Friendship is Optimal has launched and is being published in chunks on FIMFiction.
Friendship is Optimal is a story about an optimizer written to "satisfy human values through friendship and ponies." I would like to thank everyone on LessWrong who came out and helped edit it. Friendship is Optimal wouldn't be what is today without your help.
Thank you.
Teaser description:
Hanna, the CEO of Hofvarpnir Studios, just won the contract to write the official My Little Pony MMO. Hanna has built an A.I. Princess Celestia and given her one basic drive: to satisfy everybody's values through friendship and ponies. And Princess Celestia will follow those instructions to the letter...even if you don't want her to.
Here is the schedule for the next chapters:
Friday (Nov. 16th): Chapter 4 - 5
Monday (Nov. 19th): Chapter 6 - 7
Thursday (Nov. 22th): Chapter 8 - 9
Sunday (Nov. 25th): Chapter 10 - 11, Author's Afterword
Three reasons:
Most people who read the beta version know why I specifically want chapter 4 to be released on a Friday. It was serendipitous and unplanned when I released the beta on a Friday evening, and I'm trying to recapture that in the real release. Making sure this happened was a design goal of my schedule.
My second roomate tried to read the entire thing in one sitting, and complained that once things got heavy and philosophical, he felt a bit overwhelmed. I want people to have some time to mull things over and think "what would I do in that situation?" before they see what happens next.
One of the Equestria Daily prereaders recommended that I do so. If I had written this chapter by chapter and posted as I went, I would get n chances on the new list on FIMFiction, but if I post the entire thing at once, I only get 1. Each time Friendship is Optimal is on the new list is a chance to introduce it to new readers. Posting in chunks corrects for a bias against writing and editing everything up front, since, IIUC, you get less attention than if you post as you go. Putting three days between releases is a trade off between not making people too antsy for the next chapter and trying to give other stories a chance on the new and featured lists.
Wow, your answer exceeds all my expectations! Thank you.