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.

Fandom Classics Part 210: Forever and Again and Again

To read the story, click the image or follow this link.

Yesterday, it got close to 70 degrees.  Tomorrow, there's snow in the forecast.  What's a man supposed to do with this kind of this kind of schizophrenic weather?  Stay inside and read fanfics, I guess.  Head down below for my review of Titanium Dragon's Forever and Again and Again.

Episode Talk: S7E3, Flurry of Emotions

Well, did you all join me in watching that terribly disheartening mess they put on TV over the weekend?  Did you cringe, as I did, at all the missed opportunities, the flatly boneheaded decisions by those in charge, and the questionable calls?

I'm talking about the Wild losing to the Blues, of course.  Talk about a wasted year.

But from what I hear, there was another show in town on Saturday.  Head down below the break, and I'll tell you what I thought of that, too.

Mini-Reviews Round 182

So, I've noticed that since April first, despite my thorough and definitive (and definitely not tongue-in-cheek) trashing of it, Cold in Gardez's The Carnivore's Prayer has gained a total of four upvotes and zero downvotes.  God, it's like you guys don't even listen to me when I tell you that something is terrible and nobody should like it.  You know, like I so often do.

On that note, here are some short reviews of things I recently read.  Make sure you vote appropriately on the following stories (actually reading them is optional); remember, the only purpose of those green and red thumbs is to allow you, the reader, to magnify whatever summary judgement Chris renders!  Do your duty, below the break.

Fandom Classics Part 209: Changeling Courtship Rituals

To read the story, click the image or follow this link.

After yesterday, I'm still feeling overfull with the milk of human kindness (incidentally; that's always seemed like kind of a gross metaphor to me.  Human kindness is warm and fuzzy, and warm and fuzzy milk sloshing over a glass and spilling all over everything is a terrible mental image).  But I'll try to resist the urge to just go around handing out 5-stars like candy!  I know you all come here for OPINIONS, and I'm not going to let your generosity weaken them!

Though, I wouldn't mind handing out a bunch of 5-stars, since that would mean that I get to read a bunch of superb fanfics... well, sounds like a win-win, doesn't it?  Well, we'll see what happens.  In fact, we'll see right now!  Click down below the break for my review of Codex Ex Equus's Changeling Courtship Rituals.

HOLD THE FREAKING PRESSES

So I got home today and there was a giant box on my doorstep.  "Hmm," I said to myself, "What's this?  I don't remember ordering anything recently."  Then I remembered that PresentPerfect asked for my address not to long ago.  I assumed it was to send me a book (on those rare occasions when ponyfolk ask for my address, it's almost always to send me a book), but this box was way too big for that, and not nearly heavy enough.  What gives?

So I open it, and what do I see?

What.

WHAT.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.

I... I don't even know what to say right now.  This is the most ridiculously, absurdly amazing thing that anyone's ever done completely out of the blue for me (okay, I assume it wasn't "out of the blue" for you guys, since crazy awesome plushies don't just happen on their own... but it was out of the blue to me).  And she's even got that gorgeous dress from A Hearth's Warming Tale!  

I'm honestly tearing up right now.  I'm touched that I've done something--even something as silly-sounding as "writing a bunch of fanfic reviews"--that you guys have enjoyed so much, and... okay, so this plushie is ridiculously nice, but even if it weren't... just the idea that you guys would all go out of your way to try to do something so nice for me, someone who you've never even met in person, is kind of overwhelming.

I can't put the words in the right order right now, so I'll just repeat myself: this is an amazing, wonderful, unexpected gift, and the meaning behind it is humbling.  Thank you, all of you who were part of this.  It's incredible.