Writeoff; bookshelves · 7:57am Oct 10th, 2014
The October writeoff approaches! 400-750 words, prompt voting happening now, the 24-hour writing period starts Saturday midday for us American folk. Rev up those muses!
Unrelatedly, I've seen people grousing about getting spammed with updates as everyone adds everything to the new custom bookshelves. But me, I'm enjoying seeing the flailing as people struggle to categorize my stories:
None of those are wrong, strictly speaking, and there's a reason it's the most-read/most-upvoted thing I've written; but if you go into Social Lubricant[1] expecting a cute, amusing, sexy story, you're going to leave with a head full of wat.
(… okay, well, you'll leave with a head full of wat no matter which expectations you arrive with, but if you walk in thinking "Horizon wrote it, so all I know is that A) something is wrong with his brain and B) it's entertaining to watch," at least you won't be disappointed.)
--
[1] This is something of an experiment. We're not supposed to include NSFW links in blog posts, but this doesn't go to the story itself, just a FIMFiction search that identifies the story uniquely but has no NSFW content unless you're logged in with View Mature turned on. If a mod tells me it's stepping over the line, I'm happy to remove it.
edit: "No Regrets" was tagged by accident, and I removed the tag. Augh. If this is in your feed and you have no idea why, my apologies.
I like these bookshelf notifications. For instance, it lets people know I've reviewed their story with minimal effort on my part! :3
So technically speaking, it should be in a "Wat?" bookshelf?
I really need to do more with my bookshelves. All I've really added so far are a folder for fanfics I need to reread because I lost track of updates and a Scootaloo folder. Not like SweetAI Belle, who, according to her blog, now has an "Incoming" bookshelf and several different categories of fanfic, the biggest being "Stories 'bout Me", but no favorites folder...
--arcum42
that's nothing.
I wrote a story that made it into "Unread Clops" and "WTF" at the same time.
But yeah. I'm enjoying seeing people put my stories into their bookshelves. It's rather...amusing, to say the least.
2522783
I noticed that! I'd already read the review, because like all individuals of good taste I read every Seattle's Angels post, but it's a good use of the system.
2522787
Technically speaking, _I_ should be in a "Wat?" folder. Or one should be set aside for me.
I think that Princess Luna Picks Up Hitchhikers is about the least wattish thing I've written, and even that scores about 0.3 horizons. We get to Fugue State (musical numbers are a literal thing) and 18th Brewmare (Blueblood stands up for male suffrage because he wants to be able to order women to have sex with him), straightforward stories with insane premises, and we're probably getting up to around 1.0 horizons. Hard Reset 2 (multiple intersecting time loops with a narrator who doesn't remember them all) spikes the scale at like 11 horizons, but that's an outlier on any measurement scale you can find. Social Lubricant? Probably about 6 horizons. It's a watwreck. You can't look awat.
… and those are my two most popular stories by view/upvote count. It's like you guys want me to write this stuff.
2522793
I have my share of 'wat?''s in my stories, too, really, and I expect the Bloom Country reference in the latest chapter of CZ is one of them.
One thing I did notice, looking at the new blog page. Where does it say that you can't post NSFW content?
--arcum42
2522793
I actually love seeing what folders my stuff is getting added to. Some of the categories are very flattering.
Then there's the "Kickass Mane 6" folder that The Stars Ascendant got added to.
2522783
EDIT: I found it again, and realized I commented on it ages ago.
2522803
A few months back the site mods cracked down on NSFW content in blogs and groups as part of a dust-up with their ad provider. AFAIK the rules they put in place then never got rescinded. The site FAQ still says no NSFW in blog posts; I vaguely remember one of the mods saying links to NSFW stories posted on FIMFiction were okay in blog posts, but unless I can source that I'm playing it safe.
2522826
Yeah, I just remember there being a notice on the posting page for blogs, and it looks like they removed it. I wonder why?
--arcum42
2522832
It may have been one of the many things that accidentally got misplaced during the update.
Personally, I'd archive Social Lubricant under "Drunk Fics".
The whole concept:
Of these bookshelves continues to mystify me. The way I still can't come up with any reason I would ever use them is starting to make me think that I'm not a terribly organized person...
Mike
I wanna find the time to do a bunch of organizing. Thank you based Knighty!
I'll be sure to include a wattish folder just for you, Horizon.
2522793 the thing is, most people (like myself) take "wat" premises and write crack fics around them. You can actually produce quality literature.
And I am so hyped for the write off you don't even know.
I vaguely recall hearing the same thing somewhere.
Just for you, then, I'll have to start a bookshelf titled "Good Crackfic".
Oh, I'm going to have to look at that site search.
Is Social Lubricant something I'm going to want to read? I have a personal "no clop" rule, but that doesn't mean I won't read stuff with both [mature] and [sex], it just means I have to be really
picky about what I do read.
2523288
I was just thinking about how I'd try and explain the use for them, and now I've had a "oh my gawd" moment:
The bookshelves are not an organizational tool, per se. They're a tagging tool. You use them to put a bunch of stories together by some common thread, whatever that thread may be.
I'm still not sure what I'm doing with bookshelves either. I know I have reason to use them. I'm just not totally sure what it is, yet.
2522793
I'm treating this as a canonical unit now.