Destinies: The second anniversary · 5:51pm Nov 25th, 2016
31st time’s the charm, right? Destinies finally made the Featured Box, occupying one of the bottom three slots reserved for updated stories. It was there for all of two hours, under ten minutes with the mature filter off.
That was unexpected.
I had always been under the belief that those bottom three slots were reserved for stories that had previously earned one of the top seven slots. That hypothesis has been falsified; Destinies never got close to being featured. Sure, it spent half a day in Popular Stories when it came out, but that’s true of many new stories and it doesn’t mean much (unfortunately).
So here’s my new hypothesis: consideration for those bottom slots is based on a story’s accumulated metrics, as opposed to how fast those metrics are currently going up as is the case for the upper slots. Destinies had accumulated enough votes, views, bookshelves, whatever goes into the formula, to finally make the cut. Tortoises can win as well as rabbits.
And getting one of those bottom slots makes a difference. It picked up far more new readers, as a result, than any previous appearance in Latest Updates. The odds are any future side stories will see a return to the Featured Box.
Too bad I don’t plan on writing any.
That’s right, it’s time for me to get serious about the sequel. It’ll still be a while. I’m struggling to wrap up everything I want to include with a coherent plot. I’ll also want to write a fair number of chapters before I publish the first one, being that I belong to the school of not publishing a story I cannot see through to completion in a timely fashion.
After three side stories, you all may be wondering if I ever plan on revealing the existence of ponies to all humanity. To answer that question, here’s the first paragraph of the first chapter of the sequel:
“Let’s spin!” Stephen Colbert pulled with gusto the giant, fake lever by his side. The studio audience erupted in cheers as the Wheel of News projected onto the dome of the Ed Sullivan Theater rapidly spun. Food. Religion. Clip Without Context. Politics. Commercial Break. News. Buy A Vowel. The clicking sounds ground to a halt. “Ponies!”
I won’t promise this paragraph will survive till publication, but the odds are good it will.
And maybe I will do another side story. I just have to see what happens with the Featured Box—in the name of Science, naturally.
Looking forward to the sequel. Destinies was a story I became quite invested in.
That's good news to hear that Destinies made it to the feature box (congratulations) and that you are currently working on a sequel. I loved the story, it was well crafted and I found myself really concerned by the story and the characters. I'm sure that the sequel will be as good as the previous one.
I must admit that I heard about Destinies after reading The Power of Muffins when it came to the feature box. I search your stories, saw that one and give it a shot. It was worth it. However, there is no trace of the last chapter you added in my feed. Is it because I'm not tracking it anymore? (I thought it was over).
By the way, if you need help, I would be honored to provide some. I can't call myself an editor (not being a native English speaker isn't helping) but I think I can help as a pre/proof reader. Maybe only with opinion on this or that, sharing ideas etc.
Anyway, I hope to see the first chapter published in the near future. I can't wait.
4316977 You need to be tracking a story to see new chapters in your feed, so yes. You need to be tracking a story or following the author to be notified of a sequel being published.
Thanks for the offer, but it hasn't worked out for me in the past.
4316930 Not as invested as I am
And I just realized that those of you in other countries may not get The Late Show reference, so here's a video clip of a Wheel of News segment:
[youtube=EZz0fLBNDvg]
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So that explain everything. But that still doesn't explain the mythical equation on featured stories. (42?)
And thanks for the video, it became much clearer. And, it is actually funny.
That's fine if you don't want any proofreader but can I ask you why it didn't work out?
Pretty sure the top 5 feature slots are daily staff picks and the bottom 5 slots are the top 5 stories currently being read.
4317018 That is known only to knighty. It is said by some that if it ever got out, the equation would be replaced by one even more incomprehensible. Others have claimed that that has already happened.
And, sorry, but I'd rather not go into details.
4317229 That is simply not the case. It is a 7/3 split, and it's completely automated. I suggest you spend some time watching how stories get onto the list, move up and down, and fall off the list.
Kidding (mostly). As always, late and good is better than now and ...not.
But yeah, like that other commenter said, I am looking forward to this a lot.
Congrats on the feature! You certainly deserve it! :D
It seems to me that these last slots takes in account, greatly, the time since last update. Among other things, that seems that have allowed it to reach the box this last update.
And sequel hype! I'm looking forward to it. When I found Destinies I just couldn't stop reading. And I think it's one of the few stories here that I've read more than once.
Maybe publish a small side story when the sequel is up? It's also a good way to advertise the sequel. People who only track the story, but don't follow you aren't alerted when you publish a sequel!
About damn time getting a feature there
4317799 That's not a bad idea. I think I will do another side story that'd be published right after I publish the sequel. Which means I now have to come up with one.
I look forward to the sequel!!!
4382779 About 20K words written so far…
And I've come up with the idea for the next, and final, side story for Destinies, to be published simultaneously with the sequel: Winter Wrap-Up. All I shall say about what it's about is that it affects Twilight's perceptions of human technology.
When does the sequel come out?
4389633 I don't know yet. I want enough written to know there won't be any showstoppers going all the way to the end. I'm writing chapter six right now, but I still need to put something into the first chapter that won't pay off to much later in the story.
I'm thinking of setting up my own Discord server, where I can post regular status updates and provide early access to some things. The new side story Winter Wrap-Up, which I haven't started yet, is a good candidate for that. I have to hold that back until the sequel is published, but there's no reason not to give early access once it's finished.
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Totally look forward to it.