There was a submission · 9:45am Jun 17th, 2016
(I tried coming up with some way to invoke an image of Willem Dafoe emptying a handgun into the air and shouting the blog-post title, but nothing worked 
)
So I just noticed that MLAABQ is now sitting in the The Good HiE List-group's submission-folder. This is a bit different to the other group-submissions that's been.
When I notice that my story's been submitted to a group (and seriously, why don't you get automated PMs about that?), I usually get all happy-like. I assume that it means one of two things, either someone thought 'hey, I would recommend this story to people looking for this thing', which would make me feel so many shades of warm and fuzzy, or someone thought 'this should go here, because I'm the kind of person that sorts', which is also kinda cool, since that could quite conceivably mean that the exposure it gets through there would be the positive kind, being what people might be looking for and everything. Then there's ssokolov's Recommendations, which clearly comes with positive thoughts right there in the title (thanks again for that 
), and Scribble's archive, which doesn't state it as clearly, but I think is sort of the same deal. It still hasn't been submitted to one of those terrible-fic-collection-groups, so I can't say for sure what would happen if it was placed there, but I'm pretty sure that it would make me very sad.
But like I said, there's something different about the submission to the The Good HiE List-group though. This time, it's for a gated community– very exclusive. This time, the story is gonna have to stand trial. Granted, I guess it stood trial in a way to get into ssokolov's Recommendation, but here there's a public list of rejections, where all the sad losers are displayed for the world to see. This time, there will be a permanent and public mark for not making the cut.
And the thing is, I don't think it will make the cut. I've had a look at the rules (the third one was a bit weird, at first I thought it meant that a story was disqualified if it had updated a year or more after publishing). I couldn't find any list of acceptance-guidelines, but I've had a look at the reasons for rejections, and things don't look promising for MLAABQ.
Several stories that I consider really good, or even superior to my own, have been rejected, and the reasons for rejecting stories in general include, but are not limited to, 'poor grammar', the first 50000-70000 words still needs a good clean-up, so that's one thing not working in MLAABQ's favor. 'People turning into foals', that's apparently also poor writing, and MLAABQ certainly fills that category. It's already looking bad, but here's a reason that really sticks out to me, 'human adjusting to life in Equestria too easily/quickly'. This gave me pause. What is the reasoning here? Why would not including this be a prerequisite of a good HiE-story? If I leave my country and go to a whole different continent to work abroad, and I make myself right at home, haven't I really left my country? Am I still sort of living back in the place I left? I wonder if there are any Americans that reason like this. 'Hey, welcome to the land of the free, home of the brave, where all people are welcome to chase the American Dream of material wealth that you can spend in your old age by treating health problem you accumulated chasing it. Just don't adjust too quickly, or you're not really a human in Equest– sorry, I mean American.' Anyway, MLAABQ fills that, too. Gabe adjusts within days and is currently having a blast in Equestria.
I realize that sitting here and criticizing the group's screening-process away from their attention like a gossipy old lady probably isn't going to make whoever is gonna scrutinize my story look more favorably upon it, but I can't help but feel a bit roused by the thought of having a panel of strangers judging my work (that I did for free, thinking that people might appreciate a little feel-good-story with light drama). I know what a lot of people are gonna say to that, they're gonna say 'it's the internet, if you put something out there, you're literally begging for someone to take a crowbar to it an– uh! I mean, if you're putting something out there, you leaving yourself open to criticism', yes I know, but don't say that I'm not allowed to be upset if someone says that what I make is awful.
Summa summarum: My stuff is on a list to be judged by people who a lot of other people listen to. I don't know what they think, but they seem to dislike the sort of stuff I've made, and that makes me nervous. Don't get me wrong, it's kind of exciting, and I doubt that whoever submitted it had bad intentions (an easier way would then be to submit it too a poor-fic-collection-group). So thank you for the vote of confidence by whoever thought that MLAABQ belongs among the greats, but I'm also considering publicly asking to have it de-submitted and spare me the humiliation.
Exclusive, yes, but not necessarily in a good way. I'm a member and there's a few really good authors on the panel of admins, but while they're selective, I don't really think they have the best judgment a lot of the time. In my opinion? About half the stuff that's in there really shouldn't be, if it was actually about collecting good HIEs. I don't personally think very highly of it. A lot of the time, getting in seems to have more to do with how many of the admins you're friends with than with how good the story actually is. Even Flammenwerfer himself doesn't really think most of his stuff really belongs in there.
I wouldn't give too much on it if the application is rejected. It's like Equestria Daily - not really as much of a mark of distinction as it sounds.
4028315 If they're not really all that picky, being rejected might actually be worse
I like recognition, though, and it would kinda suck to hear that 'no, we don't think people should read your stuff'.
Still, thanks
4028326
They're picky alright. It just doesn't have as much to do with actual story quality as they'd like people to think.
4028327 That would explain why Whiteout was rejected. I loved that story
d75822.medialib.glogster.com/media/89/89ca7291cbd7bf8ee6afa7882469118381cd66a3b800acad0e03a67b04258952/boondock2.jpg
4028349 Ah yes, there it is. Thank you
Nice, I hope it makes it through. If it does not, don't worry for even a second. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and you have plenty of people that like your story.
Based on ratings, yours is almost twice as popular as mine.
4028432 Thanks
Your story's got more 'triggers' though, so it's kind of to be expected, sadly enough
Still, it's recognition, I'm touchy about that stuff. Also, watch out, 4028349! One day, MLAABQ might surpass one of your Rose-stories! Rue that day, and rue it hard!
4028447 Yeah I don't understand the while 'trigger' thing I see people put on stories, so I have no idea what mine would have.
The trigger thing to my knowledge was supposed to be for things that trigger mental anguish to a reader, like reading about rape, or extremely detailed and gorey violence. But people seem to use it for any other damned thing like its supposed to be a tag.
4028484
You're absolutely right. However, I've read through your story's comment-section, and there are quite a few times that I got the impression that that's what people had experienced. Triggers is a kinda nice thing in theory, but people seem 'triggered' by just about anything, so if people who are 'triggered' are gonna use the term lightly about things that aren't really triggering, I think it's fair that people who don't really trigger use the term lightly back.
Seriously, people, there's no mental anguish in reading a short story with a protagonist called 'Anon'. You may find it strange and un-engaging (I do), but some people really act as though they've been 'triggered' by it, and lots of other harmless things. Like an adventure where a future space-geologist gets abused, lightly wounded, and momentarily harassed by alien ponies
4028501
It's not my fault they have perverted minds.
And the
... ... ... don't even get me started on that. I will say this, if you are too lazy to name your character, I even saw one where Celestia named the fucker that because he had amnesia, then I why should I take my time to read it.
Not really a trigger, a few want the 'Dark' tag. Which its not a dark story, and a few bad things happening does not make it a dark story. Tags are supposed to be for the overall theme of the story, not oh look something bad happened in a chapter or two, or something sad happened, or look I had a joke in chapter 3 out of 20 so its comedy now.
4028534
I'm still keeping an open mind about maybe finding an Anon-story that I like.
... Hasn't happened yet, of course, but hey, it might, someday
All agreed, but I think that some people seem a bit disproportionately upset at what happens in the world of make-believe
And my point is that I think that your story's popularity suffers for it.
4028484
What "trigger warnings" are meant for are a psychiatric setting, because in the original meaning, the term is referring to certain topics that may set off a flashback for a sufferer of post-traumatic stress disorder. It's completely legitimate and necessary in that sense. The problem is that on the internet, it's treated as "this story contains themes that might mildly upset you, so here, have a trigger warning" by people who think that reading a Wikipedia article or a tumblr makes them accredited psychologists.
4028561
Yuppers, but I can't fix that, nor will I change my story to make ever little special flower happy. It's not my fault they don't like that I have not made the world of my story a place of total sunshine and rainbows, but instead tried to add a little realism to it.
Still think chapter 8 was my best ever! Mad so many people get emotional, even if it was pissed off emotions, and even if some were misplaced because they have dirty minds.
4028572
Oh, the best part is that someone would find a way to be 'triggered' by that as well. 'There's no conflict in this story when there clearly is in the show! Raaargh!'
It's especially confusing to me that they didn't seem to like feeling trepidation and shit. They're reading an adventure! I thought the point of art was to be able to feel things that's novel or expensive or dangerous to feel in real life from the comfort of your living-room
Don't worry about it.
4028727 Yeah.
... but I still do, a little bit.
Edit: Also, I expected you to tell me to not panic
4028731 Heh, stuff like that comes and goes in my need to sprout it, but here you go, in large friendly letters.
DON'T PANIC!
4028803 There we go.
I've considered trying to spend a day doing a Duke Nukem and communicate exclusively through pop culture-references.
Eh, it doesn't count for much, but I quite like your story and think that, despite maybe some little problems here and there, it is one of the top representatives of the genre here.
Guess it's my fault if you didn't want it submitted, they were asking for less known HiE stories on their forum and I recommended yours among others. When it comes to their rules I think your overthinking it. I'm not certain but I think the rules are there because they want the Human part of the story to be the main/bigger focus. There are human turned pony stories where you could easily remove the Human tag without it really affecting anything and because of that it probably shouldn't belong in the good HiE group, even if the story is great. So in that regard I think your safe.
If you want to come back later and improve the start of MLAABQ to increase your chances of it getting approved, then just send a PM to Mikesnipe, he's a cool guy so don't worry.
I think asking everyone here if they personally think MLAABQ would qualify for The Good HiE would be a good idea. A simple, spontaneous Yes or No answer to test the waters. I would vote yes.
4028570 you've seemingly read and commented on every story on FiMfic
. What would be your simple answer?
4028844 You mean that the group-submission doesn't count for much, or you liking it? Because I like it that you like it
4029158 I suspected it was you
But no need to apologize for submitting it. Like I said, I actually thank you for that, it's just a strange conflict of emotions to feel happy for the recognition and the exposure, and nervous about the scrutiny 
It kinds of makes me think about just how much the humanity-aspect is gonna play a part in the grand story-arc. In concept... at least one vital part, now that I think about it, two from one point of view.
But, well, if something like MLAABQ was requested, then I guess I shouldn't deny anyone. I promised myself that I wouldn't throw a tantrum if it ended up the pony badfic-bin. At least not a big one
And if that's the case, I should be able to handle it being in the GHiEL.
Hopefully the review will take some time. I'm busy for now, but in a while, I should have time to clean it up. And I shouldn't answer the question, auto-nepotism and stuff.
Thanks again for the vote of confidence
4029281
.
It was my liking it. I know that you may like that I like the story (and we both know that this can devolve into silliness easily) but in the grand scheme of things my liking is a minor detail
4029303 Perhaps. But take the ten richest people in Dubai, take away all their wealth and status, and make them live in such squalor and poverty that they didn't it was possible, and next to their feelings of outrage and indignation, your feelings about my story would matter more to me
4029158
Answer to what? I mostly just happen to read stuff that's currently on the front page when I check it out, so I'm usually looking at the stuff that everyone is currently looking at. It makes me seem a lot more present than I am. There's over 90,000 stories on this site, after all.
4029408
This, I assume:
4029466
Alright then. Don't take it personally, but I'd say no. You're writing a solid story that you're putting a lot of effort into, but I think it also has a lot of weak points, both technical and content-wise, that keep it from being more than the upper end of average. We've talked a lot about those, after all. Compared to stories like "What I've Become," "Stardust" and "The Pony Who Lived Upstairs," it's just really not one of the stories at the top of the genre, in my view. Still plenty better than most, but not one of the best.
4029158 And that's one voice against it. Not good enough to be in the good HiE-list
4029475
I was the one who wrote it, though.
4029475
I fully agree with that. But I think it's somewhat unfair to compare the stories, it is after all "The good HiE group", and not "The best HiE group".
4029491
Well, I already gave my opinion on how the group actually works, instead of how I think it should work, so I was judging that on the basis of what kind of story I'd put in a group dedicated the most well-written quality HIEs around. If it was the "pretty okayish but not the best" group, I'd put this one in there no problem.
4029505 As an aside, I just don't see what so amazing about Humanity Within. I liked it, but either the wool has been pulled over everyone's eyes, or I'm the one missing something.
Don't worry too much - shit, I'm on their list for some damn reason so it's not THAT hard to get on it.
These guys consider it bad witing when becoming a pony fixes everything unpleasant about the character.
These guys consider it bad witing when instinctive interactive pony herd sociotherapy seamlessly overwrites all the human's original habits of thought.
You have an advantage:
your character kept her physical handicaps when she became a pony, and her realistic mutilated appearance continues to alienate her from the common pony and common pony normalization peer pressure.
Where your character is lacking in existential fight-to-stay-myself moments, is made up by insuring her most herd instinct incompatible signs of her former human life persisted into the land of "denotative niceness", insuring that Humanity left a realistic mark on Equestria through your character, and insuring that the character's evolutionary adaptations are through concious cogitation in spite of their new pony instincts.
4029775 Which makes whole rejection-thing even worse, you realize?
4030457 Hmm. They have a bit of a point, sometimes. I think I wouldn't like it if I wrote about that whole mental overwrite-thing in my story. That's some dark stuff, and I don't think I could reconcile it with the lighthearted slice-of-life I was going for. So I guess it's good that I haven't gone and done that.
The thing with her keeping her disabilities also helped spice up the whole getting-used-to-being-a-pony-thing that we've read so many times
4030805
Btw, did you get the meaning behind "denotative niceness"?
4031784 Nnnn– hmm... no, sorry
4031787
Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary definition."
History for nice The English word nice came from an Old French word with the same spelling that meant “foolish.” This Old French word came in turn from a Latin word nescius that meant “ignorant.” At first, English nice meant “foolish” or “frivolous.” Later it came to mean “finicky” or “fussy.” Not until the 1700s did nice come to mean “pleasing” or “pleasant.”
This series of definitions is largely how the good HiE group sees canon Equestrian society.
They score a fic higher if the HiE /Ponified Human takes pains to remain contrasting against this standard, and/or if the author skillfully darkens Equestrian society while preserving it's charm.
You've done both, so i still think you are a shoe-in.
4032220 Oh, I was thinking that you might've meant 'nice' as in 'orderly and neat'.
Well, I've kept Faust's words in mind when I've written MLAABQ. Equestria is very nice, but not all tea-parties and sunshine like the previous versions. Now, I've only actually seen snippets of one of the previous shows, and that was more than 20 years ago, but I think it's pretty clear what they were going for when they made FiM, and I've tried keeping that in mind. That just because it's told in a kiddy-friendly way, doesn't mean that there are no threats and conflicts.
I've seen slice-of-life in fantasy, and 'low fantasy', before, but I've never seen a story that explores the day-to-day life and domestic drama of world-saving heroes in a swords-and-sorcery-setting this well and with this much depth before.
So I guess that's some of the things I've been trying to keep in mind. Equestria has very dark elements, but opposing them is the exception, and everyday-life is the norm. There are also less-than-sunshine-elements in the everyday-life: check out issue 29 of the comics, for instance. There's a foal in the background of the hospital-scene, a colt I think, who's totally missing his hind legs. Then there's also bullying and things like that. Equestria is clearly charming, and living there is probably wonderful, but it's not a paradise. That's how I see it, at least.
That might've been a tangent, but whatever