Greetings, class. Quiet down now, quiet down. Quiet, damn you! I'm not getting paid to sit here and talk for you to loudly ignore me. What would your parents say at you pissing their money away like this?

Wait, I'm not getting paid at all.

Whatever. Today's lecture will be upon the pony body, and how you can use it to add expression to your dialogue. There is a thing in the writing world referred to as "talking head syndrome." It is used to describe a dialogue-heavy scene where the characters spend a great deal of time talking, where little time is spent on describing what else they're doing. The end result is line after line of dialogue, where the only words caught outside of quotation marks tend to be pronouns or speaking verbs, and sometimes there aren't any words outside the dialogue at all. This isn't good for a story, simply put. Your reader's mind will fall asleep at these words, floating without context in the void of line breaks and lack of context. They will end up skimming because, quite simply, conversations in real life are not just words. They are much more: they are facial expressions, subtle tells, body language and changes in tone and volume. If you want to fully captivate your reader with a dialogue scene, you must ensure that you include all of these, for dialogue is not just the spoken words.

It is good to know this for any written fiction, not just for those about tiny horses of questionable anatomy. But, as individuals who write about said pastel ponies, we are given the privilege of characters who are subject to an even greater degree of body language than mere humans. This is in part why it is so easy to identify with them in the show: the things have so many ways of showing emotion in their body that even without good dialogue it's impossible to not pickup upon and identify with their feelings. As a writer, you should try to mimic this level of extra body expression. Don't stop with mere human body language such as the facial expression or the hand waving, think of all the things a pony can do which a human cannot to get their feelings across.

They can flick their tails, toss their manes, scratch at the ground, swivel their ears, and do so much more to express themselves than a human can. Remember this, and use these little details to build character, add extra meaning to spoken words, express dialogue through body language, and hint at hidden subtexts or things left unspoken.

This can be an extremely useful strategy for characterization and to add some action and emotion to your dialogue. Use it!

That'll be all. Class dismissed.

4278318
"Perhaps some examples would be in order?" asked NightWolf289, stroking his chin fur. "Some of people who might want to take your—rather sound, I might add—advice might be better off with a few examples." He paused, head cocked. "Don't you think so?"

I'd give this lesson a D. You at least address the talking head syndrome to give a base reason for the lesson, which lets you avoid a full on F.

Incredibly lackluster set of examples, no handy and easy to Google for pictures of horse or even cartoon pony anatomy. No assigned reading of stories that give good examples of how to do it right or examples of it being done incredibly poorly. Not even your own mocked up "quotes" demonstrating what you're talking about.

And, to add further insult to injury, your lesson is in need of some editing passes. I kept being distracted by the grammar problems. Obviously this "lesson" was so lazy in execution that we are basically being told to not care about it, because you certainly don't.

4278405 - hey now, there's nothing wrong with the intent of the lesson. It is lacking on detail to be sure, but the point being made is valid.

4278318 - I enjoy using wings for expression. Shivers and trembles are more fun when there's feathers involved. ^^

4278454
That is what I said.

4278461 - well yeah, but you were making assertions about Goldenwing's attitude and effort, and that's not really called for. I'd hate to discourage people from making group posts.

4278361

Dafaddah scratches the back of his head. "Yeah, I think I agree."

Lowers his hoof and leans back slightly, crossing both sets of front and rear legs. "But is hasta, kinda be pony specific."

Flicks a speck of dust off his flank with his tail. "Unless, you're writing a scene with Spike or some other non-pony. Bipeds have a really different body language, ya know!"

Dafaddah's horn glows briefly as he squints and he wiggles his left ear. "Finally!" A tiny glowing projectile shoots out in a ballistic arc, dissapearing as it flies over the roof of Sofas & Quills. He shudders and shakes out his coat, progressing from his pole down to the tip of his tail. "That thing's been stuck in ear all morning long!"

He sighs, sits back on his haunches, and swivels an ear in your direction. "So what have you been up to all day?"

4278405
Today I learned that I get graded on the lectures I do to help out random new authors just trying to become horse famous. Crazy stuff, right? I'll make sure to review the rubric next time.

If you'd like to learn more about anatomy, I would recommend you peruse this lecture here, which goes into the subject with some detail.

4279420
Oh, you're one of those kinds. I'm sorry. Have this grade instead:

Well, some examples would've been nice, but this is still useful because I'm horrible at doing that.