The Price of "Bravado" (Revisions Underway) · 5:29pm Feb 19th, 2016
In keeping with the recent brain damage that is making me less depressionated, I am soon likely to submit The Price of a Smile to EQD. (Maybe to other places too, if only I knew about them. Suggestions appreciated.)
How shall I put this? A princess needs to bathe more frequently, Twilight.
This means I am fine-toothed-horsebrush editing my opus. There will be tiny changes to word choice and such appearing in all of the chapters as I proceed. It's already begun, and I'm making lots of edits. But most of the edits aren't things anypony would notice, so don't try to reread the story yet. If there is a substantial change, I shall mention it, but I doubt that will happen.
Specifically, I am trying to fix up cliches I'm still struggling to drop, like overuse of fancy punctuation and inappropriate saidisms. Once I've finished the revisions, I could use some help in locating inappropriate saidisms like "grinned" that aren't actually talkie-verbs, because I know that was an inclination I was still fighting with when I wrote this story. So when I have finished, I will post a blog entry about the changes and will begz0r my poor followers and Price-watchers to reread the story and send me PMs with anything you would like to draw my attention to, no matter how small.
I honestly have no idea how well Price will be received by the mysterious overlords at EQD. I am a latecomer to pony fiction, and a mare who finds it difficult to read others' fiction at all. That means my stories tend to contain old and overdone tropes with a Trick Question twist. This story might not be what they're looking for, it might be too dark, and it might even not be good enough.
But it's about time I started taking what I write more seriously, because I think I deserve to.
You're a great writer Trick, and your fictions definitely deserve more attention than what they get.
I'm sure your revised edition will fare fine.
And I'm happy you feel better. Once you start ramping up, you're definitely heading for the exit of the tunnel.
You ARE a great writer and an awesome person. You do deserve it, and like Calipony said, you'll be out of the tunnel in no time at all.
I'm sure you'll do fine, but keep in mind the folks over on EQD aren't infallible. Don't beat yourself up if they won't accept it.
Still, it's a good story, and I wish you the best of luck with it.