Story Reviews

[Ash]

I got the inspiration for this from Wesker's thread which questioned whether people actually paid any attention to the stories forum.

Many moons past, i really enjoyed reading my way through the stories forum. If you know where to look, there are some truly excellent pieces. We have a lot of talented writers here that almost always go unnoticed as their content is lost in a sea of purely functional material. It used to be that you could casually read through everything, as only inspired writers would post. But since we're now heavily dependent on a RP vetting system for every server request, it's impossible to pick out the gems without committing a crazy amount of time to reading.

So to get around this, I've been meaning to set up a review service whereby community members can submit their material. I promise to read through it in it's entirety and post a fair review. I always look for the positives, but also be aware that this is not an ego-stroking exercise. The ultimate goal is to compile a collection of the most inspired and captivating literature this community has to offer.

Only submit your own material. If you want to submit the material of someone who has left discovery, please provide a link to a feedback thread created by that person (as evidence this person requested feedback) and it will be reviewed.

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[jammi]

A long, long while back we ran a staff backed short story competition, where you'd submit an entirely new story with a certain word count. If there was community interest in participating in a new competition, we could use a few impartial judges to create a shortlist of finalists for the wider community to vote on?

EDIT: Here's the original - https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...#pid498792
My sequel - https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...pid1329511

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News article library, feedback and content requests.

[Wesker]

I need to stop making threads at 12am

[Backo]

I need to stop making threads at 12am

Did we actually finish that BDM/L\- story? :thonk:

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Republic of the Sword and Sun

[Ash]

Remnants of a Daydream
by @Wulthus , @axisdeus, @ddogg, @"Caitlyn Cross" and @TAVIA

After reading this story, one thing is clear: the writers are clearly invested in it's characters and enthused by it's elements. The sentiment attached to certain characters, ships or locations is indicative of that and really comes through in the literature. But this raw enthusiasm doesn't really translate well into a conducive story that conveys the reader. Often I found myself lost in the perspectives of the characters without knowing anything about the characters themselves. This actually works well in the prologue where lack of context provokes the reader to press on to find out more about the characters. But the minimalist style persists long into the body of the story, leaving me somewhat bewildered. I expect the writer is well aware of what the underlying story is meant to be and is keeping it under wraps so as to gradually reveal it to the reader. But the resultant effect leaves one feeling completely untethered and a sense that you're missing the point. Changing the perspective to a new character in a new setting with every episode is a style that makes for an interesting convergence-style story, but can be very difficult to pull off well. This is made even more difficult in a collaborative piece. So I applaud the writers for attempting it. But the effect of it here only seems to add to the confusion. That being said, the format of the literature, pictorial content and variety in settings are a delight. If the writers are willing to temper their vivid imaginations with a more direct writing style, i'm sure that we'll see some really fantastic literature come to light in the near future.

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[axisdeus]

Thank you for the extensive review! I've reread the so far story under the light of your arguments and found them on point and this had me thinking it's high time for some clarification to take place.

Once again, thank you for your time and your words! I hope to have caught you a little still.

Cheers,
Axisdeus