Regarding Christopher Tolkien

Sad news on the Middle-Earth front this week: Christopher Tolkien resigned as the director of the Tolkien estate.  It's not news that has anything to do with My Little Pony, no, but it means a lot to me: I've made no secret of my love for the writing of JRR Tolkien over the years I've been reviewing, and this news represents a seismic event in terms of coming impact on how those writings are marketed, licensed, and otherwise handled.

Head below the break for a few of my thoughts on the matter, if such things interest you.  If not, pony stuff will be back on Monday, same time, same place.

How Video Games Conspire to Ruin My D&D Sessions

What, the blog title wasn't clear enough?  Get ready for some high-quality whining, which may or may not have actionable advice packed in at the end!  No ponies, though; if that's a deal-breaker, you can pretend I'm talking about Ponyfinder instead of AD&D.  Check it out below the break.

Chris on Chris: a Fanfic Ranking

A few days ago, horizon posted a thing on his blog; basically, he listed all his FiMFics in order from best to worst, in his estimation, and contrasted it with the stories' actual ratings while offering a brief explanation for the discrepancy, if any.

That looked like fun, so I'm lavishing the sincerest form of flattery on him and doing the same dang thing.  Head down below the break to see how I rate my own ponyfic, and how it stacks up to the weight of public opinion!

A Brief Q and A About the Royal Canterlot Library

In the last few weeks, I've gotten several e-mails about the RCL, and my involvement in it.  I replied to all of them (at least, I'm pretty sure I did.  If I forgot to reply to you, poke me!), but when several people all ask about something at once, I tend to assume that there's a larger contingent out there that are wondering in silence.  Well, wonder no more!  Here are the questions I was asked (minus a couple of redundant ones), with my answers presented in that most hoofy doofy handy-dandy of formats, the Q and A.  Click down below the break for some knowledge.

(Also, for juicy dirt about the RCL)

Stuff That Isn't Reviews, Upcoming Reviews, and Reviews You Can Read Right Now!

Well!  The end of the year has proven... busier than I'd expected.  I thought that moving from an environment where I was interacting with over a hundred kids every year to a single-classroom setting would mean less end-of-year scrambling, but my current job and age range came with its own unpleasant surprises on that front.  Good news: they're all (almost) behind me, and summer is officially here!

So, sorry for missing the last two posts, and thank you for not tracking me down and egging my house in the interim.  To repay you, here's a pseudo-roundup of ponyfic-related stuff--including episode discussion, my reviews, and other people's reviews.  Check it out below!

Odds and Ends

It's been a while since I've done a "bit of this, bit of that" post, but today I have several things that don't really tie together, but which I want to throw out to y'all.  Some reading stuff, some writing stuff, and some episode stuff!

Change a Title by One Letter

Perhaps some of you (heck, perhaps all of you) are aware of the "change one letter" challenge/joke/meme that's been floating around for... oh, years, probably.  The gist is this: you alter, add, or remove a single letter to/from a title, and summarize the plot of your newly created work.  Good fun.

So I decided to do a few pony ones, mostly based on stories I've reviewed recently (so as not to leave y'all wondering what the reference is).  With any luck, maybe a few of them are even funny!  See for yourself, below the break.

Fic Memorability: a Quick Look Back

One thing that all great stories have in common is that they're memorable.  Whether you love them or hate them, great stories stick with you, key scenes and emotions remaining locked in your memory long after you've read them.

Of course, lots of terrible stories are memorable, too.  So I'm not saying that being memorable makes a story great; just that being memorable is one of the prerequisites to a story being great.

With that in mind, today I want to look back a bit at my old 6-star reviews.  Excluding Binkie Pie and Project Horizons, it's been more than two and a half years since I've read any of those fics, and I found myself wondering how well I remembered those stories--and whether the stories I rated highly stuck with me as well as I might have assumed they would.

So, I came up with a few categories which broadly describe how well I remember these stories which I haven't read in years, looked through the 6-Star Reviews By Star Rating page, and sorted the stories accordingly.  Head down below the break to see which fics stuck with me, and which ones... didn't.

The Agony of Excessive Commas

I want to talk about something I see in fanfiction with some regularity: overuse of commas.

Not, mind you, incorrect use of commas; that's another matter altogether, and one that can be much more easily (or at least, more prescriptively) fixed.  No, I'm talking about technically correct sentences which, nevertheless, have too many commas--not too many for accuracy, but too many for aesthetics.  Head down below the break for some explication, and why not to do the thing I don't want you to do.

Hate-Reading Reviews

I spend most of my blogging energy on reviewing ponyfics, but sometimes I like to talk about other things.  But nothing too far removed from what is apparently my core competency--mostly, I talk about things that at least tangentially touch up against reviewing and/or fanfiction.

Such is the case today, when I'm going to talk about deliberately subjecting yourself to reviews which you know you'll disagree with!  Head down below the break for my thoughts on why we do, and why it's okay.

Zecora and You: A Primer on All the Syllables Except the Last One

As I've mentioned before, I'm pre-reading one DannyJ's ongoing fanfic, To Keep the Fire Burning.  And while editing his most recent chapter, the subject of Zecora dialogue came up.  We talked quite a bit about the rhythm of poetic writing--not just making the words rhyme, but making the meter flow.

Well, I'm not one to write something marginally intelligent and not get all the possible mileage out of it that I can, so here's an edited-for-OMPR-consumption look at my thoughts on writing everyone's favorite zebra.  If you've ever wondered how to give your writing that ineffable (actually, extremely effable) sing-song quality that poetry ought to have, head on down below the break for my thoughts.

How I Picked the Fics I Picked When I Picked Fics

Go on, say that ten times fast.

Now, it's no secret how I pick stories for the Fandom Classics: people recommend them to me (which you can do anytime! I have plenty to get through the next couple of years, but more suggestions are always welcome, and if several people are asking about the same fic, it's more likely to make it to the head of the list), and I keep a list of what the next five-ten fics will be based on spacing out genres, lengths, authors, and the like.

But what about the stuff for mini-reviews?  Well, it's a mix.  Some of it is stuff that's been recommended to me, but doesn't fall under even a very generous definition of "Fandom Classic."  Sometimes it's something I see another reviewer recommend, or just talk about it a way that piques my interest.  And sometimes, it's just something that grabs my attention on its own.  So for the last couple of mini-reviews, I kept track of how, exactly, I came across each story, why I decided to read it, and what the results were.  Click below the break for a look at how Chris picks "Chris Fics!"

And say that one ten times fast, too.

OMPR Turns Five

That's right, it was five years ago today that Six-Star Reviews Part 1 hit the interwebs.  You know, back when Equestria Daily was the hub of all things ponyfic, had star ratings, all that jazz.  Since then, I've reviewed round about 850 stories, (and that's not including anything from the RCL, which I joined just over three years ago, and nearly all of who's 150-odd stories I've also contributed to blurb-ifying) including about 350 long-form reviews of popular and/or well-known fanfics and, occasionally, their sequels.

That's kind of a lot.  And I've been doing it for kind of a long time.  And personally, I think that's pretty neat.  Back when I started, I had no idea I'd keep going this long, or that I would achieve some small measure of popularity in the process.

I only started doing reviews in the first place because the fandom had finally reached the point where reading everything that looked vaguely promising was no longer practical, and I had searched without success for someone doing reader-oriented reviews for a few months.  Eventually, I decided to give reviewing a try myself, threw together a .blogspot page, and went at it.  I had planned to do a dozen or two reviews, see if I enjoyed it, and then maybe go tell some friends... but to my surprise, ponyfic author Ezn discovered my blog on his own after only a couple of weeks (I guess I wasn't the only one who wanted to see some reviews!), and others soon followed.  Since then, as the show has proceeded from the start of Season 2 to the end of Season 6, as FiMFiction rose and became the hub of all things ponyfic, and as tens of thousands of authors have come and, sometimes, gone, I've been plunking away over here, three times a week.

I didn't assume there was ever going to be anyone besides me who cared about fanfic reviewing in the first place, but over the years a vibrant reviewer culture has developed flourished throughout the fandom, and being a part of that has been fun.

What comes next?  Well, more of the same, of course!  Why stop when you've got a good thing going?  My plan has always been to quit doing this when I stop enjoying it, and although there have been peaks and troughs to my enthusiasm, certainly, I've yet to start seeing this blog as a chore, rather than a hobby.  That day will come, sooner or later... but until then, it's full steam ahead.

Now, in celebration, I thought about linking together a few classic OMPR posts--but I don't really know how to define "classic OMPR posts."  Instead, I'm going to put together a set of links below the break to some my best lines--or at least, the ones that were most memorable to me.  Go take a look at a few of the quips, comparisons, explications, and what have you that I've bandied at various stories over the past five years.

And one more thing: thanks to all of you who've come by, who keep coming by, or who just dropped in once or twice and left a comment on my reviews.  Reviewing stories may be fun, but it's seeing other people agree, disagree, and discuss that's a real treat for me.  Also, it's definitely helped me improve--my early reviews may have the same format as my more recent ones, but I like to think I've gotten rather dramatically better at marshaling my thoughts, and laying them out in a manner both interesting and illuminating.  Thank you all!

Books, Episodes, and Dead Mice

A bit of a grab-bag today, as I have several things I want to say a little bit about, but none which really merit an independent post.  Also, this gives me an excuse to slap four different tags on a single post--there's no good reason why I want to do so (and I could get a couple more on there if I really wanted), but it amuses me, so we're doing that.  Click below the break for a little Episode Talk, some Talk About Actual Books, and my patented Ramblings!

(And if you can't guess what the fourth tag is, you haven't been following this blog nearly long enough)

The Truths Our Stories Tell

Almost every story has a moral, whether it's the heavy-handed, explicit kind, or a more subtle presentation of a theme.  But more than that, every story has a worldview: it takes place within a particular vision of how the world works.  I'm not talking about stuff like "is magic real" or "is Rainbow Dash a lesbian," but more cultural/ethical/sociological matters.

So I'm gonna talk about that.  Head down below the break for my thoughts.

How Responsible Is a Reviewer?

Today's post is not about how not to be an ass when you review something: that's as easy as "don't be an ass" in general, and while plenty of people seem to have trouble with even that, such issues are outside of the purview of a single blogpost (even by someone as transcendentally brilliant as yours truly).  I'm also not talking about any sort of obligations or outside standards to which reviewers are subject, because frankly, there aren't any.  Talking about fanfiction comes with no prerequisites.

But, of course, just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should feel no responsibility for what you do.  So what I want to talk about today is the intersection between authorial and reviewer action.  I don't have any conclusions, but you can at least see some of my thoughts on the matter, below.

GUEST POSTS NEEDED (It's That Time of Year Again)

Before I dive into the meat of this post, let me take a minute to plug the print version of iisaw's The Celestia Code: nice-looking hardcover settings of it are on sale right now for under $20 (including shipping!); you can find out more from the author's blog.  Or, you can go back and read my review of the story, if you're not sure if you need a physical copy yet.

But now, it's time to talk about my plans for the summer!  Click below the break for more, but if you need a tl;dr, here it is:

I'm looking for people to write guest columns which I can post on this site, about either writing, reviewing, ponies, or some combination thereof.  Write something, let me share it, and wallow in the glory of being featured on a MLP fanfic review blog!

Details below the break!

Reviewing: What's Good vs. What You Like (Part 2 of 2)

Today, we finish up what we started on Friday!  If you haven't read that post already, you'll probably want to look at it before going on, as it sets out the premises on which today's post is based.  Once you're ready, though, head down below the break, and read what I have to say about identifying your opinions, and framing them in an identifiable, useful manner!

Reviewing: What's Good vs. What You Like (Part 1 of 2)

One of the easiest difficulties to encounter when reviewing--and one of the most common criticisms leveled at reviewers--is an inability to separate the quality of a story from one's enjoyment of it.  So... here are my thoughts on the matter, and on how to (try to) avoid conflating the two.  This all will be phrased specifically in the context of writing reviews of fanfiction, but it's equally applicable to any form of reviewership.

I'm going to start with this post, which is going to establish what I mean by "what's good" and "what you like;" despite seeming like pretty self-evident phrases, it turns out that there's a stunning amount of ambiguity lurking there.  Then, in part two, I'm going to discuss how to accomplish those things.  But to start: part one!  Check it out, below the break.

Who Doesn't Love a Top-Five List?

There are lots of ways to write a bad fanfic, most of which are self-evident.  If you can't construct a comprehensible sentence, that puts a pretty low ceiling on your writing quality, to go with an obvious example.  But what are some of the more minor yet insidious pitfalls to which a writer can fall prey?  More than that, what are some pitfalls specific to MLP?

Head below the break for my thoughts on what semi-inobvious mistakes can ensnare an unsuspecting ponyfic author.  These aren't major plot decisions or basic construction questions; rather, they're the "little things" that can take a reader right out of a story.  They're self-inflicted wounds which are frustrating to see precisely because avoiding them wouldn't involve a complete re-write.  Now, without further adieu, my top five.