I wrote Hara-Kiri Nonfeasance as a deep, thought provoking, well-researched novel. I mean I really went all out. It's really only half done. I finished 'Book 1' but there is a whole second half of the story for it to be complete that I have yet to finish and when done, it'll push 500k words in size. It is full of layers of meaning and depth and it is, in my opinion, fantastic.
Flip the script was something I would work on when I was having writers block. I'd just write whatever popped into my head and I bet, in total, I spent 10 times as much effort on HKN as FTS.
HKN updates slower than FTS, but I started FTS later and today, the two caught up with one another at 15 chapters each.
HKN: About 30k words
FTS: About 20k words
HKN is a higher quality with vastly superior... well... everything.
So it should come as absolutely no shock to anyone that:
HKN Favorites: 31
FTS Favorites: 113
HKN Views: 756
FTS Views: 3787
FTS has over double the readers.
Hrmmm...
It is when something like this happens, where the half-assed story absolutely crushes the 'supposedly' superior story that an author needs to step back and reflect upon what the fuck is going on. I suppose one could do some sort of 'Pearls Before Swine!' comment, but let's be honest here, that's not what is going on. No, I suspect it is something much different.
HKN has a protagonist, Ryan, where I just lay into him. I mean I am making his life difficult. I believe if you are going to be a great hero, the hero MUST SUFFER. So I lash the wind into Ryan's back and I make sure that he will EARN everything he gets. I have a story to tell along with themes and allusions and so much stuff I want to cram in. I have a POINT to my story.
FTS has Toshi, who is some guy. He's got his quirks, but he's just a normal guy in a strange situation with very little control over his life, but there is no Eldritch God who seeks to make him suffer. Crap happens and he makes choices and there is no point. This is a story about Toshi and his whacky misadventures as he tries to do the right thing while resisting temptation. He screws up, tries to fix things, and in general wants to be a better person today than he was yesterday.
HKN has a metric ton of baggage.
FTS has a normal amount of baggage.
And so it becomes obvious in hindsight, why the stats are so different.
However, FTS is... uh... bad. I mean, bad. I mean I really need to fix everything. I have been scrambling to go back and fix the chapters before they publish and I'm still missing basic shit. FTS needs work.
HKN does as well, but I'm thinking that, well... I got like 80 chapters stored up, I'll just let that one ride for a while and start putting in the work into FTS. Which means, Well, HKN is now on the back burner and FTS is getting 95% of my attention in order to bring the quality of the story up to what I would call, 'A basic level of competence'.
This is just an FYI. I figured since I'm refocusing my time and attention, I should let people know. I'm not giving up on HKN. I love the story, it's just, well, people like FTS more. I have a RL job so I only have so much time to devote to fixing things. So if I'm going to post it, I'm going to post it right, and that means something has to give.
Figured you might want to know.
- T.E.G.
I haven't read that other story, as this was one I've found randomly, but if you're claiming it's even better than this one, I'll definitely check it out and leave some kind of comment. What I've read here so far is fantastic. On "points" - I personally don't care about the story having a point to it. In fact, with this kind of story, it's better if there wasn't. Because it's supposed to be serious. Because a slice-of-life type of story would the job of showing all the differences far better. Because real life doesn't really have a point to it, except the one we make up for ourselves.
Ha! Ironic since I found it through your sparkling new fic
I found this story by chance, so looking forward to another one that you say is way better gives me much more hope.
That said, I think I keep reading this. It is really good and is promising really good character development, world-building, and adequate amounts of drama.
Another book to read? Sweet!
I stumbled on to "flip the script" because of your comment on another novel that has since been deleted. Saying that, it seems like you posted it fairly recently and not many people have noticed it yet. Myself included.
I will definitely give it a look!
HKN is far more 'dense' than this one. BTW, Don't take my post here as whining. Far from it. I'm not taking it as a 'your other book sucks', but as a 'You clearly can do better.' situation. Comparing the two shows me where to focus.
I view it as one story being a more niche story requiring mental investment, and the other being simple fun. One appeals to lots of people at least somewhat, and the other likely appeals to a more narrow, but invested group.
Also s*x sells, and at face value, this one likely has more smut. So more readers dare to dive in, which is the hardest part.
In my opinion,
It's due to the concept of the whole story itself, not the quality itself.
FTS is getting more reader than HKN due to how "simply-to-the-point", "easy-to-understand" and "reader-friendly" the whole concept is.
Reading Moral-Reversal world that isn't random smut is going to be interesting. And seeing unexpected sheanigan of unfamiliar-yet-familiar world has its own charms, as itu is quite new.
On the other hand,
HKN is the average Hero story that's too common in SH, an increase in writing quality doesnt guarantee an increase in reader count due to the market already boros with such stories.
Well, thats from my own observation.
3 hour ago, I'm a person who is deciding between going blind on HKN and FTS, and im gravitating more on reading FTS instead due to how interesting is the Moral Reversal concept of we explore further.
Best work!
Sorry, I came for the RSM. It's incredibly difficult finding stories in this genre, let alone stories that are THIS good. You are filling a niche perfectly. Thanks again.