What are you reading?

[Ergoemos]

Nah, it's cool. That was just a reference.

Ha, whoops.

I've heard a few people talk about that one, and that it's disturbing as all hell. Haven't read it myself (and I suspect it's not my cup of tea, so it's low on my list), so I'm just relaying second hand information.

Ha, there's no accounting for my bad tastes. Whether you are talking about the polyamory, the protagonist's masochistic and submissive tendencies or her childhood those issues stem from, there are a lot of disturbing little things that show up in the story. I tend to skip most of the more sexual parts of the story, but I do that with most books and stories I read.

I just figured if we were bring up web serial novels, I might as well throw my hat in.

[Dracos]

At a distant level, it provides a better role for Ukyou, though for how far I read, she never got a chance to feel like Ukyou at all.  I acknowledge that there's lots of reason for change, but at the same time, you could take the first 3 chapters and change out the name Ukyou and it wouldn't be noticeable.  None of the few mannerisms she had in canon get advertised in the early chapter.  It has a clever concept in creating a Twin effect but those just are setups for Tension by Social Awkwardness.  It fits reasonably well into being a fic that doesn't feel too off I think from manga, but yeah, hard to get into for that.

It did raise clearly that adding any level of reflection to classic slapstick quickly moves it into a quesy area.  But I've probably yammered on that before.

[Jason_Miao]

Naw, You aren't the only one. I don't necessarily find myself opposed what he writes into his story, but I have definitely found that while he is excellent at the rising action and climax of storytelling, he doesn't do falling action and conclusion well. There is no sense of, "Oh hey, something was accomplished. Everyone breath and deal with the PTSD for a moment." Its always, "Well, that was handled, lets get ready for the even larger boss!" which sort of takes the wind out of my interest after the fifth or eighth time it happens, especially since favorite characters are protected by plot armor by audience interest. 

The medium affects the message.  A serial naturally tends towards action. 

If the main characters cool down for an arc, then the active followers aren't getting the action they'd waited for, and after a good month, they'll probably go read something else.  Wuxia readers aren't reading about martial arts, western readers aren't seeing any pistol duels at high noon, Sci-fi Lunies aren't reading about spaceships, etc.  A proper "cool down" period might be a month or two of real-world time, but not writing something that the core audience wants to read for a month or two will probably lose that audience.

[Ergoemos]

The medium affects the message.  A serial naturally tends towards action. 

If the main characters cool down for an arc, then the active followers aren't getting the action they'd waited for, and after a good month, they'll probably go read something else.  Wuxia readers aren't reading about martial arts, western readers aren't seeing any pistol duels at high noon, Sci-fi Lunies aren't reading about spaceships, etc.  A proper "cool down" period might be a month or two of real-world time, but not writing something that the core audience wants to read for a month or two will probably lose that audience.

I completely agree, to a certain extent, but it isn't like there aren't "Cool down" arcs interspersed within major conflicts of serial series.

To bring up another topic that has come up in the forum, even Shounen anime and manga have sections of "filler" episodes where the focus is not on rising action and conflict with the major villain, and in many cases, there aren't any major villains even mentioned. The focus is on what the characters do when they aren't prepping for the next big bad, and provide perspective and allow for the audience to reflect on how the characters would be in day-to-day life.

Spoiler: ShowHide

One of the calmest arcs of Worm comes in the middle of the series. It starts with the protagonist going to school again and it ends with the protagonist literally coming to a battle of wills with the Worm-verse's equivalent of Superman. Another "calm" arc involves them infiltrating a rave-slash-moshpit and stumbling upon clues to a secret worldwide conspiracy that has fingers in half the super-hero organizations in the world. This is between arcs of fighting Kaiju of incredible power or clashing with a roving band of super-powered serial killers.

Even the epilogue (in my opinion) does not provide any cool-down. The epilogue instead serves the purpose of build up to the "stinger", rather than actually actually providing any real reflection on the events of over a million and a half words of story.

I am not saying that filler content should be included for a story to be good, but I can't think of a show (or webcomic or book series) that doesn't have episodes that simply cover events unrelated to the main plot. Episodes with less at stake than absolutely everything. And Absolutely everything is what is always at stake for Worm, in tone, even when it starts off somewhere simple.

Don't get me wrong. I loved Worm, and I donated money to pay back the author for providing such rich content. But I can say upon reflection that amusement parks are fun, but not if every single ride is a rollercoaster that much more extreme than the next.

[Dracos]

Actually, few original source works have filler, in as much as they'll usually be trying to convey plot even during cooldown moments.  They largely are added for animated versions as needed to fill space.

[Ergoemos]

Fair enough. My apologies.

[Dracos]

Nothing to apologize for?  :)

just different viewpoints being discussed.

[Ergoemos]

Fair enough. You know those people who take arguments way too seriously on the internet? I really try not to be one of those people, so when enough push back happens, I tend to fold, as I'd rather not cause more frustration than any conversation really warrants.

Um...

Rather relevant to my interests in fanfiction, but not particularly long are some of halfeatenmoon's single chapter stories covering mainly Yuki's reactions to different points in show/books. Just going to post the name and a description. Had I known these existed, I might not have even written my story, as they are far more succinct and capture more of the essence I wanted to distill.

Of note, these are range from pretty to very short in length. Don't know the policy on posting shorter stuff here, as most people post ongoing stories. So, um, sorry in advance.

After the Calm
Yuki facing the moments before she brings Kyon and Asahina out of stasis.

Before The Storm
Kyon goes to check on Yuki the day after the Endless eight time loop ends.

Godot's Been And Gone
Another take on the day after Endless Eight ends.

[Muphrid]

Mm, just because the theme has been examined doesn't mean there's no room to explore it again.

That last line in "Before the Storm" has definitely stayed with me, though.  Ultimate expression of not knowing what else to do, right there.

[Dracos]

Of note, these are range from pretty to very short in length. Don't know the policy on posting shorter stuff here, as most people post ongoing stories. So, um, sorry in advance.

The policy is a strict and fearsome one...

If you've read it, you can post it.

Or if you're going to read it tomorrow, I suppose you can also post it.

Anyhow, thread is for helping folks find new interesting things to read.  Vignettes and short-fics are totally viable reads of a moment.

[Anastasia]

DK:A is back with a double update!

http://addventure.bast-enterprises.de/262819.html
http://addventure.bast-enterprises.de/262824.html

[Jason_Miao]

Fair enough. You know those people who take arguments way too seriously on the internet? I really try not to be one of those people, so when enough push back happens, I tend to fold, as I'd rather not cause more frustration than any conversation really warrants.

On about half the stories I've read, I think Drac and I disagree on which side of the good/bad fence they fall.  And we may have strong opinions, but haven't come to blows yet.

Bearing in mind that I'm not a mod so my word has no weight: As long as you're not trying to be a jerk, whatever you post is probably going to be okay.

DK:A is back with a double update!

http://addventure.bast-enterprises.de/262819.html
http://addventure.bast-enterprises.de/262824.html

Spoiler: ShowHide

Maybe it's the delay that's affecting my perception, but the Avatar showing up all of a sudden seems odd and out of place.

On the plus side, I'd forgotten about how this battle was Dwarf Fortress, so it was worth another laugh. :)

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5849474/40/No-Tendo updated.

Scope creep ahoy (although I suppose that's been true for about half of the fic at this point).

[lolipettanko]

Game of Champions updated:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7354757/11/The-Game-of-Champions

Spoiler: ShowHide

It was a Blue-centric chapter, though I guess considering what happened the previous chapter I can see why. It felt more like filler than anything, but I guess it's moved the plot along somehow. The world-building was again topnotch and it really just made everything more genuine in a sense. Not so sure how much longer the author will update this, it's not something he seems to be terribly invested in.

[Ebiris]

Forging the Sword updated.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Nothing huge happens, though the triwizard preparations are amusing. With the tournament being held in Durmstrang we should avoid all the 'Harry cheated to enter' stuff since he was way over in Scotland the whole time. Be fun to see what happens when he gets there, even if it's probably a long wait till the next chapter.

[Dracos]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/158392/1/Shampoo-12

One of the old classics I've never gotten far into.  FFnet has clearly mauled formatting and setup badly, so I forgive that.  I respect it for its length and ability to keep a canonish feel.  It does suffer equally there though, as people seem to go through learning and regressing, insights that are lost next chapter, character defining decisions that are abandoned, challenges that are left absent?

Tarou was particularly seizing from Nabiki the role of Karma Houdini, even when threatening Nabiki directly.  Only once so far did he have someone go "Oh, it's tarou, he's totally a backstabbing asshole so I'll backstab him in turn." (Mousse).  It got annoying after a bit in a way beyond Nabiki's, since literally nobody seemed to bother to put two and two together and holding embarrassing secrets seems to fit the setting better than "I'm going to physically go attack several non-aggressive students and no one is going to do anything about it, even though they actually care?"  It felt like a "You Get Yours" response to canon Nabiki rather than an interaction in story (Really, she tells nobody that Tarou is physically threatening her friends as blackmail at her?  She hasn't done any on screen blackmail at all in the story.)

I ended about 30ish chapters in, when Super 'Better than everyone' reincarnation Kasumi showed up.  Perhaps to help balance the crew of stronger than Saffron late story villains sitting around in the background for ages, but it just hit my limit on silliness.  If a character has godlike super powers and is not a genie, then having them present all the time and not affecting things seems silly.  Really, it was just this on top of the constant regressions Shampoo and Ranma had to keep going through in order to both have meaningful events and insights and not have any reflection on those.

And yes, I did see your name at the bottom of all the proofreader stuff Jason :P  So you probably have a blast to the past there.