Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Thanks Iain!

Saar's YA option sorted, I think...

Thank you so much! From a newbie, the instructions are really nice and easy to follow.

Nirkatze wrote: "Thank you so much! From a newbie, the instructions are really nice and easy to follow."

The primer hasn't been updated with any of the recent changes I made last year or this year, to the top section, but it's still pretty accurate, especially for inputting data...

Iain, on my tracker, I can't see if there's a spot that I need to mark as yes to count the item as a Graphic Novel.

That may not be necessary.

So, how do I count pages for webcomics that do not have a book/volume listed on GR?

I was planning on just using the chapter count as the page count. Though, that's not realistic because most chapters are actually 3-12 pages. Yet, it kinda goes with the graphic novel penalty for not having full page points.

Also, depending on the comic, there's more writing involved as part of the story than other comics. Most of the cultivation stories have a lot of backstory, extra info, etc. Other than the "Fight me! I am the best!" stuff. lol

Soo wrote: "Iain, on my tracker, I can't see if there's a spot that I need to mark as yes to count the item as a Graphic Novel.

That may not be necessary.

So, how do I count pages for webcomics that do not..."

I went in and re-implemented the Graphic Novel / comic formula, using the Date Pub column you disabled and replaced with ~~~

Put a y or Y in that column, and it'll cut page points in 1/4 ... so be careful with it :D

However you decide to count pages... I'm the worst person for advice on that... I didn't even bother trying to include Strongest Florist, or the half dozen other webcomics you got me reading last summer, into my sheet...

Yah, I only added a few and they had a print page count, but most of the stuff on WebToons/etc do not have a listing on GR or have page counts in general. Kinda tough.

I'm going to continue reading comics & light novels. I didn't like not adding them to the tracker last year. Mostly because I didn't want to leave blank spaces for pages/etc.

I guess it'll depend on what's on GR or info I can dig up. lol Adventures in reading.

Beena wrote: "I'll have the same sheet again please, just with the graphic novel section removed as I don't tend to read any. Thanks Iain :D"

Is there any other statistic you'd like to add, instead?... it's generally easier to replace an un-needed column with new data tracking (and a point formula change), than completely removing the column and screwing with the top stuff that gets grabbed to other tabs...

Genre
Re-reads
Whether you're clearing from your Owned-Already-TBR
Whether it's available at Library/Libby/Hoopla/etc...

Tons of possibilities...

Timelord Iain wrote: "It's that time of year, folks...

Time to send your letters to Santa Timelord Iain, with your Tracker requests...



I know the Teams haven't been made yet, but I'm gonna be starting the spreadshee..."

When I get added to the competition, could I get a re-read and genre column, if possible? If its too much trouble the default is fine too. Thank you! :)

Emily wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "It's that time of year, folks...

Time to send your letters to Santa Timelord Iain, with your Tracker requests...



I know the Teams haven't been made yet, but I'm gonna be s..."

Do you read Graphic Novels?... if you don't, I have replacing the Graphic Novel point reduction column with a genre tracker down to a science...

And I just do re-read and other simple trackers with a new column A checkbox... should be easy...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Emily wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "It's that time of year, folks...

Time to send your letters to Santa Timelord Iain, with your Tracker requests...



I know the Teams haven't been made yet, but ..."

I really only have one I plan on reading this year and I don't anticipate getting into them, so I think that will work! :)

Hi Iain, can I have the same as Jenna? Pretty please? 😉

Do we need to request the page added for us? And more importantly, how do we get a fancy chart showing the different genres that we've read, I see that some people have it and some don't (altho I'm looking at this on mobile so maybe I'm missing something)

I'll try and get sheets sorted for you guys in the next hour or 2...

Adding the genre thing is a request here, and a request easier filled if you don't need the Graphic Novel column... do you read Graphic Novels, Julian?

Narilka has everything most people want, and more, so I'm just going to copy that sheet to give people too much stuff :D

You don't have to use a column if you don't care about it, and we can probably repurpose the columns if you come up with other data you want to track instead... it also keeps the Graphic Novel column...

I implemented everyone into the sheet in the laziest way possible, while meeting requests :D

Everyone's requests should be completed now, except for the manga / Graphic Novel request from Paula... I WILL get that done, I promise :D

Thanks, Iain!

Yay, thank you! :)

Thanks lain! I read a few mangas but I don't track those and consider them their own separate thing.

Time to update with all the books I've read so far

Ohh!! Do you have some code for a graphic novel / manga section?? I’d be interested in that if that’s the case Timelord :D

Katie wrote: "Ohh!! Do you have some code for a graphic novel / manga section?? I’d be interested in that if that’s the case Timelord :D"

Paula had her Graphic Novel/Manga column replaced in previous years, but wants it back now... that's all...

You seem to have your "GN?" column, still... was there something else you wanted?

Ohhh!! Never mind then! I thought it was under the list with tome / novels / short stories etc. Keep it as is then :D

haha, no worries Iain, I haven't started a manga yet

Is there any other statistic you'd like to add, instead?... it's generally easier to replace an un-needed column with new data tracking (and a point formula change), than completely removing the column and screwing with the top stuff that gets grabbed to other tabs...

Sorry Iain, completely freaking missed this!! I just posted on here and never checked back lol.

I can't check the sheet at the moment because my work laptop doesn't like it, so I don't know if you somehow managed it. Hopefully it wasn't too much work for you, otherwise I would've said just to leave it in! Sorry!

Nirkatze name is missing an r on the tracker.

Soo wrote: "Nirkatze name is missing an r on the tracker."

Jenna wrote: "Finally, here is the moment you've been waiting for! The official 2022 teams!

...

House of Chains
Captain: Scott
Emily
Jessica
Manju
Nikatze..."

Blame Jenna... I just copied list from Team Announcements :D

I'll get it fixed at some point :D

Maybe it'll become a nickname? LOL

Akkkk, sorry, Nirkatze! It's fixed on The Team Announcement list now.

:D

I finally fixed the name in 3 places, it should auto-generate in the rest of the locations... lemme know if I broke anything when I wasn't looking :D

@Iain what does the skull icon do on my spreadsheet page?

Julian wrote: "@Iain what does the skull icon do on my spreadsheet page?"

I think I copied a couple of you guys' sheets from someone that had that column, because it had all the OTHER features you wanted...

THAT person wanted that column to track deaths in the books they read... just a fun optional column... you can ignore it, use it, or repurpose it... it's hard to go back and fill in if you weren't using it from the get-go...

Haha, makes me think of all the deaths in GoT.

Saar The Book owl wrote: "Haha, makes me think of all the deaths in GoT."

Yea... I tried out the column once, but it was too much work for me... some books just have large scale death, and it's impossible to quantify... then you think "why not just do important characters"... but even then... I gave up in about a week (inevitable, probably, as much as I read)...

I think it's just impossible to do that. Instead of reading it's constant tracking of the amount of death. A huge effort for some books!

That's a cool idea though! Especially in certain fantasy series. lol

We could do a mini competition: who has the most deaths in the books that've been read, haha.

I did it with a few high death rate books where I kept a post-it note stickied to my kindle so I could tally as I read LOL Edit to add, I gave up trying to keep track in my audio books though since I listen while I do other activities and it wasn't always easy to jot down in the moment.

Saar The Book owl wrote: "We could do a mini competition: who has the most deaths in the books that've been read, haha."

That would be 'fun'? lol XD

Narilka wrote: "I did it with a few high death rate books where I kept a post-it note stickied to my kindle so I could tally as I read LOL Edit to add, I gave up trying to keep track in my audio books though since..."

Oh gosh! Do you remember how high you got before losing count?

Saar The Book owl wrote: "We could do a mini competition: who has the most deaths in the books that've been read, haha."

When I read alot of Paranormal Romance, I was loosely tracking the oldest love interest :D

Started out small scale with vampires that lived hundreds of years... then thousands of years back to ancient Egypt... then 10s of thousands of years with the Dark Hunter / Dream Hunter series...

Then 127,000 years with the Darkfever series...

Then you get to Elder Races, and you have characters like the dragon and phoenix that have been alive since the Big Bang, and it's basically game over :D

I never would have guessed that's what it was for lol. I'm thinking of Malazan or GoT where so many people die

Timelord Iain wrote: "Saar The Book owl wrote: "We could do a mini competition: who has the most deaths in the books that've been read, haha."

When I read alot of Paranormal Romance, I was loosely tracking the oldest l..."

Ohhh!!! That's a fun tracker too! Oh my gosh. Mythical races and ages are so fun. Just talked about that in my D&D campaign the other day XD

You know, it would be fun just to find out what other trackers people have been keeping while reading. Fun challenges and whatnot XD

Narilka wrote: "I did it with a few high death rate books where I kept a post-it note stickied to my kindle so I could tally as I read LOL Edit to add, I gave up trying to keep track in my audio books though since..."

I remember a picure with the post it's between the pages, comparing the amount of death in the Harry Potter - books and in the GoT - books. Huge difference!

Saar The Book owl wrote: "Narilka wrote: "I did it with a few high death rate books where I kept a post-it note stickied to my kindle so I could tally as I read LOL Edit to add, I gave up trying to keep track in my audio bo..."

Oh my gosh!!! I bet XD

Then do you need a column for resurrections too? Because some stories go that way and redcon the consequences XD

Katie wrote: "Narilka wrote: "I did it with a few high death rate books where I kept a post-it note stickied to my kindle so I could tally as I read LOL Edit to add, I gave up trying to keep track in my audio bo..."

I gave up with a Joe Leger book. They are shoot-em-up thrillers lol I even tried just keeping a "major" character death count but Maberry likes to kill off everyone so even that didn't work.

With non-audio books, in the beginning I was trying to keep track by chapter. Then there was a major fight scene and yeah, hash marks are faster in the moment!

I started to really appreciate authors who wrote "there 8 marauders in the ambush..." and the like. Made counting easier :D

Edit: For authors that took the shortcut of deaths off screen and the character "walks through a pile of corpses" - they got counted as just 1 unless the character mentions anything else.

@Narilka ~ Ooof! Yeah, that kinda tracker won't work well with that genre, will it? XD

oh gosh! Yeah I think if there was a military battle or something I'd be like '1 battalion lost' or something. Because that gets tricky XD

I mean, the death count in the Joe Ledger series has to be 100s of thousands or millions, right?

I mean, things get rougher and rougher... (view spoiler)[wasn't the Golden Gate bridge bombed away, Zombie outbreak at Comic Con, Autonomous Drone Strike at the Dodgers' Stadium... Rage Insanity trigger thing causing mayhem on the Senate floor... (hide spoiler)] (I probably included spoilers that Narilka hasn't read yet, in this tag, listing a bunch of the biggest casualty events)...

That series gets as close to apocalyptic as possible, basically, before pulling back... at this point the Joe Ledger world has to barely resemble the real world...