Another irritating characteristic is how often Taylor ends up joining the Wards and turning into a sanctimonious twat, as the author preaches their own opinions on villians/Wormverse in the guise of Taylor.

Post-canon would be ideal, I agree. It's one of the reasons why I enjoy Ryuugi's Zenith. But goddamn, I'd settle for mid-canon, anything over the endless rehashing of the first few chapters.

 

One of the things about Worm: it's inundated with action after the first few segments. Most people can't write interesting action to save their lives. It always comes down to "she hit him with a flurry of kicks and blows" or something equally bad. That's why I don't like the Mime!Taylor story... Silent or something. Some of the worst written action scenes in fan fiction. At least I think that's the one. A lot of them have simply melded into one another, because of their similarities.

Copacetic is a great example of Taylor starting over in the new world... at least so far. It's just now come to the point where she's acquired her powers again, after 46,000+ words.

 

Are there any stories that start in the middle of Worm? I know there a few good stories that start around the bank heist and Leviathan attack, but that's all I can think of.

 

Carnage. Just updated again actually, with an interesting twist. Mind games and backstabbing everywhere.

 

Agree with you Heather_Sinclair. Copacetic isn't the most amazing fic around, but it is one of the few post-Worm fics, and look at how popular and well it turned out. Hell, I was completely into it even before Taylor got her powers back. Even seeing Taylor just trying to become a normal person in a new world again was interesting.

Always wanted more post-Worm fics. I'm kinda shocked there are so few - usually a fandom tries to continue canon before it starts to do AUs.

The problem with Taylor joining the Wards is no matter how badass her power is, she's usually less awesome personality wise than she was in canon. It's also usually quite cheesy in how Sophie is dealt with. Exception to that is Tyrant. I loved the way Stalker and Taylor became friends as capes without realizing who each other actually were.

That and I have this hang up about Taylor becoming enemies with the Undersiders. Every time I see her put Tattletale in jail, it kills me a little inside.

I can understand the want to give her more powers. Her power will never be on the level of a lot of the powerhouses in the Worm world and she's best suited for a support role, or hitting unpowered combatants. Hell, if you look at the Undersiders' success, it was pretty much purely due to Tattletale, and lucky opportunities. I can see why people would like to give Taylor a genuinely strong ability.

 

Post-Worm fics, I imagine, are hard to do.

As it is, Taylor is mentally and emotionally exhausted - as she herself says in the epilogue, "Because I’m done. My life is over, for all intents and purposes. No matter how hard I try from here on out, I’ll never do anything one ten-thousandth as important as what I was doing before."

At that point, Taylor as a character is complete, her fight done with, her achievements so monumental that nothing else will ever compare.

Any post-worm fic should focus on the rebuilding of Earth Bet - there's a lot more promise there, wouldn't you say?

 

The irritating bit is how baddies are dealt with. Sophia and Coil (and contessa) especially. Sophia creates cringeworthy scenes as we can almost taste the author's rage and coil is rarely done justice. The stations of canon in worm are horrible that way

It's the problem with Worm: in GOT change one thing and most things change. No matter what you do in Worm Coil will generally be a twat that you have to deal with and its incredibly hard to do it right. Wildbow took a few arcs to get us to that point but Ff writers can't do that for multiple reasons. Weaver Nine is literally the only fic I'd say handled it perfectly despite the rush.

I also don't care for post canon shit. Taylor has gone as far as a character can go at that point she should be left in purgatory. Nothing will match up.

 

Earth Bet is a wasteland. Not saying it can't be rebuilt or whatever, but we're talking massive dystopian setting here and literal world building. Not impossible, but it would be a massive undertaking and few would be up to the challenge without turning it into Mad Max/Worm.

I keep hearing that she has gone as far as she can go. The thing is, there will be a canon sequel, so obviously she can go further. So she starts over on a new adventure on a new Earth; so what? Dogging it as shit is ridiculous and shortsighted.

 

Taylor's not the protagonist of Worm 2, care of Wildbow. I know it's sad, but thems the facts. I'm not happy about it.

 

I didn't care for the Taylor joins the Wards plot in canon, and I like it in fanfiction even less. I don't know why there are so many stories about Taylor on the Wards and so few about Taylor and the Undersiders.

Woah, really? Do we know who it will be then? I'd love it if Tattletale were the POV character this time.

 

The only things I recall for sure Wildbow saying about the sequel is that if it does happen it won't be anytime soon since he will do/is doing other works first and that Taylor won't be the protagonist. Everything else, protagonist/setting/plot/whatever, is yet to be truly determined.

I think he also said Taylor won't show up at all(outside of the consequences of her actions during Worm off course) but I can't find that one so dubious at best and it sounds way too much like what people like to say so now I don't even think that anymore.

 

Though, it seemed like if she had kept her powers, she'd have continued to be a cape. She seemed to be lamenting and struggling with the fact she was now just a normal person. But I do agree. Worm wrapped up so well in a way that it's hard to really come up with an interesting plot to happen in Aleph.

There is Ryuugi's Zenith and Succession (the Glory Girl centric one), but didn't really get into either of them that much.

On the sequel topic, while more interlude type chapters would be fantastic (both set post Worm and during Worm), not sure how a full on sequel would work. Loved most of the epilogue chapters and wouldn't mind seeing more of that.

 

I remember Wildbow saying that Sleeper would be featured in it. I can't wait to see what his power is.

 

Sleeper was lulzy. People just blatantly said an entire planet was fucked because he woke up, so I'm pretty interested in him myself.

 

Weaver Nine updated.

Read Synesthesia. It was an alright time killer, but nothing special. I do kinda like the idea of this Cape related underground urban "movement" being a feature alongside the gangs, criminal organizations and rogue heroes.

 

It reminds me of Jet Set Radio. Stuff is an amazing set piece for a game, but for a story? It just feels off. I know it is possible for such actions to occur considering how Worm is on what constitutes as a power, but it still feels wonky.

 

Think the problem is how over powered they all were.

There's potential for a story about an underground cape subculture made up of teenagers that really are pretty harmless and end up getting swept up in a gang war that is way beyond them. Biting off more than they can chew. Having to see them trying to adapt, trying to get stronger and inevitably suffering heavy losses. That'd be interesting.

But seeing such a group with no combat experience wipe out ABB and Lung with no issues? Boring.

 

That is why I compared it to a game. As you said, it is one thing if it was just a bunch of teenagers doing some crazy things for fun and protest... but them being that strong as well? Bleh.

 

Tattletale Investigates

"What if Lisa had avoided capture by Coil's henchmen? What if she met Taylor before the beginning of canon? What if she had a secret interest in Sherlock Holmes and Film Noir? This... is that story.

This is my take on the slightly under-represented "parahuman detective" genre."

Very good so far. This may end up being my new favorite thing.