Fanfic Reviews – Dark & Sad Edition · 3:52am May 14th, 2015
Since January, I have been looking for a new job. I left my previous one august last year, and have been doing freelance work since then – which sucks, since I never know when I will actually be working or not. However, I suddenly received, on the same day, two different, and equally exciting offers. It feels bizarre to suddenly go from having a hard time finding anything, to being forced to choose. Still, certainly not a bad problem to have, and I look forward to being sure of when I will be working, and when I will not. Also, commuting is a good way to get some quality reading time.
And, since things are looking up for me, have a semi-random assortment of dark and sad fics to balance the mood! Below you will find:
The Devil's Trick
A Toast to Friendship
The Cask of Appletillado
A Surprise Indeed
No Glimmer of Hope
A Sombra End
Death Equals Life
What's Left
As a reminder, scores are on a 0~10 scale, with below 3 being where I dislike a fic, and above 8 where I can say I actually like it.
soundslikeponies – The Devil's Trick (Reading by Scribbler) – Dark
Twilight discovers a terrible secret.
I like stories that are clear about what they are trying to do, and this is a good example. It takes a popular fan theory, and shows it in as straight a manner as possible. It is helped by a great sense of atmosphere, which comes strongly both in the reading and in the text proper. However, I found the whole thing a bit too perfunctory, which sapped the impact of the final reveal. After all, if you already know that Luna will be revealed as being Chrysalis all along, and that the whole invasion failing was part of her master plan, then there isn't much of a point to the rest of the story. It also bothered me that Twilight seemed to be stonewalled by ponies who have nothing to do with the conspiracy. There is an interpretation that makes that OK, but there isn't anything that actually confirms or denies that.
Why it should be read: For a fanfic take on an interesting twist on the Canterlot Wedding scenario.
Stand out moment: As predictable as the ending was, it was very well executed.
7/10
Esle Ynopemos – A Toast to Friendship – Reading by DeftFunk – Dark
Rarity has had enough of Fluttershy.
Ponies killing each other is one of those things that authors rarely seem to get right. Thing is, it is such an inherently absurd situation, that it shouldn't try to justify that, like here, Rarity wants to kill Fluttershy. No, fics should just assert that Rarity wants to kill Fluttershy, and then walk backward so you see how they excuse the idea, and how they use their unique personality traits in order to execute the murder. This is a fic that gets things right: Rarity has already decided to kill Fluttershy, and then uses a rationalization that is perfectly Rarity, namely envy of how easy success comes for her, and how Fluttershy's casual dismissal of things she holds dear offends her.
Besides competent writing and fitting characterizations, the other thing that makes this story a success is the misdirection. It is hard to get a read on exactly how the story will progress, and many times I caught myself asking: Is she really trying to kill Fluttershy? Will this be a redemption story? Even after Rarity stops being coy and tries to kill her directly, it is hard to know who will end up alive, and even if an actual killing will take place.
Of course, at the end of the day, it is all a little too silly, which makes it hard for me to get too invested. The ending is another issue, and while I appreciate the intention, it is just too abrupt and simplistic. I am also ignoring the Epilogue, since it feels tacked on, and even the author admits it turns the story into fluff. Otherwise, this is overall a very competent murder-action-dark fic, and should appeal to fans of the genre.
Why it should be read: For a competent take on the idea.
Stand out moment: All the instances of Rarity's paranoia. Also, DeftFunk's narration was just perfect for this fic.
8/10
Jade Ring – The Cask of Appletillado (Reading by TheLostNarrator) – Dark
Applejack takes her revenge against Rarity.
Speaking of friends killing friends, this is a half-homage, half ponyfication of the Poe classic. Curiously, while the Poe story is much more interested in the set-up for the murder with the typical Poe atmosphere, this focuses on the interaction between AJ and Rarity, as well as the justification for the murder. Much more interesting, here we also get the victim's PoV for the first half, so the trek down the catacombs/cellar feels more justified – I never quite got why Fortunato would think someone kept expensive wine in a catacomb. And fitting with the Pony theme, this is a story not only of the murder itself, but also about the injury, at least as AJ perceives it – and it is believable enough to make Rarity seem amoral, while AJ is straight up evil.
However, while I approve of the changes, this story is hobbled by the Poe references. Not only it feels the need to frame the story with the opening and closing lines of the original, certain things, in particular the specifics of the back and forth, feels not very appropriate to the characters from the show. Had it just started from the framework of the original and built something much more relevant to the characters in question, it would be much better, but it is a very good story nonetheless.
Why it should be read: If you want a Poe ponyfication of this particular story.
Stand out moment: That Applejack still leaves Rarity's horn in front of the walled off section, so that her grave is still marked, even if not in a place where anyone will know.
7.5/10
Bolding – A Surprise Indeed (Reading by Dr. Wolf) – Sad HiE
A human in Equestria misses home.
I would never in a hundred years read this story by sitting down to actually read it. Given that, this is one case where a reading exposes me to things I naturally hate. In fact, I wouldn't read it for just this sentence in the Author's note:
The main character's name is Anonymous to allow the reader to relate to the character without worry of details such as race, color, or minor details such as hair/eye color. If the name Anonymous does not suit your "needs", please find a different story.
This is as wrong a sentence as is possible to be written, essentially saying that vague outlines of people are more effective at communicating emotion than real characters. I don't need to be a magical gypsy to cry during The Name of The Wind, a 16th century Samurai to relate to Musashi, or a dinosaur to feel for Littlefoot. Come on, this is a site for stories about equines! The fact that the characters have a relatable personality is what makes those stories great.
By calling him Anon, the story creates a huge dissonance between the protagonist and a real human being, that makes it impossible for me to get into the story. There is a world of difference between an everyman in which the reader can project whatever he wants, and a total blank slate without distinguishable characteristics – which is only made more bizarre by the fact the story revolves around Anon being a married person with a young child, who is stuck in Equestria and misses his family. Combined with flat and telly narration, the story became a slog.
Thing is, I wish I could enjoy this story, since the concept is great, a smart subversion of the typical HiE story: basically, the idea is that the human is stuck in Equestria, and misses his family. Sadly, it is so underdeveloped, and the story does such a poor job of bringing the reader in, that even at showing that it fails. A shame.
Why it should be read: If the concept grabs you.
Stand out moment: Really, this concept needs some further exploration.
0,5/10
UniqueSKD – No Glimmer of Hope (Reading by Scribbler) – Dark
Starlight Glimmer meets her end.
I am so, so glad this got a reading since, to be honest, the fic itself reads more like a script than anything else. Otherwise, this is a good example of a competent post-episode fic: Take a simple concept from the show, and run with it as far as possible. Here, the idea is that the caves which Starlight Glimmer fed too are home to a sinister entity, who confronts and kills her. Considering it was written in 30 minutes, it is pretty good.
However, editing issues aside, what really bothered me was how passive she felt. After a while, the story gets reduced to a monologue from the entity, and nothing more. And, considering how much of a presence Starlight had on the premiere, this feels like a gigantic lost opportunity. I really hate it when protagonists in horror are shown as incompetent, since it makes the monster seem much less effective, less monstrous even. As such, while there are some good points raised here, it overall is too weak a story for me to get too invested.
Why it should be read: For the what-if of Cutie Markless (while canon doesn't prove it wrong anyway).
Stand out moment: The characterization of the entity is very clever, shown by speech ticks and patterns rather than anything more overt.
5/10
UniqueSKD – A Sombra End – Dark
Sombra meets his end.
This is a sequel to the fic above. It shares some of the same flaws: Poor editing (auto-correct stuff even!) and reading way too much like a script. Also, Sombra feels even more useless than Starlight did. I really don't have much to say about this one that I didn't say about the original one, but I enjoyed it a little less than the first. I wonder, however, if my reaction would be closer to the first one if I had gotten to it through a reading.
Why it should be read: If you liked the first one, and want to see Sombra go through the same treatment.
Stand out moment: I did enjoy the references to Fall of The Crystal Empire, even if they felt a bit out of place.
4.5/10
Basic Information – Death Equals Life (Reading by ChAoTiCsEvEn) – Depression Fuel
Death is the great equalizer...
Reading this fic left me with a terrible, crawling feeling of wrongness. This isn't just dark: It is horrible. Starlight's removal of individuality was decently explored on the episode, but this fic goes into truly dark territory: In a culture where everyone is equal, what is the meaning of death? It is a chilling thought, and one taken in this fic in the absolutely most horrific direction possible.
The idea is that a friend of the protagonist, who joined Starlight Glimmer together with him, committed suicide, and he has to cope with it. Throughout the fic, then, we get their history together up to that point, which develops many interesting concepts, like the death of the self, and the issues with an unwanted talent. It also tries to explore how Starlight recruited ponies for the town. And, ultimately, it is how death factors into her ideology: All are one in death. It is surprisingly touching and effective.
Sadly, this is a fic which suffers from many issues. It is terribly overdramatic at times – almost to the point of comedy on some points. The editing is also really poor, not only considering the writing issues, but also the jerky pacing. These are all very noticeable, and anyone looking for a highly polished fic will probably find themselves very bothered by this one. The characterizations are also an issue, the OCs coming off as fairly two-dimensional.
However, for all its clear flaws, the ending really sold it to me. In what I hope isn't a spoiler, the fic simply ends with the opening of the episode, only Twilight notices that the town has a cemetery. Somehow that single scene, that single detail, made everything click in my head, and perfectly underscored the wrongness of what transpired. I know that I might be overselling this fic given its emotional impact, but it is something unique, a type of Dark that isn't commonly seen on ponyfic. And, at the end of the day, I will always respect creative work that elicits an emotional response.
Why it should be read: For an incredibly dark view of Starlight's town.
Stand out moment: The exact manner in which the protagonist dies is very thematically appropriate.
8/10
DegeTheMighty – What's Left? (Reading by Scribbler) – Dark
After the end of the world, Shining Armor protects Apple Bloom.
This story isn't only short: it is compact. It uses a lot of common tropes in order to skip to what could be considered the interesting part. By doing this, it can cram an apocalypse, Shining Armor and Apple Bloom becoming end of the world buddies, and a heartfelt reunion in a short space. In a sense, it works, hitting well many familiar story beats. However, it also feels extremely rushed, and the adherence to tropes made the whole thing feel overly predictable. I do admire how much story the author put into such a short space, but the overall effect was a bit 'meh'.
Why it should be read: For the well executed tropes.
Stand out moment: The concept, overall, was good. I wouldn't complain about seeing more like this.
6/10
After all that, have an adorable PMV!
This review is shit.
Meh. I don't mind what people think of my stories. At the end of the day, it's all just words, one form or another. Numbers are just numbers. Opinions opinions, critics critics. I wish Nostalgia Critic did readings...
By the way, I'm hungry. Anyone got any food here?
Dangit, you're way further ahead in the audiobooks than I am. D:
These are some of the most poorly done reviews I've seen in a while.
You pretty much stated your opinion briefly. You didn't explain how stories were bad or good, in fact the most you did was, "This did thing well, so it's good." and these were much too short to be any actual review of anything, hell one of these are only a paragraph long. Yes, it's a sequel but it's another story. New aspects come to light, written in it's only way and therefore needs a new set of assessments.
This is basic, something you should have learnt in school and these are much to brief to even be considered worth while.
You start with an introduction, identify the general topic, issue or piece that will be the subject of review. In this same introduction it is also ideal to give a brief summary of what you will be talking about in a review. Ideally, you would also write something about the creator of said piece. Director of the movie or in this case, writer of the story.
This is the least important part of a review. It can be skipped, or combined into the body but usually it's best to write an intro and keep it brief.
Now the body of the review which is arguably the most important part. Here you would provide the in depth analysis of the story in order to review it. Include go into detail about it as if you did research. Note things of importance that flawed or common denominators and approaches found throughout. Compare to other factors, such as other forms of literature.
Summarise key elements that are either pros or cons but know you cannot have a proper assessment without the other. You've failed your review if you can only identify cons, unless that is all there is. In that case you would move onto your next section.
Analysis. Look into various aspects of the story. This part is mainly to help the reader understand the story and to understand your own understanding of the story.
Compare aspects and even suggesting improvements are allowed at this point.
All listed above are not demandatory. You don't HAVE to list pros and cons in a review but the body must include something listed here.
Finally you conclude, summarise the major aspects found in the body, the state of the piece reviewed as a whole, findings and the overall insight that was the point of your review. Here is where you include your opinion. No sooner.
Reviews are a formal form of evaluation, assessment and critique. What you have done is tell me your opinion and provided no evidence that what you felt about the story is a correct analysis on why I should or shouldn't read it.
Overall I would give your reviews a 0.5/10. You failed at it and I suggest you work on it, do some research and read some proper reviews before you come back to try again.
You're as pisspoor a reviewer as you are a writer. I have the biggest problem with your "review" (if you want to call that short autistic keyboard fit a review) of Bolding's story, "A Surprise Indeed". You focus too much on the fact that your asshole was spread wide in anger-shitposting about the main character's name and how he is a "vague outline" of a character that you forget to provide examples for WHY he is a bad character, or rather why the collective Anon character is bad. Sure, you say that he is bad because he is unrelateable. But then you immediately go on to describe how he is a man separated from his family and longing to see them again. This is a relateable situation. So either you've lived a coddled life without loss or problem, or you are too stupid to follow your own train of thought. You at both times perfectly describe and entirely miss the point of the Anon character. He is a featureless blank slate, but frequently (as in this fucking story you reviewed) emotions can be applied to him to flesh him out, just not in a way you're used to. Does a character have to have a "proper" name, skin color, eye color and entire background for him to display emotion and be a character? No, you fucking dope.
Your other, briefly mentioned point is that the writing is bad, and the story is poorly presented. I saw this and thought, surely no one is so stupid as to make a claim like this in a review without providing evidence to support that claim? Especially when reviews, by definition are in depth.
That brings us to my last issue. I don't care much for "dark and gritty, sad and shitty" fanfictions but for every one of these stories you have done the same fucking thing. You either focus on an issue without backing up your complaint with evidence from the text OR you say you like something, without fucking backing it up from the goddamn text.
Some of these stories are far longer than Bolding's and yet they have the same length "review" as it. How can you properly review a fucking story in 5 paragraphs or less? (Of course this is doable, but not for a drooling lackadaisical halfwit on FimFic who can't provide examples and evidence to support his claims.)
Stop posting reviews, or at the very fucking least call them by what they are, half-assed attempts at garnering attention as a reviewer when all you're really doing is making a finger painting of a post that says "I liked da ting."
Hmm, I can't believe I actually earned a 8 outta 10. Lol, I'm flattered ya enjoyed the recesses of my lovely imagination.
3068522 Here, have a cheeseburger.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/NYC-Diner-Bacon-Cheeseburger.jpg
3069098 "You pretty much stated your opinion briefly."
That's what a review is. An opinion. This isn't some university paper, it's an opinion about a piece of fiction.
3069913
Wrong. You're thinking of an opinion.
A review is a formal assessment and/or critique of a book, article, play, film, act, performance, location, etc.
Look up the damn word if you think I'm wrong. You should have been taught this at school, what is and how to do a review but the fact that you don't know what a simple piece of work is, proves you weren't paying enough attention.
3070153
[1]
I know you are angry I didn't like your friends story, but I'd rather you try to justify why I'm wrong in saying what I said, than coming here to enforce some fictitious version of what a review is. And please, by all means, disprove four thousand years of literary tradition by saying how explicitly saying that a character is undefined, except when it suits the author, is a valid way to establish a character.
To be perfectly honest with you, I don't even think that histories with "Anon" should be publishable on fimfic. The entity is meaningless outside chan-culture, meaning it fails the "circle-jerk" rule.
3070387
Sure you hit these marks, but you do them poorly and don't develop them at all.
The only one you truly accomplish "well" is the brief summary portion, a feat any monkey with a keyboard can do after a number of time.
However you only poke at or ignore the others. A sentence here or there about the writing style, once again without any evidence backing up the opinion. I hardly saw anything about areas of expertise or audience level.
3070387
It's got nothing to do with you not liking his story. If it ain't your cup of tea, then it ain't. I'm not here to debate anything about Anon.
So you've clearly what my comment was about, especially with your strawman argument of a reply.
I was telling you that your opinion does not qualify as a review, reviews can have opinions but the large brunt of the work (and I mean about 90% of it) must have a formal analysis.
Then I explained how a review is actually done.
Here, let's look up the word.
i.gyazo.com/f8d5d3c6cdaf6f186658e122255abc50.png
Reviews are formal pieces where you would asses, analyse and critique various pieces of work and the work as a whole.
What you have done is made a list of recommendations.
If you want to be a reviewer/critique people's work, then do it. Because so far, you haven't done shit aside from tell me what you like and dislike.
3069857 Thanks.
By the way, there's a very angry person below named 'sockmarionette' or something who really has laid into you about your reviewing methods.
Don't pay him much heed. Although he does make a sort of good point about the way you review these stories, it isn't entirely true and he states his point too aggressively to be given serious attention.
Perhaps you should read these comments carefully and maybe listen to them. As aggressive as they sound they might actually hold a valid point that may provide you with the means to be a better reviewer. Sometimes the best way to improve yourself is to take the criticisms into consideration, if that makes sense to you.
I am not offended by your opinions of my stories. You were entitled to your views and whether they were good or not they were your own to make, but that is with my stories. With other people's stories, maybe you should consider tackling them from a different perspective?
There are two sides to a coin, dear Soge, but sometimes examining that coin from a different view yields a new angle.
3070604 Dictionaries have more than one definition for the same word. The "formal assessment" one has nothing to do with art works, and only to do with policies, processes, etc. You even included the definition that is applicable in this situation in your screenshot (unless you don't consider a blog as having the same merit as a newspaper of magazine). To deny that this is a review means you are throwing the whole modern western reviewing tradition under the bus.
Please, you can criticize my style as much as you want, but please, stay relevant. Otherwise, what you are doing is little more than trolling. Your intentions in this situation are clear at any rate.
In a more general note, I will provide examples when they are adequate. However, I try to avoid doing that when the issues are generalized . Pointing at a specific passage would be distracting, in a "taking the part for the whole" kind of way. Whatever its other merits, which I do discuss, the lack of consistency in the characterization of the entity is fatal to a story like that.
3069098
"How do you dare read and comment on stories, giving your personal and subjective opinion and trying to find pros and cons of every story in a simplified way? I don't care if you're doing it for free and are trying to actually help the readers/writers, I fucking demand you to write college-level essays on pony stories."
Yeah. Look, fella, Soge here is reading stories and then giving his opinion. That's it. It's cool that you try to force everybody to meet your standards, but kindly shut up and stop being so entitled, holy shit.
He's trying to be polite, and even if he says a story is bad, he'll try to bring the positive points out of it. If he had started shitting on the writer or insulting the intelligence of others, then I would understand that kind of speech.
Because, you see, there's a difference between Soge's reviews and your "review of his reviews." Soge is being constructive, trying to have the readers (and the writers, hopefully) learning something about the whole thing. Maybe the reviews are a little simple, but he still analyzed the fics, and gave points on what he felt were the most important parts.
You, on the other hand, are just trying to be an ass to show everybody that you're better, or something like that. It's not a comment, it's an attack (because apparently he gave a story you like a poor score). You're not saying "you should do it like this," you go "YOU'RE A FUCKING IDIOT SEE LET ME SHOW YOU HOW MUCH OF AN IDIOT YOU ARE."
Well then. Okay.
I'm sure you felt smug and powerful after writing it, and that definitely justifies your comment. Say hi to your colon for me while your head is up there, will ya?
EDIT: Wait, you made a second comment:
Uh-huh.
Reading is hard, isn't it. So many letters, it's almost scary.
3069107
Shit, man. I'd love to counterpoint your tirade, but your constant use of ad hominem makes it almost impossible. Nobody with the least amount of self-respect would take that kind of comment seriously.
If you go down to a more civic language and stop trying to sound witty or edgy with diarrhea metaphors, then I'm willing to explain you why Soge can do whatever the fuck he wants, why his reviews are actually pretty good, and why the Anon character was poorly used in that story.
As in, I don't like the Anon thing on itself either, but I won't say if it's good or bad, objectively.
I mean, okay, it's blatant emotional manipulation/wish fulfillment, or rather, it's a tool to do that. It's the same idea behind Bella Swan from the Twilight Saga. It's not as much good literature as it is a way to make popular literature. I can see people having issues with that.
Ad of course, I can also see people liking that a lot. Again: personal tastes, there's no objective truth, yaddah yaddah. Soge here gave his opinion. Maybe he was a little too blunt on the issue, but then again... This is his blog. He can write whatever he wants, I guess. And he attacked the story, not the author.
But yeah, seeing how you write and the kind of stuff you posted, I don't think you're willing to start an actual conversation. So go on talking about dicks and autism, man. Have a blast. Internet power-highs due to random angry comments on random sites must feel good. Escapism or whatever, I don't care.
Yowza, man. You stirred up some anger here. Well, for what it's worth, I really enjoy these reviews.
3070827
I'll admit I came on a bit strong with my comments, I'm not going to apologise because I wasn't abusive about it but I'll admit some people are turned off by it and take immediate offence.
He isn't exactly helping. That's my point. Take DegeTheMighty's for example.
It's a brief paragraph. Only one. He mentions the use of tropes and it being rushed before saying it was meh, scoring it a 6/10.
Now wait, is that all? What about these tropes? There are thousands of them and it's impossible to have a story without them. Just because a trope was used, doesn't mean it was bad. What tropes where there that made this bad? How did these tropes make it bad?
It was rushed? Just like these pieces, clearly because if I were the writer, I wouldn't get entirely what he means. The entire story itself was rushed? Not a single segment of the story needed further wording or explaining and depth?
What about the rest of this story? Were the characters true to canon? Were they well written? Or the scenes, are they explained properly in a consistent and clear manner?
You've given me nothing about this story so from bother a reader and writer's viewpoint, he hasn't helped at all. He cherry picks small segments, doesn't explain then slaps on a score.
Let me guess, you might think I am cherry picking now. Alright, seems fair so lets choose another. Soundslikeponies
We open the with us being told the story is clear in what it's trying to do and a brief explanation of what we'd have in store. Not bad.
Okay... Wait, what theory? Am I going to have to read this story in order to find out about it. But that's why I came for a review. They are a great way to work out if a story is worth my time or not. Yeah sure, reviews contain spoilers obviously but if I came here for that, obviously I don't mind.
Let me just be pre-emptive and say son't tell me that he tries to avoid that or anything because he then he goes on to spoil something in order to explain that aside from the over-arching plot, there's little else going on and that it's predictable.
Then we see the score, 7/10 and we move on.
The worst part about all this, is that this is the best of the bunch. The first one. This part here is when I realised I wasn't going to get reviews at all.
Not good enough? Fine. One more. Bolding's.
Again, let me be pre-emptive. Yes I know Bolding but it's not why I bring him up. It's one of the lengthier ones here but it's all to explain one point. You don't like Anon as a name.
Yes, we know there's a huge number of people who dislike the name Anon and there's an actual number who either don't mind or prefer it. Personally I don't see how there's a problem. Anon is an odd name? Well so are thousands of names in fantasy stories. Like orcs and elves have some of the dumbest sounding names. Some people have actual names that are stupid too.
There's also the issue I have with the notion that the story is bad because you can't resonate with the main character. If you have to self-insert yourself and/or relate to the main character to enjoy a story then you are going to find many stories you won't enjoy at all.
Anyway, I'm getting side tracked from my point. You on about him being called Anon and how he's too much of a blank slate for you to understand him.
But Anon isn't a complete blank slate. Does he need the name Steve for us to know that he was married and has a child he hasn't seen for years? Well... No. It doesn't look like we do.
Then we get actual feedback on the story that isn't related to him being called Anon.
And then it's over with a 0.5/10 scoring.
That's it.
So all in all you are trying to tell me this is to help writers if they so wish to take his advice but I don't see much of it anywhere. And when there is, it is too brief and at time so vague that they won't know what they need to fix.
And that is the problem. I guess I didn't go into that enough when I explained how reviews worked.
The problem with these "reviews" is that they aren't. They lack information about the stories, their faults and successes where it is needed meaning any real feedback that Soge intended to give is kind of worthless. It is just his brief opinion and I find myself wondering why his opinion matters because of this. You enjoyed that one writer's story, that is great! But that's all I really know.
"He is doing for free and to the benefit of all, therefore you have no right to complain or give negative feedback."
This kind of thing irks me. He is doing this for free, out of the kindness of his own heart and what, I can't explain how a review is done properly? My opinion isn't valid because it doesn't agree with yours or isn't complimentary?
Like I said, all he's done is made a reccomended reading list. Not a review. If that's what he's after, fine.
It doesn't have to be college tier but I've always been of the motive where, "If you're going to do something, do it right."
Also, I just want to say I've never seen someone strawman so hard in a while. You take small segments of what I say and twist it's meaning to try and make yourself right.
Like you take one small part about the scoring to make it seem like everything else is irrelevant know. Oh, he gave these stories an out of ten? Shit. My bad son! Looks like he really did analyse them all and show the findings for it.
3071093
I get the whole "doing it for free doesn't mean you need to half-ass it" gizmo, and I think it's a nice philosophy and all that? But that's the thing -- he wasn't half-assing it.
The reviews are not in-depth, of course. He points at particular scenes of concepts at the very end of the review and names them "outstanding moments" or whatever, but those reviews are in very general terms. And... I don't think that means you need to say the reviews are bad?
Like, he points at the story, and says "it's a little bit rushed, dialogue falls flat here and there, and uses some tropes to set up the story faster than usual, in a move that actually works to a point". While I'll accept right away that might deem the name of "comment" instead of "review", he is still pointing out what he believes it's the major thing to say about the story.
As in, sure, more detail would be cool for each individual writer, but a mere "X is rushed, Y works, Z is dumb" is more than enough to think of what works and what doesn't work. Dunno if it's enough to fix every mistake or to rewrite the story, but usually it gives you enough of a heads-up to notice what to look for.
That's if your'e a writer (and writers tend to be quick at realizing what is a comment referring to when it talks about "parts being rushed"). To the readers, it tells you that he didn't particularly like it because it was rushed. Again: personal tastes. Guess not every review is up for everybody.
But there's a difference between pointing at how this is not exactly in-depth and going all "this is one of the worst things I've ever seen".
'Course, in hindsight it's frustrating to see that someone reviewed a story you like so briefly and then gave it a very poor rating. Re-reading your comment and mine it dawns on me that I maybe reacted like a huge fucking idiot, but I still think the reviews aren't that bad. They give very basic information, but that's more than enough.
There are more in-depth reviews among the blogs of Soge, but this is a mere mini-reviews thingy. Couple of thoughts, rating on how much he liked it, moving on. Overreactions and all that (then again, I'm throwing stones at my own roof with that last part).
True, he ranted about the Anon thing -- but he states that the reviews are rated on how much he liked the story. If he finds a personal pet peeve of his, then yeah he's going to rant about it. That's what the review is about. His opinion on the story.
As per the Anon thing, more in detail:
It's not about the silliness of the name or whatever (this is a website where you can see a character named Squeaky Wheel and you don't even blink at it, after all), or about the way it sounds. Soge's beef about the issue (and mine, but that's besides the point) is how the entire point of using "Anon" as a character is to have a blank space. The story outright says so: it's a way for the reader to immerse itself in the story. You're not creating a character, you're creating a template with no personality whatsoever so whoever is reading it can imagine themselves in there without trouble.
That's an actual thing, by the way -- you enjoy a story if you relate to the main character. It's not mandatory for it to be exactly like you, but that's why character motivation tends to be primal in any story (fear of the unknown, desire to go back to a loved one, feeling sad because something is lost, following your dreams and achieving greatness...). It's so the readers can relate and feel like they understand what the protagonist is going for.
"Anon" characters go for that, but in a very transparent way. That's annoying, for some people, but that's mere personal opinion.
And then the story goes and gives him a characterization. Had the guy been named Steve and given an actual description/personality/presence in the story from moment zero, it would have worked better, because then we want the character to get what he wants. Because empathy, because we relate to his problem, whatever. We feel it's an actual person and see ourselves in his shoes.
But if you get an Anon character, you're not supposed to see yourself in his shoes. You're supposed to feel his shoes are yours. He's not a character, he's you. He does nothing (never acts, only reacts), thinks nothing, and his words are as generic as possible. Suddenly giving Anon a backstory that implies a family and a son and all that takes away the fantasy.
So you end up with two halves of a character, and it doesn't work together. That's the beef about Anon characters.
Now, it would have been fucking great if Soge had explained this in the blog, but he didn't. He just talked about how to relate to a character, and how there was a dichotomy in there and how much he disliked the use of the "Anon" gimmick. Perhaps he got lazy or whatever, I don't know. Maybe he didn't really know himself why he dislikes the trend, so he didn't explain it. Don't really know the guy, so I can't tell.
He did say, however, that:
Which is more or less the same, only perhaps with less analysis. But yeah, the message goes across anyway.
As per the strawman thing -- nah, man. I wasn't being a strawman (or trying to be a strawman). Like, the message wasn't "He gave the stories a score out of ten, so he really analyzed them". It was more about how I saw you'd written this:
And I was like, well, yes. He did do that. The analysis is one thing, but then he scores the stories based on how much he liked them.
The scores are not objective, that's what I was going for. The entire point of the blog is to say what he liked and what he disliked, not to write a huge-ass objective, point-and-counterpoint analysis on every fic.
I was pointing this particular thing out, not saying that your entire argument was wrong because you mentioned something that, if twisted, is not exactly what happened. That would have been strawmaning.
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This turned out to be a pretty heated debate over some pony stories. I think everyone went a little too aggro here, but these things do happen. Points were pushed to far, emotions ran hot, and people made themselves look pretty foolish. Since many of the people who left these comments are friends of mine, I'd like to add my thoughts now that everything has blown over.
First, I'd like to ask Soge why he decided to include a review of A Surprise Indeed, a story written in a style that he admittedly hates. Soge, what did you hope to accomplish by writing this? Why did you decide to handle the review of this story in such an aggressively negative manner? Did you not think that opening with
or
would be a pretty offensive way to start a review?
From the beginning, you open with your personal opinion about stories that use the name Anon for the main character. The whole review was negatively biased from the start. In fact, you used 218 words to tell us why you dislike the name of the character, and only 75 words to describe the actual story. I think that's a bit disproportionate, don't you? I understand that you don't like AiE stories, to be honest, it's not my favorite concept either, even though I've written a few myself. That doesn't mean you should slam the story in such a negative and outright offensive manner.
What you did here was not so much of a review as it was a roast of Bolding's story and AiE in general. Did you really just want to bash an AiE story? Because that's what you did. Frankly, your 'review' came off as arrogant. It made you look like a jerk, and your responses only drove the point home. I feel like you should be a bit more respectful of other people's interests. I mean, this is a website for people who write fanfiction for a little girl's show, the majority of which is male. You really have no room to hate on anything that anybody else likes.
This:
This is about as hateful as it gets. You are literally saying that this type of story should be banned, because you think it's a circle jerk. By that definition, shipping could be a circle jerk for shippers, clop for cloppers, and so on. Just because it originates from 4chan doesn't mean it's a circle jerk. I'm pretty sure that rule applies to things used in a story that make it hard for people outside of the circle to understand. Using the name Anon is not something that would detract from the story because it's not understandable to the reader. You may not like the name, but all in all, it really doesn't have much effect on the story if you don't obsess over it the whole time.
Reviews like this only serve to discourage people from reading or writitng AiE stories by giving them a negative reputation, which leads to a decline of participation in the group. If AiE gets a negative enough reputation, it may just disappear entirely. Somehow, I don't think you would mind that at all.
Tl;dr I think OP is biased and purposefully trashed Bolding's story to discourage AiE.
"God dammit. You horse fuckers are literally the most autistic fan base to ever live. You all have shown me that there is always time to regret your mistakes." - Lauren Faust, 2015