck.
Okay I'm going to be honest. Right now I'm really really focused on writing my book and getting that off the ground. I really feel like I have something here and I barely have time to write Apples and Sweets much less Falling Debris for a couple I don't have the same passion I used to have. Rose Red Wine however is... I have no excuse. There is only one more chapter and I've just been too lazy to write it because I'm lazy.
Lazy.
Here's a cute picture to make it up.
Now here's a cute one that isn't sad.
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Well that's all for now, folks! Like I said if you have any further comments or questions just ask below and I'll answer them and find a picture to fit it because I hAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO WITH MY LIFE!
Really awesome blog post Storm! Just reread Melting Snow, noticed some things a bit differently from my first reading but I still love it. I've noticed a lot of people seem to stick Caramel with a cutie mark that represents his natural ability of attracting bad luck. Though Melting Snow was the first CaraMac story I read on here, I'm glad you didn't go that direction and made his special talent a blacksmith type of thing.
Here's a random question I've got: if you were to give advice to someone who's starting out on writing a story, what would it be?
Man, I've gotta take a look at your newer work.
3338010 Mostly just to focus on character interaction and likability along with dialogue and reasons for us to CARE about said characters.