theparsologist:
brazenautomaton:
nostalgebraist:
91625:
nostalgebraist:
Apparently there was an MSPA newspost, and Andrew Hussie is saying he’s hoping to finish Homestuck on 4/13/2016, which he emphasizes is “the 7 year anniversary of Homestuck”
That particular number gives me a certain kind of vertigo – like, I got into Homestuck in summer 2011, and back then, when it had existed for a little over two years, basically all of the core content was already there. Act 6 contains many pages, and has taken a very long time to write, but a lot of it is just filling out templates that were established in 2009-2011. All the stuff people have argued about, all the typologies and the wild concepts, were pretty much in place five years ago.
It feels like “Homestuck” was a thing that happened a long time ago, and is now over and done with.
I wonder if Hussie likes what he’s doing with himself these days, or if he just doesn’t have the option to stop.
I have literally just started reading Homestuck (largely thanks to you, fwiw). What am I letting myself into?
Basically, it’s one of those works of serial fiction with a whole lot of great moments, plot threads and characters, that keeps stringing you along with the promise of more and more, and often actually delivers, but keeps promising even more, and then just delivers less … and less … and less … and as you get closer to what should be the thrilling conclusion it just feels like the author barely cares anymore, or is actively frustrated with having to finish the series.
The parts where it was really in full swing are Acts 1-5. Act 6 is gigantic and mostly a letdown. I’d recommend reading Acts 1-5 and at least dipping into Act 6 but putting it down if you start to feel like Act 6 is going nowhere, because it is.
(I’m honestly not sure how much any of this is controversial anymore? I was an early Act 6 hater and got into various internet arguments about it. But I think it let down everyone eventually.)
I call it “Zeno’s Paradox pacing” and stand by it
every year (let’s say), the story progresses halfway toward its end
so after a year, the story was half over. lo
after 2 years, it was 75% over.
3 years, 87.5% over.
after 4-7 years, come sweet Death.
it always seems like it’s right about to wrap up, but it never will. remember Hussie saying that act 5 was the overgrown mutant of Homestuck, that act 6 would be far shorter and act 7 barely an epilogue? we will be having this conversation in 2077.
It’s a bit like what HPMOR felt during the Self-Actualization arc back in 2011.
as i noted in harry potter and the rambling unfinished epic of rationalisation, fan fiction has the following common failure modes:
an unedited first draft (run by betas maybe, but mostly unedited)
a serial, so no-one will ever go back and fix the problems (WE’RE DOIN’ IT LIVE!)
far, far longer-winded than it should be
often
has the “writer never kills their darlings” problem, where they put in
every idea they think of, never removing the ones that don’t work so
well
the story makes all manner of literary promises the writer can’t quite work out how to deliver on
stalls at 150k-200k words as the writer realises just how many balls they have in the air
hpmor hit all of these, which is why everything after the hiatus reads like yudkowsky wrote it by hitting his head against the keyboard until the damn thing was done.
but original fiction has this problem too: homestuck hit all of these, which is why act 6 reads like hussie’s writing it by hitting his head against the graphics tablet until the damn thing’s done.
(anyone else here read the many-coloured land? first four books, pretty good! middle book, amazingly good. last three, forehead on keyboard a go go and would actually have been improved by just calling in kevin j. anderson.)
there’s quite a lot to be said for finishing your work, and for calling that the first draft, which you then edit. i wonder if it’s fear of the judgemental eye of completion that scares artists off actually declaring a thing finished.
i think @nostalgebraist did pretty clearly the right thing by steaming through to the end, thus achieving two finished works that are in fact really quite good.
music is much the same. my songs are progressively sucking less and less as i finish more stuff. (there’s a lot that isn’t up on the soundcloud because it doesn’t have words and/or a demo yet. waiting in frustrated patience for @the-arkadian‘s voice to be back in order.)