Comment by Shemetz on 28/01/2025 at 13:26 UTC

15 upvotes, 3 direct replies (showing 3)

I wish Wildbow went all the way with the special formatting in this story, rather than taking half measures.

Right now, we have:

Events happening anywhere

	Thought*


"Speech said out loud, sometimes to onboard"

	"Subvocalized message, sometimes to onboard"*


[Toby speaking to Winnifred, and/or to others]
[Basil speaking to A, and/or to others]
    [Basil speaking via back channel]
    "A speaking via back channel"
    *"A speaking via back channel and stressing something"*

But then we also have:

    [dog, Mechard's onboard]
                **[Red, Te's onboard]**
                                        *[Fly, Amber's onboard]*

and now

    **[Robert loudly speaking into back channel]**

Now, I like this, but... clearly, this is unsustainable if he keeps introducing new characters, right?

I think the decision to make different onboards use different styles was a major mistake
I think WB should add text colors if he wants us to differentiate between characters (and maintain the same colors for their onboards, with [])
Alternatively... he should add more `", Xxxxx said."` to the text, verbose line attributions. Maybe even use "messaged", "whispered", "subvocalized", "spoke"... all writers do this, and readers are used to these.

The lack of speaker attribution is something that occasionally bugged me in previous WB serials -- sometimes a statement is said and it's not obvious who said it, even taking context into account. Sometimes he himself even makes a mistake and a character apparently replies to themselves halfway through a long conversation where lines aren't being attributed. I respect the attempt to use special formatting for this, but he isn't doing a perfect job there.

Replies

Comment by wolftamer9 at 28/01/2025 at 15:23 UTC

16 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Text color, maybe usernames, and everyone can talk in different leetspea-

!(Hundredth time I've made this joke)!<

Comment by Pteromys-Momonga at 28/01/2025 at 14:39 UTC

8 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I've noticed the thing about lack of speaker attribution in general as well (having read Pale, Claw, and now Seek). Interestingly, having the special formatting for onboards has made that easier to handle - but I also see what you mean about it being a potential problem down the line, if we keep meeting more characters with onboards. Maybe he'll start introducing symbols, like in the Face short story?

Comment by EuphoricNeckbeard at 29/01/2025 at 01:26 UTC

7 upvotes, 0 direct replies

This is currently bothering me way less than the speaker attribution thing in other serials (Pale...) but I could see it becoming problematic later on. There are accessibility concerns that come with differentiating by color; I think I would favor just having more dialogue tags instead. Probably less of a technical challenge too.