Feb
17th
2015
New write-off story recs · 1:53am Feb 17th, 2015
We have 3 new good stories today from write-offs:
Dubious Enchantment by bookplayer. This is a cute story about Twilight trying to get Pinkie's money back for some purchases she made from a merchant of artifacts of unspeakable evil. 2nd place winner in the Feb. write-off. That was, like, today.
Safe, by Sharp Spark. Dark? Apple Bloom finds karma's a bitch. Just 1000 words. Second place winner in the January write-off.
Only the Good Die Young, also by Sharp Spark. DARK. Sad. Not safe for Ghost. I don't know if this story has a theme, but it has lots of feels.
"Safe" is a pretty good story. "Only the Good Die Young" didn't do a whole lot for me in its original write-off form, but I might have to give the new version a try at some point.
"Dubious Enchantment" is seriously threatening to knock off "Maiden's Day" as my all-time favorite bookplayer story. I love that one to death (though I've only read the new version; I haven't actually read the original from the write-off). It just crept into the non-mature feature box, and I'm really hoping it can get a nice, long stay there. It's one of the most deserving stories I've read.
...and now, I should really try to do some pony writin' of my own...
2803332 I don't know if I'm glad I read "Only the good die young." The story could be accused of being sad for the sake of sad.
2803342
I think that's a fair criticism, though it wasn't particularly my criticism when I first read it. It does do some of the sad-for-sads-sake, but I just didn't feel like I ever quite "got" it. It wasn't like Eakin's train story where I knew what I was supposed to "get", and I just found it so unbelievably pedestrian and obvious that it ruined the whole story for me. With "Only the Good Die Young", I never really figured out whether it was trying to spring a surprise on me or not, and so when there weren't any surprises, it... met half my expectations? Maybe I just got so lost in trying to figure out what it would be that I lost my ability to appreciate what it was.
If you haven't been keeping up with the writeoff discussion thread, you might have also missed my shout-out to Good Taste, which I thought was a good story too. I'm puzzled why it didn't do better in the prelims; I might have to go back and skim its reviews.
2803342 2803368
Thanks for the recs!
OtGDY definitely could come across as sad-for-sad's-sake though that wasn't entirely my intent. I tend to go overboard on inserting drama when I do, and some elements I didn't see as being as notable as others did – for example, I didn't mean to categorically say that Pip was cheating on DT, only that it's a relationship with ups and downs. And as part of laying the groundwork for why Apple Bloom would still be hung up on her after all this time, thinking she'd be much better for her, when DT's actually pretty okay with how things are, she just has doubts occasionally. (But none of that fit in the story in a good way, so it was excised. And as a result it seems much more purposefully piling the sad on.)
As to the message behind it. Well, I had several in mind I guess, and it kind of ended up an ambiguous in-between. The initial idea came as sort of a response to the 'immortality is sad' fics that come around every now and again, but with one of the last characters you'd expect it to come from. And then I figured playing it straight worked better than trying to poke fun at the trope. A lot of the point, as it were, comes straight from Diamond Tiara's mouth in their conversation. To the extent that I sort of thought I was too blunt in laying out those thoughts. Still not sure, but I think the story works fine as... whatever it is.
That's three *darned* good ones there. I think I'd have to give Only The Good Die Young tops out of the three, and the only reason I'd put Safe below Dubious Enchantment is the short length. I liked the pacing on Young with the sequential realizations spaced through it, and Enchantment paced really well at the beginning and then.... just kinda hung there until picking up at the end. (Admittedly it's hard to bring Twilight's frustration level up from 1-10 at a constant rate. It's a little like expecting a bomb to blow up slowly.)
2803342
...and yet you recommend it.
You like terrible things. I'm not saying they're not good things, as both authors are incredible; just that they're terrible.
"Dubious Enchantment" was a hoot--good choice on Rarity's curse!