I really hoped that someone would smack some sense into Taylor for her actions with Panacea. Unfortunately they didn't.

 

So I read Silencio and I thought it was decent. It's longer than most stories, and it's heartwarming in a similar way to The Techno Queen. Can't say I like any of the action, but other character interactions are amusing.

 

Silencio is shit.

The whole relationship shenanigans/gender confusion irritates me and reads like a bad anime :|

 

I get you dude. The beauty of Worm, like Harry Potter is the sheer breadth of powers and their versatility. The idea of the wonderful and awesome things that could be done with those abilities is what I read these stories for.

Silencio on the other hand is mostly about teenage angst and as such boring. Don't get me wrong. I like the power Taylor has in this series. But the focus on romance is highly irritating.

 

I really enjoyed Silencio, then again, I really like lighter-hearted Wormfics, if only for the fact that Taylor and co do deserve happiness and they didn't exactly get much of that in canon.

It is entertaining, I really like the way the relationships developed and the various changes from canon like Madison's path to redemption. The omakes in the thread are amusing as well. Obviously not a serious story but not a bad one either. Actually, one of the better and more consistently written Worm stories. Loving it.

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Not sure if anyone has read this one yet.

Synesthesia is a crossover with "The World Ends With You" something I do not know but I think it is a game. Relatively short so far, with only 6 chapters, but so fundamentally different from every other worm story that I have read so far. Drastically different with its approach and really emotionial and raw, in a way. Chapter 5 ended with my all time favorite Assault and the other grown up heroes moment I have seen so far.

 

The World Ends With You is a DS game. The story, setting, art style, and combat were all done well, and it was very original too. One of my favorite DS games, I'd say.

 

I agree with you about Synesthesia. I didn't think I'd like it but it is rather enjoyable. And the Protectorate response to the video was pretty awesome, especially with how most writers have them sit on their asses.

 

Summary? Because I have no idea what Synesthesia is about and I can't dig further.

 

Synesthesia: Taylor triggers with the power to imbue powers into paint, allowing her to create living art and tattoos. As the Composer, she starts an artistic movement / gang called the Reapers, composed of non-parahumans who are given powers by Taylor's tattoos. The Reapers' goal is to have fun and pursuit freedom.

It's written decently and it's unique, though the adult hero characters are fairly out-of-character. It has some moments, so if you can stand the anime-ish characterization, you'll probably enjoy it.

 

The worst parts of it are the gang name (Reapers is so bad), the characterizations, and the feeling that I have no idea what's going on.

 

Strange. Those are exactly the reasons that I stopped reading. In fact it was Madison's re-introduction and obvious setup for redemption that filled me with such disgust that I x'd out of the fic and won't ever go back.

It's a shame; the initial wacky Batman-villain-esque concept and fights were pretty good. Both dark and funny.

I think the story began to lose its way when Panacea gave Taylor her voice back. Mute Taylor required a more subtle approach to character and relationship development.

 

I had the same feeling when that happened. But I kept reading and started enjoying it for other reasons.

 

Just read Silencio and quite liked it.

When you think of Worm, you think of Taylor the badass crimelord of Brockton Bay or Taylor the one who took down an alien god. It's easy to forget everything pre-Leviathan, which is what dragged me into Worm in the first place. Things like seeing her interact and grow close with the Undersiders, go from being a bullied girl to someone with actual friends, etc. It was all about her personal development. The world also seemed a lot less dark - sure, you had the big cape fights, but it was still a "game of cops and robbers" then.

We have a thousand fics of Taylor being super badass who wastes no time in hunting down all the criminals in Brockton Bay. The few lighter fics almost always have her joining the Wards. Haven't seen many fics that are light like that, but have her still being a villain.

The whole Madison thing was freaking retarded.

I like the AmyTaylor romance. It's cute.

I do think that Taylor should have kept her identity a secret from Amy. There would have been more potential for drama if they had started dating and Amy found out later on. I also think the Undersiders shouldn't have so smoothly transitioned into being viewed as vigilante heroes. Once again, things would be a bit more interesting if there was a bit more discomfort over Taylor's cape identity.

Do agree with yak and Dellez though. The author threw away something really interesting when Taylor's voice got taken away. Even if she did eventually get healed, could have happened way later.


Also read Incarnation. It's interesting. Really not much to really judge it on yet. Without Doormaker, she's a lot more limited and makes for a more interesting conflict.

 

It's really easy to ignore Madison. A couple of comments foreshadowing her at the beginning, then her interlude and trigger, than she does fuck all. Apparently she's a tinker, but she hasn't done anything.

I would enjoy a good darker fic, but they all seem to be done so poorly. I blame spacebattles mentality that every problem can be solved if you overthink it. And the problems inevitably get solved easily anyway. If someone could do it right, like the actual Worm did, then that'd be great.

The lighter fics are the ones that are usually done better.

 

The problem is Worm has gone the same route as the Familiar of Zero fandom.

Everything has to be a freaking crossover. And everything has to follow the same idea of "What if Taylor got different powers?" with her either joining the Wards, Undersiders or going Solo. That brings the inevitably of seeing similar sorts of scenes over and over again.

The problem is that the concept is her getting different powers, and then seeing how that Taylor reacts to different events. It seems most authors don't have an overall plot planned out. So it either stops being updated, or being SpaceBattles, they get influenced by all the stupid ideas that pop up in the 1000s of inane posts and it either starts being stupid, or just gets dull.

Good fun nonetheless, but you can't really look back on most of the fics with any sort of critical appreciation.

The thing that makes it hard is that the original story was so damn awesome and intricate that going the route of writing a serious, plot intensive story that remains interesting is hard. Throw in a gimmicky concept and it's good fun while it lasts. But trying to come up with an intricate plot that will be as interesting as the original? Lot harder.

I was toying with the idea of writing a "Taylor stayed with the Undersiders after being outed" fic. I came up with some ideas I found interesting early on in the story - interactions/conflicts with the Wards, Tagg, her Dad, etc. But after that I struggled to think of an interesting route that was different enough and as interesting as canon.

I think the most potential in Worm fanfiction would really be to stop focusing on giving Taylor different powers, and start looking to the huge wealth of characters and teams/organizations we get minor glimpses of through all the interludes. Weaver Nine did that to some extent - instead of joining Wards/Undersiders, she ended up in a completely different group.

Really don't need to see Taylor getting yet another really OP power.

</rant>

 

Nah. It's the powers Taylor gets being shittily done. Tbh I wasn't a huge fan of Skitter's powers in canon, so her getting different ones in fanfics is alright with me. It's just usually handled really badly.

 

Jarik's right.

I've said this before, but the honestly the best kind of fanfiction occurs in fandoms that are strong on worldbuilding, but weak on plot/characterization/themes.

Given how good Wildbow is as a writer, and how fantastic Worm is, it's just hard to top it in a satisfying way.

I think it's more promising to work on a fanfic focusing on a character other than Taylor. I've been working on one about Eidolon, but customary laziness is making the thing unproductive.

If anyone out there is planning to write Worm fanfiction, they should consider writing about the myriad other interesting characters.

 

I don't really mind the Taylor gets alternate power stories - some of them are interesting but a lot of people have the tendency to make her too OP. The part of cannon I really enjoyed was Taylor being in over her head and using her creativity/tenacity to wing her way through fights. You always had the feeling like she was outgunned and outclassed and thats where Worm works best for me. When the fights become one sided curb stomps the story stops being enjoyable.

Funny you should mention that I've started writing a story focused on Sabah/Parian she was always one of my favourite of the minor characters unfortunately I haven't really been that motivated. From what I've experienced Worm fanfiction is a bit like HP fanfiction unless the main character is Taylor people don't seem to want to read it.

 

Thanks for the rec! I had a hard time understanding Taylor's power at first but in a way it's not that important, this story doesn't put such a huge focus on powers like so many others. In that regard chapter especially 5 was nice to read.

 

Having just gone on a Worm bender and read just about everything worth reading, I've come to this conclusion:

It's not the "Taylor gets a different power"(be it a crossover or not) that's wrong with them.

It's the rehashing of canon over and over and over again.

Pop: Taylor gets a new power.
Pop: Taylor fights Lung and meets Armsmaster and the Undersiders.
Pop: Etc.

The exact same thing is happening over and over in each one, just different powers.

The obvious should be obvious: Do a post-canon fic. Through canon we know that Taylor's been de-powered through some operation of some kind (possibly Bonesaw via Cauldron). She's in a brand new world that has seen comparatively minimal damage from Scion.

We have massive room for new world building even with some of the notable characters in canon. Have her trigger with the new power there, or the same powers, whatever.

*poof* new and original storyline

The reason I'd change her powers is because I'm not familiar with bugs at all, so there would be massive research involved on my part. So, I'd probably go with the different power.