My Little Pony VIII: Friendship is Music

[darthbobcat]

There are currently 37 fics waiting for review. I don't know which one is yours, but I swear we're working on it all as fast as we can. We're only ponies, us pre-readers.

Wow.

Was my take on the process accurate?

Also, what's the general workload for prereaders? I've considered offering my services.

[Grif]

There are currently 37 fics waiting for review. I don't know which one is yours, but I swear we're working on it all as fast as we can. We're only ponies, us pre-readers.

I submitted my first version about three weeks ago. That didn't get a response. I assume it was rejected and thought no further.

The second version I submitted....was three days ago. The reason I'm asking is because I have seen fics submitted later than me got approved. Granted it was a short one-off fic which the readers can probably breeze through.

Not that I'm pressuring you guys or anything, I'm just curious at the process. I don't mind getting rejected, but at least I would want to know why. You know, so I can get to knowing whether it's worth continuing or not. (its the Mass Effect crossover fic I mentioned in the Thread VI).

EDIT: No, I'm not asking to speed up my fic or anything. 37 is alot and I totally understand if you guys are slow. Just that with no feedback or anything, I was getting a mite bit disillusioned.

[darthbobcat]

I submitted my first version about three weeks ago. That didn't get a response. I assume it was rejected and thought no further.

The second version I submitted....was three days ago. The reason I'm asking is because I have seen fics submitted later than me got approved. Granted it was a short one-off fic which the readers can probably breeze through.

Not that I'm pressuring you guys or anything, I'm just curious at the process. I don't mind getting rejected, but at least I would want to know why. You know, so I can get to knowing whether it's worth continuing or not. (its the Mass Effect crossover fic I mentioned in the Thread VI).

EDIT: No, I'm not asking to speed up my fic or anything. 37 is alot and I totally understand if you guys are slow. Just that with no feedback or anything, I was getting a mite bit disillusioned.

Uh, Grif, you just got posted.

[PhoeKun]

Wow.

Was my take on the process accurate?

Also, what's the general workload for prereaders? I've considered offering my services.

That's a pretty accurate description of what goes on. We also occasionally get bogged down by weird tangent discussions, like today's major debate on why Sethisto should take us all out to KFC, but mostly it's just reading stories and writing commentary that gets anonymously sent back to the author.

The pre-reader workload is more or less self contained. We all get sent every story now (a change from the original method of sending each one to a random group of 5), so if you sign up be prepared for your inbox to absolutely explode - I usually wake up in the morning to 15 plus new ones at this point. But you're free to read them or not as you like, and respond to only whichever ones you feel like. Many, I should say most, of the pre-readers hardly ever chime in. Some write very sparse reviews. I write essays. If you ever get an "anonymous" wall of text in response to a submitted story, it probably means I called dibs on it.

But really, you set your own pace.

I submitted my first version about three weeks ago. That didn't get a response. I assume it was rejected and thought no further.

The second version I submitted....was three days ago. The reason I'm asking is because I have seen fics submitted later than me got approved. Granted it was a short one-off fic which the readers can probably breeze through.

Not that I'm pressuring you guys or anything, I'm just curious at the process. I don't mind getting rejected, but at least I would want to know why. You know, so I can get to knowing whether it's worth continuing or not. (its the Mass Effect crossover fic I mentioned in the Thread VI).

That story's actually already been approved. But just to let you know, in general the turnover on Crossovers is a lot slower than on any other sort of story. There's a rule about shrinking audiences when you need to have two separate bodies of knowledge to enjoy a piece, and that rule makes a lot of us uncomfortable when offering commentary on things like this. "But who hasn't played Mass Effect?!" I hear you thinking. Uh... yo.

[Grif]

Uh, Grif, you just got posted.

Wait...



What? Bloody hell. Now I'm feel foolish for that rant I just made. (and talk about spectacular bad timing).


Can I now crawl into a small hole and hide for the rest of the week?

That story's actually already been approved. But just to let you know, in general the turnover on Crossovers is a lot slower than on any other sort of story. There's a rule about shrinking audiences when you need to have two separate bodies of knowledge to enjoy a piece, and that rule makes a lot of us uncomfortable when offering commentary on things like this. "But who hasn't played Mass Effect?!" I hear you thinking. Uh... yo.

Fair enough. Sorry for the impromptu rant.

(and I don't mind if you guys give out-of-context commentary for my piece. Even comments on my writing style is good, because I like to know how to improve my writing.)

/crawls back to that hole.

[darthbobcat]

That's a pretty accurate description of what goes on. We also occasionally get bogged down by weird tangent discussions, like today's major debate on why Sethisto should take us all out to KFC, but mostly it's just reading stories and writing commentary that gets anonymously sent back to the author.

The pre-reader workload is more or less self contained. We all get sent every story now (a change from the original method of sending each one to a random group of 5), so if you sign up be prepared for your inbox to absolutely explode - I usually wake up in the morning to 15 plus new ones at this point. But you're free to read them or not as you like, and respond to only whichever ones you feel like. Many, I should say most, of the pre-readers hardly ever chime in. Some write very sparse reviews. I write essays. If you ever get an "anonymous" wall of text in response to a submitted story, it probably means I called dibs on it.

But really, you set your own pace.

How long does one generally have to post your reaction? Also, at what point is it accepted? Like, how many people have to yay it before it's yayed? Or nay it before it's nayed?

Also, Grif, you look no more foolish than the time I complained that I was being ignored... when it turned out the e-mail just didn't go through.

[Orzel]

Here's a nice box to hide inside, Grif.

Full of yummy hay. Mmmm....

[darthbobcat]

Here's a nice box to hide inside, Grif.

Full of yummy hay. Mmmm....

Oh sure, boxes seem fun and comfy, until Thanqol loses an eye!

[PhoeKun]

How long does one generally have to post your reaction? Also, at what point is it accepted? Like, how many people have to yay it before it's yayed? Or nay it before it's nayed?

Also, Grif, you look no more foolish than the time I complained that I was being ignored... when it turned out the e-mail just didn't go through.

It fluctuates. The more concrete the information a pre-reader provides, or the more history a pre-reader has of knowing his or her stuff, the more Seth trusts it. There's several pre-readers who can get a story accepted or rejected just on their say so. The process is a very haphazard and sporadic one: sometimes you'll have days before something gets touched, other times you'll have hours. If two pre-readers disagree then a story will sit in stasis quite a while longer, and those ones you generally have the longest on. But I wouldn't count on having more than 12 hours on any individual story.

[Grif]

Oh sure, boxes seem fun and comfy, until Thanqol loses an eye!

HNNNNNNGHHHHHHHHH-

oh wait, nice hay. *munches*

Is this vanilla? OHMYGOD IM ALLERGIC TO VANILLA.

[Etcetera]

A Baneblade.

No, not a picture of a Baneblade. An actual Baneblade.

Tactical Genius. Hurr.

If you're unable to draw a to scale Baneblade, how about one half hidden behind a lamp post.

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http://1d4chan.org/images/f/fb/1242252825237.jpg

[darthbobcat]

HNNNNNNGHHHHHHHHH-

oh wait, nice hay. *munches*

Is this vanilla? OHMYGOD IM ALLERGIC TO VANILLA.

Ah warned ye, but noooooo, you knew better! You're so much smarter than me! And now you've got vanilla poisoning. Which... dang, man. Of all the lame things to be allergic to.

[Darkmyst]

A Mass Effect/ MLP crossover O.O

Oh my yes. I'll be reading this as soon as I stop *eeeeeeeeeeeeeee*ing at that pic of the Geth pony there

[Grif]

Ah warned ye, but noooooo, you knew better! You're so much smarter than me! And now you've got vanilla poisoning. Which... dang, man. Of all the lame things to be allergic to.

HNNNGGGGGGKKKKKKKKKK-

*falls to the ground convulsing.*

(Actually I don't even know if you can get allergic to vanilla. Peanut butter yes, but vanilla? Hm, this is going to bug me for the rest of the afternoon now. Damn.)

[darthbobcat]

HNNNGGGGGGKKKKKKKKKK-

*falls to the ground convulsing.*

(Actually I don't even know if you can get allergic to vanilla. Peanut butter yes, but vanilla? Hm, this is going to bug me for the rest of the afternoon now. Damn.)

People can be allergic to anything, if they're unlucky enough. There are people who are allergic and break out into rashes if water touches their skin, or it gets too cold, or it gets too hot.

[Thanqol]

People can be allergic to anything, if they're unlucky enough. There are people who are allergic and break out into rashes if water touches their skin, or it gets too cold, or it gets too hot.

I get very serious nosebleeds if the temperature changes too fast!

[darthbobcat]

I get very serious nosebleeds if the temperature changes too fast!

Thanqol! How did the medium chances of a "Dash is oblivious to the birds and bees" fic pan out? That would make my day.

[Grif]

People can be allergic to anything, if they're unlucky enough. There are people who are allergic and break out into rashes if water touches their skin, or it gets too cold, or it gets too hot.

I get very serious nosebleeds if the temperature changes too fast!

Thankfully, those aren't true allergies in the medical sense.

Real allergies WILL put your sorry pony flank in a hospital if you're lucky, or six feet under if you happen to have an exceptionally severe reaction.

@Thanqol

Wait, what? A fic about Dash learning the birds and bees?

[Thanqol]

Thanqol! How did the medium chances of a "Dash is oblivious to the birds and bees" fic pan out? That would make my day.

It's still in the panning process, but the structure is actually "The CMC go to each of the mane caste to try to find out where little ponies come from". Cutie Mark Chronicles style.

Only one I'm not sure about is Applejack... should she give it to 'em straight (honesty pony)?

[Grif]

It's still in the panning process, but the structure is actually "The CMC go to each of the mane caste to try to find out where little ponies come from". Cutie Mark Chronicles style.

Only one I'm not sure about is Applejack... should she give it to 'em straight (honesty pony)?

Of course she will. She'll just lace it with so many euphemisms, that none of the CMC will ever get what she means.

[darthbobcat]

It's still in the panning process, but the structure is actually "The CMC go to each of the mane caste to try to find out where little ponies come from". Cutie Mark Chronicles style.

Only one I'm not sure about is Applejack... should she give it to 'em straight (honesty pony)?

Kewl. All I ask? Imply that Dash never actually learned it. You don't have to openly say it. I just find the idea that the most shipped pony in ponydom has no idea what sex is amusing beyond words.

[Thanqol]

Kewl. All I ask? Imply that Dash never actually learned it. You don't have to openly say it. I just find the idea that the most shipped pony in ponydom has no idea what sex is amusing beyond words.

That is the core guiding principle of this project!

[darthbobcat]

That is the core guiding principle of this project!

"So, um, AJ. Assuming you were to explain it to an adult... what would you say?"

"Well, ah wouldn't have to explain it to an adult."

"Heh heh, yeah, you're right." (sigh).

... and now I wonder what Rarity would say.

[SiuiS]

Basically, my worst nightmare. It's been inspiration material for a type of Inevitable in D&D and for a take on the Emissary of Nexus in Exalted, but the idea is kinda more primal than that.

It's the idea that if you wear a mask for long enough, you become the mask. That the lie is all there is and there's nothing left underneath.

Wow. Pardon me if this sounds condescending but... That is such a human response. I am fascinated and yet perplexed; from my point of view this doesn't represent a problem at all, or even anything concrete enough to fear.

Oh! Unless you mean it as annihilation and termination of the self, then I suppose it makes sense.

Fascinating.

That must be a forgery

Wonko uses more Q's when he writes.

Orzel! Hi Orzel. How's the texmex?

Ah warned ye, but noooooo, you knew better! You're so much smarter than me! And now you've got vanilla poisoning. Which... dang, man. Of all the lame things to be allergic to.

Better than hyperequinia. After long enough it becomes hyerequinitis, and well... I'm sure we all know what happens when your over-pony is swollen.

Bad things.

It's still in the panning process, but the structure is actually "The CMC go to each of the mane caste to try to find out where little ponies come from". Cutie Mark Chronicles style.

Only one I'm not sure about is Applejack... should she give it to 'em straight (honesty pony)?

Good golly, no! Hm. Alternately, the ton of euphemisms. Aww, now I'm conflicted.

[Thanqol]

Wow. Pardon me if this sounds condescending but... That is such a human response. I am fascinated and yet perplexed; from my point of view this doesn't represent a problem at all, or even anything concrete enough to fear.

Oh! Unless you mean it as annihilation and termination of the self, then I suppose it makes sense.

Fascinating.

Gonna spoiler my nightmare posts.

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Not even that. It's just the idea that you become the thing you're pretending to be. That the limitations you put up in your mind become the actual limits of the mind. That by building a mask around your spirit your spirit becomes a mask. That you invent a persona because you don't have the courage to be yourself, and the persona takes over and walks away with your life, and the person who used to be you disappears and is never seen again. That the mask rises up by itself after the body is broken.

It's not rational. Heck, I'm struggling to articulate what to me is a raw, incoherent nightmare. But it's what scares me.

And for those of you who are here for the ponies:

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[Gadora]

It's still in the panning process, but the structure is actually "The CMC go to each of the mane caste to try to find out where little ponies come from". Cutie Mark Chronicles style.

Only one I'm not sure about is Applejack... should she give it to 'em straight (honesty pony)?

"It ain't mah place ta be tellin' ya 'bout such things. Y'all best be askin' yer parents." Of course, it would kind of be her place to explain it to Applebloom and I can only see that going in the overly euphemistic way that Grif suggested.

[Dexam]

... and now I wonder what Rarity would say.

Rarity would be all about the eyes meeting across a crowded room, pulses racing, breathes shortening, eyelashes a-flutter, dancing the night away in a romantic-whirlwind, followed by a secret assignations in the garden at midnight involving much exchanging of passionate glances and swooning.

CMC reactions: (except Scootaloo, who would be: )

Twilight would just give them a copy of "The Eggheads Guide to Where Foals Come From (Illustrated)" to read.

CMC reactions:

[SiuiS]

Gonna spoiler my nightmare posts.

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Not even that. It's just the idea that you become the thing you're pretending to be. That the limitations you put up in your mind become the actual limits of the mind. That by building a mask around your spirit your spirit becomes a mask. That you invent a persona because you don't have the courage to be yourself, and the persona takes over and walks away with your life, and the person who used to be you disappears and is never seen again. That the mask rises up by itself after the body is broken.

It's not rational. Heck, I'm struggling to articulate what to me is a raw, incoherent nightmare. But it's what scares me.

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Well hey, I understand raw, primal fear. I'm just... I fail to see how someone as coherent as you would allow it to become a fear, is all. there is a point where rationalization can help one overcome phobias.

What really gets me though, and why I bring it up at all, is that your worst nightmare is, in my eyes, the definition o human potential. You are limited by your own constraints, yes, but each mask can build a better mask in turn. One can have multiple false identities (though false identity is rare; we pick up and design masks for ourselves based on what we want to be) and the counterpoint of each persona becomes a nodality. It is a system of infinite progress, infinite becoming, infinite ascension.

I also think it's rare for a person to develop their own masks. Instead, we each pick behaviors to shape the masks that others build for us; a mask is only external, so it is a construct of socialization more than of ones own making.

-

Irrational fear though, huh? Mine is/was zombies (I'm mostly over it, to the point of having a zombie dream I loved*), and I mean like actual, crippling phobia. Couldn't go near windows. Still worry when I get up some mornings that one of mycats will knock aside the blinds, and then a lumbering cadaver will smash through my patio window. One day I just thought "what if zombies were real?" and spent six hours afraid to breathe until I fell back on the God's Great Plan(tm) defense.

Man, I could have sworn this was coherent when I first structured it. I guess I need sleep more than I thought; I am rambling. Lemme know if the point of his got across, aye?

Twilight would just give them a copy of "The Eggheads Guide to Where Foals Come From (Illustrated)" to read.

This is the second best way to end the story ever. The very best way would be

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The CMC are unable to find the book. Upon inspection, Twilight Sparkle discovers the last pony on file to have checked it out (about 2 hours ago). She falls to the ground laughing hysterically.

After a couple beats, the CMC ask what's so funny. Her response?

"oh my gosh! Mirriam?!?! Bwa-hahahahahaha!"

Unrelated.

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[darthbobcat]

[spoiler]

This is the second best way to end the story ever. The very best way would be

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The CMC are unable to find the book. Upon inspection, Twilight Sparkle discovers the last pony on file to have checked it out (about 2 hours ago). She falls to the ground laughing hysterically.

After a couple beats, the CMC ask what's so funny. Her response?

"oh my gosh! Mirriam?!?! Bwa-hahahahahaha!"

[/color]

FUND IT. FUND IT NOW.

[Dispozition]

FUND IT. FUND IT NOW.

All my money, take it for this idea.