2700-ish Follower AMA · 7:33pm Nov 10th, 2016
So horizon went and did something fun the other day, and I figured, eh, I'm just coming off a real mother of a writing project (in terms of stress, not in terms of length or quality) and am looking to reconnect and re-energize with Pony, why not try the same?
So here we go. Ask me anything! I'll try to be as truthful as possible, but let's keep it beneath the M-rating. Also, it's probably best to do one question apiece (unless there's just deafening crickets in here, which I can certainly foresee happening), as I don't want an AMA to become a writing project in and of itself.
And no, I'm not going to tell you my Social Security number. Sorry. So basically this has become "Ask Me Some Things."
EDIT: Let me take a moment to friendlily emphasize the "one question apiece" bit above. 
I would tend to think a real mother of a writing project would be a writing project that gives birth to additional writing projects.
So, why Miss Harshwhinny?
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I love bitter old women-of-iron types in fiction. I like bitter old men-of-iron types too, but the difference is their relative scarcity. I disagree that you have to be a princess to occupy a position of authority, and I think we need more examples of that in our mythosphere.
Also, I love that her demeanor is so well-honed that it can stand up to a literal rainbow pony fantasy land without cracking. She is an antagonist without being a villain in a happy magic land where the two concepts are fairly closely linked, with some notable exceptions.
Thirdly, I have always been fascinated by the Olympics. As an awkward, physically-untalented and uncoordinated youth, I was astounded at the pairing of glamorous spectacle and athletic accomplishment, both of which were more or less utterly alien to my personal experiences of life.
And finally, amidst a fandom that always used to glom obsessively on every new character, no one seemed to be paying much attention. I wanted to shape the Brony consciousness at least in some trivial way, and I was too late to be fanon-formative for the vast majoritiy of ponies out there. I thought I would try to be the first at someone.
Dang, I shoulda gone with "Ask Me Some Things". D: Skywriter, why you so good?
Why are you wearing a cap in your profile pic if you love tiaras?
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I don't honestly know if I can answer that question without being rhetorically trapped into accepting its presuppositions as true. Also I don't know if I can intuit your own opinions and perceptions accurately.
If I am awesome, maybe it's because I can string words together in a way that sounds naturalistic and conversational while simultaneously instilling delight with unexpected juxtapositions and contradictions?
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Because my writer persona loves hats even more than he loves tiaras, and one nets fewer strange looks.
Is your avatar actually a pegasus or just some pony that fell off a cloud and is trying to scribble a quick note to pass a bird or something in hopes of rescue?
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Actually a pegasus. Though I am amused at the idea of the latter.
Favourite piece of pony/non-pony fiction?
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My favorite piece of ponyfic is GhostOfHeraclitus's "Whom the Princesses Would Destroy." My favorite overall fictional work rotates between Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn and Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth.
What question should I ask you?
This isn't a question, but I just wanted to thank you for years of both pony and non-pony entertainment, being a long-time reader of Narbonic and Skin Horse.
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The one you just did.
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You're very welcome! (Though of course I only did bonus content on Narbonic.)
What is your most favourite piece of pony merch you have?
Is there any chance of getting more Cousin Braeburn? (Cropfic or non-crop, either's good.)
Who would you ship Starlight Glimmer with?
Back to writing -- do you have any ideas for more EqG stories? (I'd really like to see you tackle Sunset and/or SciTwi.)
What effect has the internet had on artistic collaboration? Successes and failures?
You've been around long enough to appreciate how things have changed. Any up-and-comers or new collaborative platforms you're keeping an eye on?
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Three words: Giant. Cadance. Plush. Made by SPark and a gift from a friend.
In terms of licensed stuff, I really enjoy my Funko Cadance and Shining vinyl figurines.
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1. Anything's possible, but the guy does not push my inspiration buttons very frequently.
2. Kronk, from The Emperor's New Groove. Glimmy needs a resilient soul.
3. I love Sunny dearly, but most of what interests me about her is her relationship with Equestria. The human world is a safe home base for her, but I don't feel too inspired by the events that transpire there. Therefore, if you do see Sunny from me, it'll likely be pre-EQG Sunny.
What little you can do with Science Twi that can't be done with normal Twi, the films are already pretty much doing, so I don't see the gap to step in.
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Since reaction sparks reaction, and since the Internet simultaneously lowers the effort bar for reaction and allows wider broadcast, reactions are just bigger on the 'net. Successes are wilder, failures are huger, and basically it's very easy to get into a mob mentality, especially as search algorithms quietly work at installing echo chambers around more and more facets of online life (and since more time is spent online, life in general). Its communication powers undoubtedly allow us to connect to more people on a personal, artistic level (would I be writing Skin Horse and sending it off to California to be turned into comics without the Internet? Absolutely not!) but care must be taken to deliberately broaden your mind and your experiences so that your increasingly-customizable life does not become too circumscribed.
I'm actually very excited about online RPG software like Fantasy Grounds. I think it has the possibility to be tremendous for pnp roleplayers who aren't blessed with a local table that suits their needs.
1. What's your reaction to the election results?
2. What was the last Super Bowl you were actually interested in?
3. Favorite dub from 4Kids?
4. Favorite season and why?
Same question I asked him:
"Why are you so awesome?"
~Skeeter The Lurker
Do you have any guilty pleasures when it comes to reading or writing?
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1. I don't want to make this overly political, but—I'm personally disheartened and have learned from experience that situations similar to the ones we find ourselves in have resulted in events that have been very unfortunate to both me and to many people I care about. We'll see what the future holds. It still could have been worse, I think.
2. I have so little interest. I thought there was one where the Packers played the 49ers, and that I was interested in that, but I can't find any evidence that this ever happened. So I guess the answer is "an imaginary game I made up."
3. I... don't know what that is?
4. Two, overall, as it represented the best balance between the infectious freewheeling wonderland of the Faust era supported and given structure by—but not yet stifled by—elements of the mundane world.
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Same answer I gave PP below.
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Haberdashery catalogues and transformation fetish porn.
If you could demand someone else write one story, what would it be and why?
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I would decline to do so. I don't like forcing creativity.
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If you were given the option to travel to an alternate reality that differs from this one only in that one specific story by one specific person had been written, entirely as a consequence of their own creative process, what story would it be, and why?
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I would travel to one where Ponydora Prancypants finished "Don't Let the Princess Drive the Celestial Phaeton." That or the one where Douglas Adams lived long enough to complete the last book in the Hitchhiker's "trilogy."
I don't have a question, I just also enjoy The Phantom Tollbooth.
4295963 1. That seems to be a lot of people's opinions. My thoughts are exactly the same as they would have been had Clinton.
2. Any experience with the Madden games? I'm not that interested in real football, but I love those.
3. 4Kids were the people who dubbed the first two Yu-Gi-Oh! shows, the dub of Sonic X, the first dub of One Piece, and the dub of Pokemon from 1998 to 2005. There were other dubs they did, but those are the most notable.
4. While I don't really think the show's been stifled by elements of the mundane world, I do think that season 2 is the best pre-Twilicorn season.
How do you find the time to work on your passion projects? Real life is always so busy :(
:D
Hope I'm not too late! I'll ask the same thing I asked horizon. If someone already asked it just let me know.
How do you determine the difference between good and evil?
How many calories per day do alicorns need to consume to stop from losing weight and how does Celestia fund her cake habit?
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Never played even a minute of Madden, sry. Thanks for the other info!
4296086 You're welcome.
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What limited success I have had on this front involves working just a little bit every day. One daily strip, one or two sentences. Progress is slow, and you'll eventually need more sit down time than that, but block is the real enemy, and you can't let that crystallize or you'll be miserable. Write a little every single day and you will begin to notice opportunities to do more.
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Prayer, experience, and observation of results.
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1. However many is funny.
2. Voluntary donations from her grateful subjects, some of whom are admittedly hoping to be able to brag that their pastries were particularly enjoyed by the Sun Princess (thus bolstering sales).
Okay then: If we take Heart of the Matter at face value, extend their implications to the logical conclusion, and factor in the effects from and capabilites of her immediate relatives, likely mentors and/or circle of friends, how utterly pant-wettingly terrifiying would Flurry Heart be as an adult?
This was the silliest yet plausibly interesting question I could come up with.
I dearly wish we'd been able to conversate more while I was in Wisconsin. Here's something that popped up from those days.
Barring my ignorance of your recent works as I've been absent from this site, you used to contribute to the Transformation Story Archive way, way back. Has your interest in those stories stayed with you, and if so, what would you think your next story would be?
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Very low pant-wetting, since most ponies don't wear them.
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Drat, bother and fiddlesticks! Foiled by my own British-colloquialism-ness.
You'd think after watching Ninjago Skybound, I'd have thought more carefully about wording my wish question...
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I've been gone from the TSA for long enough that I probably would feel awkward posting there again. I still take some guilty enjoyment out of reading transformation-themed stories, but the process of writing it sends my auto-censors into high gear and that tends to shut down my ability to complete anything. If I were to write a full-on transformation story it would likely be fae-themed, a la A Midsummer Night's Dream.
But why?
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Because.
I couldn't think of a question, so I'll just take this opportunity to tell you how much I've enjoyed your work both here and on Skinhorse: lots.
Which one of your stories do you wish everyone would read? That is to say, which one do you think is most representative of you as an author, be that in terms of quality, tone, etc?
Would asking this be a waste of my one question?