shamelessSelfPromotion
I have just updated the story description (blurb) for Renaissance Pony. I did this because I felt it just wasn't doing much to interest readers.
/shamelessSelfPromotion

So I have a question for all of you: what is it about a story listing that catches your eye and gets you to get reading? Is it the artwork, the title, the description, the number of views, thumbs up, thumbs down, listing in a group, something else?

Your comments would be much appreciated.

Definitely the description. If it's not my type of story I won't read it...and the description gives me an idea of whether or not I'll like it.

That's an interesting one. As someone who sucks harder than the cold, hard vacuum of space at trying to write an engaging synopsis, this is something I've thought about before.

I usually find myself drawn to stories based on how well-written the blurb is, if it demonstrates that the author can write well then that's enough for me to set aside my doubts and simply read (or not read) based on what the blurb actually says. I tend to ignore viewer counts as, hey, all that shows is how many people flicked through it once. Thumbs up/down are better, but I still prefer not to trust other people's opinions too much. Otherwise all I would ever read is RD shipfics and Naruto/Halo/MLP crossovers. (And just in case anyone wants to jump on me for that, I'm really not judging, it's not what I enjoy reading.)

Finally you mention artwork. Nah. I know it's difficult to find good stuff and that the cover art is just a nice bonus. Having special custom art or not doesn't prove anything. Using a meme as a cover probably isn't going to send good signals though, I guess.

So yeah, I guess I don't know. If I did, my own blurbs would be better than they are. I mainly look for an interesting idea that is described well, and maybe makes me ask questions about how the fic will handle things. If I see that, I'll generally give Chapter 1 a read.

346140
I'm all about descriptions. Honestly, there's several stories in my To Read list just because the description caught my curiosity. I don't care about views, thumbs, genres, cover images (which is funny since that's how my attention gets piqued in RL, then the blurb settles it)....Any of that stuff. If the description is well written and interesting, that's what it'll take to get me to read it.

As a side note, however, I also listen to what the community says. Generally speaking, I've found the community has pretty good taste. So I keep my ears open on what's popular, what authors I like say they like, stories that are inspired/based off of a story I like. That sort of thing. In fact, when I first got serious about pony fan fiction, the first place I looked for leads was over on TVTropes' suggested pony fiction pages.

A well written blurb goes a looooong way, I think, for most people. Which is why it's so hard! I personally am not fond of my story's description at the moment, but for the life of me I can't think of anything else. And considering I wrote what I felt was an awesome blurb for a fantasy book that doesn't exist yet, that baffles me!

346188>>346194 I don't seem to have that skill at writing the blurbs either...it's really hard to give a synopsis without giving anything away. It's has to be longer than the title, but contain as much mystery.

That's the sign of a good writer for me. Who can withhold that mystery in the title and the description while still managing to tell you what the story is. That's why most people will say they read the blurb first to get a view on it...it's either the sign of an author that doesn't know where they are going, or an author who knows how to write extremely well

I'm a very specific reader; I don't read romance. So a romance tag decreases my likelihood of reading the story by a lot about ninety percent of the time. This narrows it down to about 35%-45% of the stories on the site. (Let's face it, everyone and their dog has written a shipfic. Well, I haven't, but still). There are exceptions, of course, like when an idea is so well-represented in the title and description as to have me interested regardless of my other tastes. Descriptions tell me a whole lot about the story- as is their purpose- and if what's told there doesn't interest me, I leave. Plain and simple. I avoid dark, sad, and tragic stories because I don't feel they often capture elements of the show well enough in general, but again, if it catches my attention, it gets read. I also look at the story's comments, to see what others have said, though this does risk spoilers.

346301
You say that like it's a bad thing. About shipfic writing. I admit, it's even chances on whether it's any GOOD or not, but that doesn't mean shipping is a bad thing. Or am I simply misinterpreting you?

346263
I completely agree. Like, look at this (only shameless self promotion by necessity) blurb I made of a book that's barely an idea in my head at the moment. Is it just me, or does that sound pretty interesting? It's probably just me, heh.

But yeah, blurb practice is something I've been working on. Now, when I get books, I don't read the blurbs anymore, I read it, then write my own blurb and compare. It's a really nifty exercise.

346345 Oh, you are; it's not a bad thing, I just don't like them. It's like HiE fics. People write tons of them and many of them aren't worth reading, or are too similar to all the others. Why I read one and not the other is that most of the shipfics are of pairings I don't find plausible (nearly all of them) or have romance as the entire point of the story, which is really quite boring. I read HiEs because humanity interests me, and well-done interactions between ponies and humans can be very interesting. If only more of them were like that instead of misanthropic piles of teenage angst.

346378
Fair enough. To each their own of course, but I look at it as staying open minded. I'm still not 100% fully behind the idea of canon-breaking shipping, but I've read a few that were insanely well done. Thanqol's Yours Truly comes to mind immediately in that regards.

I don't particularly enjoy Human stories myself, but if a description caught my eye I'd still give it a shot. I find it's more worth it to be disappointed and stop reading rather than taking the chance I might miss out on something truly wonderful.

But, that's just me, heh. I completely understand your point.

I do look at the ups and downs, but I can't use them too much. I generally look for stories that havent had all that many views, so the thumbs may not mean much beyond who first saw the stort. But if a story has more thumbs down than up, I'm honestly going to be very skeptical. Also, I look at the cover art. I hace to constantly remind myself not to judge a fic based on that, cus anyone can take a good piece of fanart and use it for a poor story.

First thing is first, I will look for a subject I am interested in (aka, if I am looking for romance, I will search for romance, comedy=comedy, etc). During the search, I look at the rating. If it is liked a lot more than disliked, then I will look at the description. If it is engaging and sounds interesting, I will read the first chapter. If I like that, I will read the story.

That is how I find stories around here.

I won't lie, the thumb ratio does often help me decide on what to read. I've seen a few cases where not-so-great fics get voted up by the majority, but I've yet to encounter a good story that has more thumbs down than up. If anyone here knows of one, please correct me by pointing it out.

Certain genres draw my attention more than others. I like romance, tragedy, comedy, and adventure the best, depending on what mood I'm in. Dark and gore I generally avoid unless I'm certain it won't be pointless bloodbath crap (unofficial sequels to Cupcakes, Sweet Apple Massacre-wannabes, etc.), but I'm not opposed to violence out of principle. Same with clop. (Speaking of which, does it bother anyone else when ponies are changed into humans for clop purposes? I always feel like it's the author's way of saying "I'm too lazy to describe how sex works for creatures without hands--alternate universe time!")

A good blurb can make all the difference, as those above me have already stated. One of the things I love about this site is how no one ever puts "I suck at summaries, just read it!" in the description. That's a great way to have your writing automatically overlooked...and something I used to do many years ago when I posted terrible anime fanfics to sites like FFN.

346263

I agree! It actualy reduces my interest if I can pretty much predict the entire plot of a story in my head after reading the blurb.

346301

I also am not interested in shipping as the MAIN objective of a story - and am part of the microscopic minority of those who haven't written a ship fic. I also disqualify stories if they're mainly gore, ponies in a violent game scenario, or clop. But the then if the only objective of the blurb is to filter out stuff we don't like, then the most effective blurb would contain nothing!

346345

I am fine with shameless self-promotion, but I have to say that your book blurb presents one of the main challenges of blurb writing: do you make a blurb to appeal to a specific audience or go general? When I read your blurb I just could not keep up with all the images you presented. It's as if only someone who is already familiar with the story or setting would 'get' the blurb. Newbs (like me iin this case) are left with a major "Huh?".

TEH HERD (so far...)

Description is most important, with art and total readership sharing second place in importance.

346554
Y'know, yeah, it's a bit lazy...but can ya really blame them? I don't plan on writing any clopfics pretty much ever (though hopefully I'll be able to write a successful romance/shipping tale in time), so maybe that's why I can't really figure that out myself. My mind just isn't interested in working through that 'problem', heh.

Well, not no one. I have seen the occasional bit where people just up and didn't try (or tried only enough to get it past submission, then exclaimed, "bah, who needs descriptions!"). Granted, as a result I didn't bother reading them or looking at 'em at all. Soooo yeah. Also, 'grats on improving yourself! Any true artist always has that facepalm. Eventually, heh.

346593
Hahaha, that's probably fair. It's somewhat similar to many a Fantasy novel I've read. I take it you're not a particularly avid fan of Fantasy?

A lot of them are like that, and it's a very delicate balance between presenting hints of what's to come and--as your reaction shows--going over their heads. It's supposed to make the reader go...I don't really know what that is/what that means but darn it, I'd like to! Thus they read.

Or it could just be terrible. Safe money's probably on that, hahaha.

346632

I do like some fantasy: Tolkien, Lewis, Donaldson, etc. But you pegged me: I much prefer science fiction usually. One of the reasons is that I read a lot more fantasy when I was a teenager and after a while I just felt that the stories started to become way too similar and got tired of the tropes. Oh, and some of the Fantasy I loved most was really SF in a world that met Clarke's maxim (Any sufficiently advanced technology looks like magic.)

346648
*nods* I get that. (and furthermore, if you're a fan of Tolkien and a fan of Lewis, then you're pretty much set on the width and breadth of fantasy. It all fits in somewhere in between, really.)

See, I'm a big fan of both. They are my top favorite genres to read.

(all that follows is, naturally, my own opinion and experience)

Fantasy has the characterization I love and that's why I'll always stick with it (not to mention I'm an old man traditionalist in many ways), but yeah the plots can feel rehashed quite often. That's fair. It's a trope heavy genre, it always has been and will be as long as it's always looking at the past. But to me that's OK, because the entire genre's point is character building.

Sci-fi, on the other hand, often suffers from stock characters really, really badly. But this isn't a problem, because--to me--the point of Sci-fi is world building. The best sci-fi have the best worlds--they're well thought out, they're generally plausible (for a good sci-fi writer does his damn research, heh!). They're immense and amazing and that's what we come to see. The characters kinda HAVE to be somewhat stock, because we can't waste too much time on them--we've got a whole bloody universe/dimension/whatever to discover! And, generally speaking, sci-fi naturally has more variety because it's looking ahead. The past is limited, the future is open.

Still though--have you read any Brandon Sanderson? If not, I highly suggest you pick it up (Mistborn Trilogy especially). I think it'd strike the right chord amongst fans of fantasy or sci-fi easily. I might also suggest checking out Modern Fantasy with things like the Dresden Files, Garret P.I. series (or anything by Cook, really. His style of nitty gritty dark/realistic fantasy is superb), and the Iron Druid Chronicles (less quality, but decent stuff. Also, cheap.).

346670

Thanks for the recomendations. Variety is the spice of life. But SF isn't necessarily short on characterization: CJ Cherryh does the best aliens (who are rational, self consistent and truly alien), Greg Bear, Ian M Banks, Ju;ly Czernada, Neal Stephenson, Dan Simmons, Robert Sawyer...

346686

Oh I wasn't meaning that sci-fi couldn't do it. Merely what I felt was the thing the genre did best. Heh, clearly anything can do anything. And I'll definitely have to check out a few of those names I don't recognize.

I find that the stories I read tend to have the following:

1: Any of the Apple family. I find I relate to them the most out of all the ponies presented in the show. If one of them doesn't have at least a supporting role on a stories character list, I tend to not read it.

2: No Dark tag. Just personal preference.

3: an ok story pic. Just about anything but a screencap of the pony creator will suffice.

4: decent grammar. Ideas are way more important than good grammar, but I need to at least understand what I'm reading within a few sentences.

and that's about it. that's what I look for in a story.

346846
Y'know, seeing you mention that preference for the Apple family--and going through some of the fics I've read in the past--I've found I seem to enjoy reading AJ fics! Considering I generally find her very boring on the show...I really like how the fandom treats her, and the rest of the family. Huh. The stuff you don't notice.

346881

I think it's because in the show, she's the solid foundation of the group. It's an important job, don't get me wrong, as she's designed to be the most relatable out of all the ponies, due to her focus on family and work. Those are things everyone can relate to in RL due to their mundane nature. Unfortunately, due to the very mundane nature her character represents, AJ gets the spotlight stolen from her even in episodes focused on her problems. A shame too, as I think her character is the most developed out of all of them. It's just grown in a subtle way.

Oh boy. I'm talking about character development ans subtlety on a kids show. Maybe I need to get outside more.

346901
Pfft, no. Didn't you know that's half the fun of being a cultured and intelligent being? Over-analyzing silly things that don't exist?

I would say more, but this isn't the thread for it and I don't wanna get yelled at, heh.

I wish I could say I used things like tags or descriptions...and at times I do (badly written discriptions and the gore tag are turn offs) but you know the one thing that will really keep me from reading a new fic?

LENGTH

I can't stand new stories/chapters with less than 1800 or so words (and I tend to favor stuff with more than 2000 words per chapter). If whoever it is can't put more effort into their story than they would a college paper I have no reason to touch it...it may be small and petty but I've found it to be a pretty decent rule of thumb.

348886

I like that rule.
'Course, it may be because my own monster is currently 72k words...

348886
I semi-sorta agree with that, myself. I've read some impressively good tales that were 2K words or shorter, so I don't like to take the chance of missing out...but generally, yeah, I look for things that are at least 5K or longer.

I think it's as you say, generally speaking if a piece is longer then by necessity it means more time and effort has gone into it and the chances of it being quality work increase right along with it.

Still though, some people have a minimalist style that still turns out quality work, or prefer doing things in smaller batches so they can update more often. I dunno, I can see the pros and cons of both sides of it, even if I myself will probably only ever release things of sizable portions, heh.

As someone who really does suck at writing descriptions (I still think I need to reword the one for my current story, just can't think what) I tend to be rather lenient when it comes to them. I usually try at least the first chapter if it might handle subject I'm looking for to read. Sometimes a well done description can actually work against me, I begin reading because hey the description was pretty good but then the story ends up going into several directions that don't necessarily match to what was promised. I don't mind surprises in a story, but you sometimes get the feeling the author got too many ideas and mid way through the story decided to cram them all in. So for me the descriptions is really a double edged sword when it comes to choosing a story, because I've read plenty of good stories that had lackluster descriptions and read plenty of bad stories that had brilliant synopsis.

On the other hand I have also read many bad stories with bad descriptions and good stories with good descriptions too

So what usually gets me reading is if it handles a subject matter I like reading or am currently interested in reading and if the first chapter manages to hold my attention.

348886>>348956>>349284

Even amongst this literary bunch, size matters.

Does this mean you prefer multi-chapter stories?
And that you don't read a fic that has a short first chapter until its author has posted more chapters?

If everypony did that a lot of authors might get discouraged and never go beyond chapter one!

349406

I've had some exchanges with authors on the idea of "hot words" in the description to attract readers who favor specific topics or references to familiar events, places, episodes, etc.
Overall people seem to agree with you that this is a double-edged sword in that you can easily give away too much of the story, or leave readers dissapointed because your description mentions something that gets only a sentence or two in the actual story.

349684
I honestly don't much care if it's one piece, multi-chapter--whatever suits the author's style and serves the Story best. The Story is the end all, be all for me (and should be for all of us who claim the title of Author). Everything else...well, that's just details.

As I said above, what gets me to read a fic is if the description catches me or if I hear good things through the grapevine. After that, that's what watching the author is all about. I mean, would I love it if everybody waited and put up a whole story every single time? Part of me, yeah. I'm not a fan of waiting for something I really enjoy. But if it's good, I'll do it. No problem. And that's a pretty unreasonable demand to make--who of us has that kind of time and stamina? If you do, why aren't you writing for a living yet?

You say size matters--but what size? And for what goal? I mean, we want length and quality--because (as I see it) that makes us feel closer to the professionals. But many bits of advice I've seen tell you to keep it short, 3-5K words per chapter (or at least your first one): generally the average reader gets intimidated by/doesn't have time to delve into a fiction that has 10+K words per chapter (which is why it sucks trying to be recognized as a writer, and not an artist or musician). And I agree with that, that that happens and it works for people.

But while I want watchers/readers/commentators as much as anybody, I'm not going to sacrifice what the Story wants/needs for anything--therefore my 12000 word prologue. And I'm thoroughly impressed by anyone who writes those numbers.

...Taking a second to step back, I think I may have gotten off topic/began by misunderstanding you. Uh. Whoops, heh.

349774

But you bring up a good point: complete vs. incomplete. Is incomplete a turn-off?
I write on FIMFiction because it provides me a safe, secure, familiar environment in which to improve my writing skills (yawn....), get advice (you noticed me?), and maybe just a little bit of ego gratification (Yeah, baby!)
Personally I don't mind reading an incomplete story, and my own stories are muti-chapter affairs that can take several months to complete. I only have time to write one chapter per week, so I tend to like to see at least two new chapters per months. But if I really like a story I will follow it for months.

349711 Which is why I always have such difficulties writing descriptions myself. I'm always unsure if I'm giving away too much or maybe not enough. I've even fallen into the trap of saying something in the description that I didn't really deliver on at all before.

349815

A problem (or challenge) I've had is that the original description I wrote is not as appropriate by the time I get to chapters five or ten. Sometimes this is to avoid spoilers or diluting the impact of the early chapters, but sometimes it is not intentional as a subplot might grow in importance as a story is being written.

So I've often had to update my descriptions several times until the completion, and even after the completion of a story.

349813
Oh same here. Incomplete is not a turn-off for me. I have dozens and dozens of stories I'm reading/going to read, and most of them aren't finished. If the story is good, I'll follow as long as it takes. A skill long since learned when I first discovered webcomics, years ago.

349815
Read fantasy blurbs. No, seriously. Go to a book store, go to the fantasy (or sci-fi, to a lesser extent) section and just read their blurbs. No genre does it better, in my opinion. I've never seen another genre master the ability to tell you all sorts of things and yet really give you no information, or maybe give you just enough information to get you going, "What the hell could that be?!"

Otherwise, learn to be vague. If you master word usage enough to make the reader think you've promised the moon--when YOU know you said no such thing--then you're pretty much set. Keep in mind that when we write, we're naturally putting together a bunch of "Cause-->Effect(s)" relationships. Depending on your story, a good blurb might simply be a retelling of your story's Causes--then the reader goes in to look for the effects. Works especially well if you mention those Causes will happen because of/to characters, events, places they already know.

349835
I plan on doing this myself, if it becomes necessary. I think, no matter how well you've planned or thought out your story, things will almost always change when you actually get there. That's why this system is particularly wonderful--it's naturally tailored to be adaptable as you go along.

349869 Thanks I'll keep this in mind.

349835 I have had to do that once or twice myself so yeah I know how that can be.

349684

It isn't really a binary "big=good, small=bad" kind of thing, but more of a "the devil is in the details" kind of thing. Good stories have a lot of little things for the readers to latch onto, subtle gestures, bits of description, clever dialogue and so on. One thousand words or so really isn't enough to have all those little details and I am (at least) left feeling like the author rushed to get to "the cool parts" without taking the time to set them up properly.

Now, I have been wrong before, and pleasantly surprised by a brief chapter that just works at the length it is...but that is not the norm. Usually I find a rushed skeletal thing that doesn't draw me in and certainly doesn't hold my attention. But if the author can catch my eye and keep it, I am willing to follow the narrative no matter how long it takes (I'm looking at YOU hundred-page chapter of "Through the Eyes of Another Pony")

On the subject of multi-chapter works; yes, I do prefer them...but I prefer the individual chapters to be long-ish too. In fact I demand it. Three chapters of about 800 words apiece could just have easily been written as one chapter with scene breaks (and if they DON'T work in that format it's probably a bad sign). Of course something with a crazy huge number of chapters will scare me away as well--as THAT looks like the author is just writing to write and has little idea when/how the story will end.

Now "New Authors" is a tricky subject, but it boils down in my head to this. The only person who needs my approval to write is ME. Another author, new or veteran will write regardless of if I read their work or not. And the people that stop will stop regardless of if I read their work or not. However I, as a reader want to feel like my time reading is well spent. So I'm looking for quality, and in the myriad fictions that get submitted and extended every day on the site, the ones that come in chunks of a thousand words or less generally aren't worth it. As I've said before it is kind of petty and ignores swaths of stories...but I've found it works for me.

349869

I agree with vague summerys working great, but I find that sometimes a summery that goes ahead and spills the beans on what a character is going to be dealing with is just as effective. Writing is a lot like a business, I think. Sometimes people like seeing the goods before making the deal. (The deal in this case: reading your story.) It's a lot like a gesture of good faith when you go ahead and tell people what your product is going to consist of, haha.

350016 350188
My answer to both of you is pretty much the same: it all depends on the Story.

For you Merc the Jerk, that serves some genres better than ever. You wouldn't really want to give away too much for a mystery tale; but some explanation for a sci-fi is often a good choice. Generally speaking, the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. You want to tell them enough so they get a feel for the story but hold enough back so they can be hooked by suspense or pleased by surprise.

For your comment on chapter length Kandagger, I agree that that happens sometimes. But there are plenty of good works out there (in the professional world) that have super short chapters. I'll admit it's not widespread, but some authors and some Stories out there are benefited by quick, short chapters. Just as some like super long ones.

I mean, to each their own of course, but it all ultimately comes right back to the source of what we do: the Story.

348886

If you're seriously using the length of a story to judge whether or not you should read it, you'll be missing out on a lot of awesome things, and you'll be wasting your time slogging through some of the worst stuff in Fanfiction looking for gems. Luckily, when a story is THAT bad, you can usually tell by the first couple of paragraphs...

Case in point: My Immortal. If you don't know what that is, consider yourself lucky. Don't pursue the matter. Forget this post existed.

If you DO know what it is? Feel free to cry a little inside at its very existence.

Anyway...what do I like in a story? A good title is helpful, and the blurb is really nice in 2 ways. It gives me a view on your style of writing and also tells me if I'll be interested in the plot. If the very first thing you show me about your story is a run-on, I'll just walk away. If I get past the blurb, I'll usually judge from the first few paragraphs. Then I know whether you're keeping the characters in character, or if you're using them purely for fan recognition.

I have a disdain for most HiE. It tends towards self-insertion way too much. And shipping is...meh. It usually requires taking characters out of character, so I tend not to read them. I just straight out ignore gore and sex tagged stories. Insta-turn off.

350600
Those two words--I had nearly forgotten! Curse yooooooooou!

350600>>350621

Could be worse. It could be "Living the Dream."

350600

I don't "seriously" use the chapter length to judge a story any more than you use run-on sentences, the inclusion of a human, shipping, and the gore and sex tags to judge a story. It's a petty, snap judgement decision that helps me not waste my time even looking at something I will most likely click away from after the first paragraph or so. If I have significant reason to revise this sentiment for a particular story, (featured box, EqD, recommendation from someone I trust etc) I will.

Also I'm not sure what "My Immortal" has to do with any of this. I KNOW it's bad without ever even seeing a posting of it, so therefore I have no inclination to read it.

350640
That one sounds familiar--but it's not bringing up any specific memories. Oh lawsy, I'm going to go look it up now, aren't I? Blast my curiosity.

350650

Enjoy yourself if you do! Huehuehue

When I am going to read a story I look for three key factors, asking these questions:

Is the introduction good? An intro should reflect upon the story. I'm not saying you can't have a great intro and a terrible story, but usually when the intro is suspenseful and grammatically sound, the rest of the story will be, too.

Does this author have good history/do his/her previous stories strike me as good? Often times, writers pull elements from previous stories without even meaning to. This can effect the story greatly, or subtly, depending. This is what makes first stories tricky.

(After reading some of the story) Is this relevant to my intersects/do I like it? It is important that you like the story. Not just elements of the story, the actual story. You can like that part, but totally hate the rest. You must know how you feel about it.

Chapter lengths never bother me too much. I guess it's my more lenient nature once more speaking. I personally try to keep my stories above the 3 thousand word per chapters (doesn't always work though) but I can understand if someone struggles to get past the 2 thousand word mark.

I also have to confess something. Sometimes I read stories with horrible description for no other reason than to satisfy a morbid curiosity. Almost like watching a car crash I suppose.

350648

None of mine are petty, though. That's the thing. Gore, sex, human, and shipping are core concepts of the story itself, and terrible grammar affects the entire reading experience. The length of a story has no direct consequences on actually reading it. The length just affects how LONG you'll be reading it. An extremely short story can keep my attention and be really good. However, if the grammar is bad, or if it contains gore or sex, or if it's a ship fic, or, for the most part, HiE fics, I KNOW I'm not going to like it. HiE I don't really use as a judge, I use the specific idea behind the story in the blurb and sometimes the first couple of paragraphs.

It's like going through to actually pick up a book. It's not a 'snap decision' if you avoid the harlequin romance section. It's a calculated maneuver to save your sanity based on the reading material. If you were to look in the fiction section, however, you'd end up passing over things like Percy Jackson or A Series of Unfortunate Events, two series of short books that are wonderfully written, and you'd pick up Pride and Prejudice, one of the most unbelievably boring things I've ever read. And I have read it. Took me 3 months because I just couldn't sit there for more than an hour at a time.

Not that I'm saying you're wrong for disliking short fics, but I AM saying that you're going to pass up really good ones that you'd really enjoy for really superficial reasons, and end up wasting a lot of time reading exceedingly long, boring stories waiting for something to happen because the author shot for length over engaging story telling. I mean, do we REALLY need 60k words on this kid from earth walking around Ponyville learning about 'friendship' and falling in love with the author's favorite pony? Again?

350690
There is a certain fascination with the terrible--I think it's because occasionally we discover the 'so bad it's good/hilarious', that a part of ourselves kinda keeps an out for those sorts of things.

350766
While I pretty much agree with everything you said, to your very last point: If it's done well, why not? I'm not a particular fan of Human stories, myself (I am here, after all, to read/write ponies). But if it's done well, if it tells a stirring Story with genuine emotion and at least decent characterization, is moderately well written...Then sure, add it right in with the rest. I wish we had some sort of fair and consistent manner to weed out the real garbage (which would be impossible considering the heavily subjective nature of our work), because that's the only thing we really need to improve the art overall--culling, not limiting.

350956

It's just that 60,000 words is a LOT. And at some point it is bound to drop into just dull tedium. IF it's well done, then ok, but the point is that in a story that long with that little happening, and a main character we're only using as a vessel for ourselves, eventually you start either doing nothing or repeating the same thing over and over again. It's POSSIBLY to do it well. Anything is possible. But you need to really pull some amazing stuff our of your bum to get it going right. And to do it while being original all at the same time makes it that much harder.

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*shrug* I just don't like placing limiters on myself if I can help it. I admit the heftier a fic, generally speaking, the lower it goes in my queue. It is nice to be able to sit down and kill just an hour or so reading a story of 10K or less. Or several stories that are only a few thousand words.

But I'm a crazy prolific reader, always have been. I read three or four books a week (more if I'm re-reading a series I particularly enjoy), depending on the authors and if I have the cash to burn. It's a bit slower with fan fiction (what I wouldn't give to have many of these stories in book form), but still--even the professionals can't make every single moment of their books exciting or interesting or even likable. My expectations for fan fiction are a bit less than that, so perhaps I'm just more forgiving. I'll admit that there's a limit and if a story--no matter how awesome it might have started off--trails on for too long, I would probably drop it.

I think our calls for 'originality' are rather vain for any of us. Should we, as Authors, always strive to find something new, something fresh, something never seen before? Oh sure. I live my life by impossible goals all the time--that way I never stop improving. But I'm a Troper, particularly a fan of Fantasy; I like classic jRPGs more than probably any other sort of game; I'm a student of literature, poetry, and psychology. There is almost nothing--and I mean nothing--in this world that I could possibly say, "Yeah, I've never even heard of something like that before."

We're creators, but not gods. Every single person here has countless influences--conscious and subconscious--that touch us in an infinite number of ways we can't even realize. And it's not a bad thing. Far from it. We Authors have created a rich history, ever changing but building on what came before. And that's a good thing to keep in mind, I think. It's less about originality and rather the illusion of it.