Today is the last day to join, so if you want in on it, be sure to read over the rules and PM Shakespearicles!OPWA: Episode Three · 4:43pm May 2nd, 2016
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Applying Research to Pastel Ponies
I realize this seems unusual to post two episodes back-to-back, but I figured the tips provided in the last episode would be of interest to only a margin of you. This episode on the other hand is more generalized, as it is part advice, part pep talk.
How does one apply research to stories about ponies? This is hard to answer in a singular way. There are so many aspects to pony society and the land of Equestria that can be difficult to portray. The obvious thing to do is to default to the primary canon, which is the show. Secondary to the show are the comic books. But beyond that? There are many questions left unanswered or simply unexplained.
Some things are easy to address. For example, when writing of Sweet Apple Acres, some research into farming and orchard maintenance is very simple to do. But trying to get in-depth on things like pony fighting styles and unicorn magic is more challenging. That’s when we have to approximate to the best of our ability. Pony fighting styles? Read up on how horses defend themselves, examine real-life fighting forms that appear to use the entire body, and keep in mind that the canon has already established that ponies appear capable of doing things real-life horses can’t. Unicorn magic? Why not research witchcraft and sorcery in history?
Writing for My Little Pony offers the unique challenge of trying to make sense of a fantastic world. Research will carry you up onto a point. After that? It’s up to your own creativity! How do you help your creativity flourish? In a few words: ASK LOTS OF DAMN QUESTIONS.
No really. That’s it. I’m serious. I’m giving you the keys to the kingdom here. This is the fundamental lesson my $2k class on world building in college taught me.
That’s one thing writers have in common with scientists. We just keep asking those infuriating questions: What, Where, When, How, and Why.
The last one is perhaps the most important in giving our stories a soul.
Why?
Just about anything can be rationalized, but the why of it can often be made emotional and personal. Never settle for your answers. Question them. Keep questioning them until a huge picture forms. This works not just for world building, but for every area of writing. The more you challenge your ideas, the richer they will become.
And that wraps up everything I had about research for stories! I really hope you guys found something useful in these posts. Next, I think I'll talk about how to get your story's theme by understanding your characters and plot. I'm so excited. 
This is true. Constant question-asking (as well as a baseline level of actual intelligence) is the only way to work out anything about any universe.
3913284 Oh you.
But yes. Insecurities can certainly blind one to common sense solutions.
3913324 That, and there's a surprising amount of depth to world-building that some people just won't get because they only observe surface details and don't examine how they connect.
Wait, you're just going to do a section on "why" and that's it? You're not going to go into depth on the other "infuriating questions?"
5023450
This post was meant as an overview of everything previously discussed. I did a paragraph on "Why" to frame the perspective a writer can adopt to make their approach more effective. As a question it was relatively simple to address, but attempting to do that for the other questions needed more context to really be effective.
In later posts, I DO try to go more in-depth on the question of "where" and "when" in episodes 8 and 9. The question of "how" presents a unique challenge as that answer can vary based on narrative form and genre. I kind of recently started trying to provide guidance for suspense and thriller stories on that note. I even did a blog share about narrative form (Deep POV) in episode 7. As for "what", I thought that was self-explanatory as I covered it in step one of episode 1, but it's the question or topic that needs research. It gives you a direction and focus.