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So. Guess I'm putting my money where my mouth is. Near-future superheroes with a dose of classical mythology rendered through a lens as 'hard' as my history teaching brain can make it. Two chapters up. Over a dozen in the wings. Weekly updates at present to ensure that I don't end up falling behind due to work/life/etc. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 10:45 on Aug 29, 2017 |
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Aug 29, 2017 10:32
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On reflection, I've put up two more chapters, thereby starting it off with one from each POV character.
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Aug 29, 2017 23:48
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Japanese names are just kind of the Thing To Do in a lot of nerdy circles.
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Sep 6, 2017 10:48
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I got to poking around Royal Road in the course of getting more exposure for my serial (1.6 just went up) and, whooo boy, who knew that there was such a market for Trapped In An Anime Video Game stories. edit: Also, submissions to WebFictionGuide are sloooow. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Sep 19, 2017 |
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Sep 19, 2017 01:17
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SerCypher posted:So this is tangentially related to web serials, but I got into superhero stories from Worm and Super Powereds. I've started one. It's still early days, though: eight chapters uploaded so far, about twenty written, Tuesday weekly updates. I think it's a fairly different take on things to the other superhero stories out there, particularly the other superhero web serials I've seen around the place. I think the chapter coming up this Tuesday -- Chapter 9 -- is probably the clearest indication of what I'm going for. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Oct 7, 2017 |
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Oct 7, 2017 09:55
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Affi posted:I just bought a cyoa called paradigm city and I drew some parallels. Is it inspiration or coincidence? Also haven't actually started reading yours yet. I wrote Paradigm City.  edit: Not All Heroes is the same world, but three very different perspectives and exploring things I couldn't really do in-depth in a 2nd person CYOA. Kind of a sidequel. If PC was about being immersed in the government side of things, NAH is about three characters who are all outside of it -- the street vigilante, the injured ex-hero, the criminal thug.
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Oct 7, 2017 23:34
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If it's a direct sequel, where do you even go when you ended on 'stop space-Cthulu from killing All The Earths'?
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Oct 9, 2017 01:37
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Steelheart's okay. I liked the first book well enough but, even so, it's very much a YA work.
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Oct 9, 2017 09:59
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Updated. I'm not going to usually spruik my own updates in here, but I think this chapter is a pretty good indication of the sort of thing I'm going for. It was one of my favorites to write, definitely.
Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Oct 10, 2017 |
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Oct 9, 2017 23:51
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jon joe posted:I haven’t read your serial yet, but I noticed you’ve already hit #18 on top web fiction. Good job man! #17 now. That's pretty crazy! And it's #5 in the superhero category!
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Oct 15, 2017 22:22
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I can certainly appreciate writing under a pseudonym and trying to keep things close to your chest. It's pretty popular to determine whether something is bad or good based on the person behind it and not so much the craft of the work. I know a guy who was certain that WB was a woman because "they write the female characters so well", for example.
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Oct 21, 2017 05:03
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Doctor w-rw-rw- posted:That's a horrible idea. He's already been editing Worm for years alongside Pact and Twig, and publishing that even in pieces would defeat the purpose of shopping it around for publication. Publishers don't want something that's already been distributed. Are you truly not familiar with John Dies at the End?
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Oct 21, 2017 21:34
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BENGHAZI 2 posted:Which was pulled from the internet when he was in the process of shopping it around, the sequel got pulled after that, and he hasn't serialized a story since This is orthogonal to my point. "Publishers don't want something that's already been distributed" is not correct given that JDatE was published not only once but twice despite the fact that there were many PDF versions floating around online and Wong encouraged people to make copies, including hard copies, for their own use. I know this because I still have mine and the two different editions that were put into print. Additionally, works like Masters of the Universe/Fifty Shades. If the work is good, which Worm is, publishers will want it. And, in a world where discussing self-made ebook reader files constitutes distribution enough to make publishers balk, then surely the whole work being available online does, too. And won't that be interesting if Worm has to follow that pattern you suggest. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Oct 21, 2017 |
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Oct 21, 2017 22:37
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I think I'll come back to these once Worm 2 has taken off in full. Chatlogs about unknown characters just isn't grabbing me.
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Oct 29, 2017 08:37
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Pretty cool of Armsmaster to show up in Thor 3, IMO.
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Oct 31, 2017 13:11
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Not that it really matters because for all of Taylor supposedly only being effective with prep time, she's remarkably good at improvising her way around all manner of problems anyway.
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Nov 2, 2017 08:17
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Reaching the end of Part 1, so, two chapters went up today (one was basically a bonus).
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Nov 7, 2017 00:42
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BENGHAZI 2 posted:Wb confirmed it wasn't that but it makes a lot of sense given who the new POV character is! gently caress! Holy poo poo! I'm pretty sure people just point that out in the comments of the part in question.
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Nov 11, 2017 07:02
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ConanThe3rd posted:Not that I’m ready with it (finally got an editor, thank Christ) but what’s the S.O.P. on self promotion in this thread? I've been doing it occasionally and no one's said to stop!
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Nov 11, 2017 07:46
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Just capped off Part 1 of my serial. Part 2 will be going up tomorrow instead of next week because I'll be out of the country then.
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Nov 13, 2017 23:32
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I think the audiobook has some good chapters (Miss Militia interlude), a lot of okay ones, and some ones that were truly dreadful.
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Nov 18, 2017 03:46
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Neurosis posted:as fume went to get water and our protagonist went with her i groaned 'oh, god, time for the clumsy one on one character exposition about her background and her moral choices' and there it was and my eyes rolled out of their skull. Sometimes I think that while WB's prose has improved from Worm his writing hasn't really. I wonder if this is because what happens when you accrue such a loud fan base so quickly.
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Nov 18, 2017 16:02
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Have to admit, though, I was hoping for something different. Good on him if that's his thing, though, but I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with Ward if it's just a bit more of the same.
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Dec 3, 2017 06:09
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Pact was like getting on this cool rollercoaster and just as it starts climbing and climbing it abruptly stops and just... flattens out and then suddenly it's over. I loved it but it feels like WB's work with the most unrealized potential.
Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 07:55 on Dec 10, 2017 |
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Dec 10, 2017 07:52
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Of course, the alternative is that the subtext isn't spelled out as clearly as it should be. Flesnolk, those things never really improve. Particularly those elements of Wildbow's style. If you're not liking it now, it is unlikely you'll enjoy it later because some of those things -- such as the ineffectiveness of the PRT and such, or the fact that Taylor just keeps winning -- only get more obvious.
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Dec 16, 2017 22:03
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Flesnolk posted:That and stylistic quibbles I'm sure have been discussed to death. Not really. I wouldn't mind hearing further about them. I think Ward is a bit better technically but I think those issues are still there.
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Dec 16, 2017 23:10
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ZypherIM posted:but there are a lot of reasons a lot of people like it. Not to be too critical of Wildbow, because I kind of hate the fact that so many posts in this thread of mine are critical, but this thread has pointed out in the past that a lot of the reasons people like it are based on 'Taylor just keeps winning, I love that she's so badass!' and so on. Or things like 'everyone has a unique superpower' or 'wow, the numbers in this story are huuuuge, who would win between Superman and Scion?' If those are the reasons why Flesnold doesn't like it, then they are unlikely to find something that suddenly turns them around. Especially, from what I remember, that the Coil arc ends in one of Tattletale's more dubious uses of her power. It's about the time that TT starts feeling like a crutch. He's already passed the single biggest moment that seems like a cool act of clever subtlety that's actually nothing like it at all. Those reasons don't really correct, the story just kind of supports them better. I do hope they come back to talk about the stylistic issues, though. It might be illuminating, particularly because they're the sort of things I thought when I started reading Ward and I'm always down to see someone dissect writing. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 12:03 on Dec 18, 2017 |
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Dec 18, 2017 10:22
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This thread just gets weirdly condescending when people say they don't enjoy Wildbow's stuff. We've had 'go back and read more slowly' (lol), 'listen to this podcast to 'get it' (lol again -- if you have to listen to a podcast to understand a work, then something's gone wrong along the way), lots of people like it (haha really?) and so on. I understand that some posters in here are pretty tied up with the Worm community, but those sorts of responses are not the best way of handling criticism. It is, as mentioned, defensive and condescending. It's okay for people not to like Worm, or Wandering Inn, or Twig, or whatever. If someone's read 12/30 arcs, they're probably not going to turn around because they read any further. There are very few texts, of any kind, where things suddenly snap together in such a way to make however many hours of previously unenjoyable stuff suddenly good, particularly if you dislike how the author plots and how they write. edit: Like, looking at the eight books I've read over the past six or so months, there's not one where if someone said 'I'm 40% of the way in and not liking it for the following reasons' I'd think that advising them to power through it would do them any good. Worm isn't a story where the core abruptly changes halfway through. It very much stays the same kind of story. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Dec 18, 2017 |
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Dec 18, 2017 12:23
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Flesnolk posted:I find that the concept of the unreliable narrator often gets treated as a crutch, as well. People at times go "unreliable narrator! unreliable narrator!" as if the concept of a narrator potentially being unreliable is some kind of shield proof against criticism as opposed to an artistic device that can succeed or fail on its own merits. Speaking more on it in general than directly about how Worm handles (or doesn't handle) it. Bingo. Plorkyeran posted:The seemingly similar but very different case of "I'm enjoying this story but X is bugging me" is where a justification for X may actually be helpful. If you enjoyed Worm but were frustrated with how the story bought into Taylor's biases because you missed the unreliable narrator aspect, then listening to WGW pointing out all the places where it happens will probably ease your frustration. This won't make you enjoy the story if you weren't already loving the good parts, though. When a story buys into the biases of the narrator, it's called validation. It's about as far from 'unreliable' as you can get. Like, if you're going to play up the unreliable narrator, there should be instances where the story does not buy into Taylor's biases. A chapter where she vastly overreacts to something benevolent, for example. A chapter where she misreads something benign as Proof That The PRT Bullies People. Because that's what trauma does to people. Trauma is not some secret weapon that allows you to see the world clearly. More importantly, if a text requires you to go outside it to understand it, then it has failed. That last point is something you can find in all sorts of Guides To Writing. But that would require her to fumble and fail, to risk changing as opposed to escalating, not to have more and more lampshades hung over why Taylor just keeps winning. Why was Taylor winning? Because Coil kept creating timelines where she won. And after that? Well, there's another reason. Some people might think the explanation is fine, others might recoil from it because it removes the agency of the characters. One of the very first things we are told about Taylor, from what I remember, is that she needs time to prepare and she's bad at improvising. But then she just... isn't. Huge things change on the spur of the moment and she thinks her way through them without difficulty, or things conspire, like the aforementioned Travelers, to bail her out. edit: It's like the big reveal that there are alien shards in people's brains that compel them towards conflict. It's the sort of thing that severely undercuts its own story and doesn't seem to be anything other than justification for the criticism that 'things just keep escalating'. Depending on your perspective on storytelling, it's a piece of worldbuilding that might actively harm the story of Taylor while not really reinforcing it. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Dec 19, 2017 |
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Dec 19, 2017 01:53
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Yeah, I have to admit, that post misses the thrust of the point.
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Dec 19, 2017 10:07
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Xun posted:Do webserial authors usually take well to criticism or would it be an futile effort resulting in getting dogpiled by fans? The only one I can vouch for is myself, and I'd welcome honest criticism -- hell, I've reached out to certain people in this very thread for it! I don't recall seeing any of the 'big names' take criticism one way or the other.
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Dec 20, 2017 11:03
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Doctor w-rw-rw- posted:Uh-oh Flesnolk, looks like someone's better at reading than you are! You might want to play through The Beginner's Guide.
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Dec 26, 2017 03:41
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Doctor w-rw-rw- posted:
So are you on this forum as a form of narrative control for someone else's first draft or what.
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Dec 26, 2017 22:56
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Well, I never! [taking exception that someone would make an insult] [making an insult] right back at you!
Doctor w-rw-rw- posted:What, I can't just chat as a person? My account is nine years old. I'm here because I'm here. Stop beating around the bush and just tell me you want me to get out because I'm being annoying. Your post history in this thread makes it clear that you're not just a person, though. You toe every party line, push the author mythology, you handle some parts of the upload machine, you set up Wordpress stuff, and so on and so on. I'd be just as concerned if I saw someone doing the same for me under the guise of having a discussion, particularly if they were involved in my creative machine. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Dec 26, 2017 |
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Dec 26, 2017 23:39
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Calef posted:Wildbow actually pretty aggressively doesn't advocate for any particular reading of worm. That's not to say he isn't prodigious in his Word Of God output, but the fandom was collectively pretty Team Taylor until relatively recently. poo poo, when I used to be active in the Worm fandom I got downvoted into oblivion for pushing the controversial idea that the theme is cooperation over competition.
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Dec 27, 2017 00:13
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Even a great author would have trouble keeping a literally ten thousand word dialogue scene interesting. It doesn't help that the chapter doesn't exactly begin or end with a bang or a wham moment. It just kind of slumps along. I understand the feeling that, in web fiction circles, more words = better than, but I really think Wildbow needs people telling him to write less and not more. He could punch up the dialogue if he wasn't writing so much of it in the first place. But part of the Wildbow 'mythology' is basically 'he updates so much and so frequently'. Ten thousand words is, like, 5-10% of the last novel I read. I swear it'd be two or three chapters in one of the Expanse novels. edit: Similar to what I said to Doc, I kind of feel like I need to recuse myself from writing discussions because I don't want to risk coming off as 'that guy who hacks at Wildbow's knees to try and make himself look better'. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Dec 28, 2017 |
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Dec 28, 2017 21:32
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Skippy McPants posted:When it comes to fiction writing, volume wins out over quality. That's not just part of Wildbow's stick. You see the same trend in pulp sci-fi and romance writers. Unless one is superhumanly talented or extraordinarily lucky, cranking poo poo out is the most reliable way to earn a living. And in a line of work practically built on quicksand, reliable counts for a lot. If Wildbow is writing hand-to-mouth, so to speak, then he's making a terminal error and it's no wonder he's writing something like that. It's weird because he even says that you should have something like twelve chapters in advance, which allows you to spend time editing and punching things up before uploading. His comments on that chapter make it seem like he is writing hand-to-mouth and, well, I'm not sure why. He has three years of goodwill and one of the most zealous fanbases on the net. He should try spending that political capital. If WB is in the 'laying track before an oncoming train' creative trap then, well, that's unfortunate. But I really do not think that even just cutting it in half to 5000 words, which I'd still argue would be too long for what that scene is, would not result in anything negative such as a backer revolt. Saying that volume matters more than quality might be true in the most cynical sense of trying to make a living via creativity. But it's also how you end up with things like that one author on Amazon who calls himself 'the most successful self-published author' on there or whatever because he sells dozens of actually incomplete, unfinished stories (some of them just ending mid-sentence, like he just stopped writing) and makes money because some people will buy anything. edit: Like, are you saying he isn't talented, lucky or an author? Because even with my misgivings of his style and writing, he has enough talent to complete works, was lucky enough to make something that was basically crack to the brains of certain fanbases around the net (or talented enough to craft something deliberately to do so), and I think it's safe to say he is an author at this point. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Dec 28, 2017 |
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Dec 28, 2017 22:37
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SerCypher posted:I really liked the latest practical guide to evil. TBQH, that's one of the biggest things I wonder about when I upload a chapter because, well, it's true. There are chapters you can't wait to write and finish and put out there and there are ones where you're like 'Well, this is okay, I guess.' For example, the most recent chapter I put out is one that fitted into the first category even if it's a really simple chapter.
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Jan 18, 2018 11:27
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Defiant could absolutely build an AI, particularly with all the knowledge he has with Dragon. His specialty being making things more efficient (not smaller; see the bit where he talks about the implants in his leg in his interlude) is one of the more broader ones in Worm. Like, the dude has built a variety of ludicrous weapons and armor suits, a lie detector program, did a bunch of the work on the Endbringer tracker, and so on.
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Jan 27, 2018 03:39
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Sometimes I feel like I'm crazy for running my chapters through something like Grammarly and another pair of eyes when I read some recent uploads. Of course, I've also been told it's done deliberately to promote engagement via corrections, so, maybe I'm the fool.
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Jan 29, 2018 23:58
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