Short tale - Familiarity

The room is dark. Not pitch black, but dark enough that, upon entering, the first thing one would notice is not the sights of the books perched on the shelves, or the magical artifacts littering them, nor the efforts the inhabitant of this place made to turn it into a one-room-home.

It would be the smell. Calming incense, with a wild, harsh note from dried herbs, the addictive smell of old books, paper decomposing, telling of past stories. Life and death and something in between.

The room has been their home and prison for years now, for Meister and Monster.

It's clear from the presence of a neat little bed, the nest that hosts Meister's nightmares and dreams. The first years they were mostly of the first kind, but familiarity breeds a sort of comfort, even when you decide to self-relegate to a single room for the rest of your life, so that the cursed entity you bound yourself to can never be unleashed upon the world.

There's a little kitchen, a little studio, even a fancy area designed to have tea.

The warlock and his monster are having a cup each right now, sitting from one another, having a civil conversation. They don't forget easily their roles, but an external observer would have trouble framing Meister as their captor, and Monster as his tormentor.

The warlock is grateful that today Monster decided to respect his space, rather than hang by his shoulders like a monstruous mantle; perhaps it's true even for Monster, that familiarity bred comfort.

«We're not as vicious as we used to be» Observes Monster, almost amusedly. When it sips from its cup, the action is silent and polite.

Meister is not surprised its thoughts are echoing his own. After eleven years of living forcibly together, they are regrettably in tune.

«Are you complaining?»

«It's a mere observation»

«We can't have much. Peace is a start» Says Meister back, looking down at the caramel-colored liquid.

«We could have everything»

«If only we could get out of here»

«If only we could get out of here» Agrees Monster. Its temptations and Meister's threats are an old song and dance, and neither of them is as irked as they should be of chirping that tune anymore.

«Except we can. It's all in your hands» Resumes Monster

«I can. You cannot» amends Meister «You can't because I won't allow you. I will not because I refuse to let you loose on the world»

«Don't you miss what is outside? You've gone almost blind sitting here without ever seeing the sun». Monster's voice is charming, in its own way, with a buzzing, raspy quality to it that is dangerous and endearing. A faraway swarm of bees.

«Of course I do» Says the man, chastisingly. Meister is using the tone of voice that he used for his children, when they were much younger and asked for something they knew they couldn't have. Too much sweets, staying awake too late past their bedtime.

«One minute. You could peek your head out and be back before anyone could even notice. Just a flight of stairs and you could prepare your daughter's breakfast up there, see her put on her little backpack, and go out of the door»

«Ah, you know me well. What I wouldn't give...»

«Not even the effort of a couple steps it seems». Monster derides him, its voice becomes mean, like every time it gets impatient. It doesn't like to be denied.

Meister misses the outside world. He misses being able to follow his children out of the room, to be sure that they are doing alright. They're everything to him.

After school they will bring him news from their day, and ingredients for him to prepare them a meal. Sometimes they surprise him with a book haul, magic or not. After all, all books are magic in their own way. Even the pitifully ugly ones, those he can read for his kids aloud and laugh with them about, even those can create stories and fond memories.

He would die for his son and daughter. He doesn't even need to question that; which is why just waiting in a room doesn't seem so bad compared to the alternative.

Meister puts down his cup on the elegant tea table in front of them and rises from his seat.

«Are you done?» Asks the man, hinting at the tea.

«Never» answers the creature, referring to something else entirely.

They still understand each other, with no need for further explanations.

Meister gets both of their cups and goes to the sink to rinse them. He makes pancakes in silence. Their delicious smell somehow mixes well with the one that already permeated the room.

A series of little quick steps patters down the stairs, and both Meister and Monster raise their heads at once, as hares that perceive the presence of an hunting dog.

It's not a predator. It's Danni, the warlock's daughter; she's only twelve years old, and she looks minuscule with her red backpack on.

The creature is nearest, so Danni greets it first, with a kiss on the cheek.

«Hi, Dad's Monster!»

«Hello there, sweetheart»

«Hi Dad!». She trots over to her father to plant a kiss on his cheek as well.

«Hello, little possum». He hands her a dish with the pancakes and she squeals happily.

«Awww, you're the best, Dad!»

«Is Phantom coming down?»

«Yeah, in a minute»

«He will be late for school» he says, making a face, and picks up a smartphone that's nestled between a patch of black candles and knitting equipment. He needs to keep himself busy.

Phantom, his elder son, joins them after being summoned through texting. He's seventeen, strong and handsome, with dark hair and his father's blue eyes.

He's not nearly as affectionate with the Monster, but greets him from afar, polite enough. He's not like Danni, who seems to have an innate fascination for everything that could be considered scary; besides, Monster was already there when she was a toddler, and they quickly grew fond of each other.

Familiarity.

Before his kids go, Meister checks that Francis, the artifact doll he gifted his daughter when she was five, is still working fine, and controls that all the hidden sygils in Phantom's pockets and backpack work.

Both of his children accept a hug and kiss him on the cheeks again before they leave for school, and it takes all the willpower their father has not to go after them.

Sometimes he thinks that he's already descended into madness a long time ago. If he screamed nonsense at the walls and tried to fight Monster, maybe, if he acted insane in an insane situation, there could still be hope for him. Instead, he goes to sit on the couch and lets Monster approach him from behind, and put its chin on his shoulder to look at the book he has opened.

He lets it take a pancake from his pile and munch on it.

Meister had several grimoires he intends to re-read, but this time he just picked up a collection of entertaining spooky tales.

«One day I'll get out of here anyway» Says Monster, looking at the pages. The children's visit must have calmed it down, because there's no meanness in its voice now. «And when I do, what will you have gained from all of it? A life of deprivations, of us sinking our teeth into each other, and then I'll just slit your throat for your troubles».

Meister makes a non-committal noise, just enough to be polite and make the other know he was listening.

«Perhaps» The man concedes, putting on his reading glasses «Or perhaps I'll find a strong enough banishing spell first, and you'll be the one left with nothing but a handful of years trying to inflict mysery on others, before you get sent to oblivion»

«And I'll be free of you» they say at the same time.

Monster goes around the couch to sit down, comfortably close to the warlock. They both read together, in silence. Their reading speed was almost matching, but Meister was just slightly quicker: Monster liked to go back and re-read the paragraphs it had enjoyed. The man flips the page only when he knows that both are done.

La fanart del giorno 36. Hai fame? (by Miss Reaper)

Benvenute e benvenuti in questa rubrica in cui vi mostriamo le fanart dei nostri personaggi, disegnati da artisti talentuosi da tutto il mondo, e le commentiamo! Perché, insomma, un po' di fierezza ci vuole, no? Siamo fieri che le persone scelgano di disegnarli, e per dimostrarlo mettiamo i loro lavori sotto lo spotlight!

Il disegno di oggi è stata realizzato per noi da Miss Reaper, ed è un disegno in digitale del nostro main guy Sangreal!

Non è assolutamente adorabile? Sangreal ha ricevuto da voi offerte di cibo, piatti di gamberetti, ed è tempo per lui... di offrire a voi del cibo! Dopotutto è un allevatore di gamberetti... lo sapevate?

Ehi... ma cosa... cos'è quello sul piatto? Sembra... sembra un krill. Con gli occhi azzurri. E ci sta dicendo che sua sorella ha avuto un bambino? Quale del suo milione di sorelle, esattamente? 

(Fortunatamente per sé stesso, Sangreal non può capire cosa dicono i gamberetti. Sfortunatamente per il krill, Sangreal non può capire cosa dicono i gamberetti). 

 

Sangreal è il personaggio princiale di Fish Don't Cry! Dategli un'occhiata, se cercate un'avventura misteriosa, magica e piena di... biologia marina! 

 

[Character] Rosas

(Ti sei perso, viaggiatore? Se stai cercando questa pagina in italiano, puoi trovarla qui!)

Full Name: Rosas Atlantes

Species: Common merfolk, steelhead subspecies (Margens vulgaris mykiss)

Preferred Pronouns: He/him.

Occupation: Servant of a sea warlock, entrepreneur.

S.O.: Heterosexual/heteroflexible

Nationality: English

Weight: -

Length: -

Physical Structure: Muscular, compact, with an abundant layer of subcutaneous fat for better insulation in cold waters

Smells of: -

Appears in: the first book in the Odyssey saga, and also of the eponymous comic.

• Fish Don't Cry - Book [Tapas][Wattpad]
• Fish Don't Cry - Comic
  

Rosas is a male common steelhead merfolk. He is one of Seras Alkahest's "moray eels," being subordinate to her, but stands out for his ability to launch innovative businesses both above and below the water.

Thanks to a pact with Seras, he has access to a human form.

He is a recurring character in the comic book Fish Don't Cry, and makes his first appearance in the first chapter of the novel Fish Don't Cry.

Personality

Unlike Sangreal, Rosas chose to ally himself with Seras voluntarily: he has a profound desire to see (and conquer) the world beyond his small home city-state. He was chosen by Seras not only because he was considered attractive by the standards of his species (and Seras desires to surround herself with aesthetically beautiful people), but also for his lively intelligence and his aptitude for planning his and his friends' rise to power. One could say that there is a real friendship between Seras and Rosas, an extremely close and extremely strange one, whose boundaries are blurred.

Gallery of images (Click to enlarge!)

		With Sangreal
-	Colonna 2	colonna 3
Colonna 1	Colonna 2	colonna 3
Colonna 1	Colonna 2	colonna 3
Colonna 1	Colonna 2	colonna 3

Fanarts

Art by cjcraziness	Art by LovelyWingsArt	colonna 3
Colonna 1	Colonna 2	colonna 3
Colonna 1	Colonna 2	colonna 3

🌵🎨 All the drawings in this page (and probably in all the other pages, if not differently specified) were realized by our artists, Furiarossa e Mimma. You can see more of their works and support them on their Patreon page. Become patrons of the arts! 🌵🎨

La fanart del giorno 35. Danza misteriosa (by Juglone)

Benvenute e benvenuti in questa rubrica in cui vi mostriamo le fanart dei nostri personaggi, disegnati da artisti talentuosi da tutto il mondo, e le commentiamo! Perché, insomma, un po' di fierezza ci vuole, no? Siamo fieri che le persone scelgano di disegnarli, e per dimostrarlo mettiamo i loro lavori sotto lo spotlight!

Il disegno di oggi è stata creato per noi da Juglone.

Ed è ancora una volta lei, misteriosa e intrigante, una bizzarria della natura metà umana e metà cefalopode, Seras Alkahest!

Guardarla negli occhi può essere una maledizione o una benedizione... ti darà tutto ciò che desidera il tuo cuore, persino cose che tu non ritieni possibili: ricchezza, bellezza, potere, la possibilità di trasformarti in qualcosa di diverso, persino l'immortalità... ma c'è un costo da pagare: diventare il suo animale domestico.

Sei disposto a pagare un prezzo del genere?

Apprezziamo tantissimo il modo in cui l'artista ha catturato questa natura così ammaliatrice e magica di Seras, dandole uno sguardo magnetico, e questo splendido outline luminoso, "magico". Elegante, misterioso, in qualche modo minaccioso.

Ci sono cose che si nascondono nelle profondità oscure... sei pronto a scoprire di cosa si tratta?

 

Seras è uno dei personaggi di Fish Don't Cry! Dategli un'occhiata, se cercate un'avventura misteriosa, magica e piena di... biologia marina!

 

[Character ] Tremble

Full Name: H1994
Nickname: Tremble 
Species: Lycanthrope (Homolupus homolupus)
Preferred Pronouns: She/her
Occupation: Test subject
S.O.: Heterosexual
Nationality: None
Weight: 88 kg
Height: 169 cm
Physical Structure: Muscular and fat
Smells of: Salt, blood

 

*Please look my way.
I'm here, In the cage number 27.
Choose me.
I will be the perfect dog,
the strongest,
the smartest.
Your warrior, your guardian.
I will be more faithful than them,

I will not fail,
I will never fail.
Why do you give them this chance?
Why not me?
I will be the strongest, I will be the most faithful.
Am I wrong? Am I wrong? Am I your mistake to keep in a cage?
Look my way.*

Tremble was created by a scientist, but since she's just the "first experiment", instead of her, other specimens created after her were actually "used", let out free to hunt and guard.
She lived for almost all her life in a cage.

Tremble would like to talk to others, and listen to them, but due to her very long confinement, every time they talk about their lives, their past, their travels and their relationships, she remembers that she has never experienced any of this.
How could she comment?
She would not be able to compare your experiences with those of others, nor understand them fully, nor give advice or opinions. And so she remains silent. And she doesn't say anything about herself, because she knows that others couldn't understand her, just as she can't understand them (even if she tries, she tries so hard).
And every word hurts.

Gallery of images (Click to enlarge!)

Colonna 1	Colonna 2	colonna 3
Colonna 1	Colonna 2	colonna 3

🌵🎨 All the drawings in this page (and probably in all the other pages, if not differently specified) were realized by our artists, Furiarossa e Mimma. You can see more of their works and support them on their Patreon page. Become patrons of the arts! 🌵🎨

Let's Play Overlord: rules of the game

 

These rules will provide you with all the information you need to play the Let's Play! Overlord Game.

Your deck of cards contains Overlords, which are essential for summoning your "warriors", the spirits, and scene cards that allow you to influence what happens during the battle. The deck must be composed of a minimum of thirty cards and a maximum of sixty, and is completely customizable: you can have a maximum of six copies of each card and incorporate cards from each Overlord expansion into the game!

The best way to learn to play the Let's Play! Overlord TCG is to use the "Green With Envy" print-to-play ready Promotional set (COMING SOON!) that will have examples of funny and interesting Overlords, spirits and scenes and that will allow you to familiarize yourself with the game while having fun (and, above all, it's free!).

Basics

Types of cards

There are three types of cards in the Let's Play! Overlord TCG:

1. Overlords

The most important cards for the battle are the Overlord cards! Without an Overlord, it is impossible to summon any creature, and it is the type of an Overlord and its level that decides what types of spirits you can summon! Look in the upper left corner of the card to find the symbol that represents the Overlord's domain: you will be able to summon all the spirits of that type, once you have chosen and played your Overlord.

Some special Overlords even have two different symbols, and thanks to them you can use dual-type spirits like them, or summon creatures from one of the two domains!

2. Spirits/creatures

They are the ones who fight bravely on the playing field, protecting the Overlord from the enemy! Creatures have a domain symbol, a life bar and an attack value. Many spirits also have special effects, which allow you to create fantastic custom combinations. Play with your style!

3. Scenes

A 1 vs 1 fight can be interesting, but with scene cards it can become even better! Scenes add that little bit of spice to the fight, making unexpected things happen with their effects. Just read the card text to find out what!

How to win

In the game Let's Play! Overlord (from now on we can simply abbreviate it as "Overlord"), your creatures (mostly spirits, but in very rare cases you can find fantastic creatures from other worlds!) face your opponent's creatures in battle.

There are two game modes:

Phantom Fight (short mode)

The first player to defeat three of the enemy's creatures wins the game! In addition, you can also win if your opponent cannot draw a card at the beginning of their turn or if they leave the Overlord uncovered for a full turn (not being able to play spirits to protect them). In short, even if you happen to have no spirits to play in your hand, after drawing a card at the beginning of the turn, you lose!

Kill the Overlord (long mode)

In the long mode, the goal is to defeat all the creatures that the enemy puts in front of you, until they no longer have any that can be summoned and you can directly attack the opponent's Overlord.

Obviously, the first to defeat the enemy's Overlord wins.

In this mode, even if at the beginning of the turn, after drawing a card, you have no spirits to play in your hand, you don't lose instantly! The enemy must defeat your Overlord to win, and Overlords are usually pretty sturdy, so you'll have some time, a few turns, to be able to draw new spirits.

How to set up a game

1) Shuffle your deck.

2) Draw cards until you get a Overlord.

3) Place the Overlord you drew in front of you. All the creatures and spirits you summon depend on their domain (the symbol in the top left) and their level (the spirits' level must not exceed that of the Overlord).

4) Whoever has the slowest Overlord summons second (and attacks second), but has the advantage of surprise! In fact, they can choose which spirit/creature to summon after seeing the one chosen by their opponent.

5) And now the game begins!

The Turn

Each turn consists of three main steps:

1) Draw a card.

2) Between these actions, perform the ones you want, in the order and quantity you prefer:

A. Play a Spirit.

You can do this to replace the active one at any time (except in special cases, such as due to the ability of certain cards) or to take the place of a spirit that was defeated during the opponent's turn. Normally, there can only be one (1) active spirit on the field!

You cannot summon two spirits at the same time, one next to the other, so choose your champion carefully. However, there are some special spirits that can be played together, and they are those that have the "swarm" or "schooling" ability.

Some Overlords also summon multiple creatures at the same time, a very rare and very advantageous effect!

In general, however, unless it is explicitly written on the card you are playing, or on the Overlord you have on the field, you cannot play more than one spirit at a time.

B. Play scene cards

The effect of scene cards will be immediate (except in special cases) and can change game conditions, strengthening your spirits, negating the effects of your opponent's cards or even introducing new rules!

C. Use any ability you want among those written on the card of your Overlord and/or spirit

Spirits or Ovelords often have special abilities: each of them is different, so read their text carefully each time. Some abilities will only work if a certain condition is met, while others are always active, even outside of your turn.

Also remember that abilities do not count as attacks, so if you use them during your turn, you can still attack after doing so!

3) Attack and end your turn.

When you attack, your turn is over and you cannot go back! So remember to do all the actions you need before attacking!

How the attack works

The attack is a very simple phase, which you will learn in the blink of an eye!

You only need to look at two numbers: the one on the life bar and the one on the attack power.

Subtract the number of points of the attack power of your spirit from the number on the life bar of the opponent's spirit and that's it!

If your attack power is greater than the life bar of the opponent, then that spirit/creature will go into the discard pile (along, possibly, with all the scene cards that were assigned to it) and you will have scored a point (if you are playing the "short" version of the game, otherwise you will have simply eliminated an enemy and will be closer to victory!).

The spirit that has been attacked, if it is not discarded, will have to take into account the damage that has been done to it: you can write how many life points it has left on a piece of paper, or use damage tokens (each token is worth ten damage points, special tokens can be worth five points). And now it's the opponent's turn, so hold on tight!

LET'S PLAY! OVERLORD!

Glossary

Assign: take a scene card from your hand and place it on one of your spirits in play (when required by the card text). The assigned cards are discarded along with the spirit, when it is defeated.

Life bar: statistic present on creature/spirit cards, it is found more or less in the center of the card, immediately below the image. The number written on it represents the amount of "life" of a spirit, or the number of damage it can take before being defeated. Overlords have one too, at the bottom of the card.

Change-side: when due to an effect, or a scene card, a spirit "changes loyalty" and is used by the opposing Overlord, physically changing side of the playing field (it is moved in front of the opponent). Be careful not to have spirits that are too powerful, they could turn against you!

Catastrophe: a card so powerful that you can only have one in the deck. They have a red border, instead of the classic black or brown color.

Damage: when a spirit attacks another, it inflicts damage. A spirit is defeated and placed in the discard pile if it takes damage greater than or equal to the points on its life bar.

Domain: indicated by the symbol in the top left, it represents the element to which a spirit is related. Overlord can only summon spirits to which they are related, therefore they must share the same domain.

Some of the commonly seen domains include:

Overlord: a spirit more powerful than the others, who acts as the "boss" and social glue of a phantomhive. In the card game, an Overlord it is necessary to summon creatures and spirits. You can't play without them!

Secondary Overlords: some Overlords have the power to be played together with other "friends", Overlords different from them who can extend their domain (summoning spirits of a different type than that of the active or primary Overlord) or use special abilities. These Overlords summoned alongside the active one are called "Secondary Overlords".

Phantom Fight: Short game mode, in which the winner is the one who manages to defeat three opposing spirits.

Possession: When a creature that is not a spirit is put into play, a spirit can "possess" it, causing it to switch sides and allowing the opposing player to use it. For possession to work, the spirit must be a higher level than the creature it is supposed to possess.

Prismatics: Overlords who can summon spirits from any domain.

Discard: Put a card into the discard pile.

Scene: Card that makes "something happen", with a variety of effects. Just read the text to find out what it is! Scenes include all the buff cards, or those that summon particular types of spirits, or also those that allow you to change Overlords.

Scenario: A scene card that stays in play after you use it, but is not connected to any particular spirit or Overlord. It can only be replaced by another scenario card or by an effect that specifically targets scenarios.

Swarm: special ability of some small spirits, allows them to be summoned at the same time, if you have them in your hand, and to attack by adding their attack values. They create particularly effective combos if you manage to summon six copies (the maximum number of copies of a card that can be present in a deck).

Tag-team: special cards that have the image and powers of two Overlords inside. In play they are worth as a single Overlord, but they cannot be played normally like the others: you must pay a cost. The cost is described in the text of the card and can be for example a sacrifice of cards (such as discarding all the other cards that the player has in their hand), a sacrifice of spirits (such as discarding from the playing field spirits above a certain level), the fulfillment of certain conditions (such as as the presence on the field of a specific Overlord in combination with a scene card) or others. They are generally very rare cards!

?: domain of mysterious creatures, which are not spirits, but can be somehow summoned by the Overlords.

Perché leggiamo poco su Wattpad

Wattpad ci ha invitati a compilare un sondaggio al fine di comprendere meglio i suoi lettori (e scrittori, in teoria, ma nel sondaggio si parlava poco e nulla di chi scrive) e... ne vogliamo approfittare per parlare un attimino di questa piattaforma, che per anni è stata il nostro "trampolino" principale. E proprio per questo il nostro salto è stato basso e brutto, e non ci ha portati particolarmente lontani.

All'inizio il trampolino in questione sembrava bello elastico, lustro e brillante: una piattaforma dai colori vivaci (okay, forse abbiamo un po' un debole per i siti con la grafica arancione).

Ma provare a saltare da quel trampolino più di una volta rivela immediatamente uno dei problemi principali: scricchiola.

Scricchiola orribilmente. Magari, uno pensa, è colpa del materiale: fa un rumore strano.

Ma a saltare ancora e ancora, quel trampolino si rompe, ed è lì che siamo in questo momento: a terra, acciaccati, guardando verso l'alto al trampolino spezzato, chiedendoci se tutte quelle ore che abbiamo investito per curare il nostro profilo e postare le nostre storie avrebbero potuto essere investite altrove.

Su Tapas, per esempio, una piattaforma che negli anni abbiamo trascurato tantissimo, ma che ha consistentemente mostrato risultati migliori nel numero di persone che leggono i nostri lavori, nonché nella qualità dei romanzi e dei fumetti che noi stessi abbiamo trovato e letto nel tempo.

Insomma, ci fanno male le metaforiche gambe, dopo quella caduta dal trampolino. O le radici, se preferite, visto che siamo i Cactus di Fuoco... e forse "le radici" è anche più giusto, visto che è stato proprio su Wattpad che abbiamo esordito come gruppo. Prima eravamo solo una manciata di autori che pubblicavano separatamente i nostri lavori (c'è persino ancora qualcosa in giro, con i nostri vecchi nomi! Ma come Cactus di Fuoco performiamo meglio, ci diamo coraggio a vicenda, quindi... ;) ).

Ma torniamo a Wattpad. Sappiamo forse solo lamentarci? Cosa suggeriamo, quindi?

Più libertà nel tipo di contenuti che vengono postati, una cosa che attira anche scrittori migliori, i quali non devono avere paura di contenere i temi delle loro storie per colpa di essere cacciati dalla piattaforma. Inoltre, spesso le storie sulle altre piattaforme sono meno concentrate intorno ad un singolo trend, perciò troviamo anche storie che non sono i classici romance o romantasy tutti uguali, ma anche avventura, sci-fi, fantasy, e molto altri ancora!

Queste cose ci sono anche su Wattpad, non fraintendeteci, ma sono molto più rare... è come se tutti stessero copiando i contenuti a tutti, con il risultato che le storie che si somigliano troppo fra loro vengono messe sotto i riflettori, mentre chi prova con cose rivoluzionarie (o anche non-rivoluzionarie, ma classiche e scritte bene, benché non particolarmente trendy) viene messo di lato.

Inoltre il sistema di tag di Wattpad è... strano, oseremmo dire. È più difficile trovare le storie che ci interessano.

E interi fandom sono sottorappresentati o del tutto assenti! È facile trovare storie (spesso molto, molto simili tra loro) dedicate a quattro o cinque fandom (in particolar modo "musicali", legati alle boy band o al K-Pop), ma appena si entra in altri campi, come serie animate o serie televisive magari un po' più "di nicchia" non si trova più niente da leggere.

Insomma, se non siamo interessati strettamente alla stessa trama trita e ritrita, la difficoltà nel trovare le storie che cerchiamo su Wattpad specificamente diventa vertiginosa!

Wattpad ci chiede "Quali altre funzionalità/impostazioni di lettura ti sarebbero utili mentre leggi una storia su Wattpad?".

E onestamente leggeremmo una buona storia anche su un foglietto spiegazzato... se fossimo in grado di trovare una buona storia. Sappiamo che avete dei buoni scrittori, lì da qualche parte! In passato ne abbiamo trovati!

Dovete solo aiutarli a splendere... perché purtroppo se ne stanno andando tutti, uno dopo l'altro. I migliori scrittori, i worldbuilder di alto livello, non hanno modo di "flexare" le loro capacità, anche perché non li legge nessuno, e non perché non siano bravissimi, ma perché non scrivono storie sui One Direction.

Oh, adesso che ci pensiamo... forse ci sarebbe un modo per migliorare le funzionalità di lettura! Migliorare le parti visive. Al momento è difficile caricare delle buone immagini su Wattpad: devono essere piccole, di conseguenza di qualità mediocre, e spesso ci mettono moltissimo tempo per essere caricate.

Inoltre molte delle illustrazioni che si trovano oggigiorno sono AI, e non ce le godiamo per niente. AI e sgranate per giunta? La tomba della creatività. Anti-immersivo, onestamente. (Stiamo usando troppe volte la parola "onestamente"? Può darsi, ma stiamo cercando di essere sinceri, quindi anche questa parola viene dal cuore).

Un'altra cosa che si potrebbe aggiungere è la possibilità di formattare il testo in maniera più personalizzata. Altre piattaforme permettono di farlo senza problemi, e il risultato è che alcune storie sono in grado di sorprendere anche con la combinazione di font e colori del testo.

E poi le tabelle! Che significa che su Wattpad non possono esserci le tabelle, uno degli strumenti più utili di sempre per ordinare gli elementi?

Sarebbe meraviglioso poter proporre schede dei personaggi che combinino immagini (in alta qualità, si spera, o come minimo visionabili... andiamo, è il 2026, le immagini si possono convertire in formato .webp per essere più leggere e comunque avere una buona qualità!), tabelle con i dati dei personaggi, sfondi colorati, loghi e molto altro ancora!

Non vi chiediamo di poter esporre mappe interattive (sappiamo che le funzionalità di Wattpad sono all'osso, non possiamo chiedervi un salto di qualità del genere da un giorno all'altro, sarebbe sciocco e pretenzioso da parte nostra), ma almeno la formattazione del testo, dài...

Insomma, abbiamo solo un siterello generico, su cui postare testo non particolarmente personalizzabile, pieno di bug (perché lo è, è talmente pieno di bug che a volte ci leva le storie dalle liste di lettura), con nessuna enfasi sulle novità, concorsi in cui i vincitori non vincono proprio niente (abbiamo vinto diversi wattys in passato, e non hanno, pensate un po', neanche alzato il numero di lettori... insomma, non vi pagano manco in esposizione, questi) e tantissima noia.

Oh, e poi, quasi dimenticavamo, hanno anche tolto i messaggi privati! Una volta c'erano, e li potevamo usare per tantissime cose! Ora invece non si può neanche fare amicizia sulla piattaforma: tié, leggiti l'ennesima fanfiction di una tizia venduta ai One Direction e statti zitta/o, no, non puoi fare neanche amicizia con la scrittrice della fanfiction, altrimenti ti vendiamo pure a te ai One Direction. Come dici, i One Direction si sono sciolti? Eh, ma tanto noi siamo una piattaforma ferma nel passato, da noi stanno ancora benissimo!

E se vuoi proprio stare nel presente, al massimo ti vendiamo ai BTS!

Sono già tanti gli scrittori che se ne vanno dalla piattaforma... e se Wattpad continua a degenerare così... ce ne andiamo anche noi, eh.

Ma incrociamo le dita, per ora. Se siamo duri con Wattpad non è perché li odiamo, ma perché una volta li abbiamo amati, e ci dispiacerebbe doverli lasciare per sempre.

Una seconda chance va data a tutti (o quasi): ora tocca soltanto a loro, decidere se vogliono cambiare oppure no.