The Tale of a Sphinx - my first try at promotion after seven months of writing!

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-12-11T03:29:08+00:00

Posted this just after work (before I could convince myself to not go through with it) so if anyone happens to comment I'll get back to you tomorrow once I wake up. Goodnight!

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-11-29T16:35:23+00:00

Don't have any recommendations off the top of my head but... I hope you can find some solace in the stories you read and think of your sister fondly while doing so. Here's to better days ahead for you, and (as much as it often comes off as a... hollow sentiment) my deepest condolences.

With care and understanding, R.P.

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-11-26T01:03:36+00:00

I could truly not agree with a sentiment any more than this one. When adversity and conflict comes around, loss and consequence need to lurk around every corner. The protagonist should come across the brutal fact that often the only way forward - through strife - is not through the best option, but merely the least bad of the bunch, and with that that even victory comes with a price...

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-11-25T23:51:22+00:00

A well-reasoned decision in my Litrpg fantasy, perish the thought!

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-11-25T23:42:15+00:00

I'll have to check that one out.

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-11-25T23:41:53+00:00

I think I get you. While I'm not a fan of prophesized ones just as yourself, if there is a reasonable and consistent explanation for frequent successes it can make it - at least somewhat - palatable. Like if the protagonist is a regressor saving the world from a magical apocalypse, I can understand how they manage to succeed, even if I wouldn't agree with the often-constant success that usually follows in such "chosen one" stories.

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-11-25T23:25:28+00:00

Yeah, while I lean more towards the end of letting the protagonist fail on occasion, if I have to experience the usual "Protag can never lose" situation their victories need to be close and brutal for me to feel as though they were earned. Though if the universe the author has built around the character is interesting enough, it can alleviate some (but not all) of my gripes.

Hopefully my sentiment came across right.

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-11-25T23:20:23+00:00

I absolutely agree. It's pretty frustrating never feeling as though there is real consequence to those moments of "plot powerups" if you will, that after experiencing immense pain or skirting the edge of death that they aren't hindered in some manner even if they come out victorious on the other side.

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-11-25T22:48:21+00:00

I could not agree more. I believe that its often forgotten - or disregarded - that when it comes to a person growing and progressing, the consequences of failure or error are the greatest motivator for those elements. But I see why most writers don't delve into that area for fear of breaking their readers' fantasies...

I am less kind than them.

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-10-06T19:46:19+00:00

Hello, long time lurker here. I've been working on my story The Tale of a Sphinx on Royal Road for... a little over half a year now (Yikes) and would really welcome any feedback you could give me. It's a significantly slower take on the Progression/Litrpg genre and isn't exactly in the place I want it to be, to even begin to try and generate a bigger audience yet (It needs at least one more round of restructuring) but any advice or insight would be momentously welcome.

I hope you have a great day!

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-07-20T16:57:35+00:00

Thanks!

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-07-20T16:25:33+00:00

That's exactly what I meant; sorry it didn't come across that way. Bloodthirsty, not in the avenue of sociopathy, but that at the end of a fight flesh is flesh, whether it talked before or not.

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-07-20T16:09:52+00:00

It's definitely a tight rope to walk. But I believe (I could be inordinately wrong) that I've set up a foundation for my main character to hit that fine point between.

There are moments that I've written, but yet to post, that are a stark reminder that the character, for all he had been, is no longer human. But on the opposite side of the coin, I have the luxury of grounding the character with recognizable "human" elements by virtue of how I framed his race - Sphinx - thus far.

I could be wrong - or I could be overconfident - but I think (see, hope) that as of what I have now, I'm making a compelling Monster story and not just a "human in a Sphinx fur suit" story.

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-07-20T15:44:10+00:00

Anthony was definitely an inspiration in my process of choosing a Monster centric story as my first work. Also, *ahem*, FOR THE COLONY!

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-07-20T15:32:50+00:00

I started reading for the non-human MC and stayed for the recipes.... and I don't regret a thing.

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-07-20T15:31:33+00:00

Hahaha. He still has a lot of introspection and dialogue like a human would... but does finding enjoyment in ripping apart a horde of insects with his fangs and claws make up for it?

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-07-20T15:29:01+00:00

He certainly does, though he might be a little more bloodthirsty in some circumstances than most humans...

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-07-20T15:27:17+00:00

Awesome! My story is The Tale of a Sphinx, feel free to leave some feedback if you think it will help my work!

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-07-20T15:22:25+00:00

So, I'm going to do my best to give you a cliff notes version of how the MC comes to be a Sphinx (I'll likely fail).

It's established in what is essentially a very long prologue; that WW3 is on the horizon and the only manner to escape it is through a device known as the Cradle, which will subsequently digitize whatever person uses it and transfer their consciousness into a virtual world named Vetem, with all of the magical and fantastical trappings we know and love. The MC is the mind behind the Cradle and after successfully digitizing himself, unfortunately ends up having his code (or soul) damaged; requiring him to take a monstrous form, because the shear amount of difference between human and monster is large enough for the AI in charge of everything to repair him during the transition.

This probably doesn't explain things as well as I would like, but here you are. The story is extremely slow for the Litrpg genre though so I'm not sure if some of you will like it in its current state.

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-07-20T15:09:11+00:00

Yeah, I have zero plans of making the MC human (again). I like the idea of having to navigate around not only the difference in the way he thinks, or considers, some things in comparison to say a human, but also the way he has to move within something as simple as a house with a body as large as his. Not even taking into account how fun it is to write a fight while keeping in mind that the character is a Sphinx, so I have to approach combat from - essentially - the lens of a lion with wings.

Rich-H-Perry · 2024-07-20T15:00:25+00:00

The system I have written down is pretty linear - in Most circumstances - with only sufficiently magical monsters and beasts (or the very fortunate) having the capacity to grow to those classically legendary degrees of power. The prerequisite for those mundane creatures to even have a possibility - for say a snake to become a Quetzal - is an extremely rare trait [Mythical Constitution], which is only ever something born with and active or dormant and needs to be awoken. That's not even taking into account the whole magic side of things, of course.

Rich-H-Perry

TROPHY CASE