Question "Divergent Arrivals" - Discussion Thread

The Whateley fanfiction "Divergent Arrival" was posted earlier this week for anyone who cares to read it. As it covers the same area as the 'Gen 1' introduction stories some of the text in it is likely familiar to experienced readers. Comments, either here or on Ao3, are welcome.


A second chapter (showing Nikki's perspective) is waiting to be posted and a third has just been finished today.

(Warning: Due to various ripples, some of which are unknown IC, this version of the Whateley-verse is rather more sexualized. Characters have also been aged up somewhat along with larger cultural and societal changes.)

A proper thread had now been created in the "Posted Stories - Fabrication Lab" sub-forum:


A second chapter (switching to focus on Nikki) has been posted there. Any comments on it, or the first chapter, are welcome.

A third chapter (switching to focus on Boone this time) has been posted. Any comments on it, or the other chapters, would be welcomed.

A fourth chapter (switching back to Jade again) is currently being worked and is approximately halfway done.

Unfortunately, I'm not satisfied with a few bits in chapter four so posting will be delayed as I edit several pieces. However, chapter five is now being written alongside those efforts.

Any comments on the already posted chapters would really be appreciated as, currently, there appears to be no interest in this story.

Chapter four is up and, as always, any comments or discussion on it (or the previous chapters) would be welcome.

I am still working on chapter five, hopefully, drawing this first story to a close, but I'm wavering on whether to continue with further stories. I did have plans for beyond the arrival at Whateley, but with the lack of reader interest I'm not sure if I should bother.

Unfortunately, when it opened, the Whateley Discord siphoned off a good 90% of the forum's discussions. It's now rare to see any feedback.

It's not all bad, though. While the Fabrication Lab stories don't have the exposure/audience size that WhatIF and Canon stories do, you're also far less likely to get the hate mail that AO3 and FFN writers can get. Also, Google does archive the forums: I ran a plagiarism check from Grammarly, and the program pointed me right back to the micro-scene I'd posted as a teaser.

I have read all your chapters of your story and very much appreciate the “different” way of showing the long established characters interacting with your characters
I’m looking forward to more of your work

As for no one commenting that’s pretty normal for here now that the Discus server is up and pretty much what Kristen said was likely to happen
My own take on that problem is it is not a problem, because we no longer get stupid arguments from so called “fans” trying to tell Authors their character is not what “they” want The inane babble( to my ears) has gone to discus and remarkably has moderated a lot to now be mostly tolerable imo
ALSO bear in mind that only members can comment and there is rarely more than 15 members EVER logged on the site BUT there are always several Hundred guests on the site
As I write this comment their are TEN members logged in and NINE HUNDRED & EIGHTY Guests viewing the site!
Don’t be discouraged you writing is good and enjoyable to read

• Chapter five is almost complete but still needs checking over prior to posting.
• The unexpected chapter six (which will be the last of this story) is being planned.
• Chapter two may be moved onto Archive of Our Own this coming Monday.
• The next story, following on from Divergent Arrivals, is still unnamed and only vaguely plotted.

Now for the responses!

null0trooper wrote: Unfortunately, when it opened, the Whateley Discord siphoned off a good 90% of the forum's discussions. It's now rare to see any feedback.

It's not all bad, though. While the Fabrication Lab stories don't have the exposure/audience size that WhatIF and Canon stories do, you're also far less likely to get the hate mail that AO3 and FFN writers can get. Also, Google does archive the forums: I ran a plagiarism check from Grammarly, and the program pointed me right back to the micro-scene I'd posted as a teaser.

Thank you for the words of support and I do understand some of the issues about feedback on the forum. However, it is still rather frustrating.

Wavehead wrote: I have read all your chapters of your story and very much appreciate the “different” way of showing the long established characters interacting with your characters
I’m looking forward to more of your work

I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying the story. The differences (specifically the divergences) are something I wanted to highlight as they part ways from canon.

As for no one commenting that’s pretty normal for here now that the Discus server is up and pretty much what Kristen said was likely to happen
My own take on that problem is it is not a problem, because we no longer get stupid arguments from so called “fans” trying to tell Authors their character is not what “they” want The inane babble( to my ears) has gone to discus and remarkably has moderated a lot to now be mostly tolerable imo
ALSO bear in mind that only members can comment and there is rarely more than 15 members EVER logged on the site BUT there are always several Hundred guests on the site
As I write this comment their are TEN members logged in and NINE HUNDRED & EIGHTY Guests viewing the site!
Don’t be discouraged you writing is good and enjoyable to read

I will try to keep this in mind. Not getting discouraged can be an issue though.

Chapter five is now up and, as always, any comments or discussion on it (or the previous chapters) would be welcome.

(Chapter six is giving me issues. Not the least because I've somehow lost my outline for it...)

Thank you to those who have commented since the last chapter and especially to SomeoneElse37 on the Whateley Discord who went through and commented there on all five chapters. Unless anyone else has more to say about it, I'll likely post chapter two up onto Ao3 at some point during this week.

Chapter six is almost finished, but ending the final scene satisfactorily is being annoying. It should be done in the next day or so and get passed by my beta reader prior to a posting on Friday.

(The news about Maggie has also given me a minor issue given that this chapter does involve Nikki/Fey.)

Chapter six is finally done and, with it, this first story is over!

It can be found here if, for some reason you can't seem to find it.

For those of you who have been enjoying it, please comment now as this is the last chance for you to do so and cause me to tweak or change the text before it is posted to Archive of Our own as my final version.


Thank you to Oz1eye, null0trooper, and Wavehead for at least saying "Thank You" for what I've been writing.

Thank you very much to Wavehead for their comments here and Someone Else 37 for commenting on all the previous chapters on Discord.

And, of course, all the thanks for Maladay for their assistance, proofreading, and putting up with me...