Apr
26th
2015
Important Announcement regarding Tea With The Queen · 2:33am Apr 26th, 2015
Edited: The fic is staying up.
I'm still avoiding all future contests.
Thank you to all of my friends for your support.
- Member Since 26th Jan, 2013
- offline last seen Last Friday
Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch
Profile of Retired Writer, Lapis-Lazuli, and his editor, Stitch / Inky. Thanks for the memories, FiMFiction.
Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch
Joined 26th Jan, 2013 ·
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This saddens me, as I feel it's a particular good story.
I've read far more stories than I have on my favorites list, and Tea with the Queen is on that list, for what that might be worth. I suppose I'll have to track down this list, so I can see exactly what the judges felt were the better picks.
I feel like you shouldn't delete it. It may not have been the most widely liked story, but look at it like this: With all the fics you both have written and are popular, they can't all be super-amazing, but at the same time, you are skilled writers, so you shouldn't think that something you wrote isn't good.
What I am trying to say is that, while it may not have been well received, it still is pretty damn good, and wouldn't it feel better to say "this may not have been my best work, but it was still decent, and I would like to remember it for my own benefit"?
I hope you re-consider deleting this fic...
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
The story has a ton of upvotes. It does not seem like a failure to me.
3017313
Inky here.
It has less to do with *this* story than what ended up winning out.
well i read it and think its worth keeping around. liked and faved.
You're deleting it because it didn't win a contest?
3017314 IMO the opinions of four judges should not compel you to delete your story.
3017336
No, I'm deleting it because after two weeks of work, half a dozen editors, six total revisions, and thirty+ pre-readers, I wasn't good enough to even make the top 8.
I never thought I was going to win. I just wanted to be considered good enough to even think that I might have had a chance.
Of course, now I know better.
Don't delete.
Don't be 'that guy'.
~Skeeter The Lurker
3017358
"Not good enough"?
Boo fucking hoo. Doesn't mean you should deny the ones who did like it.
~Skeeter The Lurker
3017358
I don't know. That almost feels like you're punishing future fans because a few people didn't like the story enough.
I mean what's more important? The 527 people who enjoyed it, or the couple of people who liked 8 other stories a little better?
3017365
3017312
3017324
3017337
3017365
3017376
... Okay. I'll rethink it.
I respect you guys enough to see if I feel differently after some time.
3017381
Good. I'd hate to lose respect for you over the heinous act of story deletion.
~Skeeter The Lurker
3017384
I'm not going to deny I'm hurting right now, which probably isn't helping.
I'm sorry if I'm coming across all melodramatic.
3017387
Quite alright. We all have our moments.
Sorry if I seem harsh... Story deletion is the one thing that seriously sets me off.
~Skeeter The Lurker
What?!
I love that story, theres so much potential there!
It a good fic but your coming off sounding like a whiny prat cause there ego isnt getting a good enough stroking.
Your fics are awesome, I think i have read everything you have marked completed, and many of them faved. You and others may have busted balls to make something you think is worthy of a spot among the top eight. But you got others judging and they all got their own ideas of what makes a good story. And not all of that could be considered good taste.
Sadly I also know where you are coming from. And while easier said then done, a perspective change would be a better way of handling this. I ask not only for myself but for others and for you to not delete your story. Let others have the chance to enjoy a great little fic. Especially considering it would give everyone an insight into what inspired Princess Peculiar.
Its not a failure to us your fans most loyal, so please dont see it as such.
3017381 Thanks for deciding to reconsider. I hope you understand that 'keeping it for posterity' is better than deleting it, at least for the reason that you can look at it and learn from it; or, as the quote says: He who forgets the past is doomed to repeat it.
And then there is the aspect that you can say 'it wasn't the best fic I wrote, but it was still pretty damn good'.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
3017398
The best thing I ever wrote no one bothered to read. ;p
Fortunately, the second best thing I ever wrote did pretty well, so yeah. XD
3017408 That's how you do it. It is kinda funny actually, some of the best fics on this site are so under-appreciated...
My Top Favorites list has a few of those...
Tangled Up in Blues by The Descendant is a great example of an amazing fic that didn't profligate like some of his other fics, even though it is arguably his best.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
I'm extremely late to the party, but I loved it :D
3017408 Its a pretty fucking decent fic, I understand your frustrated because after all the time and effort you put into it want enough to win (BTW which fic did win that contest?) but still just because what like 4 people didn't like it enough to judge it well doesn't mean it was a failure.
I thought it was a great fic, I respect your decision and right to take it down but from an average Joe college student I say leave it up for everyone to look at and enjoy.
Just keep it. Examine what went wrong and what worked and use that to improve on the story. Plus, leaving up stories like this help show readers how far you've progressed as a writer when they see this work and any future pieces you may do.
I understand that the EFNW can be rather weird in selection and I know plenty of good authors that haven't made the cut. The pair of you are rather great authors. I also really like the pacing, the in-story characterization, the emotions, the general execution of style, grammar quality. Its an interesting premise and Lapis, you've done a very good job especially with those aspects. As in, really good because I cannot find a single technical or stylistic problem with the one shot. So I suggest you do not take the story down, people enjoy it after all. And while failures are annoying, they are also reminders of how we can improve.
I say that because as a personal opinion and fellow reviewer or author. I see several major flaws in the story that you can work on to improve your chances for the next EFNW. Read it and think what you might, this is my outlook on things.
1. The beginning: As much as the premise draws people like me, I would really like to know more about... well how did Chrysalis and Celestia meet up like this. It really bothered me to just have them kind of thrown together without any explanation as to why. It lost me badly for the first few paragraphs. One shots are supposed to be contained in some sort of format, but while the resolution does wrap up the story, the beginning forces me to figure out what is going on, which is a major point against comprehending this story plot.
In addition, how Celestia and Chrysalis ended like this isn't really addressed at all. This has to be addressed in some form or manner, but this isn't even spelled out. How did they contact each other if Chrysalis is in hiding? How did Celestia convince Chrysalis to meet her alone. There are too many unanswered questions and not enough suspension of disbelief for me to immediately accept this is happening. Other people didn't seem to mind, but I found it really jarring as I read through the one-shot.
2. The In-story characterization. I'm getting nitpicky here, but I find Chrysalis and Celestia in-character, and out of character at the same time. In character, as I think that given the situation they are in, and given the author's interpretation, Chrysalis and Celestia are acting quite in character.
But I also say they're out of character, because... for Chrysalis, this stems from the above lack of a reason for her to be there in the first place. Since I never really got an explanation for that, i find it hard to believe she would be there, and continue to return. Then for Celestia... there's a lot of little things. Like Celestia, the epitome of grace and regality, snorting derisively. Wait, she wants to encourage friendship between herself and Chrysalis right? Disapproval or a bit of a chuckle is fine, but snorting... just doesn't seem Celestia like. Granted, this is the author's interpretation, but it threw me for a loop. Which is a pity, because the rest of Celestia's tea sipping and talking to Chrysalis was really well done. In fact the interaction between your interpretations of Celestia and Chrysalis are spot on... but as I stated, the lack of a good backstory and other smaller descriptive traits keep knocking me for a loop.
3. The key point that allows Chrysalis and Celestia to empathize... it comes across as standard. Very much so. The "I know how you feel because I experienced it too" trope is... well it can be very effective if played correctly. I have to say though in this one-shot, its played... okay but not brilliantly. Celestia doesn't explain how, she doesn't show to Chrysalis any lingering pain or even explain in detail the history behind, which would be fascinating worldbuilding and unloading of emotional baggage... but it isn't explained so it kind of comes across as meh... And the fact Chrysalis and Celestia say they're friends because Celestia said vaguely that she had this history, that's a bit forced and while I accept the author has his own interpretation of these events... there isn't quite enough emotional buildup and sorting for this to simply happen after a short conversation. No trust has been established, essential to a friendship, and while there are commonalities that have been established, given the greatly differing personalities of the two leaders, I find it very difficult to believe Celestia and Chrysalis move to the stage they can be called tentative friends. Not to mention, even the whole friendship thing... its underplayed. There needs to be a moment, some deepening of emotion, capitalization of the significance of this very instance, but I don't feel, at least in my opinion that it's given, especially since its moved right on to Twilight.
Take these criticisms as you wish. Its a solid piece of work, and I advise you to leave it up, but it has issues. And so what? Everybody makes mistakes and fails. Its whether you got the bravery to show off your mistakes and correct them does an author develop.
3017531
I'm going to leave the story up, but I'm not going to enter any further contests. I obviously am not good at working within such small word constraints in a way that their specific judging panel enjoys, and I'm better off not making myself depressed by putting myself out there like that.
Thank you for taking the time to review me, though. I know you're often very busy. I appreciate the intelligent criticisms and commentary.
3017552 You're welcome Lapis. Glad you found the review useful. I await you and Inky's next works eagerly.
3017562
It was nice to have someone criticize my work in a helpful manner for once. ;P
I'm going to leave this here. Yeah, I get that you already said you're leaving the story up, but I've been away from my PC for a while.
3017870
My entire problem had nothing to do with my competitors.
It had everything to do with how I perceived my own work.
I was, in short, not good enough.
And for someone whose entire life might as well be defined by those three words, that's never a good experience for me.
3017882 Ah. That's a good point. I didn't notice that it appears to be Inky doing it.
You really should tell him to cut that out. I wrote that blog after a literally identical situation last year.
So, I couldn't help but notice this post, and felt I needed to comment. For those that don't know me, I'm the head of the writing track for Everfree Northwest, and managed the contest.
First off, I'm sincerely sorry that the contest results caused you as much frustration as they have. The intent was never to malign anyone, but to encourage people to write more and put themselves out there in ways they otherwise might not. Having your work directly judged by others is always hard, but it's important not to let any perceived negatives get you down.
Now, as to the contest itself... please know that this contest really only shows the top three stories. Due to the elimination-round nature of it, it's almost impossible to compare anything not in the top three with any kind of ranking or accuracy. I'm not a big sports fan, but it's basically a playoff structure, like the world cup. Even the second-best team in the world can still be eliminated in the first round if they have to face the 1st place team at the very start. Much worse teams can then make it to the final round, just by having easier opponents earlier on. While our judging structure wasn't exactly the same (and had some counter balances to account for this) it's still possible to have a very good story and not make the final round.
Now, of course you're thinking (as all authors would) that your story was objectively better than even the winning story. Now, that's not an unreasonable assertion to make, but you have to remember that not everyone has the same taste in stories, nor in their evaluation criteria. We had some stories that would get similar scores from many judges, then we had others were some loved it and some hated it. In the end, there is no objective measurement in a contest... all things become subjective and are a matter of personal preference.
The takeaway is this... even if you didn't make the final round, all that you can FACTUALLY say about that is that these particular 8 judges, with their own particular tastes and preferences, using a playoff-like apparatus, didn't (as a group) find your story to be in the top 3 out of 78 entries. That is, you're not in the top 4%. Not being in the final round of 8 doesn't mean your story was necessarily (even by the judges' own standards) the 9th-best or worse. It could literally have been the 4th or 5th best, and there'd be no way to know, because of how the contest is structured,
Lastly, keep in mind you WERE in the top 8 for the community choice. In fact, you were tied for 3rd place in that. That's not nothin', as they say.
So, with all that said, I'd really like to encourage you not to give up on contests. The point of them is to encourage you to write, and you should enter them "for the love of the game," not for the approval or validation they might seem to provide. Besides... 1600+ followers? I'm pretty sure you don't get that if you suck at writing.
In all seriousness though, check out the Writeoff Association. There's a contest there every few weeks, and the judges are only the other authors. There are no prizes (beyond bragging rights) and it's a great group of people.
3018002 I could say a lot about this, but given the stress stomach ache I've been fighting all night, I'm going to focus on one thing and move on with my life.
I don't comment on the superiority or inferiority of other people's works. It is impossible for me to compare my work to theirs because I am literally my very own worst critic. But by the standards of a contest, if I am not one of the winners, I must be inferior to anyone who has won, because they made the grade, and I did not. You can couch it in any language you want to, but at the end of the day their stories were judged and deemed to be better than my own, regardless of the method used to do so.
If they were not judged to be better than my own, then entering the contest was pointless on its face because having "The Best Story" is thus worthless, and the only thing a contest judges is how well a writer can pander to a majority of judges.
I am not interested in pandering to judges. I am interested in writing good stories that people enjoy. If contests are not about writing good stories and are instead about writing the specific kind of stories that the judges just so happen to like, then what the fuck is the point of entering a contest ever again? If I want to write "for love of the game" as you put it, I'll write the ideas that actually appeal to me instead of trying to shove my creativity into someone else's mold.
I've already been through one emotional breakdown, 8 solid hours of stress stomach aches, a headache and a completely lost appetite tonight. It is a new day, and I am leaving this contest - and everything about it - completely behind me. I have learned my lesson.
I'm not good enough for contests.
I'm really sorry to hear that this contest caused you distress. I for one thought you wrote a fantastic story, in fact it was my favorite out of the entries that I read. I'm not going to say "you shouldn't feel that way", because I know you can't just turn feelings on and off like a light switch. If not entering contests is what's best for you and your happiness, then no one should make you feel pressured to do so. I just hope you can see that, win or lose, your story brought smiles to a lot of peoples' faces, and that's a really special and wonderful thing to do all on its own.
That got an actual eyebrow raise from me, a rare occurrence.
This blog post = someone who got an honorable mention in the final blog post of the contest whining that they didn't win enough.