fandom q+a Three Winning Writers Q&A

[Trinary 18]

En versus em, space versus unspaced; what is your preferred implementation of the dash?

The best implementation of the dash is Rainbow Dash. Duh.

[Chengar Qordath 67]

En versus em, space versus unspaced; what is your preferred implementation of the dash?

 

Unspaced em-dash. Who doesn't love—as a dash?

[Comma-Kazie 58]

Writer- Seeking-Advice: What's the difference between showing and telling? Are there times when telling is helpful instead of hurtful. If so, when?

 

I think Ezn's writing guide answers this very nicely: http://www.fimfiction.net/writing-guide#Show-versus-tell

[Ponibius 57]

Any advice on how to first hook your reader into the story?

 

A few short things. Try and have the first line in your story hook your reader. I often quote the start of one of Jim Butcher's Dreseden File's book as an example. "The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault."

 

Also, try and get to the conflict of your story as quickly as possible. I grow worried when I read a story and I have no idea what the central conflict of the story is after reading the first chapter. If it takes ten chapters for your story to meander around to what the story is actually about, then your story probably has issues. 

 

Basically you need something to invest your reader into the story from the get go, and there are a variety of ways to do this. Such as a good first line, starting the story in media res, or getting a strong conflict story being among those ways.

[Trinary 18]

What is your favorite fanfic? And what is your favorite fic written by your co-panelists? (i.e. Chen what is your favorite story by Comma and Poni, Comma what is your favorite Chen and Poni fics, etc.)

[Comma-Kazie 58]

En versus em, space versus unspaced; what is your preferred implementation of the dash?

 

My personal preference is emdash, unspaced.

[Chengar Qordath 67]

Uhm, hiya... again...

 

Mind if I ask another question?

 

If you were going to ship ponies in a story, which two would you pick to pair up & write about?

 

(I beat Lightwing to a shipping question!  ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!)

 

Not counting the ships I've already written?

 

Hmm. I've always been a bit tempted by RariDash. It's underexplored, since RariJack takes up a lot of the same conceptual space (The Tomboy and the Girly Girl). 

 

Also, Sunbeam/Celestia could be fun to explore, since on account of Sunbeam's massively complicated love/hate feelings towards her monarch, and Celestia's struggle to make her a better pony.

[Ponibius 57]

Do you have trouble writing for a shared continuity?

 

Only a little bit, for the most part. It helps when I can ask the other writers of the Winningverse for help on certain things like canon. I would say the hardest part is doing the same scene from multiple perspectives. That is a very tricky thing to do, and do in an entertaining fashion. Why I mostly try and do scenes that haven't been covered in another story. 

[Batbrony 16,055]

There's no quick and simple answer to this. The best answer I can think of is to come up with a good premise, then execute the story itself well. And honestly, it's more about the execution than the premise.

 

All three of you can feel free to answer this, but I think Chengar answered a lot of what I was originally going to ask in this response, so I'll ask something a little different.  Seeing as I write a crossover, a very extensive and lengthy one, I'm curious, if any of you read them, what you believe the biggest problem with crossovers, either on Fimfiction or in fanfiction in general, is?  What also makes for the best type of crossover in fanfiction in your opinion (and that can be in execution, premise, whatever)?

[Will Guide 21,360]

If an OC character is the main character, how do you keep it balanced?

[Chengar Qordath 67]

What is your favorite fanfic? And what is your favorite fic written by your co-panelists? (i.e. Chen what is your favorite story by Comma and Poni, Comma what is your favorite Chen and Poni fics, etc.)

 

Hmm. I really liked Ponibius's Haunted Mailbox and I also quite enjoy Midnight's Shadow. With Comma, it's hard to beat the gut-wrenchingness of "From the Mouths of Fillies."

[Ponibius 57]

 

Hello

 

So awesome to have writers on the Q&A, great writers are really hard to come by. And here is question:

• What do you think makes a successful story.

 

 

There are so many things that can make or break a story. Ultimately, what I think makes a successful story is if it entertained the reader in some way. When someone reads a story, it should do at least one of three things. It should either give them something new to think about, make them have a fuller life in some way, or just be entertainment for entertainment for entertainment's sake. If it doesn't do any of those three things, then the story is probably a failure. 

[Comma-Kazie 58]

What is your favorite fanfic? And what is your favorite fic written by your co-panelists? (i.e. Chen what is your favorite story by Comma and Poni, Comma what is your favorite Chen and Poni fics, etc.)

 

I have a hard time picking just one favorite, but my top five favorites in alphabetical order are:

 

• Fallout: Equestria
• It Takes A Village
• My Little Alicorn
• The Colour You Bleed
• The Flight of the Alicorn

 

As for my favorite from Chen and Poni ... oof. That's a hard call. I think I'd have to go with Princess Twilight's Protector and the Prankster Pests and Twilight Sparkle vs. the Haunted Mailbox, respectively.

[Standard User 2,127]

*deep breathing* Winningverse Q&A ohmygosh.

 

Welp, I'm late to the show as usual, so a lot of my questions have been answered. Bleh. Let me see if I can come up with anything on the spot...

 

* What is it like to be such recognized authors in the fandom? Do you get a lot of fan mail, requests for assistance, etc. or is it pretty quiet overall?

 

* How long do you sit on an idea before actually writing anything for it? Is it a relatively instantaneous process, or do you (like me) mull the idea over for a few days/weeks to get it "just right?"

 

* What are your favorite authors outside of the fandom (i.e. Tolkein, Lovecraft, Adams, etc)?

[Dark Horse 12,961]

Hello there!

 

When you're writing your fanfics, do you try and view them from a readers point of view, and has there ever been parts you've written that you were worried might not go over so well with some?

[Chengar Qordath 67]

All three of you can feel free to answer this, but I think Chengar answered a lot of what I was originally going to ask in this response, so I'll ask something a little different.  Seeing as I write a crossover, a very extensive and lengthy one, I'm curious, if any of you read them, what you believe the biggest problem with crossovers, either on Fimfiction or in fanfiction in general, is?  What also makes for the best type of crossover in fanfiction in your opinion (and that can be in execution, premise, whatever)?

 

With a crossover, the trickest part is probably balancing it out and making it approachable. A crossover should be approachable for people who don't know about what you're crossing over with; otherwise you end up with a story that only appeals to people who are fans of everything you're crossing over with. I like to think I did a good job with that in My Little Denarians since so many people told me they'd never read The Dresden Files/watches MLP before reading my story, and the story convinced them to try out canon. Fittingly, I was actually introduced to the Dresden Files by a Dresden Files/Harry Potter crossover.

 

The best types of crossovers are ones that blend the two universes together reasonably well so that they compliment each other. If you're gonna use material from two fandoms, make sure it all works together instead of conflicting with itself.

[Ponibius 57]

Writer- Seeking-Advice: What's the difference between showing and telling? Are there times when telling is helpful instead of hurtful. If so, when?

 

If you put that question into Google, you will get a lot more material and probably better advice than I can give quickly here. In brief, the difference is that showing is more implying things to the reader, while telling is straight up telling someone what something is. There is a big difference between writing something like "Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof onto the old photo of her parents, tears welling up in her eyes" and writing "Rainbow Dash was angry at her parents."

 

The main times you can get away with telling it when you want to quickly get through details that readers already know. Like there isn't so much point in having a PoV character retelling what happened in the previous scene in great detail if it doesn't add to the story. 

[Trinary 18]

If you wanted to highlight other MLP fanfiction authors who should get more attention who would you recommend?

 

(And no, that isn't a request for shameless self promotion. Although if you -really- wanted to....)

[Randimaxis 8,652]

Uhm, hiya... again... again...

 

I was kinda wondering about something UNwriting related... if I may?

 

What is your preferred genre/style of music?  

 

(And don't give us that 'oh I like a bit of everything' jive; that's a cop-out.)  

[Ponibius 57]

If one of your fics could be a published book that was sold in bookstores, and no one thought it was weird that a fanfiction was published, which fic would it be?

 

I would say Midnight's Shadow. It's the most original of my stories, and is well liked by those that read it. That and I really enjoyed writing it.

En versus em, space versus unspaced; what is your preferred implementation of the dash?

 

I generally use the em dash and no spaces.

[Chengar Qordath 67]

*deep breathing* Winningverse Q&A ohmygosh.

 

Welp, I'm late to the show as usual, so a lot of my questions have been answered. Bleh. Let me see if I can come up with anything on the spot...

 

* What is it like to be such recognized authors in the fandom? Do you get a lot of fan mail, requests for assistance, etc. or is it pretty quiet overall?

 

* How long do you sit on an idea before actually writing anything for it? Is it a relatively instantaneous process, or do you (like me) mull the idea over for a few days/weeks to get it "just right?"

 

* What are your favorite authors outside of the fandom (i.e. Tolkein, Lovecraft, Adams, etc)?

 

I get a fair amount of mail. Usually a couple pieces a day. It can range from fanmail to people wanting me to write stories for them to a few things I forwarded to the FimFic mods.

 

Generally, I'll take a few days after getting an idea to mull it over, hammer down the details, and bounce it off a couple people to see if they can add anything to it. Though sometimes I do just immediately start cranking out words within minutes of getting the idea.

 

As already mentioned, Jim Butcher is on my favorite authors list. I'd also mention RA Salvatore, Dan Abnett, and George RR Martin.

Uhm, hiya... again... again...

 

I was kinda wondering about something UNwriting related... if I may?

 

What is your preferred genre/style of music?  

 

(And don't give us that 'oh I like a bit of everything' jive; that's a cop-out.)  

 

Classical and classic rock. Mixing Aerosmith and opera on the same playlist makes for a fun experience.

[-Octavia- 1,176]

Do you often find yourselves living within the minds of your characters as you work with them?

[Comma-Kazie 58]

Seeing as I write a crossover, a very extensive and lengthy one, I'm curious, if any of you read them, what you believe the biggest problem with crossovers, either on Fimfiction or in fanfiction in general, is?  What also makes for the best type of crossover in fanfiction in your opinion (and that can be in execution, premise, whatever)?

 

The biggest issue with crossover stories is the same with any fan fiction: when an author doesn't fully understand or develop the universe they're writing in. A good grasp on the universe you're writing in is important for any fanfiction, and doubly so when there's more than one involved.

 

Insofar as what makes for the best kind of crossover, I think the best ones are the ones that take two preexisting universes and uses the characters and rules in each to do something new, rather than just having the characters meet up and have the meeting be the only experience. (Not that that can't be done well, mind--Forever! is a good example of just that.) Loyal2Luna is an absolute master of this.

[Ponibius 57]

What is your favorite fanfic? And what is your favorite fic written by your co-panelists? (i.e. Chen what is your favorite story by Comma and Poni, Comma what is your favorite Chen and Poni fics, etc.)

 

I would say that my all time favorite would be This Platinum Crown. It has a ton in it, and is a wonderfully written. Great antagonists, politics, humor, intrigue, very good OCs, mystery, and amazing characterization. Nothing not to like in my opinion.

 

For my co-panelists: I would go with The Lunar Rebellion by Chengar Qordath, and From the Mouths of Fillies by Comma-Kazie. Not easy picks though.

[Randimaxis 8,652]

 

 

Classical and classic rock. Mixing Aerosmith and opera on the same playlist makes for a fun experience.

 

Aerosmith and opera.  Your coolness factor has officially gone up by 20%.