Worm (web serial)

Worm
Author John McCrae, a.k.a. Wildbow
Language English
Genre Superhero Science fiction web serial[1]
Publication date
 2011-2013
Media type Digital
Pages 7,000[2] (1,680,000 words) [3]
Text Worm at WordPress
Website https://parahumans.wordpress.com/

Worm is a self-published web serial by John C. "Wildbow" McCrae that aims to subvert and play with common tropes and themes of superhero fiction. As McCrae's first novel,[4] Worm features a bullied teenage girl, Taylor Hebert, who develops the superpower to control worms, insects, arachnids and other simple lifeforms.[5][6] Using a combination of ingenuity, idealism, and brutality, she struggles to do the right thing in a dark world filled with moral ambiguity.[7][8] It is one of the most popular web serials on the internet,[9][10] with a readership in the hundreds of thousands.[2]

Publication

Worm was first published as an online serial with two to three chapters released every week. It began online publishing in June 2011 and continued until November 2013,[5][11] totalling 1,682,400 words.

The story was written at a rate of up to 11,000 words per day,[10][7] comparable to a traditional book being published every month.[10] It followed a strict publication schedule,[10][4] with new chapters released every Tuesday and Saturday, and bonus chapters on Thursdays as rewards for donations.[12] These chapters generally were composed into "Arcs" that would cover one specific series of events and generally take place over six to twelve chapters. Every plot arc concludes with an interlude showing the point of view of a side character. The site's reader base grew entirely by word of mouth. McCrae originally assumed it would attract only a small readership, and never advertised.[7] It maintains a very high level of readership which peaked at over 80,000 unique visitors in June 2015,[13] nearly two years after it had been completed.

Worm is currently being edited, and McCrae plans to produce both an eBook version and a physical book via traditional publishing.[10][5]. A Worm fan made audiobook project was launched in June 2014 and completed on the same month in 2016.[14]

Backstory

Setting

Worm is set in a fictional universe known as 'Earth Bet'. In 1982, a golden man appeared, floating above the ocean. Following his appearance, a fraction of humans developed the ability to gain superpowers when placed in an incredibly traumatic and stressful situation, known as a 'trigger event'. For example, Taylor 'triggers' when bullies lock her inside a locker stuffed with month-old used tampons. After being left there for an unspecified amount of time, she snaps, and gains the ability to control and sense simple macroscopic organisms. (More simply, bugs.)

The arrival of 'parahumans' led to a golden age of heroism, where most people with powers, often referred to as 'capes', did their best to work for the public good. Unfortunately, this was not to last. In 1989 a cape suffered a fatal embolism from being hit in the head while trying to prevent a riot, ending the "golden age" of heroism. Superpowered serial killers, thieves, cults, and gang members began to increasingly threaten the safety of the public. Worse, villain numbers increased at a far greater rate than heroes, as trigger events predisposed parahumans to resentment towards the system that failed to protect them. In response, the government formed the Parahuman Response Teams, or 'PRT', a combined military and police force tasked with protecting the public from supervillains.

Shortly after this, in 1992, a giant monster later to be called 'Behemoth' launched a devastating attack on the Marun Field in Iran. To adequately prepare for future attacks, and to manage the growing villain population, four prominent heroes formed an organization dedicated to superheroes working in groups. This group, called the Protectorate, was designed to be subordinate to the PRT as a sign that heroes would be willing to accept nonpowered oversight. As time went by, two more monsters appeared and began to attack random locations across the planet. In time, these monsters, named after the mythical creatures Behemoth, Leviathan, and Simurgh, were collectively referred to as 'Endbringers'. Their attacks lead to millions of lives lost, and catastrophic geographic damage. Both Newfoundland and Kyushu have sunk into the ocean, and several cities, such as Canberra and Madison, have been quarantined to prevent aftereffects from spreading.

All of these events have led to a grim atmosphere. The threat of Endbringer attacks constantly looms over the PRT and Protectorate, forcing them to use restraint in combating parahuman crime in order to ensure as many volunteers as possible at the next attack. Mired in bureaucracy and politics, the PRT is increasingly unable to cope with the growing frequency and brutality of parahuman crimes.

The story is set in Brockton Bay, a formerly wealthy port that has declined since the collapse of the shipping industry. Due to the poor economic conditions, it has a higher rate of parahumans per capita than most other American cities, leading to a number of powerful superhuman gangs vying for control of the city's criminal enterprises.

Powers

Individuals who possess powers in Worm are referred to either by the term "Parahuman", or referred to by the in-setting slang term "Cape", a term referencing the general habit of parahumans establishing an alter-ego and going outside in costume (though, ironically, most actually do not wear capes).

What distinguishes powers in Worm from powers in a great many other settings is the consistent source and process of acquiring powers in-Universe. In order to acquire a power in Worm, one must suffer a Trigger Event. A trigger event is a moment of severe enough physical or psychological trauma to be considered "The Worst Day of Your Life". The powers one gets tend to be influenced directly by the nature of the threat as well as the individuals thought process at the time of a trigger, with an individual actively thinking about experiencing a trigger event or receiving a power resulting in them automatically being disqualified to receive one. As a general rule, powers tend to follow one to two primary abilities and as many as one to four secondary abilities around which a power will be based. In rare cases, multiple individuals may suffer a simultaneous trigger event. These simultaneous triggers or "Multi-Triggers" tend to result in weaker powers spread over three to four primary abilities or effects.

Individuals who have spent multiple years around capes will, on occasion, trigger with a similar power in a Trigger Event that is abnormally mild. These individuals are generally referred to as "Second Generation Capes" due to the general trend of them being children of previous parahumans, despite the fact that there is no genetic factor involved in acquiring powers.

Alternatively, powers can be acquired through a conspiracy known as Cauldron, whom has discovered a method to artificially induce powers. This process, while reliable in producing powers, generally results in a significant risk of one being deformed or mutilated by the process, with the reliable strength or safety of powers acquired varying heavily. Individuals who acquire powers via Cauldron and are mutated tend to have their memories wiped and are generally referred to by the overarching title of Case-53s.

Powers in Worm obey several arbitrary constants. All powers can be used aggressively, regardless of manifestation, as a result of this healers are incredibly rare and generally utilizing only one of several portions of their ability. There is also an in-universe term called the 'Manton effect', which states that a cape's power can very rarely affect both organic and inorganic material, and that a cape's power can very rarely affect both themselves and others. Healers cannot heal inorganic objects; and powers which create, destroy or transform objects fail to target organic beings. Powers which are exempt from this rule can be particularly dangerous as they can directly alter someone's physiology.


Powers are described using one or more of 12 categories developed by the PRT, along with a number from 1–12 describing the potency of the power and level of response needed in that category.

Power Description
Mover Powers such as flight, teleportation, and super speed, and other related to inhuman mobility
Shaker Powers that manipulate their surroundings in some way
Brute Powers that grant enhanced strength, durability, regeneration, or similar
Breaker Powers that alter the user to a different state in which they maintain different abilities, often altering the way physics apply to them.
Master Powers that exert some form of mental control over others. Many can create minions or projections of some sort, while others are limited to only humans or other "natural" organisms
Tinker Powers that create technology that is beyond current human knowledge or capability. Notably, tinkertech is nigh-impossible to mass-produce, and can only be maintained and understood by the cape that built it
Blaster Powers with ranged attacks
Thinker Powers that improve mental function, via increased planning ability, various forms of precognition, inhuman deductive reasoning or enhanced perception and awareness
Striker Powers that create an effect with a touch or other close contact
Changer Powers that transform the user's body into another shape, material or organism. This organism may or may not actually exist outside of the power
Trump Powers relating to powers, mainly granting, altering, copying, or removing
Stranger Powers relating to deception and stealth

This classification system is utilized to gauge the usages of a power by an individual and their potential for harm, with a standardized response depending on the magnitude of the power capability. As an example, a thinker 1 would possess sensory abilities only mildly above the human norm, such as slow regeneration or perfect vision. The responses to these vary based on the resources at hand and the parahuman in question, but tend to follow specific general protocols based on the classification and the ranking in question. While a thinker 2 will merit encryption of communications and separation of the individual from their teammates, a thinker 6 will merit the immediate use of sensory disruption equipment and a full communications blackout.[15] An interesting note with this classification system is that it rates a powers effects, rather than its nature. A master capable of manipulating insects can be granted a secondary stranger classification due to their ability to conceal themselves in their swarm, while an individual capable of redirecting kinetic energy at touch range can be granted a brute rating for their ability to withstand being struck by a vehicle at speed without injury.

When placed under extreme stress, some parahumans can trigger a second time, expanding and refining their powers to increase the odds of survival. Such events are rare and virtually impossible to bring about intentionally. The new power may be lacking limits that previously restricted it, but may also be weaker in other areas. An individual formerly not capable of producing force fields inside of individuals may be able to do so, or an individual who was capable of amplifying sound after a "charge up period" may now be able to do so instantaneously, but no longer be able to communicate effectively.

Synopsis

Taylor Hebert is a “parahuman” – a person with superhuman abilities – who has developed the power to sense and control bugs following a traumatic event. She lives in the fictional city of Brockton Bay, a hotspot of parahuman activity.

Taylor is bullied at school and seeks escape as a superhero, but on her first night out in costume, she is mistaken for a villain by other villains after defeating a gang leader.

She joins a team of thieves known as the Undersiders, hoping to gain information and turn them in to the authorities. However, the heroes prove singularly unhelpful, and Taylor grows increasingly close to the Undersiders while drifting away from her father.

Following a monster attack on the city, in which a number of named characters die, Taylor – now known by the supervillain name "Skitter" – re-joins the Undersiders in earnest. She operates as a makeshift warlord in the ruined city, protecting the citizens of her territory. A girl with the ability to see the future reveals that one particularly notorious villain is going to destroy the world if not stopped.

Taylor fights a number of particularly powerful villains, some of whom reveal corruption within the hero teams. The situation escalates and Taylor's secret identity is revealed. As a result, conflicts between the Undersiders and the authorities grow ever more heated, culminating in the death of the heroes’ leader and Skitter surrendering to the authorities.

After surrendering, Taylor joins the heroes as the probationary superhero "Weaver". Soon afterward, there is a timeskip where she works her way through their ranks, and two years pass.

Weaver leads several teams of both heroes and villains to attempt to prevent the world from ending, first at the hand of the prophesied villain, and then at the hand of the world's most powerful hero, found to secretly be responsible for all other powers.

A series of epilogues follow detailing the fates of various characters, including Taylor.

Themes

Hal Wierzbicki of entertainment site C0ws observed that

If I had to identify a theme running through all of Worm, it’s Taylor wanting to make the world a better place, a safer place, for herself, her family and her friends. If I had to pick a second theme, it would be that those good intentions aren’t enough. Taylor seems to make the best decision at any possible moment, the decision that gets her out of a losing fight, the decision that saves the lives of her friends, the decision that wins a battle. Yet, in doing so, things just get worse.[11]

Gavin Scott Williams suggested that the story contains an "undercurrent" of the idea that "sometimes you have to go outside the rules to do the right thing".[16] Several authors have compared the story to Alan Moore's Watchmen,[17][18] as well as the character of Spider-Man and his themes of responsibility,[17][19] although McCrae has stated in interviews that no one author has heavily influenced him.[4]

The title Worm has multiple potential meanings. It has been connected to the protagonist's character development, as a "lowly, overlooked" person who is nonetheless useful and dangerous; drawing a parallel with the protagonist's power to control worms and other bugs.[16][19] The chapter titles also generally have double meanings.[20]

Several reviewers have described the serial as an exercise in repeatedly escalating the stakes of the story.[17][21]

A number of reviewers have noted the characters' ingenuity, and the original and creative use of superpowers in the narrative.[11][19][21] Author Adam Sherman described one of the recurring themes of the story as "that powers don’t really make the person, it's the person who makes the power". McCrae has described how he would regularly write himself into corners, so that "the desperate gambits we see are echoed by my writerly desperation to figure out a way to keep things going."[4] G.S Williams drew a parallel between the protagonist's power being seemingly underwhelming, and her being overlooked in her civilian life, and the broader theme of things being overlooked.[16]

Reception

Worm has received almost entirely favorable reviews.[20][19][22] It received substantial attention following a favorable review by author Gavin Scott Williams roughly six months into publication, which praised the story's themes and originality.[7][16] Readership doubled when it was recommended by author Eliezer Yudkowsky on his website while the story was in its final months.[4]

Critics favorably compared it to the similar-length book series A Song of Ice and Fire.[1][18] Matt Freeman of Daly Planet Films praised the story's originality, noting that it works as a science fiction story to a degree not found in most works of superhero fiction.[17] Media site Toolsandtoys.net published a review by Chris Gonzales, who described it as "one of my favorite stories ever written". However, he also noted that it was "dark", warning "definitely don’t hand this to a kid to read".[5] Chris Ellis of Ergohacks.com noted that the story "managed to hit every single trigger warning we have listed", but called it "among the best books and universes I’ve ever read."[23]

Reviewers have praised the story's realism and use of consequences, contrasting it favorably with the tendency for characters to return from the dead in superhero comic books and films.[6][17] Many praised the story's originality and creative use of superpowers.[11][19] Several reviewers commended the detail, consistency, and depth of the setting.[24][25]

Several reviews praised the story as being highly addictive.[1][17]

The story also possesses a sizable online fanbase. It receives 40-60 visitors a day from TV Tropes alone.[7] Fans of the story have collaborated to create a complete audio book, as well as other projects, such as the We've Got Worm podcast, a weekly arc-by-arc podcast with a first-time reader and a Worm expert.[26][27] Fan art relating to the novel has been published on DeviantArt, as well as a large amount of fan fiction[1][10] There is an IRC chatroom established for readers to comment and discuss the story, which is constantly active, as well as communities of fans on a number of online forums.[7] Worm, along with McCrae's other completed works Pact and Twig, as well as the in-progress Worm sequel, Ward, are consistently among the highest-rated works on ratings site TopWebFiction,[1] and Worm is the highest-rated work on several websites that collect serial fiction.[10][12] Worm has an average rating of 4.67 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, with over 3000 user rankings.[28] Of these users, 99% liked the book.[28]

Several publications have discussed Worm within the context of the increasing popularity of web serials,[2][11][17] and compared to the work of authors such as Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, who also wrote in the serial format.[2][17] Authors Olivia Rising and Adam Sherman have credited it as a decisive influence on their work.[9][29]

A number of companies have approached McCrae to discuss adapting Worm, as well as another of his serials, Twig. However, McCrae takes a pessimistic view of whether it will be successfully adapted.[20]

Sequel

In October 2017, McCrae announced on his blog that a sequel to Worm would be released.[30] The interim story arc, Glow-worm, was released beginning October 21, 2017,[31] and the sequel, Ward, featuring protagonist Victoria Dallon, began serialization on November 11, 2017.[32] The sequel is set after the events of Worm.


References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Worm, the web serial that will top anything you've ever read before". 26 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Blair, Robbie (December 27, 2013). "Exploring the Digital Wilds: Expanding Our Approach to Novels". Litreactor.
  3. ↑ McCrae, John. "Worm A Complete Web Serial". Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Interview with Wildbow". Adam Sherman. July 2, 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Gonzalez, Chris (2 December 2015). "'Worm' — A Complete Web Serial". Blanc Media.
  6. 1 2 Biondo, Christian (January 22, 2016). "Worm – Web Novel Review". Ringwood Community News.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Interview with Worm Author John McCrae". Creative Writing Guild. 2 December 2015.
  8. ↑ "EpiCast #12". EpiGuide. June 13, 2013.
  9. 1 2 Collings, Jesse. "Adam Sherman of Maynard publishes web serial". Wicked Local.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Discipline and determination pay off for webserial writer". The Star. 20 February 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "SERIALIZED NOVELS, WORM, AND YOU". C0WS.COM. October 23, 2014.
  12. 1 2 "Wildbow is creating Web serials". Patreon.
  13. ↑ "parahumans.wordpress.com - Compete". siteanalytics.compete.com. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  14. ↑ "After 2 years and 304 chapters the Worm Audiobook is finally complete! • r/Parahumans". reddit.
  15. ↑ McCrae, John (2014). "PRT Handbook". Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Williams, Gavin (March 10, 2012). "WORM - It grows on you". Web Fiction Guide.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Freeman, Matt (5 June 2015). "MATT'S SCI-FI PICKS – WORM WEB SERIAL REVIEW". Daly Planet Films.
  18. 1 2 Green, Silas (August 28, 2014). "THE GREATEST (SUPERHERO) STORY EVER TOLD". Geeks Under Grace, Inc.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 "8 Reasons You Should Read "Worm"". The Odyssey Online. Sep 15, 2015.
  20. 1 2 3 "TODAY I ASKED: WILDBOW". Balloon Day. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  21. 1 2 Shanley, Ciaran (January 3, 2015). "Review: Worm". Geek Ireland.
  22. ↑ Page, Bart (May 1, 2016). "Hottest 6 New Fantasy Fiction Books and Authors". Best Fantasy Books HQ.
  23. ↑ Ellis, Chris (October 23, 2016). "WORM. A REVIEW". Ergohacks.
  24. ↑ Shah, Sakhi (June 18, 2016). "10 Reasons Why You Should Read Worm (a Web Serial) Right Now". Quirk Magazine.
  25. ↑ Miller, Chad (December 10, 2014). "Worm – Web Serial Review". Mana Pop.
  26. ↑ "Home – Worm Audiobook". Worm Audiobook. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  27. ↑ "The Daly PlanetWeve Got WORM Archives - The Daly Planet". The Daly Planet. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  28. 1 2 "Worm by Wildbow". goodreads.com.
  29. ↑ "Interview: Olivia Rising". Genre Reader. May 9, 2016.
  30. ↑ "An End to the Twig Experiment". John C. McCrae. October 17, 2017.
  31. ↑ "Glow-worm P.1". John C. McCrae. October 21, 2017.
  32. ↑ "Daybreak 1.1". John C. McCrae. November 11, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.