Posey: Let me ask my first question. What got you into writing in general?

6ix: I had a build up of ideas and no way express them, I figured writing would be the best way sort them out.

Posey: That's interesting. Do you have any talent for any of the other creative arts such as music or drawing?

6ix: I was a photographer during college. I ended becoming a producer for local bands and artist as my ideas were wonderful but my skills were lacking.

Posey: Moving onto my next question, when did you decide to become active in the brony fandom and begin to contribute?
Connecting to that, what made you want to contribute?

6ix: I spent a year and a half just watching from the back of the bus. Then last Christmas I wrote 'To Teach a God'. It was a disaster. But I felt like I was mooching off everyone else’s creativity/

But I got better

Posey: I felt the exact same way. I wrote something god-awful. "Interview with a Changeling", I think it was. How do you think that you've improved since those early days?

6ix: My writing skills itself had increased, but the biggest lesson I learned was to slow down. I was in such a rush to write my stories and get them posted.

Posey: Ha! I know that feeling. Currently, I'm writing a long-fic that I'm itching to post, but that my editors refuse to let me kick out of the gate.
Anyways, would you say that you've taken inspiration from other fanfiction? If so, which ones in particular?

6ix: Oh, absolutely, but it's hard to say which fanfics. They have definitely all changed my views on the characters and their world, but I have always kind of kept my own ideas at the same time.

Posey: That's good. I try to do that, but I'm too easily influenced by others' opinions to be honest with you. I have another question for you. I noticed that you're working on a story with an all original character cast. What advice would you give to authors who would like to do the same?

6ix: Do not wing it.

Posey: Your advice is to plan everything out from start to finish, yes? Would you ever recommend ever taking suggestions from the readers?

6ix: You have to think of each character’s complete life: how they came to be, what their backstory was, why they are at where they are now, and where they are going when you write your story.
That depends on the author. You may want to listen to your readers if your goals are to please them and keep your story popular or if you're just riding for your own sake. You could do both and learn from your readers and grow.

Posey: What you said earlier about planning out your characters' lives was interesting to me. Do you actually do that for EVERY character or just the ones that interest you?

6ix: Originally just the characters I liked however I learned quite quickly that winging it on any level is still winging the whole story you never know when you're characters will interact. You don't want to write a plot that won't make sense later

Posey: That's incredibly sound advice. What's the hardest thing about writing/publishing?

6ix: I have a never-ending bucket of ideas so the hardest thing I find is staying motivated and finding the time. But now I have another problem: trying to do too much. Even though a ton of ideas publishing a single chapter of a single-story idea is making me committed to that story and it can disappoint people

Posey: Huh. So you never really have trouble getting motivated?

6ix: No, I do. Just because have an idea doesn't mean I feel like my work will be appreciated. Then I can get depressed if it doesn't get the attention I thought they deserve. I'm really close to scrapping two of my stories already. Like any creative artist, I'm sensitive about my work.

Posey: Wow. How did you feel when 'Twilight at the Disco' got featured and it got attention then?

6ix: Honestly I felt like I was in high school and just got my first girlfriend. That is what it reminded me of, at least. Mostly, I was very happy, and it motivated me to write more. I have actually written almost 8 chapters for that story and have much more that I'm adding every day

Posey: Final question here. What, in your mind, separates your fanfiction from the pack?

6ix: Nothing. Like anyone else, I just want my fanfiction to be read. I don't think I'm doing anything different. But I do try to learn from my own mistakes.

Posey: And that's all one can ever hope to do. Thank you for your time. Have a pleasant rest of your day, and a wonderful tomorrow. It was a pleasure interviewing you.

6ix: Thank you

Here we are again, friend-o. Just you, me, and Dupree fanfiction. This time, we’re looking at 6ix’s Generations. Let me start by saying that I love all-OC stories, love them. I’m even writing one myself. They’re what I read most of the time when I go hunting for fanfiction. As you may have already guessed being the wonderfully smart person that you are, Generations has an all original character cast. That’s a big plus for me, if pulled off right. That begs the question, does he pull it off? Well, let’s look at the first line.

So low was the sun that its light could only touch the sky, cladding the land in an eerie shadow.

Alright. I like this line. It sets the scene quite well. Whatever is going to happen in the next couple of lines is going to be dark, you can just tell. Also, there’s only a little bit of grammatical weirdness, but you can tell that it’s a stylistic choice so it’s all good.

But overall, a reader can easily tell that there ones that are less... creative. Here’s another line from the first scene of the first chapter (I swear I read it all. I promise.)

“Your armies have fallen and the elements are already lost, surrender the sun Princess, we will bring peace and harmony back to Equestria.” Silence was his only answer. “Answer me Celestia! Surrender, let no more the blood of our combined people be shed for a silly throne and title.” Still no answer, “Confound your stubbornness woman; How much more must Equestria suffer?!”

I’m not going to correct this dialogue. I trust you to be able to look at this and know what’s wrong with it grammatically. The intent behind it is good, and what’s being said isn’t bad. One thing that I’ve noticed about 6ix’s writing is that his mistakes don’t tend to detract from what’s being said, which is more than I can say for some authors who write for the Friendship is Magic fandom. That doesn’t excuse those mistakes by any means, and I still recommend that he find a good and consistent proofer—which shouldn’t be hard, given that he’s hit the feature box before with Twilight at the Disco. Still, there’s a lot of errors in just this one section, and it’s pretty typical of the piece.

Reviewing the story of this piece will be difficult, one of the reasons being that it’s not yet completed. But when looking at something that is incomplete, you simply have to do with what you’re given. At the time of this writing, I’d say that the ideas behind the story are fairly unique. Let’s take a look at the summary, shall we?

300 years after the redemption of Nightmare Moon Equestria is thriving under the rule of the griffin monarch. Luna has exiled herself back to the moon; Celestia is dead; and ponies are 2nd class citizens, if they’re lucky. The last generation of elements died off 150 years ago and the griffins believe that if they were to emerge again it would end their rule. The current monarch cares not of the predicament of their acquired citizens, but the elements of harmony are not always ponies.

We’re not going to nitpick at the grammar. Let me just say that this is a pretty nice summation of what’s going to happen without giving away much. There’s the potential for a good, solid, original adventure here. Unfortunately, the chapters thus far really don’t dive into that. I understand the need for world-building. I honestly do. I’m trying to figure it out myself with my own fanfiction. But there’s too little action in what I’ve been given so far. Nothing really seems to happen. Characters are being introduced, yes, but in a way that doesn’t really have much to do with the plot—as far as I can tell. What I would recommend is trying to subtly mix in world-building with the actual movement of the story. By releasing little bits here and there, 6ix will be able to focus more on moving the actual plot and—hopefully—create a more interesting story.

Considering that Generations has an all original character cast, they really have to shine to draw in readers that are used to the multifaceted and unique canon characters. First up is Entomon, a young changeling slave with a penchant for the arts. Is he interesting? Well, if his character was exposed more, he could be. Where he stands, he’s kind of bland and speaks in a stilted manner that I can’t really get into which may or may not be intentional. I would suggest giving a few more outlandish traits or desires to see where that takes him. Next is Nero, a draconequus slave. Unlike most draconequus OCs, he seems relatively normal and in line in terms of powers with the rest of the cast. This is incredibly refreshing for me because I’ve read several stories—which I won’t link to here to keep their authors’ privacy intact—who tend to use original draconequus as Discord with a different color palette. While there’s nothing to say in canon that all draconequus (if there are any others besides Discord) aren't all chaos oriented beings, there’s also nothing to say that they are. However, he too seems a little flat. There’s Eudocia (known to Entomon as Ocia), a griffin—and therefore uppercrust citizen—who takes a shine to the young changeling. Nothing really else to say about her character other than that, besides that she’s a princess. We’re also introduced to Romulus and Remus, the twin griffin princes of this Equestria and uncles to Ocia. How they raise the sun and the moon has not yet been explained, so there’s that to look forward to at least. But the most amusing character in this entire fanfiction so far has to be the big boss, Emperor Palaiologos. He’s introduced by him goosing a mare and then acting like a pretty cool dude after it. I honestly enjoyed him and wished there was more. I know that 6ix puts a lot of thought into his characters, but I just wish that it showed a little more and a little more subtly.

I’ve noticed a trend in 6ix’s writing of this piece. That being info-dumps. I totally get that it’s really hard to introduce backstory and how an entirely new world works. I honestly do. But you don’t have to stop the story to do so. Take this, for example. We’re trundling along in Generations, having a good time. And then this hits us.

“The parents of these foals owned three separate griffons a debt,” the intimidating griffon began explaining, “the laon was used to open there own trade. Which became a success and soon their debt was to be paid, however all of their assets, along with their lives, were lost in a fire. Normally the children would have been ether given to surviving family members or to an orphanage, but one of the griffons that the before mention ponies owed have requested that the foals be sold into slavery to pay the family debt. These foals were born to free parents and therefore they are also free but not old enough to make their own decision. Every citizen of Equestria has the option to to relieve themselves to slavery as a way to pay a debt or better their lives, like that of the poor or uneducated. Also a citizen can be sold as a slave without their consent under certain circumstances, like paying a family debt, which is exactly what is happening to these foals. This conflict of law is what has brought the three foals in front of the city’s highest court.”

This is what I like to call “As you know” syndrome—which is when an author uses a character to explain something that the other characters involved already seem to know, but it is being repeated for the sake of the audience. Unfortunately, this is fairly common throughout the three chapters available. This is pretty par the course of 6ix’s telling style. Like I said in my first review, there’s nothing wrong with telling—it just has to be done right, which is hard for the average writer. But there’s still a lot of good to be found. I like the Roman esthetic going on here in the names and the setting. What’s being promised could be interesting, and I’m actually kind of excited to see where it will all go. I feel like there’s a lot of potential here.

My closing thoughts on Generations are pretty simple. I like the ideas behind it, as well as some of the characters. But I feel as though the execution could be better and the person proofing this story needs new glasses. In short, it’s much better than Twilight at the Disco, and I think it deserves a little more recognition than it has gotten. However, it is—like Twilight at the Disco—still greatly hampered by its spelling and grammatical errors.

Overall: C- (73.5%)
Grammar and spelling: D (65%)
Story: C+ (78%)
Characters: C+ (76%)
Delivery: C (75%)

6ix’s Twilight at the Disco markets itself as a romantic comedy between the newly crowned Twilight Sparkle and the ever-loveable Discord -- God of Chaos. For that, I’m willing to give it some points for originality, as there are only nineteen stories that I bothered to find that had a Twilight/Discord pairing (also known as Discolight). But the question is, does this work? The simple answer is no, not for this story. But you’re not satisfied with simplicity, are you? No, I should think not. You want complexity...and funny jokes about genitals it seems, given the number of likes on this particular story.

First, let’s take a look at the building blocks of any story. That’s right. I’m going to be moaning and whining about the grammar in this fanfiction. While 6ix apparently had a proof-reader for two out of the three chapters of Twilight at the Disco, it doesn’t really seem like it. For example, we can look at the very first line of this fanfiction:

Canterlot castle can be best be described as grand; grand halls, grand rooms, grand kitchens, grand baths and bedrooms.

“castle” needs capitalization, for starters. Even Google Docs picked that up as I typed up my review. Also, the golden rule of semi-colons is that you never use them to connect a independent clause with a dependent clause. Ever. In this case, a colon would be the best course of action.

Anyways, the corrected sentence would look something like this:

Canterlot Castle can be best described as grand: grand halls, grand rooms, grand kitchens, grand baths and bedrooms.

But the grammatical rodeo doesn’t stop there, folks! If you’ll be willing to take my word for it, this piece is riddled with errors—especially the un-edited third chapter—ranging from slips of the keyboard to just poor formatting/quality control. Most, if not all, of them are common, run-of-the-mill brain farts that happen to us all and don’t really detract from what’s being said. Even legendary fanfiction like The Immortal Game, which I love from the very bottom of my rotting heart and which I will never stop plugging for as long as I am in the Friendship is Magic community, probably have some of these errors. I’m fairly certain that I’ll make a few before this review is over and probably already have. My point is that if your writing and story are good, your grammar can possibly take a backseat. Unfortunately, Twilight at the Disco doesn’t really have much going for it other than its relatively rare—but not wholly unique—pairing.

So now that I’m done ranting about grammar, let’s talk about what you all came to see. Yes, that’s right. Genatalia jokes. Well, we’ll get to them later at any rate. What I really want to talk about here is the writing. I’d rate it... average. I’m not an expert on writing, not by any standard. Still, I found Twilight at the Disco to be extremely lacking. There’s little to no description of environment or surroundings. The character interactions, however, are decent as there’s a bit of body language and other things going on besides “he said, she said”. There’s also a simplicity to it that just personally bugs me. It’s okay to be simple in your writing. Heck, I have an incredibly simple and telling writing style that my editor is trying to change. 6ix is a step above just listing, but not quite at that level where simple writing becomes an actual style instead of an inability to write. There’s some obvious effort behind this prose; I can see that. But one cannot rely on effort alone.

But let’s move onto the “meat” of the story. This, of course, is the story itself. What’s actually being told here? In short, it’s the rise of Princess Twilight Sparkle as a major power in Equestria and her budding romance with... Discord. I could complain for pages about this pairing and cry about why it doesn’t make sense, but I won’t. You don’t want to read it, and I don’t want to go back and edit it. It’s as simple as that. Also, my explanations push me off topic like they’re doing right now. Where were we again? Ah, that’s right. The story. It’s pretty standard and predictable, even with a god of chaos involved. And you can see the love coming from a mile away. Not that the clear tagging of it as a “Romance” didn’t tip me off first. I’m observant, dammit. Maybe that’s a little too harsh. Maybe I’m being a teeny bit mean to the guy. After all, this did get featured on the front page. But there’s just no subtlety, no intrigue, no real connection to this relationship. I know that it’s still early on, but there has to be some emotional ties to the reader besides the occasional and frantic typing of “LOL” or the click of a single emoticon. This story seems to rely more on its jokes—yes, I know its a comedy—rather than on story. 6ix really does try to connect with the reader on another emotional level by introducing what I like to call the “Alicorn Angst”—Twilight is apparently immortal and will outlive all of her friends. But it just feels forced and has no meaty build-up leading to it, other than a visit from Rainbow Dash. Cut to the next scene and we have Celestia being a badass chessmaster and saying:

“I know, and I never planned to allow her to rule alone.” Celestia looked down at an empty pedestal that once held her most unique statue. “She’ll have an anchor, one that will live as long as she will.”

So apparently Celestia has been planning to set these two up for... how long? We’re never really told, nor is it implied. Since Twilight became a princess? Since Discord was released? Since Twilight became Celestia’s student? Ever since Discord ruled Equestria and, in my little baby headcanon, Celestia and Luna defeated/imprisoned him in stone? I can see it now.

Celestia: Oh, this being of complete chaos that we recently had to imprison in stone to stop is such a nice fellow. Let’s set him up with one of our friends, Luna.
Luna: ...What?

Okay, I’ll concede something to 6ix, who’s really a cool dude. He’s got a pretty decent—decent—grasp on Discord. The god of chaos is zany to the max. But seeing him as the “love interest” just sets my teeth on edge. It’s fairly obvious that I’m not cut out for this kind of shipping. This of course is coming from the gal who wrote a one-shot that shipped Carrot Top and Angel Bunny together. But I digress. What is really important here is the characters. It’s a comedy and a romance, so the characters—their flaws, their follies, their struggles along with their strengths, their happiness, their shining moments of glory—should really shine. 6ix has the right idea. He’s trying to make the characters the focal point, but it’s just not working as well as one would hope. The characters are just a little... off. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’m going to go with something I mentioned earlier—subtlety. Everything is just outright stated. There’s no inter-character suspense or conflict other than that classic chestnut “Will they or won’t they?” And since this is a romance, they undoubtedly will.

Finally, we’re going to look at the delivery of the piece. Was it good? Not really. Was it bad? Not particularly. It was just... average. And that’s probably the worst insult I can give a writer. Both good stories and bad stories can be equally compelling, albeit for different reasons. But average stories inspire neither bile nor devotion. Writing is all about inspiring emotion and once you’ve failed to do that, you’ve messed up somehow. As a final thought, Twilight at the Disco—instead of making me rage at how bad it is or smile at how good it is—just made me feel nothing. And that’s all I can say about that.

PS: Can I talk about the sex jokes now?

Overall: C- (71.25%)
Plot: C- (72%)
Grammar and spelling: D (65%)
Character: C- (73%)
Delivery: C (75%)

wow i really have some work that i need to do. thank you so much Posie hopefully ill learn something from your review

I don't now what to comment, so here's some yay's:

1334522

Or you could burn an effigy of me and steal locks of my hair to create voodoo dolls. That's in the realm of possibility.

1334659 No I'll just hang you up on my wall instead jk