The Canterlot Archives Manifesto

The Canterlot Archives are dedicated to art. Our mission is to find the works that inspire, regardless of popularity. The stories that we accept should challenge and overcome the preconception that fanfiction is restricted to mediocrity. We hope to point readers to powerful stories and provide aspiring authors with a more tangible goal, as well as a stage to feature their work when they meet or exceed that goal.

Because we demand professional work, we will give professional feedback. We live for the stories that pass through, but those that do not will be given reasonable criteria. Our Scrollmasters understand that we can be wrong, and we allow authors to contend our decisions, so long as they have backing that suggests our reading was not thorough. We expect all of our Scrollmasters to communicate a story’s merits and demerits without prejudice or hostility.

Most importantly, we want to inspire authors to improve by providing a more consistent benchmark than popularity, whether momentary or persistent.

Perhaps you have read a story that gave you that feeling of awe and you wanted to share that with others. Perhaps you think that your story has what it takes to make others experience that sense of awe. Our goal is to collect those sorts of stories in one place. All you need to do is submit that story for review. Our Scrollmasters will select stories to review based on their preferences, and will then write a recommendation or a rejection, along with the reasoning behind their decision.

Over time, we wish to create an archive of stories with accompanying reviews that point out what exactly makes these stories stand out.. Not too many submitted pieces will astound us, but those that do are guaranteed to be worth the read. Regardless of whether the story makes it in or not, our Scrollmasters will provide feedback.

List of Scrollmasters (reviewers)
-Plebeian
-SilentBelle
-Retsamoreh
-Laichonious On Hiatus
-Pissfer
-Burraku_Pansa
-Dancing Mop

The Canterlot Archives – Rules:

Story Submission Process

1) Place any completed story that is not tagged with either Mature Sex and/or Mature Gore ('Teen' is fine with any tag, and purely 'Mature' is fine as a lone tag) into the Submission folder. We allow only 1 submission per person. You may add another story after the one you have submitted has been dealt with. Scrollmasters are not allowed to put their own stories in this group.

Any story with offending tags (Mature Sex/Mature Gore) will immediately be placed in the rejection folder. Any story that is marked as incomplete will be removed from the Archives; it can be resubmitted when it's completed. We will give a gentle reminder to the user that submitted the offending story. Purposeful, repeat offenders of this rule will get banned.

2) We do not take resubmissions of a story*
*Perhaps subject to change if there has been a severe rewrite of the story. In this case, two failed submissions is the maximum.

3) Our standards are extremely high, though they may slightly vary between Scrollmasters. More stories will be rejected than accepted. We promise respectful feedback for any piece submitted, but at the same time, do keep in mind that not everyone sees those awe-inspiring stories in the same light as others. A story that you assume will automatically make it in has a definite chance of rejection.

4) Arguing our reviewers' choices is welcomed, to a point, as the Scrollmasters make their choices with reason and arguing with reason is perfectly fine. If there is enough legitimate contention surrounding a certain story, we'll have another Scrollmaster take a look at the story and see if they would give it a heartfelt recommendation or not. Just remember to be respectful; our Scrollmasters also aim to be respectful in their reviews and interaction with the community.

5) If a fic has been added by someone who is not the author of said fic, the Scrollmaster who claimed it will PM the author letting them know that they are reading the fic for review and if they do not wish for such a review to take place, to PM the Scrollmaster in question as soon as possible.

6) The Scrollmasters (reviewers) will choose stories out of the Submission folder based on what their preferences are and the order that they are received.

7) Once a Scrollmaster has chosen a piece, they are given adequate time to read and analyze it.
a) If a Scrollmaster thinks it is worth a heartfelt recommendation, then the Scrollmaster will write up a unique review of the story and why they recommend it.
b) If the Scrollmaster does not think it is worthy of a heartfelt recommendation, then they will write up a short blurb as to why.

8) When the review is done, it will be posted as its own thread. If the story was rejected, it will end up on the Rejection Thread.

9) If there are too many stories for our Scrollmasters to handle, we will lock the submission folder. Reviewing takes time, and our Scrollmasters like to be honest and open with the stories they are reviewing.

Forum Thread Posting

1) Do not post new threads, they will get deleted. Please do feel free to reply to any of the threads that are made by the reviewers, as well as the rejection thread.We encourage our readers to give their own opinions on the stories we write about, whether they are approved or rejected. We do not want the forums to become overly crowded with threads. If you have any concerns, PM any of the admins of the group.

2) Posting new forum threads will count as a strike against you. One offense, and we'll gently remind you of this rule. Two, and we'll remind you and give you a solid warning about a third offense. A third offense will get you a temporary ban. Posting once again after the ban will give you a permanent ban.

Scrollmasters (reviewers) Application Process

1) Applicants wishing to become Scrollmasters (when we are accepting them, we will announce it with a forum thread) may contact Plebeian via PM. He will lead you through the application process. Our application currently consists of a résumé, an interview, and two test reviews.

We recognize that each reviewer is going to be unique. What is most important is the reasoning behind their recommendations or rejection. We plan to have many reviewers with differing opinions as this group grows. We look for stories that truly grab us as readers, stories that make us want to talk and explain just what makes them inspiring; it is that personalized reasoning and feedback we expect from our reviewers.

How to Add a Story to the Group

First you must be a member of this group. Then go to the story you want to add. Make certain it complies with our group's rules found above. Click on the folder icon at the bottom of the story. It's sandwiched between the report and stats buttons. After clicking that, find our group name, and click it. Then click on the "Submissions" folder, and it will be added.

Feel free to PM any of the administrators of this group if you have any further questions or concerns.

Banner image can be found Here. Modified by Laichonious.