scrape_r_rational/data/cache/2rcs9f.md

Mother of Learning Chapter 31: Marked

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• u/nytelios:

  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:

    >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:

      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:

      http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/wormverse-ideas-recs-and-fic-discussion-thread-39.310173/page-3#post-15076005
      
      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:

        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:

          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:

            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:

              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:

          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:

            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:

            I emailed patreon about croatian visa cards, they said they are fine as long as they have three numbers on the back.
            

            • u/nobody103:

              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:

                [removed]
                

                • u/nobody103:

                  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/nytelios:

          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:

            http://www.patreon.com/legal
            
            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:

          https://www.patreon.com/nobody103?u=508524
          
          He made a patreon.
          

    • u/nytelios:

      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/Nepene:

  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:

  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:

    I'm pretty sure that Kael would be up for it, at least.
    

    • u/Lugnut1206:

      Kael could possibly pull it off too.
      

  • u/LucidityWaver:

    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:

      But the earlier you bring another person in, the more powerful they have the potential of becoming.
      

      • u/Nepene:

        It's high risk, high reward, and Zorian isn't into high risks.
        

    • u/mhd-hbd:

      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:

      It rewinds everything except the people marked, it should be less expansive the more people you invite.
      

• u/mhd-hbd:

  This is an amazing story. Keep up the good work!
  

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