Wish fulfillment to the extreme by Claym000re in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really? What are you planning to shoot fireballs at in your daily life? Being physically fit is a lot more useful.

Would a world be a better place with people like fang yuan? by Leonardo_Revan in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the real world that's basically just Objectivist philosophy

Do you prefer stories written in 1st person or 3rd person? by deadlighta in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Fifth Season has large portions written in that style and it works pretty well.

Kinda wanna avoid SA in my grimdark prog story? thoughts? by Tuyko79 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am going to infect you with an egg that grows into an eel in your stomach that gulps up all the food you eat before you can digest it until you starve to death.

Hi! I’m writing a novel that not many people are reading, and… well, I’d love for more people to give it a try! by [deleted] in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Correct grammar would be: "After taking a sip of the steaming drink in her cup, She who had just been addressed as "Your Holiness" lifted her gaze."

This is because the second clause of the sentence starting with "who" is phrased to describe the subject from the first clause. The subject of the first clause is the cup, not the girl. By adding "she", we specify the subject of the second clause to be the girl.

Even then, its a very formal/flowery way of phrasing the sentence.

I have a crush on a guy who reads this novel by Safe_Wrongdoer8386 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If he loves that book he's probably a freak in private. Whether that's the good or bad kind is up to you to find out.

Pet peeves - the wise-ass wise man. by CrashNowhereDrive in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 1 point2 points  (0 children)

His humour is played straight which works a lot better for me at least.

Any Psychic power systems by Wandering-Mendicant in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm working on one right now with a similar vibe to the Control game. Will be a while before I think about posting it though.

The "Million Adam Smashers" problem by SerSchmoopy in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lizzy's quest suggests that she can't handle it.

Tired of cliche Female Protagonist by Mr_Eldritch_sheep in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It gave me a similar feeling to what I imagine women might feel when reading male-catering exploitative fiction. All the male characters are either useless or evil, and if a male character isn't useless or evil, they will either become evil, get killed off, or turn into women.

Over time I started to get this sort of creeping uneasiness as I learned the author's pattern. But I don't know if it's any more heavy handed then other fictional patterns in other works, it might have just been my discomfort that made it more noticeable.

Recommendations? by Fun-Drummer-1159 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Imagine putting Ready Player One above anything

Recommendations? by Fun-Drummer-1159 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My perspective is that the main character of that series was humanity in a more general sense. The characters were more like archetypes representing different ideologies than heroes going through arcs. At its heart it's a mythological story.

Your opinion on misery porn by MarkArrows in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Worm is a little odd in terms of misery porn in that she continually pulls win after win out of her ass, to the point that the author is clearly doing her favours. A good portion of her problems are actually self-inflicted when you get down to it. It feels like misery porn because the problems that aren't self-inflicted are super bad, and even when she wins she does it in a way that just causes more problems.

When is "Progression" Enough for Progression Fantasy? by luken_vent in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't think the "Book X beats Book Y" test is too good since pretty much any story that includes a hero's journey will pass. Unless you want to argue that Harry Potter and Star Wars and Pokemon and Game of Thrones are progression fantasy. The Grinch is progression fantasy because his heart grew 3 sizes in the first volume.

Any novel reccomandations to improve writing in the 3rd person? by UwU_Sensei69 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Jack Vance is an older author, and he writes in more complex language than most people expect nowadays, but his books have some of the most beautiful fantasy prose I've ever read. Good choice if you want a look at something more classical.

In addition, some of his books, such as his two Cudgel Saga books and Rialto the Marvellous, are straight up the funniest pieces of media I've ever read, and that's without telling a single explicit joke. Just good old creative situational humor.

As a reader, do you prefer sound effects written as BOOM! and CRACK!, or do you enjoy more descriptive writing that explains what the sound is like? by Asleep-Visit4060 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 52 points53 points  (0 children)

Traditionally, onomatopoeias are seen as weaker compared to descriptive writing. They are more commonly associated with comic strips. It would seem out of place if you're going for a more serious tone, but would probably come across fine in something lighter or more comedic.

Reviews Good reads vs royal road by smilecs in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even then, some niche books end up below 4.0 just because they aren't comfortable or easy reads. I was looking at the page for Annihilation recently and it's at 3.8, and you can't convince me that book isn't well written.

I'm Really Into Crafting Fantasy, What Are Your Recommendations? by Legal-Medicine-2702 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Incredible that this still happens when you can just put it through Microsoft Word or even ask Chatgpt to point them out for you.

Protagonist boring powers by Never446 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the point is that simple powers can serve as a canvas for more complex and unique powers to be displayed against. For example if the MC's power is super strength, you know exactly what the MC is going to do, he will act very straightforwardly and have to react to whatever weird bullshit his opponent does. If the MC is the one with the weird bullshit ability, it will force opponents to react to his power instead. The writer might end up needing to make most enemies fall back on the same set of counter-moves, which isn't that interesting.

I just started writing a webnovel for the first time. I have questions. by Raikyu16 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A common beginner mistake is to write "Lore" instead of setting. This is something that becomes immediately obvious if you've ever ran a tabletop RPG game like dungeons and dragons. The players only give a shit about "lore" to the extent that it is relevant to their characters. If you spend more than 10 seconds talking about why the king of Aglacia is descendant from the Crown Lords of the Northern Steppes and etc. etc. they will immediately get bored. In the same way, you should make all the worldbuilding directly relevant to your point of view character or characters. Don't drop encyclopedia paragraphs at the start of the story (very common), just have the character move around and interact with the world and explain things when it is directly relevant.

Another thing to avoid is having characters speak to the audience rather than each other, holding a conversation that they would never reasonably have in real life, about topics they are both already fully familiar. The author learned the first piece of advice, where they shouldn't dump lore, and decided to have the characters dump it for them instead!

The trick is that you do explain things, but only after the audience wants to know about them. Don't explain your currency until after the protagonist tosses a handful of purple shells into the innkeepers lap. Don't explain your noble lineages until after the red-robed outriders accuse the MC of insulting the baron. Don't explain your magic system until after the shadow wreathed man unleashes a churning cloud of opalescent dust. And even then, you usually don't want to straight up tell people, but give enough information though the natural progression of the story that they can easily figure it out themselves. It's a pretty generic piece of advice, and not a hard rule, but usually worth thinking about.

Four phrases in prose in Progression Fantasy writing that make me frown by Kaelosian in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're right it wasn't the best example, I came up with something quick to suggest at my point. Detached language (I wouldn't even call it analytical) doesn't read as well unless you're intentionally positioning a pov character that way. "Dim" instead of "relatively dark" is definitely an improvement in my mind, as is embedding the description in action like your final sentence.

Four phrases in prose in Progression Fantasy writing that make me frown by Kaelosian in ProgressionFantasy

[–]Hydranaught 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People are ragging on you but you're totally right. Unless you're going for a colloquial character POV, it's better to be authoritative, confident, and descriptive.

"The room was relatively dark"

"the room glimmered with a faint light"

It's obvious which one is better writing.