History Creator / Wildbow

** ''Pact'', ''Poke'' and ''Poof:'' The world is being slowly eaten by demons and the Abyss, while an over-legalistic karma system allows horrible people to get off scot-free as long as they have enough good karma to throw at their mistakes. Those with high enough bad karma, whether actually evil or not (And sometimes by virtue [[SinsOfTheFather of their family's actions]]), get shat on by the universe, who does its damnedest to kill them.

** Taylor Heibert, the main character of ''Worm'', is part of the villain group known as the Undersiders in Brockton Bay.

** [[MetaphoricallyTrue Technically,]] ''Pact'' qualifies, though its "divergence point" is the existence of magic.

** ''Ward'' averts this by having an unambiguously happy ending.

** ''Pact:'' The world is being slowly eaten by demons and the Abyss, while an over-legalistic karma system allows horrible people to get off scot-free as long as they have enough good karma to throw at their mistakes. Those with high enough bad karma, whether actually evil or not (And sometimes by virtue [[SinsOfTheFather of their family's actions]]), get shat on by the universe, who does its damnedest to kill them.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: It was said before but any Wildbow protagonist is going to go through hell if they want a shot at a good ending.

* FirstPersonPerspective: His stories are always told from a first person perspective, save for the Interludes and chapters focusing on someone who isn't the protagonist, which switch to third person.

** In ''Worm'' [[spoiler:Panacea is gay for Glory Girl, [[NotBloodSiblings her stepsister]], which ends in tragedy after the events of the Slaughterhouse 9 arc.]]

** All four of his novels so far are titled as a single word with four letters: ''Worm'', ''Pact'', ''Twig'', and ''Ward''.

** Taylor Hebert, the main character of ''Worm'', is part of the villain group known as the Undersiders in Brockton Bay.

* ''Literature/{{Poof}}'' [-(Set in the same universe as ''Pact'')

** In ''Ward'' [[spoiler:Vista is attracted to Capricorn. If Capricorn were just one person, this might not be an issue, but since he is actually a pair of identical twins, one of whom is gay, who triggered while touching and are stuck in the same body, it's never going to work out.]] At least until [[spoiler: [[HeroicSacrifice Tristan commits battlefield suicide to prevent himself from becoming a Titan]] and [[DeathOfTheHypotenuse Byron is left alone, shaken, but able to pursue the relationship if he wishes.]]

*** ''Ward'' naturally also qualifies, due to being set in the same universe after [[spoiler:said BigGood begins destroying the planet ahead of schedule]].

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Wildbow's characters tend to have both positive and negative aspects to them, with very few being unambiguously good or evil. This includes the protagonists, who can have rather unlikable aspects to their personalities while still being overall good.

** In ''Ward'' [[spoiler:Vista is attracted to Capricorn. If Capricorn were just one person, this might not be an issue, but since he is actually a pair of identical twins, one of whom is gay, who triggered while touching and are stuck in the same body, it's never going to work out.]]

** In ''Ward'', [[spoiler:Victoria went through this before the story even starts, describing her experience in ''Worm'' as losing herself, body, heart and mind. She has recovered, but dealing with the residual trauma is a major theme. One can only hope that this means that Wildbow has gotten it out of his system and she won't have to do it again.]]

** In ''Worm'', [[spoiler:Tayor's transformation into Khepri removes all the limiters on her passenger's influence, leading it to strip her of her ability to understand language, majorly influencing her through process, and even speaking directly through her.]]

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield:
** The main settings of his works tend to be fictional places in the real world US and Canada.
** ''Worm'' is set in Brockton Bay, which is located in the New England area. ''Ward'' narrows its location down a bit.

** This is also true of many individual arcs within those works, though there are also arcs whose conclusions are more or less clear wins or losses..

Wildbow (real name John C. [=McCrae=], born in 1984), is a Canadian writer of {{Web Serial Novel}}s. An interview with him can be found [[http://robbieblair.com/interview-with-worm-author-john-mccrae/ here.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: It was said before but any Wildbow protagonist is going to go through hell if they want a shot at a good ending

** ''Twig:'' The Crown Empire, a British Empire that controls most of the world, has turned most of the planet into a playground for their nobles, where genetic experimentation is done without the slightest veneer of ethics. [[spoiler: What's more, it is later confirmed that many of the places still not under Crown control were simply wholesale destroyed by intentioinally-released horrific plagues and bioweapons.]]

** Both ''Worm'' and ''Pact'' end on somewhat happy notes for their protagonists, though they lose a lot in the process.

** ''Twig'' is set in an alternate history version of North America in which almost all place names have been changed beyond recognition. The only place setting that we can be sure corresponds to a real world city is New Amsterdam (New York, NY).

Wildbow (real name John C. [=McCrae=], born in 1984), is a writer of {{Web Serial Novel}}s hailing from Canada. [[http://robbieblair.com/interview-with-worm-author-john-mccrae/ Interview.]]

* ''Literature/{{Ward}}''

! Tropes commonly found in his works

** ''Worm'', ''Pact'', ''Twig'', and ''Ward''.
** Not to mention "Boil,"[[note]]Which was later adapted to ''Twig''[[/note]] "Face," and "Peer," the titles competing for the slot which ''Pact'' eventually won. Averted with the stories that would eventually become ''Worm'', which included titles like "Guts and Glory" and "The Events Leading Up To That Thursday."

** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow_High_School_(Maine) Winslow High School]] is an actual school in Maine.
** ''Worm'' is set in Brockton Bay, which is located in the New England area.
** ''Pact'' is primarily set in Jacob's Bell, which is somewhere near Toronto in Ontario.
** This is actually a plot point in ''{{Pact}}'': [[spoiler: Jacob's Bell can't be found on a map because it's been swallowed by the Abyss]].
** ''Twig'' is set in an alternate history version of North America in which almost all place names have been changed beyond recognition. The only place setting that we can be sure corresponds to a real world city so far is New Amsterdam (New York, NY).

** ''Worm'', ''Pact'', and ''Twig''.

Wildbow (real name John C. [=McCrae=]), is a writer of {{Web Serial Novel}}s hailing from Canada. [[http://robbieblair.com/interview-with-worm-author-john-mccrae/ Interview.]]

'''Wildbow''' (real name John C. [=McCrae=]), is a writer of {{Web Serial Novel}}s hailing from Canada. [[http://robbieblair.com/interview-with-worm-author-john-mccrae/ Interview.]]

** ''Twig:'' The Crown Empire, a British Empire that controls most of the world, has turned most of the planet into a playground for their nobles, where genetic experimentation is done without the slightest veneer of ethics.

** ''Worm'' is set in Brockton Bay, which is located where Portsmouth, New Hampshire would be in our world.

** ''Twig:'' During the early 19th Century advances in biotech create a {{Biopunk}} based world.

** This is actually a plot point in ''{{Pact}}'': [[spoiler: Jacob's Bell can't be found on a map because it's been swallowed by the Abyss]].