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A Day of Very Low Probability

Discussion in 'Tilted Art, Photography, Music & Literature' started by Street Pattern, Mar 18, 2015.

  1. Street Pattern

    Street Pattern Very Tilted

    I found this very amusing ...

    Read the rest at Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality | Petunia married a professor, and Harry grew up reading science and science fiction.
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2015
  2. rogue49

    rogue49 Tech Kung Fu Artist Staff Member

    Location:
    Baltimore/DC
    interesting....I don't what to think.
    what have others thought who have rad thru the whole thing??
     
  3. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    Given that it's 122 chapters long, I'll pass. My HP fanfic days are long over and done.
     
  4. Taliesin

    Taliesin Slightly Tilted

    Location:
    Western Australia
    Wow! I followed the link and there are over 100 chapters so far, I'll have to go back later when i have time. Thanks for sharing @Street Pattern that little excerpt has whet my appetite.
     
  5. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    The author's note at the end of chapter 122 declares that that is officially the end.

    I don't want to know the word count.

    One of the problems I have with fanfiction in general is that writers get really wrapped up in posting chapters. They write these stories a chapter at a time, and in doing so, lose sight of producing a good, coherent narrative. While I'm not saying that is the case here, I wouldn't be surprised if it were. Consider that a novel is about 75k to 100k. When I see a fanfic that clocks in at 300, it makes me wonder if that person considers themselves George RR Martin or what.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  6. Street Pattern

    Street Pattern Very Tilted

    Okay, then I won't tell you that it's just over twice as long as the largest number you mentioned.

    I have never read any other Harry Potter fanfic, or really much fanfic at all, but I think HPMOR is perhaps better described as parody.

    Moreover, the author has a self-described "rationalist" agenda -- he's the founder of LessWrong.com. I don't imagine that he wants to be the next GRRM.
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2015
  7. rogue49

    rogue49 Tech Kung Fu Artist Staff Member

    Location:
    Baltimore/DC
    What was your opinion of the piece?
    and what do you think was the synopsis? was it imparted well?

    this may give me moe incentive to dive in
     
  8. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    For the record:

    The median book length is around 65,000 words.

    Fifty Shades of Grey is just over 100,000 words.

    The Harry Potter books range from just under 80,000 to over 250,000 words.

    Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is over 480,000 words.

    Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five is under 50,000 words.

    Nabokov's Lolita is over 100,000 words.

    Tolstoy's War and Peace is about 580,000 words.

    Rand's Atlas Shrugged is nearly 650,000 words.

    Richardson's Clarissa (which I own but have never cracked) is over 980,000 words.

    The lesson here?

    It's not the number of words that counts; it's how you string them together.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  9. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    Haven't read that in a long time!
     
  10. martian

    martian Server Monkey Staff Member

    Location:
    Mars
    I've never been really into the idea of fan fiction. It feels like it's lazy writing to me, somehow. But I don't have a ton of experience with it as a genre, if it's even fair to call it a genre. Part of me figures that some of it has to be good just by law of averages; there's enough of it out there that it can't possibly all be crap.

    Maybe I'll read a chapter or two. Who knows? I might actually like it.
     
  11. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    Indeed, there is a lot of very good fanfiction out there.

    Technically, if you've ever read anything in the snippets thread, you've read fanfiction.