Review #34 - That Changeling's a Pony!, Top Edge, If You Can't Beat 'Em · 4:09pm Jan 5th, 2017
Alright, so first let's get this note out of the way:
For that 100th review coming up, I'm not sure whether-or-not I should give you access to the first story I've ever written or not, so, yeah... If you really want to read it, tell me before tomorrow, okay?
And back to your regularly scheduled programming:
That Changeling's a Pony! by Raugos
Top Edge by Raugos
If You Can't Beat 'Em by Horizon
That Changeling's a Pony by Raugos
(Comedy)
Like ponies, changelings can get pretty paranoid at times. After all, it's not every day that a changeling gets kicked out of the hive for being a pony.
Review
A Changeling gets accused of being a pony and gets kicked out of the hive for it. She, because it's a she, then goes off and starts writing fan-fiction.
This is very well paced, and though funny, it does get to be a little long. It has few errors within the text, which is nice. And it also seems mostly planned out, with little filler. The tag most definitely works.
Score: 8.5/10 Recommendation: Recommended.
Personal Thoughts: This is a great story, and I recommend reading it.
Top Edge by Raugos
(Slice of Life)
This is a sequel to "That Changeling's a Pony!"
Maxilla is an exiled changeling who resides in Baltimare and writes stories for a living. Life’s pretty normal and pony-like for her, until she’s visited by a very unusual fan who just won’t leave her alone.
Review
The Changeling, Maxilla, comes home from a Daring Do convention and goes to her basement, where she meets a bat-pony-colt who wants to learn how to write fanfiction from her. She asks him questions and turns out he's been following her for quite a while and knows she is a Changeling. Eventually, she agrees to teach him how to write fanfiction.
This is wonderfully paced, though it can get to feel a little long at the end. It has few errors within the text, which helps. And it also seems rather planned out, though there is filler in places. The tag works out alright, but it could also use something that doesn't exist.
Score: 8/10 Recommendation: Recommended if you have read "That Changeling's a Pony!"
Personal Thoughts: This is a really good sequel for "That Changeling's a Pony!" But it could use a sequel itself too.
If You Can't Beat 'Em by horizon
(Comedy, Random)
Twilight Sparkle has important friendship problems to solve. However, that's hard to do with a "reformed" villain following you around all day.
Review
Twilight sees Starlight in a diner watching her, so she goes to talk with her. But Starlight claims to be reformed, making Twilight leave her alone for a bit. As Starlight continues to follow Twilight, Twilight blasts her out of reality... turns out Starlight wasn't lying.
This is so wonderfully paced for the topic, that the pacing itself adds to the comedy. It has very few errors within the text, which is one of horizon's things. And it does not seem planned out at all, which horizon turned into the comedy of the story. The tags fit alright, though I do believe that it could use an "Alternate Universe" now.
Score: 9/10 Recommendation: Highly Recommended.
Personal Thoughts: This is a great one, so go and read it!
Depends what you mean by "give access" -- if it's an unpublished story on Fimfiction, then you can't: it's against site rules to let anyone see unpublished stories unless they're pre-reading, editing etc. (They started cracking down on this last year.) If it's actually published somewhere else, then sure, if you're okay with that. :)
Raugos and horizon, two excellent writers so I'm not surprised all three fics reviewed today were recommended. If you ever feel like reading something longer, Raugos's Integration is one of the best changeling fics IMO. Also, I've added If You Can't Beat 'Em to my RiL list now. :)
4370278
I have it on Google Docs and this site, so I was going to either publish the story here or link to the Doc.
4370305 Ah, fine then. Whatever you feel you want to do. :)
4370366
Alright, just don't read it with too many hopes, because, well, first story
.
Heh, I'm still determined to write a moral successor to That Changeling's A Pony where Chrysalis and Scrape are the only ones left in the hive.
4370375
Do it... do it now...
4370371 No worries. I'm lucky that this isn't my first fandom, since my first stories a) no longer exist, and b) were spectacularly terrible. :P
4370371 4370445
I feel obligated to note that during my last drunkwriting collaboration, I was bribed into republishing my first story — written at the tender age of 11. Its bone-seeking backpacks and dead mountain lions and inappropriate worldbuilding can be found in all their glory over on Google Docs.
Everyone's gotta start somewhere!
And it's better to publish than to be worried about whether people will like your writing or not — it's getting that writing done, and using readers' feedback to improve, that makes each story better than your last.
True story: I worked for about a decade as an editor.
4371132
Well, that was oddly comical... I think I really need to get some sleep, I'm finding too many things comical. And actually not that bad for the age of 11.
4371132 That's actually quite entertaining! Obviously not exactly great, but better than I suspect my stories were at that age.
I'm old enough for my early attempts to have been handwritten, so the only way I could bring any back would be if I dug up a middle school exercise book from somewhere. The first story I can remember any details of, written when I was nine or ten, featured a couple of kids on the run from something, a windmill and "a talking stag who helps them escape" -- at that point, I hadn't quite grasped the notion of not giving away the ending in the blurb!