## [RT][HF] The Good Student - Chapter Thirty Seven * Author: u/Veedrac * * URL: http://gravitytales.com/novel/the-good-student/tgs-chapter-37 * Score: 38 * Created: 2017-11-12T23:43:44 ### Post: [Link to content](http://gravitytales.com/novel/the-good-student/tgs-chapter-37) ### Comments: > **u/Veedrac** [+7] (10 hours later) > > > Dizzy held the librarian’s gaze for a full minute without speaking. > > ...This is figurative, right? > > > There very well maybe > > "may be" > **u/cyberdsaiyan** [+3] (9 hours later) > > So Dizzy can control the wraiths too, surprising. And hopefully Nick isn't too much of a mess when she finds him. > **u/Noumero** [+4] *Self-Appointed Court Statistician* (11 hours later) > > Hmm. It's weird how Davo and Fanny keep insisting that Nic is hiding of his own free will, after everything they've been through, considering what happened to Simole, and knowing that they know Nic is haunted by a demon. *Too* weird. Are they trying to get rid of Dizzy, as per Nic's adamant "under no circumstances she is to be involved" order, or is something even more weird going on? > > ___ > > >If nothing else, it had been an excellent lesson in humility. He had entered the dragon’s lair as though he was a mighty warrior, worthy of the challenge. But he was a fool. A child. > > u/mooderino, I think this sentiment has been expressed enough times. > > >Even if he’d got here in time, what could he have done? It had been a stupid, childish idea. He didn’t have any power, no special abilities, no source of supernatural strength. There were certainly people like that in the world <...>, but he wasn’t one. He wasn’t special. — *Chapter 20* > > # > > >He was no match. He was a child pitted against adults. <...> Realisation of his own folly and lack of ability took him away from whatever the demon and the Archmage were talking about. It didn’t seem very important to him. — *Chapter 28* > > # > > >Nic knew he was embroiled in affairs far beyond his control. His role was only important in as far as his connection to the people who were the true players on the stage. He felt both a fraud and an unworthy participant in such momentous events. — *Chapter 30* > > # > > >He wasn’t foolish enough to think the reason he had become the focal point for such strange happenings was due to him. It wasn’t he who was special, it was the school itself, he had just been the one to unearth it. — *Chapter 35* > > It's understandable that the plot so far somewhat traumatized Nic and made him feel powerless, but maybe decrease the amount of explicit descriptions of it? At least to me, it creates an impression of "trying too hard", as if Nic/the author is trying to convince himself/the readers that Nic is totally not special, nuh-uh, right before the Grand Reveal that Nic is special and extremely talented. (Which is I'm pretty sure not the intent, but still.) >> **u/mooderino** [+10] *The Good Student* (13 hours later) >> >> This is one of the issues of writing a serial. It’s difficult to judge how vague/heavy-handed I’m being other than by going on reader response. If I had the liberty of rewriting and editing, it would read a lot smoother. >> >> But readers are a mixed bag, and I get opposing criticisms and advice all the time. >> So, if I write a scene where a door is locked, and in the next scene a character walks through the door, some readers will point out the error, not thinking it’s intentional. >> >> I can counter this by having the character say, “Wasn’t this locked earlier…” but then it’s like putting a neon sign over it, Look, important and it annoys readers who got it already. >> >> And there’s the third possibility, which is that I genuinely did make a mistake. >> >> Recently I’ve been getting a lot of people finding Nic to be passive and not worthy of being the MC. Which is okay if they don’t like the direction I’m taking, but it’s annoying when they don’t acknowledge it’s a deliberate choice on my part. I tend to underline and put it in bold to make a point, which is probably not the best move, but it’s tricky to find the right balance when I’m writing so many different things and also trying to sort out irl stuff. >> >> You’re right to point out the redundancy (and I appreciate it) and I will be more wary of doing it again, but it will properly crop up in relation to some other element of the story. What I really need is an assistant to help me keep everything in order. But first, of course, I will be hiring a monkey butler. >>> **u/Noumero** [+7] *Self-Appointed Court Statistician* (a day later) >>> >>> Well, I apologize, but I can't help but blame your choice of readership for it. If I understand correctly, gravitytales.com and royalroadl.com are notorious for their wish-fulfilment stories about overpowered MCs, which I imagine are usually also lacking in depth. Your comments about their feedback only confirm it: Nic *explicitly thought* about his lack of ability and power multiple times, he discussed it with Fanny and Davo, there were jokes about it, his uninterest in studying magic is important to the plot, etc. Your analogue doesn't fit: it's not a small detail akin to a closed door, it's a long-established plot point. If people still complain about it as if it's something new, I think it shows poor reading comprehension, which is a problem with the readers, not a problem with the story. >>> >>> ... Hm, okay, that last sentence was somewhat meaningless. If a story is intended for a certain kind of readers and doesn't work for them, it *is* a problem with the story. What I meant to say is that perhaps the story you want to tell is not the story meant for the audience you're likely to gather where you're publishing. >>> >>> Take this subreddit as a counterexample. Nobody here complains about Nic, they only sometimes complain about the seeming lack of plot direction. >>>> **u/panchoadrenalina** [+1] (2 days later) >>>> >>>> my only complaint is not plot direction, simply because moody has earned a bit of writer's trust, my complaint is that early nic was very driven and motivated, he "protaged" a lot, lately he has become much more passive and that is a bit jarring. >>>>> **u/Noumero** [+5] *Self-Appointed Court Statistician* (2 days later) >>>>> >>>>> I think it's reasonable character progression. Remember, his various attempts at being proactive ended up, in order, with the person he pursued rejecting him, with his friend physically dead and himself haunted by a demon, with him surrounded by mages ready to kill him, and lately, with him trapped underground waiting to be sacrificed. Even before, a lot of his proactivity was allowed by Simole's presence: if not for her, Prince Leovek et al. would've likely succeed in shutting down his various plots, such as remedial classes or setting up the pace of studying. >>>>> >>>>> Frankly, I think he is being as productive as could be expected, given the circumstances. He leverages his main strength (studying) to learn about demons, and (tries to) use situational advantages (demon in his head) to aid with it. It's a situation that rarely appears in stories, and I'm very interested in where the plot would go with it. >>> **u/ben_oni** [+3] (21 hours later) >>> >>> It's also difficult reading serials. When I read a finished story front to back (or back to front, as the case may be), it's all whole in my mind at once. When I get a chapter each week or so, it becomes difficult to keep track of details. Even larger plot points slip away. The point with the (un)locked door? When reading serially, I *need* that neon sign. When I'm reading it all at once, it becomes heavy-handed. I don't know the solution to this. >>> >>> (And when reading serial fanfiction, the problems are compounded even more, because the details get confused with canon and every other fanfic I've ever read. I read one HP fanfic where the writer was determined not to make Rowling's mistake and to make sure Flint graduated, specifically mentioning he wasn't on the quidditch team. And a few chapters later, there he is, team captain.) > **u/ajuc** [+2] (2 days later) > > Does anybody else have a problem with the site being very resource intensive? I've tried chrome and firefox on windows, and firefox on linux, and it uses whole 1 processor core. >> **u/Veedrac** [+4] (2 days later) >> >> Yes, this website is awful. I suggest using an adblocker. This bookmarklet also seems to help: >> >> javascript:(function(){var newSS, styles='* { background: black ! important; color: white !important } :link, :link * { color: #0000EE%20!important%20}%20:visited,%20:visited%20*%20{%20color:%20#551A8B%20!important%20}';%20if(document.createStyleSheet)%20{%20document.createStyleSheet("javascript:'"+styles+"'");%20}%20else%20{%20newSS=document.createElement('link');%20newSS.rel='stylesheet';%20newSS.href='data:text/css,'+escape(styles);%20document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(newSS);%20}%20})(); >> **u/ansible** [+1] *The Culture* (3 days later) >> >> Yes, reading this site on my phone was *killing* my battery life. I switched to using Firefox (for Android) and installed an ad blocker and something to stop all javascript, but that didn't seem to help much. > **u/ajuc** [+2] (3 days later) > > The ending of the nested story reminds me of the poem "Power of Taste" by Zbigniew Herbert: > > It didn't require great character at all > our refusal disagreement and resistance > we had a shred of necessary courage > but fundamentally it was a matter of taste > Yes taste > in which there are fibers of soul the cartilage of conscience > > Who knows if we had been better and more attractively tempted > sent rose-skinned women thin as a wafer > or fantastic creatures from the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch > but what kind of hell was there at this time > a wet pit the murderers' alley the barrack > called a palace of justice > a home-brewed Mephisto in a Lenin jacket > sent Aurora's grandchildren out into the field > boys with potato faces > very ugly girls with red hands > > Verily their rhetoric was made of cheap sacking > (Marcus Tullius kept turning in his grave) > chains of tautologies a couple of concepts like flails > the dialectics of slaughterers no distinctions in reasoning > syntax deprived of beauty of the subjunctive > > So aesthetics can be helpful in life > one should not neglect the study of beauty > > Before we declare our consent we must carefully examine > the shape of the architecture the rhythm of the drums and pipes > official colors the despicable ritual of funerals > > Our eyes and ears refused obedience > the princes of our senses proudly chose exile > > It did not require great character at all > we had a shred of necessary courage > but fundamentally it was a matter of taste > Yes taste > that commands us to get out to make a wry face draw out a sneer > even if for this the precious capital of the body the head > must fall > > Translation by John and Bogdana Carpenter > http://pgrnair.blogspot.com/2012/07/power-of-taste.html > > It's about communist regime, but works for other too. > **u/nick012000** [+1] (6 hours later) > > LOL, that bit at the very end. Teenage boys will be teenage boys, I guess. > **u/Noumero** [+1] *Self-Appointed Court Statistician* (11 hours later) > > u/mooderino, typos: > > >inspected every nook and **crannie** > > \* cranny > > >“**You’re** undivided attention,” said Dizzy. > > \* Your > > >There very well **maybe**, Miss Delcroix > > \* may be > > >“**Summons** the reserves.” > > \* Summon >> **u/mooderino** [+1] *The Good Student* (13 hours later) >> >> Cheers, fixed. >>> **u/Noumero** [+1] *Self-Appointed Court Statistician* (2 days later) >>> >>> In Chapter 15, a jarring one: >>> >>> >They had multiple ways of stopping **mallory** from reaching the Royal College >>> >>> \* Mallory >>>> **u/mooderino** [+1] *The Good Student* (2 days later) >>>> >>>> Cheers; fixed. > **u/SatelliteFool** [+1] (5 days later) > > So I love this story. I love this chapter and I (from what I've seen so far) love the characters. It might have even overtaken Worm for me. Which is *insane* because I fucking love worm. > > I know that Nic's 'unimportance' is brought up with enough frequently used that some people might find it annoying, but then, I always sort of figured that *that was the point*. Nobody around Nic can seem to stop reminding him just how incidental he is to the plot and that, despite his best efforts thus far, he hasn't really been able to clear that bar in any way that might give him some sense of self worth. I'm not annoyed at yet another reminder as to how helpless Nic is. I'm annoyed *with Nic* that the world has chosen to remind him how helpless he is. There's a palpable frustration that builds up every time this happens and I'm desperately looking forward to it's culmination. The "fuck it. I don't care how worthless people think I am. I am *not a bystander*." Or something like that anyway. > > Funny thing, the only people to actually consider his agency are those who *know* him. Davo, Fanny and (to a lesser extent) our odd boy out, are actually sort of terrified of Nic. Hell, when Davo jokes about Nic being able to take a demon, he doesn't actually seem like he was entirely joking. Even Dizzy's looking at him twice and she's literally a teenaged spymaster. > > Anyway, I'm done gushing. Looking forward to the next chapter! ---