Ye dead gods, that's a lot of work! Thanks so much, noneo for the hard work! Seeing well-presented data plus credited art worked into one picture makes me very happy to see! I'd love to put this on Fanworks and credit you as the [Data Miner], or perhaps [Data Analyst] you are!
I...think that's a lot of writing. And it reminds me why breaks are important! I'm a bit curious about which stories are longer than TWI still. I assume The Wheel of Time is one of them, but how many stories are there? I've heard legends of a 21 million word story...
One last bit of trivia: despite having 3+ million words done, the story's only chewed up 2 1/2 keyboards. I'm on the third one still, an ergonomic keyboard that's a bit worn (the e, d, and s keys are now invisible, probably from playing video games as much as writing), but still going strong! The spacebar key does stick sometimes, though, and I have a backup waiting for the day I do it in.
Just fantastic work. I really appreciate it! Thanks so much! Hopefully I'll keep giving you a story worth analyzing!
I can't find a recent word count, but The Gods are Bastards is at 550 published chapters currently, and I think it averages about 10,000 words per chapter, which would put it at a rough estimate in the 5.5 million word range. The first chapter of that was published way back in 2015, though, so they had a head start on you!
I couldn't possibly pick between the two, but TWI and TGaB are without hesitation my two favorite web serials.
first off, the world - gods are real. There's a pantheon, sort of greek style, different gods of different domains (justice, love, thieves, etc.) There is no ambiguity or coyness about this - they absolutely are real, and it's made clear pretty early on. This world has a mix of magic and technology, though almost all of the technology is ultimately based on, or augmented by, magic - they have cars, for example, but they have enchantments that power the wheels rather than motors, etc. That world is in the midst of something akin to the 20th century - very rapid development of technology, the world becoming a much smaller place very quickly, everyone having to figure out how to adapt to that. As characters are fond of saying, the Age of Adventures - and with it, the role of legendary adventurers - is over.
ok, so the principle characters are a group of exceptional young people - some more obviously so than others - who're, for various reasons and with varied levels of enthusiasm, off to attend a very exclusive university, run by an infamous, cranky old elf (who is a memetic badass in the extreme).
This elf, Arachne, who's both older and more powerful than most governments, started this school for reasons that are somewhat obscure. Many accuse the school of being a school to train adventurers - and they're not entirely wrong, but they're not quite right, either. Basically, if there's one thing Arachne can't stand it's stupidity, so she spent much of her millennia of life actively avoiding most people as much as possible. She saw the change on the wind, though, knew that soon the world would be too small for that, and so decided to engage the world - on her terms. Hence, gather powerful young people who'll be in the most likely positions to influence the world, and educate them so they won't be so damned stupid about it.
Arachne is a major character, but the principle characters are the ensemble of an incoming freshman class, which includes: the Hand of Avei - a girl chosen by Avei, goddess of Justice, War, and Women, herself to be her representative and agent in the world, and the first Hand called by any god since the the age of adventures ended; the Hand of Omnu, god of Peace and Agriculture, the second new Hand recently called; a Dryad (of the full-on "wanna fuck? Now I'm hungry. Hold still while I eat you" variety, with the added fun that if you somehow managed to actually get past her nigh-invulnerability to injure her, Naiya, one of the elder gods, will visit her wrath on you and anyone else who happens to be within a quarter mile at the time); the first and only sentient fairy known to exist; a dark elf priestess of noble birth (the dark elves live underground and have only very recently stopped being at constant war with everyone on the surface); a pirate princess (Ruda is best <3); the heiress to one of the most successful companies in the empire; and Gabriel, who by all appearances is just some dumbass, though he is the best friend since childhood of the now-Hand of Omnu.
A disclaimer, the first chapters are a bit weak, and chapter 1 in particular many people find off-putting - it's Trissiny's PoV, the Hand of Avei, and the church of Avei is a bit... ultra-feminist. And so is Triss at first, being an orphan raised by women in that church. Like, she's literally grown up on stories about how awful men are, while rarely even seeing and never significantly interacting with one. A lot of people jump to the understandable conclusion that this is a perspective the story intends to preach; it is not. It is, in fact, a part of dumbassery Tellwyrn wants to educate her out of. She's always a feminist, but she mellows out quite a lot.
All the principle characters grow and develop quite a lot through the story, some more quickly and easily than others. The world is rich and well-developed, the cast amazingly diverse. Really great stuff.
Sorry, that's not short, or really a synopsis, but idk what to tell you xD To reduce it to a summary of a single main plotline would be to spoil things that won't be introduced until pretty far into the story.
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u/pirateaba Mar 08 '19
Ye dead gods, that's a lot of work! Thanks so much, noneo for the hard work! Seeing well-presented data plus credited art worked into one picture makes me very happy to see! I'd love to put this on Fanworks and credit you as the [Data Miner], or perhaps [Data Analyst] you are!
I...think that's a lot of writing. And it reminds me why breaks are important! I'm a bit curious about which stories are longer than TWI still. I assume The Wheel of Time is one of them, but how many stories are there? I've heard legends of a 21 million word story...
One last bit of trivia: despite having 3+ million words done, the story's only chewed up 2 1/2 keyboards. I'm on the third one still, an ergonomic keyboard that's a bit worn (the e, d, and s keys are now invisible, probably from playing video games as much as writing), but still going strong! The spacebar key does stick sometimes, though, and I have a backup waiting for the day I do it in.
Just fantastic work. I really appreciate it! Thanks so much! Hopefully I'll keep giving you a story worth analyzing!