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Worm Spoiler Policy: Events from the current and previous arcs of Worm will be spoiled, but events prior to that will be left unspoiled so that this thread doesn't become Worm: Declassified Web serials are an interesting reawakening of an old form of publishing that I've not seen much mention of around here. Web serials harken back to when authors would write chapters to be published one at a time, giving their readers a story piecemeal with far more timely updates than publishing a whole book. There are a variety of good web serials around, but they don't usually get much attention so they are sometimes hard to find. I'm going to start off this discussion by introducing my personal favorite web serial: Worm. Worm is a modern superhuman story set in a world that weaves together realistic characters and a novel system behind powers into an increasingly compelling narrative. The author is brutal to his characters and he follows events through to their logical conclusions. The simplest of powers are terrifying in the right hands and even the greatest of heroes have human faults in the end. Two years in and 24 story arcs later the author has not missed a single update and has instead consistently published bonus chapters on most weeks. The author has written over a hundred unpublished short stories set in the setting before starting on Worm, meaning that each character has a deep history and that the world is consistent enough that an offhand remark may turn out to be vitally important several arcs later. The story is nearing its completion and will be finished at around the end of the year, when the author will see to getting the work edited and published. Here is a short summary provided by the author. quote:Taylor is cruelly bullied at school, ignored or tormented by her peers, and unassisted by the school's staff. At the end of her rope, she holds on to one thing - her recently gained superpowers and her dream of joining the ranks of Brockton Bay's superheroes. Cytokinesis fucked around with this message at 12:34 on Aug 27, 2013 |
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Jun 15, 2013 02:58
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papa horny michael posted:I'm rather liking this one so far. It's a definite cut above the majority of published YA fiction. It could do with some editing for typos though. Quite enjoy how he's able to explore themes and use language which would never get past a big name publisher. The later chapters are better edited as his readers start chipping in. Still, the serial is pretty drat amazing considering it doesn't have an editor and the sheer quantity he produces each week. He writes up to 10,000 words a chapter two to three times a week, which is an insane pace. Depending on how far you've gotten you probably haven't seen how far the author is willing to go. The author does not hold back when it comes to exploring adult themes and situations. The story is about a teenager, but it doesn't feel at all like a piece of YA fiction. It helps a lot with the realism of the setting; there are people who do horrible things and the author shows it clearly when it makes sense for them to do so. The best part of the story is that he wrote over a dozens of (unreleased) short stories in the setting before starting in on this one. Almost every character he introduces was a main character at one point or another. He's got them all figured out in his head and it really shows. I've read very few books that make characters with as realistic motivations and reactions as the ones he produces.
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Jun 18, 2013 21:19
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Skellen posted:This is me, and I just caught up a couple of days ago. Friday and Monday nights are now the best nights. Wednesday nights are also fun most weeks. He frequently does a bonus chapter for Thursdays.
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Jul 8, 2013 14:06
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Yeah, he certainly hit this one out of the park. It's always great seeing Contessa's ability in action. Saying a few words to a monster that derail a world ending event.
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Jul 16, 2013 11:47
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SerSpook posted:I can't entirely agree with that. I have to strongly disagree on this point in particular. Taylor didn't shoot her just because of the apocalyptic possibility, but also because she was in the hands of the Slaughterhouse Nine. Taylor wasn't able to get her away from them, so she saved her the only way she knew. To Taylor's knowledge it was very likely that the girl would suffer a fate worse than death if she was left in their hands any longer, and considering Gray Boy's power, it's hard to argue against killing a person to prevent them from being put into an infinite loop of agony. It was implied in one of the previous chapters that Taylor encountered one of Gray Boy's victims in Killington and simply covered them with a tarp, because no one knew how to break the loops till Foil came in with her power. As to the rest of your argument about Saint's reasoning: Saint reasons fell apart the moment it became clear that Scion was the end of the world. He has let millions die, and is continuing to let them die, by not waking Dragon up. He's a self righteous murderous rear end in a top hat who is probably also under Teacher's influence, if not outright control.
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Aug 18, 2013 18:22
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thespaceinvader posted:
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Aug 18, 2013 23:12
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If someone posts a good spoiler policy I would be glad to update the OP. A title change would be nice too, because we really aren't discussing anything but Worm here.
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Aug 24, 2013 03:46
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Wildbow mentioned way earlier in one of the chapter comments that there was not going to be any more second triggers in the story (relevant ones at least). It is too much of a plot device.
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Aug 24, 2013 12:34
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why oh WHY posted:How about only putting spoiler tags from the current and previous arc with a warning that possible spoiling may occur before the post. The current and previous chapter seems a bit more reasonable, but I've added the spoiler policy now. Thanks.
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Aug 25, 2013 13:25
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I'm thinking of asking for a name change, as this is basically just a Worm thread, and the title probably isn't drawing too many people in. Does anyone know who I should message to get the title changed? Also, any suggestions along those lines? Right now I'm thinking something like Worm: Everything gets worse.
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Aug 26, 2013 23:42
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Skippy McPants posted:I could see that, but I sorta hope it's not the case. Would be a tad anticlimactic. Also wouldn't be a great reason for Eidolon to just give up, since even the Endbringers have been peanuts next to Scion, doing less damage in thirty years than he's managed in thirty hours. It's not so much that it made him give up as it is that it shocked him so badly that it left him completely open for Scion to kill. Though we don't know yet whether that kill shot was intended for him or for Glaistig Ulaine though.
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Aug 29, 2013 09:55
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It just occurred to me that we could be a bit off base with what Contessa's shard being from the third entity means in the long run. There's a very simple explanation for why Scion doesn't recognize the shard: it's one of the ones that the third entity traded to the second entity, so Scion doesn't recognize it but it's not because of active interference. It doesn't have to be more complicated than that. It probably is more complicated than that, but Wildbow has pitched enough curveballs for this to be plausible and for it to have been a red herring.
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Aug 30, 2013 11:07
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Grundulum posted:Thread title change request: If someone can tell me who I need to go to to get the title changed I'll get a new one, but no one has answered yet. Cytokinesis fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Oct 4, 2013 |
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Oct 4, 2013 00:46
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loudog999 posted:Hey, as a follow up to the how do I get this on my Kindle question, in case anyone else would be interested in doing this I found a way through Instapaper, just sign in and follow the steps here In another forum Wildbow requested that people not spread around ebook copies, as it could seriously hurt his ability to publish/make money from Worm (and make future stories). Wildbow posted:I should stress that I am going to monetize it, it's in the cards, and only extreme circumstances would prevent me from doing so. At the very minimum, an ebook is nigh-inevitable, with a print book if I can get the funds together (I should stress it's in the order of tens of thousands of dollars to get an editor, covers and to get it printed - 60k at a minimum, going by what I've looked at). It would likely involve a kickstarter, a series of kickstarters, or a few exceedingly generous donators.
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Nov 2, 2013 01:59
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loudog999 posted:I did see that, but he never mentioned that he didn't want people to use instapaper/pocket to read it. This is all that is, it just sends your instapaper articles to your Kindle, there is no sharing or altering the content involved.
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Nov 2, 2013 02:10
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thorf posted:Isn't, "You can't force a trigger event," one of the rules of Worm? Or is that a lie perpetuated by the PRT so that kids don't throw themselves off of bridges? The problem with trying to force trigger events is that if the person in question knows that you're trying to force a trigger event it won't work, because they know that the pain/isolation/horrible trauma will end so it isn't as bad. If this is an external organization trying to force it and the subject doesn't know they're not likely to be very happy with you afterwards and you're almost certain to end up with a parahuman out to do terrible things to you. Bonesaw was able to force trigger events occasionally because her victims had absolutely no hope for escaping the horror.
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Nov 4, 2013 01:50
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