Anyone interested in cyberpunk (and whump)?

[FreeKey]

Trying to put my novel out here Neon Phantoms: ICE Queen
Thin is, I am super new to publishing in the web and had troubles assigning tags.
So I couldn't think of anything better, than to throw my piece at an AI and ask to classify it. It thinks it's whump. I didn't even know the word but ok, there's no such tag here anyways.
It's romance with some action, set in cyberpunk 2077 universe, with netrunning, mature themes, violence, sex, drugs and industrial.
Not a classical fanfic, because it has original characters and a healthy bit of my own world building. Should have written an original story really, but started writing a fanfic and it escalated.
The pacing might be somewhat slow, donno. I'm writing for my own fun, it's something I would actually would like to read. So not AI slop, not a translation or retelling. Just a story my mind is spinning.
If you want some action, jump to chapters 7-8.

 

[Ammalea]

A couple things:

First, YAY another cyberpunk writer. Second, your title and mine are very similar and it made me giggle. (Mine is Neon Gods, yours is Neon Phantoms) Bonus points for ICE Queen. That is just *chef's kiss*.

I've never heard of whump. I assume it's whatever AI you used having a stroke and hopefully it makes the entire industry collapse and you'll become a hero among creatives. I'd also recommend never doing that again because whatever you put in the prompt is part of the model now.

I am also new to publishing on the web so I understand the issues you're having with category tags but I think you should go with what you feel the story is and people will let you know if they think differently. (The stats on mine say it's firmly in the Drugs category for whatever reason even though it's only one of the tags I used).

And finally, writing for yourself is the best way to go about it. Maybe your story will speak to someone else, maybe it won't. But as long as you're enjoying it, who cares?

 

[LiteraryWho]

I think the robot might have hallucinated a genre at you. Anyway, the forum is mostly populated by writers. For writers readers you just have to space out your uploads, be consistent, and hope for the best. From what I've heard, most readers (here and presumably on other WN sites) won't even look at a story until it has, like, fifty chapters (or whatever the actual number is, idk).

 

[Sylver]

I've been weary of cyberpunk since the buggy launch of Cyberpunk 2077 cx but the anime helped make up for it. Truth be told I don't really know what the genre is, but cyborg women are hot
Romance, violence and sex? Sounds like they're singing my song okay I'll bite, you got yourself a reader here

 

[FreeKey]

Or, wow, didn't expect anyone to react honestly! great to see some locals alive
Apparently, the AI got that "whump" from AO3 tags. I googled it and " it's is a narrative trope rooted in the experience of intense emotional or physical suffering. Tagged in stories where characters are hurt, broken, tortured, or emotionally destroyed." OK, that's not wrong for what I'm doing.Probably just a term associated with fanfiction, and since I did mention cyberpunk 2077, fanfiction is what AI decided I was doing. It's fine :)

LiteraryWho oh, so you mean people mostly wright here rather than read? Hah, that sounds strange. But I'll give it a try still.
Fifty chapters sounds like something I'll get to eventually. I actually have material for more. Just need to cut it up and rewrite into something palatable for others. Writing for myself, I sometimes got too deep into tech details, or just skipped stuff, or got lazy and wrote chapters as placeholders to finish later. Or even several versions of chapters to choose from.

Ammalea how cool is that?! I'll be definitely taking a look at the Neon Gods

Sylver I waited four years before I even tried to play it - where things in live that kept me away from videogames. So I got a decent game which I fell in love with fast and hard
Fair warning, actual sex is still coming in the chapters I'm going to publish soon and might be a bit rough and - ahem! - unhealthy. But if you are fine with that, welcome. And romance is romance.

 

[Tsuru]

I think the robot might have hallucinated a genre at you. Anyway, the forum is mostly populated by writers. For writers readers you just have to space out your uploads, be consistent, and hope for the best. From what I've heard, most readers (here and presumably on other WN sites) won't even look at a story until it has, like, fifty chapters (or whatever the actual number is, idk).

(Bonus explanation/Not a reply)

Yes.


Because if someone ask any readers, they are tired of seeing axed series despite them loving it.
(for example for me it was the giga enjoyable https://www.scribblehub.com/series/437026/fate-as-a-servant/ YURI BTW)

Why 50? No clue but its kinda the threshold to be 100% sure the writer wont drop it/axe it.
(btw its also 50 in chinese readers community too for some reason)

Reader mindset POV :
20? Is good but its like the start of a sprint, so not 100% sure its axed. Also not enough to read. What if this runner is tired ?
30? Ok maybe the writer truly want to do their series, but who is sure? Maybe wait more. Who knows if the sprinter will tire midway. It can wait.
40? Ok this time there is a 90% chance the author wont axe their own series, but there still was some. So lets wait. Also like the game X-COM taught humans, a 99% chance means a 100% to miss.
50? Ok, enough chapters, the writer wont axe it, 50 is half of 100 so its pretty, having so many chaps give the vibes of a big boss writer, so lets try it.


PS : Just now found out, a new logic to it. Its also due to "expertise". Because lot of writers are "new". So if you write 4 chaps. Who knows what kind of quality it is. But if you write decent amount, it kinda give the impression of : ok they know their stuff.
Its like a new barrista. Would you trust a new one that never touched a coffee machine ? Or a new one that did 50? Same thing.


tldr : The reader is like a runner-recruiter. They are tired to see so many runners tire after 5-20mins or turning out they quit barely 1month later.
They prefer one that can run 1hour (50ch in this case). Because the number is very perfect and satisfy the OCD human brain (unlike 15, 23, 37, etc). 50 is perfectly cubic-like, and half of 100.

Meanwhile you can also say, that a writer is like an artist.
Which would you prefer, a artist that have 4 drawings, or 50 ? or even 100? (clearly the later ones with experience)

 

[FreeKey]

Tsuru​

thanks, this explanation makes a lot of sense actually!
I myself would likely prefer a finished book. Unless it's something that really interests me.
But about the style and quality I'd probably make a decision fairly fast, without needing to read 50 or even 4 chapters. Unless it's somehow deceptively good at the beginning and then goes down the drain.

 

[MFontana]

Trying to put my novel out here Neon Phantoms: ICE Queen
Thin is, I am super new to publishing in the web and had troubles assigning tags.
So I couldn't think of anything better, than to throw my piece at an AI and ask to classify it. It thinks it's whump. I didn't even know the word but ok, there's no such tag here anyways.
It's romance with some action, set in cyberpunk 2077 universe, with netrunning, mature themes, violence, sex, drugs and industrial.
Not a classical fanfic, because it has original characters and a healthy bit of my own world building. Should have written an original story really, but started writing a fanfic and it escalated.
The pacing might be somewhat slow, donno. I'm writing for my own fun, it's something I would actually would like to read. So not AI slop, not a translation or retelling. Just a story my mind is spinning.
If you want some action, jump to chapters 7-8.

A few things here.
1) I have no clue what a "Whump" is either. Never heard of it.
2) I'm intrigued, and will definitely add this to my list as something to check out when I can.
3) This is just a technicality, but the game Cyberpunk 2077 is, itself, a derivative work set in a pre-existing universe originally created and established by the Cyberpunk TTRPG (Cyberpunk 2020 / Cyberpunk Red), so you could just call it the "Cyberpunk" universe.

I've been weary of cyberpunk since the buggy launch of Cyberpunk 2077 cx but the anime helped make up for it. Truth be told I don't really know what the genre is, but cyborg women are hot
Romance, violence and sex? Sounds like they're singing my song okay I'll bite, you got yourself a reader here

There's a few great examples of "Cyberpunk" that are far better than the videogame release, especially if you're interested in what the genre is all about.
The TTRPG's Cyberpunk and Shadowrun are a great start in this direction.
As for anime and other visual mediums, Armitage III (The Third) OVA series and movies sit among the best representations of the genre.
As far as anime goes, there's also the Bubblegum Crisis series (I'm personally a fan of the Tokyo 2040 release, but all of the entries in the series are worth the watch for the genre feel) and Ghost in the Shell (Not the live-action version, they don't do the original film, or anime series justice).
For live-action stuff, there's also Blade-runner (again, the original would be recommended over the remake).

 

[FreeKey]

A few things here.
1) I have no clue what a "Whump" is either. Never heard of it.
2) I'm intrigued, and will definitely add this to my list as something to check out when I can.
3) This is just a technicality, but the game Cyberpunk 2077 is, itself, a derivative work set in a pre-existing universe originally created and established by the Cyberpunk TTRPG (Cyberpunk 2020 / Cyberpunk Red), so you could just call it the "Cyberpunk" universe.

MFontana​

1) Well, it's always "fun" to ask the genAI about something. That "whump" does exist, since learning about it just the other day, I discovered even some paperback authors use it. And it's just a funny word too

2) If you do get to that - and I know we are all busy people - any comment is always appreciated. Although reaching out to me here is already appreciated.

3) Oh, yes, absolutely! Thanks for bringing this up! I mentioned only Cyberpunk 2077 which is totally unfair because the stuff I used comes from from all those sources. I might however have some issues with them on the realism side. Bits of those are way too unrealistic for me and I feel like Cyberpunk 2077 did actually a thorough job at making some aspect a tad more realistic for the tech nerds out there. Not that it changes the fundamental cheesiness of some concepts, but it's an improvement in internal logic at least.
What I ended up using is the DataKrash, Blackwall and Old Net with rogue AIs, and the net being split into air-gapped subnets. Those are perfect to TTRPG but also facilitates different kind of story building where you can't do everything through the network/cyberspace and need to go places and do physical breaching/infiltration as well. That's just cool for some action sequences.
And the other aspect a leaned on heavily was lore with regards to how world/countries developed and corporate lore. On one hand, we have the USSR still more or less intact, on the other hand, the USA have split and created multiple smaller unions fighting for influence and trying to grow by annexing the neighbours. And when I say Arasaka or Militech or Biotechnica, I don't have to explain what those are. Or at least I don't have to explain to those familiar with the setting, and to myself - otherwise I would have risked to drown forever in the world building. And also I just love Night City.
At the same time, I introduced a bunch of things that are totally "head canon", so are totally invented by me, which change quite a bit in how the netrunning work. Just because I could and wanted to do it differently for my narrative.
When playing cyberpunk TTRPG with friends however, we tend to use GURPS as a system and our own setting which is based on real world in the near feature with a few tweaks.

I'm a diehard fan of Ghost in the Shell since too many years, so just seeing it mentioned warms my heart

I am also a forever fan of William Gibson, grew up reading the Sprawl trilogy (Neuronamcer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive).

Also , coming back to GenAI and its flops, have to say, letting GenAI look at your writing could be quite fun.
While even advanced models suck at creative writing - or I should rather say especially advance models do suck, because those are even better trained at sticking to "useful patterns" (and I know, because as I use them professionally as a software engineer and a techwriter), they still can highlight your problems impressively well, if you give them a good prompt aka instructions. Boy, do they deliver! They can take everything apart and label, and they can be so mean. They can't is fix it for you, only make it progressively worse (but grammatically correct). But asking those robots for classification and critique can be hilarious. Just be conscious of the environmental footprint.