I think there's something to be said for the idea that you don't truly understand something until you can condense it into a tweet. The folks at Pixar know their stuff.

The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar

"When human beings are faced with chaotic circumstances, our impulse is to stay safe by doing what we've always done before... How we are convinced finally to change is by hearing stories of other people who risked and triumphed."

Telling stories about change makes real change work better.

I think every writer struggles with the fear of failure. How do we defeat this villain? The same way we beat every villain in MLP, of course: we make friends with it.

Written by someone who knows what she's talking about.

BlackGryph0n has influenced me a lot. Very few musicians can consistently write music that speak to me as much as this song:

Read More

I haven't written any ponyfics yet, but I have made a couple of wallpapers:

Read More

If you've ever wanted to make an interactive story, but you weren't sure how, give Twinery a look. Flowchart out your plot, hyperlink the scenes together, and you're set. It also supports more advanced programming if necessary.

Here's an example of something created using this tool: The Writer Will Do Something. Ever wonder what it's like to be Lead Writer for a AAA video game?

It's no surprise that before they launch their own universes, many authors develop their writing skills writing fanfiction. Fanfiction offers beginning writers two helpful advantages:

1. Premade world and characters. To write a good story, you need a good plot, a good setting, and good characters. Writing fanfiction gives you two of those for free. Since the world and characters are pre-existing, you can focus on developing the plot.

Read More

Somebody asked me recently: "I'm curious: have you (or the crew at tvtropes) made a distinction between tropes in fiction vs non-fiction?" This prompted me to talk at length about stories and how they relate to the real world, and I thought perhaps y'all would be interested in my response.

///

Read More