Stories Going Bye Bye · 5:19pm Sep 8th, 2014
Per the general consensus of my last blog and the motivation of two long time editors, I have decided to delete One Last Game Book 1, Book 2, and Pangur Ban. Why this and not hiatus? Because there is still too much left to go in these stories with too little enjoyment in them for me to ever come back to. Wing Spell used to be my most up-voted story, but I haven't updated that hunk of garbage in forever. Maybe I should just scrap that too.
Seriously, no one enjoys them, maybe two people who commented said they watched me for those stories. Everyone else said put them on hiatus and focus on my strengths, shipping ponies together in increasingly abstract manners. Those comments were up-voted like 4-5 times. Those two masked readers only got one up-vote at best. Minority indeed.
And yes, I fully realize how emo/depressing/bullcrap this all sounds to be. But, as a writer, I can tell you that nothing helps one realize their feelings more than writing down what they need to do, plan to do, and hope to do. I was hoping to write those stories as practice for my actual novel, because no novel I publish is ever going to feature chromatic ponies falling in love with one another. They focus on character development in extraordinary circumstances usually against vastly superior and often morally justifiable villain. But no, if this experiment has taught me anything, its that no one enjoys that kind of trash. Guess that means I have a few more stories to scrap.
If you leave me, well okay, nothing new there. God's speed.
Don't delete. Put on hiatus/canceled, and put an authors note on them.
Someone might want to read them.
I really hate when writers delete stories, and then write some garbage afterwords instead, if at all.
Its not like its hurting anyone being there.
That said, I have not read them, or planing to read them, so I don't care that much.
'tis your perogative as a writer, my dear Magus of the Word.
Personally, I started stalking you due to your Twi-Dash set (Spell, Gift of the Magi, Progress, and especially In Dreams, in particular...), but I have Sonnets on the Read Later list and will rectify that issue... soon(tm).
I would love to see more updates from you, whatever the content, but ultimately it is up to you.
Well, I'm not going to leave you. I can promise that. Partly because I'm really picky with my Follows, and if I follow someone it's usually for
lifeto the entire time I'm on Fimfic.Also, even if this might sound cheap, you can still do character development and opposition/villains in a romance story. The romance might have to take a bit of a backseat, but it can be done.
Regardless, while I don't like to see stories just get deleted, I respect your decision.
On one hand Your the author and I do respect your decision.
On the other, I'm SO SAD THOSE STORIES ARE GONE FOR GOOD.
I loved those stories! They were a lot a fun and a blast to read. Pangur Ban was actually one of my all time favourites on Fimfiction.
RIP Awesome stories. I will miss you :(.
Sounds like the opposite of emo actually, based as fuck.
I enjoyed that trash(although I thought it was awesome and wouldn't call it that) you sound kinda depressed, not emo-wise, just that you sound like you have been struggling some, perhaps you should take a break from writing and relax some?
Seriously, don't delete them. They're good works. And fark the haters; if they don't like what you write, they can go read something else.
2438285 This. It should be noted that having the characters be candy coloured horses is not relevant to the story any more than having the villain be ancient gods and dragons would be relevant to your novel. What your audience at large is trying to tell you is not that these stories are crap and that there is no value in them, nor that they only care about little ponies kissing. What they are telling you is that you write characters better than conflicts, and that they read your other stories because the premise of adding other, darker elements to my little pony fanfiction specifically (and not whatever novels you might happen tobe writing) alienated them because they had no familiarity with the source material or didn't like the tone clash of the two genres.
They are also repeatedly, repeatedly telling you that their apathy towards a genre does not mean they want you to stop writing it, or that they think those stories are bad, and that they don't want to boss you around when it comes to what you are doing. I say this not because I want to boss you around, either, but because I feel like you aren't listening to what people are actually saying and are taking a lot of negative messages away from this criticism that isn't actually helping you as a writer. And that these negative messages you are generating for yourself are getting in the way of your actual writing by making you react to these complaints in extreme ways that make more problems than solutions, both for yourself and for your fans.
Whatever the case, I'm sorry for any part I played in sinking you into this funk. Remember that my dislike of the tone shifts in Pangur Ban and OLG are mine and not the rest of your watchers. And that I never said I hated Pangur Ban or OLG to begin with, just that I hated the direction they were being taken and having to edit that, because it wasn't what I, personally aimed myself at writing and reading when it came to Fimfiction specifically. Hopefully, whatever your decision, it ends up being best for you as a writer in the end.
Delete?
NEVER!
There are always going to be people who will enjoy your stories, heck I'm one of them, and there is no reason to deny them that.
Deleting your work, scrubbing it from the Internet, is just going to prove right the haters and that little voice in your head telling you that your work isn't worth it.
Don't prove them right.
I'm really angry that you're removing the availability of those stories. Doing so is a disservice to the many hours of work you put into them, whether you're happy with the end result or not.
Good thing I keep backups.
You deleted OLG...
fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/s261x260/1947359_244836082355728_1091391127_n.jpg
And that's a fuck you.
Oh shit more fuck you's!
IT'S RAINING FUCK YOU'S!!!
And now to more serious tone.
No I'm not pissed off.
Disappointed? Yes, very so.
Like...
FUCKING SHIT!
There, that's better, so I'll excuse myself away now. I enjoyed OLG, but sometimes one can not have what one wants. There are no other good Massive Crossovers on this site, so I'm honestly really up on that "okay fuck you too then"-line, but that would be immature, and I will eventually forget this shitty fact anyways. So I'll just have to go to listen to some of my favorite music now and I'll be all better :)
And hey! Less for you to worry about :D Keep on writing nice stories mate! Maybe I will like one of them sometime.
PS. Congrats for that thousand up there!
I even evened it out for you ;3no actually fuck that you're a good fella imma stay followed to you, pffft what was I thinking?2438285 So is that why you're
stalkingfollowing me? Huh. Good to know.And as for you, Wizard, you're wrong. People enjoy character development based fics just as much as they do shipping. Take a look at my Valkyrie, my Unyielding. Kapuchu will back me up on this one. Granted my pride and joy isn't as stupidly popular as a shipfic or clopfic, but it is up there.
I honestly think you're issue is that you're not as good as writing character development/adventure/action/whatever as you are writing abstract pony ships. I dont mean that offensively, I don't! Sorry if you take it that way. Look at me for example. I have an astounding knack for world building and warfics and adventure, but I cant do slice of life or sad or much of anything else. But even though all four fics I have are focused (or will be focused) on war and adventure, I've still managed to make them completely different. I feel that you're kind of the same way. Better at some shipping than other endeavours.
Of course, I could be completely wrong and talking out my ass right now. If so, apologies.
NO NO NO NO.
DO NOT DELETE THEM DAMNIT.
DO not be a fucking emo idiot, dude! Leave them up and DO NOT deny the enjoyment to those who LIKED them!
...Please. I respect you, dude, but I hate people who delete for dumb reasons! Those are dumb reasons!
~Skeeter The Lurker
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Valkyrie, Unyielding, [Insert name of previous version of Unyielding].
Your stories are one of the more unique on the site, plus you're a world-building master (Or at least, very good at it)... So that's why I follow you
And yes, I back you up on what you say.
I never read the stories you deleted. Why? Because the description turned me off so much I didn't care to read even the first chapter.
Work on you descriptions, if you had described them like that I would have given them a quick read through at the very least.
Even though the majority of what I read is shipping, OLG was still my favorite work of yours and I was really looking forward to read Pangur Ban
2438721 And then I let my readers down by not updating on a regular basis.
I really need to fix that. Makes me feel bad.
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Well... I wouldn't be entirely opposed to seeing an update within the next few weeks *whistles innocently*
You deleted OLG?
Dude, I totally understand where you're coming from, organizing everything you're doing. But that's kinda sad to see OLG go. That's actually one of the stories that helped inspire me to write.
But I guess it's always up to the author. I'm going to stay followed to you, gonna try to read some of your other stuff as well. All in all though, I wish you luck with everything you do. With your stories, fanfiction and not, I hope they all turn out fantastically, as I'm sure they will.
God speed my friend.
Never Delete Stories, I've heard as a rule of thumb. That's what the "Cancelled" status is for. At the very least, dump them into a "Scrapbook" fic or something. Because there's always going to be someone who wants to read them, and will enjoy them. And If you yourself are unhappy with them, think of them as reminders, something to look back on as you look at your newer, more successful stories, and think "This is how far I've come"
But don't delete them.
But then again, that's just my opinion.
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ahem.
OLG and Pangur Ban had descriptions that didn't capture me. I can't judge the stories themselves because I never got past the long description.
At no point did I think to myself "Wizard of Words is a shipping author", I simply have a limited amount of time to read long stories so I get picky.
This is going to sound incredibly shallow, but Pangur Ban had two other strikes against getting my attention. One, the title. It tells me nothing about the story, the characters, the conflicts that are to come. Two, the cover art. I didn't know who or what the being on the cover was, the description only told me 'a creature from the Everfree' and I wasn't curious enough to find out.
These three things are not failures of writing, I can't judge the writing, but rather failures of presentation. You never sold me on why I should read these stories.
I follow you, I dig your stuff, but there are only two or three authors on this site who I will automatically read anything they write. I simply don't have the time. When a new story lands in my feed, on average a story has about thirty seconds to get my attention. If I give a story a pass, I may never see it again barring an authors blog post or a review by another user I follow.
I know it's harsh, but Fimfiction generates too much content for me to do otherwise.
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And save what? People don't like those stories. People hate those stories! Why would I possibly keep stories on my profile for people to come back to a grimace at? Sure, they had promise, but like all promises I make to myself, they withered and died only to keep churning until it was compost.
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Well I saved you the trouble of wasting time.
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What are you talking about, you should be thrilled! No more lying to myself about being good at writing crap like crossovers. Nope, that's the kind of stuff only eight year olds like to read. From now on, I'm only going to write the stuff that I'm good at. And, just like I should have expected, most people's comments are filled with passive "I don't really care," that are all up-voted.
In fact, you should be doubly thrilled! Now I'll only be writing stories that you'll enjoy! Hell, I'm not even going to bother with that novel anyways. If two out of two adventure stories were disliked, there's no way a full fledged novel is going to get any more slack.
2439577 Well, you seem very set on this, so I suppose I have nothing else I can say to you. I will say that I am not happy because it's obvious that you're hurting, Wiz. That makes me sad, no matter what.
2439577
Simple: so you can look at them and realize just how far you came.
And don't bullshit yourself. They were good stories.
~Skeeter The Lurker
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Good = Possessing a quality slightly above average.
One Last Game and Pangur Ban = Unoriginal uninspired ideas that bored readers more than it entertained.
Besides, it doesn't matter. I've already hard drive wiped them, and I cam to a stunning revelation. I can't write anything beyond four chapters! After I do that, my stories go to shit. It's why I'm going to have to delete Wing Spell and Discord's Helping Hoof now. Need to end FSaH asap too.
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You... You fucking emo bitch.
I get you seem to be in a bad way right now, but would you pause and take a moment to look at the bullshit your doing?
Does any of this make sense to you? Just take a moment and think about this, please?
There is literally no reason for you to delete them at all.
Don't do this. I beg you.
~Skeeter The Lurker
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While I am honestly a little relieved that you finally see me for the worthless mess I am, I took this action after long periods of thought.
People are always talking about how much they wish for my stories to just dissapear because of the horrible twists they have. It makes more sense to me to actually delete stories that have horrible twists and ending then let them sit around because "it was good in the beginning."
Of all the things I wanted to be, a symbol of what not to be is not one of them. I'd rather be just another nobody than an example of what could go wrong.
And emo, yeah, maybe a little, but if takes that to get me to realize how much I'm wasting my life trying to think of good story plots instead of, say, focusing on my college work, then I'll take it. I'm a whiny emo bastard.
And I do honestly apologize if you take this as an attack on you. You're actually a great guy Skeeter, I know that from our talks on Skype. But I am not.
2439862
I have not once heard a single person say that.
I am in MANY Skype groups and they seem to rather enjoy your works.
And if this is based out of only TwiDash's chat, then I have to question you as it seems they've become cynical idiots as of late.
~Skeeter The Lurker
2439883
You must be looking at some pretty desperate readers if they consider my work good. And even if they do, how often is that? While they talking about the qualities of Vampire Movies or Massive Crossover fics?
2439901
Some of them are quite picky, actually.
And they normally make fun of Vampire flicks and Crossovers. On occasion. But they seem to enjoy, or at least find it ok, your stuff. Even if they don't comment/fave it.
So, take that into consideration. Please.
~Skeeter The Lurker
2439910
Yeah, right, I'll believe that when the stars start to align. the consideration is taken, but still meaningless. Besides, its not like anybody is losing anything from me doing this. Hell, maybe I should just wipe my account and focus on real life for a change. It would make it a lot easier on everyone. No "Ah crap, I click on one of his stories again. Unfinished sack of crap." It would just be, "nothing here, time to go on." I find the latter a much better scenario.
2439919
That's a dumb way to think of it. A really dumb way to think of it.
There is never a valid reason to delete stories. Someone somewhere likes them.
And from the ratios I've seen, you have a good many who do. View count going down? No comments? They still read them.
You just need to recall that the average FimFiccer has the attention span of a gnat.
~Skeeter The Lurker
You know back when I first started reading the crap on this site, you were one of the first authors I remember giving a fuck about because of how much I liked OLG. Hell it was the reason I started editing for you (it's Ech...name change w/e).
So OLG went off the deep-end. It might have been when you threw in like 20 freaking characters. It might have been the whole...castle thing. Who cares? You have a story you wish you never wrote. Who doesn't? You don't see bats deleting Rainbow Rambles, or hell not even TAW deleted his stories after he went shithead crazy and left the fandom.
Those crappy stories don't define who you are as an author. They're there to show yourself and others how far you've come. Just glance at any author on this site who's written at least five stories. Look at their first and then their most recent and see the difference.
Don't hide your scars, bitches love scars.
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Don't you guys get it? I fucked up step one and continued to fuck up for hundreds of pages worth of text, stupidly thinking that I was begin creative in some retarded mindset. No, wait, that's offensive, retards have better ideas than those stories.
Love scars? Average Fimficcer? No one counts scars and the average reader isn't going to care that a story disappeared from the site. All I'm trying to do is prune my overgrown and useless mess of a story collection.
Besides, its not like I'll be able to write again after this.
2439960
Goddammit, you're worth more than this! You're worth more than what you think!
2439960
Listen to what Former said.
Listen to what Razzle said.
Don't do this. Please.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I'm not sure what else I can add to this that hasn't been said by KoC, Skeeter, Razzle, and Ech, but I'm gonna throw in my two cents.
I'm one of the (many) people who was still actively reading and enjoying One Last Game. Pangur Ban's been on my RL list for quite some time now, but I was looking forward to eventually delving into that. Wiz, listen, even if you don't think that these stories have been successful, then I'm going to have to be the guy who points out that, in comparison to the vast majority of stories on fimfiction.net, that they are. You have a healthy supply of readers that have been keeping up with them, and both have made the feature box. Are they as popular as some of your other TwiDash fics? No. Why? Because those fluffy TwiDash fics pander to a much larger audience. There are people here who read exclusively TwiDash, and a lot of 'em are following you. Does that mean you should delete your non-TwiDash-focused stories because these general masses aren't reading them? That's up to you, but I would advise against not doing so.
OLG and PB were good stories, even if you don't seem to think so. Each had at least a hundred people actively following it, faving it, and reading it. That's more than most fics here will ever get. You may not be proud of them, but plenty of people enjoyed them. You have nigh 1,000 people following you for your stories, the popular and the not as popular.
Wiz, I can understand that you're going through a bout of depression or something. I understand that anything and everything must look like shit right now. All I ask is that you slow down, take a deep breath, maybe not log into FimFic for a couple days and take a breather. Take a couple days off from worrying about FimFic, and then re-visit it later. All I'm asking is that you slow down and take a moment to think about things, because you do have hundreds of people that like your writing and hundreds of people who enjoyed the stories that you have deleted.
Take a couple days and try to remember why you started writing, back before you had any fans. Try to remember why you enjoyed writing before you had a legion of followers. Don't write for the fans man, write for yourself.
Slow down, take a breath, and talk to all these people here on your blog who care about you staying on this website and care about your writing.
http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view1/1148112/bird-flip-o.gif
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Yeah, I deserve that.
I know there's probably no changing your mind, but why don't you just cancel the stories, instead of deleting them? That way you won't have to write for them anymore, and the people who liked them can still get to read it.
This is unacceptable. I'm leaving you.
2442214
Okay, I understand. I'm probably not going to be able to write anything anyways.
All I really have to add is I did follow you because of wing spell. Well that and to support everyone else saying cancel rather than delete.
Nooooooo! Why delete them instead of just canceling them!?
I came to reread some chapters of "One Last Game Book" only to find that the story was deleted. Whyyyyyyy!?
Oh fucking great, another story I enjoy is deleted on a fucking whim....
If you wanted to stop writing them, fair enough, but why not just change them to 'cancelled' Why fucking wipe them at all? And don't say because they're 'shit' because all the people who faved them pretty much told you otherwise when they did so....
Well it doesn't matter now coz they're gone, so good luck and thanks so much for the slap in the face.
Oh...well this makes me feel depressed, well... Dammit, was looking forward to some of those things.
Well... nope speechless.
Why did you have to delete it? I was just coming back to re read the first part (my favorite
) and after 10 minutes I finally found this post.... 
I understand not wanting to continue but now I can't even re read it?.....
Your choice... Just know that it will be missed
Well damn, I literally spent the last hour trying to find One Last Game, and here I find out you chose to delete it. Although I'm not happy with your decision, I'll respect it because it was your story in the end. I still think you made a huge mistake.