cleverpun's Concise Critiques #4 · 10:03am Feb 15th, 2016
Unfortunately, not every critique can fill up a thousand word blog post. Here is a selection of reviews/critiques, in two sentences each.
It Must Be Tuesday by Foals Errand (based off chapter 1 only):
This story has a lot of typos and formatting errors, but the more damning thing is that it is extremely boring. I like the gimmick--that Celestia takes a more proactive approach when shunted into an alternate universe--but the story is still the same as most AUs: a duller, blander retread of the show.
Lost to the Sands by GigaBowser (based off chapter 1 and 2 only):
The concept is nice, and there's some interesting characterizations used. The entire thing is so glacially paced, however, that it couldn't maintain my attention: it's not a good sign when the 9,000 word first chapter is skippable without affecting the plot or atmosphere of the story.
As He Lay Dying by Titanium Dragon:
The story is written well, and there's some nice dialogue. It's so short, however, that there's no time for any sort of feels to happen: the character (perhaps technically characters) doesn't get enough screen time for their death to be affecting.
Fair enough. Thanks for giving it a shot!
3755601 I'm beginning to suspect that the writeoffs are not the best way to create good stories. Every time I encounter a writeoff entry, it seems to have the same issues: being too short and/or not fleshing out its ideas.
3755602
There are two kinds of writeoffs: minifics and short stories.
Minifics are 750 words tops. Any writeoff story under 2000 words is probably a minific story originally, which means they're going to be, by necessity, brief.
Sometimes minifics are extended out to much longer pieces. But it varies significantly. All the Mortal Remains was originally a short story from a writeoff, for instance.
3755620 If one is treating their entry as a rough draft to be edited into something longer, then I suppose I can understand that. I don't necessarily advise it, but I understand it.
One of the main strengths of fanfiction, however, is that the characters are pre-established. If one is going to write a mini-fic, then they should press that advantage as much as possible. Otherwise, there's simply not enough words to establish characters and tell a story.