A Request for Compliments · 10:11am Feb 12th, 2015
Hello, dear reader. I would like to receive some praise for my writing. The more verbose, complimentary, and sincere, the better. Thank you very much in advance.
Why? Because I like praise. I'd like a page I can easily go to find a nice compilation of praise, and this is going to be it.
If you have constructive criticism or a balanced comment, please share, but do it in the comments section of the relevant story or post some kind of review blog page if you like. Don't worry about sending me a link. I self-google so often that I'm bound to find it. The same goes if you think I suck. I want to keep this post's commentary for praise. I will delete comments in this page that isn't praise or is some kind of mixture. It won't be because I'm a tyrant or an egomaniac who won't hear anything bad said about me, it will be because you don't know how to read.
No, I'm not going to bait you into praising me by telling you how my life sucks or how bad my day went. Life in general is going well for me, and my day went just fine.
No, I'm not about to quit writing or leave the fandom. I'm actually looking forward to Season 5 and I still have plenty of ideas.
No, I'm not holding the next chapter of Upheaval: Legacy hostage. It's almost ready, and it will come out when it is. I'm just having some difficulty getting enough time to write it out. It will be out soon.
No, you're not kissing my ass, sucking my dick, hugging my nuts, white-knighting, being a fanboy, being a mindless sheep, or whatever derogatory term the internet uses on anyone who has the nerve to like something.
No, this won't go to my head. I value criticism highly, and I'm always striving for improvement. I read and re-read the comments in my stories' comment section too. I just want a nice little page that's purely praise. Sometimes, I do feel a little discouraged about writing and need a little perking up. Sifting through the many and mixed contents of the story comments gets a bit tiring.
Again, thank you sincerely if you leave some praise. Even if you don't, thank you for being a reader.
mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw1021_Rainbow_Dash_says_youre_awesome.gif
Dammit...
Okay, gonna finish up those last few chapters of Reckoning that I put on hold for months now. Will give you your ass kissing (or kicking, depending on the impression they leave) once I'm done.
<chuckles>
Yes, I ignored your request to post in the relevant story(ies)... but that's mostly because I would, therefore, have to make your little red alert box show a remarkable number of extra comments...
So, how about this... I'll give something that's not just praise... I'll give you a short, but important, measure of the quality and value of your works...
I bought a new MP3 player for the soul purpose of having enough memory on it to hold the entirety of your stories (as read). It was the only thing on that player. I listened to it enough that the player has now died, probably because I was listening to it in the rain... over multiple months... while working... while cooking... while walking my dog... and while mowing the lawn. When that failed, I got out my old cd player... one that can play mp3s from cd rather than straight audio... and burned the entire set onto discs... and did the same. When that died, I pulled out an even older cd player and burned the set only normal cds (just so you know, I have a cd binder to hold them all at this point... only cds in there)... That cd player is still working (mostly because I learned my lesson with the rain).
Those discs are in my "Oh crap we're flooding again and I don't want to be without this" bucket.
Your stories are phenomenal.
Well done.
Well, you want praises? Sure.
Your Upheaval series is f**king awesome. A while ago, I had this anti-gore thing going on but Upheaval: Breaking Point did it. Stayed up all night to finish it and then staying up all night again to finish the sequel.
It was heartbreaking to finish reading the chapters of Upheaval: Legacy. Your story contains some of the richest and most fascinating settings and plot that a land of ponies and rainbows could offer while fitting in perfectly with the show even though it has an AU tag.
I guess the pile of shit that is life occasionally contains a few gold nuggets.
Thanks, man.
Breaking Point was the first grim dark story I ever read all the way through. I had no idea that war could be so... epic in a pony world!
Not only are you a good author with great stories, Breaking Point is the story that got me into reading MLP fanfiction in the first place. Literally, if it wasn't for you, I might not even be reading and posting here.
2790396 Right there with you, Thomp. I first got into Upheaval when I found out about dramatic readings (I had a boring job with long hours doing nothing so listening to chapters really helped pass the time. Forest Rain was amazing, I hope she continues the series.) Although a little dark for my tastes at times, Vis has made me truly ship an OC x mane six, and made me like not one but two red maned black coated alicorn OCs. That by itself is amazing enough, but to keep me engaged through over half a million words is something as well. Finally, I have a little featured box for my favorite adventure stories, Upheaval is the first slot.
At this point your stories are the only thing keeping me here.
I'm a big fan of your Upheaval stuff! That's some real dope stuff you write. And Black Rose is one of my favorite MLP-related OCs.
You are one of my favorite authors on this site, along with the likes of Jetfire, shortskirtsandexplosions, Cold in Gardez, Majin Syeekoh, etc. You guys are fantastic. Can't wait to see what you got coming up. I will wait for Upheaval: Legacy to finish so I can consume it all in one go. Keep it up! :)
Breaking Point does what is at least one of the best jobs in thrusting the Mane 6 into a more gritty combat setting and building them up to the kind of combat-ready heroes that an Epic Heroic tale needs them to be. Too many stories go the easy road, putting the Mane 6 above normal soldiers, even above elite soldiers, by dint of them being the main characters and having inborn advantages that put them as the apex of whatever they want to do.
But you spend all this time building them up and all this time tearing them down with the realities of war. And even then, even after giving many of them special weapons or abilities, without the elements they are still not quite as good as an elite soldier is, rather than surpassing all the other soldiers because the Mane 6 were simply destined to be the strongest warriors alive.
And this may seem like a small part in the grand scheme of the story, but it is typical of the sort of believability you put into the conflicts. The mixture of duty and resentment in the border ponies, the culture shock of the ponies going into it, the common ground that the brutal border ponies still manage to have with with the chosen ponies from the mainland.
You have turned the pastel ponies believably into pastel ponies that have to face brutal combat.
And, so help me, I am looking forward to see how it happens to Spike in his side tale. since the same thing is happening to him but with a culture that is even more brutal on the other side of the wall.
Your work is inspiring and exciting, and you have an ability for world building and crafting emotionally meaningful action scenarios that has few equals, in fimfiction or elsewhere. Upheaval is one of those series that can make me drop everything I am doing to go read it with each installment.
By the way, thanks to this blog post, I learned that you are publishing Upheaval: Legacy. Must have missed when it was published. I guess I know what I am doing today!
Hmm... well, I can only say what I've said since the beginning: the Upheaval series is one of those stories where the only thing I can think of is: "what is this ripping off? There's no way it can be this good without doing so..."
And I have yet to find something that I could point to and honestly say that you ripped it off. I hope that's praise enough for you.
...
Okay, serious response time:
EDIT: critique moved to comments section of "Upheaval: Reckoning"
Well to be completely honest you're one of my favorite authors. Somewhere in my top 5 with Leo Tolstoy, J.R.R. Tolkien, and a few others that are a bit more obscure (I've always found your writing style to be reminiscent of Tolkien). Your greatest strength is definitely your world building skills and how well you anchor your stories into a feasible reality by anchoring the more abstract ideas down with logical workings that fit well with the other explanations in your universe. Your characters are consistent and don't randomly break character for reasons that make little sense. Your prose is very well crafted and keeps the reader well engaged with whats going on and you have a fine balance of dialog, action, and environmental description.
I have not read all of your stories but I did read Breaking Point while you were posting it a few years ago and it has since been one of my favorite stories. You did a wonderful job at getting inside the head of each and every character leading to some of the best characterization in the fandom. The story is well thought out, engaging, consistent, and it's plot points and character actions very seldom feel forced at all.
I apologize if my praise sounds underwhelming as providing such is contrary to the normal critique and criticism I'm accustomed to while editing. It is meant as high praise. The story is great and you as the author deserve a response after a request for accolades. Out of the hundreds of fan fiction that I have read over the years across about 50 fandoms Breaking Point would rank within the top five stories.
I will be reading everything else you write once I get the chance and hope that you continue your journey in the craft.
i love your upheaval series. i love it a lot. i started reading when it was only a chapter or two, and i found it on fanfiction.net. i stopped reading (mainly because i couldn't find it again), but your writing stood out so well in my mind that i was able to come back... gods only know how long later -- almost when reckoning was coming to a close? -- to read your work again. breaking point was my first fanfiction i ever read, and i have yet to find something as unique and well-written as your series. i'm glad i found fimfiction, because now i get to read everything you write. <3
(wow, that sounded stalkerish)
thanks for writing your amazing fics!
You want compliments? Well, here are some:
Like a couple other people here, Breaking Point was my first fanfic that I read that really sold me on the whole concept of fanfiction and also that a dark pony story with violence could actually work. It still remains in my top 3 expanded MLP Universes. I'm going to repeat what a bunch of people already said in that Upheaval did culture shock incredibly well, didn't make the Mane6 better than ordinary soldiers, and that Upheaval has some of the best world building I've read in fiction, period.
A long time ago when I finally started reading Breaking Point I wasn't sure what to expect. All I knew at the time was that it was "That story with the Twilight picture on EQD's story updates pages and it seems to update pretty dang often." But then Twilight ended up teleported outside Equestria proper and suddenly it became much more interesting. Then we come to what really made your story unique to me. Celestia and Luna having a brother. Never before had I run across a fic where the two sisters had another sibling before, much less a male one. It was cool, it was awesome, and it was incredibly fun to read. That chapter where we first meet Terrato was enough for me to fav this story forever because now I wanted more: more of this very incredible world (also very different from other fics I'd read), more of these excellent depictions of the characters, and finally, I wanted more Terrato. I can't wait to see what happens next in this epic story.
a) You have a cute butt.
b) Your writing has gotten 2x better since you began writing Upheaval.
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Oh... oopsie...
Sorry, my brain was not working when I read your blog the first time...
Moving relevant half to the story now.
If left to my own devices I would probably ramble on to an embarrassing degree. So I will keep this brief.
The Upheaval series was the driving force behind me becoming as involved with the fandom as I am now. The friends and experiences I have gained since then are irreplaceable to me.
You took what I considered to be a lighthearted show, and created something much more engrossing than one would ever suspect possible. In fact the sheer quality of your work has actually made it difficult for me to enjoy other stories, be it fan-fiction or even published material.
Lastly I have a lot of respect for anyone who just speaks their mind. In web full of pointless internet drama and political correctness, it's refreshing to see someone be so down to earth.
Your work has been a part of my life for a couple years now, and I would be lying if I said it hasn't had a meaningful impact on me. So thank you for being a true boss.
Your stories are amazing, and you did a spectacular job writing them. They ruined other fics for me, I find it hard to read anything knowing that the odds of finding one as good as yours are one in a thousand.
You do good world building. Detailed without barraging the reader with too much exposition. You got a knack for combat and action scenes that flow without getting bogged down. You've done fairly well at depicting the Mane 6 in a series of circumstances where I think a lot of authors would have trouble writing them without going out of character.
I am looking forward to the next update of Upheaval:The Trilogy.
Hello Visiden,
Upheaval Breaking Point was the first fan fiction I have ever read. I think I listened to the first 18 chapters from Forest Rain over a week of something and I personally do not read for fun so I debated a few days if I should just wait for the audio or just read it. I chose to finally read the damn thing because I was hoping it would be short I was wrong but honestly for most updates you made I was excited to read what was going to happen I wish I could stop what I was doing to catch up. Upheaval has been the longest piece of fiction I have ever read and you as a writer have put so many different elements in your stories to keep me wanting more. I would like to thank you for writing from your world expanding (building), character development with every character from the OCs to the original cast, and the story has become more of an epic than just an action/adventure. I will have to write you a proper thank you note after you have finished everything talking about specific things that I have enjoyed from your work. Stay Classy
-Jared
I'm not very good at being verbose, but I will say that Breaking Point is the pedestal upon which I compare every other Dark/Adventure/AU story. My initial impression of the story went something like this: "After reading Upheaval: Breaking Point, I had to take a break from reading fics. It was good enough that I didn't think I could find something that would measure up to it."
you've done a great job of not only creating a believable world populated by strong characters, but you've also tied it into the show world nicely, giving decent reasons for what we've seen in the show.
While there are some points of conflict with my headcanon, especially Celestia's weakness in the first story, it is both explained and important for the story to the point where I can't criticize for it. (I put this here because it's not something you can change and it's a positive reflection of your writing that I still find myself eagerly waiting for the next update)
I really like Upheaval Breaking Point. When I came across Breaking Point on mlpaudiobooks.net, I instantly fell in love with it. I really like stories where the characters are suddenly thrown into a difficult situation and have to make the best of it. It was nice to see each member of the Mane 6 find their place in the Legion and contribute in someway. The story had good and believable OCs. The wolven and Fenrir were great foes and were very menacing. Breaking Point is definitely one of the best fics on the site.
Honestly, I came across your story by listening to Forest Rain read it. When I got caught up to all of his readings, and then found out that there was more to read, I jumped on that opportunity. I really love your style of writing, it makes me feel as if I'm right with the characters in the story. Every new chapter I read always made me smile.
When I finished Upheaval Breaking Point and Upheaval Reckoning I went back and re-read it because it was that good, and I don't really re-read much stories unless I love them. So thanks for taking time out of your life to make these wonderful stories.
Still catching me off guard with Vanguard choosing Applejack; Ultimately though; that is your strongest point so far as I'm concerned. I've made many predictions on Upheval, and almost all of them have been utterly wrong. I love being surprised; (though I'm still forseeing infidelity under the full moon.)
One last thing: could you please put numbers on your chapters?
I know you'd once mentioned you were also working on writing your original material. Show me the link, and I will buy is because I do think you have talent. One thought though that I've had for a while that won't go away; I think you're good at novels, but I think you would be great at doing script writing for one of the large computer games like Dragon Age where you have one principle story, and then dozens of optional quests and back stories for the dozen or so companions that join you. I think you would do better there
P.S. I'm still wondering where you're going with Blueblood. I know you're doing something; I just don't know what.
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You don't know how to read. Read the blog post carefully next time and try again.
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Sorry;
Edited