Having the scaffolding of the medium(fanfic) to hold up your piece is useful in some respects, because admittedly, I would have dropped this at about chapter 200 or so, or at least ceased to take it overly seriously. It was good entertainment- but I feel with the epic ending, you could have done more. So, I'm here to talk about theme.
I feel that consistent theming is what separates mindless entertainment from slightly higher level, more thoughtful stuff. What is your story fundamentally about? (Based on the ending, I'm going to go with ascension/ two is better than one or something along those lines- but there were so many themes that were kind-of-almost-but-not-really explored, like the whole administrative decisions made for the greater good- examples: Coil, association with Cauldron, Emperor of Japan, the various scenes where Taylia questions each other/themselves). The casting aside humanity to save the world/ascend thing is actually taken to its logical conclusion. If themes were questions,
Amelia's summary would have been:
Would you cast aside your humanity to be fused with someone else's mind for functionally all eternity?
(and the answer is yes, I totally would)
Should admin have the right to sacrifice a few/ignore certain bad things for the 'greater good'?
(sort of left unanswered, sort of 'yes' but not really conclusive)
Does it matter if you lose sight of the ground(which ties into both of the other two)?
Kind of. Need a conclusion to question/theme 2 to really answer this.
And like any good theming, there needs to be some ambiguity to go around- there can be some advocacy for a particular idea, but there also needs to be some discussion of the flipside.
So, I'd say that it was the answering of the fundamental Theme Question that made 30.07 in
Worm so powerful. And we do, explicitly get the answer to the implicit/explicit question of the story-
should you always act for the greater good? What makes someone a hero?
"I keep on asking myself the same questions over and over again," [Contessa] said. "Maybe you can answer. Was it worth it?"
.....
"Were you really a monster in the end? A warlord, an alien administrator? A vicious killer with a cruel streak, mutilating your enemies and secretly enjoying it? A bully, if you forgive me for using that word?"
"Or were you really a hero? Do the good intentions win out? Was it Glaistig Uaine's strength or yours, that held her back from saving Scion in those final moments?"
So this is the kind of Theme/Questioning that needs to happen to make your good story a
great story. I reckon that this is the difference between -random Star Wars fanfiction- and
Ender's Game.
And of course, the ambiguity- the reason why many people think that
Worm should have ended at 30.07- is Contessa answering the question- but her answer is left vague. Did she spare Taylor, in the end? Or did she just kill her?
(And even with the epilogues this is still left unclear)
Note that ambiguity is my personal preference- just as many would like concrete endings.
I also really quite dislike 'and so and so has kids and everything is perfect forever' endings due to that. And personally, I disliked the Taylia Rose epilogue.
Firstly- we do not connect with her. While she reveals what happened and everything... well, she's essentially an OC. She didn't go through the 400++ chapter journey with us. She's just summarising the results of Taylor and Amelia's space shark ascension. It's not
interesting, at least to me.
What I'd have done, in your place, was to use a character that tied into your themes and wrapped up the theme question while talking a little about the aftermath. Lisa, IMO, would have been perfect- she has a lot of regrets, she's done terrible things(betraying Avalon to go do the Cauldron thing, playing politics and burning people out, etc) and she's been in the thick of the action while not dying herself. The redemption theme, could also crop up here- and maybe a conversation with Emma and Riley- "You're really family now- it's no longer just about being useful to Avalon."
And using an established character for your epilogue also lets you wrap up the important character arcs- a sort of 'this is how far we've come' moment. I believe that's the reason why Imp, Bitch, and Tattle all got Teneral interludes at the end of Worm(as the only core Undersiders still alive at the end). IMO the rest of the Tenerals were mostly set up for Worm 2... but I could be wrong.
tl; dr? Provide a vague answer to your theme/questions, and also use epilogues as a way to wrap up your themes and character arcs rather than just making them extended 'this is how everyone lived happily ever after' segments.
I acknowledge that in fanfiction, you have a rather more limited control over what themes you can explore, inherent to the setting- which is why I'm ranting about this now, when you're starting your own original fiction. Everything here is merely my two cents- do whatever with it. It's mostly just something to think about and chew on while you move into original fiction.
Also, sorry for making this roughly as long as half a chapter of actual story and a hundred times less interesting.
Best of luck for your next projects! Looking forward to them.
