We finally return to my series of critiques about the ISII entrants. We continue down my list of “finalists”: stories which I considered awarding points to. I would like to stress, however, that I only ranked them because FanOfMostEverything made me; they are all excellent.
I've suspected for a while that I would not be able to critique every story in the contest. At least not in long form. I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Last year, to celebrate my three year anniversary on the site, I wrote a long, meandering blog post looking back on all the writing I had done. It was an interesting exercise, though its experimental nature perhaps limited its utility.
One thing I like about the FIM fanfic fandom is the abundance of reviewers and critique available. It helps authors grow, helps other authors learn from their mistakes, and helps inform readers of stories they may like or dislike.
I generally avoided being one of those reviewers for a long time. I usually preferred a direct dialogue with the author, so my critique would often take the form of a lengthy comment directly on the story in question.
Today’s story uses not one, but two twists. Since the first twist is fairly obvious (perhaps intentionally so), I have not bothered to spoiler-tag it.
Today’s critique is another “retro” one. It is an adaptation of a comment I already made, on a story I have already read, rather than completely new material based on a recent read.
The description and title are some of the most important parts of a story. They provide readers with their first impression, convince them to read it, and characterize your story even after it is finished.
The description and title are some of the most important parts of a story. They provide readers with their first impression, convince them to read it, and characterize your story even after it is finished.
Today, we look at a set of stories, based solely on their descriptions, titles, and other relevant paratext.
The Alicorn Curse by chillbook1
http://i.imgur.com/BAtZIgd.png
Today’s story relies on not one, but two twists. Since the first twist is incredibly blunt, I have not bothered to spoiler-tag it.