6.4 KiB
[rt-ish] Almost Like Wearing Nothing At All Part 1
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Author: u/logic11 *
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URL: http://dreamtime.logic11.com/index.php/2016/06/05/almost-like-wearing-nothing-at-all/
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Score: 30
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Created: 2016-06-05T13:58:55
Post:
Comments:
u/noggin-scratcher [+11] I am a happy tree (an hour later)
he drew his sword from his back. It got snagged. They always did… why in hell anyone carried them that way baffled Tanya
Immediate flashbacks to this ever-excellent youtuber
u/None [+5] (4 hours later)
I've not clicked the link yet. Who is it, Lindybeige or Skallagrim?
u/noggin-scratcher [+9] I am a happy tree (4 hours later)
Lindybeige
Yup. Not familiar with Skallagrim though; I assume he covers a similar subject matter?
u/None [+2] (5 hours later)
Particularly historical martial arts and weapons.
u/logic11 [+1] (6 hours later)
I have to confess, I am a fan...
u/logic11 [+10] (5 minutes later)
So, this story is RT-ish. I will happily remove it if people don't like it, but I thought that one piece of it qualifies it for inclusion.
The world has rules, but is fairly arbitrary. The rules are solid, the reason for the rules is that those are the rules that work for this story.
Most people accept the rules, without thinking about them.
Them main character does not accept all of the rules. There is one specific rule that she has taken issue with, and now she's trying to work around it. That is the central premise of the story.
The rules are old school fantasy tropes. That's it. Everyone in the story is living in an 80's fantasy world. Women wear minimal armour, chain mail bikinis and the like. Flash sword work is common. Warriors are big and buff. Berserkers exist. Much of this world makes no sense, none at all.
Tanya Fireborn, our heroine, just wants a suit of armour that covers the majority of her body - this is the tale of her quest to make that happen. It is going to be a 4 part serial it looks like. The plan is 10K words and I'm on schedule to hit that.
u/Chronophilia [+5] sci-fi ≠ futurology (56 minutes later)
So, this story is RT-ish. I will happily remove it if people don't like it, but I thought that one piece of it qualifies it for inclusion.
Yep, you're definitely in the right subreddit. I'd have put it in the [DC] tag. People poking logical holes in the rules of fantasy worlds is really funny when it's done like this.
u/AmeteurOpinions [+5] Finally, everyone was working together. (3 hours later)
I giggled a bit, but man, that is a weak ending.
u/logic11 [+2] (5 hours later)
It's part 1... there's another 8000 words to go.
u/AmeteurOpinions [+5] Finally, everyone was working together. (5 hours later)
No, I understand that part. It's just a bland stopping point.
u/logic11 [+1] (6 hours later)
Oh, yeah... it was what I had written at that point. I've done quite a bit more since then, over 6K now...
u/None [+1] (4 hours later)
Part one out of four, I think.
u/chaosmosis [+2] and with strange aeons, even death may die (14 hours later)
The only reason we've been given to like the main character is that everyone around her is a jerk. It would be nice if she had merits of her own demonstrated other than being immune to genre conventions.
It's hard to believe the premise while simultaneously seeing the protagonist as someone with meaningful agency. I think she would have sooner gone into battle wearing leather than near nothing. If she is powerless to change the minds of the bigots around her, that is still a form of powerlessness. Why not get more violent with the blacksmith, if he is putting her life in jeopardy with that armor? Or why not pull an Alanna the Lioness, in order to trick someone into giving her armor? It feels pretty forced. She's too passive off the battlefield and too active on it. I feel like you've given her superpowers in the form of the ability to defy genre conventions, and she uses them to be a dick to random soldiers rather than anything meaningful. If there is some in universe reason in her character or past you chose to give her this pattern of behavior, you should share it near the beginning so the reader can sympathize with the heroine properly. Is she hero, antihero, conflicted, or what? Should I judge her by the traditional standards of older misogynist fantasy, or with the better newer standards? It feels like you haven't decided on that point yet, because judging by enlightened modern attitudes while I agree with her independence I am inclined to judge her negatively for cheating against such hapless mooks. It's as if she were murdering tiny soldier puppies while bragging about her street smarts. At least give me a reason to hate her enemies first. Even in rationalist fiction, the protagonist should not be the savviest person in every room. Challenges should match capabilities. But she only goes for the sure thing victories, judging by her actions so far, and this will make for boring reading.
Sorry if these sentences don't flow together well, am writing on mobile.
u/logic11 [+1] (21 hours later)
Well, there's a lot more coming. The challenges are bigger, and there is an explanation why she doesn't just wear leather armour (although that is near the end - please just take it as a given that for some reason she can't).
As to her being the savviest person in the room, she is. She sees the fantasy tropes for what they are, while everyone else accepts them as essential to reality.
u/Kishoto [+1] (14 hours later)
Seems fairly interesting. Tanya is definitely coming off as the only sane
manwomanIt's a fairly short serial too, I'll definitely be eager to read more.
u/logic11 [+1] (a day later)
Nice. Always glad to hear someone is enjoying something I wrote.
u/Kishoto [+1] (a day later)
Wanna quid pro quo me on my submission for this week's challenge? It's a Worm fic and I'm a bit rusty (haven't seriously competed in the challenge for a few months now)
u/logic11 [+1] (a day later)
Sure, happy to.