TheDagwoodBrony In reply to GJ301 [2016-04-06 18:59:20 +0000 UTC]

Seems I've returned too late to help with the voting.  Sorry about that.  I tend to take long breaks from deviantart to focus on my college courses.  Try to contact me again in the future about things like this, though.  If I receive it, I'll be sure to help how I can.

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GJ301 In reply to TheDagwoodBrony [2016-04-06 19:45:41 +0000 UTC]

Oh that's fine. Plenty of other deviants were late to the voting as well. Thanks for offering to help in the future. If you want, you can check out who won for each category:

gj301.deviantart.com/gallery/5…

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TheDagwoodBrony In reply to FlyingBrickAnimation [2015-11-06 02:21:02 +0000 UTC]

I know! It's crazy.  I must be the least present deviant on deviantart.  I just drop out for months on end and come back with a random post.  I might keep these drawings up, though.  They're kinda fun.  How are you?

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FlyingBrickAnimation In reply to TheDagwoodBrony [2015-11-10 06:01:33 +0000 UTC]

I'm doing fine. Sorry for the late reply, though, my own life has been taking up some of my time.

Believe it or not, I actually wound up writing an Equestria Girls fic recently! How crazy is that?

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TheDagwoodBrony In reply to sevenofeleven [2015-11-06 02:28:54 +0000 UTC]

Things are going well.  Got a job, got a couple new things up on my deviantart page, still in culinary school, I'm saving up to get a PS4 for Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3, and that's just about it.

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sevenofeleven In reply to TheDagwoodBrony [2015-11-06 16:17:34 +0000 UTC]

That's good.

I would like to get more screenshots from Bloodbourne and Dark souls 3.
The environments seem so atmospheric.

Have you thought about writing a story using elements from the Dark souls games?
I am assuming you have played some of them.

Work is good, nothing like have some cash on hand.
I know this guy who bitches about work interfering with his writing time.
Nah, its better to work, being unemployed is more of a pain.

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TheDagwoodBrony In reply to sevenofeleven [2014-08-10 01:35:31 +0000 UTC]

Things are going well, though I don't check deviantart as much anymore and I haven't created any new content as of late.  I've been focusing more on brushing up on my algebra skills so I can test out of a math class I don't want, learning to drive for the second time, and I've been working independently on a new manuscript.  With college coming up for me in August and a girl I've wanted to date for three years finally moving to California I imagine there soon may not be much time for writing or drawing.  But how are you?

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sevenofeleven In reply to TheDagwoodBrony [2014-08-10 17:15:34 +0000 UTC]

I wonder how much algebra I remember?
*cringes*
I wish you well on the algebra and collage.
---------------------------------------------
If you love to write/draw, you will find the time.
------------------------------------------------------------

I did grand jury duty which is four weeks, its like a job except you don't know when your day ends.
Also you get your pay weeks later.
I don't complain about the money since I hear about other places that pay way less.

The jurors I worked with were alright folks.
On the last day, one of the jurors bought a cake while other jurors bought other items.
We ate well that day.

The difference between grand jury duty and regular jury duty is that grand jury duty just votes on evidence.
A lot of it is testimony by witnesses and police and rarely the defendant.

I do have to say some of the stuff was sad and somewhat scary.
A lot of the neighborhoods that were mentioned I knew and or were not too far away from the courthouse.

Had security guards check my bag two times a day, (morning and lunch) whee.

The work has its moments, mostly boring with a few interesting bits.
The rhythm here is different, one day we did not get any work until around 2: 45
We left at 7: 45, that sucked. I had time to read and write stuff. 
Its kinda random because of the ADA's workflow.

Why would I do it?
I was curious but mostly I knew if I postponed, it would probably be worse.
The weather was pretty good as far as rain goes.
If I postponed, the weather would be worse.
Breezes seem to come up the block, which was fine in the summer but in the winter, it would suck.
One block east, the neighborhood changes for the worst, so I was happy to be there when its sunlit.
If you head west, you can see Yankee Stadium.

Am thinking about doing a MLP fanfiction on my jury duty experiences.
The story would have a lot of comedic elements. 
Applejack goes to Grand Jury Duty.

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TheDagwoodBrony In reply to sevenofeleven [2014-08-11 05:52:37 +0000 UTC]

If you do write a story like that, I'd go over it for you.  Being only eighteen and only recently having registered to vote, I don't have any experience with jury duty.  I just know that one day I'll have to serve jury duty, and most people don't enjoy it.  I know how the judicial system works and how court cases work, but I can't really relate.  I suppose it will be the responsibility of your story to make me relate.

I know I enjoy writing to some extent, but I'm not so sure I love it anymore.  It's like my drawing ability.  I can draw very well when I really want to, but I prefer doing doodles than work people can appreciate and admire.  Making detailed, well shaded drawings that captivate those who look upon it is hell.  I don't have the patience nor the discipline to force myself to work myself ragged for something as relatively unimportant as a drawing people will look at and say, "Wow.  This is really good." before they move on to something else.  What motivates me to write, however, is a promise I made to myself a long time ago to become an author, and if I'm a good writer then why not write a book?  But the process in writing my newest manuscript is, just as it would have to be, absurd.  Purely to help myself write more and write with better quality while keeping myself from hating the process.

Normally when I write nowadays I find myself hitting the backspace key just as many times as I hit all the other keys.  I find I write better when my senses and thoughts are dulled.  Otherwise I have a tendency to overthink things instead of simply writing what feels right.  I'm a lot more creative when it's hard for me to concentrate, too.  Leaves my thoughts free to wander and find better ideas.  I can do this in two different ways.  Either I stay up a few nights in a row to dull my sense and sanity, which I don't recommend.  My preferred method is writing immediately after taking my antidepressants.  It makes things a bit hazy, but when I read over what I wrote the next day the quality is surprisingly better and there's a lot more content than I would have written otherwise.  And if it weren't working I wouldn't be seven chapters in now.  I doubt I'll be backing out of finishing it, like I have repeatedly done with my fanfictions, which, if completed, would be just as long as a book each.  I'd rather write something that a wider variety of people can willingly read and enjoy than a very long fanfiction series that few if any people would read in its entirety.  I've been looking to get out of writing fan fiction for a long time anyway.  I'll still probably post things now and then, one shots, drawings, but nothing very serious.  For that, I'm focusing on my manuscript.

In other news, at the beginning of summer I signed myself up for a comedy improv class.  It's really fun.  If I could do it professionally and make a steady wage that would allow me to live comfortably, I would.  I've been told by the teacher and the other students that I'm a good actor even with my limited experience, but I doubt I could make a viable career with it.  For now I'll stick with cooking and start experimenting with alternate career paths after I'm living comfortably.  But above all else I want to make myself known as a writer, and I'm finishing this book to do that.  If enough people read it and enjoy it, I'll write another.  I'm on the lookout for adult creative writing classes, but as of yet I've found none.  In my comedy improv class there's a woman who does comedy improv professionally, and she's quoted several comedians who agree that re-learning the basics can really help with a mental block and improve the quality of one's work.  A creative writing class couldn't hurt my ability to write, and I may find better methods of writing that way.

I find myself playing a lot of Dark Souls 2 in my free time when I'm not writing or studying.  It has become my favorite game, and since it came out I haven't stopped playing.  I won't write a wall of text explaining why I think the game is good or anything like that, I'll just say I enjoy it more than most anything else.  I won't let it get in the way of my schooling or writing, however.  If I have to sacrifice my Dark Souls time for either, I will.  But until then I see myself playing this for quite some time in the future.  And when I get sick of it, I'll play the original.  I never beat the original, but I've beaten Dark Souls 2 so many times now that I feel compelled to take it on again.

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sevenofeleven In reply to TheDagwoodBrony [2014-08-12 01:55:02 +0000 UTC]

"If you do write a story like that, I'd go over it for you.  Being only eighteen and only recently having registered to vote, I don't have any experience with jury duty.  I just know that one day I'll have to serve jury duty, and most people don't enjoy it.  I know how the judicial system works and how court cases work, but I can't really relate.  I suppose it will be the responsibility of your story to make me relate."

Thanks for the offer. I have to finish some other stories first.
I might come back and write that story.

Regular jury duty is not too bad unless you get on a case.

Grand jury is four weeks. One interesting thing about Grand jury duty, is that you pick which panel you want.
I was lucky to get A which started Monday. Also its only four days a week, you have one day off.

I heard of something called the S Panel and that is months but its for volunteers.

To me, it just boiled down to if the testimony made sense and was relevant to the case.
If the witness said so and so walked up to him, pulled out a gun and demanded money, the grand jury would have to vote on the robbery charge(s).

Grand jury members can ask the ADA to relay questions to the witness. Grand jury members can't talk to the witness directly unless they say "Speak louder."

My challenge is to translate this to pony stuff and make it entertaining.

---------------------------------------------------
"I know I enjoy writing to some extent, but I'm not so sure I love it anymore.  It's like my drawing ability.  I can draw very well when I really want to, but I prefer doing doodles than work people can appreciate and admire.  Making detailed, well shaded drawings that captivate those who look upon it is hell.  I don't have the patience nor the discipline to force myself to work myself ragged for something as relatively unimportant as a drawing people will look at and say, "Wow.  This is really good." before they move on to something else.  What motivates me to write, however, is a promise I made to myself a long time ago to become an author, and if I'm a good writer then why not write a book?  But the process in writing my newest manuscript is, just as it would have to be, absurd.  Purely to help myself write more and write with better quality while keeping myself from hating the process."

I don't have too much of a problem writing. If I hit a block, I wait for the next day. Somehow the block goes away and I keep banging away. When I was doing grand jury duty, I did some writing on a pad and then typed it in later. If I am to improve, I have to keep writing, bad or less bad.

Maybe you need to hang out with other writers?

I have been Skyping with some guy I met on Fimfiction. He has these interesting ideas and stories but he does not finish them. I basically keep him on target while he helps me with my stuff.

There are also sites for writers too.

I have a subscription to Writer's Digest and one issue had a list of online sites for writers to submit stories to. I sent someone a list of the sites, I can dig it up for you.


Have you thought about self publishing your stuff?
I know this guy who is working his way toward that goal.
I have been watching his progress.
If you want, I can get you a link to his page.

I think you need to post your work to more sites on DA.
You would get more feedback that way.
I post to at least 19+ mlp sites.
I also post to 19+ writing sites too but some of those are horror based.

Fanfiction is a drug to me. When I post a chapter and I get 10 or more views on the first hour, that is great.
Unlike original stuff, I have more of an audience there.

----------------------------------
I wish you well with the comedy improv class. That sounds like fun to watch.

----------------------------------------
"I find myself playing a lot of Dark Souls 2 in my free time when I'm not writing or studying.  It has become my favorite game, and since it came out I haven't stopped playing.  I won't write a wall of text explaining why I think the game is good or anything like that, I'll just say I enjoy it more than most anything else.  I won't let it get in the way of my schooling or writing, however.  If I have to sacrifice my Dark Souls time for either, I will.  But until then I see myself playing this for quite some time in the future.  And when I get sick of it, I'll play the original.  I never beat the original, but I've beaten Dark Souls 2 so many times now that I feel compelled to take it on again."

You should do a review of Dark souls 2 if you want.
I have done game reviews.
You could see them in my journals.

I should do a review of Diablo 3, it has gone through some strange changes.

I have 2 drugs of choice:
Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe.
Bioshock infinite.

Open transport Tycoon deluxe is a free open source version of a game called Transport Tycoon. I have a version called Locomotion. In the game, the player runs a company that gets paid by moving goods and people from one place to another. When you move coal from the coal mine to the steel mill or Power Station, you get money. It gets more complex than that.

Every vehicle has a cost which is charged against it every second. Even though long trips may get you better profits, if the trip is too long the cost will kill any profit. This applies more to trains, it takes longer to load them and unload. Buses load and unload faster so you don't have to worry.

Vehicles get old and have to be replaced. Open TTD has a nice feature called "Clone". You can select an old bus and clone a new one from it. The clone knows the route so you do not have to tell it.

Buses are cheap and you can make a lot of money from a bus network. Trains are more expensive to set up but a well tweaked train can make way more money.

As the years pass, new vehicles become available, they are more expensive but they carry more.
Trains have more options from diesel, electric, steam.
You can make airports and buy planes but that is very expensive.
Also you can get AIs and compete against other companies.

I have spent a lot of hours playing this game. I no longer play it during the week because I can't start playing at 10pm and finish at 1 am.

------------------------------------
Bioshock infinite is a pure drug for me.
Saturday, I started around 10 and did not finish until 4am.
I can't tell you much because I do not want to spoil it for you.

The protagonist Booker De Witt owes folks and must
fetch a woman from a city in the clouds to remove his debt.

Its a FPS but the places you will go...

I am not finished so I can't do a review.
Gotta take it slow and savor this game.

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TheDagwoodBrony In reply to sevenofeleven [2014-08-13 02:37:11 +0000 UTC]

That's probably going to be the most difficult part about making a fan fiction based on your experiences in a Grand Jury.  Making it funny or entertaining in other ways, and making it mlp based.

I do need to hang out with other writers.  I've never had serious writers for friends anywhere other than digital life.  My mother writes, but I'm not about to bounce my writing off of hers.  Truth be told I'm kind of in her shadow.  She's April L. Hamilton, author of the Indie Author Guide.  I do intend to self publish.  It would be almost moronic to not use the fact that my mom is a big name in self-publishing and would almost be an insult to her if I didn't.  I would certainly appreciate a list of well known websites to post my stories, so do dig it up if you can.

Fan fiction can be easier and more fun to write, but for now I'm strictly working with original fiction.  It isn't as easy as working with characters and settings people already know, but it's what authors have been doing for ages.  Besides, I'll never become a very well known author if I write primarily fan fiction.  Every now and then I'll go back to mlp, but I'm having a hard enough time transitioning to writing completely fictional work as it is without reverting back to mlp now.

I might do a Dark Souls 2 review, but I can't imagine anyone who's familiar with my work that would want to read it in its entirety.  Speaking of Dark Souls, it seems that Dark Souls time has been running up the electric bill quite a bit, so I'll be limiting my gaming time further.  More time for reading and writing, I suppose.  It's been too long since I've read a good book.  Perhaps I'll do that.

I might look into Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe.  Perhaps when I'm done with the Dark Souls franchise.  And I haven't had the pleasure of playing Bioshock Infinite, nor the original Bioshock for that matter.  I've been meaning to play it, though.  I've refused to watch videos relating to the game to keep me from spoiling the game for myself.  When I do play it I want the experience to be something completely new.  A good introduction and tutorial is part of how I judge a game's worth.

And I do wish you luck with your stories.  I should know writing isn't always easy and it's harder getting a viewership when your audience has to read a few paragraphs to judge whether or not they'll keep reading.  Some don't have the patience for it these days when there's youtube, tumblr, imgr, instagram, reddit, twitter, facebook, and other such sites in addition to the visual art of deviantart overshadowing the writing.

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sevenofeleven In reply to TheDagwoodBrony [2014-08-15 16:13:09 +0000 UTC]

"That's probably going to be the most difficult part about making a fan fiction based on your experiences in a Grand Jury.  Making it funny or entertaining in other ways, and making it mlp based."

I think I can do it. If it blows up who cares? No one gets anywhere in life without some failures somewhere.
I already have an idea how it starts.

All I have to do is focus on the ponies/people and their emotions. That is what will keep the readers.

This is just a basic outline for the beginning. I can probably outline the story for writing later. The outline would provide a nice skeleton to work off of. I hope it is not too long because I probably have enough for one chapter.

Big mac brings in the mail.
Applejack hoofs through it and sees the pink and white jury duty notice.
Applejack curses.
Grannie smith asks why she is making a fuss.

Applejack replies she has jury duty.
Grannie smith looks at the notice and says, its not jury duty, its grand jury duty.
Applejack reads the notice and complains about doing four weeks.
She worries about the chores on the farm but grannie smith says big mac can do them and its
also the slow time.

Applebloom comes down the stairs with a loaded crossbow in her mouth and tries to sneak past them.
Applejack stops her and asks why does she have a crossbow in her mouth.
Applebloom tries to answer and the bow fires.
A pony in the distance yelps in pain.
Applejack facehoofs.

Grannie smith tells Applebloom to have a good time and Applebloom runs off.
Grannie smith tells big mac about all of the nice ponies she met while on grand jury duty.
Applejack asks if she can ignore the summons but grannie smith tells her about a donkey that threw away his summons for years. He ended up being dragged away by guards.

Applejack sadly agrees to go to grand jury duty until grannie smith says that Applejack will get paid for doing four weeks.
Applejack is less sad."Yeeehaaw! I will get some bucks for my time!"

--------------------------------------------
I do need to hang out with other writers.  I've never had serious writers for friends anywhere other than digital life.  My mother writes, but I'm not about to bounce my writing off of hers.  Truth be told I'm kind of in her shadow.  She's April L. Hamilton, author of the Indie Author Guide.  I do intend to self publish.  It would be almost moronic to not use the fact that my mom is a big name in self-publishing and would almost be an insult to her if I didn't.  I would certainly appreciate a list of well known websites to post my stories, so do dig it up if you can.

Does your mother know what you are doing?
I am not sure if these are well known but I will dig up the list.

------------------------------------------------
"Fan fiction can be easier and more fun to write, but for now I'm strictly working with original fiction.  It isn't as easy as working with characters and settings people already know, but it's what authors have been doing for ages.  Besides, I'll never become a very well known author if I write primarily fan fiction.  Every now and then I'll go back to mlp, but I'm having a hard enough time transitioning to writing completely fictional work as it is without reverting back to mlp now."

To me writing fan fiction is practice. I have no problems writing fiction without ponies.
When I was writing fanfiction, it was not even in Equestria. You saw that in the trainwreck Oonte story and in Herd in hiding. Shyrim is based in Skyrim and it seems to be doing fine compared to my other stories.

I write horror because I like reading and writing it.
Wrote a story about a cursed cell phone (Burner Phone)

Keep pushing away from writing ponies.
There are so many cool ideas to play with out there.

One of the cool things about writer's digest magazine, is that they have prompts.
Every issue they put out an idea and invite writers to put their own spin on it.
The best story is posted the next month.

--------------------------------------------------------
I found this cool idea at depression group.
I was talking to someone about the Lucy movie, the one where this woman gets a drug and she starts using more of her brain. One of the people in group was thinking that I was talking about I love Lucy. The combo of the two ideas made everyone laugh.

I don't know if you have watched any episodes of I love Lucy. You might be able to find some on youtube.
The gist is that you have a zany char (lucy) paired with a straight char named Ricky, her husband. Lucy and her homie Ethel get involved in all sorts of antics.

I love lucy 100%
Lucy and Ethel work in a research lab and lucy somehow gets injected with an experimental drug and goes through changes. Imagine how that works with the show.
This would definitely be a silly comedy story.

---------------------------------------
RT2
My father has been watching the adventures of Rin Tin Tin. The show is a Western about some kid in an calvary unit serving in a fort. 

Imagine taking the story and translating it to a squad of marines and soldiers in Afghanistan
or a squad of marines and soldiers in a futuristic post invasion Earth.

--------------------------------------------------
I might do a Dark Souls 2 review, but I can't imagine anyone who's familiar with my work that would want to read it in its entirety.  Speaking of Dark Souls, it seems that Dark Souls time has been running up the electric bill quite a bit, so I'll be limiting my gaming time further.  More time for reading and writing, I suppose.  It's been too long since I've read a good book.  Perhaps I'll do that.

Write the review if you want to. Its writing and people do make money writing reviews.
Its just more writing practice.

Skyrim review
sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/j…

Mass effect review- more comedy
sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/j…

Reading is good too.

-----------------------------------------
"I might look into Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe.  Perhaps when I'm done with the Dark Souls franchise.  And I haven't had the pleasure of playing Bioshock Infinite, nor the original Bioshock for that matter.  I've been meaning to play it, though.  I've refused to watch videos relating to the game to keep me from spoiling the game for myself.  When I do play it I want the experience to be something completely new.  A good introduction and tutorial is part of how I judge a game's worth."

If you can get bioshock, bioshock 2 and bioshock infinite.

If you can get system shock 2, that is the granddad of the later games.
I think you can get it from Gog (good old games) It should be pretty cheap now.

You might like Anteaus Rising.
Its a realtime strategy game with a twist. You are on or above the battlefield giving orders in the fight instead of watching safely. I used to play this game on XP then win 7 came along and I could not play it anymore.

Let me know if you have problems with Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe.

------------------------------------------------------------
"And I do wish you luck with your stories.  I should know writing isn't always easy and it's harder getting a viewership when your audience has to read a few paragraphs to judge whether or not they'll keep reading.  Some don't have the patience for it these days when there's youtube, tumblr, imgr, instagram, reddit, twitter, facebook, and other such sites in addition to the visual art of deviantart overshadowing the writing."

Thanks.

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