Some time ago, I talked to Twi-Fi about revamping things around here to give some new life to the place. It's been a figurative eternity since then, so I'm just going to come back and do the things because, frankly, there are a lot of cobwebs around here. I'm working my way through the locked inbox of stories, and I will be posting in this thread the reasons why I plucked the stories I chose for inclusion into the library.

Personally, I think one of the past challenges, as an admin in this group, was sending rejection letters. Most of our efforts were sending messages to folks with some reasoning as to why their works were denied inclusion. Likewise, we sent acceptance messages, but if I'm being honest, I personally found the private delivery of these to be mentally grating. Yes, I get that explanations of rejection can help a writer grow, but in my head, I can only remember one time that an author responded to that rejection with thanks, then went and made the story better, and resubmitted. If criticism only serves to make the reviewers anxious as hell, wondering if we're going to receive a rambling PM about how awful we are, then you end up with a problem. From my perspective, there is a better approach, and this is the approach I put forth to Twi-Fi.

Every month, the inbox will open up, folks can submit until -- say the 20th -- and then the box gets locked until the month ends. I'll work through the entries, aiming for around a 25% acceptance rate (though this is obviously subject to circumstances as good writing is good writing), and brief snippets will be dropped in this thread explaining why I added the works. Hopefully, the rationales for why stories worked will inspire up-and-coming authors to develop similar habits. In other words, we can use building up to actually build up other authors as opposed to spending loads of time writing rejections.

To differentiate these selections from the olden times, I've added a Wing's Picks folder. Science and all that jazz! Okay... here I go!

~Wing

The Candy Maker by Winston

If you want an example of delicious pacing—delicious, see what I did there?—this is it. I liken the flow of this story to watching the embers of a campfire. You know that something interesting happened in the past. You can see the glimmer of something peeking over the horizon, but you just don't know if the fire will finally die out, kicked under the sand, or if it will flare back to life. The biggest win of this pacing is that it holds you in the story. You sit in the plot and wait to see where it will take you.

The story is also a great example of interweaving short snippet scenes to paint a broader picture. Winston did a great job, in my opinion, having each piece stand on its own. Every microchapter presents a facet of the character that is worth seeing, but it's when all the pieces are put together that one can truly appreciate the magic. It's been a long time coming getting something out of the inbox and into the library, but unf, so worth it.

~Wing

6073554
That is a great idea, and I think it could serve well. Unfortunately, I've been too inactive on fimfiction. I will make an effort to be more active, but my personal life is extremely busy these days. If you'd like to revamp and take things in a different direction, I'll let you take the reins on it.

Touching on criticism, it really is the hardest thing to receive sometimes, especially if it's a story you've spent lots of time on. I've received some pretty harsh criticism from EqD and The WriteOff Association. Crazy thing is, EqD was good at telling me how to fix things, I'd fix it, but never resubmit. But honestly the WriteOff has helped me the most. Even though it's a competition, the people there will really help if you put a good effort forward, and your story will get read, and that's what many people want: just someone to read through it and give feedback. Anyway, that's some rambling from me and some of the experiences I've had.