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Megazver posted:I must admit I tried the first few chapters and it seemed extremely mid. I might give it another look eventually. This was my feeling about it too. I started writing a sort-of litrpg for Writathon and just passed 55k, and some insane person has signed up to my patreon, meaning I now have to actually get some content on there.  It's been fun actually getting comments and feedback on something!
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Apr 27, 2024 23:37
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Dream Weaver posted:There's some rule in heist writing where if you detail the plan, then it's destined to fail(detailed before it begins). The obvious thing is that if you don't tell the plan, then it's supposed to succeed. It's part of the genre. As someone who has written a fantasy heist and a sci-fi heist (stealing a spaceship, anyone?) you have to be a little opaque about these types of things. And of course there's "the plan was always meant to fail, but there was foreshadowing for a second secret plan". I think one of Alexander Wales' (WtC, TYTBAD) early books finished with a heist which went perfectly according to the detailed plan, and I remember it being one of the worst endings I've ever read.
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Apr 27, 2024 23:47
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cumpantry posted:i want to hear about the sub ten thousand views people here may be reading that is all
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Apr 27, 2024 23:56
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I posted about it once(though it was probably lost in the forest of black bars) but I have been enjoying Suburban Druid. It isn't amazing but it is pretty solid and is entertaining.
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Apr 28, 2024 00:00
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Also Arkendrithyst's 2nd Epilogue just came out on Patreon and while it was mostly disconnected from the main plot, I loved it. It was almost a world and an entire story of its own.
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Apr 28, 2024 00:06
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I've been enjoying The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In A Time Loop, which topped rising stars recently on RR. It's among the more progression focused progression fantasies, which is frankly what I want most of the time. It's fun, fairly well written, and lacks the grim tone that turns me off a lot of time loop stories. Watching a meathead repeatedly mash his face into his problems until Number Go Up is pretty satisfying.
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Apr 28, 2024 00:27
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Lamquin posted:I totally get why authors need to stub (Amazon contract stuff and income is vital to keep writing), but it feels really frustrating when you want to read something and NOPE, first 3 volumes are gone. But the author is still posting updates on RR, it's just that you got in too late. You can read it by paying money for it
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Apr 28, 2024 00:38
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If you read or listen to a single book a month KU pays for itself. If you grab longer subs like the 24 month one then it's like a little over $7/mth too. They often have free or heavily discounted signup offers too.
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Apr 28, 2024 00:55
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The trouble with Skill Thief (I got to chapter 24 before pausing) is that the way its prose is written is kind of hard work to read. It's very navel-gazing and introspective. This isn't even me saying that it's bad it just doesn't read as easily as the majority of RR novels and that seems to me to be the reason people aren't picking it up as much.
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Apr 28, 2024 01:21
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I hate Kindle (and thus hate the KU exclusivity... not that it would financially make sense for most authors to bother putting their books on epub sites anyway) but I just bite the bullet and buy stuff if I'm interested in it. I certainly don't blame writers for wanting to get paid.
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Apr 28, 2024 01:23
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Lone Goat posted:You can read it by paying money for it I can't. I am not from a real country
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Apr 28, 2024 02:33
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In that case I suspect you can download it from amazon crime
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Apr 28, 2024 02:35
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Dream Weaver posted:There's some rule in heist writing where if you detail the plan, then it's destined to fail(detailed before it begins). The obvious thing is that if you don't tell the plan, then it's supposed to succeed. It's part of the genre. As someone who has written a fantasy heist and a sci-fi heist (stealing a spaceship, anyone?) you have to be a little opaque about these types of things. An obvious corollary is that if you're going to write heists your story probably shouldn't be written in the first person (or tight third person).
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Apr 28, 2024 03:01
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Richard Stark laughs at you. The detailed plan succeeds, it's the aftermath where things get screwy. edit: Finished Worth The Candle, feels like it fell off mid-way through as it became far more interested in interpersonal dynamics/politics than interesting applications of skills. I didn't hit a moment like where people in this thread apparently ducked out because of sex weirdness. I read webserials for the weirdness and the sex was usually either primarily relationship stuff or brief, very hard to believe anyone was getting off on the stuff. Felt fare more like dipping into the author's various neurosis, which is blatantly what the whole serial is about. Overall, it was an interesting read, a pretty good ending if not really cathartic. fez_machine fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Apr 28, 2024 |
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Apr 28, 2024 04:22
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Megazver posted:I must admit I tried the first few chapters and it seemed extremely mid. I might give it another look eventually. I would say that if someone isn't interested after the end of the first arc or two they're probably not going to find it interesting later, but it definitely starts a bit slow with the first few chapters (since the basic core of the premise doesn't even make itself known until chapter 5+). The second "arc" ends around chapter 14. I say "arc or two" mainly because a big part of what I like about it is the core cast, and no one other than Tenver is introduced until the second arc. Solara is amazing but isn't introduced until said second arc. Another element that is kind of a slow burn is the protagonist himself, who is a very weird guy for reasons that are later elaborated on and made relevant to the story.
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Apr 28, 2024 04:52
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Imo the writing in Skill Thief is overly dramatic and it falls into the trap of being a story where everyone is a dick to everyone. And for me, that gets old fast.
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Apr 28, 2024 05:47
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Peachfart posted:Imo the writing in Skill Thief is overly dramatic and it falls into the trap of being a story where everyone is a dick to everyone. And for me, that gets old fast. It’s crazy how hard interpersonal conflicts are when people are reasonable and communicate well. Countless conflicts ended by people honestly and frankly talking with people. I suspect a lot of authors find it better to write unreasonable people and have the conflict easily arise there. My favorite btdem “people” conflicts are Augustus vs Elaine over immortality, and Iona vs Nina on morality. Everyone was reasonable and communicated- but the difference in desires and worldview caused conflict
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Apr 28, 2024 11:20
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fez_machine posted:Finished Worth The Candle, feels like it fell off mid-way through as it became far more interested in interpersonal dynamics/politics than interesting applications of skills. I didn't hit a moment like where people in this thread apparently ducked out because of sex weirdness.
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Apr 28, 2024 12:41
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DACK FAYDEN posted:it was the bit with the house What I meant was that it didn't put me off from reading the rest of the series like others did. Probably an advantage of reading it as one whole rather than serially as it ties in with consent, forgiveness/redemption, and how various people learn to grow after doing hosed up poo poo being major themes of the series. Also a lot of what people (1 poster) was labelling as sex weird was implications posting.
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Apr 28, 2024 13:19
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Lamquin posted:I totally get why authors need to stub (Amazon contract stuff and income is vital to keep writing), but it feels really frustrating when you want to read something and NOPE, first 3 volumes are gone. But the author is still posting updates on RR, it's just that you got in too late. That's a large part why we do it - I personally hope that people will read it on KU, like it, then move to RR and 'catch up'
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Apr 28, 2024 13:25
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Gladi posted:I can't. I am not from a real country You can't buy stuff from amazon.com? I'm from a pretty small country in Europe that doesn't have our own Amazon store, and also can't buy poo poo for kindle through amazon.co.uk which was my default. But I can just go to US amazon and buy it for kindle there no problem, and download it on the app afterwards. Sadly no KU availability from what I can tell though - not that I read enough webserials for KU to be that appealing at the moment anyway.
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Apr 28, 2024 14:26
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Selkie Myth posted:It’s crazy how hard interpersonal conflicts are when people are reasonable and communicate well. Countless conflicts ended by people honestly and frankly talking with people. I suspect a lot of authors find it better to write unreasonable people and have the conflict easily arise there. My favorite btdem “people” conflicts are Augustus vs Elaine over immortality, and Iona vs Nina on morality. Everyone was reasonable and communicated- but the difference in desires and worldview caused conflict Meanwhile I'm making my traumatized apocalypse deckbuilder babies thirst after each other like they're in a drought. Interpersonal conflict? No that hunk is my meat shield. I don't have time to argue with Kronk.
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Apr 28, 2024 20:10
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Insurrectionist posted:You can't buy stuff from amazon.com? I'm from a pretty small country in Europe that doesn't have our own Amazon store, and also can't buy poo poo for kindle through amazon.co.uk which was my default.
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Apr 28, 2024 21:17
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Peachfart posted:Imo the writing in Skill Thief is overly dramatic and it falls into the trap of being a story where everyone is a dick to everyone. And for me, that gets old fast. I don't mean to sound overly defensive, but I don't think this is really the case beyond the first few chapters (and Lord Aspreay being a bad person is just completely reasonable given his personality and circumstances)? I'm actually struggling to think of anything beyond the early scene of the guards/Aspreay treating Adam badly that really fits this. And even Aspreay is a pretty nuanced character; one thing I actually appreciate with him is that the story basically says "yeah he's nuanced, and that still doesn't excuse anything he's done." Future arcs actually involve (very minor/vague characterization spoilers) anti-cynicism character growth for the protagonist (who begins the series very cynical for some pretty good reasons related to his personal history). Despite liking it (and it being written by the author of my #1 favorite web serial), I would actually levy this exact same criticism more-so against Pale Lights. The constant level of suspicion and scheming between characters can get kind of exhausting, even though it makes perfect sense given the circumstances. And the opposite of the overly cynical view, where every non-antagonist character talks like a person with all the same assumptions/values as a middle-class American liberal circa ~2020, is similarly problematic and basically a drastic over-correction to the overly cynical stuff (and I would argue that in recent years the "I'm so happy people are finally just being kind and reasonable to each other!" stuff has basically become its own stereotype that "flattens" things in a way that is almost as offensive as the most misanthropic isekai WNs). In the same way as it's frustrating to see characters have unnecessary conflict stemming from poor communication, it's even worse to just boil all friction down to people being unreasonable and poor at communication.
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Apr 28, 2024 23:49
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Most recent Godslayers gave me chills. Guess we found, one way or another, what makes this more than a particularly unlucky but routine planetfall. Either Kives is making a play to survive as a domesticated oracle, or she already is one. Wonder if the octopus knows.
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Apr 29, 2024 00:18
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Yeah I've really been digging where Godslayers has been going recently, the current arc has been great for giving us some scenes of the Veleans and Eifni on their home turf and really driving home how hosed up their Imperialism is. And of course we're getting to the point of institutional rot where they're about to commit the fundamental sin the organization was built to oppose. I wonder if the play to cage Kives is the entire reason Lilith was brought on to this specific drop or if she's just considering an expendable grunt who its mathematically worthwhile to sacrifice.
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Apr 29, 2024 00:43
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Pale Lights Book 2 Chapter 29 Man, Maryam, making GBS threads all over Angharad at every single chance she can get is kinda painful. Angharad is the most unambiguously lawful-lawful good paladin among the cast, and Maryam just twists everything she does to be malicious or denigrating to everyone else. Angharad is so incredibly easy to take advantage of in this nest of vipers of an island that lying to her about being the one to kill Isabel to "protect" her is absolutely going to lead to getting taken for a ride. The girl doesn't have a manipulative bone in her body. I mean, god, when she talks to Tupac she doesn't even wonder whether he's lying or withholding info or not! She just takes him at his word! Like, I totally get it Maryam, you and yours got dealt a rough lot by Angharad's people. But the girl is so innocent and vulnerable to plotting its amazing she's survived as long as she has. Tristan's complete obliviousness to anything sex related is funny, but will probably come back to bite him. It almost did already when that one girl thought he was sneaking into her room to steal her underroos, but his confusion as to why he would do that cinched that for her. But with his career path, he's going to need to understand sex as a motivation for people to be able to do his spycraft effectively sometimes.
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Apr 29, 2024 01:31
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Insurrectionist posted:You can't buy stuff from amazon.com? I'm from a pretty small country in Europe that doesn't have our own Amazon store, and also can't buy poo poo for kindle through amazon.co.uk which was my default. But I can just go to US amazon and buy it for kindle there no problem, and download it on the app afterwards. Sadly no KU availability from what I can tell though - not that I read enough webserials for KU to be that appealing at the moment anyway. I believed it clear to be talking about Kindle Unlimited - ie the reason for which authors stub their works on sites like RoyalRoad. Sorry for confusing you. TWI: Did anyone feel disappointed with the resolution of the latest chapter? Horns had their adventure and not it is Flos' adventure Gladi fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Apr 29, 2024 |
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Apr 29, 2024 01:43
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Haystack posted:I've been enjoying The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In A Time Loop, which topped rising stars recently on RR. It's among the more progression focused progression fantasies, which is frankly what I want most of the time. It's fun, fairly well written, and lacks the grim tone that turns me off a lot of time loop stories. Watching a meathead repeatedly mash his face into his problems until Number Go Up is pretty satisfying. Does it do anything different later after setting up the premise? Because so far it’s one of the worst stories I’ve ever read. It’s the most brainless idle game of a LITRPG possible. Every situation is basically: MC meets more powerful opponent -> MC battles opponent and dies -> MC dies a bunch off camera until author grants him skills/levels -> maybe more off camera deaths to level the new skill -> MC wins fight. There’s basically nothing else to the story as of the end of chapter 3, no characters (the MC is an extremely shallow caricature, which is still much more developed than anyone else) to potentially build, no setting to explore, no plot and nothing unfolding because of changes in the time loop, no tension or stakes or consequences at all. There’s only terrible dbz style prose about power levels, navel gazing about how special being an OP MC is, and Number Go Up in maybe the most boring way I’ve seen on RR. If all you want is increasing numbers there’s nothing here to distract you from them, and there’s plenty of filler words for content to spend time reading.
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Apr 29, 2024 03:26
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The scope of the story starts expanding once it hits chapter 6 or so. To spoil a bit, the MC achieves the big quest, finds out that he's still in the time loop, and has a modest existential crisis slash hissy fit. From that point on he strikes out and starts making more and more of a nuisance of himself, opening up the setting quite a bit. Eventually the MC start facing some more genuine challenges. Now, I will say that there's never any real tension. Even in the cases where Orodan could potentially get mindfucked or whatever, there's no metanarrative doubt that he won't just just bull through it. However, I'm personally ok with that! I've frequently disliked timeloop stories that go out of way to constantly inflict trauma and setbacks on their protagonists, so reading a story that goes for the exact opposite tone feels refreshing, I suppose. And, yeah, the story is a very unapologetic Numbers Go Up progression fantasy wherein the protagonist asspulls shiny new powerups to overcome their problem of the moment. That never stops, so caveat emptor.
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Apr 29, 2024 04:07
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I’m having fun with Stubborn Skill-Grinder but it’s by no means high literature. It’s litrpg schlock with a time loop twist, and the twist is fresh enough that it’s keeping me engaged. It eventually does get out of the mode of speedrunning the first hour of every day an arbitrary number of times in order to become able to defeat every enemy that can be found in sprinting distance, which is probably for the best, but by that point he is absurdly powerful, which might not be.
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Apr 29, 2024 04:49
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