Reading Recommendations: Worm · 7:50am Mar 9th, 2015
i think I've referred to this story a few times before, and since it's been such a huge influence on me in terms of my writing I thought I'd do a proper recommendation for it.
(Note: This is not fanfiction. This is an original story in an original universe. No ponies involved. Sorry if that's not your thing, but you really should branch out a bit more.)
I've now been sitting here for about half an hour just trying to think of some way to explain why it is that Worm is just so god damn amazing, but I don't think that's the way to go about it. Even telling you why I like it would spoil too much. No, I think this is something that the reader should go into as blind as possible.
In fact, there are only two words I will use to describe it:
Epic, and smart.
Oh, and long. Very long.
I'll let you figure out what I mean by that. In the mean time, have a link!
https://parahumans.wordpress.com/table-of-contents/
Sorry if that's less information than you'd like, but I really believe this story is something you should read without my interpretations getting in your way.
Just one caveat: I don't generally believe in Trigger Warnings (because frankly, I don't believe it's a writer's job to make sure no one is offended by their writing) but in this case I would like to be very clear: If you have an aversion to intense violence, bullying, or bugs, you're probably gonna want to sit this one out. This is a fantastic story, but it does not pull its punches.
And there are a lot of bugs.
Ah, that monster.
Strangely enough, I tend to read fanfics of it more than the actual story, and enough of it to infer the crap that happens in the main timeline.
2862370 I've found many people who do the same.
And... if you want my honest opinion, it kinda bugs me. Because it's a great story, and yeah, the fanfics are great too, but very few of them are as great as the original. You might end up knowing all the stuff that happens, but it's the delivery, in part, that makes it all worth reading.
While I enjoy many of the fanfics, very few of them manage to be faithful to the source. The only one I can think of off the top of my head that really managed it is Cenotaph (and I guess A Cloudy Path is pretty close, in a way), but other than that, they're all very different stories. Not necessarily inferior, but different.
I guess it's the length barrier that stops most people from reading it. Ah well.
I'll have to check that out then, I've actually been looking for a good extremely long story to immerse myself in.
I don't think I'll have a problem with the violence as long as it isn't there just for the sake of being incredibly gory to get a cheap shock reaction from the audience like Cupcakes.
2865361 Not in the slightest, though the violence (and occasionally the gore) are present, they're not just cheap attention grabbers.