It has come to our attention recently that rumors have been spreading regarding the deletion of /fic/ and the staff's distaste for it. That could not be further from the truth!
Despite whatever you may have been told, /fic/ is definitely, definitely not going anyplace, not getting deleted and, in fact, is a very well loved part of our community. A very, very well loved part of the community ^^.

If you have any questions about /fic/'s future, i can answer them simply by saying that things will continue as they happily are and that we'll work on some minor improvements here and there.

Oh, and a potential collaboration project!

#Discussion

So, /fic/? What do you think? Should chapters have individual names, or are they best left as numbers?

Personally, I think simple numbers look more professional, and blend into the background of the story more, thus allowing a reader to read without interruption. They also avoid the risk of chapter titles spoiling plot developments from the table of contents, although that can be worked around with some clever titling.

Let there be music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_XjL3_uOEU&feature=related

That's right! I'm on my own for my first review thread!

To begin with, an introduction. I don't want to be an unapproachable figure. Feel free to discuss with me when you feel I'm wrong. I'm pretty nice and soft as reviewers come, and I love nothing more than to help you improve. Don't expect much from me grammar wise. I know some, not as much as the others, but enough to know when something is broken. Unfinished work is welcome, and so is long work, although those take me a longer time and I don't do as good a job.

Now, let's have some rules:
1: Thou shall read the sticky
2: Only the reviewer may use the traditional royal voice, and the royal we is banished from this thread forever.
3: Thou shall receive your review when it's done and no sooner.
4: The number of rules shall not be more than five, and neither will your requests unless you write additional chapters or re-present a re-worked piece.
5: Thou shall not submit to me any clop fics for they are not welcome in this abode. …

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#Reviewer

Soundslikeponies(Vinyl):
I've done one or two reviews on here under different aliases, but I mostly privately reviewed things upon request. I don't usually tear down writers, but if it's clear to me that what you wrote you wrote purely for the reason of screwing with your reader, I may not remain sympathetic. The reader is god in this world. What I know is drama, dialogue, and how to make your story appealing. What I know with style is word choice, syntax, and how to effectively manage your words so you don't find yourself writing long-winded explanations of something simple.

You can find me on fimfiction here: http://www.fimfiction.net/user/soundslikeponies

If your writing style is below a certain threshold, or I find your story particularly unengaging, I will give a concise review in the thread why, otherwise I will comment your gdocs, or at least comment them up until they become disengaging. Also, I don't take meta, I don't take trollfics, and I'm probably not going to like your human fics.

Nicholas(Octavia):
You may not have seen me around a ton, but I do some private reviewing in the IRC chat. I also read many reviews here on Ponychan, and I like to think I know a good amount about writing. I have been writing fics for three months, and I have three stories up on Equestria Daily. I tend to be a more professional reviewer, but I like to have fun from time to time, especially if something makes me facepalm. I don't want you to feel like you are being attacked if I am reviewing your work critically. I will tell you what is wrong without pulling any punches, and how I think you can fix it, but I'll try not to post anything that makes the author feel personally attacked since I know how fragile a writer's ego can be. I have a keen eye for word choice and relevance. In writing, every word, every sentence, every scene must serve a purpose. If it is difficult for me to determine the purpose of a word/…

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#Discussion

Previous thread >>101097

Hello again, fillies and gentlecolts, and welcome to the eleventh installment of the “Ask An Equestria Daily Pre-Reader Anything Thread”! Feel free to ask us anything* and we’ll do our best to answer.

*Disclaimer: Our knowledge of quantum physics is limited, so please try to keep questions on that subject to a minimum.

I’d also like to include a brief FAQ in this initial post, since we seem to hear a lot of the same questions:

Q: How long does the pre-reading process take?
A: Depends entirely on how many pre-readers have free time and how interesting the story looks. Could be an hour, could be a week.

Q: Am I allowed to respond to pre-reader feedback?…

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#Discussion #whiningOrComplaining

Folks, I'm in the process of packing up my emotial baggage and moving on to the next thing in my life. This "writing thing" as I'm approaching it here simply is not working for me.

Now, what follows is my opinion only. There's absolutely nothing wrong with saying, "Oh, Wings is just burnt out; that's his problem," and doing whatever you want. I'm just writing this in the hopes that others might find my experience illuminating.

So we understand each other, these are not reasons for leaving, they are justifications for doing so. I personally hail from the "decide by gut first, rationalize later" area of the personality spectrum. Of course, I'm being irrational and selfish.

The Power of Failure
===

When I graduated high school, I decided I wasn't going to stop learning. I also believed, with ideological fervor, that smart people shouldn't be stuck in one language, and as a smart person it was my moral duty to stop being a pathetic monoglot.

This lead to a series of false starts with several languages before finally stumbling across an internet subculture with an extremely unorthodox take on language acqisition: it's all tricks and mind hacks and a twisted definition of dedication.…

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#General#Grammar

Grammar is about communication. It's about saying what you mean. While good grammar will not make a bad story great, bad grammar will make a great story awful. With strong technique you can focus on what you're writing, and not how you should be writing it.

Hello, and welcome to the /fic/ Grammar General. If you have any questions related to the technical aspect of writing, here's the place to ask them.

Be sure to check the publication below to see if your question has already been answered. Think of it as the Grammar General's FAQ.

Typing Your Fan-fiction

Working Document | Changelog | First Edition – Doesn't exist as of 5 May, 2012

Preamble

>The goal of [Typing Your Fan-fiction] is to be a succinct, well-organised, and updated collection of information without redundancy on the topic of writing mechanics with specific regard to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fan-fiction. It will cover everything from efficient ways to type and submit your works to correct usage of English terms and syntax. It pertains mostly to technical information—it is not a guide on how to make a good story; it is a guide on how to write that good story.

By using Typing Your Fan-fiction in conjunction with the General, writers and reviewers can get their technical questions answered as quickly and efficiently as possible.

What you can do to help

As of posting, the document is a huge work in progress. Entire sections are absent (as indicated by the blank sections), and many sections are very incomplete. If you think something should be added, tell me—or even better, write the section yourself. There's no need for this to be a one-man show, and even if it must be, I'm stil…

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#Single fic #Normal

Sweetcream Scoops has an ice cream cone cutie mark, works in her family's ice cream shop, and her special talent is...singing.
This has caused some friction with her folks, and having to come back home from Canterlot after failed tryouts for the Trans Equestrian Orchestra didn't help matters. Now the mild-mannered Ice Cream Mare has to face the music when ponies close to her vanish without a trace, and she suspects her childhood hiding place and some quasi-mythical monster may be involved. She'd really prefer it if the mane six dealt with this...

Chapter Links:
1: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RBZNNsDYAtjJuL4VWyOWzU9029VivtkEm7-7lOzx7_8/edit
2: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g5MT5caQC5znqNh2oHfBAhEFfgdpRsdquIkqZ9qs_DI/edit
3: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MFz_PQ2jHBFA0TmOKoO2XblWcRc4lJPwRNAwqnCrB-o/edit
4: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JAnacSbXQlIAfI1b8fneHr-A5ReOYZCs-OJvIp4qDDA/edit
5: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ukuLanPAaoE07GxYoia5vXG4mbCmgayUGru_cwahAPI/edit
6: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gisqwRqyLybdIuX89XrDbvgTIwAFHb3DVkRHOqulhV8/edit

#Reviewer

Hey, everyone.

I've decided to do my own review thread, but a little differently.

You see, mine will not be a one-shot review. This is for UNFINISHED works. If you only have one chapter of many, and you'd like them all reviewed (as you write them), then this is your thread.

Now, since this can be a long project, not to mention the fact that I have exams coming up, I'm only going to take 2-3. This summer I'll try for more, but I don't know how much of a workload this will be, so I'm sort of testing the waters.

I'm going to pick the fics I think I can help the most, not the first posted, so don't worry what number you are.

I prefer a google doc, with commenting enabled, plus an email (comments so I can point out awkward wording, bad grammar, whatever, and email so I can give you an overall review(s) for plot and character development).
…

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Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.

A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...


http://www.fimfiction.net/story/679/Fallout-Equestria%3A-New-Pegas

Planned for weekly updates, aimed at a roughly 50-chapter New Vegas arc, including DLCs.

By: Timid Wolf

Synopsis: For years, Cash Money and his sire Old Money have owned and operated the Silver Saddle Pawn Shop, the only pawn and loan store in Ponyville. Together with Cash's colt Big Hoss and new hire Derpy Hooves, they buy and sell things of every variety from all over Equestria as well as issue pawn loans to ponies in need. As Cash says before every show, you never know what is going to walk through that door...

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/32500/Ponyville-Pawn-Stars

Hey guys, I haven't been around in awhile but I wanted to share this series I started writing a few months back. As you could gather from the title, it's a mashup of MLP:FiM and the popular History Channel TV show. I'm a big fan of both, and this whole thing basically got started from me thinking one day, "Suppose there's a pawn shop hidden in Ponyville somewhere. What kind of business goes on there?" I've received many positive reviews on this, and I'm looking for some additional support as I tweak it up for submitting to EQD. Check it out and feel free to leave any comments, questions, critiques or anything else. I got my strike one email a couple days back so I'm devoting my writing time to fixing what the pre-reader NW said I had to change before I write any new episodes. Thanks!

#Discussion

I was reading through the write-off thread and came across something that I found very interesting. Chocolate Milk posted a short review of 'Never', and had some very valid criticisms. What really got me though, were the points he criticized.

I view writing as a very anomalous, dynamic, impossible-to-define beast of translation. Effectively, I think writing is a means to get ideas or emotions into words that allow those who read the words to receive the desired ideas or emotions in turn. I don't call it a story-telling medium, as I feel that is merely a means to an end. Story-telling is almost always what writing turns into, but not all it can be.

When I read CM's review, though, I got the impression he had a completely different view of writing. I'd like to point out, I'm not being critical of him at all; he had very valid points. I just want to highlight the differences in our views. Anyways, one of the things he mentioned was the word count being too high. An understandable criticism of shor—I mean, the anon who wrote 'Never'—in this case. My thought on that point, however, was "If I enjoyed the extra wordiness, why would you need to remove it?" CM also mentioned that Luna was in a funky zone, stuck between a plot device and a real character. My thought was "If it fits in the story, does that matter?".

I'm sorry to be picking on you like this, Chocolate; I'm not really trying to put down your review and I'd love to hear you thoughts on this. I just chose you because we seem to have fairly different views on the subject at hand.

One more thing I feel I should mention: I don't have a grasp on the finer points of English and I have no desire to learn them. I generally know how to use semi-colons and colons. I know what a comma splice is. However, I feel if I did go out and research all of the details on how to construct a proper sentence or story, writing would become boring and I'd have no desire to continue. What I love most is that I know (to some small extent) how to wield the 'thing' that is wri…

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#Reviewer #Proofreading

Greetings, my little ponies! (Re-done to correct for newpony mistakes)

This thread exists for one purpose, and one purpose alone: proofreading. I will read through your fics and note spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, clumsy sentence structures and the like. This shouldn't be thought of as a typical review thread, in that there will be no editorializing, no criticizing your concept, and no name-calling. If I really like your story, I will say so. I will, however, "review" your grammar, giving you areas to work on and pay special attention to when writing.

Now then, brass tacks:
Submission posts: include the name of your story, tags, word count and a link or links.
Google Docs: the nature of the service I'm offering makes stories submitted as Google Docs with comments turned on by far the easiest for me to work with. If you really can't find it in your heart to copy and paste your FiMFiction story into a Google Doc, there is a good chance I will skip it or proofread other stories first.
No excessive gore, and no clop of any kind: I've got a decently high threshold for this requirement, but if I'm grossed/freaked out by what I'm reading I will simply stop.
American or British English: Consistency is key. Australians and Canadians: pick a side, dammit!
Multi-parts: If you're submitting a multi-part story, I will most likely proofread your first chapter or prologue and ask you to re-edit and resubmit the next chapter, keeping in mind my suggestions. Lather, rinse, repeat. If your story is significantly more than 10,000 words, I will probably treat it like a multi-part.

Some things to keep in mind:…

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#Single fic #Normal

The ponies in the back of the classroom scoffed. The green speckled egg had barely moved, and the blue filly in the front of the room looked down in shame. As quickly as it began, Trixie's audition had ended as quickly as it began, and the Lulamoons had left the classroom with their heads hung in embarrassment. Trixie forced back tears as she followed her parents through the crowded Canterlot market. Her parents yelled for her to keep up, so she started to trot. In that instant, an incredible explosion shook Canterlot, and an enormous green and purple dragon broke through the roof of the building she was just in. Trixie looked back for her parents, but they were gone, two cacti resting where they had once been. Desperate to save them, she galloped back towards the magic school.
Trixie ran through the hallways, turning corner after corner, and ended up smashing into a long, white, leg. “Be careful my little pony, we don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Trixie looked up at the alicorn, and her jaw dropped. Princess Celestia was standing before her. Trixie bowed and explained her parental situation to the Princess. The Princess beckoned for her to follow, and Trixie happily complied. Princess Celestia strode through the hallways with elegance only royalty could have, and paused when they reached the classroom. “Stay here, I will investigate what has happened. Fear not my little pony.” Celestia disappeared into the room.
The alicorn re-appeared after several minutes accompanied by a lilac-colored filly blushing like crazy. Celestia looked down at Trixie and told her everything should return to normal. Trixie nodded her thanks and as she was trotting away, she heard the Princess say, “So Miss Sparkle, I think you will fit in quite nicely as my personal student….” Trixie reached the Canterlot market and began searching for her parents. She found the spot where she had seen her parents turn into cacti, and the cacti were gone. She breathed a sigh of relief and trotted onward. Looking through the stalls, Trixie wandered onward through the market. One of the last booths made her hea…

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#Reviewer #OC

Welcome to yet another attempt at an OC critique-and-improvement thread!

Our goal here isn't to tell you your OC sucks. It's not to tear you a new one for having an Alicorn, or tell you to GTFO over a Mary Sue. We're here to help you make your OC better, because you obviously want your OC to be the best he or she can be. Why else would you be here?

Basically, think of this like the OC equivalent of a story review thread. You present us (that is to say, me, Circuit Board, and anyone else who wants to and can prove themselves objective enough) with your OC, and we run it through the gauntlet of tests.

Now, you may be wondering how we rate an OC here. The answer is simple: we divide the rating into several categories:

Appearance - How your character looks. Color scheme, coordination, clothing, all that good stuff. +/- 30 points

Background - What your character has done in their past, as well as what's happened to them. +/- 50 points
…

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