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LLSix posted:SS 56 & 57, the RR comments are weirdly calm. Its like they don't think Alden is basically dead. Some of them are even talking about the cool powerup he's going to get from this. Which is generally not how dying works, not even in Discworld, unless your name is Mort. It is a web serial, everyone knows he will be fine.
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Jul 27, 2023 03:47
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Yeah, the question that you ask in web serials is "how is the MC going to get out of this bind", not "will the MC get out of this bind". No one actually thinks they might die or even suffer major lasting consequences.
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Jul 27, 2023 05:56
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That's most books tbh. It's not if the protagonist will live, it's if they'll live without being all messed up inside.
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Jul 27, 2023 08:29
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Nettle Soup posted:That's most books tbh. It's not if the protagonist will live, it's if they'll live without being all messed up inside. Yep. Also the lives of their friends and enemies. How successful they are at accomplishing their goals. How they change or don't change under certain pressures. As a writer, I find that killing a character is one of the least interesting thing I can do to them and so if I must then I will often intentionally charge their death with as much meaning as possible in order to make their death narratively satisfying. Except when I don't do that and just allow someone to die for no reason with no satisfaction at all. Minimal narrative, no moral and certainly little if any satisfaction for the reader. It's one of the tricks that I learned to use. The highs seem higher if the lows seem lower and vice versa. You can have someone's death be full of meaning and they get to see all of their loved ones and you can learn about how they've touched the lives of everyone. And then I'm called back to one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite shows, Legend of Galactic Heroes. Where one of the main characters, Yang Wenli, extraordinary general with extraordinary foes, some of which who deeply respect him and you're waiting for this confrontation or showdown between larger than life figures that's been building up for more than a hundred episodes and it turns out that he just gets shot by this faceless soldier during a battle because war be like that sometimes and we never figured out who killed him. And it's just so unsatisfying, but it also feels true. Sometimes motherfuckers just get got. No resolution. No moral.
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Jul 27, 2023 09:18
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I love Slumrat (Ch 111)quote:Even in Siphios, that couldn’t be a wise career move. Or life choice generally. Besides, “Do you think I should work for an old monster in his suicidal campaign against the most powerful people and corporation in the world, an act that, even if successful, will harm thousands and possibly millions?” is not a great question to ask anyone, let alone a stranger. He had the faint, absurd notion of going and chatting with Old Mek’elle, but, again, maybe not the most useful source. He sighed and patted the extra real wall.
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Jul 27, 2023 20:07
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I mean, LoGH's central premise is that war is senseless and indiscriminate, so it fits the theme
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Jul 27, 2023 20:14
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Sax Battler posted:I've been enjoying Dungeon Planet. quote:“I can play human,” Trin said. “Eeeh I am human. I wash in acid. Give me the rent moneys. I am bald like a fruit. I hate naked and I hate sleeping near a face.”
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Jul 27, 2023 23:52
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DungeonPlanet posted:It’s probably best if Trin doesn’t come to Earth. I laughed.
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Jul 28, 2023 00:02
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I should watch LoGH again. Or is there a book version?
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Jul 28, 2023 03:28
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I've started going mad. At books which are written like this. It's like the comma doesn't exist, except occasionally, as a treat. Then they forget about it again. And go back to writing like murderers. Now I've noticed it, it sucks the enjoyment out of a lot of stuff. This Dungeon Planet story looks good though, and doesn't have that issue.
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Jul 28, 2023 08:26
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Nettle Soup posted:I've started going mad. At books which are written like this. It's like the comma doesn't exist, except occasionally, as a treat. Then they forget about it again. And go back to writing like murderers. The comma is frequently over and under used, depending on the author. I tend towards comma over use when I write, so I make a conscious effort to remove unnecessary ones. Many serial writers have an annoying cadence that can make reading a story painful when you notice it.
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Jul 28, 2023 08:59
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Personally as long as I understand what someone is trying to convey to me, I don't really care about punctuation or even capitalization. I'm also remembering the transition from high school to college in how papers were graded. In high school, papers were graded for content, not punctuation because no one really gave a poo poo about punctuation so long as you were basically competent. When I got to my first English class in college, I got a D because my usage of commas and such weren't perfect. The content dragged my rear end across the finish line to get a D, but that was it and because my education system was poo poo, no one really trained me in the kind of writing that less than 1% of the population gives a poo poo about. In response, I started writing short, choppy sentences (like a murderer) with zero commas and started getting A's. I'd simplified my sentences to the point where the only punctuation marks were periods, question marks and exclamation points because I would've failed otherwise. English is difficult enough with all of its stupid, nonsense rules for me to care. As long as meaning is conveyed, I'm good. Weird cadence does bother me tho.
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Jul 28, 2023 09:17
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The latest Practical Guide to Sorcery Patreon chapter (172) is, uh, loving nuts. These lads are way too keen to kill their former coworkers, what the hell. And the government is going to go loving ape after this. Kicked hornets nest isn't in it.
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Jul 28, 2023 16:02
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KOGAHAZAN!! posted:The latest Practical Guide to Sorcery Patreon chapter (172) is, uh, loving nuts. I hope Siobhan finally realizes that she’s not just normal/lucky after this. She did admit to herself that she can see/feel everything that happens in darkness, perhaps that will cause her to reevaluate why everyone who encounters her shadow breaks down in panic when she thinks it’s just a trick.
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Jul 28, 2023 16:39
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Peachfart posted:I tend towards comma over use when I write, so I make a conscious effort to remove unnecessary ones. I also have this issue, except it also extends to things like parentheses and semicolons. In the past year or so I've been trying to go back through stuff I write and break up sentences where possible.
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Jul 28, 2023 18:57
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I think it was Department of Dungeon Studies that broke me, although it was Singer Soldier Merchant Mage which made me first notice it. It sucks because I wanted to like Dungeon Studies, but my brain just can't deal with the cadence.quote:Nox had little trouble justifying his behavior with Edward and Louis. The first of the two had gone out of his way to make the relationship as sour as possible. Nox blamed Lord Gedge to some extent. Queen Mercer was more than happy to ignore Nox after she pushed him out of the main house. She wanted to desperately forget her first husband, his family, and the child she made with him. Meanwhile, Lord Gedge took it upon himself to tarnish the Ratra name, and his wife did little to stop him. I've never really worked out how to use semi-colons, and that's probably for the best.
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Jul 28, 2023 19:13
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Nettle Soup posted:I think it was Department of Dungeon Studies that broke me, although it was Singer Soldier Merchant Mage which made me first notice it. It sucks because I wanted to like Dungeon Studies, but my brain just can't deal with the cadence. That cadence makes everything written feel extremely... stale? Probably the wrong word for that, but that first paragraph fails the 'commas should be used to link connecting sentences together' rule as hard as I have seen it fail. Edit: It is like writing 'I like food. Food is food. My favorite food is bread. The best bread is sourdough.' like you are in 2nd grade.
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Jul 28, 2023 20:21
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Nettle Soup posted:I think it was Department of Dungeon Studies that broke me, although it was Singer Soldier Merchant Mage which made me first notice it. It sucks because I wanted to like Dungeon Studies, but my brain just can't deal with the cadence. "She wanted to desperately forget" lol
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Jul 28, 2023 21:48
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An oversimplified but almost accurate rule is that you can always replace a semicolon with a period and get a grammatically correct result, and you can never replace a comma with a period.
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Jul 29, 2023 00:19
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semicolons are for tying two sentences together if they are related enough that you want the reader to treat them as a single thought; for example, because you don't want them to take the mental break between sentences that they normally would.
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Jul 29, 2023 00:24
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I loving love semicolons.
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Jul 29, 2023 00:27
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Plorkyeran posted:An oversimplified but almost accurate rule is that you can always replace a semicolon with a period and get a grammatically correct result, and you can never replace a comma with a period. Also, somewhat rarely, they can be used for lists where members of the list use commas already. Like: "Jim, the artist; Tom, the guitarist; and Tim, the lawyer went out for some beers."
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Jul 29, 2023 00:41
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Hungry posted:I loving love semicolons. For me, it's the em dash.
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Jul 29, 2023 01:15
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TTOU 23 is a very good chapter. Its heavy. Good story!
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Jul 29, 2023 08:32
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There are certain grammar things that I think people just get stuck in their head and can't ignore. I remember one time in high school when I had "That said" in an essay corrected to "That being said," and now that always comes to mind when I see one or the other.Milkfred E. Moore posted:For me, it's the em dash. My boss is always talking about this, though in the context of replacing the short dash with the em dash. Hungry posted:I loving love semicolons. I also use them a lot. The best way I can explain them is that they're meant to be the text version of "immediately following up a sentence with another one." In my mind it corresponds to a tonal difference between that and starting a new sentence.
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Jul 29, 2023 08:33
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I always use the technique of checking grammar by saying the sentence 'out loud', whether mentally or actually out loud. That makes it simple to check proper grammar, but at the same time, would be impossible for your average web serial writer to use due to the sheer volume most put out.
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Jul 29, 2023 22:36
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Also the Arkendrithyst Patreon Book 8 end just came out and it rules.
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Jul 29, 2023 22:37
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Ytlaya posted:I also use them a lot. The best way I can explain them is that they're meant to be the text version of "immediately following up a sentence with another one." In my mind it corresponds to a tonal difference between that and starting a new sentence. yeah, they're a way to make your writing less stilted. if two thoughts flow together they should be linked together, not broken apart by a period. overuse is also bad tho
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Jul 29, 2023 22:45
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Peachfart posted:I always use the technique of checking grammar by saying the sentence 'out loud', whether mentally or actually out loud. That makes it simple to check proper grammar, but at the same time, would be impossible for your average web serial writer to use due to the sheer volume most put out. There are a few tools they could use like: https://languagetool.org/ https://www.grammarly.com/grammar-check Which can go a long way to cleaning up a first draft.
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Jul 29, 2023 23:41
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Grammarly is great, but it doesn’t catch everything. It also really hates made up words or non-standard names. I used it a lot when I was writing regularly. Now it keeps auto-renewing even when I cancel. Whenever it does, my wife has been using it for work reports and emails.
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Jul 30, 2023 00:09
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LLSix posted:Grammarly is great, but it doesn’t catch everything. It also really hates made up words or non-standard names. I know both LanguageTool and Grammarly now have a "personal dictionary" which you can add words to, so it doesn't flag them as being misspelled. LanguageTool also seems to have a better privacy policy, and it can be self-hosted for free too, though the self-hosted version won't get all the stuff a paid sub will.
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Jul 30, 2023 00:32
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The Gods are Bastards started updating again 
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Jul 30, 2023 03:12
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Fajita Queen posted:The Gods are Bastards started updating again Yeah, the writer had a mental health issue that triggered whenever they worked on Only Villains Do That, so they decided to go back to their older serial(TGAB).
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Jul 30, 2023 03:30
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drat I hadn't heard about that part  I haven't caught up with OVDT in like a year, maybe I should do that at some point.
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Jul 30, 2023 03:30
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Fajita Queen posted:drat I hadn't heard about that part there's no rush, he stopped at a pretty hefty cliffhanger basically he made his world too grimdark and it started affecting him
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Jul 30, 2023 03:49
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nah he's been pretty upfront about the fact that his mental health cracked real bad while writing TGAB, and taking up writing OVDT was the alternative he came up with. maybe one could assume that the tone of the latter was a way of handling those feelings but that's not really anyone's business. Magical Girl Gunslinger went on hiatus for the same reason from what I saw... hope they all take care of themselves in any case Ramie fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Jul 30, 2023 |
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Jul 30, 2023 04:10
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Something about TTO:U's protagonist's inner dialogue gives similar vibes to Alden's in Super Supportive. Not sure why, but something about it feeling down to earth and relatable. I've been liking how Aspen is frequently wrong about things, but in ways that I'd also be wrong in the same situation. Like with all the weird physics stuff involved with the ship; the part where he turns off the rotation but doesn't consider the fact that the ship's deceleration would prevent it from actually being like zero-G was basically the exact same thing I'd probably do in that situation, along with realizing my mistake after going through with it. As the reader I'm going "oh yeah!" along with Aspen.
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Jul 30, 2023 05:46
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Peachfart posted:Also the Arkendrithyst Patreon Book 8 end just came out and it rules. It's absolutely amazing how the revelations in this book both perfectly slot into all the previous worldbuilding and recontextualizes everything at the same time Like seriously when did The Killing Sun first get namedropped? It was ages ago! He's been building to this for so long.
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Jul 30, 2023 14:27
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SupSup71: "You never say anything that makes me hate you." Dear god these boys are too precious. End of Book 8 Arkendrithyst: It is a lot of fun. I adore how dorky FENRIS is. That all being said, Erick keeps saying he isn't Xoat, and then he does poo poo like hurl himself into being an astronaut all alone in space. You're sending fate mixed signals, Erick.
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Jul 30, 2023 17:51
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SupSup71: Looks like Alden can actually use his skill as a pretty effective shield now that it's powered up. Probably wouldn't hold up against an Avowed with significant points in Strength, but it seems like the sort of thing that could (for example) deflect bullets at some point, if not already. Now I'm curious to see him try the new enchantment bearing thing. It's also nice (for Alden's sake) that he can actually get a full night's sleep now, which implies that the insomnia-causing discomfort is only after an affixation. edit: Also, Alden is absolutely screwing himself over by contracting Natalie to make all his meals. He's never going to be able to appreciate normal food again once it's over (since as Stuart says, having an S-Rank Ryeh'bt with Cook of the Moment cook all your meals is just comically extravagant). Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Jul 30, 2023 |
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Jul 30, 2023 20:32
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