One Year Later · 4:02pm Nov 17th, 2015
Today marks the one year anniversary of my joining this site and starting down a path I never imagined I'd be on. I certainly never thought that anyone would read my story or even like it. There was simply a character I wanted to write about and I set to doing it. It was a passion for me and I'm thrilled it became a passion for you.
On a day like today I want to thank you all for being loyal readers and fans. It has been a true pleasure to see your names show up repeatedly in the comments. I've had the opportunity to grow to know some of you on an even deeper level and I'm thrilled by that too. So, truly, thank you all. I look forward to our continued relationship.
Answering Your Writer Questions
For those that are interested I will answer any writer and/or universe related questions today. Nothing for the characters, just questions for Anzel. You ask, I'll answer! Just leave a comment below.
Scene of the Quarter
It is time to announce the winner of the "Scene of the Quarter." This is a perk for our patrons. They can nominate scenes to be turned into art and then vote on which one they like the best. We had some excellent suggestions and it was really close between two.
Silent Knight, Dragon Negotiator beat out Pink Pony, Azurite, and Soarin playing cards by only one vote! We'll be heading to the artist to turn the scene chosen into reality. Thank you everyone that participated! We had a pretty great turn out.
Coming Up Next!
Secrets of a Royal Guard is almost finished. I wrote the ending a long while back and am just negotiating the final few chapters between where I was when I wrote it and where I am now. Once it concludes I'll be taking a short vacation to start prepping the third and final story of this plot line. I'm thrilled with the story even if it was a challenge to write. Looking into PTSD is tough and a lot of folks struggled with Silent Knight's actions. It was still something I really wanted to do and am glad to have done so.
Sunny's Days is also doing quite well. I've completed the first three chapters and will launch it as soon as next week. I'm pretty pleased with this look into Sunny's life and I think you will be to. It also hints at what will come to pass in Censored of a Royal Guard even though it takes place before Memoirs.
Thank You All!
Once again I want to thank you all for making this an amazing first year on this site! I also want to specifically thank all of our current and past Patreon supporters who've gone the extreme extra mile for us. It has been wonderful and has made it possible for us to focus more on the stories and also do more charity work. I'm thrilled by that. You really make this rewarding over and beyond what we expected.
-Anzel
A, a year?! It can't have been a year! There's no way!
A recount! I demand a recount!
Congratulations! Hope you enjoyed your stay as much as we have.
As for questions, I have a few.
1. How did you get into the show and the fandom?
2. How did you meet Crystal Wishes?
3. How did you come up with the joint universe? How hard was it?
4. Any advise for someone planning to make a long-term story, especially revolving mostly around OCs?
Congratz!
3547821 Seconded.
3547821 Yeah, I'm actually pretty shocked by that too. A year with two updates a week. That is a ton of chapters and stories and stuff! Glad to do it though ^_^
3547827 Thank you! I've really enjoyed it. Far more good days than bad ones. Lots of questions!
Crystal and I watched one episode because it came on TV. It was the one where the CMCs do the talent show. We hated it. It was god awful and turned us off.
Then we noticed a ton of pony stuff on youtube. There was one video called "Why Applejack doesn't get more episodes" or something along those lines. It was this long, 20 minute thing with well reasoned opinions. It also made us think "how can THAT show be that deep? No way!"
So we started at the beginning and loved it.
The short answer is: mutual friends.
We actually met at a conference in Vegas and just happened to live within 45 minutes of each other!
I started writing and I knew there were some things about the main universe I wanted to do differently. At first it started really simple: Cadance is Cadence and not an alicorn. Twilight isn't an alicorn. Crystal followed my lead. As we moved forwards we grew it more and more until it became very distinct. To be honest, it wasn't hard.
I have a lot really. In fact I used to have a speech somewhere but it isn't at my fingertips. Here are a few things:
1. Write for you. Don't write hoping/expecting to have any success on this site when it comes to OCs. It can be depressing but dedication pays off.
2. Figure out your ending and work backwards. You have to generally know where you're going.
3. Your OCs need to be as interesting as the mane six and different. Don't fall for any of those Mary Sue checks. They're all, to put it honestly, complete and utter crap. Every one of the mane six would fail the Mary Sue checks. If your character doesn't they'll probably not be interesting.
4. See 3... but don't make a black and red alicorn that can beat up Princess Celestia and Luna. There are limits to 3.
5. Don't try to be too edgy with your OCs. Try to make them well rounded ponies that could actually function.
3547828 Thank you ^_^ I really do appreciate it!
3547846 Oh you! <3
Congratulations Anzel! You're awesome, both as a writer and as a person!
3547914 Thank you ^_^ you're too kind. And flattering!
Congratulations on the anniversary!
I'm a man who does not grant "follows" easily, but you've convinced me with your interestingly austere but meaningful style. Your OCs are believable, natural and at the same time memorable.
Keep calm and carry on, Anzel.
3547909 Oh, you know Crystal personally? Cool. And thanks for the advice. I'll keep it in mind. I also hope you continue to enjoy your stay here.
I also hope if you don't mind me coming to you for advice every once in a while.
3547960 Thank you thank you ^_^ I'm glad I could convince you to follow! That is high praise and I really appreciate it.
3547976 I do indeed. We've been married a couple of years now ;D Thank you! I know I'll continue to enjoy everyone here.
Okay, my questions, Oh Author of Awesomeness!
1) What was the hardest (already released) part of Memoirs/Secrets to write?
(Personally or as a writer)
(Nightmare Night chapters don't count due to your blurbs on how the first one inspired you)
(Just having names and basic descriptions. I'm not asking for a list, just a number. 
)
2) Are/were you as romantically dense as Memoirs Silent Knight?
3) What was the most fun part of the universe to write?
4) How many OC's do you have, total?
3547978 Cool. Guess the show brings people together in more ways than one.
Mix the color, swirl the letters and I get, Lamentations of a Royal Guard.
Now for the question, care to share anything about the different nations/people(s) of substance?
*edit*
Apparently Silent Knight is to scary for Azurite to prevail.
3547987
Memoirs was fairly easy to write although I was worried about losing my audience went Silent Knight went down in the Gryphon Kingdom. It was nerve wracking to publish that and I felt bad for him. It was critical to his growth as a character though and what was to follow.
Secrets has been harder. I'm trying to faithfully portray aspects of PTSD. It has been hard taking away some of SK's innocence and humor to do that. Even harder when I see readers turn against him but that is to be expected. It is difficult to deal with someone struggling with that problem. It was important to me though and I hope I did it justice even if the resolution for a pony is easier than it is for a human being suffering from the same thing.
Not at all actually. I was shy in my early-middle teens but when I hit 18/19 and my 20s I became quite good at dating. Let's just say by the time I met Crystal she had no chance ;D
Azurite. Without a doubt Azurite. She is barely burdened by the main plot and I understand her super well. I know anxiety. I know it very well and I can write it in a believable way. Plus she's adorable and fun.
Too many. Crystal and I are working with an artist in tiers to have everypony done. That current list between the two of us is 42. As in, there are 42 ponies we consider worth doing art for. That number does not include any canon ponies we've appropriated and smaller roles. So... a ton. With some new ones coming soon :D
3548018
To be honest I mostly only plan the ones I need. Some things are nebulous and I have vague ideas that can be brought up later. I can give a quick rundown though.
Ponies: All ponies, in general are part of the Kingdom of Equestria. Some, like the Nox ponies, obviously are more aligned to Luna but they've also been in isolation forever.
Gryphons: There are four kingdoms as discussed previously. Northern, southern, eastern, and island. They all have different economies and slightly different ways of ruling. They're all on the spectrum of "absolute monarchy" to "constitutional monarchy" though.
Zebras: They exist. They have their own lands... somewhere. They're pretty nice like ponies too.
Yaks: Never planned for them and I don't say this lightly: I hate them. I thought the episode was ridiculous. Officially they don't exist. Unofficially this is what happened to them:
2,000 years ago.
Yaks wander into Frost Pony lands (west of CE).
Yaks: Hello ponies, we want to make friends.
FPonies: Yay! Come to our party!
Yaks: Not perfect! <Break stuff>
FPonies: Did they just break our stuff?
Yaks: <continue breaking stuff>
FPonies: <Genocide>
Yaks: <Bones buried under ice>
Dragons: There are several types or "clans" of dragons. Most are largely nomadic. The major ones are the Obsidian, Emerald, Amber, Ruby, and Pearl. They're very different from each other and see themselves as such. They do have very elaborate codes of conduct, however, and are loosely united under a dragon princess. In general, however, the leader of a clan has a lot of power. There are also smaller clans.
Minotaurs: They exist. No real details yet.
Others: Most show species exist but are not in huge quantities. There is a lot of the world left to see (not that i'll explore it). Ponies are content, happy creatures. They don't feel a need to go empire building.
3548019
>On the topic of that, part of what has kept me as a reader (and convinced me to create my Icefire ID) is the fact that Silent is so... real. He's a humourless bastard at times, but at the same time, you can track his fall and rise from the outside, while you don't truly notice immediately in reading, as it all seems so... natural?
>Short Quirky Pony is amazing!
I'm glad she's so much fun to write, as she's amazingly fun to read!
>42 is not too many.... that makes me feel like I've got too many.
So, I've got a question now due to one of the other ones:
Building characters. Do you build your characters before the story or as you write? And did any of your characters kind of come to mind fully fleshed out?
And I know you've said you PLAN EVERYTHING before, but here's a fun one that's happened to me and several others I know: Have you ever had a character rebel against the story? That is, you reach a certain, pre-planned point and realize "they wouldn't do that..."
3548058
I always have a vague idea of who they are going in. Then I write a few chapters to feel them out. All of my characters grow and change as I progress. None have come out fully formed. None are done. All have some hard and fast rules though that I don't compromise on which leads me to your second question...
I plan loosely for the main plot. I rarely plan scenes. I know the high points. I know what I need to share. I know what hooks I need to include. Then I get into scenes. They frequently don't come out as I imagined because I let the characters lead them. I've certainly written stuff that I trashed because Silent Knight wouldn't do that.
I also rewrote a ton of ToD because Azurite wasn't in her head enough. The characters change my writing more than my writing changes them. That is why they end up feeling believable. I let them roam as they please.
It took four different drafts to get it right after Silent Knight finished his battle with Alastair. It was a struggle. He was all over the place. He was hurting. I'm comfortable with the route it ultimately went but he dictated it a lot. In the end, he wanted to do whatever was necessary to get back to how he had been before.
3548019
Ok, now we have this image of you converting your living room into a war room, complete with maps, charts, and painted miniatures in order to enact your plan to take her out for coffee to gather intelligence for your blitzkrieg of fine dinner, fine wine, and all her favorite things leading her to dreamily say "Yes" when you proposed at the end of the first date.
In fact, yes. You heard it here first, folks: Blitzromantik is canon.
I actually might have a question, considering your OCs and writing process, Anzel.
How often do you find yourself changing your initial idea of a chapter, because you suddenly realize that Silent Knight or one of your other characters would behave differently than you at first planned? Does that happen to you while you write? Your characters "acting on their own", so to speak?
3548083 I will confirm the concept of Blitzromantik. He showed me the glamorous sights of Vegas (including the David statue, of course) and, at the end of the day, finished it off with an evening showing of the Bellagio water fountain show. I leaned against him while the music played and the water danced with elegance and mystique. Then, on the walk back to the hotel, he asked if I would go on a date with him when we got back home.
What kind of girl (or guy!) could say no?
I was a victim of blitzromantik.
3548097
It happens all the time for me. I have a general set of rules for each OC. Some have hard rules that cannot be broken in any way. If things go contrary to that or feel off I have to take another pass. Typically I write like this:
Rough draft - Go until done.
First draft - Polish rough, make sweeping changes. (this is where OCs typically torpedo scenes and I have to start over)
Final draft - Make my final changes.
Submit to Crystal
3548110
God dammit, Spreadsheet Nerds aren't supposed to have Skillz! like that!
Huzzah for one year of words!
3548117 Thank you ^-^
3548116 It's all tactics ;D
Questions! yay!
Question 1: how did you possibly live without us in your life?
Question 2: how did I ever live before I found these stories?oh wait you don't have to answer thatQuestion 2: How far ahead do you have written at any given time?
Question 3: You have nearly finished something like 400k words of content, do you think you can keep up this level of output for another year? *begging voice*
3548083
Love the imagery, simply awesome
3548110
You two are just too adorable, are you aware of that?
Loyal fan? Pshhaw! I'm just here for the cookies.
Do you think you'll keep writing on fimfiction after Silent's tale is done?
3548127
Great question. Life was pretty good before FIM Fiction but it has honestly been better with it. Most days anyway ;D Sometimes we get some stress from doing this but, in general, I'm thrilled to be here.
I write extensively in advance even if I end up changing a lot of it. There is a whole second book of Memoirs that will never see the light of day. I pulled Knight and Day out of that. Occasionally I go into it for some scraps to use in Secrets. Secrets currently has about 3-4 chapters in advance right now which is actually low for me.
Sunny's new story has 3 full chapters waiting. I've got some Azurite written. Other ideas... I have a lot out there.
Today I say yes. The third "of a royal guard" is already planned 1/3rd of the way. When it ends the major plot line I want to tell will be completed. That will likely not be the end of Silent Knight though.
With that said, 8000 words a week, every week, is a lot to do. Crystal and I do spend a ton of time on it so I might scale back slightly now and then. There will be a vacation once Secrets completes.
3548129
3548110 3548125
Well, I certainly that now, Blitzromantik is used only for good and not evil!
After it is no longer being held back for spoiler reasons, will you release any extra world building notes for us to peruse? Deleted scenes/directions that story could have gone?
3548135
Hard to say. It largely depends on if we're talking "the end of book 3" or "I'm out of Silent material."
I get heavily invested in a protagonist. I have to... I write first person. Azurite and Silent have VERY distinct voices and characters. I'm going to try doing Sunny but I have to make certain she sounds different from the other two.
If I run out of stuff for SK and Azu I'm not sure I'll persist. Thankfully I still have a ton of content in mind.
3548145
I have no issue with that but I also have to be honest: I don't write a lot of notes. Typically I keep everything running in my head. That is also why I make mistakes sometimes ;D
There are a ton of deleted scenes and stuff though, plus the timeline. I don't have an issue sharing that once we're "done."
3548147
Well, even if you don't persist with them, do you think you'll continue in pony fiction? Or move to an original world setting for writing? Just a curiosity thing here. Also, what was the original inspiration for Ferrel? I'm not talking Memoirs Ferrel, but the inspiration for the Ferrel you based Exemplar off of. I remember somewhere you said she was from a Tabletop RPG you wrote/edited/did something to (good memory, but not THAT good), so I was wondering where her inspiration came from originally.
3548153
If I can come up with a story worth telling, yes.
Unlikely. Even though a lot of my story is original the fact that it is pony related helped it find an audience. Crystal and I have tried fantasy fiction before. It is a super saturated market I don't want to try to get into.
Many, many, many years ago I started work on a D&D campaign setting known as Vallhyn. Over the course of roughly half my life I've grown and built that setting from the ground up. It is now extremely mature and rich. One of my fantasies is to actually put out a sourcebook for it.
Ferrel is a half-elf warpriestess from that setting. They are similar to clerics but not exactly the same. Think of them as a prestige class. She is an extremely important NPC during a particularly volatile time in Vallhyns history. She is one of two mortals that have the gift of foresight. Unfortunately those two mortals often disagree on the visions.
She wasn't really inspired by anything so much as built up over time to serve a purpose. She is, however, probably the most mature and understood OC I have around. I understand all of her motivations, her drives, and her goals.
Pony Ferrel takes after her a lot. Although pony Ferrel has less control of her gift and is far more "out there."
3548163
Havok & Hijinks, Batman! Now I know why Ferrel rang a distant bell!
I was actually wondering whether you had D&D experience after reading some parts of your stories... It makes more sense now!
3548208
Haha wow... yeah. Ferrel appears there too ;D So does the Oracle. Did you find that because of FIM or just so happen to have a foot in both worlds?
I have a TON of D&D experience ;)
3548213
Me and my closest friends are long-time D&D players, having engaged in several settings during our adventures. We do some research to keep things fresh, grabbing inspiration from different sources... or just making stuff up. We're mostly "forgotten-realming", to be fair, but we used to stretch to Eberron and Greyhawk and the like.
I found D&D experience, especially as a DM, to be a great training ground for writing stories and I think we can agree on that respect.
3548222
Without a shadow of a doubt.
Happy anniversary!
Hmn, questions... Here's something that occured to me while reading yesterday's chapter, where does the "Rude!" dialogue quirk come from?
Congrats on your one year anniversary Anzel!
3548500 Thank you!
I'm 99% sure I stole it from Archer.
3548531 Thank you thank you ^_^
Wow! Congratulations!
I'm really looking forward to Sunny's Days... And not just because my char has a cameo in it.
Ah, it looks like the long awaited clop-filled conclusion to Silent and Crystal's relationship is coming soon.
On a more serious note, how do you go about building characters? I have always been good at putting together complex systems so world building and creating storylines are not all that hard for me, but I have never really been able to get characters to the point where I am fully happy with them. That might just be my obsessive tinkering and perfectionist streak at work, but I think it would be helpful to get your perspective on how to build up an OC from blank slate to believable character.
3547909 Hm, speaking of Cadence, how did they save the empire without her wings? That "throw your wife off a balcony" thing Shiny pulled in the show would have ended very badly without wings after all.
3548042 Yeah, I definitely noticed that with the changeling invasion. It looked like you made a deliberate effort to avoid making any decisions on them because they were not really part of the story but had to show up because of canon. It was definitely better than the stupidity that shows up from time to time, although it definitely leaves something to be desired.
On a semi-related note, I did a lot of tinkering with changeling world building a while back which I can toss your way if you want to take a look at it, although it would require some work to get it to play nice with your stuff.
3549619
The key to any character is ensuring that they are a functional being. Do I imagine they could live a day to day life? For Silent Knight I started with some basics: he is a guard, he is very dedicated to that, he is socially awkward, he has some family issues, he generally is positive. As I wrote him I added in some dry humor, a soft spot, and things like that.
The more I write the more he grows but I always stick to a few of the basics that make him, him. Essentially it is all about putting a bit of yourself and a bit of people you know into it. I find things like "mary sue" tests and such useless. They stifle creativity. If your OC isn't as interesting as Twilight Sparkle why would anyone take them seriously?
That is a divergence from canon. That event didn't occur in Q&B. The Crystal Empire returned and King Sombra was nowhere to be found. He also wasn't the pony the show portrayed him to be. Shining Armor and Cadence found the place largely intact and without issue other than the lack of a leader.
In the show canon, once the changelings were defeated that was basically it for them. Early on I was sticking closer to that timeline. Of course as the seasons ended and I kept writing that left more things for me to explore on my own.
I know the comic goes more into the changelings but I don't adopt a lot out of there. The preponderance of changeling things is fanon of course and, in my eyes, done as much in MLP fan fiction as zombies are in popular entertainment now. There are good stories, there are bad stories, there are okay stories. FIM Fiction didn't need another changeling story from me. At the same time, they were not all killed, leaving me that avenue.
But, as I said before, most of the changeling stuff is fanon. The last thing I want on a daily basis is hearing how author A did hives and author B did their powers.
3548887 Thank you very much ^_^ The story is coming along nicely and should have your cameo within the first 6 or so chapters. Maybe a little later depending but I already have an idea for the scene.
3549809 Thanks for the advice, and especially the line about putting a bit of yourself and people you know into the character. I will definitely have to do some more thinking on it, but it is definitely helpful.
As for the silly "Mary Sue" tests, I was with you on that long before this. It is all about personality and situations that create challenges, not power. I think Q from Star Trek is probably the best example because he is about as overpowered as it is possible to be, yet he is very interesting because of who he is and how he is used in the show. Still, they are occasionally fun to mess with, especially if you answer the questions honestly for yourself to see how "unrealistic" you are.
Anyways, I am with you on the rest. There is really no need for Sombra to be a thing here so quietly dropping him like you did makes sense (and eliminates the stupid wife toss
), although I think you left it vague enough that you could go back and put him back in without breaking continuity if you wanted to. Similarly, doing anything well with changelings really requires a full story because they are built to be masters of deception and that really requires a hideously complex spy novel/political thriller with tons of plot twists to do justice to so it makes sense to leave them alone for now. They are both definitely areas you could go back to for a new story at some point in the future if you wanted to try something different, but it sounds like you have more than enough other stuff on your plate for now so there is no sense in worrying about it. Still, feel free to shoot me a PM if you want to bounce ideas off me or dive into the nuts and bolts of world building because I went full mad scientist and built a working changeling physiology which is a lot harder than it sounds if you look up the numerous problems with the giant bugs in cheap horror movies.
3549812
Awesome. Don't force her in too early for my benefit though. Quality of your story above all else!
Happy anniversary! Continue to keep up the good work! It's all... good! Haha.