Happy belated Christmas, and a stolen writing meme · 4:37am Dec 27th, 2020
Here's a writing questionnaire that I found stole from Posh and Ice Star. Go check their pages out.
1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?
I have hopes that someday I'll finish My Sister, Cozy Glow. Problem is, the plot has gone so damn far off the rails (what with the murder of Biscuit, the fake teenage pregnancy, the Cozy-Glow ghost demon) that I just don't feel the story anymore.
Truth is, I have a basic ending for the story already planned out on a Word document. It's about two chapters long, and I think it resolves all the basic conflicts in a creative way. But I don't enjoy writing it. I feel like I'm solving a complex logic problem rather than writing from the heart. Writing even a sentence of narration or dialog is hard when I'm not feeling it. Especially when I'm supposed to be doing this for fun.
And so I stopped working on it. I am disappointed that I'm continuing by track record of beautiful unfinished stories. My Sister, Cozy Glow was arguably my first big break on this site, and I am grateful for the success it brought me. I'm also proud of many of the early chapters I wrote.
However, as of late, the future of My Sister, Cozy Glow has been causing me so much stress and anxiety that I think I'm better off leaving it incomplete for a while. I am focusing on future projects instead, mainly one-shots.
As for those future projects, I have a lot of "half stories." I get a cool idea, write a pretty good half-chapter about it, but then I can't find a way to wrap it all together. More on those below.
2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project
Some of my most promising "half stories" include, as of today:
- An AU story where Sci-Twi and Princess Twilight are identical human twins living in typical suburbia, with themes of autism.
- Luster Dawn discovers her parents had an affair.
- A SunFlower romance story involving Sunset's magical geode.
I'm not giving any more spoilers. 
I also would like to continue the Law and Order crossover that I posted a while back.
3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)
The Sci-Twi/Princess Twilight AU story that I mentioned in number 2. There's a helluva lot of worldbuilding and research about autism that I need to do in order to make that story work.
I try to avoid writing big blocks of exposition in my writing, which makes it all the more challenging to give the reader just enough information to understand what's going on.
4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)
"Last Hearth’s Warming Eve, I tried to undo the curls in my hair." --first sentence in My Sister, Cozy Glow
I love, love, love me a good opening one-liner to a story. The last thing I want to read when I start a story is a huge block of exposition describing the setting.
I like this one-liner introduction because gives a hint about the setting (Hearth's Warming Eve), and hints at the central conflict (Cozy Glow's legacy) without actually mentioning Cozy Glow...all in just 13 words. 
5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?
"I've only gotten down onto paper three types of people. The people I think I am, the people who irritate me, and the people I'd like to be." --E.M. Forster
I find that I have a tendency to make self-insert OCs out of background ponies, such as Winter Flame, "Rose Lizhi", and Spur. Since they have very little canon information about them, I have the freedom to inject my own personality traits into them. Or sometimes, I make them "the people I'd like to be."
"Rose Lizhi" experiences the same cultural conflict that I do as an Asian-American.
I'm irritated by close-minded people who blindly follow without questions, much like the ponies that all blindly hate Spur just because her sister is Cozy Glow.
And I wish I were a pretty boi like Winter Flame. 
(But alas my flat cheekbones and brow ridge destine me to other things in life)
6. What character do you have the most fun writing?
I would say Winter Flame, but he doesn't count cause I haven't written very much about him.
Cozy Glow was pretty fun to write in just cozy glow, and indirectly in My Sister, Cozy Glow.
7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?
It has changed a lot over the years. I used to be quite wordy. Nowadays during my "tenure" on Fimfiction, I focus on concision and readability. I use simple words to describe complex ideas. This may be because I write a lot of technical reports in school (I study civil engineering).
I frankly don't know if others would agree with this. I would like to know.
8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?
Unfortunately yes. I wish that I were more open to other writing styles. But after writing and reading my own stuff, I frankly can't stand reading some other people's writing styles (especially more florid prose). It's not that they're bad, it's just my mind isn't in the right frame for their writing style.
9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?
I'm too impulsive when it comes to writing. And it's a problem.
10. How would you describe your writing process?
Mentioned it in this blog post. 5% writing, 5% self-loathing, 90% procrastination. 
11. What do you envy in other writers?
They can focus their mind on a single long story for months, and not lose interest after a while.
12. Do you want your writing to be famous?
"Everybody knows who I am, even the people who do not know who I am."
13. Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself?
If you're into Pokemon fan fiction, you can go here, or here, but why leave when you can stay on this site? 
Also, I'm too much of an attention whore to keep projects to myself.
14. At what point in writing do you come up with a title?
Sometimes a catchy title is the initial prompt for the story (for example, The Cloud Factory). Other times, I have a great story but can't for the life of me write a good title or summary. Sometimes, my inability to write a title or summary can make or break the story.
15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?
Summaries, because...summaries are a like a title, but ten times longer.
16. Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)
I've been getting into second person meta-horror stories as of late.
17. Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?
I am often surprised by how readers interpret my stories. This sometimes gets to the point that I accidentally offend or repulse people with my writing.
18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.
I sometimes save alternatives, but I rarely go back to them.
19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)
Angst. Too much angst. (Though I wrote a few decent comedy stories too.)
20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)
Spike the Brave and Metrosexual has a few Frasier references that I wonder if anyone can crack...
Other than that, I don't really care how people interpret my stories. I'm always glad if people interpret my story the way I intended it, but like I said before, I'm always surprised by how people interpret my stories once I publish them. I like the diversity of interpretations. It makes the work feel alive, and not static.
21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)
I'm an auditory person and I read out my stories a lot. I might try doing audio readings of my own stories.
22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?
Yes, a lot. A writer rereading their stories is like a makeup guru checking themselves out in the mirror. 
23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?
I have a few substantial drafts for original fiction stories that I haven't touched in over two years.
24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?
We, as a society, seem to see people as static beings. We find it hard to accept that we are creatures in flux. A baby does nothing but babble, yet if the subsequent adult is a master orator, we pore over their infant years with the perception that some genius was crawling across the floor, babbling, urinating in their diaper. By the same logic, the celebrity, in their prime, may create their finest masterpiece. But as the years pass, the person is no longer the masterpiece.
Short answer, yes. It's part of being human.
25. What part of writing is the most fun?
Scribbling out a story idea on paper until the margins fill up and you're drawing arrows all over the place. 
P.S. There's a hidden rickroll link in this blog post--can you find it...!? 
Is this the Rick Rolled "Tout le monde sait qui je suis, même les gens qui ne savent pas qui je suis." : derpytongue2:
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Close. Try clicking in the blank space above the quote.
Also, do you speak French?
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Yeah French is my first language so I translate English sites automatically with google. That's why the copy paste is in French.