Interview with GMBlackjack

Interview with G.M Black Jack

by Nailah

“Alright, now tell me my dear friend, what inspired your username?

Response:

My name, G.M.Blackjack, has two sources. The first and primary source is the “GM” part, for it matches my first and middle initials, represents my role as the “Game Master” for many tabletop RPG sessions when I was younger, and is a shortened version of a childhood nickname. The “GM” has many very personal meanings, so I prefer to go by “GM” in conversation rather than “Blackjack.” 

 “Blackjack” is the name of the Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons character. I really enjoyed the book when I first read it. I have since realized it isn’t the paragon of literature I thought it was, but come on, Blackjack’s still amazing. 

My alt account’s name, “Insipidious”, is a play on the words “Insipid” (flavorless) and “Insidious” (dangerously subtle). Also based on the character Insipid from CRISIS: Equestria. 

“What drew you into Mlp?

Response: 

I came in kicking and screaming. I did not want to like the colorful pony show. That was for weird internet people who didn’t understand what they were doing to their brains! But, one day, I ended up on the pony side of the internet watching some of the strange videos they had to offer. It caught my imagination. I told myself I would only watch the fandom videos, since they were funny and not as girly, but I was eventually dragged into watching the show… then dragged into writing fanfics through The Infinite Loops… and now I’ve been doing this for years and have millions of words under my belt. 

“Who is your favorite pony and why?

Response: 

PINKIE PIE! The optimistic jumping party pony is just such a great source of laughs, smiles, energy, and everything I want to see more of in the world. To add icing onto the cake, she’s not dumb, like many characters, and has a real depth to her that I just find endearing!

She also knows we’re watching. That’s a plus. So many interesting stories can be told with that, stories that people often ignore… 

“Favorite episode and why?”

Response: 

There’s a lot of good ones out there. Perfect Pear, Saddle Row Review, Frenemies… The Last Problem… But without going through every episode with a fine-tooth comb, the one that stands out to me the most is To Where and Back Again. DISCORD, STARLIGHT, TRIXIE, and STEVE… er, Thorax. A bunch of characters with amazing dynamics that are generally out of the spotlight, here to SAVE THE DAY. Chrysalis is always great, all the characters involved are great, and even if you complain about the way it was solved at least it wasn’t a friendship laser! Sorta. 

“What inspires you to write?”

Response: 

I am driven by what one may call a mild “insanity”. There are ideas in my head. The only way to get them to STOP being in my head is to get them onto paper! (Or the computer screen, you know.) It frees my mind.

Beyond that, people often point out that I write a ton of words. 10k word chapters written in a day, several stories updating at once and a huge chapter backlog… This is not because I have to get ideas out of my head, this is because when I was younger I trained myself to write. I sat in front of a physical notebook for several hours a day and made myself scribble down words. It was unpleasant at first, but I came out of it able to spew forth words at the drop of a hat; even if I don’t particularly feel like doing it. I believe this is why I don’t experience whiter’s block. 

“Give us the background of the author! Tell us all about you. Well in a short summary.

Response:

I am a random guy who lives in the pacific northwest of the USA who was homeschooled most of his life and had a fascination both with SCIENCE and STORIES. This fimfiction account is where I develop my love of stories, with hopes that one day I finally manage to write something worthwhile to publish. Who knows, maybe that’ll be soon? For the pursuit of science, I have managed to get myself into a college Physics program and am currently going for my Bachelor’s with hopes that, one day, I might become a quantum physicist. 

And keep writing stories, naturally. They may not all be pone related, but the words will never stop flying off this keyboard. What kind of stories do I write? You can probably find a little of everything on my account, though there’ll be no M stories to speak of and I tend to avoid romance. I specialize in longer, epic adventure stories. Even though my most popular ones are silly, often comedic one-shots, I highly recommend taking a look at the longer ones. Amber Ashes is a good place to start if the massive size of the others daunt you, since it will be completing soon. 

Many of the things I write (including Amber Ashes) take place in the Songs of the Spheres multiverse, a massive mega-crossover of everything that attempts to tell a story about… well, all stories. This may be why it’s well over a million words long. I still consider it my magnum opus, and anyone looking for a longfic should go there. 

The League of Sweetie Belles is also a good one, all about crossing over and collaborating with other fimfic authors. I am going to write this thing until the heat death of the universe. Muahahahahah...

“Is there anything else you'd like to say?

Response: 

Thanks for interviewing me! It’s a pleasure - I’ve never really done something like this before. It’s interesting to talk about yourself like this, an… experience. Here’s to hoping I’ll continue to spew millions of horsewords for all to enjoy! 

Thank you for allowing me the pleasure of interviewing you, you have truly been a pleasure to talk too. I hope you continue being awesome.

-Nailah.

I will continue being awesome! 

-GM, master of awesomeness. 

Link to G.M Blackjack's fimfiction page: https://www.fimfiction.net/user/275276/GMBlackjack