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It was pretty funny, though, when everyone would arc up at me for saying Ward wasn't very good all those years ago.
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Jun 26, 2022 06:07
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Ar'Kendrithyst Patreon: The 2nd half of this week's story should be titled: Grandpa and his new huge dick
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Jun 26, 2022 07:45
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Peachfart posted:Ar'Kendrithyst Patreon: I loved that scene lol. Because of course you'd ask for something like that.
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Jun 26, 2022 07:50
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Hungry posted:Thank you! I am very curious what exactly prompted this. Something in the latest chapter?
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Jun 26, 2022 09:11
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Peachfart posted:Ar'Kendrithyst Patreon: The best part of this was, this conversation was going on in front of his paladin son.
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Jun 26, 2022 13:49
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Whyyyy did I wait to read Beware of Chicken for so long, holy poo poo it's good!
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Jun 26, 2022 17:29
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Omi no Kami posted:All of Wildbow's stories suffer from his having a very poor grasp on story structure and basic narrative principles, and Ward got hit by that really hard. There are characters like the white supremacist guy, whose subplot got what felt like hundreds of thousands of words devoted to it before dropping the character almost entirely and leaving him as furniture in the background of other scenes, people like the stalker girl who got enormous amounts of focus throughout the story only for it to go nowhere, and profoundly odd stuff like the twins who wildbow was seemingly never able to think up a story for, so they just bounced around the frame while other things happened. I think Wildbow is actually better at general story structure than the vast majority of web serials, though that's not exactly a high bar to clear. His stuff manages to pull ahead of most of the competition simply by virtue of not constantly being indulgent and having distinct characterization where characters' behavior isn't just dictated by what the author thinks would be cool or an audience pleaser. In many cases it feels like web serial authors simply like their characters too much and just want to create a bunch of scenes where they get to be cute together or do Epic Things. Basically like someone writing a fanfiction, only consisting fully of original characters. There's nothing wrong with that sort of thing, but it's definitely a huge exaggeration to say that Wildbow's story/narrative structure is "very poor" for a web serial. Even in Ward, its problems are mostly clear when looking at the story as a whole - each individual arc is generally plotted fairly well, and the main characters are mostly pretty well written.
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Jun 26, 2022 19:47
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Ytlaya posted:just want to create a bunch of scenes where they get to be cute together id like to point out that this isn't a flaw in narrative structure since it's entirely the point of a slice of life novel- they are not intended to follow the standard structure.
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Jun 26, 2022 21:21
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Larry Parrish posted:id like to point out that this isn't a flaw in narrative structure since it's entirely the point of a slice of life novel- they are not intended to follow the standard structure.
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Jun 27, 2022 00:11
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Cicero posted:I don't think that's what they're talking about. They're talking about whether character behavior seems to change based on what the plot demands or not. oh. then it that case yes most web serials suck, but I don't read most of them so... that still puts worm in the bottom percentile for me
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Jun 27, 2022 00:16
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Uldor posted:Whyyyy did I wait to read Beware of Chicken for so long, holy poo poo it's good! It is indeed amazing! The world is a standard Xianxia world. Unfair and downright mean. But every time it seems like the story might go the "selfish young master" or "the world sucks" route, it doesn't. It just gets more wholesome. I can also recommend "Dao of the Deal". While not quite at the same level of polish as Beware of Chicken, it has some of the same feel of a cultivator rejecting expected path and staying a good and compassionate person. Only 19 chapters so far, with 3 days between chapters. Main character becomes a wandering merchant and cultivator. https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/54762/dao-of-the-deal
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Jun 27, 2022 00:30
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RBA-Wintrow posted:I can also recommend "Dao of the Deal". While not quite at the same level of polish as Beware of Chicken, it has some of the same feel of a cultivator rejecting expected path and staying a good and compassionate person. be warned, the author of this story has four stories on hiatus. so far he has consistently dropped his stories just as the plot is starting to take off. it is a fun story but i feel like folks should know this going into a jacobk serial
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Jun 27, 2022 00:55
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I certainly agree that there are tons of serials with worse plotting than wildbow's stuff, but I wasn't speaking specifically within the serial domain- I think he struggles as a storyteller full stop. He's been very honest about not planning most of his stuff in advance- he just makes up interesting-sounding hooks or ideas and hopes that he stumbles into a way to tie them off later. Sometimes this works out enough that the story as a whole holds together, but it also leads to entire sections of his stories being time-wasting swamps of tens or hundreds of thousands of words that go nowhere. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but I have absolutely no interest in reading several novels worth of writing when the chance of it mattering is a coin flip on a good day. Ward is a really good example of that- you could cut the first 85% of the story out without impacting anything, because there simply wasn't a coherent narrative spine going through it. I've heard people say that they don't care if there's a story, they just want to read words about characters, and sure- if that's what you're looking for, WB's output is probably solidly in the middle of the web serial trash heap. But there is so much better-written stuff out there you could be spending time on instead! Omi no Kami fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Jun 27, 2022 |
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Jun 27, 2022 01:09
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Jazerus posted:be warned, the author of this story has four stories on hiatus. so far he has consistently dropped his stories just as the plot is starting to take off. it is a fun story but i feel like folks should know this going into a jacobk serial Oh, that loving guy! Yeah, this is going to be abandoned within twenty chapters.
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Jun 27, 2022 01:12
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Macronomicon has done the same thing (but with considerably more than 30 chapters or w.e.) like 4 times now lol. I think GSA is the only one which has yet to be canceled, probably because that kind of story lends itself much more easily to having no real end goal. I like his writing enough that it hasn't put me off yet, though, so whatever. I'm a little upset about the teen dad necromancer one being killed though iirc it was mostly because it just wasn't bringing in many people.
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Jun 27, 2022 03:21
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If the Patreon is far ahead, does BoC get more interesting? I feel like it dropped quite a bit after the end of the arc and I'm considering dropping it unless it picks up again.
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Jun 27, 2022 06:14
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asur posted:If the Patreon is far ahead, does BoC get more interesting? I feel like it dropped quite a bit after the end of the arc and I'm considering dropping it unless it picks up again. Patreon is only 2 chapters ahead.
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Jun 27, 2022 06:16
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asur posted:If the Patreon is far ahead, does BoC get more interesting? I feel like it dropped quite a bit after the end of the arc and I'm considering dropping it unless it picks up again. if you don't like it pretty much from the first chapter then it will never get better for you
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Jun 27, 2022 06:47
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Yeah in all honesty while it was a slow slice of life story it still felt like it was progressing in some way at a rather brisk pace until the big tournament arc. Everything since the return has largely felt like wheel spinning, except maybe the chapters with the best character, the Lord Magistrate. I feel like maybe the plot is waiting for Jin's child to be born?
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Jun 27, 2022 06:48
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the real overarching plot is actually Bi De investigating the provincial ritual formation.
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Jun 27, 2022 06:55
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Larry Parrish posted:the real overarching plot is actually Bi De investigating the sick local folk dances.
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Jun 27, 2022 07:58
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asur posted:If the Patreon is far ahead, does BoC get more interesting? I feel like it dropped quite a bit after the end of the arc and I'm considering dropping it unless it picks up again. it's going somewhere. the patreon just got the "end of arc" chapter for the interstitial winter slice of life stuff so you won't have to hold out too long if Fa Ram Christmas isn't your thing
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Jun 27, 2022 08:52
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I'm outing myself as a huge weeb by saying this, but I'm still kind of in disbelief that casualfarmer named the main character's wife Hong Meiling
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Jun 27, 2022 23:35
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I don't get it.
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Jun 27, 2022 23:52
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I had to look it up: https://touhou.fandom.com/wiki/Hong_Meiling Touhou is a bullet hell shoot 'em up video game series? Could just be a coincidence although they both have red hair.
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Jun 28, 2022 00:12
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Mandarin Chinese, quite frankly, doesn't have that many syllables and, therefore, names made up of said syllables. Whatever you name a character, there's probably a character somewhere already called that - at least if you're looking at it written down in English with no tones.
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Jun 28, 2022 00:21
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nrook posted:I'm outing myself as a huge weeb by saying this, but I'm still kind of in disbelief that casualfarmer named the main character's wife Hong Meiling Not sure what thread on these forums you need to worry about your image in, but it definitely isn't this one.
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Jun 28, 2022 00:22
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Megazver posted:Mandarin Chinese, quite frankly, doesn't have that many syllables and, therefore, names made up of said syllables. Whatever you name a character, there's probably a character somewhere already called that - at least if you're looking at it written down in English with no tones. This is definitely true, but I would be surprised if it were a coincidence just because of how many pun and reference names are already in Beware of Chicken. There's an explicit nod to an obscure manga early in the first book (A Tale of Small Town Hardship in the Sengoku Era), so they're at least aware of that general milieu.
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Jun 28, 2022 00:26
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LLSix posted:I had to look it up: https://touhou.fandom.com/wiki/Hong_Meiling BoC Meiling has green-tinted black hair
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Jun 28, 2022 00:51
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Good update this week from Ave Xia Rem Y (169). Yeah it's basically just over-the-top competence porn, but I'm totally down for that.
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Jun 28, 2022 05:24
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BoC recently has had a few chapters that are fine in a vacuum, but they're all kinda just the same chapter. Up until this point it hasn't really had more than the one-off "filler" chapter that you could skip over, but now there's been a few of them.
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Jun 28, 2022 05:28
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those filler chapters are actually the content chapters bro. the more narrative ones exist as a framing structure only. that's how these kinds of stories work. i get that not everyone likes them but it's kind of funny watching people like... twist themselves into knots trying to scrape the part they like out.
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Jun 28, 2022 05:44
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Larry Parrish posted:id like to point out that this isn't a flaw in narrative structure since it's entirely the point of a slice of life novel- they are not intended to follow the standard structure. If the characters are well-written, sure. I think that TUTBAD is an example of something with characters who are well-written enough that this sort of thing can work. That's not really the case for most web serials, though (and most aren't slice of life, or at least try to be something more).
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Jun 28, 2022 05:55
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boc hong meiling is mao mao from apothecary diaries actually. Green hair, freckles, gremlin energy, and a disturbing interest in poisons
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Jun 28, 2022 14:23
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Larry Parrish posted:those filler chapters are actually the content chapters bro. the more narrative ones exist as a framing structure only. that's how these kinds of stories work. i get that not everyone likes them but it's kind of funny watching people like... twist themselves into knots trying to scrape the part they like out. The narrative framing is there for a reason and dropping it doesn't make the story better.
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Jun 28, 2022 16:08
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I've had some complaints about "slow chapters", and from an author's perspective, I'm like "Yeah... this chapter might be slow, because you're missing how many chekov's guns I'm loading and putting on the walls." I can almost promise in a number of chapters, the giant crystal bone will play an important role, or Tigu being able to turn into a cat is important, etc. Except if they suddenly come out of nowhere, it's dues ex. So Casual's gotta set them up ahead of time, otherwise it's like WHAT!? and entirely unsatisfying. Doing that, while also having some nice slice of life chapters? Sure, it's slow, but I doubt it's unimportant.
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Jun 28, 2022 16:28
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Every chapter has everyone going "Wow this is really nice" which I honestly kind of want to keep going and not be a setup for dramatic irony later.
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Jun 28, 2022 16:49
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Not every story needs to be filled with drama and explosions. That is boring.
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Jun 28, 2022 16:59
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They just had the big climactic conflict with danger to life and limb and major shifts in the status quo. The protagonist has taken on more responsibility and also opened themselves up to more risk at crap from the outside world. I really like that the story is taking some time to establish the new normal. It's certainly a tricky phase in any serial story and it could go wrong, but I think it's really necessary.
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Jun 28, 2022 17:22
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Plorkyeran posted:The narrative framing is there for a reason and dropping it doesn't make the story better. it wasn't dropped, you just aren't remembering how many slice-of-life chapters were back to back in the past. this isn't even an unusually long series of them! and as i said, it's almost over. free readers are gonna get the last slice of life (for now) tomorrow.
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Jun 28, 2022 17:34
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