In the past, I have made some attempts at giving writing advice. Between my limited qualifications and the delivery itself, however, said advice was of questionable merit.

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Over at the TVTropes pony fanfiction thread, we have been compiling a list of "red flags" inspired by various stories around FIMfic.

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I am not an expert on grammar, but lately I have been seeing a particular beginner mistake pop up very often; namely, trying to use a single sentence to describe too many actions and emotions.

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I haven't seen this movie in ages. But for some reason, this popped into my head earlier.

BEWARE; this post contains headcanon, speculation, rambling, and art drawn by me. You’ve been warned on all counts.

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I was reading a pony fic the other day, and it revolved around Braeburn and a lever-action rifle. Between the bloated prose and the sheer absurdity of the gun mechanics, I couldn't sit through it.

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We Americans have seen a lot in these past four years. Every line that Donald Trump could cross, he crossed it. From countless lies, to siccing police on his own citizenry, to fomenting violence wherever possible. And his bootlickers and cultists and toadies have kept lockstep the whole time.

But today, he finally did it. He crossed a line so brazen, so disgusting, that it demanded action from the highest authority Trump follows. The only thing he truly cares about.

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The writing process is something I don’t often comment on. Just as consuming fiction relies on subjective tastes and preferences, so does writing fiction rely on techniques and processes unique to oneself. How one writes is a very individualistic thing, which is why writing advice often needs to be non-committal and generic to be even remotely useful.

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What your character orders to drink says a lot about them. The type of beverage, how it's prepared, and how much it costs all paint a picture of preferences that adds verisimilitude and detail to a character's day-to-day life.

Here is what I think the Main Six would drink, and why. I tried to include at least one alcoholic and one non-alcoholic beverage in every entry.

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NOTE; this post contains headcanon, speculation, rambling, and art drawn by me. You’ve been warned.

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I was going to make this post merely a emoji.

But then Trump attempted to use the official POTUS government account to circumvent his ban, and all his tweets got deleted. And then he used his campaign's digital director's account, changing the profile name and avatar. Twitter suspended him five minutes later. And he managed to get one tweet before being suspended, saying he was sending his login info to another infamous reich-wing pundit!

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I often mention—unprompted and at length—that self-reflection is crucial for personal growth. And not merely growth as a writer, but growth as a person. I have made many adjustments to my review formula over the years. But has that made things better? Or has it merely masked an issue that still persists?

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For every American who says your vote doesn’t matter, and that politics has no direct impact on your life...

gestures broadly

The process of writing is as subjective as the product. Sometimes, however, hearing about the creative process of others can be interesting. It might help one consider things that you had not. It might give one insight into one’s own creative process. It might reaffirm why one does things the way they do.

For today’s blog post, I’d like to discuss scheduling and time management.

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It's no secret that Friendship is Magic has a preponderance of wish fulfillment, both in fanfiction and in art.

This is nothing new. All fiction attracts escapism by its very nature. Yet FIM as a fandom seems to have a lot more of it. You could argue the law of averages here—more fans and more internet exposure may make the problem seem more severe than it really is.

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Story concept: it's a dystopian future where pollution has made rain flammable and fire is illegal. The story opens with the protagonist buying a lighter on the black market.

What do they do with that lighter?

EDIT: Group here: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212240/the-break-away-collab-group

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For a change of pace, today’s blog post is about something which I actually know about, rather than a fusillade of meandering speculation. I have an Associates of Science in Early Childhood Development, and am currently employed as a preschool teacher. In the interest of clarity and utility, I tried to limit the amount of specialized knowledge in this post. If anyone wants specialized knowledge from my field, then clarifications or questions are welcome in the comments, as always.

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The process of writing is as subjective as the product. Sometimes, however, hearing about the creative process of others can be interesting. It might help one consider things that you had not. It might give one insight into one’s own creative process. It might reaffirm why one does things the way they do.

For today’s blog post, I’d like to discuss the different degrees of planning/outlining I use.

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We finally return to my series of critiques about the ISII entrants. We continue down my list of “finalists”: stories which I considered awarding points to. I would like to stress, however, that I only ranked them because FanOfMostEverything made me; they are all excellent.

I've suspected for a while that I would not be able to critique every story in the contest. At least not in long form. I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

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