It's worth trying out I think. Anything that encourages more people to write decent things in the fandom would be welcome, since it's mostly boring or garbage. I doubt most of the SB crowd would come over since they are mostly bad at taking criticism (in my experience anyways), but that's no great loss.

 

Firebird has finally gotten exciting after nearly a full arc of dull conflict, but I'm not a fan.

Spoilers Ahead.


I had high hopes at the beginning of the story, but I just feel like the author squandered so much potential for conflict.

Spoiler

Instead of having Taylor really agonize over what to do with Noelle and Trickster after being kidnapped, we have a sequence where Taylor magically solves all of the problems, gets rid of Coil, etc.

It looks like there might finally be fallout from her taking on the Empire, but there really hasn't been much exciting stuff in that story since the first couple of arcs. The whole story has been going in loops over Wards!drama and Taylor's other hero friends (Catherine and Minako, I think are their names.)

Not a fan of her independent friends, their speech patterns bug me and seem very stilted.

I do like Glory Girl, she's been consistently well-characterized.

I don't like how all the numerous possible conflicts keep fading into the background.

We had Amy's feelings for GG, Danny's inadequacy, Ward!drama, Coil, Noelle, Precog!machinations/interference, etc. all brewing for a couple of arcs, and the only problem resolved is Coil and Noelle. And that one was resolved far too easily. Taylor gets kidnapped, then wakes up confused having destroyed Coil and cured Noelle without any collateral damage to the Travellers in the process.

The story feels alternately like conflict is magically resolved or artificially prolonged (the whole Ward drama feels completely forced.)

The writing is fairly good but the story is remaining at a 3/5 for me because of those issues.

 

Nuhuh: not at all. It's why I came. If I could see my own blind spots, I'd... well, I'd be a better author. And human.

theronin: taking criticism is, in significant part, about framing it. Many authors take 'my story is good' and extend to 'I am good.' This leads to obvious problems in accepting criticism. One of the useful things about the DLP norm of harsh criticism is that it depersonalizes what criticism does come.

That said, there are definitely authors on SB/SV who are more interested in approaching excellence than basking. Think we're likely to see several reach the point of publishing novels for sale on Amazon; one's gotten two novellas up already.

 

I think it's a good idea. Worm has a fairly dedicated fanbase, it just needs more awareness about it so that we get interested newcomers rather than just the same old crowd all the time. I'm also very much in favour of getting more Worm authors from this side of the DLP/SB aisle. Anything to get rid of the alt!power trend.

 

Have there been any recent updates as to the status of the Worm rewrite and potential publication?

I feel like it's time for me to reread this story, but if there's an updated version coming I'd much rather wait and read that. As there were some rough edges that needed to be smoothed out.

 

Some thoughts on the Superman/Worm crossover:

Spoiler

There have been some clever moments in this fic, but several decisions by the author have severely harmed the story:

1. Cauldron's action. They aren't just incompetent, they're stupid, which is ridiculous with Alexandria, Contessa, Numberman, and any other Thinkers they care to call on to give them advice. They provoke Superwoman for no reason by kidnapping Amy, don't cooperate with her, they don't try to use Thinkers (who could work off a model since thy can't predict Superwoman) to convince her of their morality in experimentation, etc. This is the most glaring part of the fic. It knocks me out of immersion whenever Cauldron acts so stupidly, and since they've played a substantial role in the fic for a couple of arcs, its basically ruined the fic.

2. The complete lack of tension. I understand Superman comics are often more concerned with morality ("should I?") than with plausibility or power ("can I?"). So if you're going to write a Worm/Superman crossover, its understandable that physical conflict might be pushed to the wayside, and readers might be more okay with Superman/Taylor solving physical problems easily.

But if you decide that her physical problems will be easily solved, you should give her difficult emotional and moral problems. This fic doesn't do that. There's little in the way of real emotional tension. When Taylor decides to redeem Bonesaw instead of killing her, lobotomize Jack instead of killing him, etc. I felt no emotional tension. Taylor didn't feel like a character. She felt like a some monolithic shallow portrayal of Superman, who would never kill or lose control for any reason.

The whole death scene of Amy was also pretty flat. Because that whole romance had basically zero buildup and wasn't believable, her 'death' mattered zero to me. The fact that she was revived erased any possibility of it having an impact.

If the author had done some scenes where Taylor visits parents of those she failed to save, talked to their friends, and grappled with the (few) limits on her power, that whole S9/Amy scene would have been better.

3. The whole romance subplot is completely unbelievable and uncomfortable. There's some weird implications that Amy is attracted to Taylor partially because her Kryptonian body is so interesting to her power sense. Their romance is also so cliche, with the mutual initial shyness and the kiss after Taylor's near death after destroying Behemoth, that its very boring. There's little explanation for why Taylor would be attracted to Amy, who is described in canon as mousy and plan, when she could have so many others instead. If there'd been some real buildup, maybe with an initial rejection on Amy's side, there could have been an interesting scene where Taylor comes to understand that for all her power, she can't get everything by face. Then they could have slowly fallen for each other.

But as usual for this fic, it all goes very smoothly for both of them, excepting Amy's near death and retarded kidnapping/transportation by Cauldron.


Overall, the fic characterizes Cauldron terribly, has no tension, and has a shitty romance subplot. Also it has a bunch of stupid shout outs to Superman comics like not wearing a mask, Bonesaw becoming good after copying some of her powers (like Luthor in a Superman animation), and the whole S9 sequence with her lobotomizing them.

3/5 because the story's writing is pretty good, but the characterization and plotting are pretty shitty.

 

Link, Garden?

 

Here's the link for the Superman/Worm crossover.

 

I don't really see a need for a whole subforum for Worm; it's not going to drive much more traffic from SB/SV because this board already has syed and isn't exactly welcoming of his million more annoying clones (which is what 99% of the CrW over there is). I've done a few chapters of a couple stories in their megathread which is reasonably nice for gauging the reaction to a story but I don't think we'll really get much more of an audience interested in critique by putting up a subforum.

 

You say this, but he's management now. This forum is in a good position to capitalize on the annoying clones market!

Edit: And no, I don't think we need a WBA section. There's what, 10 worm fics in there currently, only one of which has updated in the past 3 months?

 

Well... I would post my stories here... but.... the formating is pretty sparse here... XD

And to be honest, shouldn't the Worm fanfic subforum be something that caters to members of DLP? Instead of trying to get people from other forums? After all, there is no guarantee of that much interest...

Worm fanfics do seem more something SV and SB based than anything.

 

I wish more Worm stories on SB/SV were posted on FF, cause I like their layout more. Someone needs to bring the GOAT THE TECHNO QUEEN to FF.

 

That is exactly the case.

Just to be clear: We've got no interest in drawing members from other forums. Negative interest, in fact.

There are quite a few DLP members and even mods who enjoy Worm fanfiction, so the idea is to improve that experience for all of us here. It's an ongoing discussion amongst the moderation staff. You should see something from us soon.

 

Have been following this for a while now and I agree. Writing is decent but otherwise, the story is mostly a guilty pleasure.

Spoiler

Superman does just not work in Worm. A lot of Worm was that one had to compromise, work together with enemies, putting ones differences and grievances to the side for the greater good. Taylor learned from her enemies and in the end teamed up with the ones left alive and was willing to cooperate with everyone.

That just doesn't work if Taylor is Superwoman and can curbstomp Endbringers on her own, even in two on one rumbles. There is no reason to compromise, no necessity. Cauldorn didn't play ball because they are morons, as Garden said? So what, Taylor doesn't need them, at all. She doesn't care and in that case, why should we?

I guess that's the problem, if one is so strong one can solve every problem, morality becomes easier too. She was able to take out the Slaughterhouse 9 in a few seconds once she got serious and no one of consequence was harmed, really.

The story needed problems that could not be solved with powers and fighting alone but so far, every problem was solved with fighting and since Taylor has no equal, no one coming close, really. As such, no tension. Why would there be? Only thing she really can't do is bring people back from the dead, so far. Who knows what kryptonian tech mixed with influence from Bonesaw and Panacea can do?

So, yeah, decent read if you don't take it too seriously and it gets regular updates, but it has some big shortcomings.

 

ANNOUNCEMENT! READ THIS!

Worm Reorganization

There are three areas for Worm related threads:

• 
  Worm Canon and general Fanfiction Discussion

• 'For Review' section to post stories and super special Worm Library section

• And Work by Author for Worm stories goes into the Miscellaneous Work by Author section.
  Currently there aren't enough Worm-only stories to warrant a WBA of its own. Miscellaneous has the advantage of bringing fans of other fandoms to Worm and vice versa. So take part it in if you would like feedback from DLP. Don't be shy but come in expecting helpful criticism.

_______​

Now, coming to the future of this thread:

It has been used, in part, as an Almost Recommended section for Worm fanfiction.

The rules for such a thread are:

1. Post only stories you would rate a 2/5 or below. Anything above that rating should go in the For Review section of the library.

• Post a story you have found that is brand new and only has a handful of chapters. If after a few chapters you would rate the story above a 2/5, put it up for review

_______​

A good number of staff members discussed this and made it happen. Please post in appropriate sections. Having one large meandering thread does not serve the community. We have given you room to use, use it.

Yak and I in particular are responsible for the Worm section. Report to us if an issue comes up or you need clarification. That said, everyone on DLP staff is willing to help.

 

I think that's the best way of doing it. We have a reasonable number of Worm fics in the library now, with more in For Review at the moment. Makes sense for them to get their own Library sub category.

Will separate subforums in the Fanfic Discussion section be a theme that extends to other fandoms too?

I'd suggest that bringing authors here would expose them to the sort of criticism that they wouldn't get on SB, and hopefully convince them against taking their fics in the weird, retarded directions that the SB/SV/QQ audience would promote.


Also, on the Last Daughter, it's just a bad fic and a time killer at best. It's another Taylor alternate power fic, that doesn't even try to pretend to give her a struggle at all.

 

Dominion by Materia-Blade has updated.

 

Oh thank god, I thought it was abandoned.