Round 3 of our experimental Written Interview series with the wonderful Ice Star!

Q1. Hi, Ice Star! Thanks for joining us as our first of 2019 written interview! Let’s jump head first into questions. Give us your pony life story! Who are you and what do you do in the fandom?

A1. Thanks for having me! To all the people exceeding the five people and their various alts that make up my normal follower base, I am Ice Star. I have the audacity to write words about tiny ponies on a site reserved just for that. This has lead to me ending up with a few stories here and there that a few people might have even read.
I wasn't in-in the fandom for years and did used to lurk on pony sites after I did learn about the fandom in, uh, 2012, I think? I used to casually lurk on pony videos, wikis, and even on FIMFiction around 2014-ish as an unregistered Anon.
No, but really that is the general overview of me, fandom-wise. (Unless you try and find my pony art on derpi.) I don't even write a consistent output in terms of genre to say anything else about that. Though, I'm generally associated with Sombra and it's stuck.

Q2. Wonderful! Now to catch you off guard! Who is best pony and why?

A2. Everyone is going to expect me to say Sombra, and of course I like him, but best pony is Luna. I like other characters (Cadance, Spike, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Celestia generally come to mind in no specific order) but Luna's always stuck out at the favorite. I may or may not have quite a bit to say about this particular cartoon horse compared to some of the others.
I've always adored her general aesthetic (voice, design, etc.). Most people who know me beyond my shitpost-y exterior know that I have an affinity for myths, magic, and melancholy similar things. Luna emphasized that a lot, but I also loved the clear sense of joy and playfulness she has. Luna is a character that shows a natural sort of standoff-ish behavior and air of being a bit of a natural outcast that, to some degree, she is fine with when her 'goddess out of time' thing and pariah elements are put aside. The idea that at her worst she can fall to misery and be as monstrous as she is wise and thoughtful when she is her best (or restored) self are all things I really love about her. Her redemption at the start of the show is still one of my favorites; I think it really shows the idea of a meaningful redemption too.
There's also the admitted darker thoughts and resentment she's internalized, all over her own craft being scorned. That's something I think a lot of artists can feel. Her arcs and general personality aside, she has some of my favorite magic in the show, so that alone can make her fun to watch or write about on the surface level.  Also going back to that surface level and aesthetics is she holds a lot of qualities I would compare to 'The Last Unicorn' which has been a nasty catalyst for my magic horse obsession for pretty much ever, and still has the same magic and melancholy (but to a greater and arguably more fucked up degree) that I feel Luna has. There’s a smidgen of nostalgia in there.
(Joke's on everyone though, I like seeing this horse happy more than sad or scowling.)
I think that Luna as herself is incredibly underrated in the fandom, by the way. Part of the reason I started writing was because of the general over-abundance of fandom Luna-types over Luna being Luna.
Oh, uh, write more Cadance too. Honestly, more Cadance in general would be nice.

Q3. Obviously, the pony you’ve chosen is wrong and it’s Tempest Shadow. How big is your porn stash? We are totally judging on size here because we’re size queens here.

A3. The only porn I have is scenery porn. Unless you count nice landscape art and some of the National Geographic magazines I'm sure I have lying around, it's non-existent.
...So, yeah, not kidding about the asexual bit there.

Q4. Speaking of best and worst ponies. What’s your most and least favorite shipping pairs?

A4. I've never been all that subtle about my favorite pairing being Luna and Sombra. I gave it one of the Big Mandatory Adventure Stories that most pairings seem to have. I founded and run the biggest group for the pairing. I hosted the first contest. I've doodled them before. I've literally shouted for joy (and I am not a very joyful person) when I've seen a story with this pairing pop up in the 'New Stories' section.
If you want me to pay attention to you, write this pairing. If you want me to consider abducting you, write this pairing. If you want me to pounce upon your story in a way that's maybe frightening, please write them. I don't know how to articulate how inexplicably happy these horses make me, but they do.
Uh, my least favorite? I don't count incest and foalcon as ships, but TwiLuna would be it, I suppose. I don't want to make every one of these answers ramble all the time, but maybe I'll make a blog (read: TED Talk) about why you might want to pick a different pairing for your next story and so on. Or just why I'm not all that partial to it.

Q5. What in your opinion is the best way to write those shipping pairs?

A5. The best way? There's no single best way.
For Luna/Sombra: Write me a delicious multichapter. Longshot. Something.
Speaking as the person who has gone through basically every story with this pairing and every image with it on DA and derpi, here is some actual advice. If you write them as a historical romance, know that it is the more overdone option (for the small amount of material for the pairing). If you want to make your story go that route anyway, don't make the 'tragedy' the corruption of either, and not by the Nightmare Forces/however you have Luna 'fall' and Sombra's own corruption.
Considering how healing, redemption, and reconciling are important parts of many MLP:FiM stories and the show, why not have a story about that?
I'm going to have to avoid answering the part about TwiLuna because it's the perfect setup for me to be passive aggressive. Also, I have an entire keyboard at my fingertips. I can ramble.

Q6. Do you do anything thing outside of the MLP:FiM fandom? Maybe some saucy Gordon Ramsay fics hiding deep away in your hard drive?

A6. The only Gordon Ramsey stories I would write would include literal sauce, and knowing me it would probably have the powdered bones of infants in it and there'd be necromancy or some shit.
Outside of this fandom, I'm not a content creator for any others. Maybe that surprises people who thought they found my work elsewhere and maybe it doesn't. I've never been inspired enough or had nearly enough ideas to do much outside of writing pony. I have plans for original fiction, but no other show or book I've enjoyed has seen any fan labor by me to go with it.
That might change. If anything does, I'll certainly be making a blog about original projects or fan ones.

Q7. Speaking of fictions, what inspires your writing?

A7. Anything can inspire my writing! I've had original works inspire things, other stories here on the site, the desire to subvert something in the fandom, music, and more often than not it's been pony art. Mostly, I tend to get my ideas by asking myself questions and just letting my thoughts stray.
Most of the ideas I've had in my longer works and the worldbuilding I've done stems from the last method, and I can't attribute the ideas to anyone.

Q8. Any advice for the new writers giving it a go for the first time?

A8. I could give new writers a lot of advice, but I think a few things stand out more than others. If you start a long work, know the beginning and the end; that will help you finish it and you can work out the middle. You can't aspire to write unless you're writing; try and write as often as you can. Write for yourself before anyone else. Take yourself (and maybe your writing) too seriously. You'll want to improve. Don't doubt yourself until the last word is written. Save the self-depreciation for when you've learned from a less-than-stellar piece; no story is a failure if you do that. Confidence in your stories shows in how you write them and promote them. It can reflect in how much effort you put into them. It will let you have fun doing your own thing. If you're one of the people who is using the fandom to play around before moving to original fiction, this is how you can build that habits that drive a disciplined writer. Who cares if your story is about ponies now? It's still something you love.
This isn't so much advice as it is something that can really help out the person who struggles with creative thinking or needs an idea. Take any idea you have for a comedy story, or that you've seen in a comedy story, and write it as anything but a comedy (so, a serious story). If you're in need of an idea to throw your efforts at, this is a great way to start. It can also go hand-in-hand with taking yourself/your writing too seriously.
I can easily find prompts this way by looking through the comedy stories in my favorites right now to find examples of creative and potentially very unusual prompts. (If someone actually uses this method, I would be interested in seeing the result.)
Some examples are:
"Celestia writes a letter to Blueblood calling him out for his behavior."
"Starlight Glimmer snaps at ponies in public who have been picking on her."
"Twilight and Celestia second-guess each other over a chess game."
These are all the premises to comedy stories literally anyone can find in my favorites. Half of where the idea comes from likely will depend on how you describe these stories to yourself, and that's a good thing. Now, not all of these story prompts look like anything spectacular, but they're all a start. Maybe my taste in comedy stories on the site isn't one that will produce especially wild prompts, but yours could. (If anyone actually uses any of these examples and try to write a story based on them, I would still be interested in seeing the results.)
Reading is also good for you.

Q9. What's your funniest anecdote from your time in the fandom?

A9. Hrm. Not much actually comes to mind right now. Though, I did once ask Titanium Dragon for a 'Not Recommended'. In person.
I got it.

Still, I'm sure there's funnier things that have slipped my mind right now.

Q10. If you could, would you?

A10. If I could what though?

Q11.Exactly! What are your other hobbies?

A11. Sometimes I draw. I'm more prone to reading, though. I think the single biggest thing that got me to write was that I wasn't reading just what I wanted. If I wanted something written to my tastes, I was going to have to write it myself. It would be free, too!
I don't think I needed to convince myself of much after that.

Q12. Who is senpai to you and why is it not Enigmatic Otaku?

A12. Because he's not Cynewulf! That kind of disqualifies him for Not Being Cyne. She's written quite a few of my favorite stories on the site and has one of the most distinct styles. (Not to mention one of my favorites.) She has managed to write multiple worlds and serieses, often with entries that are generally longer and more polished than the slimmer short stories I'll tend to put out.
I Would Certainly Recommended Her Work.
Cyne pops into mind the most, but there's a few others too. Quite a few are retired(?) from horse, but they are: Cerulean Voice, Autumnschild, Bad_Seed_72, and Ponydora Prancypants.
Of people still on the site there's: NorrisThePony, Regidar, horizon, Tundara, Skywriter, bookplayer, Wellspring, and Yoru-the-Rogue. I wouldn't hesitate to highly recommend their works either.
There's also Monochromatic, who writes what she loves even when no one else did AND THAT'S A VERY GOOD THING. Read words by her. Any of them. Even her bio, because it makes me laugh.

Q13. What’s the most horrifying thing you can invent right now?

A13. Tongues instead of eyelids; they'll lick the debris that would normally gather in your eyelashes.

Q14. What’s your favorite food and drink?

A14. I honestly can't remember.

Q15. How do you get in the mood to write? Any process like turning on music or disconnecting from the internet for a few hours?

A15. I actually don't turn off my internet, though I used to draw sometimes. I used to write some of my earlier stories by hand, and yes I still have various notebooks with 100+ front and back pages of horsewords written in them. One thing I do like is working without a spell-checker for my initial writing. This was especially helpful if I needed to work out concept art. I'm not really good at drawing, but I can do enough to work out what I need to. Otherwise, what I do varies from project to project. Sometimes I might look on derpibooru or reread something in my own stuff to see if there's an idea I can use based on something that was mentioned or not fleshed out. Other times, I'll just try and play with a few headcanons to see if they go anywhere.
I had to train myself to write without noise and around noise, so I've been at the point where I can listen to music with lyrics in it without being distracted or unintentionally putting the lyrics into my stories. Usually I listen to music, with some albums/bands/songs suiting certain characters, moods, or stories more than others.
Usually, I'm always in some mood to write and because of the longer projects, I have to be somewhat interested in writing a bit on most days. I write long stories and short ones, and the former requires a lot of dedication.
But for everyone, I would suggest writing somewhere that is quiet and without a lot of noise. Don't write when you're hungry, if you can help it. Any other state of mind works just fine, or so I've learned from various states I've written in. Either check other notifications before you write or do it after you write, if that's something that can spoil your writing mood. Sit up straight too, you fool.

Q16. Any plans to go to some pony convention in 2019?

A16. That's still up in the air. I've got a lot of stuff coming up around that time, and I certainly don't have much in the way of funds or rides with the way things are looking. I would love to make this year's (last) BronyCon my second one, but I dunno. Don't count me out yet!

Q17. Any upcoming projects you'd like to take a moment and hype up a bit here?

A17. I don't have anything I'm working on that's super eye-catching to new readers, but something tells me that literate people will enjoy looking at my stories. Just try one.
Or eighty six.
I'm sure I've written something someone would like, if they gave it a try. That's how must stories work.

6725875
Another fine written interview. Nice job!

HECK I FORGOT THIS WENT UP I AM DUMB