Thrilled, But Conflicted · 4:04pm Jan 7th, 2014
So I just got word that Cheerilee's Thousand just made Equestria Daily! I'm super happy about that, but it also kind of confuses me.
You see, Cheerilee's Thousand is my whatever story. I work on it when I get a little bit of time that isn't quite enough for any of my real stuff. If I've got an hour, I can bang out a thousand words of nonsense. Then when I get another hour, I'll go over that nonsense and tighten it up some. It's a very low-key kind of a thing and I don't worry too much about whether it's the funniest thing on the planet or if there are still some editing mistakes or whatever. It's my relaxation story.
What causes the conflicting emotions for me is that First Steps was rejected, and I feel like that's ten times the story that Cheerilee's Thousand is. I really poured everything I had into that Pinkie/Rarity story because I was writing not just for me, but for Steel and for the Mailbox group.
But what can you do? I happen to love First Steps so maybe I'm blinded to some of its flaws. It is a shared story, so maybe it doesn't gel for some people. The strike notification basically said, "take Pinkie Pie out of this story." Well, maybe not quite that bad, but the general advice was "Pinkie Pie is too Pinkie in this story and you should cut out every scene that has Pinkie, but not Rarity because I don't want to read about Pinkie." So, if you tell me to cut Pinkie out, I'm going to tell you to get stuffed because I love every bit of Pinkie in that story. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think she's the best Pinkie I've written. I will allow that I might be too close to the situation.
However, Cheerilee's Thousand might work better as a story because of its laser focus. I will say that First Steps is a little rambling. We kind of let that story go where it will, and that totally works for me, but I could see other readers getting irritated. I don't think five hundred words is a long time for a character to go off and do something other than strict plot is a lot to ask, but that's just my opinion.
So, yes. I'm quite happy that Cheerilee's Thousand made the cut. Even if it is my whatever story, I still do work to try and make it as entertaining as I can. I'm happy that it's been appreciated. I honestly expected EQD to write back with a "Thanks for submitting this. This is cute, but not a real story. Better luck next time." I would have totally understood if that was the response. Instead, I got to wake up and do the happy dance!
Unfortunately that's just the nature of EQD, as with just about any critical body. It comes down to someone's opinion, and if they just don't get it, you're doomed.
A silly fluff comedy like Cheerilee's Thousand has a wider appeal, and therefore a higher chance of success, even if it is an outlet for nonsense.
Personally, I liked Pinkie in First Steps overall. The only point I really thought she went way off the rails was at the spa when she was separated from Rarity. I could tell that it was supposed to show how out of her element she was in the situation, but it ended up feeling like an overly long set up to the Mr. Waddle joke. The rest of Pinkie felt spot on, so you probably just got a Pinkie-hater.
1692258 That's the one spot where I can see an argument made for getting rid of some Pinkie. It does go on for a bit, but it doesn't bother me personally. I could see where it would lose some readers, though. I think it's funny, but for other people that are more interested in what is specifically going on between Pinkie and Rarity, I could see where that segment of the story was a drag.
Congratulations, Jugg. I think I agree with EQD on this one. Thousand is their type of story. It's well written, and has some real laugh out loud moments. Tonally, First Steps is just not for them. That's okay. We already have an audience.
1692290 Thanks!
I don't know. To me, a story is a story is a story. I have a hard time with stories of similar quality getting different results, but I'm not an expert. There is a reason I don't do pre-reading.
And you're new story's doing great, so congrats to you!
Totally digging you there, Juggy. I stopped think of EQD being a place for good stories a long time ago and said as much many times over. It's not a dig at the pre-readers, just at the quality of the average audience member. Sometimes I think the better some of the authors get on here, the more out of sync they get with the majority of the readers.
-M
See what really sucks to me is that they basically told you "suck the life out of this story and we might consider it." I mean, to say get rid of Pinkie in a story that's half about pinkie? That's pretty brutal man. I haven't read the story, but I know that Pinkie is one of my favorite characters on the show and I'm sure you wrote her well. Unfortunately, well written Pinkie Pie can be off-putting to those who aren't on her wavelength. I suspect this prereader just doesn't get good vibes from the pink one. But congrats on Cheerilee's crappy dates!
Sadly that's how it goes in the world of fanfiction, it's much harder to get people tp pay attention to a serious and deep fanfic. ED is a for profit site and picks stories based on drawing traffic (sharknado for instance). Youre not alone - I was rather aghast when my tacky clopfic got more views in a day than my favored projects did in 4 months. But at the end of the day i am glad that peoppe enjoy my stuff and hopefully you can keep sight of that too.
1692322 I honestly feel like I just got a pre-reader who just doesn't like Pinkie much, but that could just be me being defensive. I don't know the guy, so I can't really make that call. The letter was very "I'm sick and tired of reading about Pinkie Pie" by the end of it.
I will make adjustments for EQD if they make sense. Often, I can see their point, and while it hurts, I will edit certain things. However, I won't edit First Steps for them. I do agree with Jondor that the spa sequence is probably overblown, but it's not so bad that I think it needs a major re-write, and it's a pain to edit in a minor since because the story it technically Steel's. I'd have to make him go in and change things here and there, and it's just not really worth it.
1692333 I fight through that anger every day here. Well, 'anger' is probably the wrong word, but I see stories that are terrible get a ton of attention because they are clop when stories that obviously had a ton of work go into them disappear forever with fifty views. That feels really unfair to me.
HOWEVER, I try to keep in mind that the readers here are not wrong, and there is no such thing as 'fair'. Readers are supporting what they like and authors can either get on that train or be left behind at the station. It just sort of sucks for me that what I like doesn't align all that well with what readers here really seem to dig. I write comedy, which is very popular, or course, but comedy, shipping, clop are the big three. Since I don't write shipping or clop, that leaves me pretty pigeon-holed if I want views. My dark fic was proof enough of that.
Those bastards! They just don't appreciate pinkie for who she is. I mean pinkie is a supporting character so why the hell would anyone be dumb enough to say get rid of said supporting character? Pinkie haters cease to amaze me with their stupidity.
1692504 I think what it came down to is that they think I'm writing scenes for Pinkie to be in for the sake of just wanting more Pinkie in the story. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
When I'm writing, I think "Okay, this happened, so what would logically follow? Okay, now that thing happened, so what's next?" In the case of First Steps, I let Pinkie move away from Rarity at times to react to something, and I don't think the pre-reader liked that. I think they felt it was extraneous. I don't feel that way at all. I see it as necessary. Pinkie is in an environment and reacting to it.
However, it's just one person's opinion. That person happens to be a gate-keeper, so their opinion has a lot of weight, but they are still just one set of eyes against lots of others who have liked the story overall.
You have a case of Magnum Opus Dissonance. I guess you could say you're not the only one.
1692755 Yeah, I don't really know how to feel about it. I really feel like it's a pretty worthwhile story, but it might be because it means a lot to me. The only solution is time. When we finish it, I probably won't look at it for several month and then I'll re-read it. With some separation, I'll probably be able to tell if I had thought of it too highly or not.
1692313 I totally think there is something to that. Once you start becoming a better author, you start taking risks and becoming bored with convention. This leads to oddball fics that are not what the mainstream has been trained to like. It might be the best story in the world, but the majority of the readers would still rather see a story about Twilight making out with Rarity or Rainbow Dash racing against griffons. Chances are, the average reader will give that strange looking story a pass, since there are THOUSANDS of stories of at least passable quality within reach that are exactly what they are looking for. I think EQD is generally looking for the best written of these meat and potatoes style stories.
I think I referenced submitting a story to EqD once as being equivalent to walking up an Aztek pyramid with your firstborn infant in the forlorn hope that the guy with the flint knife is really a mohel. If I haven't, I will.
CT is a worthy story for EqD because they are not really looking for deep, insightful, long, focused stories, but 'interesting' stories that attract clicks. I have a couple stories myself like Diplomacy who do not have multi-thousand followers, but they are my blood and tears, and I love them dearly, despite their lack of 'interest.' Someday soon I'm going to submit Monster and see if EqD thinks it's interesting.
1693200 That story is A Periodic Tale of Elements: Generosity for me. I've slaved over that story, but it has 150 views. I just keep updating and hoping. It's all I can do, but at the end of the day, I think it's pretty good. At least I can be proud of it.
I'm always a proponent of submitting to EQD. At the worst, it doesn't get in and that's the situation you started out in in the first place. Usually I get a nice little list of ideas and ideas, too. I find the process to be very worthwhile, even if I'm whining about it here.