No really... anything.

Got questions about life, the universe, and everything? We'll answer 'em... probably... maybe... probably.

(Disclaimer: Seattle's Angels is a non-profit organization and as such we are not required to answer any questions about the nature of our funding. The Cartoon Horse Super PAC is a completely legitimate and lawful entity, and our off-shore bank accounts have already received a rubber stamp of approval from the FiMfic Monetary Board of Directors. Now excuse me while I go write off this martini as a business expense.)

BAM which Seattle's Angels featured fic do you think is least deserving? Most deserving?

What do you think is the most overrated pony fanfic?

543511
Hard balls right off the bat, eh?
Okay, keep in mind this is me answering as alexmagnet. I am not speaking for the group for this answer.

Least Deserving
I'm not sure how much it came across in my review, but I didn't like Eclipse... at all. The prose was not just flowery, but it was far too dense to even be enjoyable. I like purple when it's done well, and for a purpose. Eclipse was just needlessly wordy. However, I still thought the story it told was interesting enough to warrant review. Had it been solely up to me however, it would've never been reviewed.

Most Deserving
A possible three-way tie between Mantles, A FLEt|ng LIght, and Pip. However, in the interest of choosing only one, I'll just say A FLEt|ng LIght. Possibly one of my favorite ponyfics of all time, it was criminally under-viewed and I felt it deserved far more attention than it got. I was beyond happy to see that Flashgen submitted to EqD after reading our reviews and even more happy to see it get accepted and watch its views skyrocket. It's stuff like that that warms my heart and makes me glad we're doing this stupid thing...

543517 Have to agree with you on most FLEt|ng LIght being absolutely fantastic. Pretty much the go to definitive Dark Did Dunned Doo'd right. Eclipse didn't catch my attention so much though...

All in all though, great works and work ye do

543514
Boy, that's a tough one.

Hmm, I would say My Little Dashie, but that's too easy. So, instead, I'll choose another easy one: Past Sins. Now, admittedly, I never finished it, so my opinion is near meaningless, but what I read was good, but not great. People like to put it up on this unassailable pedestal of excellence, and wave it about as a shining example of the best fanfiction has to offer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Past Sins is bad, or anything less than "decent", but it's most certainly not the best fanfiction of all time, nor even the best ponyfic. I might be tempted to say the same about Fallout: Equestria, but I've read even less of that, and I actually thought it was better than Past Sins from what I did read.

543528 Ironically, I'm reading that right now, and I'll have to disagree. I think the most overrated fanfic is any Fallout: Equestria fanfic. Past Sins is pretty good so far, but yeah, not as good as everyone says.

543510 What is your favorite:
Movie?
Novel?
Game?
Artwork?
Song?
Choose one. Or all, I don't mind.

Everyone's always asking about overrated and underrated fics, so here's something a little different: What fics do you know of that have received an amount of attention befitting of their quality?

If you could give advice to a new author, what would you suggest they do and why.

543552
Okay, let's start from the beginning. Oh, keep in mind, choosing favorites is quite hard, so these may end up more "I really like this X" as opposed to "This is my favorite X".

Movie
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
I'm a massive fan of Coen brothers movies, and this is easily my favorite. Between featuring one of my favorite actors—George Clooney—and being based on one of my favorite poems—Homer's Odyssey—this movie just hit all the right notes for me.
Bonus movie: Sonatine
Not Takeshi Kitano's best movie, but my favorite. Something about it just spoke to me more than Hana-bi did.

Novel
Tough to pick, but I'll narrow it down to two: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for its absurdist humor, and The Maltese Falcon for being one of the best damn noir novels of all time.

Game
Probably Chrono Trigger, aka: the best SNES game of all time. OF ALL TIME. But, to pick a more contemporary example, Journey, or Mirror's Edge. ****, man... I love those games.

Artwork
Do people have favorite artworks?

Song
Yeesh, that's really hard to pick. I mean, favorite band is a little easier (Cake), but to narrow it down to one song is frickin' hard. Well, I suppose I'd have to say Against Me!'s Thrash Unreal, or Anamanaguchi's Mermaid. Both are songs that I could listen to over and over again, and frequently do. Funny story, I actually hummed Thrash Unreal through my EMT exam a few years ago to calm myself down. Aced that bitch...

Whew, done. Huh, just realized that all of my answers involved caveats or were actually two or three 'favorites' instead of a singular one. Apparently I'm very indecisive.

543556
That's a really good question. I'll have to think on it and come back to you.
EDIT: Okay, having thought about it, I'd have to say Background Pony. I still haven't finished it, or even come close, but that story deserves every bit of adulation it gets. It's damn good, if a little purple for my tastes.

543511
I haven't read all of the features, but of the ones that I have, I'd have to go with The Musings of Discord for Least Deserving. Probably because I've exhausted all my fascination with Discord's inner thoughts when writing him, or probably because I love my own interpretation of him too much, but I didn't find it remarkable. It was cleanly written, but that was all I could say of it. I've got a soft spot for Happy Birthday to You, and Roots actually made me twinge inside, so rather than make a choice, I'll cop out and say them both for Most Deserving. =s There's no doubt that all of the features are easily better than average, though.

543514
As someone who hasn't read My Little Dashie nor FO:E, and couldn't be bothered past the first chapter of Past Sins, I'll have to go with anything in the vein of Ponyfall. I don't have a reason aside from my personal distaste for the concept; try as I might, I can't detach the notion of an author behind the story when I read. With authors like Terry Pratchett or George Orwell, this isn't a problem, and in fact helps me to appreciate the story a little more, but when the core of your concept involves finding a naked version of a pony, completely vulnerable to your care...

What bugs me, in an admittedly prudish slash bigot-y way, is how this slips the mind of everyone else on Fimfic, for a given degree of everyone.

543556
I'd have to go with Within and Without by Cloudy Skies. It just feels like it's so. The EQD feature post is nicely filled, at any rate, and the author has a decent following, though that could be because he's consistently produced good stuff.

Also any of The Descendant's works, because he's earned his massive following to support him. His stuff is for the most part not lauded across the virtual hallways of fandom, nor is there much art or music made of them, but somehow that seems fine to me, like the magic or sanctity of his writing would be cheapened if there were add-ons or spinoffs of it. It's a strange idea that I can't quite put into words, partly due to lack of trying; an interesting question indeed, heh.

543572 That just means that you like a lot of things, no wrong there!
Mine are:
Red Dawn A group of highschool students must stage guerrilla warfare against an invading army.
The Yellow Birds The story of a war weary soldier.
Half-Life A game about a theoretical physicist who must save the world with a crowbar.
This:

And this:

543562

If you could give advice to a new author, what would you suggest they do and why.

A wonderful question! My answer would be twofold:

1) Keep writing
2) Get help

The first is simple. You don't improve if you don't write.

The second is also simple. You'll improve faster if you know where and how to improve. Starting is the hardest step in anything; a third party who will tell you that you do need help will bring about that start a whole lot quicker.

Alternate answers include "Read more", "Read your work aloud", and "Come visit /fic/", which was what I was originally going to post. The first is quite simple; the second is sadly underrated, and is really more helpful for gauging flow, believability, word choice and accent distribution, and a ton of other things under the umbrella of "does it sound good?" than people give it credit for. And, well, the third ties in to 2) up there.

543562
Hopefully some of my colleagues will add on to this since my ability to give advice is woefully sub-par.

Basically, there's a few things you should do, and a few others you should keep in mind. First off, the best thing you can do is write, and then write some more and then maybe some more. But don't just write mindlessly, think critically about what you're writing and learn from your mistakes, but don't let them drag you down. Realize that the first thing you write is probably crap, but don't just say "well, this is crap" understand what makes it crap and what you can do to improve. Now, obviously this is easier said than done. It's quite hard to improve when you're writing by yourself with little to no outside input. So, what I did, for example, was I went to reviewers and asked them to review my fics. They were able to point out exactly what I did wrong, and how to fix it. From there, I was able to improve, and I'm still constantly striving to improve. I still learn something new about writing nearly everyday (thanks Sessalisk, you grammar nazi, you). Specifically, I recommend that people check out the review groups here on FiMfic, or the many many review threads on ponychan.net and mlpchan.net. There's tons of helpful people there that are ready willing and able to give you in-depth reviews and helpful advice. Heck, I even do some reviewing there from time to time.

The next thing kinda comes with always practicing your writing: learn your grammar rules. There's nothing worse than seeing an awesome fic get bogged down with poor grammar. Unless you're an English major, you will inevitably make some mistakes, but that's okay. As I said before, learn from those mistakes so you don't make them again. I know it seems like there's a lot of rules but most of them boil down to pretty simple stuff. Just make sure you learn the difference between its and it's, and their, they're, and there. Those are frequently mixed up and there's really no reason you shouldn't know the difference.

Okay, the last piece of advice I can offer is this: read... a lot. Not just fanfiction, read actual books. Go pick up a copy of Farewell, My Lovely, or The Picture of Dorian Gray, or perhaps 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, any of them will do. Heck, just go to your local library, bring a burlap sack, and just fill that sucker with books. But don't just read the books without thinking about them. Read them and understand why they're good. Look at how Raymond Chandler describes a scene, or how Dashiell Hammet writes dialogue. Learn from those who came before you. It's easier to build a castle when the foundation has already been laid for you. I'm not sure how good that analogy was, but I get the feeling you know what I mean. Basically, just read and write all the time, and, unless you refuse to acknowledge mistakes, you're bound to improve. Practice makes perfect, as they say.

Finally, a few things to keep in mind when you're just starting out, or heck, all the time. Don't get discouraged if something you write doesn't do well, or if you get bad comments/reviews. Try and understand why someone wouldn't like your story, and what you can do to change that. Take criticism in stride, and learn from it. Only a fool ignores criticism, even if you disagree with it. And lastly, have fun. It's seems simple, but it's true. If you're not having fun writing, then try and figure out why that is. Maybe you don't feel like you're improving, or your fics aren't becoming popular, but if you're not enjoying yourself, then what's the point?

Anyway, I hope there was at least some small nugget of wisdom in there that can help you.
~alexmagnet

In your opinion, what is key to a good story?
Grammar? Plot? Vivid description?

Hey!
1. Do you want a flugelhorn?
2. Who is your favorite character on Friendship is Magic, and why? Doesn't have to be en essay, but I'm always interested in hearing serious reasons behind people's favorites.
3. Got any plot bunnies or works in progress you're particularly excited about on here?

543588
Not to be that guy, but I read Dorian Grey for school and I hated it. Normally the books we read are excellent, like Ender's Game, but I couldn't stand The Picture of Dorian Grey.

Anyway, what was your motivation for starting/joining Seattle's Angels?

543588
What do you think about fics where the bad guy wins? Give an example if you can.

Personally, I find them a refreshing change from the usuall fic format: Protagonist faces some great problem/evil, but eventually overcomes it and everything is happy once again.

MFW we told Alex that it was a waste of time to post an AMA cuz no one cares what we have to say, then by noon it already has this many posts.

543572

>Game
Probably Chrono Trigger, aka: the best SNES game of all time. OF ALL TIME.

Still MFW.

Actual answers to questions later tonight once I'm home from work!

Have you ever been streaking?

543517
543518

Oh, you people with your opinions.

On topic:

Is there any kind of topic you'd like to see MLP:FiM tackle that generally gets an episode in children's cartoons?

Is there any kind of crossover you've yet to see, or seen done well, that you'd love to see written well?

Dr. Pepper: great soda, or greatest soda?

Many questions—handle it! Answering in no particular order. Skipping some with intent to answer later.

543727
Well, this group was entirely Seattle_Lite's brainchild, ergo the name. He handpicked all of us, all secret-like, helped organize and shape the group, and then basically set us on our way, popping in occasionally to flog us and collect our reviews. So, for motives, I'm totally putting words in his mouth, but my understanding was that EQD and the Featured Box were not good enough to spotlight all of the amazing fanfiction in this community. Plenty of amazing stories were slipping through the cracks and missing the recognition they deserved. So, first and foremost was a reader-centric service, like EQD and the Featured Box and all other types of groups and blogs, to find enjoyable stories for the reader. Second, to help spotlight stories that we felt had missed their chance to shine. Third, and pardon the hubris, was that by handpicking a few quality stories, we could help influence popular conception of what "good" is. Some people think that "Scootaloo Finds a Cheese Grater" is a masterpiece simply since they don't know any better, and that's part of the reason why it's stuck in the Featured Box. By picking under-appreciated stories manually—not by an algorithm or by user submission—users might come into a better understanding of what makes a story really work. Again, though, that's just my own personal interpretation of the goals. The only guy who knows for certain is Seattle.

As for why I personally accepted the invite, well, the above points sounded like incredibly noble goals, and an excellent way to help serve and improve the fandom. It's a bit of a sacrifice, all this time spent slush reading, debating, and reviewing, but it's totally worth it.

543640
1) No, but I already own a euphonium.

2) Twilight Sparkle immediately won me over in S1E1 with her "make some friends? fuck that shit" attitude. See also: my avatar pic from Feeling Pinkie Keen ("You're thinking of an ear flop, then knee twitch, then eye flutter. This was an ear flop, then eye flutter, then knee twitch.") She's adorkable, anti-social (decreasingly so, but still awkward), and delightfully snarky (unfortunately, decreasingly so). She's just so contrary to what I would expect in a lead heroine of a show like this.

Sweetie Belle is gaining ground on her fast, though. She's diabeetus incarnate. I recently was on a synchtube where my friends were welcoming a new member into the herd. He was on maybe his fourth episode, when the CMC appeared and we realized he had no context for them. So we put on Call of the Cutie next. The new brony's exact words as soon as Scoots and Sweetie popped out from under the table at DT's party: "THE SMALL WHITE UNICORN. I REQUIRE MORE OF THAT ONE." We put on Sisterhooves Social and promptly broke him :3

3) ...wait, we're suddenly allowed to self-promotion, because we were specifically asked? This thread is sick-nasty. Well, it's not uploaded here yet (should be ready sometime this week), but the Hearth's Warming Care Package is in its final stages of preparation and nearly ready to send off to Kiki. All twenty-five stories that were submitted are being included in the care package, but I had the humbling honor of getting my story illustrated. I've seen some sneak peeks of the artwork and... it's just awesome. Kiki's gonna love it.

543556
Wait, and we get to recommend high-view stories? Sick-nasty. Well, these won't be surprises since I'm grabbing these right from my userpage, but allow me to elucidate.

Y'know how there's been like eight different "...of a Winning Pony" stories in the Featured Box? Those are all author-blessed side-stories of The Life and Times of a Winning Pony. {Disclaimer: While not explicit, the story does feature mild sexual humor and fade-to-black scenes, which might not be for all tastes.} What starts as a silly little comedy about a gregarious Charlie Sheen expy harassing her meek and prudish friend, quickly death spirals into a painful love quadrilateral. The author does a wonderful job of making the romantic drama feel organic and believable (with few exceptions) due to giving everypony plausible justifications for why they feel the way they do, and why they deserve to win out over their rivals. I'm swayed on a chapter-by-chapter basis on who deserves to live happily ever after, because a happy conclusion for everypony simply is not possible at this stage. Call me a sap, but some of the later chapters really struck a nerve and were particularly heart-rending. The narrator can be a bit rambly at times (Cloud Kicker is best Dr. John Dorian), and some moments do veer dangerously close to melodrama, but overall it's one of the stories I'm most excited to see updates for.

Or how about I Forgot I Was There? We start with Twilight messing up a spell and a small comedy of errors, culminating in the reveal that Twilight accidentally cloned herself. Most stories would take this is a RomCom self-shipping direction. This author took it in the direction of Twilight and her clone nearly murdering each other in a panic, becoming mortified over what they nearly did, and then awkwardly trying to make amends as they begin to share one life. This story is a bleak (yet frequently twanged with much-needed-comedic-relief) introspection on what it means to have your personal flaws put on display before your very eyes, and what it means to share a life that's only big enough for one pony. While the later chapters are suffering from a little bit of feature creep, it still proves to be highly introspective and engaging. Plus, the author is working on a second, unrelated crossover story, which looks to be as-engaging-if-not-moreso, which he's just about ready to publish.

Going Up does not qualify, because the question was about stories that have gotten as many views at they deserve. Which, at a mere 1.5k, this has not.

That's all for now; more answers later!

Questions, questions, questions. Let's get started.
543625
Key to a good story
Well, not to cop-out, but all three of those are key. Let's imagine fics like a house. Good grammar is the foundation and you build from that. Even an amazing story can fall apart without solid grammar. Next comes plot. It's like the framework for our house. You can have a good story that relies solely on its plot to keep people interested. But it's like living in a house with no walls. It's kinda boring, and you wouldn't want to live there. Interesting characters fix that problem by filling in the gaps and making your story more enjoyable. If you don't have likeable, or compelling characters then why should anyone read your fic? Finally, the last piece of the puzzle is, as you said, vivid description. This is kinda like the interior decorating part of writing a fic. You can have a good story that's enjoyable without having vivid description, and sometimes, barebones description is all you need. The more stuff you fill your house with, the more likely it is that people will stay, to a point. Once your house becomes too cluttered with crap, it becomes more like wading through garbage to find the house, than walking through the house and enjoying the decorations. Hopefully that analogy made sense.

543640
1. Ugh, if Pinkie said, I don't want it.
2. Trixie, was there ever any doubt? The reason for this is because she was a near perfect foil for Twilight, who is a close second, or third, favorite. Trixie is almost the opposite of what most ponies are. Equestria is a world where kindness and selfless-ness reign, so having a pony who's so selfish, and boastful was immediately appealing to me. Plus, she has an awesome design... and she's a frickin' magician in a world where magic is common place. What a badass. EDIT: Oh, and she has a penchant for exaggeration and showmanship, two things that I very much enjoy as well.
3. So, you want me to self-promote? Well since you asked.... I wrote a bunch of 600-750 word minifics awhile back, and I'm particularly proud of Pancakes and Apples. Also, I've been working on my first epic-adventure, Letters From a Friend at the End of the World, which I'm also fairly proud of (it still needs some work though).

544059
No, I can't say that I have.

544318
1. Hmm, I would like to see an episode dealing with death. I know we like to imagine Equestria as a world where everything is sunshine and Oreos™, but death must exist, and I want to see an episode dealing with it.
2. Normally I'm not a fan of crossovers, since I like to read about ponies when reading my ponyfics, but if I had to pick one I'd want to see MLP crossed with Fringe, because why not? I have no idea what would happen, or what the plot would be about, but I'm sure Twilight would have a field day with all the bizarre science.
3. Greatest, hands down.

543881

There's a few questions that I didn't answer, I'll come back to those when I actually, y'know, have an answer.

543625

Grammar? Plot? Vivid description?

I was going to cop out and say all three, but I thought over it, and that's not quite the case.

Grammar is a must, no doubt about it. I simply don't have the patience to dig through a sea of misplaced commas and run-on sentences to find what could be the most amazing plot ever.

Vivid description is vivid, and is in fact what I find more enjoyable (almost) than a good plot.

Plot goes without explaining.

If I had to omit one of the three, I'd actually omit plot. Vladimir Nabokov, who has my undying, utter respect, has a collection of shorts called "Nabokov's Dozen". Some of the stories hardly have what you could call a plot. There's no change in intensity. There's no high stakes, there's no death or destruction or impassionate flings of romance. But there's so much skill and so much heart that comes alive through his descriptions, and reading his stories is like being there.

Now, this is ridiculously hard to pull off. But Vladimir Nabokov did it, and so I'd say it's possible to have a good story with grammar and vivid description alone (well, and a "feeble" or "normal" plot to tie it together).

543640
1. FRUGRALHURN? FRUGRALHUUURNNN
2. It used to be Twilight. Then it was Pinkie Pie. Now Fluttershy's inching her way up the list, and sits at close second. If I had to actually settle on somepony, though, it'd be Discord. He's just so incredibly fun.
3. Oh yes. I've actually got a Touhou crossover in the works. I'm prodding at it slow, having started without planning and now 3000 words in the middle of nowhere, but it exists all right, and I'm looking forward to having it done.

543727
Pav's pretty much said it all. I joined because it seemed like a cool thing to do at the time. Work with Seattle_Lite and a bunch of /fic/ regulars to promote good stuff on Fimfic? Das cool.

543744
Well, I can only think of three stories where the "bad guy" wins. 1984 and Animal Farm, both by George Orwell, and Diaries of a Dragonborn, a Skyrim fic, which, uh, I kinda wrote.

The first two were pretty damn depressing. Like, the bad guy really does win, and that's the end (whoops, spoilers, but if you haven't read those already well shame on you). The protagonist doesn't defeat the evil. He loses to it. And there's no returning to happiness.

It's interesting when it happens, I'll give it that. It's depressing, but it's also interesting.

544059
I'm afraid not, no. I've been tempted to, at times, at home, when I'm the only one, because the Aussie summer is a ridiculous thing to be in.

545122
Aussie Summer? Try the dead of a Minnesota Winter.

544634
I Forgot I Was There is one of my all-time favorite fics. Lately I've been wanting to do the "get on with it!" bit from Monty Python after each new chapter comes out, but it's still incredibly interesting, and I think it really gets the characters right, not just Twilight.
And thank you for the Winning Pony recommendation. Based on recent experiences with the Feature Box, and the similarities among the titles, I was, to say the least, wary of checking the original out. I'm definitely going to give it a shot now though. See, this thread was a great idea!

544834
Regarding flugelhorns, Rainbow Dash was the one hawking them at the Crystal Fair. Does that make them acceptable?

I'm probably unusual in the Trixie fandom in that I didn't much care for her one way or the other *until* Magic Duel. That was one hell of an episode, and it made me love her as well. I mean, I recognized all the great things about her that you listed before then, but they didn't really strike home until a couple weeks ago.

And hell yeah you guys are allowed to self-promote. You devote a not-insignificant portion of your free time to promoting hidden gems, so you deserve it. I got 'em marked to read later.

>>>Alexmagnet
>>>Casca

Thanks for the answers, I was asking because I feel my fic is missing something. No one can point it out but there's just something missing. I mean, interesting characters? Check. Unpredictable and original plot? Check. Good grammar? Check. But there's still that hollow feeling when I try to get some work done on it...

All right, time to answer a few more questions.

543727
As Casca said, Pav covered the reasoning behind this groups inception pretty well. As for my own personal reasons for joining, well, to be totally honest, I was presented the opportunity to shove my opinions down people's throats, and who can say no that? Heheh, but seriously, I did it for much the same reasons that Casca mentioned. It was a good opportunity to do some good for a community that I love and I get to work with some of the coolest people in the ponyfic community. Pav, Casca, Seattle, Nietzsche, and Belligerent Sock are half the reason I stuck around /fic/ in the first place, all those months ago. One of them actually helped me personally when I was just starting out, though I doubt he remembers. tl;dr Ponyfics, eh? **** yeah I'm in!

543744
I actually had to think for a while on this one. I honestly can't think of a single ponyfic that I've read where the bad guy wins, or any books besides the ones already mentioned. In fact, the only examples I could think of were games or movies... so I'll use some of those. Final Fantasy VI, one of my favorite FF games by the way, has Kefka, probably the best FF villain of all time (**** you, Sephiroth), pretty much winning. Granted, that's not how the game ends, but for a while you just wander this barren wasteland that once was the world you knew, and you have to go around and get your team back together to try and beat Kefka who is now absurdly powerful. Basically, it's bleak as hell, and awesome. The other two examples I had were both movies, and ones that I love for that matter. The Usual Suspects and The Empire Strikes Back. In case you haven't seen The Usual Suspects, I won't spoil it because it's well worth watching and the twist is kinda big. Just know that the bad guy wins, and it's amazing. The Empire Strikes Back, easily the best Star Wars film, is one of the most famous instances of the bad guy winning. In the end, Han's been frozen in carbonite and is being shipped off to Jabba by Boba Fett, right after saying one of his most badass lines, "I know". And let's not forget, Luke also gets his ass handed to him by Darth Vader, who, spoiler alert, is his father, and also has his freakin' hand chopped off.

Anyway, none of that was answering your question, which was "what do you think of stories where the bad guy wins?". Well, if it wasn't clear from those examples, I actually really like when the bad guy wins. As you said, it's a refreshing change of pace to not see the protagonists end the story sittin' pretty in a Carebear cloudcar with a bag of Cheetos and some Diet Mountain Dew. I'm a sucker for bleak, depressing endings, and having the bad guy win is usually an easy way to accomplish that. Which, actually reminds me of another example, a short story this time, one of my favorite short stories actually.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison is one of the bleakest, most depressing stories I've ever read, and I love every word of it. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend you do. It's pretty short, and will likely only take you an hour or two to read, but is well worth your time. AM, a hyper-intelligent super-computer with a penchant for torture, is one of the most singularly evil villains in any story that I have ever read, and it has been my dream to create a story that captures the same hopelessness found in I Have No Mouth. Just, seriously, go read it. That's your homework assignment. Report on my desk by Monday.

545171
Regarding flugelhorns, Rainbow Dash was the one hawking them at the Crystal Fair. Does that make them acceptable?
Pinkie said that she wanted a flugelhorn. I hate Pinkie. Therefore, by the transitive property, I hate flugelhorns...

545570 Of course I've read it! It's the reason I got into reading stories with depressing, or at least unconventional endings. I think it's a great way to make a story original and interesting. And they don't have to be depressing either: To put it simply, I like authors who do something unusual with their stories, something different and original.

I hate Pinkie.

So do I.

545570
Speaking of Final Fantasy 6, have you played Pony Fantasy 6? It's not just a sprite-hack, it has a rewritten script and new scenes to accommodate pony. I haven't played it, but I have heard great things. I will play it eventually though, due to some particularly inspired bits of casting. The one that will probably interest you the most is Trixie as Celes. I hope that means what I think it does.

So, why do you hate Pinkie so much? I'm sympathetic, because she is by far my least favorite of the cast (especially after the shit she pulled in A Friend In Deed), but now I'm curious.

Also, thanks for answering all our random questions.

545887
I actually have never heard of Pony Fantasy VI. I'll have to check that out some time. It looks pretty awesome.

The reason I hate Pinkie, though strongly dislike is probably more accurate, is simply because I find her so annoying. Her whole shtick is just being random and that's just grating to me. I get why people like her, I really do. She just doesn't appeal to me in the slightest, much like Fluttershy, who is my second least favorite pone. I dislike Fluttershy because her defining character trait is that she's, you guessed it, shy. That was cute in, like, the first three episodes, then it just got old. Maybe that's why I like Twilight and Trixie so much, because they have actual depth.

Thanks for asking questions. This entire thread is my vindication. I'd been floating this idea for the past week or so, but no one seemed all that keen on it. Eventually I decided, screw it, I'm starting it anyway. I'm just glad that it's doing as well as it is. I gotta say, it's a lot of fun to shove my opinions down people's throats answer questions.

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have you played Pony Fantasy 6?

Oh, you have no idea what you just did. Stand by...

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You might want to get your work looked at by the best ponyfic reviewing community ever. There's also these guys if you want to keep your stuff strictly Fimfic-based.

I'd offer, actually, but I've got a couple of reviews to finish on my plate as is. ^_^

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This is all your fault.

Blog post—Pony Fantasy VI review/analysis

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I regret nothing. Especially since Trixie's casting not only meant what I hope it did, but something even better.

Thanks for all your answers to my last question. I get what you mean about TD, Casca (words or not, we are of a single mind about that weird feeling), and I'll check out those fics Pav mentioned sometime.

Anyway, another question: do you have a fic that you really wish existed but don't want to write? What hypothetical fic would you totally dig, in other words?

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Personally, I'd love to see a BiE played absolutely straight and done well, in epic fashion. The fandom needs an equivalent of Homer's Odyssey to hold up as a more-or-less definitive expression of what makes us unique. Right now I think Past Sins is largely perceived to be holding that spot, but its issues are well documented.

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Hmm, that's an interesting question. Two answers for this one, I suppose.

I know there are a litany of Daring Do fics, but I have yet to see one successfully pull off the Indiana Jones-esque story and atmosphere. I don't particularly want to write that story, but I definitely want to read it. Second, I don't know of any ponyfics that have managed to create convincing Eldritch horrors. Now, this is kinda cheating because I've always wanted to write a Lovecraftian ponyfic, but I know I don't have the chops for it so I want to see someone else write it.

Bonus answer: Flipping the question around, I've always wanted to write a Griffin sky-pirate fic, because I really love the idea of sky-pirates, but I have absolutely no interest in reading someone else's sky-pirate fic.

Bugger me. Totally meant to answer some more questions, but got distracted by vacation, and my writing, and questions about Pony Fantasy VI, and my Let—I mean, other projects. Well, let's get back on this, shall we?

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This one was pretty thoroughly covered, but to top it off, I'd add this: learn how to take criticism with grace. For any reviewer worth his mustard, they're not being an asshole, even if they're doing their best Simon Cowell impersonation. They don't hate you as a person. They don't even hate your story, per se. If they really thought it was terrible, they wouldn't bother to message you. They took time from their busy lives to read the story and recount, in full detail, the story's problems and how to fix them. Yes, reading this—especially the first time—is going to hurt a lot, but persevere through it. Read it. Understand it. And grow. As painful as it is to have a piece of yourself grilled in this manner, you'll grow stronger proportional to that pain.

Yet simultaneously and paradoxically, realize that your reviewers are only human. Some people are complete morons and don't understand your story at all. However, even a broken clock is right twice a day; take everything they say with a grain of salt, because a number of critiques may be completely on-the-money. I've gotten some extremely insightful points out of otherwise-useless reviews. On the other end of the spectrum, you may have a review from someone with much experience and/or clout: a standard example being the beloved EQD prereaders. Trust this reviewer's experience; they have read a lot of poni. Yet realize the story is ultimately yours. I don't accept every piece of feedback I receive, even from close friends. If there's a point you don't agree on, by all means discuss it and have a dialogue. EQD prereaders actually express frustration at how few authors are willing to reply in email and discuss their feedback. An email along the lines of "You suggested X but I feel like I had a good reason for doing this. I did it because..." could open a very interesting discussion for both parties.

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I'm not sure that I like "bad guys win" in the strictest of senses. Thanks to how much we're conditioned to expect the heroes to win, it just ends up feeling like the author trolled me and wasted my time if the heroes walk away empty-handed. I'm reminded of 90's Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Saturday Morning Cartoon, which had a very unsatisfying, apropos of nothing, "LAWL BAD GUISE WIN" troll ending due to its abrupt cancellation. All of my childhood rage. I do, however, enjoy pyrrhic victories. Oh, you won? Congrats. Too bad that millions had to die first, including your fiancee who you'd sworn to protect with your life. A victory with a cost. It has more gravity and weight than a simple happily-ever-after.

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#3: Dr. Pepper is the one true beverage. Coke and Pepsi are golden calves.

#1: I punted on answering this for a while so I could think, but I couldn't come up with anything. One Bad Apple was huge for me in this regard. I racked my brain for a while, and I only thought up one idea before realizing that it'd already been done via Sweet and Elite, which ironically is the one episode that still gets me frothing at the mouth. So, yeah.

#2: Double duty with 563650

This. A thousand times this. Make this happen.

Reasons I won't do this:
+ I write slow as hell / am already behind schedule.
+ I know for a fact that I cannot do this justice.
+ I'm not sure anyone can do this justice.

The original was so driven by the neuroses of the cast. A pony version would either risk feeling like a complete retread, or the author would be unable to crank the characters' flaws up to eleven to make this authentic enough. I've seen a number of disappointing (and abandoned) false starts, so given my concerns, I don't have much hope. I'd be delighted to be proven wrong, though.

What do you think are good reasons to write a fiction?

What do you think are bad reasons to write something?

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*train whistle blows*
All aboard the Opinion Express!

There are many many many many many many many many many many many many many Handy Manny good reasons to write fiction, including: to tell a story, build a world, explore a character, idea, or concept, or even just for fun.

However, more importantly, there are several reasons why you should not write fanfiction, including: because you feel obligated to, wish-fulfillment or self-insert (granted, neither of those are inherently bad, I suppose, but they are generally not good reasons to write fics), to follow a trend or popular 'genre' (i.e. Luna Plays Skyrim, Luna Discovers Microwaves, Luna Eats a Bowl of Soup, Luna Does Some Stupid Shit Without Any Real Plot or Reason For Existing Other Than, Wouldn't It Be Funny If Luna (Who's Been On the Moon For the Last Thousand Years, In Case You Forgot, So She Wouldn't Know About X) Ate a Cookie, Got a Pet Ocelot, or Used the Internet?), or to try and copy Fallout: Equestria semi-joking

Basically, I think it simply boils down to whether or not you enjoy writing what you're writing. If you like writing Luna Pranks Pinkie With a Tire Iron, then who am I to tell you that's a bad reason to write? You should write because you enjoy it. Because if you don't, then what's the point? Writing should be fun and enjoyable, not tedious and boring.

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What do you think are good reasons to write a fiction?

Have you read "A Wrinkle In Time"? Neither have I, but I came close to buying the trilogy today. I won't go into the details, but this is the summary of what I did read, the author's acceptance speech upon receiving the Newbury Medal: Write because you have to. Solid words, if that's what got said author the award.

There's plenty of philosophy surrounding this. A certain /fic/ old-timer by the name of MintyRest put it as such: Write because you need to, not because you have to. Being unable to write except during sem breaks, and completely alone at nights on account of being a student abroad, I go by the idea of writing just because, writing as a means of enriching one's life, writing as a form of catharsis. More will tell you write for yourself, and others will tell you that's what losers think and you should write for your readers.

The answer I'm going to go with? Any reason which keeps you writing is a good reason. People change, and so do motives; whether or not your motives stay the same, it's ultimately the writing which takes top priority. Well, for a given degree of priority...

What do you think are bad reasons to write something?

Possibly the same bad reasons to do anything bad: to defame, harm, belittle another person comes to mind as the only one. If the writing interferes with the author's own life negatively - an extreme case would be getting possessed to write Necronomicon 2: Cron Harder by nineteen wayward spirits - then that's a pretty good reason to stop. If the writing pushes the author to unhealthy psychological states, or if it would push readers to unhealthy psychological states... There's this real trippy book. "The Imagination Machine" or something, where there's a machine which takes the main character on some sick trip, and the only scene I've read of it is where he and his girlfriend are raped by centaurs. Yes. That sickened me physically, and I don't want to remember what it's called. That kind of story has no place in a society if you've got any care for your readers.

Hypothetical situation. You write a fic. It gets no down votes (because you're awesome like that). You have a choice between a 50% up vote ratio with X views or a 5% up vote ratio and 10X views. If X were 400, for example, the first option would have 400 views, 200 up votes, while the second would have 4000 views with 200 up votes. Which option do you pick?

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Hmm, on the one hand, I'd love to have 50% upvote ratio even if it's a relatively low number of views, but on the other, the more people that read this hypothetical fic, the better. However, that being said, having a lot of views does not mean you're fic is good, it only means it's popular. So, if I had to choose, I would take the 400 views with 200 upvotes, because that means that whatever I wrote was hella good, and that would please me more than any amount of popularity.

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And as a followup to popularity vs critical acclaim, let's do popularity versus uniqueness, with some big pond versus small pond thrown in. All else being equal, including quality of what you wrote, A or B?

A: A unique story. You get half the views, but thanks to the lack of alternatives, yours is among the best in the genre/type/character choices, if not the best.
B: Just another story made up of popular things. You get twice the views, but there's others who have written the same sort of thing as well or better.

Followup to the followup: At what percentage of views difference would you change your answer?

And for seasonal reasons:
Best thing from this holiday season?

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You have a choice between a 50% up vote ratio with X views or a 5% up vote ratio and 10X views.

In an ideal situation, where these features were used as authors would like them to be used, I'd go for the hipster fic with the 50% upvote. Vonnegut and "write to please one person" and all that. I say an ideal situation, because I've still yet to make heads or tails of Fimfic. Readers here will Favorite stories when they really just intend to Read Later, will upvote arbitrarily (silly cover pic, OTP, etc), will downvote and Favorite, etc etc etc. [EDIT: Nearly universally, every story on this site has more Favorites than upvotes. Baffling.] As such, if this was a very Fimfic-specific question, I guess I'd prefer a high ratio of Favorites to views, since IMHO that feels like the most reliable metric. For multi-chapter stories, another good metric is the ratio of last chapter's views to first chapter's views.

I've got some smaller fics that I wrote for competitions which I never bothered to upload to my Fimfic account, and part of the reason is b/c I feel they're weaker specifically because they're trying for too broad an appeal, if that makes sense. Which means I've basically answered your next question, but...

A: A unique story. You get half the views, but thanks to the lack of alternatives, yours is among the best in the genre/type/character choices, if not the best.

Mai boi, this quality nonpareil is what all true authors strive for. Even if you want to write a saturated topic, like Appledash, don't just be the author of "an Appledash fic". Be the author of "oh man, that one Appledash story where..."

Followup to the followup: At what percentage of views difference would you change your answer?

Dunno about a percentage, but if the story is under 150 views or so and if it's not bombed with downvotes, its audience probably missed it in the stream of new releases. Yanno, kinda like the work that we're doing here, on a broader scale.

Best thing from this holiday season?

Grandma's Christmas Cake.

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Mai boi, this quality nonpareil is what all true authors strive for. Even if you want to write a saturated topic, like Appledash, don't just be the author of "an Appledash fic". Be the author of "oh man, that one Appledash story where..."

Yup, obviously, being the best in a category is nice. But the question isn't if you want to be the author of "oh man, that one Appledash story where...". It is whether you want to be the author of "an Appledash fic" or the author of "an Applerich fic", with the latter getting less views, but being the best Applerich fic because there are no others

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Oh. Huh. Well, two hours later, I still have no idea how to answer that question. But I also can't sleep, so let's take a stab at it.

Continuing the labels of Appledash and Applerich, writing an Applerich story will certainly afford some notoriety, even if your viewcount is still just a fraction of what the Appledash story could accomplish. Just like "oh man, that one Appledash story where...", you're doing something to set yourself apart. On a website that currently has over 26,000 stories, being unique is critical. It's what helps you avoid getting left behind in the dust, because this circles back to my earlier quote from Vonnegut. There's probably some Applerich fans out there (even if it's just ten readers), and if you're currently the only source, those ten readers will eat it up. Besides, maybe you've hit upon the Next Big Thing; Appledash is saturated nowadays but it had to start somewhere.

So, writing for uniqueness sounds pretty awesome. It comes with one hell of an asterisk, though. I would not write for the sake of being unique. That is, I would not endorse the following thought process:

Hmm, has anyone ever written an Applerich fic? No? Awesome, this is my ticket to some new followers!

But i would endorse:

I just had the craziest idea for a shipfic staring Applerich. This could be fun! Wait, and no one's written this yet, either? Awesome, now I have to do this!

The difference is subtle but important. It's about heart. While it's possible to write a popular story without heart (ex. Derpy Finds a Russian Nesting Doll), it is not possible to write a great story without heart (ex. your favorite story here). If you're trying to be unique solely to corner the market, you won't be happy with the result even if it becomes popular—I assert this based on feedback from multiple authors in that position. If however you have a story idea that you're passionate about, and then you discover after-the-fact that it's an untapped field, that's icing on the cake.

Note that I would never consider "too unique" to be a negative. That is, if Applerich is my OTP, I wouldn't worry that "oh man, this is too niche, no one will like it." The readerbase is large enough that someone else is bound to like your idea too (assuming proper execution). You may not make many followers, but you sure have the chance to make someone's night by writing exactly the fic they'd wished for.

In the end, write what you want to write. Being unique can be a sign that you're being creative, so long as you're doing it for the right reasons. Intentionally selling your integrity to buy more views never turns out well.

It's four o'clock in the morning, why are you posting poni

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In the end, write what you want to write. Being unique can be a sign that you're being creative, so long as you're doing it for the right reasons. Intentionally selling your integrity to buy more views never turns out well.

But that's why how much you like it and integrity are part of "all else being equal too". No easy outs! I'd say you've answered the question though. Sounds like you'll go for uniqueness at the cost of views, all else being equal. Which is my own choice in the matter as well.

The question comes from my own love of writing stories with Diamond Tiara as a major character. I could write about some others I really like, but I pick DT. A choice that comes with a cost in views, but the perk of being wide open, all sorts of things unexplored.