I submitted my 1st story to Equestria Daily, and this is their feedback. · 4:27pm Jan 15th, 2014
Hi all,
Several months ago, before I wrapped up my second story, I submitted the first to Equestria Daily. I got a lot of love on FIMFiction for Princess Twilight Sparkle's 500th Birthday, so I figured it had a shot at being featured on EQD. So this morning they got back to me (I don't envy the poor bastards that have to slog through their fan fiction submission queue). It was interesting to get their feedback, and I thought I'd share it with you all, in case you too have visions of temporary glory at the top of the EQD pile:
Hi, and thanks for submitting to Equestria Daily. Your story, "Princess Twilight Sparkle's 500th Birthday" has been reviewed, and the following issues were found:
*Mechanical Issues:*
*Narrative Issues:*
Flat writing, Not funny enough*Character Issues:*
Flat characterization*Content Issues:*
You can find these issues explained in our Editor's Omnibus <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dqgYO7OqGDcE3CZ8V6WDOBKTITjzvbrHdyXOFtm_dfI/edit>.
I also had the following comments about your story:
This isn't a bad story, it's just rather bland and unfunny. I found the idea of a filly named Smarty Pants to really not work in the theme here either. Unfortunately, pratfalls and physical comedy like you attempted to start with often don't work well in the context of a written story, mostly because if the writer spends too much time defining it, it loses all impact.This is your First strike out of three. Make your next attempts count!
Sincerely,
[{nAme reDacTed]
It's interesting feedback, because I don't usually get negative feedback in the comments for my stories. Usually it's a down vote here, or a 'I hate this trope' there. Though they did not laud it with high praise, the fact that my first ever piece of fiction came back with "This isn't a bad story..." is a victory in itself.
Am I going to resubmit PTS500 to EQD? No. No because the changes I would make to it to make them happy would make me unhappy.
Will I submit future stories to EQD? You bet. I like their 'I don't know you buddy, but I'll critique your work anyway' attitude. It's professional, and it didn't cost me a dime. Well worth it.
Well that's it really. Lesson learned: Hope for the best, write what you like, take advice where you get it, and grow as you go.
Later,
-Autumnschild
I am watching for more stories like Burt. I read the 1rst chapter of 500th birthday, and didn't like the tropes and found it boring, sorry for no feedback, but I usually don't rate/comment on stories witch I don't like for trope/mood reasons. Because someone else might like it. If I was you, I would just remove comedy tag.
That's about all the good advice I can give to you. If you write comedy tag, reader expects something funny. For slice of life, having a joke that makes sense in story, is an extra ting.
Anyhow you are good at writing light heated slice of life, but it's not quite same as comedy (at least in my opinion).
Good luck writing tho.
Not to crush your hopes, AC, but it's HIGHLY unlikely you'll get anything featured on ED. There's a lot of people here on Fimfiction that submitted stories there and got turned down for blatantly nitpicky reasons.
ED has a bad reputation here, apparently, for letting personal bias affect judgments of stories. Stuff like poor grammar or formatting is okay, but they often critique stuff unfairly because it doesn't fit with their personal headcanons.
That said, I'm envious you actually received feedback from them at all; I submitted two of my stories to them already and have yet to receive any kind of reply.
Anyway, good luck pleasing them in the future.
1720884
Thanks for the feedback! I don't mind when people don't like my stuff, and it helps me quiet a bit when people share the sort of feedback you just did.
I've heard a lot of this from friends who've submitted to EQD, like Razalon said, they don't exactly have the most sterling of reputations for fair judgements.
I am disappoint they rejected 500th just because "it wasn't funny enough" in that guy's eyes. And "flat characterization"? Seriously? It was such a sweet story.
Oh well, maybe 505th will get picked up by them instead?
Hmm. I should re-read "500th" just to see. I remember chuckling, and liked it enough to read "505th" when you put it out, which I found even funnier and more entertaining in general. I think you're taking this the right way though... EQD certainly can give you things to think about, but don't try to please them. Just write because it's fun. :)
I hear from a lot of writers that EQD had double standards. A lot of popular fics are never seen on EQD while they absolutely deserve. There is also a long waiting list for new writers.
But if you are in the system it's just too easy to get your fic featured. My suggestion would be that besides the prereaders there will also be a secondary system like the rating-system here on FimFic. For example, a fic has more than 700 votes and more than 95% has to be positive. The rules of the secondary system have to be kept secret so it would be harder to abuse it...
Frankly, I can't recall the last time I visited Equestria Daily. It's not really the best for finding new fanfics to read any more, IMO.
And kudos to you for refusing to compromise your story to suit their arbitrary criteria.
That fact that you're taking this so well is impressive, I have a large but flimsy ego when it comes to the small amount of stuff I write, so if my story was rejected like yours was, I'd probably have some form of meltdown, so congrats for that.
Also, I think that your story is amazing, and the sequel, and I can't wait for 'Princess Twilight Sparkle's 25th Birthday'. It's going to be cool to see Twilight back as what she considers herself a 'normal' pony after two stories of her being all grown up and princessy.
1720943
1720884 I'm going to agree about the comedy part. I didn't even remember it having a comedy tag.
yeah, pretty much, for three of the four stories of mine they've rejected.
I realize now that just having humor in my stories does not make it a comedy, any more than having a sad scene makes a story sad.
I've removed the Comedy tag from PTS500, and I'll probably do the same for PTS505.
Thanks for your input!
That's stupid. This was such a wonderful story
It was hilarious at some points. I don't even think that dude read it. "Not funny enough." Seriously? "Flat Characterization." The characters were all unique. Wow.
I don't like EQD, no offense, guys.
1721823
No, 505 was definitely comedic.
Huh. Well, I guess I can't completely disagree with their assessment. It was good, but I read through it as a prologue for 505th. Typically, 500th isn't my cup of tea. I thought 505th was wonderful though.
To be honest, Equestria Daily sucks.
You can't rate stories based on one persons views because there are as many opinions as there are people.
What makes one laugh will not move the other.
So do yourself a favor and stop sending them stories....
Like, 90% of them get ripped a new one just because the crew got cynical...
Wait...
xion.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wat-gigantic-duck.jpg
No seriously, that's what I thought when I read this.
I thought it was enjoyable and still think it is comedic, although this has me reevaluating ER250's tags. I do say that I favor 505 over 500 because you have a story and a world that was being made inside of it. 500 will always be a prolouge to 505th, to me.
I share the same belief with the others about EQD. nothing to really add there, except FiMFiction has been taking over the fanfic side of MLP for a while now.
I do applaud you for taking such a great outlook on this. If I had done this and gotten this response, I'd probably stop writing altogether.
EQD is wrong. Especially in this case. I'd suggest avoiding them and instead spending your time elsewhere.
That is a very mature approach to this. Of course, most people posting here (as well as yourself hopefully) are going to disagree with what the EQD reader had to say. Your story is one of the top rated on this site, and obviously is well-liked by most readers, and would continue to be well-liked over there.
But EQD isn't a good platform for fanfics anyways. Once I found this site I've only gone back once in search of new stores, only to turn around and go right back to FimFiction. You plan seems a good one, submit your stories to EQD for a critique, but continue posting here.