12 KiB
Mother of Learning Chapter 31: Marked
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Author: u/josephwdye I love you*
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URL: https://www.fictionpress.com/s/2961893/31/Mother-of-Learning
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Score: 40
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Created: 2015-01-05T01:34:15
Post:
Comments:
u/nytelios [+13] (an hour later)
Read everything in one shot up to Chapter 30 and enjoyed it immensely. Mother of Learning is better than a lot of published fantasy out there in terms of consistent, interesting world building, character development and just plain meticulous planning (e.g. all that building up to the Sister Effect was simply glorious, literary orgasm). Anyways, it's almost criminally underappreciated on online forums where people are aware of it.
To the author, nobody103, who's known to lurk here (ღ˘⌣˘ღ):
Have you considered publishing it?
I understand it may be for your own creative enjoyment as an author and avid reader/player of fantasy books/games, but it's such a beautiful, well-cultivated story and it would be a shame to see such a hidden gem stay obscure.
Regarding publishing, I'm not sure how Mother of Learning fits into any niche, since it reads a lot like a Japanese light novel with the casual narration, but there isn't much of a market outside Japan for those. However, even though light novel writing is often lacking, they have quite a cult following. Maybe this is the work to propel such a medium into popularity for Western fantasy lovers?!
In short, regardless of whether you have publishing aspirations, just want to say I love your work. Thank you so much for spinning and sharing your imaginative tale!
u/nobody103 [+9] (20 hours later)
Have you considered publishing it?
Well yes. But I don't know anything about publishing and I'm afraid I'll waste a great deal of time and nerves on something that has little to no return. I had intended to write all three arcs and then see whether publishing the finished work is worth it.
Also, thanks for the compliments!
u/gommm [+6] (22 hours later)
If you publish it later as an ebook, I'll definitely buy it! I really enjoy reading it and look forward to each installments.
u/Nepene [+6] (a day later)
Wildbow, an independent author who I obsessively follow the works of and support financially, noted the sort of things he saw as valuable for whether a work would have a good return. Being at the top of some site, a regular patreon audience, having a large mailing list.
Those sort of things which are fairly low maintenance timewise do build up over time, are worth thinking about. If you have them passively working through the three arcs you'll be better able to make a choice at the end. If there are 500 people on your mailing list who will buy anything you put out that makes selling stories a lot easier and more likely to be worth time and nerves. If you have 2, probably not.
u/mpdaugherty [+6] (a day later)
I would support a Patreon for Mother of Learning: $2.50/chapter?
This is assuming that a monetary incentive doesn't make the story take longer and the chapters don't go down in quality or length. Adding extrinsic motivation sometimes reduces intrinsic motivation and may reduce your creativity and pleasure in writing, so you'd have to let us know if you would appreciate this.
u/Nepene [+3] (a day later)
I likewise would be happy to support a patreon for MoL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overjustification_effect
I suppose that's possible. I don't really know how the author feels about writing. Do they enjoy it, dread it? Ideally I'd hope they enjoy it, and money would just be for their personal enjoyment or life issues. Regardless, with patreon it's a constant reward so hopefully any instrinsic+extrinsic reward total won't be substantially reduced.
u/mpdaugherty [+2] (a day later)
Ah - by "you" I meant nobody103. I also don't really know how the author feels, so I figured he/she would just have to tell us.
Regardless, if nobody103 sets up a Patreon page, I'll definitely support.
u/Nepene [+2] (a day later)
I know, I was adding my support to the idea of a patreon, not saying that you needed my appreciation to do it, and noting the issues you talked about with motivation so others who were curious would have less work to do to understand what you meant.
u/nobody103 [+3] (2 days later)
I'm pretty sure I would appreciate monetary rewards, and I don't see it reducing my motivation to write. I've heard Patreon, but only recently. I'll have to check up on it, I'm not sure how it handles payments to Croatian banks.
u/Nepene [+5] (2 days later)
You need a visa card, mastercard, american express card (not american press start for students), diner's club card or a few card other types i doubt you have access to like a Japanese JCB card, a mostly USA Discover card, or paypal. Then you can link your visa to patreon and it should pay straight to your whatever bank account.
Basically, get a multinational American card to do the work for you.
u/Nepene [+2] (5 days later)
I emailed patreon about croatian visa cards, they said they are fine as long as they have three numbers on the back.
u/nobody103 [+3] (29 days later)
Not sure if you care, but I just wanted to notify you that I finally got off my ass and made a Patreon account. You can find it here: https://www.patreon.com/nobody103?u=508524
Thank you for for the advice and support in this.
u/None [+3] (30 days later)
[removed]
u/nobody103 [+9] (a month later)
No, thank you. A few days ago, when I was setting up my account, I had several people tell me that paying anything for a story they can read for free is stupid, and that I'm stupid for trying it. Thanks to you and the other 5 people who donated, I can feel smug at their failed predictions of doom and gloom.
u/Nepene [+1] (29 days later)
You're welcome. I pledged.
u/what_deleted_said [+1] (5 months later)
Hey. MoL chapter 35: "not really a small think you are asking for." Was that intentional?
edit:also, "His immediately fired"
edit:"he felt the felt the alien minds"
chapter 36
"other things which were"
"matriarch felt he they"
"only web I know off"
u/nobody103 [+2] (5 months later)
Was that intentional?
Nope. A typo.
Thanks for that, by the way. All typos that are pointed out to me are recorded in a special document and eventually corrected when I find the time.
u/nytelios [+2] (a day later)
I'm not sure about the implications of Patreon funding. Does it limit opportunities to later publish the work? e.g. exclusively under Patreon.
Patreon sounds like a service for artists who need to support themselves financially to continue their work. nobody103 sounds like he's doing it for fun in his free time. It might also downplay the quality of Mother of Learning by shooting for incremental earnings when there is a large market out there for the fantasy genre.
Overall, I don't know enough about Patreon and its advantages/disadvantages, but I'd definitely support the work!
u/Nepene [+3] (2 days later)
I think they have the right to use your content in promotional stuff, but you retain rights to it.
You don't actually have to submit any content to patreon anyway. You can set it to pay you monthly.
u/Nepene [+2] (29 days later)
https://www.patreon.com/nobody103?u=508524
He made a patreon.
u/nytelios [+2] (a day later)
Ah, I see. That is a real concern if you're new to the industry and it does seem much more reasonable to wait until it's done before soliciting an editor/publisher. Very happy to hear there's a chance though!
Will try to ask some editor friends for their opinion.
u/OutOfNiceUsernames [+1] fear of last pages (5 months later)
Man, it’s so awesome to be able to directly communicate with the book’s author themselves!
Your story and your writing style are delightfully good — especially your descriptions of the aranea, their body language and gesticulations.
I’ve also marked some ~150 typos and minor error throughout the text, and if you want, I can send them to you through fictionpress.
u/nobody103 [+1] (5 months later)
Thanks. And yes, you can send me the typos that way... but fictionpress messaging is rather messed up (they censor a whole bunch of things) so I'd prefer you did it directly to my email address if possible. I'll send you a PM with the email address so it's not out in the open for every spammer to add to their database.
u/OutOfNiceUsernames [+1] fear of last pages (5 months later)
it reads a lot like a Japanese light novel
It has some parallels with All You Need Is Kill / Edge of Tomorrow.
u/Nepene [+7] (an hour later)
We are getting into the details. Some infectious tracking spell on their souls. I do like the two new characters too. A badass priest and a monstrous transformer.
The magic is quite fun too. I like the ideas of how it works, of there being some cost for whatever effect that can be reduced by changing it's properties. It's a much more detailed and rational magic system.
Also, I've finished the basic system of my MOL roleplay game. It is actually theoretically playable now. It also has lots of character and place names in it for reference.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/251688546/Mol
While without internet I did lots of work on it.
u/daydev [+6] (6 hours later)
I think Zorian now has a method to "invite" other people into the loop. If I understand correctly, all he needs to do is implant the target with a tiny fragment of his soul, the marker will spread and mark the person for the hypothetical looping spell.
Although, having a magical marker of unknown origin and unclear purpose infect your soul may raise some objections.
u/GeeJo [+4] Custom Flair (6 hours later)
I'm pretty sure that Kael would be up for it, at least.
u/Lugnut1206 [+3] (16 hours later)
Kael could possibly pull it off too.
u/LucidityWaver [+3] (8 hours later)
I'd be concerned that adding more people would be a greater drain on the hypothetical looping spell. Possibly a good idea closer to the end for additional firepower and protection, but potentially catastrophic if premature.
u/literal-hitler [+7] (a day later)
But the earlier you bring another person in, the more powerful they have the potential of becoming.
u/Nepene [+7] (2 days later)
It's high risk, high reward, and Zorian isn't into high risks.
u/mhd-hbd [+3] Writes 'The World is Your Oyster, The Universe is Your Namesake' (2 days later)
If the looping spell is stateless, I.E. rewinds itself, then there is no problem. There should be no reason not to design the spell that way.
u/ajuc [+3] (2 days later)
It rewinds everything except the people marked, it should be less expansive the more people you invite.
u/mhd-hbd [+2] Writes 'The World is Your Oyster, The Universe is Your Namesake' (2 days later)
This is an amazing story. Keep up the good work!