Dear Author: No Style Allowed · 9:30pm Nov 2nd, 2012
So, if anyone is reading this, it is my personal view of Equestria Daily's regulations on fanfictions they feature.
In short, they may take their pageviews and put them where the sun does not shine.
In long, well, here goes:
People told me EqD was crazy, but I take pride in my writing, and wanted to hope for reasonablenes.
My fic, Stone and Secrets, got rejected, because of some typos, spacing issues, and a bit of awkward phrasing and obscure words.
I was told not to use a thesauras. I never used a thesauras. It is very rare for me to use one.
The odd words and structures I use are selected very deliberately, and they play into my style. However, I understood that my it wouldn't hurt my style much, and it would make it much more accessible to readers who might not be accustomed to or may not like strange ways of phrasing things and big or obscure words.
I edited for these things, and you can see the results in the first 2 chapters.
I'm still going to try to tone down the stylization a bit, to keep it more accessible.
But Equestria Daily tells me to indicate the speaker in dialogue.
Why is that an issue? It seems so small.
Because I do indicate the speaker. Every time.
I do it implicitly, not explicitly.
I don't say / "This is great," John said exuberantly. / - - I say / John spoke in a loud and exuberant voice. "This is great!"
I also use other methods, and if anyone is confused as to who's talking, I clean it up right away.
And I feel like it's a key hallmark of my narrative voice.
If I do as Equestria Daily asks, my style would be so stripped from my work, I truly believe that my style would no longer be recognizable or distinct as my own. However, I would get an enormous quantity of readership.
But you know what? This is a fanfic. I'm doing it for fun.
Those demands crossed the line.
I don't need Equestria Daily.
So, I say screw them and their pageviews, I'm going to write what the hell I like.
Again, I'm going to keep a couple of the pointers in mind, particularly with regards to toning down the stylization a little bit.
I'm going to be relying on reader comments, so everyone, please tell me if you like something, dislike something, have suggestions or tips, or whatever else. As long as it isn't cruel or nasty, it can't hurt.
P.S.
If I decide later on that I do want to get on EqD, I may strip and distort the first two chapters to their whims temporarily while also temporarily unpublishing the rest, but I'd do this as a gambit to get it featured by them, and then set it back once the readers came flooding in.
Did they provide any examples of what they took issue with? I've read some really bad cases of EqD's... EqD-ness, but that seems bad, even for them. Perhaps you just got a particularly picky reader, so maybe you could get another go.
469827
Good to see someone agrees with me here.
I could tell you about what they said, but I think it's better to just share the email, so here's a GoogleDocs link to both emails:
Prereader Rejection Emails
(there was also a return without a strike that asked for a full outline on GoogleDocs, which I did.)
470108
The document is restricted; I cannot access it.
Implicitly is the Best way. You are absolutely correct.
John said.. John said .. John said... etc. that gets old quick.
To heck with EQD. Write the way you want to write.
470125
Yeah, just saw that, sorry.
It should be accessible now.