noise."Everfree Northwest · 3:04am Mar 25th, 2019
Everfree Northwest.
For some reason (which might or might not have involved a bribe), I’ve been considered horse famous enough to be a community guest at Everfree Northwest!
And for better or worse, they’re already advertising me as a draw on their special guests page.
The bad news about all of this is that I have to be a responsible con-goer. I have to attend the secret meetings and learn the five-part hoofshake, and I’m contractually obligated to get up on stage in front of y’all and tell you how to write fics as if I know anything about all that.
<checks FimFic>
Oh, I guess I do know a thing or two about all that.
It’s not too late to make your plans (or cancel them if the thought of me speaking publicly horrifies you [this is for that one guy who follows me in order to downvote every story I publish (you missed one, BTW [also you can’t downvote blogposts :P])]).
I can also give a unique opportunity to my followers--and this is in complete seriousness. Some panels haven’t been entirely finalized, and if there’s something y’all who are attending really, really want to know, it might not be too late to pitch it as a topic. Even if it’s not something that winds up getting done at EFNW on a panel, if there’s something that a few of y’all might want to know. . . .
See, I’m gonna give you one little secret right now. Once you’ve got a bit of a reputation, people just start giving you things. I’ve been tagged on Discord a number of times when somebody comes across a plot hook that’s kind of up my alley, and people occasionally PM me with ideas for stories I might want to write.
Most of those go nowhere, and I’m being 100% honest. It’s an idea that I’m not actually terribly interested in, or one that I don’t think I can do well, or I just have too many other projects going on at the moment and I’m hardly going to drop everything and do that one. But sometimes the idea is the right idea at the right time, and it’s something I can and will work with.
Well, it’s been a bit since I’ve done a worldbuilding blog post, or a writing blog post, and if I’m gonna sound vaguely coherent at EFNW, I ought to get back up to speed on that kind of thing. Even if it doesn’t wind up being something that’s presented as a panel, y’all might get a blog post or detailed comment reply out of it.
Congratulations on getting listed.
Hope you avoid the Tribble fans.
Hey, congrats!
Any chance you might be at BronyCon, even as a regular guest?
I know you e blogged about it, but it would be interesting to understand how you make up pony names.
Also, I feel you write ponies in the human world pretty well. It might be fun to discuss how you make ponies fit into the human world.
5032452
Mostly he goes to the pony wiki and picks a background pony only the show animators know the name of.
EDIT: Spoilers?
Oh, geeze. I'm on there too, aren't I? Tell me there's no homework. Please?
(Oh, God. They used my description. (snicker))
Apparently, you are also at least ten centimeters tall... I hope they're not wrong.
5032455
It might be just that simple!
5032462
Math homework, too. Mwahhh!
Seeing all the pictures lined up makes me realize how long ago it was that the pony avatar thing that Georg used, was released.
5032468 It was easy, you just fed the right punchcards into the machine....
5032466 The fiends!!
By the way, where did you get that? Did I miss a mailing? Can I still turn in my make-up homework for partial credit?
How much did they have to bribe you to show up, that's the part that matters!
I look forward to seeing you there, I'm one of the staff this year
Congrats!
Have fun!
..may be saying few things about _reading_ will be not bad, too .... From practice, interesting ideas often live inside texts I for example not very much like to read (at some specific moment). Yet, if you want to use book-inspired ideas in real-life (and I think any book should be seen in this light - how it may help some ..pony) - non-diagonal reading seems to be essential ...
Also, thought about role-playing ..can it be useful? Like, can at least some humans use play setting for discovering their strong and weak points (both as individuals and as small collective), and then at least try to avoid failing big time in real-life?
Also, as everyone who ever write anything longer than few lines know - writing is magic, and even more than on one front: it helps to remember something, makes our thinking different, more organized (but also can make our thinking more rigid, it seems), you can come to some conclusion while trying to put it on paper .. looking from this perspective, you can re-thing Internet as (still?) mostly written media ..while this is shifting...
Makes sense in all honesty admiral. Count how many stories of yours have been featured or read in YouTube by well known readers, most notably scribbler.
Nice!
Okay, I'm going to have to come now. And think about potential panel ideas, though the timeframe may not be sufficient to actually put together something good.
Grats on being picked, will definitely see you there
5032545
If you want to submit a panel idea, I think there's one week left for submissions, and I have no idea how many--if any--slots there are still open.
5032556 Personally, I'd love one called "Gilligan's Island with Ponies - A study in strong stereotyping as story templates and tropes" but then we'd have to explain just exactly what Gilligan's Island was to all the kiddies, and who would best play them as a pony. Ex:
Derpy - Gilligan
Applejack - The Skipper (whose name in the series was actually Jonas Grumby as I recall)
The Professor - Twilight Sparkle
Mary Ann - A little Fluttershy, a little Missus Cake. Maybe Carrot Top.
Ginger Grant - Rarity, most certainly.
Thurston and Lubby Howell - Fancy Pants and Fleur (as an older mare)
Of course, we'd need a theme song
Still don't wanna go...
5032452
Oh, he can talk for an hour on that.
5032452
Olden's ideas are good topics.
5032774
Thanks! Every once in a while I come up with a good one.
5032770
Biscuit knows all! All hail the Admiral!
5032792
You're welcome!
5032447
Thank you!
We’ll see what happens.
5032448
Thanks!
I will--just bought my badge and hotel room. Rumor is that I might be on a panel, but I haven’t heard confirmation from the guy running it. I’ll be in Quills and Sofas a lot; that’s always a good place to look.
5032452
That’s one I could do. It’s mostly research-based, one way or another.
Ooh, that’s another good topic, too. Probably one of those YMMV topics, ‘cause everybody’s got a different way of approaching it, but certainly some stuff could be generalized regarding how to approach it.
5032455
Used to do that. Now I’ve mostly run out of those ponies and have to work harder to come up with names.
5032462
They didn’t tell you about the 60 page essay plus interpretive dance?
None of the author bios are straight except for TD’s. Although, really, what would they expect from a group of writers?
5032464
So do I
5032468
It’s the same one I used, although I didn’t opt for the fancy background.
5032483
They promised to let me to tell people what’s on my mind, and that was really all it took.
5032499
Huzzah! Fun times will be had!
5032503
Thank you!
5032513
I shall!
Congratz on making the short list!
Now, how does one become horse-famous?
5032515
Books are interesting in that they usually don’t tell you how to think, not like a movie might. Someone might be reading a book for the storyline, and somebody else might be reading it for a more mechanical purpose--how does this author I admire handle dialog attribution, for example (and yes, I’ve skimmed books for just that). Even technical books can serve beyond their normal purpose, I think. I’ve learned a lot reading architecture books, even though I’m not an architect.
I think it can. “Role playing” is really a fuzzy concept anyway, going from pen-and-paper to live-action, and I think a lot of IRL training exercises amount to role playing in some way--and in that case, it can be really useful. The more traditional forms of role playing give you a chance to try and be someone you’re not, and that’s always a helpful thing to know how to do as a writer. Many years ago, in a game of Dungeons and Dragons, my character did something so dumb that the Dungeon Master asked me if I was sure, and I said that I knew it was stupid, but it was what my character would do.
A lot of times, in my early draft stages, I’m discovering a character for the first time, and seeing how she reacts with the world, with others, and with herself.
5032517
Probably literally hundreds in most of those categories. I think Scribbler’s only read one or two, though. Not entirely sure, though. She really likes to ninja-post, and I only find out later when I suddenly get a new influx of comments and likes on an older story.
5032519
5032551
Yay!
5032924
Exactly my point
5032608
I just blunder along and bang at my keyboard and see what comes out.
See, my biggest hangups would be on the words ‘trope’ and ‘story template’. Those are English Major words.
There’s the engineer-type with a logical mind that knows all the rules and suchlike, and then there’s the guy who beats it with a hammer until it works.
5032707
What if you knew that the Admiral often gives out free shirts to his followers? Shirts which are both comfy and easy to wear?
5032770
If I’m feeling really frisky, I can write blog posts about it, too. With citations and links and pretty pony pictures.
I think I’ve only done that once or twice, though.
5032921
Thank you!
I dunno--if I figure it out, I’ll let you know.
Mostly just be out there, doing things. Have an easily remembered username (which you’ve got going for you), ideally an easily-remembered avatar, and if you want to avoid infamy, be pleasant to all. Find a niche that works for you and make it your own--I’m the King of Slice of Life, but don’t come here looking for romance fics.
Also volunteer for stuff, online or IRL. That always helps.
5032909
Shortness of such caliber would be... unfortunate.
5032931
Maybe once or twice.