There was a continuation · 9:38am Aug 8th, 2016
Single adjectives can be pretty encompassing.
If I have a whole bunch of soda-cans on a shelf, and I decide to sort them into two heaps; one for cans with brightly colored labels, and one for darkly colored labels, I will end up with just that, two heaps of soda-cans. If I, after that, decide the remove the sodas with sour taste from the heap with darkly colored labels, and move them to the heap with brightly colored labels, are the original description of the piles still accurate?
In unrelated news, the verdict from The Good Hie List is in:
5. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/224216/my-life-as-a-bipedal-quadruped
My Life As A Bipedal Quadruped
Status: Denied
Reason: Being turned into a pony is fine and all, but she really doesn't care about going back to a human. Kinda kills it for me.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised. In fact, you might remember that I called it three blog-posts ago.
It's like I knew.
Anyway, there you have it, everyone. My Life As A Bipedal Quadruped is not good enough to be considered good, so I guess that means that you should stop wasting your time reading the garbage. Or, well... I guess you can keep reading it, but I have to assume that means that you have poor taste.
Why is it not good? Because the protagonist doesn't 'doesn't care about going back to a human'. If we go back to the soda-cans for a moment; I have to assume that just about everyone else on the planet would give the same answer as me to that question. I just have to assume that this mean that I handled Gabe liking being a pony in an extraordinarily abysmal manner; like, absolutely putrid, to have my story denied for that reason.
The other reason I can think of is some sort of case of violent-expectation-vacuum-equilibrium-backfire-whiplash-effect... I don't even know what that means.
Allow me to expand:
Here is what I think is one of the greatest fics on this site. It's part of a niche that I hadn't really paid attention to before I read it; the what-happened-to-Sunset-Shimmer-immediately-after-Equestria Girls-subgenre. It was amazing, and after reading that, I internally went, as one is wont to do, and as Neil Gaiman puts it, 'I read something, I liked it. I would like another one of those, please'. In fact, I loved it so much that the more a fic in that little niche resembles Long Road, the more benevolent a disposition towards it I got (against my better judgement, I admit).
I guess that can be a bit tricky to understand, but if there's something similar going on in TGHieL, I'm very curious about what kind of fic could have done to the panel over there that Long Road did to me.
Or fictional characters liking a new form is objectively bad writing and that's flown right over my head my entire life. I guess that's a possibility as well.
... Nah, I'm probably just a shitty writer.
I warned you. That's the exact kind of arbitrary standard for inclusion I was talking about.
Oh, stop it with the pity party already. You are plenty confident in your writing skills when I argue with you about certain worldbuilding decisions you've made. Don't act like your self-esteem is that flimsy.
what an odd reason for rejecting a story. I would have thought they would have based it on story structure and stuff like that. I think the Good HiE list needs to get some good administrators.
4138369 Well, maybe having a protagonist who likes being a human is bad story structure. I mean, they've probably read more fics than I have, so they might know something I don't
4138368
I didn't submit it, though. I don't submit my story to groups.
It is, though. Why do you think I defend my position? Did you think it was to convince anyone other than myself?
You know, you don't have to pity me, but like I said in the previous blog post about the subject: I don't have to like it when my stuff is called bad.
You ain't a shitty writer and you ate most certainly a great storymaker. You got great stories that plenty people like, including me.
So get up from that hole of self-pity right now!
AND NEVER GO BACK IN!!
You got that!?!?
That sucked, but was always a possibility. Your story always had the weakness of maybe not being "HiE" enough for the "Good HiE", since the human aspect wasn't played upon as much as other stories. We knew from the rules that this could be a problem, and the reasons they gave seem to fit that, even if those reasons were badly worded.
I mean it did say even in the trigger warning that she was okay with being a pony, and that you gave plenty of valid reasons for her being okay with it, so it shouldn't really be a surprise to the reader.
Anyways, I wouldn't take this as the story not being good enough.
4138386
Mmmmm... five more minutes.
Story, though. Singular. The other fic is a nonsense-collection. Though it might get its first semi-serious insertion soon.
4138387 Don't get more HiE than HiE. Just like you can't get much more turquoise than turquoise
Like I said, I am so very curious about what stories might have biased people against stories where humans thinks turning into magical ponies is neat.
Ehh, I think this is less a "not good enough" issue and more of it rubbing one particular reader wrong. When people say "X is fine, but Y is not", I find that what they usually mean is "X is not fine with some exceptions that are". Whether or not your story falls within the submission rules is a tricky question that probably has personal hangups attached to it.
That whole debate rather hinges upon you accepting that the curators of the list are paragons of good taste, however. Looking over what they do have on their list gives me reason to doubt that. Personally, I think most of the list's credibility comes from its name.
But at the end of the day, I can only relate to you a saying from my country: "taste is like a butt: it is divided." (It sounds better in its native tongue.) It is a rare work of fiction that is universally liked.
Look at the wording, that's a subjective reason as opposed to an objective one. You know, the kind of reason you IGNORE when you're deciding whether or something is good enough to recommend. Just look at my Retired Bookshelf: Do I like some of these; meh. Would I recommend them to someone who would; Of Course I Would.
TL,DR: Whoever Denied your story because some people would rather NOT be human is a jerk.
4138417
I like this and I am going to steal it. I like the native English version, personally: "Opinions are like assholes: everybody has one and they all stink."
4138387
Kind of my point, really. This isn't even really a statement about whether the guy thought the story is good or bad, it's disliking one particular part of it and deciding this means the rest doesn't even matter. It's one of the reasons why I don't take that group seriously. They do that all the time.
4138417 Well, I might've been trying to draw attention to how it's a bit daring to claim that 'I'm the one who decides what fits within this category of *very subversive adjective*'.
My dismay comes from how many people do, though. 4099 members as of the time writing this, and they've just been told to not bother with my story, it's not worth their time.
could it be smaken är som baken?... Taste is like a butt: Most people are very selective about what goes up in it.
4138419 Thank you. Though I'm too much of a sissy to agree or disagree with you on the jerk-thing
4138421 I would've been less peeved if how humans liking being ponies is frowned upon by the panel was part of the group-name.
4138424
Oh, I can plenty understand being peeved with the reason, because it's a stupid one. That kind of attitude is more appropriate to the Humans Are Superior group. Then again, if the admin who reviewed your story was Redshirt, that's probably where he got it from to begin with.
4138426 I tried looking closer at the list, but I couldn't tell who it was that rejected and accepted what.
This keeps making me wonder if it was disappointment that MLAABQ wasn't like another, really great fic that someone really likes. Which one could that be, if that's the case?
4138424 Holy crab, the Swedish variant is hardcore. (As it is with many things.) I need to start using that one instead
I dunno about 4k people being told not to bother with it. I rather doubt that those people all just wait to see what makes the cut and what doesn't. The story appears in the submissions folder, which means it ends up in their feeds, which means they are at least a little bit aware of your story. The only reason they would know to care one way or another whether your story made it was if they read the story for themselves.
4138437 The Swedish one is actually more like you first said it
The taste is like a butt: Some people's hold up longer than others', but eventually they all start sagging...
Maybe I should join a group or two, I was barely in the Humans in Equestria long enough to figure out how groups work. Hmm...
I'm gonna go make my own Good Hie List. With blackjack! And hookers! In fact, forget the list and the blackjack!
4138437
Unless you turn notifications off, which, honestly, I think most people do. You get swamped with notifications otherwise if you belong to more than a handful of groups.
Considering how inactive the group is despite its size - compared to HIE or Displaced or such, basically no one posts there ever - I'm personally assuming that a substantial amount of members really just joined to submit some story or another and then never paid attention to it again.
4138401 Up.
A single story... ok, but in my defense i was on my phone and i didn't know how many stories you had since i forgot, but still...
This, one, single, story.....
I
LOVE
IT!
4138444 Hm. That actually makes me feel a little better
4138449 Mmm, o-kaaay.
*Happy shivers*
4138453
uuuhhh....
Snu snu?
4138468 Plenty of horsie-snu snu on this site, yes
I alluded to some in the latest chapter 
Well, that sucks that you were rejected from Good HiE list for that reason. Still, there's plenty of other groups that you can submit and they will probably like the story!
I'm in TGHiE group languishing there like a stranded whale. What I use the group for is as a nice repository of stories that are almost certainly not bad, not as a collection of all that is good. There are a lot of stories not there that I liked a lot, and yours is one of them.
The reason for the rejection is a bit ridiculous IMHO, but I wouldn't think too much about it if I were you. One curator has been burned by this specific aspect of a story in the past (I may have an idea what it was) and now will reject everything that is vaguely similar. It happens, you are a good writer, continue to write and don't think too much about it.
Also, sent me an invite when you open the new group, I like some blackjack and hookers in my ponies
I still think it is good. I think the reviewer just has no taste.
I don't get it. I recall stories on that list with a similar outlook. But then again, not to be rude to the "judge" (What a joke.) ((Hypocrisy!)) Gabe was kinda effed up. I mean, why would she want to go back where she, as she said, just got annoyed with getting weird looks, and where she couldn't walk properly? Hell, it hasn't even been "years."
She could still be on the hype train with her invention. She could still miss it later, or even reminisce or whatever. I mean, the only reason I'm even commenting is because the reason given was garbage and completely unjust. "I dont like it, therefore i declare it unworthy."
At least s/he was honest. Still kind of a shit response. Going to tell other folk to be careful about that group now, especially with "judges" like that one.
That is a really really shitty reason, there are multiple stories in that group with characters who don't want to return their old form. I belive a person with a retarded mindset who refuses the understand that opinions differ.
wtf is that shit. Who says that? It does not give any reason why your story is bad or does not fit the criteria, it just says that he does not like it and refuses it based upon a very subjective motivation.
You can always reach out to other admins and I believe they will agree on the fact that the explaination given to you for your refusal is bullshit.
You are a good writer, write more.
4138520 Thanks
I don't submit my story to groups, though.
I might when it's finished, but who knows how long that will be?
4138536 Thanks to you, too
I'm really curious about who go burned, though, and even more curious about what story it was.
4138548 A taste differing from ours, at least.
4138568 Yeah, a bit of what Gabe enjoys about Equestria can be chalked up to hype, the joy of discovery coloring the whole experience. She has plenty to reminisce about, but almost all of it is stuff that was gone long before the story starts. I think I've been pretty balanced with the whole thing; making a protagonist that overall likes where she is, but also not saying that 'suddenly, our hero was filled with joy and only ever experienced sweet and wondrous bliss because she was in the paradise we know as Equestria'.
I wonder of you could make a decent collection of stories with only rejects from the group. Even cursory glances on the big list turned out several fics that I liked.
wlam could be right, though. The forum-part of the group is like a ghost-town. Hopefully that means that this won't turn into drama and end up on F2P.
4138575 I wonder if the rejecter could've just passed it on, or if everyone was in agreement.
Thank you, and I will. Got an idea for a short story before I continue on MLAABQ, though
It’s not that the reason is stupid — God forbid that somebody looking for Human in Equestria actually wants the Human part — it’s that it’s not actually part of the criteria for that group and as such your story shouldn’t have been rejected.
Honestly, she has a valid reason for NOT going back to being a human.
#1 - Magic helps makeup for loses limbs.
#2 - more people to help support her (friends)
#3 - special talent leads to magical fake limbs (can't spell the word) that are better than earth counterparts.
#4 - increased lifespan
#5 - technology to go back to earth could take centuries to develop
Reasons to WANT to go back to Earth
#1 - stuck in a child's body
#2 - will have to go through puberty again
#3 - the issue with Discord
4138619 Hmm. From your words it sounds like you mean 'submitted', though
4138627
I don't think I'm gonna make that too much of a grievance for Gabe, since I'm gonna make it a point of humor for the rest of us
4138682 Thank you, I'm getting more of those happy shivers from that
C'mon, Creativity! You gotta recharge faster when people are saying these things
4138678
No, I used the right word. Since that group doesn’t have a rule against pony transformations your story met the only other criteria that matter — “human” and “good” — and as such it should have been approved.
Also, I would’ve thrown some praise your way earlier — good authors being too harsh on themselves need to be set straight on the fact that they are good authors — but I got distracted by some of the comments. (A bunch of them sounded like they objected to whoever‐rejected‐your‐story’s reason on principle — i.e., like they oppose folks who do want Human in their HiE — rather than the fact that he ceased being impartial — he judged your story based on his pet peeves rather than the criteria the group set forth — and that really stuck in my craw.)
Well it's certainly in a couple my 'top' categories. The reasoning for the rejection does look like a load of horseapples. It's all about the likes of the person that reviewed it and nothing more is what take away from that rejection. I mean come on the transformed human is a kind of literary tradition going all the way back to the Greeks at least,
it's no reason at all (objectively) to flat out denie it. In the end I'd give the rejection just as much thought as it seems they gave your story, nadda 
You should see the number of rejections I get from galleries when I send stuff in for photography shows. Usually it's a 10:1 rejection to acceptance rate often also just for subjective reasons, but then that's art.
You've got a great story there and based on comments here and the likes a lot of people think so. 
On another note yeah I've had Long Road in my read it later forever, thanks for the reminder.
4138757 Oh, okay. I think there was some praise in there. Thank you for that
Being critical against your own work can be a good thing for a beginner. It makes it easier to accept that some things should perhaps be scuttled for the story's best and such. The thing is that a lot of people, including myself about 18 months ago, and slightly less including myself now, don't really have a bunch of confidence that lots of experience provides to fall back on. Being brutal in ones feedback is probably gonna make a lot of people just go 'maybe this wasn't such a good idea' and call it quits, or just stop listening to feedback altogether. Either way, everyone is poorer for it.
4138771 Thank you, and props for sticking with something even with a bunch of rejections, man.
At least I'm lucky with this being a story. I can always fall back on it being simple entertainment to justify its existence. I've seen artsy-fartsy people, and I just can't help but feeling that I know their field better than I do. At least I tell people what I define as art, and I can comprehend my own preferences. Artsy-fartsy people never seem to be able to do that
Also yes; read it.
I believe I've poked you about this a while ago. Or maybe 'poked' isn't a perfect word. Would YOU actually want to turn back into something weak, fragile, with a lifespan of a wax candle and with about the same impact on the world around you, after been given this gift? I said 'no', you said 'possibly but not in Gabe's situation'. So what, you should only write a character that's more stupid than you or a random person on the internet? For it to be considered good by some bunch of elitist wannabes on said internet? Sounds about right to me.
Oh but wait, there's a shining example for ya. A substitute demon. A blatant power fantasy self-insert: the MC is basicly male Luna, the black alicorn (why would he be anything else really?), who just happens to be the pony world's last and best hope against oblivion. He has basicly everyone he ever layed his eyes on groveling at his feet (or dead). Dreamwalking, god-tier magic, changeling queen lover or several, etc, you know how these things go. But the best part? For reasons that defy logic, he actually WANTS to become human again and return home (to all the friends he never had and the family that never loved him and the glorious social position of a faceless clerk - the author's actual life, I imagine). He rejects the pony name and identity to no ill effects (it's his playground after all), which goes on and on like a bubblegum stuck to your boot, and then eventually, reluctantly accepts being basicly a pony god. Guess what? It's on the 'Good HiE list'. There's one thing this fic actually gets going for it, if you manage to look past mister dark, tall and brooding. World-building. It's good, I mean it has to be, if you want your power fantasy to really get your bits up and pointy. But it has nothing to do with the HiE component whatsoever.
You know what the inclusion of this crap makes the list, right?
Nah your story is good. I wouldn't take not getting in there personally. I like that group, it has many good stories... but it also has stories I don't think should be in it. It is an opinion based group after all and not everyone has the same opinions.
4138816 Oh yeah. It's on the top of the comment-section on my profile-page.
I started listening to one of their podcasts once. Ironically, the first topic was circle jerking
I gotta read Substitute Demon some time. I started once, but I shelved it because I just wasn't in the mindset to appreciate it at the time. But when it comes to missing your home world: If Gabe goes to yet another world, and miss Equestria, do you think that would solve their issue with my story, or just double down on what they didn't like about it?
... Infallible?
4138835 Kind of going back to how it's kinda daring to call one's group that, then.
I'd say thank you, but I'm sort of taking you for granted when it comes to liking my story
4138846 Yeah, irony is strong with this one.
I suppose human-turned-pony in a non-pony_or_human world is... interesting. It's certainly different, I don't recall seing anything like it. But I don't think that would actually count as HiE anymore, so by default it would probably not belong to that group (at least according to rules as written). Which the ever-helpful mods of the group would happily notify you about. Also I think there's plenty of Equestria left for Gabe to explore, without her life becoming boring (even if boring to observe, not live), so the move isn't exactly needed.
I was going for 'useless' or 'opinionated' aka not actually wearing the name all that well, but that's probably how they see themselves, yeah.
4138890 I've been planning this for too long to not go through with it, though. Don't wanna spoil the story too much in public comments: but Gabe will be in Equestria.
4138898 Well, yeah, that's kind of what I was going for. Different or not, it would be overkill at this point.
4138914 Well, when you put it like that, I should probably warn you what I've got planned. You want a PM about it?
4138920 Sure, wouldn't hurt, I suppose. I'd still be interested in actually reading it.
4138846
I really don't recommend it. It kind of turns into "changeling polygamy simulator" after a point and really stops being readable as story. Reykan dropped into "I can do no wrong" internet diva mode after that story started to really take off and the entire thing really just went to the dogs from that.
4138971 Well, when it's a rather long fic, I guess it makes sense to listen to people's recommendations, in order to not end up wasting too much of your time.
Which makes me a little sad about the rejection again.
'Changeling polygamy-simulator' reminds me of a when I listened to a podcast that brought up Rape-play*, though
*Or however it was spelled, I don't want to Google it
4138982
The disappointing thing is, it started out well enough. At some point, Reykan just basically went Full Retard and decided that it was popular enough that he could do anything with it and the entire thing degenerated into a self-indulgent pile of manure that pretty much abandoned whatever plot it still had. I just dropped it completely at that point.
4138990 ... I hope MLAABQ doesn't come across that way, because it is gonna go in other directions than it has so far. Having old wounds healed by being around magical ponies isn't gonna hold up the story indefinitely, there's gonna be other things, too.
And those things might come across as desperate, or me not willing to let a finished story rest, and I've worked on this in my head too long to change course...
... I think I've gained a little more sympathy for people whose stories go on for a long time and then just seem to derail, now
4139000
Honestly, I'm not sure Muhlahbock actually has a plot. I haven't gotten around to the latest chapters yet, but so far, my impression has been that things just kind of happen in it. There is nothing really hinting that it is moving towards anything in specific. Considering that it's a slice of life story and this is really a basic feature of the genre, this is really not so much a flaw as something you either like about it or don't. In the latter case, you obviously won't be reading it to begin with, of course.
Let's just say that Substitute lost sight of what its point used to be as a story in the worst possible way, and refused to listen when readers started pointing that out and asking what happened. That's the line where you can tell a story really isn't worth reading anymore. They don't usually recover from that.
4138990
4139000
I find this problem often in longer fanfics and I think it comes down to a lack of writing/story consistency. I also dropped Substitute Demon, probably for the same reasons as wlam. I don't think you busstop should be worried yet, unless you start making this story all about sex and shipping all of a sudden, then you'd probably fall in the same trap. I think Bad Mondays is a great example of a story that's long yet constantly good because it's very consistent.
I suppose I'll give my little late opinion down here.
The main point I think is there's an invisible checklist of cliche things that happen in HiE stories that's evolved over time. Way back most stories had the MC completely accepting of being in Equestria, oftentimes becoming a pony them self. Eventually more stories started having the MC reject their fate with their main drive being returning home and any new story of the previous type is looked upon less favorably, perhaps this rings true for the reviewer particularly.
But why I like your story is that it avoids any set of cliches altogether while being well written and simply enjoyable. Aside from being just generally a good read there's the fact that despite being started some time ago you're still updating it with very good sized chapters. The premise of human to foal as well is still fairly fresh(and probably one of the longest stories in that category) and on top of that the character is wholly unique in both characterization and premise. You've also managed to use established characters well while creating new ponies that fit too.
For real, this gave me flashbacks to people getting heartbroken over rejection from getting featured on equestria daily freaking forever ago for equally inane reasons. The same thing stands now as then, all your story was rejected from was sitting in a window somewhere that likely won't be seen by anybody that hasn't already read it. I've been reading almost exclusively HiE stories on this site for way too long so maybe you can trust me when I say you've got a good story here, that its a good HiE story is the wrong distinction to take.
4139027
I definitely agree. Bad Mondays is basically a case study in how to do a half-million word story well. It never loses sight of what it is going for and despite its length it is incredibly busy. There is always something pertinent and plot-progressing happening. Plus, Handyman is incredibly responsive to criticism and always willing to clarify things or answer questions that were left unresolved in the story itself.
Their complaint about your fic is funny (to me), because I've dug through their archive, and would hold yours above most of them in quality. I'd like to think Gabe's response is similar to what I would have in that situation; moments of morose/moping, but: new friends, new world, MAGIC! Not everyone devolves into emo-mode in a bad situation.
4139009 Well, the goals I've had in mind when I've written it were 1: Have light humor, interesting observations about Equestria, and character-interactions that you (that is I) haven't seen and/or read a thousand times before. 2: Try and believably portray what someone in Gabe's situation would think and feel, and preferably in an uplifting manner. And starting at around chapter four, 3: Move towards mental and emotional healing for Gabe. The slow character-development has been the plot, I guess.
Number 3 was what I think ended up making the story in many ways. Even if I could make that last forever, I wouldn't want it to, so I have other plans. Right now there's just Slice-of-Life, but eventually there's gonna be an adventure, and that, I worry, could be where it ends up for many people like Substitute Demon ended up for you. It does something else that readers don't like, because I don't have the creativity to have the same thing drive the story forever. Hence why I've started a 'part two', to hopefully ease people into the idea that MLAABQ is gonna be switching things up a little bit.
4139027 I think I've already addressed some of these worries in this very post, but you guys keep posting stuff while I'm busy responding to other comments
That's the thing, it might not be all that consistent. It would be kinda weird if Gabe keeps being sad about the exact same things that she was sad about eight chapters ago. It would make readers go 'didn't we make progress about this already?'
Haven't read Bad Mondays. Maybe I should check it out to see what you guys mean. I guess I should check out Substitute Demon for similar reasons.
There might be a little bit of shipping, though
4139033 Late opinion? Thread still seems to be going strong
Human characters liking being ponies in Equestria is coming back, man. This is just me being ahead of the curve. I'm telling you, start growing that mustache and get yourself some bell-bottom jeans. The 70's will rise again
Mine is one of the most cliched stories on this site, though. Or at least I should hope so, most of them are there intentionally
Oh yeah. Asking for members of a gated community to please, please spend a moment of their valuable time to grace you with their gaze is something I hope I'm never gonna have to do. I actually avoid looking for fics on that site, and not just because I'm having serious trouble navigating it.
Thanks for your kind words. Every time I read something like this, I put even more determination into finishing the story
4139043 Well, that bumps it up even more on the to read-pile, I guess.
4139056 Gabe did once, and she learned from it. Thanks for the compliment. I gotta say, It's nice to have people defending your stuff. I guess I gotta keep giving them reason...
... That is, I'm gonna keep making MLAABQ as well as I can