Ever wondered which story tags are most likely to lead to a high view count? You can find out, sort of, by doing a linear regression. You take a big set of stories, and you want to come up with a linear function like

views = a1 * Adventure + a2 * Comedy + a3 * Romance + a4 * WasOnEQD + a5 * Words + a6 * AuthorFollowers + a7 * Age

Read More

I did a terrible job of explaining how to interpret the results I presented in my last blog post. Let me try again, without so much math. There's an easier way to interpret the results for the binary independent variables. (The tags. 'Binary independent variables' = 'tags'.)

But first, snu-snu math! (You can skip to the end if you hate math and understanding things.)

The most important difference between using the equation

Read More

Well, 201,023 to be exact, as of this post.

Read More

Today's topic is a bit odd, and a bit different. In fact, while it's been sitting untouched on my current topic list (number eight) pretty much from day one, I distinctly recall that it's been on earlier versions of the list, and I've just kept putting it off despite it being a requested topic because ... well ... I don't have much in the way of hands-on experience with it. Really all I can offer is my own reasons for why I don't do either of the things today's topic

Read More

Why did I write Futa Princest? Why? Feature Box brings the mean commenters! NO!

I'll be under the couch if you need me.

Me, hiding under couch with food supply, secretly glad people liked my story, but still not reading the comments.

As faux pas as it is to ask about such things, mostly because I'm not sure if it counts as a sort of "does anyone know why I am so awesome?" kind of thing, which I can assure you, this is not, I am far too self deprecating for that, I am overcome with both lack of understanding and curiosity...

Read More

So I just woke up and saw that my newest fic, ‘Somewhere In The Between’, has really taken off overnight:

Second post popular (SFW) fic on the site. Wow, I got so many people to disappoint.

Also, I think it’s funny that the two fics that are titled after music are on the top. Go listen to both Explosions In The Sky and Streetlight Manifesto.

I'VE DONE IT!!! I'M ON THE POPULAR STORIES LIST AND I AM FLIPPING OUT RIGHT NOW!!

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHOSE ADDED THIS TO THEIR LIBRARIES!!

You know, I've dreamed of one day making the popular list. But now that day is here, the feelings are Bittersweet.

Read More

What's good, denizens of the internet? Super Saiyan D here with something new to try out. I was curious of what you guys thought of some of the supporting cast of Break the Walls Down, so I decided to do a poll. You can vote for which original character so far is your favorite. I've chosen not to include guest OCs or characters adapted from the comics. With one partial exception, the choices will only be those straight from my own mind. I don't think it'd be koscher to mooch of someone

Read More

My newest story, a Destiny crossover, is in the popular stories box. Literally on the same day I publish it.

AND it has no dislikes. (Or comments, but that's okay.)

I cannot thank you guys enough. This helped my lukewarm-until-this-point day seem a little better. In all realities, thanks.

Just ask me anything. Celebrating my 985th blog.

Before I found Fimfiction, I had a tumblr audience participation graphic novel (like Homestuck).

A silly example from the story.

For years I've been planning to bring the story here as an audience participation story, but I have concerns.

Read More

Why is the story I wrote 5 months ago in the popular box?

Well, I can’t be complaining, turns out that Something About a Violet is getting a second wind, which is really crazy to think about.

Just wanted to bring this up because it’s wild, thinking about this.

Read More

So guys, I just want to say thank you very much for reading, reviewing and liking the story. As of right now, Tainted Colors at a 41-5 like to dislike ratio and, to me, I am very surprised. The story is in 106 bookshelves and has been in the popular box for three days in a row. I have to say, the responses I am getting with this story are some of the best I have seen.

Seriously guys, thank you so much! I didn't expect such a good turnout.

Read More

On my user page, I maintain two lists of stories:
Stories of Mine You'll Probably Love
Stories of Mine You'll Probably Hate

Deciding which stories should go in the "Love" list isn't trivial. What makes a story good? I can think of several things:

Enjoyment: a random reader would probably like it
Popularity: the story has a lot of readers

Read More

Everyone tells you not to compare yourself, and that's a huge truth. But sometimes you're not going to be able to avoid it, so all you can do is avoid the materials that make you compare yourself. Sometimes it's a gut clench reaction that occurs when you least expect it. You think you're completely at peace and comfortable with your own skills, but then you look at someone more popular than you, who does almost the exact same thing as you, and you realize you're not really at peace with it

Read More

Basically we can organize all fanfiction stories here into three groups. The first one is for stories with canon characters only, the second one is for stories with both canon and original characters, and the third one is for stories with original characters only. But are stories from the third category popular? Is there any rating or research?

Read More

Would you kindly consider helping out a friend? xjuggernaughtx has a story in the running for being featured in the Royal Canterlot Library for their second anniversary, and I'd love to see him win for his story. It's for a story he wrote called The New Crop, which he put a lot of time and effort in to, but just sadly didn't take off much in the way of views, despite being a very interesting tale. If he gets the spot, that might

Read More