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Wordsmith on the Mend
#19715 · 3
· on Shrine to a False Dashity
>>horizon
Thank you for your words.

You do realize you just invented like five really amazing story ideas in your hypothetical examples, I hope.
#19692 · 5
· on Shrine to a False Dashity · >>Rocket Lawn Chair >>horizon >>CoffeeMinion
>>horizon
I'll try and do better in the future. Honestly it's less a question of pulling one's own weight for me and more a massive, crippling inability to muster up the sense of self-importance needed to express an opinion.
#19672 · 1
· on A Rebuttal · >>QuillScratch
Congrats on the medal finish!
#19671 ·
· on Double Jeopardy
Congrats on the medal finish! So glad this got some love in the finals.
#19670 ·
· on The Beast With Your Face · >>Aragon
>>Aragon
I am flattered to at least have had it stick with you enough to mull over!
#19668 · 3
· on The Beast With Your Face · >>Aragon
Most controversial? I'll take it!

Thanks to >>Rao, >>Bachiavellian, >>R5h, >>Haze for weighing in. The major repeating complaint for this one seems to be perceived OOC Celestia, and I will fully admit that my practically-unconscious-at-this-point headcanon for Oldest Princess may be getting in the way of peoples' enjoyment. This should probably be analyzed.

On the other hand, I will also fully admit that this is a story about my own wedding, not the actual Royal Wedding in canon, so discrepancies will exist.

It is always interesting to me what level of authorial distortion is judged acceptable for each individual character. You can write Twilight Velvet any way you like, even though she has a canon personality now, and no one bats an eye; but start presenting alternate versions of Fluttershy and you can almost hear the doors slamming shut. Perhaps it's just the fact that main characters have that much more screentime so you've got more time to develop hard opinions? I've been thinking it over quite a bit lately.
#19667 · 5
·
Woo! Congrats on the top two-fer, Aragon!
#19602 · 6
· on The Last Five Minutes on Earth
Honestly this whole damn thing could have been fixed by my out and out saying "Yes, we have to move everything back to the side of the portal it came from" which would have been done with a half hour more to work. I'm not saying it would have beaten other quite good entries but at least it wouldn't have been fundamentally flawed in omitting the answer to the question everyone rightfully has. Victim of the clock on this one. Thanks for the replies, folks.
#19311 · 3
· on Crystal Hoof · >>CoffeeMinion
>>horizon
Those "petting zoo" workers are well-compensated free agents! A sufficiently adorable tiny sheep can write her own ticket in this world!

YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND PONIES' RAVENOUS DEMAND FOR SOFT AND FLUFFY ANIMALS TO PET~
#19310 ·
· on It's a Kind of Magic · >>Hap
>>Hap
As of "Legend of Everfree" all the girls have superpowers coming from the crystal fragment pendants that they wear. Sunset can hear the thoughts of anyone she touches and briefly read their memories as well.
#19281 · 1
· on Crystal Hoof
>>Haze
I recognized the character because I obsessively watch any episode with good Cadance content over and over and but nothing immediately sprung to mind upon seeing it. Thorax canonically achieves actualization and acceptance pretty quickly, so I couldn't quite get a grip on why he would pine for this form; and the period that he wore the form was so short that I couldn't think of an in-episode moment to slot in between scenes. Still, nice use of an underused character moment, artist!

Man, can we do a TFH round? That would be great.
#19279 · 3
·
>>horizon
Same here, only, um, I wasn't doing something so noble as search-and-rescuing and had no other excuse.

Still, two entries. A red-letter day this is.
#19278 · 3
· on Double Jeopardy
Top of my slate, no complaints. You took the silly laugh-out-loud picture (which was also near the top of my slate) and made a real and interesting story out of it. Nicely done.
#19123 · 5
· · >>Bachiavellian >>Anon Y Mous
So the point is, you look at the art gallery, pick one, and write a story on it, yes?
#19118 ·
· on Meat
>>Cassius
Thanks. I take it the omitted negative half focused on the weak ending, as others have noted. I appreciate your reading it!
#19116 · 2
· on Meat · >>Cassius
>>Ion-Sturm
Okay, I misinterpreted what you meant when you said I had gotten it wrong. Sorry!

>>Cold in Gardez
Yeah, I guess that's what you get when you let me out of the Ponyverse?
#19104 · 1
· on Better Devils
Congrats! I liked this one a lot and only its lack of solid narrative--difficult in the time frame permitted--kept it from my personal #1.
#19101 · 2
· on Meat · >>Ion-Sturm
Thanks to everyone who replied! >>Ion-Sturm, I wasn't going for "wendigo," I was going for "werewolf barely keeping himself in check." That's not your bad, that's my bad for not making it clear or disambiguating well enough.

Glad those of you who liked it liked it! I think correcting for the "wendigo" problem with a little more explanatory lead up might have fixed the "out of nowhere" factor that >>Monokeras and >>Haze noted.

Thanks for reading and congrats to the winners!
#19099 · 1
· on When Insides Turn to Outsides · >>aconcernedparent
>>aconcernedparent
Okay, um, I thought it was a potentially good idea, If I didn't think it was good, I would have just ranked it low and stayed mum, I didn't want a low ranking to go without comment, and I didn't want the author--presumably you?--to think that the low rating was because I disapproved of the story inherently, just that it is was outside the rules as I read them.

I didn't call it gore porn. I was trying to say something nicer than a straight low ranking would have conveyed. Does that make sense? I do hope so. I never intended to evoke hostility.

Also, at least one story you're quoting got a low score from me for exactly the same reasons, so you might want to reconsider the blanket accusations of hypocrisy. I only spoke up here to try and give you support.
#18970 · 3
· on When Insides Turn to Outsides · >>aconcernedparent
Potentially interesting and ballsy work that unfortunately drops to last on my slate due to the grotesque content at a level I feel is outside the rules for this round. Yes, I know it may be metaphorical, but IMO the point still stands and I had to judge accordingly.
#18900 · 1
·
Eh. Let's see how well this tests.
#18868 · 2
· on Guardian
>>Xepher
Thanks so much! And thanks a lot for the brainstorming of ideas. I'm not sure what this piece's future is, but I'll take what you said into consideration!

(As for reframing it with another character--pfft, like I do anything but write Candybutt stories)
#18857 · 5
· on Guardian · >>BlueChameleonVI >>Xepher
Wow, okay, that was unexpected. I mean, really, really unexpected. I know I have this self-effacing thing going on, but the sheer quality and polish of some of the other entries should have blown this piece out of the water. "Planning Ahead" and "Mistmane and the Torii of Time" were easily my faves, and "A Timey Nightmare" and "Lesson One" were also strong entries. And "Better Left Unfinished" was sweet, sad, and also near the top of my slate.

I'm not in any way saying anyone's opinion is flawed. I'm tremendously flattered.

Some of the rough spots can be touched up, but the core bitterness that >>Posh and >>Xepher absolutely correctly notice is so inherent to the story concept that I'd call it unfixable. I guess I'm not sure what to do with this thing now, but that's a problem for another time, I guess. Thank you to everyone for reading and writing!
#18821 · 1
· on Mistmane and the Torii of Time · >>BlueChameleonVI
>>Trick_Question
Yeah, what the heck? Is this like the ending to A Chorus Line or something all of a sudden? Those were the top two on my personal slate.
#18797 ·
· on As the Anemometer Spins · >>Samey90
>>Samey90
One can only hope.
Paging WIP