TwiJack Must Read · 2:39am Nov 19th, 2013
Alright, so most folks know not to ask me to recommend their stories in blogs. Why? I'm picky, and I won't do it for a friend just because I like them, or if they ask me nicely. I only recommend stories I feel earn recommendation, and that's my decision to make, not because someone asks me to recommend it.
I know we've got a decent overlap of followers between us, but if you don't follow bookplayer, or do and when you saw her new story, The Homesteading were hesitant to read it, either due to subject matter or word count, I not only recommend it, I highly recommend it.
Alright, story time. When I started getting into the fanfiction side of the fandom, I was far more indiscriminate in my tastes. I ate up a lot of stories based on subject matter, because I was charmed by the subject matter. There was a rush to reading back then, because I was satisfying something sort of animalistic and feral emotionally by reading them. After a while...that feeling went away. I still enjoyed stories, but I got easily bogged down in mechanics problems when they came along, or I'd get caught up in questioning story mechanics. Even really, really good stories I read since that changed for me had some rough-ass standards to get through. I've read a ton of bad stories, a lot of good ones, and a few great ones. It's been a long, long time since I read something that made me forget about writingcraft while reading and just fall into the story, dreading when the temperature dropped, grinning stupidly when the characters were at an emotional high, or choking up when I could so fully identify with characters emotionally that I felt like I was a part of them again, loving, fearing, and laughing right with them.
I should be working on NaNoWriMo, not reading stories about ponies. It's quite wonderful to recapture those old feelings, even if it's just for one story.
I can't promise that everyone's gonna have the same reaction. If I'm being entirely honest, the story hits a lot of notes for me in terms of my personal tastes for genre, and if you're not as fond of the supernatural mystery story as I am, you might not fall so easily into the magic of the story.
This was bookplayer's entry for the TwiJack contest, and I now fully expect to lose. Go read what I'm gonna lose to.
I've read the homesteading and I gotta say it's a great read.
I'll take it!
22k words. Please.
200k is a high for me, usually around 15 sittings. 20k for me is like one or two sittings.
I'll definitely read it. You're not the first person to recommend it, and bookplayer is definitely no amateur.
If you say so, the newbies like me will be dead meat to the contest. Thanks for the cheer up
Nah, stop kidding. Good luck to you too
I've read A bluebird's song in one sitting, this is light reading.