#fiption

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Fip here is going to be the first person to read my (mostly finished, still in editing) book, so follow her if you want to hear some more about that!

Reciprocally, I'm going to be reading and blogging about some of her fiction at the same time. I intend to start talking about that tonight, so stay tuned for a post with more info later

now that im done with the antartic trilogy i can finally start with my good friend @not-terezi-pyrope total entropic denial(of the<lion> heart)2.22 you can [not] bogaloo

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Fiption: Fan.Tastic

First up for the Fiption liveblog is a 2015 novella length story called "Fan.Tastic". I will be honest, I have no idea what this is about, but the description tells me it documents "the life and trials of a young blogger, set in a semi fictional internet." Sounds fun, I have been a young blogger on the internet, and my life sure feels semi-fictional sometimes.

I also see that the story opens with the lyrics to "How Bad Can I Be?" from the Onceler posted verbatim, which is always a good sign.

[not-terezi-pyrope]

FIPTION: There Is A Crack In The World (Review)

So, I finally finished "There Is A Crack In The World", the largest part of my fiction reading trade with @fipindustries. It's taken me a while, and I haven't spoken about it much here as I read, sending my in the moment thoughts to Fip directly, instead. Part of the reason I didn't finish it sooner was because I am abroad, and I've been distracted by not being in my own home, hanging out with my boyfriend, actually hanging out with Fip in person, but regardless; I am done now and here are my thoughts.

Crack in the World is a really interesting book for a lot of reasons. There are a bunch of things I didn't like about it, and a bunch of things I really did like about it, and it's fascinating for me how those things intersect. I'll start with my biggest criticisms; the writing itself is very one-and-done, unedited prose, which, combined with this being a novel written in a second language, results in text that feels fairly sloppy in parts, spattered with spelling and syntactic errors, odd sentence phrasing that needs a second eye making adjustments. There are some moments where I can feel the author had a clear picture in her head, but where the details didn't come out as clearly as might have been liked to the reader. These issues would be the biggest barrier to this getting published properly one day, but it's also arguably the most straightforward to fix; the book just needs a thorough editing pass, either by Fip or another editor. The intent is clear enough that I think someone could fix up these issues without any author input, and indeed I found myself doing so in my head as I read. The core meaning is solid, and so when thinking about the book I am going to largely ignore the typographical stuff, the narrative now feels fairly accurately transcribed into my head where I can prod at it as a consolidated story, and it is that story that I'll be reviewing.

The important context for CitW is that it was written when the author was, per her description, dealing with having been in a pretty bad place, and so the tone that the novel seeks to strike is a pretty grimdark one. According to the aftermath post linked at the end, parts of it were an exercise at writing "unrepentant misery porn". Maybe I am desensitised to dark fiction, but a lot of the book didn't really come off that way to me, but in a way that's almost to Fip's credit; even when she's trying to write a dark and miserable story, Fip's delight in writing about whacky characters playing out dynamic adventure narratives comes through in many places, and so the book's dystopic setting feels more Mad Max than 1984. The setting is dark and grim, but it's a cartoonish kind of grim that is, to be frank, mostly just sort of fun. There's a teenage edginess to a lot of it, which Fip has talked about being an accurate description of the mindset for some scenes. The times when that edginess doesn't work are, ironically, when the book really tries to be dark but in a way that pushes into being too crass to be endearing. There's a lot of blood and gore, which I appreciate, but then there are anal rape and shit jokes, which I do not, it feels a little bit too immature and too aspirationally edgy. I think some of that is regretted in retrospect. It doesn't detract too much from the overall feel, though.

The plot is also surprisingly straightforward, not as labyrinthine as I had expected at its core, a fairly conventional dual-protagonist adventure arc culminating in crossed paths (with several side-vignettes, as I discuss later). The ending is dark and follows up on the themes of hopelessness the most effectively of anything in the novel. After the entire book, I think that the background thematic radiation has built up enough for it to be earned, by that point. The final chapter and epilogues are a little fast and blunt, but not unworkably so.

There are two big strengths to the book, two things that I really liked. The first is the characters; Fip is primarily a visual/comics artist and you can really tell, even via writing alone, that she really likes coming up with cool characters with their own specific emotional vibe, and setting them off to interact with each other. These are guys who all feel like they should come with their own splash screen, tag line and iconic halloween costume. There's something almost superhero comic strip about the iconic identities of the characters, about their specific skills and motivations, true even for those that don't actually have their own "superpowers". But don't get me wrong, there's plenty of superhuman individuals on display, here; we have impossibly tenacious gun-wielding assassins, murderous, practically invulnerable clown girls, jungle mercenaries using anti-air rifles as a personal pogo stick, Russian mobster types, a literal dark lord... It's very whacky and fun when you get down to it, which is what really tempers the intended grimdark tone. You might fear that there's some dissonance there but it merges into something unique and interesting. That said, perhaps a more tightly edited version could change some passages with that in mind.

The second thing I really liked was that the story is used as a sort of... Stage setting for a bunch of smaller, more contained narratives, almost smaller parables (sometimes literal parables) that slot into the story. These are clearly separate ideas that were floating around in the author's head, and a lot of them are more tightly written than parts of the main narrative, more fully formed from the start. The two interlude chapters are the clear standouts in the whole work, and both are examples of writing in the style of these little vignettes. I do almost wish that the rest of the story was more integrated to match, there is a risk a few times of the non-sequitur insertions coming across as a little piecemeal, but this becomes less of an issue near the end - the second interlude is at once its own thing but is deeply connected to the rest of the story, and it makes absolute sense that it comes when it does.

One thing that the vignettes also highlight is the difference between pre-planned narrative trajectory/pacing and the "write on the fly" nature of the rest of the novel. There are some times where, in comparison, the "standard" chapters are at risk of tripping off required plot occurrences by rote without dwelling on them, and it's most notable by contrast. Keeping the little sub-stories in the novel is well with it though, and the pacing issue could be fixed with editing.

Other little things I liked: the bounce back and forth between protagonists in alternating chapters was very fun, and helped keep the pace up. I liked seeing the world from different perspectives, and from characters with very different roles in the world. For that matter, I liked the world itself; the worldbuilding was fun, if a little tropey, and I enjoyed trying to dissect the lore. There were a few things that didn't hold up to scrutiny lore-wise in retrospect, but that's understandable given the serial publishing. On the other hand, there was a lot of cool thematic stuff and character foreshadowing that was clearly planned well in advance and paid off really well. I'm avoiding specifics due to spoilers, but there are a lot of fun surprises in this novel!

So that is There Is A Crack In The World. Not a perfect book by any means, but a lot of fun and vibrant ideas. Fip has been sending me her excellent artwork for the story, which really adds a lot, and that compounds my desire to see this adapted as a sort of pulp graphic novel, given an ideal world. At it is, if there is future development of the story to be had it would be in a thorough editing pass. This is not required, however; the story is a fine artefact as it exists on its own, as rough around the edges as it may be, it tells an interesting and satisfying tale of some very cool characters. It's a shame I didn't get through it faster, but I'm very glad I took the time.

Great job Fip. Next up I read The Milkman (although that may also be slow coming; my preemptive apologies).

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Fiption: Fan.Tastic blogging part 2

Reading more of this for my Fiption marathon.

I have reached the end of "arc 1" and have crossed into "arc 2". Arc 1 finished up in a way that was thematically satisfying, albeit presented in a slightly abridged, slightly too much "tell" as opposed to "show". The biggest flaw of Fan.Tastic continues to be that the copy-editing and pacing doesn't fully match up against the concepts being explored, which are interesting but not fleshed out. The best part continues to be the multimedia elements.

Arc 2 seems to be diving into a sort of 2015 iteration of cancel culture and media crit feminist discourse. Fip has given me the green light to roast her (bad, sorry lol) political opinions at the time, and so I have to admit that what I'm seeing so far is pretty caricaturish, taking the perceived (and sometimes genuine) absurdity of said discourses to an unrealistic extreme. That said, web harassment over petty nothings can absolutely be as dumb as is depicted, even if the scandal prompting it is not, so that's more on point. I have yet to discover whether the other absurdity is a deliberate exaggeration for the narrative, and I suppose I will discover as I move deeper "into the sauce".

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Fiction exchange with Fip Industries liveblog

Hey y'all, as I briefly mentioned before, my friend @fipindustries and I are going to be mutually reading each other's writing. Fip will be reading a beta version of my novel, Total Entropic Denial, so follow her if you want to know more about that. Meanwhile, I will be reading three of her past works, which together add up to a similar wordcount.

We'll both be liveblogging some of our thoughts on our respective blogs. The overall tag that I will be using for this is #fiption, so you can ignore that if you are not interested, although Fip is a cool person who makes interesting work so you might wanna check some of it out.

I also know that Fip has gone through quite a political journey to become the irreverent lefty trans woman she is now and has mentioned that some of those earlier politics come through in some of her early works, so I am interested to see how that plays out and roast her accordingly 😉 (/affectionate)

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Fiption: Round 2: "there is a crack in the world"

Second up in my readthrough of fiction by @fipindustries I am reading what I believe is her longest piece of writing, "there is a crack in the world", which as I understand it is a pretty unrepentantly grimdark novel about... well, there being a crack in the world. A fundamental flaw in reality that cannot be fixed?

I did skim part of the first chapter of this one a while back, but I don't remember much of it, so I am excited to find out more.

With this one I don't think I'm gonna make as many posts as I did with Fan.Tastic, as it's a much longer work, and I want to just read through it and experience the story without writing up my thoughts on every little part. I will probably comment here and there on particular things that interest me, and write up my thoughts every so often.

[not-terezi-pyrope]

I've read the first five chapters now, so here are my first impressions!

TIACITW is a post-apocalyptic dystopian novel set in a world where a supernaturally empowered despot has succeeded in defeating most of the rest of the world and founding his empire, but has shattered the planet in the process. I enjoy these kinds of settings; "what if the dark lord won" is always a fun premise. The setup here reminds me most Mistborn: The Final Empire, or perhaps to a lesser extent what's going on in the Locked Tomb, except Crack in the World is far grittier and instead of being fantasy or sci-fi is more of a vaguely Mad Max fascist dystopia.

The commitment of the novel to its dark tone is pretty evocative. All of the characters are pretty contemptible people, and it works, it all contributes to the overall vibe well. I enjoy that we seem to be alternating between two POV characters who occupy different roles, and give us different perspectives on the world, as well as giving more opportunities for the world to be fleshed out as they travel around.

The book also has a very fun villain who I am looking forward to seeing more of.

My biggest critique so far is the same one I had for Fan.Tastic, and I feel bad harping on about it, but. Fip! At this point I'd almost pay you to get someone to do an edit pass on your past works, lol. The prose is generally pretty good, but rife with spelling and syntactic errors, as well as occasional awkward phrasings that come from writing from brain to page and not going back to reorganize. Every time I encounter these things it breaks my flow somewhat, as I need to extrapolate what it should be saying in my head. Maybe this is more my problem more than anything, perhaps my head gets more tripped up by little errors, but I would be moving a lot faster if it was fixed. It's clear that this was written with a mindset of "write once and move on", which is valid, but from a pure audience experience perspective, makes it more difficult for readers (or me, at least) to deeply engage in the way I do with some other books. I almost feel bad about saying this, but it is for sure the biggest issue I have while reading, so it feels dishonest not to mention it.

Other than that I am enjoying myself, the plot and characters and concepts are very enjoyable, and I am really liking the drip-feed of accompanying art Fip has been sending me (you should all check it out! It really adds to the aesthetic). I'm excited to see how the story develops and to discover more about the world and the fate that befell it.

Fiption: Round 2: "there is a crack in the world"

Second up in my readthrough of fiction by @fipindustries I am reading what I believe is her longest piece of writing, "there is a crack in the world", which as I understand it is a pretty unrepentantly grimdark novel about... well, there being a crack in the world. A fundamental flaw in reality that cannot be fixed?

I did skim part of the first chapter of this one a while back, but I don't remember much of it, so I am excited to find out more.

With this one I don't think I'm gonna make as many posts as I did with Fan.Tastic, as it's a much longer work, and I want to just read through it and experience the story without writing up my thoughts on every little part. I will probably comment here and there on particular things that interest me, and write up my thoughts every so often.

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Chapter 1 ends with a parody of My Immortal, which is also fun.

Will save my thoughts for when I've read a little more.

Fiption: Fan.Tastic

First up for the Fiption liveblog is a 2015 novella length story called "Fan.Tastic". I will be honest, I have no idea what this is about, but the description tells me it documents "the life and trials of a young blogger, set in a semi fictional internet." Sounds fun, I have been a young blogger on the internet, and my life sure feels semi-fictional sometimes.

I also see that the story opens with the lyrics to "How Bad Can I Be?" from the Onceler posted verbatim, which is always a good sign.

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Much like in YouTube, there were red and green lights all around, a pair for every person in the audience. And for every question someone said the people all around him could give him a thumbs up or down making that person's chair rise a bit more in the air and his voice to grow louder.

Incidentally: this is a very funny way to describe reddit. Imagining like the "I choose that guy's dead wife" person teetering on an absurdly tall chair that extends out of the stratosphere, booming proclamations like an angered god.

(Also, his or her or their voice, Fip, did you learn nothing from the great Joey Flynn "I'm the man" debacle of 2015, smh /joke)

Fiption: Fan.Tastic blogging part 2

Reading more of this for my Fiption marathon.

I have reached the end of "arc 1" and have crossed into "arc 2". Arc 1 finished up in a way that was thematically satisfying, albeit presented in a slightly abridged, slightly too much "tell" as opposed to "show". The biggest flaw of Fan.Tastic continues to be that the copy-editing and pacing doesn't fully match up against the concepts being explored, which are interesting but not fleshed out. The best part continues to be the multimedia elements.

Arc 2 seems to be diving into a sort of 2015 iteration of cancel culture and media crit feminist discourse. Fip has given me the green light to roast her (bad, sorry lol) political opinions at the time, and so I have to admit that what I'm seeing so far is pretty caricaturish, taking the perceived (and sometimes genuine) absurdity of said discourses to an unrealistic extreme. That said, web harassment over petty nothings can absolutely be as dumb as is depicted, even if the scandal prompting it is not, so that's more on point. I have yet to discover whether the other absurdity is a deliberate exaggeration for the narrative, and I suppose I will discover as I move deeper "into the sauce".

[not-terezi-pyrope]

I finished Fan.Tastic! The story ends without a full ending, but the second half of it progresses enough to get an idea of where it was going.

While the whole story is about internet culture, the first half of Fan.Tastic is about creativity and connecting to your younger self and how one's creative free-spirit can get lost as you grow into an older teenager and get lost in your own shield of irony and web popularity contests. Thematically, this is the best part of the story, even if the writing is slightly less cohesive in these first five chapters. I enjoyed what it was going for, and it's the sort of thing I'd like to see re-explored.

The second half of the story is... eh... I'm sorry Fip, but I didn't like it much, and I imagine it's for reasons that you could pretty much expect. The quality of the writing itself is slightly better in the second half, which is why it's a shame that the initial premise gets thrown away in service of a soapbox to complain about feminism and cancel culture with talking points lifted straight out of Gamergate, culminating in the protagonist getting driven off of tumblr and into 4chan, which they celebrate in the final chapter by giving a bizarre slur-filled insult-monologue to one of their former-friends-cum-harassers as they transform into a 4chan anon.

I definitely don't think that the narrative is fully endorsing the nastier side of 4chan culture, but it definitely prefers what it portrays as a sort of "grimy but fair" attitude to the "crazy feminist witchhunts" of tumblr. The instigating scandal is pretty obviously an absurd thing to make a fuss about, and the overreaction of the strawman feminists compared to the more nuanced reactions of the viewpoint characters (who are totally for women's rights, they just don't align themselves with the crazy feminist sjw movement!) makes it pretty clear what the authorial perspective is.

Fip, I am glad your opinions changed so much in the past eight years, because, I have to say it, the preachy antifeminist under/overtones are pretty, uh... it does not make for great reading. I would probably be saying even harsher things about past-you if you were a stranger, and that's given the fact that you said I could go ahead and talk about this stuff, lol.

Anyway, that's in the past now, and I am looking forward to seeing how your writing evolves as some more years pass. Next up is "There Is A Crack In The World", I believe!

Fiption: Fan.Tastic blogging part 2

Reading more of this for my Fiption marathon.

I have reached the end of "arc 1" and have crossed into "arc 2". Arc 1 finished up in a way that was thematically satisfying, albeit presented in a slightly abridged, slightly too much "tell" as opposed to "show". The biggest flaw of Fan.Tastic continues to be that the copy-editing and pacing doesn't fully match up against the concepts being explored, which are interesting but not fleshed out. The best part continues to be the multimedia elements.

Arc 2 seems to be diving into a sort of 2015 iteration of cancel culture and media crit feminist discourse. Fip has given me the green light to roast her (bad, sorry lol) political opinions at the time, and so I have to admit that what I'm seeing so far is pretty caricaturish, taking the perceived (and sometimes genuine) absurdity of said discourses to an unrealistic extreme. That said, web harassment over petty nothings can absolutely be as dumb as is depicted, even if the scandal prompting it is not, so that's more on point. I have yet to discover whether the other absurdity is a deliberate exaggeration for the narrative, and I suppose I will discover as I move deeper "into the sauce".

[not-terezi-pyrope]

So far Fan.Tastic is a pretty lighthearted skewering of internet and fandom culture circa 2015.

The fact that it's a fairly old story comes across in that a few of the observations feel like they have run their course in culture at that point, but then I can't blame it for that. The story has an off-the-cuff feel that makes it feel fairly breezy, if a little unfocussed at times in terms of structure and wording. It moves very fast and does not dwell. It also embraces some "lolrandom" type stuff, which is deliberate and a part of what it is parodying, but it can result in some occasional nonsequiturs.

It is worth reading for the spot on mid-2010s "slideshow fandom propaganda" images in Chapter 2 alone though. Great stuff.

Hey, Fip, you're gonna have to tell me how hard you want me to go on the critique angle, if I really wanted to I could be picky and start pulling things apart but I don't wanna be unduly mean if it is unwanted and unwarranted, lol

Fiption: Fan.Tastic

First up for the Fiption liveblog is a 2015 novella length story called "Fan.Tastic". I will be honest, I have no idea what this is about, but the description tells me it documents "the life and trials of a young blogger, set in a semi fictional internet." Sounds fun, I have been a young blogger on the internet, and my life sure feels semi-fictional sometimes.

I also see that the story opens with the lyrics to "How Bad Can I Be?" from the Onceler posted verbatim, which is always a good sign.

[not-terezi-pyrope]

I think this story is actually doing something fairly interesting with using a physicalized internet and personified web personas as a means to explore ideas about one's inner child, the sources of our creativity and passions, and the idea that past versions of ourselves can exist frozen in old corners of the internet.

I feel like some of the concepts would benefit from being dug into a little deeper, I kinda wanna see more in depth worldbuilding and exploration of the sort of "Pixar concept-city" version of tumblr and deviantart, but it's clear the kind of work where ideas were put to paper quickly and without much elaboration to communicate a core point.

I am enjoying going through it. There's a little bit of an "aren't sjws silly lol" undertone, but I was prepared for that.

Fiption: Fan.Tastic

First up for the Fiption liveblog is a 2015 novella length story called "Fan.Tastic". I will be honest, I have no idea what this is about, but the description tells me it documents "the life and trials of a young blogger, set in a semi fictional internet." Sounds fun, I have been a young blogger on the internet, and my life sure feels semi-fictional sometimes.

I also see that the story opens with the lyrics to "How Bad Can I Be?" from the Onceler posted verbatim, which is always a good sign.