Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXIV · 8:21pm Jul 23rd, 2020
My schedule has a problem. It’s one that’s been building up for a while now.
Sometime in the last six months, I divided my schedule up into three categories based on length: Short (<10k words), Medium (10k - 70k), and Long (>70k). Long stories have had their own separate schedule for a couple years now, and it was serving decently to prevent such stories from dominating my reading. I’d had problems with that in the past, y’see.
The reason behind dividing up the set into these three categories was an attempt to limit the total story wordcount of Short and Medium stories to 90k for every blog. Since I read ~210,000 words every week, I figured this would allow me to start building a lead, which would in turn support my efforts to create blogs intended only for Long stories. Of course, to meet this 90k requirement, I also decided to limit the number of Medium-length stories per blog to two (you try meeting a 90k word limit with two 40k stories scheduled for the same week and eight more stories to go). I’ve done a few workarounds and manipulations to try and stay close to that limit every week, but sometimes it just isn’t possible.
All this manipulation and experimentation has brought up whole new problems. Essentially, the number of Medium-length stories are building and the number of Short stories is falling. At this rate I’ll be stuck with nothing but Medium and Long stories on the schedule, which makes meeting that wordcount limit tricky, if not impossible.
My goal has always been to reduce my RiL to 50 stories total. One obvious solution to the above problem is to just start adding new Short stories into the schedule every week to meet demand, but that defies the goal of a 50-story RiL limit. Alternatively, when I hit that barrier I could cut down on the number of stories I review each week so that the Medium length stories can be read without causing me any problems. Alternatively alternatively, I could stop releasing a specific amount of reviews per week entirely and just review whatever falls within the wordcount limits. I don’t want to read less than 210,000/week yet, as that’s how I’ve been killing my RiL in the first place, and I want to keep my 90k/blog limit as that keeps me building that lead.
Thus far, I have two solutions. The first one is only a stopgap method to buy time: every few weeks, starting with the next blog, I’ll be releasing blogs with nothing but Medium and Long stories, with no upper wordcount limit. It’s an effort to cut the numbers down faster. They do make building a lead for my Big Stories blogs much harder, though.
Which leads me to solutions two: no more Big Story blogs. They were great for killing a lot of Long stories from my RiL at a faster rate than scheduled, but with the new Medium-devoted blogs it’s practically impossible to build the lead necessary to do them and not interrupt my review schedule. With this in mind, I’ve gone in and completely rescheduled my Long Story list, with an eye for trying to release a Long story at least every other week, if not weekly. I’ve already managed to shave four months off my Long Story schedule this way; now it’s "only" booked to December 2021. If, by some miracle, I find myself in enough of a lead to put a whole bunch of Long stories down in a single blog, I’ll probably do so, but for now I wouldn’t count on it. I’ve got to start knocking those out faster though, as right now I’ve got more than 50 of the things, and I’m sure that number will keep growing if I don’t do something (relatively) quickly.
That’s all I’ve got for today, folks. Yeah, I know. Boring. On the bright side, I should be releasing another short tonight. Would have had it out two days ago, but was waiting on the cover artist's permission. In the meantime...
Reviews.
PS - No reviews next week, folks. Break time.
Stories for This Week:
To Warm a Mare's Heart in Two Hours by Timaeus
"There's A Monster in my Bedroom!" by Vertigo22
Moonstone by Jykinturah
Creatures in the Dark by PhoenixDragon44
Not this apple by PurpleFire18
Nightmare Moon's Interrogation by TheAnimerican
Good Night, Luna by tursi
Hey Jealousy by Ruirik
Plastic Smiles and the Strength They Hide by Element of Malice
The Public Life of Sweetie Belle by BronyWriter
Total Word Count: 89,917
Rating System
Why Haven't You Read These Yet?: 0
Pretty Good: 5
Worth It: 3
Needs Work: 2
None: 0
To Warm a Mare's Heart in Two Hours
13,319 Words
By Timaeus
It’s the first Hearth’s Warming since the defeat of the Wendigos, and Princess Platinum has had a frustrating day. The inter-tribal meeting involved a bunch of whiners, the dinner date she had with Clover went poorly thanks to bickering chefs, and worst of all, the damned pegasi are making it snow. She comes home, ready to say ‘screw it’ to this day and get some sleep, only to find a tree in her living room and the ever-insufferable Commander Hurricane making cookies in her kitchen. He has five seconds to explain himself before she plucks his feathers for her pillows. He makes a counter-offer.
Or, to summarize the entire story in one sentence: Hurricane sweeps Platinum off her hooves.
This is a holiday-themed romance, and nothing more. The first half of the story involves Hurricane proving his powers of negotiation by convincing Platinum to give him two hours of her time instead of a mere five seconds. The second half is those two hours, which is all the things you’d expect from a Christmas-themed romance. No, seriously, it’s beyond predictable.
It’s also a little confusing. The story starts with a strong suggestion that the three tribes are back to bickering again, mostly from the unicorns not understanding the importance of proper annual weather patterns for growing crops (because of course it would be the unicorns). Even Platinum herself shows hints of this by suggesting she doesn’t buy the pegasi’s and earth ponies’ explanations for why another winter is needed after the Wendigo. We’re made to believe that there’s all sorts of friction within the unified town of Equestria (that’s right, town) and that harmony is struggling to survive.
Then, out of nowhere, all of that’s gone. The three races are singing carols, having Hearth’s Warming parties, and generally behaving as though nothing were amiss. Uh, wait, what? When did this happen? How? Why? Were we only seeing the bad because that’s all Princess Platinum recognized, or did some miraculous event occur we aren’t privy to?
Also, this is only one year after the first Hearth’s Warming. Somehow, in that time we’ve already got multiple traditions going as if the entire town has been doing them for generations, including Hearth’s Warming trees with all the modern decorations, carolling, and so on. There’s not much in the way of explanation here. The most we get is when Platinum notes that carolling is a Unicorn tradition, that Hurricane probably convinced the carolers to do their thing, and maybe the tree is a pegasus thing? Why the Unicorns or Pegasi had such traditions before there was ever such a thing as Hearth’s Warming remains unknown. My best guess is that maybe all the different tribes shared information on their own unique traditions for different holidays and decided to combine them for Hearth’s Warming just because, but that’s purely a theory.
All that being said, if you focus on the romance then this is an excellent story. Well, excellent for the hopeless romantics out there. As I said, all the individual motions we see are standard fare for a traditional romance; hunky stallion acts all charming and smooth for beautiful protagonist, she tries to resist his muscles and suave grin, they dance and play in the snow and have fun together, she tries to deny she’s falling for his body, yadda yadda.
Where Timaeus excels is in the writing itself. It’s evocative, it’s emotional, it’s vivid. Timaeus manages to keep things interesting from start to finish by really getting into Platinum’s head and letting us know her as an individual. This is the part that really sells the story. Everything we’re seeing might be old hat wish fulfillment, but the author proves even that can be good with the right touch. I ended up enjoying myself even as I rolled my eyes at how smooth Hurricane’s lines were or how frequently Platinum took notice of the stallion’s ripped physique.
While I would like to see better explanations for the background oddities and find the entire romance to have been… shall I call it ‘dense?’, I still must approve of this story overall for the quality of its writing alone, particularly its ability to maintain exactly the right atmosphere for any given moment. Timaeus clearly knows the craft, and I wonder in what other genres they might excel.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
The Perfect Setup — Pretty Good
"There's A Monster in my Bedroom!"
1,000 Words
By Vertigo22
Princess Cadence gets interrupted from her book by a tiny Twilight who insists there is a monster in her bedroom. What kind of Best Foalsitter Ever would she be if she didn’t go check it out?
This one is a bit of an odd duck, and that’s not a criticism. Going by the tags, Vertigo22 considers this a horror, but it never really feels like one. The vast majority of it involves Filly Twilight trying to convince Cadance that the monster is real while Cadance tries to come up with reasonable explanations or, at the very least, calm Twilight down so she’ll go back to sleep. The story hints several times that Cadance is unnerved by how sincere Twilight’s fear seems, but even that doesn’t stir me since that anxiety is never allowed to linger.
Honestly, people, it’s hard to feel any sort of fear when you’ve got Filly Twilight being adorable. But the Horror Tag is present, so I think you can guess what the twist ending involves.
This is 99% Filly Twilight being cute and 1% “Things are about to get real in this house.” It lives up far more to its Slice of Life Tag. If you’re looking for something creepy, eh, this probably won’t do it for you, but if you like seeing Filly Twilight being adorable (and if you don’t, what kind of monster are you?) then you’ll love it. The best news in all this is that there’s a sequel, which I will most certainly be investigating.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Moonstone
1,053 Words
By Jykinturah
Princess Luna does not merely give a gift. When she offers something, it is an object in which she has given careful consideration and performed much work. Tonight, she will craft a gift as only an alicorn can.
This is a curious one. The story involves Luna using each aspect of alicorn magic independently to forge a single gift. Jykinturah goes to great lengths to differentiate the powers of Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi as this process is described. This is, for all intents and purposes, a practice in description.
I quite enjoyed it, especially the open-ended conclusion. I feel this is an easy story to get into, being at once simple and imaginative, with what one might consider a hint of worldbuilding. If that sounds appealing to you, there’s no reason not to give it a go.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Creatures in the Dark
1,093 Words
By PhoenixDragon44
While Apple Bloom sleeps, something decides to pay her a visit.
This is a curious story. Noticeably not labeled as a horror, the majority of it involves a creature sneaking into Apple Bloom’s room, seemingly more out of curiosity than any ominous intentions. The creature is apparently able to read Apple Bloom’s memories while she sleeps, which allows it to learn about her day of being bullied. You can guess where things go from there.
It’s clear that PhoenixDragon44 is trying hard to generate some kind of horror-centric atmosphere with this creature. Unfortunately, the author needs to learn some grammar before they can truly shine. Take the following:
IT’S skin was a black that matched the darkest of nights and IT'S eyes having a black iris and sclera with glowing white pupils. IT raised an arm and reached it out to touch Applebloom's face. IT stopped IT'S claws just before they touched her face.
No, I didn’t add the emphasis in bold and caps, that’s the author’s doing. See how many mistakes you can find in this with grammar before you go considering the limitations of PhoenixDragon’s sentence structure and powers of description. I’m honestly surprised that this story has been read by over 250 people and yet, somehow, nobody has bothered to correct the author on their use of “it’s” vs “its”.
I suppose I won’t allow the use of bold and uppercase to affect my rating too much. It bothered me a lot, as it felt completely unnecessary (to say nothing of the red text not in that sample), but I’m willing to chalk that up to subjectivity with this specific usage. Where things really fall apart is in the second chapter, in which PhoenixDragon tries and fails completely at recreating a newspaper article about a pair of murders.
What PhoenixDragon is trying to do here isn’t bad at all. With the right touch and a bit of descriptive flair, it could be a great piece of dark literature. Alas, this author has yet to develop the literary experience and knowledge necessary to pull it off.
Bookshelf: Needs Work
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Not this apple
1,711 Words
By PurpleFire18
Applejack doesn’t quite trust the vampire fruit bats to leave her orchards alone, so she goes out one night to make sure they’re staying in the sanctuary. What she finds instead is a Flutterbat that can’t tell the difference between a real apple and a cutie mark.
PurpleFire18 acknowledges that this was a rush job because he didn’t want to lose the story idea while it was strong in his head. Which is a silly excuse; this idea is so blatant, so easy, that I can’t imagine it ever actually leaving anyone’s head. I guarantee you that every author who saw the episode Bats! and noticed that fang in Fluttershy’s mouth has had this idea or something very similar. Most probably didn’t bother with it because, obviously, someone was going to write it.
Anyway, the story ends up being everything you’d expect and nothing I’d hoped for. Fluttershy chases Applejack, Applejack defends herself, both get badly hurt. It’s clear from the beginning that the author is attempting a horror-esque feel, at least for the first half of the story. The rest is somehow meant to be the ‘sad’ part, though I am at a loss as to why. Because Fluttershy and Applejack are crying, I guess?
The story suffers two problems. The first is a rushed writing style that leans on Tell like a crutch, providing no emotional impact whatsoever. Every moment of the story reads with the same pacing as every other moment, be it Applejack walking through the woods or narrowly avoiding a bite from the Flutterbat, which means the parts that are meant to be exciting, sad or, perhaps, frightening, fall flat.
The second issue is that I don’t think PurpleFire18 really understands what the tags stand for. Fluttershy and Applejack being sad and crying for all of 5% of the whole story does not make the story ’sad’. If, say, you focused a large chunk of the story in an atmosphere of melancholy, that would qualify. If the majority of the story wasn’t sad but then a twist event happened that makes the last few hundred words traumatic, that could potentially qualify. But just having the characters themselves be sad for a brief window of the entire story? Yeah, that’s not a ‘sad’ story.
In the author’s defense, I do understand what they were trying to go for. But the telly style, rushed flow of events, and complete absence of atmosphere kills it. My advice would be to try describing the setting and mood more and spend real time on the scene that is intended to be the whole point of the story. The fight in the barn could have been a tense, dramatic encounter, both before and after the intended tone shift. That is not the time to hurry through things.
Bookshelf: Needs Work
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Nightmare Moon's Interrogation
1,114 Words
By TheAnimerican
Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. —T.S. Eliot
Nightmare Moon just returned from the moon, but Celestia is nowhere to be found. To remedy this conundrum, she captures a Major of the Royal Guard. His reaction to her presence is… not at all what she expected.
This is a blatant rip-off of a comedy skit by a show called “A Bit of Fry and Laurie”. It ends up with the Major being hopelessly smitten by Nightmare Moon and her not having a clue how to react. On its own, it’s fairly amusing. I’m not sure if it’s better or worse that TheAnimerican lets out the secret that the whole thing is stolen almost line-for-line from the skit. I suppose I’ll say better, because at least this makes the author upfront about their act of creative robbery.
The short is certainly fun in its own way, but it loses a lot of points for lack of originality. The Animerican needs to try harder to make this kind of thing their own unique spin on the topic if they want to be rewarded with a rating above mediocrity.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Good Night, Luna
1,017 Words
By tursi
Luna, now alone and ancient beyond measure, is visited by a most unusual guest.
This is a bit of worldbuilding where tursi loosely describes the life of Luna, going into the future well beyond what we know of the show. There’s not a lot to it; Luna doesn’t bother going into gritty details. It ends more or less right where you’d expect with a story like this.
There’s nothing wrong with the story in general. The problem is that it doesn’t tread any new ground with the subject matter. I’ve seen this story plenty of times already, this is just another author going through the same motions. As a result, it fails to garner any interest from me.
This may work for someone new to the fandom or who, by sheer coincidence, hasn’t encountered this subject matter before. For the rest of us, it may be better to look for fresher pastures. Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the story, which is why I’m willing to put it on the middle ground.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
To Choose the Light — Pretty Good
Night Reigns — Worth It
Hey Jealousy
2,611 Words
By Ruirik
After a hard day of work, Lightning Dust goes to a bar to cool off. She never expected an old rival to visit the same establishment.
That song gets stuck in my head every time I see the title. I’ll be glad to be done with this just so that stops happening.
Anyway, “What happened to Lightning Dust?” stories are plenty common. Heck, I wrote one myself as part of the No Heroes series (still one of my favorite stories despite its age). This one earns points ahead of its competition. Instead of the usual “Lightning is always miserable and seeks redemption” method most authors use, myself included, Ruirik depicts Lightning as having moved on and found happiness in living a normal, non-celebrity lifestyle. It’s surprisingly heartwarming, and provides an extra twist in that, for once, it’s Lightning who is encouraging and motivating Rainbow.
For being a more realistic and grounded take on Lightning’s fate, I thoroughly approve of this one. I can think of no reason not to recommend it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get this song out of my head. Again.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good!
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
The Cellist of Saraneighvo — Pretty Good
The Regular — Pretty Good!
Plastic Smiles and the Strength They Hide
2,135 Words
By Element of Malice
Requested by Element of Malice
Derpy’s been through a lot. A lot of bullying and abuse and disappointment. But one mare stood up for her. Perhaps, some day, she can do the same for somepony else.
This is a story with a strong message. Specifically, it’s about how a few kind words of understanding can be enough to change – or even save – a person’s life. Half of it involves her reflecting on her past and her struggles, whereas the end gives her the chance to help somepony else.
Part of me feels as though the author spent too much time explaining Derpy’s past. Another part of me looks at it in the grand scheme of things and realizes it doesn’t take up as much of the story as I thought. Yet I can’t shake this feeling that something could use adjusting. Then it hits me: we spent all that time focusing on Derpy and none on the pony she’s saving.
That’s all, really. I feel that Element of Malice spent so much time extrapolating Derpy’s past, it would have been nice to know a little more about this other pony. I don’t mean going into deep detail, I just mean spend a little more time with her. I can get that not naming the character is beneficial, as it lends itself to the idea that this is an unknown stranger and identity shouldn’t matter when it comes to helping people. Yet that final scene could have been more effective if, instead of saying “the pony babbled about a life of woes”, we got a moment to actually listen to her. This doesn’t even mean hearing the details of what’s wrong with her life; it means taking the time to understand what it means to her that Derpy did something, even if that something was merely words. It’s one thing to claim a pony is grateful and throw out mention of a noose, it’s another to hear that pony say it directly.
But ignoring that one suggestion, this is a meaningful story. I can understand why the author was so high-strung over the need to get it right. And, in seeking the help of others, I’d say they did a decent job. I hope they learned some lessons in the process and apply them to future stories. As for this one, it certainly deserves a good rating.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
The Public Life of Sweetie Belle
64,864 Words
By BronyWriter
Sequel to The Secret Life of Rarity
In life, Rarity was a serial killer. After her execution, she remains on everypony’s minds, especially those of her kin. Sweetie Belle must come to terms with what her sister did and try to live in a world where her family is judged by the actions of Rarity.
While the first story was all about Rarity and her regular murderous activities, this story is tame and involves a lot less blood. A slice-of-life, it largely involves Sweetie as she grows up in her sister’s shadow, trying to make her own way while being known mostly as the sister of a murderer. It includes scenes from her childhood all the way up to her time as a single mother.
I like the direction BronyWriter took this. It’s so rare we get to see a story strictly about the repercussions of another. With a whole new tone and a heavy focus on the recovery of Sweetie’s trauma, it feels like something that needs to be seen. It would have been far too easy for the author to do a “Rarity was a killer, so Sweetie is too by blood” thing. Which would have been stupid all around, as I’m pretty sure genetics don’t work that way (and how stupid it is only accentuates the mindset of those ponies who accuse her of exactly that).
There are two problems. The first is that the writing has not improved from the prior story, still feeling any combination of Telly, fast-paced, and simple (plus those flinch-inducing all-caps and multi-punctuation). When BronyWriter does attempt to instill a moment with emotion, they tend to go overboard with it, turning what could be a decent moment of misery into melodrama. There are also times when the dialogue feels forced, such as Celestia reiterating fifty million times that, no, she does not enjoy what she’s been doing, as though repeating it doesn’t make it sound fake.
The second issue is the climax in Chapter 14. I’m not complaining about the what here so much as the how and why. I’m sorry, BronyWriter, but yes, it absolutely feels contrived. There was no reason whatsoever to do it this way. It came out forced at best and like an obvious gimmick at worst. It’s okay to want these events to happen in general, but you should at least try to do it in a way that doesn’t defy realistic probability. It was easily the biggest stumble of the story.
I suppose a third issue would be the ending. It… doesn’t really feel like an ending. I get there’s a sequel to cover what comes next, but that’s no reason to leave this story feeling incomplete. I dunno, it just felt to me like one more chapter was needed to properly close things out.
Still, for showing us the consequences of Rarity’s life and death as seen through the eyes of somepony who cared about her, I must approve of this one. I’d argue that it’s the better story, if only because it didn’t descend into bits of bloody nonsense at times (I’m still wondering what happened to that katana). I have every intention of reading the sequel, even if its length means it’ll take a lot longer for me to get to.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
No, I Am Not A Brony, Get Me Outta Equestria! — Pretty Good
One Word — Pretty Good
The Secret Life of Rarity — Pretty Good
Broken Gladiator — Worth It
Twilight Researches Humans — Worth It
Stories for Next Week:
Love Knows No Bounds by Autum Breeze
SCP-███ by Journeyman
Today I Will Be a Princess by Cloud Wander
For the Benefit of Mr. Kite by Corejo
Rarity's Rodeo by Somber
Let's Find You a Date! by Soundslikeponies
Biased and Incomplete by DuncanR
Homeward Bound by Karrakaz
The Price of a Smile by Trick Question
The Princess's Gift by Monochromatic
Recent Review Map:
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCIX
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCX
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXI
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXII
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXIII
You Are Here
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXV
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXVI
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXVII
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXVIII
Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXIX
Yeah, if I'm being honest, all four Killer Rarity stories need a lot of work. Shadow less so, as I was a far more mature, accomplished writer when it came out. I promise that if/when the published copy of TSLoR comes out, the stupid friggin' katana scene is going to be cut and replaced with something not incredibly stupid. I've tried to do re-writes several times, but it's just... so bad that I don't even know where to start.
I actually drew some inspiration from:
In which I feel deserves at least some form of credit.
I don't know why (or how) people write sequels to stories that aren't completed yet. <.< It keeps me from reading a lot of things I'd otherwise be interested in.
Anyway, breaks are good, that's why I'm always taking them. :B
I don't understand the problem you're having here.
The horror tag I added due to requests for it (I never considered it a horror story). The sequel's something I'm... moderately proud of. I honestly think I could've done far better on. Though I hope you like it. As a side note: there were meant to be two other stories that I never wrote. If you ever want, DM me and I'll fill you in on what they would've been like.
Looking forward to the review of For the Benefit of Mr. Kite. That was quite an interesting one to my recollection.
5320046
Maybe from scratch? I'm not fond of authors going in an 'fixing' their mistakes in existing stories, as I find keeping old mistakes is a good way to recognize our improvement. If you did decide to seriously revisit this, and you do think it's as bad as all that, it might be better to rebuild it from the ground up.
5320124
Sequels to stories that aren't completed yet? To which story are you referring to?
5320145
Imagine you have 50 small books, 50 novels, and 50 encyclopedias. You've only got a week to read through and discuss ten of them, and you have to do it every week. You can't even finish an encyclopedia in a week, so you have to read them one at a time over several while reading the other stories. But you can only read two of the novels a week. So you've got maybe one encylopedia every other week and two novels every week, with everything else being small books. Your numbers get out of control pretty quickly:
50, 50, 50
42, 48, 50
35, 46, 49
27, 44, 49
20, 42, 48
Pretty soon, you're out of small books entirely and have only novels and encyclopedias. But you still have that 10-book-per-week rule. You just can't read the encyclopedias and novels that quickly, not if you want to have a life outside of reading. And let's not forget that you're adding more encyclopedias and novels as time passes, so the problem's only getting worse.
Of course, I could start grabbing more short books as I need them, but if my ultimate goal is to have only 50 books in total scheduled then it makes reaching that number a lot harder in the long run.
This is my problem.
5320512
The upcoming SCP.
5320517
Ah, okay. Yeah, it struck me as odd, too.
5320510
That's more than likely what will happen.
5320514
You can only read two novels a week?
Maybe your reading queue / weekly review goal should fit your reading speed if it's that low. Try for five or under?
5320697
I think you completely misunderstand the situation. I'm not reading "just two novels a week". I'm reading, by choice, two stories of 10k to 70k words a week, and it's not because I'm a slow reader; it's because I have short stories to read, too. Sometimes dozens of them in a week. And I'm also reading the more gargantuan stories at the same time, the ones reaching 400k words or 600k words or (I'm looking at you, Project Horizons) ~1.8 million words.
I am reading all of these types of stories at the same time, because if I focus on any one type the others will never get read. It's not uncommon for me to read a few chapters of two different stories and three short stories in the same day. I mix and match in order to generate an efficient schedule and get all story size types in there. This is how I maintain 10 reviews a week every week like clockwork for years without ever being late while making sure I'm reviewing stories of all potential sizes.
That being said, I quote the very blog we're both commenting on:
So that option is already on the table, regardless.
Ooh, Mr. Kite next week. I helped out with the first few chapters, but I didn't keep up with it.
Only one of these I've read is "Hey Jealously," and I also thought it was pretty good. I felt like it didn't quite come to a conclusion, but other than that, it was a good character study.
Irony of the day: making a flare/flair homophone confusion error while complaining about an author making it's/its homophone confusion errors.
5321167
Mistake? What mistake? I don't see a mistake. You are mistaken, sir!
Thanks for catching it.
5321177
It's like it was never there!
You know, I’m going to see if I can make that adjustment you pointed out. Like you said:
I was feeling the exact same way, except I could never figure out why, but now that I know the reason, it shouldn’t be too hard to fix...
5323050
I always recommend not going back and fixing our mistakes so that we can remember them and learn from them. That said, if you really plan on going through with it, good luck!
Take all the breaks you need. Don't overwork yourself, friend.