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Plorkyeran posted:I've literally never heard anyone say that and have only ever heard of "blue laws" referring to alcohol sales restrictions. Well, maybe you didn't grow up on reading material from the 40's to the 60's because it was stuff laying around your grandparent's house and stuff bought from garage sales! 
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Sep 26, 2020 05:20
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Plorkyeran posted:I've literally never heard anyone say that and have only ever heard of "blue laws" referring to alcohol sales restrictions. Labatt Blue laws?
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Sep 26, 2020 06:10
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Plorkyeran posted:I've literally never heard anyone say that and have only ever heard of "blue laws" referring to alcohol sales restrictions. It's kind of a British colloquialism.
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Sep 26, 2020 06:33
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I’ve never heard of a “blue law” and definitely am familiar with blue meaning lewd or risqué.
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Sep 26, 2020 06:36
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Omi no Kami posted:Incidentally Hungry, don't feel obligated to answer but do you find that google ads help? I saw an AdWords blip for Katalepsis the other day and was surprised, just on the basis that in my head adwords is more what people use to squirt Fortnite at a million twelve-year olds with the hope that 1% of them convert into the sales funnel. Honestly, it's kind of hard to tell. I think it did for a bit, maybe, when I launched the story to the public, but not much anymore. I suspect the people sticking around to read are actually brought in by word of mouth or catching it on RoyalRoad or Scribblehub. The whole google ads thing wasn't my idea originally and it's probably time to wrap it up and try a different way of promoting the story.
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Sep 26, 2020 10:36
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Hungry posted:Honestly, it's kind of hard to tell. I think it did for a bit, maybe, when I launched the story to the public, but not much anymore. I suspect the people sticking around to read are actually brought in by word of mouth or catching it on RoyalRoad or Scribblehub. The whole google ads thing wasn't my idea originally and it's probably time to wrap it up and try a different way of promoting the story. It's probably not worth diving deep on, but google (and most other marketing services) have a ton of analytics APIs you can leverage. I know for a retail product you'd be wanting to look at cost to acquire one user against your conversion rate to go "Okay, it costs 0.3£ to acquire one user with service X and 100 users to convert one 15£ sale, so my profit is <bleh> per <arg>." For serial fiction I assume you'd be better off focusing on growth of unique views on a weekly/monthly basis, but I don't know anything about the marketing side. Also, obligatory Saturday-night recommendation that people read Katalepsis. I like how in tonight's chapter Raine cosplayed as an actual garbage person, insofar as her homemade riot suit seems to be 90% scrap, 10% pillaged goods.
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Sep 26, 2020 12:18
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TWI: Even though the K chapters still can't get as compelling as anything with Erin in them, they're getting better now, and I have to say, seeing all the different plots come crashing together because of Erin and the others is really fun to see. Now her secret Earth Club has me thinking that maybe the grand party is going to be some kind of heavily earth-influenced party, and with the worldwide news coverage that's sure to happen, it seems like a real possibility that the secret of earth could be outed to the world then.
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Sep 26, 2020 18:10
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I don’t know exactly how it will work, but I am 100% certain that Erin will be involved in the worldwide reveal of Earthlings.
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Sep 26, 2020 18:48
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PracGuide: I'm thoroughly convinced at this point that Catherine's relationships with the Woe fraying is becoming some sort of theme, after this recent stuff with Archer. It seems like the Name she's developing is something tied to authority over other Names, which isn't exactly well-suited to being part of a group of other Named, so that might have something to do with it.
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Sep 27, 2020 04:16
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Ytlaya posted:PracGuide: I'm thoroughly convinced at this point that Catherine's relationships with the Woe fraying is becoming some sort of theme, after this recent stuff with Archer. It seems like the Name she's developing is something tied to authority over other Names, which isn't exactly well-suited to being part of a group of other Named, so that might have something to do with it. I want to believe that it’s less that and more that it’s the author trying to avoid having the other members of the Woe becoming essentially just extensions of Cat’s will that always do things in line with what she wants. Hakram wanting an alliance between Callow and the orcish tribes even though Catherine doesn’t think it’s a wise move shows that he’s his own person, as does Indrani picking stupid fights that hurt the war effort. The trend I’m worried about is depowering/maiming. Vivienne lost her Name, Masego lost his magic, Hakram lost his limbs. Catherine herself has been repeatedly mutilated in one way or another throughout the story. What’s Archer going to lose?
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Sep 27, 2020 07:48
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blastron posted:I want to believe that it’s less that and more that it’s the author trying to avoid having the other members of the Woe becoming essentially just extensions of Cat’s will that always do things in line with what she wants. Hakram wanting an alliance between Callow and the orcish tribes even though Catherine doesn’t think it’s a wise move shows that he’s his own person, as does Indrani picking stupid fights that hurt the war effort. The trend I’m worried about is depowering/maiming. Vivienne lost her Name, Masego lost his magic, Hakram lost his limbs. Catherine herself has been repeatedly mutilated in one way or another throughout the story. What’s Archer going to lose? she fuckin died
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Sep 27, 2020 10:21
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violent sex idiot posted:she fuckin died She didn't just die, she got loving chumped like a nameless sucker.
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Sep 27, 2020 17:58
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NinjaDebugger posted:She didn't just die, she got loving chumped like a nameless sucker. The text also makes it clear that she loving hated that there was nothing she could do in the big rumble down under. She was useless in one climax then got swatted like a fly in the next.
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Sep 28, 2020 00:43
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^^^ What are people referring to here? She was impacted by getting almost-killed but seemed to have more or less have emotionally dealt with that (and it's been a while since that happened, due to the time skip before the current arc).blastron posted:I want to believe that it’s less that and more that it’s the author trying to avoid having the other members of the Woe becoming essentially just extensions of Cat’s will that always do things in line with what she wants. Hakram wanting an alliance between Callow and the orcish tribes even though Catherine doesn’t think it’s a wise move shows that he’s his own person, as does Indrani picking stupid fights that hurt the war effort. The trend I’m worried about is depowering/maiming. Vivienne lost her Name, Masego lost his magic, Hakram lost his limbs. Catherine herself has been repeatedly mutilated in one way or another throughout the story. What’s Archer going to lose? Masego and Vivienne aren't really portrayed as being being weakened overall, though. Vivienne losing her name was portrayed as just being character growth on her part, and Masego is still pretty powerful and capable of a lot of stuff due to his aspects. I think the "distance" is the bigger factor, with Catherine being physically distanced from roughly half of the Woe and emotionally distanced from the other half with proximity to her. Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Sep 28, 2020 |
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Sep 28, 2020 02:43
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So, I think, in one of the serials I read there was a concept of what was maybe called a "spiteling", a child sent away as a sort of tribute to ensure that the town/country/whatever had good fortune or harvest or something. Not quite like The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas but similar. Does anyone have an idea what I'm thinking of, and which book it was from? It might have been The Gods Are Bastards or Prac Guide but some cursory googling didn't hit anything and I might have gotten the Spiteling name wrong.
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Sep 29, 2020 17:29
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Lone Goat posted:So, I think, in one of the serials I read there was a concept of what was maybe called a "spiteling", a child sent away as a sort of tribute to ensure that the town/country/whatever had good fortune or harvest or something. Not quite like The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas but similar. Having read The Gods Are Bastards and Practical Guide I don't believe it was either of those at least
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Sep 29, 2020 20:45
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Jade Mage posted:Having read The Gods Are Bastards and Practical Guide I don't believe it was either of those at least It wasn't a main character, it might have been during an interlude? Details are real hazy and I might have gotten the spiteling name wrong.
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Sep 30, 2020 15:28
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Came across Journey to Amoraketh on Scribble Hub, and I'm liking it quite a bit. The PoV character is a mercenary(-ish) bodyguard for a reclusive prince that likes to study the supernatural, and one night she's asked to escort him to a secretive meeting. There it's reveled the prince is actually a trans woman, and she's running away from the throne (and abusive parents) to pursue Sorcery and spread it across the world. Her first task, though, is to make her transformation permanent and not bound to a ring that could be lost. It's been a pretty solid read so far. Rekka, the former bodyguard and PoV character, comes from a group that strives to create the best warriors. She's stronger than most, hardier than most, and can heal quicker and from more serious injuries. Arcadia, the former princess, is at least proficient in water and air magic, as she's able to hold her own in a fight and summon a fog bank big enough to hide a small ship (and more impressive stuff, but that's spoilers).
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Oct 4, 2020 12:29
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Potential minor spoiler from the patreon TWI chapter, but more a question. Isn't Toren sentient because his heart is empty and thus missing any instructions? From a previous chapter this seemed like the break through that Azkerash didn't consider, however Femithain seemed to say in the latest chapter that an empty heart creates a puppet class golem. Am I missing something special about Toren? It seemed odd to me that something so simple is the key.
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Oct 4, 2020 21:06
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asur posted:Potential minor spoiler from the patreon TWI chapter, but more a question. all undead are sentient by default. Granted, that sentience is limited to an innate desire to exterminate the living, but that is technically an emotion. Additionally, Cognita and the azkerash's chosen are sapient, they simply lack the innate ability for growth that accompanies the ability to level
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Oct 4, 2020 23:53
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asur posted:Potential minor spoiler from the patreon TWI chapter, but more a question. I suspect there's a step in between pure emptiness and whatever Toren is that the Crafters are missing.
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Oct 5, 2020 00:48
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asur posted:Potential minor spoiler from the patreon TWI chapter, but more a question. Toren was made by Pisces using a broken formula that he adapted from Cognita, who is a Cognizant-class Golem, above the Sentient-class that Femithain just unlocked. So I would guess that Toren is likewise a Cognizant, or at least nascent Cognizant, class being, while the other Chosen are only Sentient-class.
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Oct 5, 2020 17:47
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Silynt posted:Toren was made by Pisces using a broken formula that he adapted from Cognita, who is a Cognizant-class Golem, above the Sentient-class that Femithain just unlocked. So I would guess that Toren is likewise a Cognizant, or at least nascent Cognizant, class being, while the other Chosen are only Sentient-class. (twi public) I think the ability to level is separate from the distinction of being Sentient/Cognizant. Similarly, I think an empty heart is distinct from leaving a blank space where the "meaning of life" or whatever is supposed to go in the inscribed magic formula (which itself is a unique formula and not known to everyone). "Sentient" seems to mean that they can think independently, but can't reason or have very weak reasoning ability, while "Cognizant" ones have more sophisticated thought and are capable of self-reflection.
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Oct 7, 2020 19:46
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I'm many years late to the party but I would just like to say that Worm is very good. I thought I was completely burnt out on superhero fiction but I fell deeply into the world and characters of Worm and have zero regrets. Also Mother of Learning A++++ would read again, and in fact did, as I finished it before the story was done. I started backing the authors patreon and came back to re-read it later after it had finished. gently caress me I'm such a sucker for underdog protag gets thrust into a world with minimal understanding of their skills and slowly gets better at them as the rules of the world get lovingly fleshed out and they mature as a person. Timeloop is just sugar on top. Granted you could make the argument that Taylor actually matures into a worse, more manipulative and controlling person, but still. I also really enjoyed Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality for similar reasons, although I know some people don't like the ratfic heavy side of things.
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Oct 8, 2020 23:12
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Worm is actually bad.
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Oct 8, 2020 23:18
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be kind to them peachfart, they've obviously only just come out of a timeloop from 2014. that or they have severe unresolved issues with their time at high school.
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Oct 9, 2020 00:53
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Pyrocat posted:I'm many years late to the party but I would just like to say that Worm is very good.
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Oct 9, 2020 00:54
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I want to generally recommend The Eagle's Flight. It's a slow multi-perspective political intrigue and military fiction story in a well thought out world with fantasy around the edges. It has some Game of Thrones vibes but it's a bit less shallow and soapy, and a lot less creepy. The way names work can be a bit confusing at first for a lot of people, but if you think about it as last names are prefixes it's not too bad. Someone recommended it in this thread ages ago and I finally made my through it. Pyrocat posted:I'm many years late to the party Try Practical Guide to Evil and Pith.
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Oct 9, 2020 01:07
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Yeah I think you'll really like Prac Guide.
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Oct 9, 2020 06:21
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Prac guide is good poo poo and has become so much more legible in the past year since the author actually stopped to fix all of the spelling and grammatical errors that used to plague their story. Give it a read.
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Oct 9, 2020 09:22
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Thanks for the reccs! I've already got several tabs open I'm looking forward to checking out this weekend. Horizon Burning posted:be kind to them peachfart, they've obviously only just come out of a timeloop from 2014. that or they have severe unresolved issues with their time at high school. if this is a dig at my taste being rooted in YA, fair hit I guess? I don't read a ton, but I really enjoyed the stories I mentioned and they've gotten me back into reading more. If you have something more, I dunno, advanced? to recommend lmk. I'm down to try something more challenging but still entertaining.
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Oct 9, 2020 09:57
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Don’t worry about it, this thread likes to hate on Worm. Your taste is fine.
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Oct 9, 2020 10:02
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I like Worm  I've forgotten too much to be able to read Ward, though, it seems. I wanna tell you to read The Wandering Inn, which is still my favorite serial, but it's also at the point where it's so long that I'm reluctant to recommend it to people on account of I sometimes have to tell them "oh yeah this part is the boring part but some really cool stuff happens 30000 words (2 chapters) later". If you liked HPATMOR though, then hopefully you'll like Harry Potter and the Natural 20, which starts off largely as a joke but eventually manages to somehow wring a real plot and character arc out of its goofy premise. It's got good comedic timing and the types of magic are surprisingly well-balanced. It's also incomplete and the author was last seen popping up two years ago to pop out two chapters before apparating back into the aether.
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Oct 9, 2020 10:19
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Liking Worm is defensible, liking HPMOR is absolutely not defensible. HPMOR is garbage trash.
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Oct 9, 2020 14:31
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Sampatrick posted:Liking Worm is defensible, liking HPMOR is absolutely not defensible. HPMOR is garbage trash. A lot of people enjoy HPMOR on their first read through before they stop to really think about some parts of it and/or learn all the skeevy poo poo about the author and how much of it makes its way into the text.
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Oct 9, 2020 18:17
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If you read HPMoR as a dumb serial, it's a reasonably entertaining mess. It's like The Fountainhead in that way. As a shallow book where you follow around a guy being cool and put upon, it's not unengaging. The problem with both is that not only are they constructed around worldviews which are irredeemably evil, but they are constructed to sell those worldviews to dumb kids who think they're smart.
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Oct 9, 2020 18:32
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The Shortest Path posted:A lot of people enjoy HPMOR on their first read through before they stop to really think about some parts of it and/or learn all the skeevy poo poo about the author and how much of it makes its way into the text. Exactly like actual Harry Potter, so
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Oct 9, 2020 18:36
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HPMOR was also constructed to get the author
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Oct 9, 2020 19:03
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Sampatrick posted:Liking Worm is defensible, liking HPMOR is absolutely not defensible. HPMOR is garbage trash. Half of HPMOR is someone trying really hard to make rules for the magic system in Harry Potter and I find that extremely satisfying. The other half is 11 year old Sherlock being Very Rational and eh, I see why that would put you off of the whole thing. Granted, I haven't read it since it finished.
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Oct 9, 2020 19:47
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Pyrocat posted:Half of HPMOR is someone trying really hard to make rules for the magic system in Harry Potter and I find that extremely satisfying. One of the problems with it that may not be obvious on first read is that's not actually what it's doing. It's actually trying to come up with rules as dissimilar to HP as possible without obviously contradicting canon so that the author can be smug about how his OC that got to read the real rules understands them better than all the canon characters. A genuine attempt at formalizing the rules of magic that the story follows would not feature the characters who are supposed to understand magic well being wrong about how magic works every single time.
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Oct 9, 2020 21:24
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