The big lesson to take from Necro-Semantics · 5:52pm Oct 20th, 2014
Well, Necro-Semantics is now my second highest rated story, second only to Quorum Sensing. Sequel's coming along nicely now, one scene per day. I'm just getting to the wedding rehearsal now, and added a little something called 'the traditional pounce'. I'm quite proud of that, actually.
But anywho, what's there to learn from Necro-Semantics?
Ttitles matter. Gimmicky title helps.
Cover pics matter, particularly the kind that has a bit of text on it to provide a look and feel. Empathy had a very similar cover art, and it took off well. the CMC Sleepover at Octavia's fic lso had just a screenshot for cover art, and a catchy title.
When you set out to write something with the express purpose of practising a very particular skill, you'll be lacking in other areas. I spent a lot of the editing on Discord's dialogue, because he and Pinkie Pie (and drama-free Rainbow Dash) are incredibly hard for me to get right. So Twilight, in contrast, is a little flat. But hey, she's a pony, not a Filly; she's always a little flat.
Gimmicks get heat from readers. Content gets heat from comments. On a related note: when this thing got featured, it had around 40 upvotes. Part of that is because I was quick on the ball in replying to comments. Keep that in mind when submitting stories. If lots of people click it and upvote and comment, commenting back helps generate heat.
But the number one lesson, the biggest thing I'm taking away from this story is...
People don't catch everything. Getting close to a thousand upvotes, and clocking in at over a hundred comments, I get the impression everyone thinks Discord wants to take Celestia to a spa in Canterlot, rather than Canterbury. And no, I didn't edit that last minute. That was always there.
Or people did catch it, and just didn't care. That's an option too.
