Friday, December 2, 2011

Butterscotch Sundae's The Party Hasn't Ended

If you like good PinkieDash shipping story, look no further! This epic tale brings us along into their dreams and nightmares, as they come closer than they ever expected to be.

[Adventure][Shipping][Tragedy] • 54,300 words
Pinkie Pie's unrequited love for Rainbow Dash reaches a crisis point as she fears the party in her heart has at long last come to an end.

Hit the break for an interview with Butters herself and links to The Party Never Ended on your favorite pony sites, and check out the Downloads page to grab a copy in your preferred eBook format!

If you're interested in more Butterscotchy goodness and the idea of a mature discussion about sexuality and clopfiction doesn't upset you, check out another interview she did with Doctor Dapples, one of our previous Vault authors. (Fun fact: the good Doctor's interviews with Butterscotch and Coffeebean were part of the inspiration behind including author interviews here at the Vault!)


Where do you live?

Sydney, Australia.

What kind of work do you do? (i.e. are you a student, do you have a career/day job, etc)

I’m an English teacher at a high school.

How did you discover My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? When did you realize you were a fan of the show?

I saw it on 4chan’s comics board /co/. I kept seeing all this fanart of lesbian ponies and I was just taken aback by the sheer cuteness of it all and I had to watch the show that had inspired the images!

Do you have a favorite episode? [Editor’s note: at the time of this interview, the most recent aired episode was May The Best Pet Win.]

Look Before you Sleep - the best character-driven episode in the series so far, in my opinion. Twi became adorkable and not just a grouch, and the Rarity and Applejack ship set sail!

Who is your favorite character based purely on the canon of the show itself? Would your answer change if you considered the fandom in its entirety (i.e. art, fanfiction, memes, etc)?

Pinkie Pie. I don’t think the answer would change if I considered the fandom as a whole (the only fandom I care about is the stuff that is true to the canon characters anyway) - although I do love Derpy (our very own wall-eyed angel!)

How did you come up with your handle/penname?

It literally came to me out of the blue. I’d decided I wanted to write some FiM fanfiction, and I thought to myself - what’s an adorable name that would be appropriate for the writer of cute and sugary stories starring colourful, magical ponies? “Butterscotch Sundae” was literally the first thing that popped into my head, and I went with it.

Have you written in other capacities (other fandoms, professionally, etc)? When did you first start writing?

I’ve dabbled in writing a few times in my life, some serious stuff and also fanfiction (I used to write Lucky Star fanfiction of all things!), but this is the first time I’ve had the discipline to actually write something worthy of recognition within a fandom.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

Gardening too little. Drinking too much.

Who is your favorite author (published or fanfiction)? Do you have a favorite story or novel?

My favourite author for plot and general mind-fuckery is Philip K Dick. For the quality of prose, either Nabakov or Steinbeck. My favourite novel changes all the time, but at the moment it’s probably Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

Stephen King believes that every author has an "ideal reader" - the one person who they write for, the one person whose reactions they care about. Do you have one, and if so, who is it?

I have a lot of respect for Stephen King - he’s the one writer who seems to be able to talk about writing with a complete lack of pretentiousness. An ideal reader? I’d have to say it’s a burnt out individual like myself who longs for romance, cuteness and magic in their real life, and for whom the adorable adventures of candy-coloured equines offers them the perfect escape from the “bluh”ness of our own world.

Do you have any tips for aspiring writers, or writers who are struggling with their own stories?

This is an extremely annoying piece of advice that all aspiring and struggling writers get, and I used to hate getting it, but the truth of it cannot be avoided - WRITE. You must write as much as you can, every day, to get yourself into the discipline of producing words. Never, ever be one of those individuals who calls themselves a “writer” and who constantly talks about writing but never does any.

What is your typical writing process? (Do you work through multiple drafts, do you have any prereaders/editors, etc?)

I used to write a handwritten copy, but now I type the first draft straight into a digital document. I think the writing you produce is different when you do it this way, but I haven’t decided how it’s different exactly and whether it produces material that’s better or worse than handwriting. All I know is that it saves an awful lot of typing stuff up, which I hate!

What inspired you to write The Party Hasn’t Ended?

A friend of mine (OK, he’s called Auraion on DA and CANDYBAG on 4chan’s /co/ *shudder*) asked me to write a Pinkie-Dash shipping story.

Did you run into any tough spots or challenges when writing The Party Hasn’t Ended?

Party was originally intended to be a one-shot, ending with Pinkie destroying her secret monthly party for Dash and Dash never learning that she was in love with her. But then I decided that I didn’t want to end it on such a sad note, and wrote another part - and then another - and another, until ended up as more a novel than a fanfic! So I guess the challenge was actually getting the plot to a place where Dash and Pinkie being together made sense, and for that to happen it turns out a lot of drama and adventure had to happen!

When you set out to write The Party Hasn’t Ended, did you have any specific messages or themes in mind?

There is no place so dark that the power of love cannot illuminate the way out.

Where can readers drop you a line?

You can email me on butterscotchsundae.ponipower@gmail.com, or come and see me at buttersc0tchsundae.deviantart.com! I actually reply to people’s comment or questions (although it can take me a while sometimes, for which I apologise in advance...)

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I hope you enjoy the story!

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