Jun
4th
2015
Equestria Daily · 2:50pm Jun 4th, 2015
I've been thinking about 'A New Sun Rises' and whether it might be worthwhile to subject myself to the process of submitting it to Equestria daily. I've heard some horror stories, heard others mention that it's not really worth it, or that it's only suited for particular types of stories. At the same time, it might help expand my readership.
I dunno.
Anybody with experience that might be able to toss some pointers?
Also, next chapter will probably be up by the weekend.
Nothing's lost by trying. But don't have a good opinion of that group. they Rejected Goldfur's story and that is a good one.
I've tried to get two stories up there and both times they sent them back with edit requests that I thought were very nitpick-y. I'm currently in the process of attempting to edit something to their satisfaction (to see if I can do it without changing my style of writing) and it's been an involved project for my suddenly-editor and me.
I won't say it'll be the same with your stories, but they seem to be very obsessed with fitting each story through the same mold and I don't feel like it works very well for a site that supposedly love fan fiction. My advice would be send it in, give it a shot and see what they have to say about it. If you feel like the edits they want are either A) too extensive or B) detract from your writing style then say forget it, but if the edits they want are okay by you then go for it. ^_^
The main thing about EQD is that it depends a great deal on who you get as your EQD pre-readers. To their credit, they have more recently worked to improve a sense of standards within the site - as in cutting back on instances where someone does what one pre-reader asks, then gets another strike anyway when another pre-reader is very nitpicky on a bunch of DIFFERENT details - and as I understand it the process is not quite so hit-and-miss anymore. I would say go for it. The story is certainly good enough.
I'm friends with quite a few of the prereaders. They're a bunch of buttheads.
Which is to say go for it. Feedback is feedback, so there's really no harm in sending it in.
It's a worth a try, just don't set all your hopes on success. Also, I'm pretty sure more people read fanfics here than there these days.
Judging from different authors success and failure stories, it depends a lot on who you get and whether the type of story you're writing appeals to the pre-reader, not just technical skill. One thing I will note is there is (or at least there was a few years ago, it might have changed by now) a huge bias against stories that feature humans in any form so even an EQ Girls fic is already going in with a big strike against it.
That said, you might as well try and then see if you make it instead of giving up beforehand.
As both an EqD prereader and an author who has had many stories published on the blog (and yes, prereaders go through the same submission process as everyone else), here are some thoughts.
First and foremost, we're looking for a story that will provide value to the blog. This means, if something is of particularly transcendent value, we can overlook almost every other one of our rules to post it. This doesn't happen very often, but it has in the past. So just because your story seems to violate one of our rules doesn't mean you shouldn't try submitting it. Just don't be surprised if it's rejected anyway.
Second, you're submitting to a group that prizes storytelling. This is the part that seems to result in the most complaints -- "My story about Fluttershy falling in love with Rarity has 10,000 views and no typos and 500 comments from people who loved reading it, why did you reject it?" Well, probably because there was no story in that story. No conflict, no character development, nothing original. Just an author fantasizing about two characters in love.
Third, people complain about our standards. They're impossibly high, we're told. We're grammar nazis. We don't allow anything in unless it's perfect. I know for a fact this isn't true, because almost all of my stories still have errors in them – they just have fewer errors in them because I look for those things and I get rid of them.
Fourth, 'wrong' is not a style. No, I'm not saying you can't deviate from the strictures of modern literary conventions, but if you insist on bouncing the perspective from character to character every other paragraph, or changing tenses willy-nilly, or spending pages on exposition or backstory, we're going to take note of it and probably reject it. Saying it's your style isn't going to get you very far.
So, what would I say if A New Sun Rises showed up in the box, and I volunteered to read it? First I'd have to ask, "What does this story have that the dozens (hundreds, really) of other 'sad Sunset Shimmer has to pick up the pieces after the first movie' fics don't?" I can tell, just from reading the first two chapters, that a lot of the action (and thus plot) is driven by secondary characters, particularly Principal Celestia and VP Luna. Are they compelling, realistic characters as well?
Out of curiosity, I clicked on the Act III-I chapter, to see how things were looking later on. The chapter seemed to consist entirely of conversation between Sunset and her friends, in which Sunset discussed aspects of her life as a pony, how different life was back then, her history with Flash Sentry, her... favorite food? and color?
So, anyway, this chapter looked like you were using dialogue to expand your vision of Sunset Shimmer's past experience and relationships. That's a fine tool, but if it's all you do during a chapter, I have to wonder what precisely was accomplished. I guess there's a teaser at the end -- the boy she spent several pages talking about has now shown up, and in the next chapter I assume they'll meet and -- I'm guessing here -- talk more about their history with each other.
Including this bit for irony's sake:
That's exactly why you brought them together, author. My guess was correct.
So, Flash leaves after Sunset falls down the stairs (I notice you tend to use action like this, as an opportunity to break a scene – you did the same thing in the second chapter with Sunset and Gilda's fight), and we're left with Sunset and Applejack... except now it's Applejack talking about her past. So, progress, I guess.
This story has no obvious grammatical or construction issues. It is, based on my cursory examination, well written. It doesn't include the pitfalls we so often see.
But I'm also having trouble seeing anything that sets it apart from the other "Sunset Shimmer is sad and needs her friends to recover" stories. Is there some spark, here? Something original? Does it appear in the first chapter, where it can make a difference with the reader?
Those are the questions I would be asking. If you feel confident in your answers, then please do submit it.
3122645
Also, just to respond to this, if we send back a bunch of nit-picky items, it's because we think your story is pretty close and just needs those few things fixed.
When we send back a response without any suggested items to fix, it means the problems were either too pervasive or too serious for us to offer suggestions as a prereader. We used to always offer detailed feedback on what went wrong, but it was just too time consuming and resulted in a queue that extended for several months.
3129212
Well, that makes sense, at least. Thank you for giving me some perspective on that! It always helps to get a feel for how things are handled on the other end. :3
Whelp, I can give my own take, for what it's worth. I've submitted four stories, had two rejected, and got two in with editing runs required. I am also a total outsider to EQD and have no idea if my thoughts are true. These are the impressions I have received, and nothing more.
Of the four submissions: With one I got a polite "thanks, but needs too much work," another I got an unprofessional bout of haterade, another I got a line-by-line list of edits requested, and the final gave me a "basically good, just clean it a little," with a few examples of how I can clean it.
Thus, my impression is that there is not much consistency, and success or failure will hinge substantially on the individual who picks up your work.
If you are very sensitive to criticism and/or greatly dislike editing with a fine-tooth comb, then I might consider not submitting. I can also say from experience that it's not a quick road to fame and glory. Both my successes gleaned a little more traffic thanks to EQD, but it was a minor bump at best.
But it *is* a big ego-boost to succeed, and heavy editing does make you a better writer. If you seek to improve your skills by testing them, it's not a bad way to go.
Your call. Just try not to be discouraged by failure; it might just mean the pre-reader didn't like what you had to say.