Question in need of a response
I'm ... slightly discomfited and bemused, and also a little embarrassed. I'm not sure, however, whether my reaction is entirely justified or not, and so I'm asking for the opinions of anyone who might feel inclined to give theirs. You see, few days ago I submitted my one and only MLP: FiM fanfic to Equestria Daily, pretty much the biggest hub in the fandom. EQD has a policy of pre-reading before allowing fics on the site, so I dutifully filled out the form and, after consideration, listed Big Brother as a slice-of-life fic. Today I got a response, which happened to be a rejection, which was disappointing but not unexpected. The fic is less than 3000 words and my first attempt at anything in the fandom, so it was always going to be rought around the edges. However, it's not the rejection that brought me to a halt and made me stare at my laptop screen for several minutes trying to process what I was reading. Everyone gets rejected and I'm fully aware I'm not the world's best writer (and no, that's not me fishing for compliments so please don't give any to stroke my ego or make me feel better - everyone is their own biggest critic and I'm acutely aware of my many flaws and failings when it comes to my writing). No, what made me come here and poke people for responses is the feedback I got back from the pre-reader and the message of what constitutes a 'story'. I'll post the response under a cut to make it clear I'm not asking for anyone to defend me or anything like that. What I want to know is whether the generalised comments this reader makes on the nature of storytelling are, in your opinion, justified. It's really difficult not to sound like a self-entitled whiny twit in asking this, so I'll show you the message and hopefully you'll see why I'm interested to know what other people (especially ficcers and readers) think.
Dear Scribbler,
After some consideration, I'm afraid your story is ineligible for posting on Equestria Daily in its current state. The biggest issue that your story faces is that it doesnt quite fit the criteria of a story. To elaborate, there isnt any real conflict to speak of or anything that drives the story in a given direction (a rather common problem in slice-of-life stories), Big Mac doesnt have enough character development (he is an observer, rightfully so since the story is about just that, but he doesnt change as a character from what he observes, he's merely there and the story happens around him rather than it being about him), the ending lacks closure (which could easily be because of the story's length, it doesnt have enough buildup to have the impact it's looking for), the three scenes dont have enough interconnection (they dont impact one another and are only loosely connected, the final scene is the only one that really reaches into the core of the story), etc. In short, the story is missing key elements that make up a story, it has the beginnings of one but isnt a fully realized story in itself. Now it could be, but it would mean expanding on everything the story has already, to which point it may not resemble what you originally envisioned for the story. You are still welcome to go back and work on it, but you may wish to take your story elsewhere. Whatever you decide, best of luck.
- Pre-reader #12
Dear Scribbler,
After some consideration, I'm afraid your story is ineligible for posting on Equestria Daily in its current state. The biggest issue that your story faces is that it doesnt quite fit the criteria of a story. To elaborate, there isnt any real conflict to speak of or anything that drives the story in a given direction (a rather common problem in slice-of-life stories), Big Mac doesnt have enough character development (he is an observer, rightfully so since the story is about just that, but he doesnt change as a character from what he observes, he's merely there and the story happens around him rather than it being about him), the ending lacks closure (which could easily be because of the story's length, it doesnt have enough buildup to have the impact it's looking for), the three scenes dont have enough interconnection (they dont impact one another and are only loosely connected, the final scene is the only one that really reaches into the core of the story), etc. In short, the story is missing key elements that make up a story, it has the beginnings of one but isnt a fully realized story in itself. Now it could be, but it would mean expanding on everything the story has already, to which point it may not resemble what you originally envisioned for the story. You are still welcome to go back and work on it, but you may wish to take your story elsewhere. Whatever you decide, best of luck.
- Pre-reader #12