#Discussion

I was sitting here at my computer, trying to add something to the multitude of stories I have in production, and I can't think of a damn thing. That got me wondering:

How do others write? How do you write? What do you do to prepare? Physical exercise? Play music? Game? Or does the urge just hit you out of the blue?

How do you go about starting a session? Do you make a skeleton of the story, then fill in the meat as you go along? Do you write out full scenes and endings, then go back and make them fit? Or, like me, do you generally not even have an idea where you want to take the story; you just sit down and start writing?

Do you let others see it before it's finished (besides editors)? Do you let no one?

Just idol curiosity. Feel free to answer all or none, at your discretion. Or add more talking points, if you have them.

#Reviewer

Between July 6th and July 15, I will be out of town on a vacation. However, this vacation will involve a lot of airplane and bus travel. During that travel time, having nothing better to do except catching up on A Song of Ice and Fire, which my friends keep chiding me for not doing I will force myself to thoughtfully read through 150k words of MLP fanfiction, taking stream-of-consciousness notes. Later in my trip, I will revisit and skim through each piece of writing, consider all of my notes, and collect my thoughts into a multitude of reviews that will be posted in this thread during the week of the 15th.

Rules
1) If you can’t wait until the week of July 15 for a review, don’t submit.
2) No more than one submission per person, and no more than 15k words per submission. NOTE: If you request a review for a chapter in a multi-part story, every chapter that precedes it counts towards that limit, as I will be reading it.
3) If your submission is a sequel to or derivative work of another story (that includes other fictional universes that are crossed-over into), you waive any and all privilege of my attention / response when and if you chose to bitch at me for “not getting it” or criticizing the work for lack of explanation/substantiation of plot elements or characters that are introduced elsewhere. You submit what you submit, not that and everything else necessary to understand it.
4) I will NOT accept stories hosted on fimfiction.net, fanfiction.net, ponyfictionarchive.net, pastebin or ponychan (as an uploaded file). The preferred formats are Google Documents, downloadable PDF and .mobi or some other Kindle-compatible format in which text reflow works really well (you get brownie points and extra attention to detail if you can convert your fanfic to that).
5) Pornographic and gore-nographic stories will also be accepted, but only if submitted by email; you are not (per the rules of Ponychan) permitted to post them on this forum. Note, however, that I will read these with mu…

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#Discussion

Title says it all.

For me:

Most underrated: This Platinum Crown
Most overrated: Fallout Equestria

#Discussion

Elsewhere, the topic was raised about the current state of /fic/, as has been so frequently raised recently. One point of discussion was the staff of "regular" reviewers who lurk around here, whether they be maintainers of serial threads, regular lurkers of TTG, or shmucks like me who review one fic per month.

How /fic/ currently gains new reviewers:
+ Writers are rejected by EQD and sent here. Writers get a review on TTG. Some of these writers, intrigued, decide to stick around and do reviews of their own. To my knowledge, the vast majority of reviewers started like that.
+ Some people are reviewers from other sites (like FFN) who are interested in reviewing pony fics. They hear about /fic/ from somewhere and eventually end up here. This is definitely how a few folks got here, but it's a small minority of cases.
+ Possibly, some people were drawn here by some of /fic/'s competitions? (Please, let's not derail this thread into a discussion of "are competitions good for /fic/?" moreso than absolutely necessary.)
+ Other?

How /fic/ currently loses reviewers:
+ Boredom
+ Burnout
+ Drama…

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#Discussion

S o I realized the other day that I write very... odd. It's not necessarily that what I write is odd. I mean, it's perfectly normal to write about a serial killer in a world of pastel colored ponies, right?

Right?
.
.
.
Um, so yeah, anyway. I meant that how I write seems to be very unorthodox. I'm a very visual guy, I have to see things before I can really work with it. So the hardest part for me is actually getting it from my brain to the computer. Usually I'll stare at the screen for twenty minutes telling myself I'm a horrible writer, which I understand is par for the course with most authors. Then I lay down a very bare bones version of the story.
"She said this."
She did this.
"Then she said this."
Then she did this.
…

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#Single fic #Shipping

It was a bright sunny day as Rainbow dash softly trotted along the stone path through the Ponyville market. Nothing cool was happening that day, so she decided a nice, cool walk would make her feel good. The suns soft rays bounced across her soft, sky-blue pelt. Everything was nice and perfect for Rainbow. It felt like nothing could stop her. But one thing did. As she trotted up to the poster wall, she noticed a cool Wonderbolts poster. It read,

Wonderbolts show, VIP passes can be bought for 50 bits. Talk to Soarin' outside Sugarcube Corner.

Rainbow squealed in delight, checking to see if she had 50 bits lying around in her saddlebag.

Buck, all my money is at home. She thought to herself. So, she quickly soared up to her house, and pulled some money out of her piggy bank. After getting the money, she quickly flew back down to town to see Soarin'. He was outside, a large line waiting to get VIP passes.

"Ugh! A giant line..I'll never get a VIP pass." She murmured to herself. However, Soarin' knew Rainbow, and waved to her.

"Hey! Rainbow dash! Come 'ere!" He said over the loud conversation that spread in the line. She smiled and trotted up to him with glee.
…

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#Discussion

One of the complaints I've noticed in writing pony fanfiction is that certain genres shouldn't be bothered with. Namely crossovers and dark stories. We'll forego shipping because that tends to bounce around so wildly.

This got me thinking. Why? What do readers have against crossovers and dark stories? Is it because the base we're using is a cartoon full of pretty ponies and flowers? Is it just the content in general? Is it because it's very easy to botch the whole thing and come up with a half-assed search and replace with ponies story?

What are your opinions on this?

Now, for the second part of this thread:

For those of you who do write crossovers and dark stories, why? You're fighting an uphill battle against the fandom. And like all fandoms, if you do poorly, the readers can be unforgiving. That isn't to say that their word is law. You can right a very good story and the readers will reject it outright because of content.

I'll start. I write dark because it's a challenge. I've been given a good base to stand on and I'm going to use it. I enjoy trying to put ponies through hoops, so to speak. They aren't human, I have to adapt my writing to accommodate that. I can't just have them pull a gun and shoot the bad guy, though I certainly could with skillful writing. I have to go through the motions, deal with the fact that they can't just reach out with a hoof and grab a lethal weapon, deal with the fact that they have to take the extra second to rear up and then lash out in a fight.
…

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#Podcast #Fanfiction

This week on The Brony Bookclub we interviewed Pav Feira about his great fan fiction, My Little Chrono: Triggers are Magic. We discussed the tenants of Fusion Fics, how to make a good one, the future of his own story, Pav and I interrupted each other at the same time, and I Squee-ed like a fangirl at the mention of a great anime. If you'd like to ask us something, comment on the show, give constructive criticism, or would like to help us, send us a letter at [email protected] You'll find this week's episode here: https://rapidshare.com/files/1405788420/Episode%203.mp3 Next week we'll be having on Dubs Rewatcher, author of ...And the Kitchen Sink with a theme of Comedy! See you all next week bronies!

#Reviewer

Welcome to our review thread. Professor Hugbox and Minjask, at your service, we are happy to assist you in any way we can, as long as it involves reviewing your story.

This is a thread for new writers, or writers new to /fic/, but more seasoned authors are welcome here as well. We’ll look at your carefully crafted fanwork, and come back to you with any helpful tips or corrections we can find.
Neither of us is very picky about just what we’ll look at, but here are some rules and guidelines to get you started.

1) READ THE STICKY! The sticky is your friend, it contains helpful tips and resources that will make everypony’s life easier.
2) NO GORE OR PORN! Hey, we didn’t write the rules. If your story falls outside the acceptable content guidelines for ponychan, send it to one of us via email. Hugbox is more likely to enjoy that stuff, send it to him if he’s not overloaded with fics. Hugbox: [email protected] Minjask: [email protected]
3) Be patient , and polite. We volunteer our free time to look over your work thoroughly. If you’re not willing to wait for a quality review, you’re in the wrong place.
4) Never stop writing We’re here to help you, not put you down. Don’t feel discouraged by our review. Even if you decide to scrap your story idea, keep practicing. We hope to see you improve.

That said, here’s how we both operate.
…

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#Collection #Contest

SUBMISSION FORM: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFlxWDdITjVTVkJNdjRiZ0xzYWFRRmc6MQ

Welcome, one and all, to the first-ever MINIFIC MAYHEM! The title "Microfic Madness" was deemed too silly.

We here on the Minific Mayhem judge panel believe that brevity is the essence of wit, and also that writing short bursts is fun, or at least that it's easier than writing 100k word epics. In that spirit, this is not your typical writing competition. For starters, typical writing competitions don't like it when you submit something under 1000 words. Also, typical writing competitions don't require you to cram all your deep meaning into a mere 400 words. Think you've got the guts to wow your readers with an amount of words that would cause a college professor to automatically fail you for not writing enough? Prove it!

We're even offering some token prizes! Need some Riot Points? Some Steam swag with a total value of 10 dollars? How about some Gaia Gold? Then you're a loser. But these prizes can nevertheless be yours if you win the Readers' Choice award or are our winner or runner-up! Really, you should be entering for fun, not the prize.

Once entries are closed, public voting will begin, following the write-off's format. The fic with the top score will be considered the winner of the "Readers' Choice" award, and will not be considered for other categories. The 5 entries with the best scores, or more if it's a really close race, will be considered "finalists." The judges will decide on a winner and a runner-up.

If you've got any questions, talk to us! We're friendly! Usually. Fair warning, note that I didn't say we don't bite.
…

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#Single fic #Discussion #Normal #Sad

My Little Dashie by ROBCakeran53

Description: When your life is as dull a gray as the world that surrounds you, the mundanities can make it all seem meaningless. Sometimes all we need is a little color -- or six -- to reintroduce us to what truly makes life worth living.

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/10/story-my-little-dashie.html


I just read My Little Dashie, and I cried my eyes and heart out. Not since my fish died six years ago has anything--anything--moved me in such a way. I thought I had run out of tears to cry that day. I was so very wrong.

I know that there's a lot of people out there that say, or rather, denounce this fic as "overrated." "Contrived." "Forced." "Wish-fulfillment." "Down-right creepy." Well, guess what? They're all unmistakably wrong. This fic deserves every one of its six stars. From hearts exploding, to the incredibly D'awwww moment of finding Rainbow Dash in a box, to hearts exploding again. The father abandoning society for the sake of Rainbow Dash's development and his dedication to protect her from the outside melange of maladies that afflict what we call humanity. Rainbow Dash giving him a direction in life.

This, fellow bronies, goes beyond fanfiction. Beyond literature. This is a classic tale of a star-crossed parent and child, of strong bonds broken, of connection and loss. That is why it spoke to me... Spoke to us.…

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#Single fic #Crossover #Comedy #Dark

After an unplanned total eclipse of the sun, Fluttershy discovers an unusual plant and decides to take it home. But what she doesn't realize is that this plant could quite possibly spell the end of Equestria as we know it.

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36681/Little-Fluttershop-of-Horrors

#Single fic #Normal #Adventure

By: Geno Blast

Synopsis: Daring Do narrowly escapes from an old foe, only to find herself going from the frying pan to the fire. An ancient evil, a population corrupted against their will, and an intimidating unicorn threaten not only a small island, but possibly the entire world. Will Daring Do and her filly companion make it off the island alive? Just what is this "Ivory Idol"? If adventure has a mane, it must be Daring Do!

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/22634/Daring-Do-and-the-Ivory-Idol

#Event

Last Event: >>98078
Accolades and previous event statistics: http://goo.gl/hgnDc
Current list of participants: http://goo.gl/FbbHu
All anthologies: http://www.fimfiction.net/user/fic+Write+Off

Read the new submission guidelines (http://goo.gl/syCJb) or fear Gushnor’s wrath.*

Hey, you! Yes, you! Are you a man? Are you a woman? Are you unsure? Do the answers to these questions even matter? No! because we’re here to talk about the /fic/ write-off! “What’s the /fic/ write-off?” I hear you say? Well, I’m glad you asked, Timmy. The /fic/ write-off is a gathering of warriors—old and young, great and small, block shaped and spherical. What do they compete in? My, writing, of course! Do you want to join the fiercest competition ever to sweep the land of ponyfic? Of course you do! Now stop reading this silly flavour text and get into the nitty gritty.

Here’s the lowdown:
– Participants write stories over a 72 hour period
– The stories are written from a prompt given at the event’s onset…

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#Collection #Event

Previous Thread: >>105796
Accolades and previous event statistics: http://goo.gl/hgnDc
Stories from this event: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/33043/Cutting-Ties
Voting for this event: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SSTP6M6 (See also: Voting on Entrants: A Primer)

Comments and ratings are highly appreciated!


Well, all I can say is... wow. The turnout this time was much larger than before, clocking in at an enormous 169,450 words. (For reference, the previous record was 97,696.) Since the turnout was so huge this time, the public voting stage is being extend until Mon, 2 July, 00:00 UTC. That gives everyone almost two weeks to read through and rate all the stories. Is that long enough? Who knows.

What's left to say? Go read them stories.