On Recommendations. · 6:55am Jun 7th, 2012
I don't recommend things often. Well, that's a lie. I don't recommend things personally often; I do it a lot on behalf of EqD, since approving a story for posting counts as a recommendation, in a way. That's also a lie. In my time as a pre-reader, I've reviewed around one hundred fics and recommended less than a dozen for posting; I don't recommend a lot even for EqD. Most of those I didn't recommend weren't permanently exiled; I sent suggestions and several of them got editors, got other reviews, and fixed their issues and are now posted, but the final acceptance was not by me.
As far as my personal recommendations go, I've pretty much only recommended via that box I put on the front page that has a few fics that I really admire.
Why am I rambling about this? Because I have a story to recommend. The other day, one of my editors for Merely a Mare mentioned to me that they had recently edited a fic for a new ponyfic writer, and the fic was actually quite good. I figured that if I can't trust my editor to know good writing, then who can I trust? I gave it a shot.
I really liked it.
Would I recommend it for posting on Equestria Daily? If I saw it in the queue in its current state, probably not; there's a few rough edges on the execution, and a little work could make it shine even more than it already does, so I would probably kick it back with suggestions. That said, the first time I saw White Box in the queue, I kicked it back with suggestions because the execution just didn't do the plot justice, so that doesn't mean that this fic is bad. It is, after all, the writer's first ponyfic.
The fic in question features Lyra obsessed with humans. Is that overdone? Yeah, honestly it is, but that doesn't mean that there aren't aspects of it worth exploring. Normally that obsession is played for laughs, but in this work it's presented as a very serious matter and that works for it. It uses that cliche and channels it in a direction I haven't seen it go before, and contrasts the way the human world works with the way the pony world works in a way that is both novel and insightful. Not long ago, I wrote a long rant about how the best stories teach the reader something, and I think this fic has a great lesson to relate, even if HOW that lesson is related is imperfect.
I'd say it's definitely worth a read. It's not too long, it moves quickly from start to finish without major hiccups, and it certainly kept me entertained throughout. I do suggest you give at least a chance to Lyra Heartstrings and the Hand of Man, if you have the time.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/30132/Lyra-Heartstrings-and-the-Hand-of-Man
How can I ignore such a carefully phrased--yet heartfelt--recommendation? Added to my Read Later list.
I am intrigued, and will read it when I'm not about to go to bed.
As long as we're recommending stories, I'll mention The Marshmallow Problem. "Rarity is a marshmallow" is a joke that's been done before, and this one doesn't really add anything new per se, but it does take it to its logical conclusion, while throwing in some twists and side jokes along the way. It deserves to be featured, imo.
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png
Will read later, thanks!