Interview! Dramatic Reading! Exclamation Points! · 6:16pm Oct 26th, 2014
Hey folks,
I was going to wait til I had a new chapter ready to post, but this weekend two community members finished up some projects that I was fortunate enough to help with, and I wanted to pitch their great work.
FIMFiction Interviews: Cold in Gardez
Nekonyancer has done interviews with several other authors on this site, including Eakin, Pascoite and Horizon, so I was pretty thrilled when he asked me -- waaay back before I deployed -- if I would like a turn. Obviously it had to wait until I returned from Afghanistan, but we managed to reconnect and the result was this interview. Here's a table of contents:
1:00 - What kind of stuff did you write before you joined the fandom?
2:05 - What particular works opened your eyes to what the fandom is capable of?
4:07 - How do you go about developing your writing skill?
5:37 - What books in particular would you recommend for learning how to write better?
6:47 - How does experimentation play into improving your writing skill?
8:47 - Which of your old stories are you especially proud of?
9:55 - Don't you like your comedies?
10:49 - How do you nail those character personalities so well?
13:17 - Do you have an OC?
13:40 - Where'd you get the ideas for your worldbuilding regarding the pegasi?
17:14 - Where do you get your inspiration in general?
18:27 - Sample of The Glass Blower original writing style
19:35 - What did your reviewers say about that attempt at Victorian, purple writing?
21:17 - In Victorian literature, characters talk too poetically. Their dialogue never feels real. Do you see that as a flaw in the style?
22:29 - Was "The First Light of Dawn" your first time ever writing a long story?
23:10 - How did you find the experience of writing a long story for the first time?
24:02 - What kind of problems did you face that you don't have to deal with when writing short stories?
25:47 - Seems like the writing for "The Wind Thief" went smoothly.
27:02 - Did everything become easier as you wrote your second novel?
27:31 - It's been two years since you posted the first chapter of Salvation, and it's still not done...
29:31 - When you started your project of expanding Salvation, how long did you see it becoming?
30:10 - On using editors to chop your writing down to size.
32:11 - Was Salvation your first time writing something so structurally loose?
34:05 - Was it difficult to write something that focused so heavily on characters instead of action?
35:00 - Will we be seeing more stuff in the vein of Salvation?
35:32 - Will we ever get the sequel to "The First Light of Dawn"?
36:23 - What about the sequel to "The Wind Thief"?
37:32 - Is there anything you want to say to your fans?
Give it a listen!
Second, one of the fandom's best voice actors, Illya Leonov, saw that I updated Lost Cities with two new chapters, and he went ahead and updated his dramatic readings to include them. I'm proud to present them here:
Lost Cities: The Ice and What it Holds
Lost Cities: The Driftwood Emperor
So, work was a bit of a pain this week. Fortunately that's over with, and I get get back to my most enjoyable pastime -- writing! As noted earlier, I'm working on finishing Forever Summer, the next chapter of Salvation, and a new adventure story. And, yes, The Wind Thief sequel is in there somewhere too.
Great interview, really liked some of the points you made.
On Writing has been on my Read Later list for a couple of years now. Guess it's time to go read that...
I too made the mistake of attempting multiple stories simultaneously. I had so many ideas in my head that I felt my skull would buckle from the pressure. The end result was story updates on a turn-based system... thus, too much work spread too thin. Add in real life, and it is a miracle I got anything done at all.
Seriously, fuck ideas. Evil, evil things.
You just sound like a dude. :O It's kinda weird.
2557275
I'll use Fluttershy's voice next time.
Oooh yesss! I'm excited for the other stuff but I was just thinking about how The First Light of Dawn seems to come from an unexplored corner of your talents (though I haven't read The Wind Thief or your most recent few stories, so maybe you actually do that sort of thing all the time).
I popped a quick submission on Reddit's r/mylittlefanfic mentioning this interview. Nekonyancer needs more views
I know this is a bit late, but you know, work and all:
It's a real pleasure to listen to your interviews; it's an experience that always ends up helping me connect better as a (very amateur) writer to the words and ideas in my head, hearing you speak with such clarity and focus about your own ideas and writing.
I started reading Stephen King's "On Writing" a few nights ago, after reading a few reviews (good, bad, and ugly). While I've skipped over some of the opening biographical pages, a lot of it so far is interesting (and very familiar) as well as compelling and instructive. I'm hopeful that will continue.
Finally, I'll just say thanks; for your stories, your blogs, your interviews. It's always amazing to me that writers such as yourself are here in this surprising and unexpected place, freely sharing your skills and thoughts on writing well. I know that I may, in the end, annoy a lot of you folks who may consider yourselves peers, but I do appreciate what you all do for us.