Talk:Another Senseless Ritual/@comment-26399604-20180628131750

"Another Senseless Ritual". I see what you did there!

I've never been a fan of ritual styled pastas. I think Kolpik hit on one my reasons -- seeing how most are just aimless lists and instructions that seem impossible to follow without reading ahead first doomed for the reader to fail without an rhyme or reason. You managed to find a way around getting the procedures while executing them with the "instructor" being a voice within the performer's head.

What I think works for the this story the most is the narrative driven by monologue approach. I love when stories do that, especially ones that can pull it off. One of my favorites is What Is Your Pleasure?. Stories that use monologue-driven narratives really bring the characters alive -- especially when I read stories out loud, which allows me to put on that persona.

As with most ritual pastas, this one came with a price, but I love there was more a reason for it. The spirit was essentially screwing with the performer until the very end. Its existence needed some means of entertainment and this was sort that outlet. I also like how the chasing "monster" is basically what the performer becomes, essentially becoming an endless cycle. I guess my only critique would be -- why aren't there an abundance of them running around? But the story does kind of answer that question, noting that this particular performer is among the "rare exceptions" to actually successfully follow the rules.

I can happily say that I can add this to my very short list of ritual stories I enjoyed, the only other being Fifteen with Fiona. This is a good example of your common ritual pasta that diverts from the usual tropes (or at least, makes it more interesting and fun) when done right. I only hope to see this for the other common pastas that get a bad rep like your OCs and gamepastas, which are severely lacking in the creative department. For me, I believe Madame Macabre provided a good example of how to do an OC right.

Overall, nice job on this one and good luck in the contest!