An Ack fic was brought up, the discussion was inevitable.

OT: Firebird was a surprisingly good read. I love the way the author is writing the political landscape with the PRT and how Danny is trying to force Taylor to join the wards. The relationship between the two feels like it did in canon.

 

Started and finished Firebird today. I'll also rec it. Writing's pretty good, characterisations great and there's a decent chance of him actually finishing it unlike most worm fics.

 

I have a question, fellow readers. Why do people like Cenotaph/Wake so much? I remember liking Cenotaph, but it always struck me as a little... I don't know, dry? Bare? Like the author meant to go back and add some meat to go with the veggies. I hardly remember Wake at all; in fact I'm sure I didn't even finish it.

 

Because it's not just another random "oh look at this cool power" fic. Notes actually tells a story, with a solid theme running through it, and it was clearly well thought out from beginning to end. Cenotaph's one glaring weakness was that it gets a bit stompy, which I remember commenting on while it was being written, but it works anyways because there are bigger things going on than just the physical conflict.

It was entirely possible that while Taylor was stomping the shit out of her enemies that the story would end in tragedy, because Taylor's internal conflicts are just as important to the story, if not more so, than the external ones. Wake flipped the script a bit in this regards since the enemies Taylor was facing were much more dangerous, but it still managed to reach the point where she could have realistically accepted Jack's offer to join the 9 without breaking character, which made the entire rooftop sequence compelling.

On a different note, the interludes were fantastic. Seriously, go reread any of them. Victor's comes to mind as having been particularly good.

All that to say, I don't think there is anything else in the fandom that comes remotely close. The one Butcher Taylor fic showed a lot of promise, but it seems to have died, so who knows.

 

It's been a while since I read it, so take this with a grain of salt, but I remember the writing being very, very good, and the characters feeling like their canon selves. I like how Taylor maneuvered around the various factions in Cenotaph - there was very little "author is forcing things to happen" syndrome (from what I remember, anyway.) Things were quiet, quiet, contemplative, then suddenly BOOM, action. Kind of like in canon.

I also think the author nailed Taylor's internal POV. Canon Taylor has a strange mix of pragmatism and stubborn, almost naive, determination to do what she thinks is right. It's one of the things that sold me on Worm, and it's something very few fics capture well, and Cenotaph does.

 

I kind of agree with you. I loved Cenotaph, and what people say is true in that Wormfics that aren't crossovers or alt!powers are incredibly rare. Cenotaph was able to fill that itch and be incredibly satisfying. Wake, however, was... not that great, due to the mishandling of characters, few stakes, and little payoff.

I still think Cenotaph deserves to be held up as the Best Fic, but it's sequel, not so much.

 

Cenotaph decided to explore the idea of Taylor unleashing her power and scheming while still feeling like a relateable character and being a Worm story first and foremost. It was extremely well written and felt planned out unlike so many other fics. There were some issues, namely that it sometimes felt a bit anvilcious and the sequel wasn't quite as good, but it is a fine story and one of the best in the fandom.

 

Cenotaph and Wake are also complete. There's a full story in there, start to finish, that's a fun read. It's the same reason I really appreciate Here Be Dragons.

For a fandom defined by interesting ideas that rarely make it past a few chapters, being a finished work says a lot.

 

Always interested in where different readers stop reading, and why. If you recall enough to elaborate, would be interested in what felt dry/bare.

(Vira's concerns on Wake were laid out at length in that thread, and I remain grateful for them.)

 

Everyone read the old Morphosis fanfic, shame it got abandoned was probably my favorite one, while it was running.

 

I honestly couldn't tell you. I don't really remember. Might be that I'm getting Cenotaph mixed up with something else. I'm not exactly a one story at a time guy. Just as well, Cenotaph might be one of the fics I read before Worm, and in the wake of that awesomeness, was completely and utterly diminished. I don't know; I'd have to read the story over to pinpoint exactly what it is I don't like.

I remember the beginning of Cenotaph fairly well, but I think that's because I read it twice. Things start to get hazy after she killed some E88 cape in a...stairwell, I think? The end I don't remember at all.

 

Thanks for trying to answer anyway!

Should you read it again (and twice already is more than one could ask!), I'd be glad to know what didn't work for you. I don't promise to adopt the criticism, but I will certainly think on it.

(Vira's critique, to take the example nearest at hand, was influential on the Wake edit.)

 

Something about the execution moving towards the end of Wake threw me off the story a bit. Mostly the OCs that suddenly had a major role foisted upon them. It felt shoehorned in.

I liked the idea of having a regular guy with a gun help finish off Jack. It is the most sensible way of doing it that I have read in fanfiction. It was a clever piece of plotting. The problem was the way he just seemed to shrug his shoulders treating the situation like it was no big deal. Jack is a villain that has walked away from fights with the Triumvirate. A guy without super-powers should be pissing themselves if they have to fight him.

 

Thanks!

Two possible issues of mine in play there.

First is Taylor's temporary loss of her usual insect omniscience. The goal there was, among other things, to work on showing the reader things that the PoV misses. This includes his emotions: Taylor regularly uses her own determination as a measuring stick for the rest of humanity, which is crazy.

Second and similar is the issue that, while the regular guy with a shotgun had been seen three times before (twice in Cenotaph: at the funeral, and the bar where Taylor parks her body while sending her bugs to Somer's Rock; and once in Wake trying to hit on Burnscar/getting a handful of survivors out of the Palanquin), I'd intended that Taylor not really recognize him, and that the readers only do so in retrospect... and the result was too often that the readers did not recognize him at all. Pete Walker had more done to establish his character, including a PoV interlude, and perhaps I should have done that with Donny also. There isn't an easy way to add that in, though I suppose I could replace Burnscar's interlude.

All of this is an explanation, not an excuse: the regular guy with the shotgun is intended to be brave in the face of his terror, with Taylor not noticing the terror, and to have been a recurring extra who stepped into the foreground (thematically fitting Jack vs. overlooked normal), and if either of those fail to come across then the reason is my skill (or, more precisely, present lack thereof).

In any case, I'll think further on how to make clearer the division between what's so and what Taylor sees. Perhaps by making Taylors (mis)understanding explicit.... we'll see.

 

The beginning of Cenotaph. I actually stopped reading in arc two or three and only came back to it thanks to DLPs recs.

But that was a long time ago and I don't really remember why.

 

Thanks for giving what you remember!

 

I cant remember the reason given for Donny being the guy but it probably would have been better to just use Pete. He had been established without needing an additional interlude which would just add an extra 2k+ of words. Longer is very rarely better. Why was it important for you that Taylor not recognize the guy?

 

I probably will read it again, actually. I've nothing else to read at the moment, besides comic books, and no computer with which to write, so...