History Fanfic / CalliopesUpdateGirl

Described by the author as "an open love letter to the ''Homestuck'' fandom", ''Calliope's Update Girl'' features a rather impressive scope of topics, ranging from Andrew Hussie's daily life to the interaction between him and the fandom, as well as the characters, and the prospect of both the characters encountering ''Homestuck'' and the fandom encountering the characters. It also has spawned a series of related fanfics that, even though they're not quite in the same universe, share themes.

-->My prediction for the future: You will be able to say "Webcomic/{{Jailbreak}}" without [[IThoughtThatWas anyone thinking that you're talking about]] [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E49JailBreak the Steven Universe episode]].

-->My prediction for the future: You will be able to say "Webcomic/{{Jailbreak}}" without [[IThoughtItMeant anyone thinking that you're talking about]] [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E49JailBreak the Steven Universe episode]].

* UnusualChapterNumbers - One of [=ASBusinessMagnet=]'s favorite tropes. The chapters of ''Calliope's Update Girl'' and, after some rearranging, ''The Homestuck Character Support Group (Volume 2)'' are grouped to "stages" with 14 chapters each, and the chapter number is typically given as "stage.chapter", with two exceptions: Loading Screens 1 and 2 (Loading Screen 1 is in ''Calliope's Update Girl'', between Stages 2 and 3, and Loading Screen 2 is at the beginning of ''The Homestuck Character Support Group (Volume 2)''), for which the Roman numerals is used, and Stage 3, which only has 7 chapters.

-->In it, Hussie's role would have been exaggerated to feature an "Update Factory" where Homestuck is produced... and you can already see where this is going. John falls down into a river of cake, Rose becomes a "grimberry", Jade is teleported to a landfill by Bec and Dave is shrunk via spacebending powers, etc.

* NoNameGiven - None of the ''Homestuck'' fans in Easthampton and vicinity are ever identified.

* UnusualChapterNumbers - One of [=ASBusinessMagnet=]'s favorite tropes. The chapters of ''Calliope's Update Girl'' are grouped to "stages" with 14 chapters each, and the chapter number is typically given as "stage.chapter", with two exceptions: Loading Screen 1 (between Stages 2 and 3), for which the Roman numeral I is used, and Stage 3, which only has 7 chapters.

* CharacterBlog - Rose begins one for her "support group". [[http://calliopes-update-girl.tumblr.com/tagged/ic Here ahre all the in-character posts.]]
* CharlieAndTheChocolateParody - The original idea for the story, ''Calliope and the Update Factory'', was to be this. Though, later fics moved away from the premise, and by the fifth (apparently) story idea there are little to no ''Chocolate Factory'' elements left.
-->In it, Hussie's role would have been exagerrated to feature an "Update Factory" where Homestuck is produced... and you can already see where this is going. John falls down into a river of cake, Rose becomes a "grimberry", Jade is teleported to a landfill by Bec and Dave is shrunk via spacebending powers, etc.

* CharacterBlog - Rose begins one for her "support group". [[http://calliopes-update-girl.tumblr.com/tagged/ic Here are all the in-character posts.]]

* ''Calliope's Update Girl - Book One'' ([[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10726027/1/ FF.Net]], [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/2382974/chapters/5264753 AO3]]), the first fic, which follows the premise in the most straightforward way. Roughly half of its text comes from NaNoWriMo [[http://nanowrimo.org/participants/asbusinessmagnet/novels/calliope-s-update-girl-book-one 2014]]. It has been released as an e-book with at least an author's note on every page; [[http://calliopes-update-girl.tumblr.com/post/127741782818/calliopes-update-girl-book-one the download links are here.]]

-->In it, Hussie's role would have been [[YouMakeMeSic exagerrated]] to feature an "Update Factory" where Homestuck is produced... and you can already see where this is going. John falls down into a river of cake, Rose becomes a "grimberry", Jade is teleported to a landfill by Bec and Dave is shrunk via spacebending powers, etc.

-->In it, Hussie's role would have been exagerrated to feature an "Update Factory" where Homestuck is produced... and you can already see where this is going. John falls down into a river of cake, Rose becomes a "grimberry", Jade is teleported to a landfill by Bec and Dave is shrunk via spacebending powers, etc.

** "If that's Calliope, then I'm Her Imperious Condescension." - commenting to Calliope that YourCostumeNeedsWork. The line, interestingly enough, is picked up by the characters and discussed once it turns out that the Condesce is really out there.

* ''The Trials and Tribulations of Homestuck'' ([[http://archiveofourown.org/works/6554764 AO3 only]]), a spinoff told in the MSPA style, intended to focus on the production history of ''Homestuck'' and the lives surrounding it.

* UnusualChapterNumbers - One of [=ASBusinessMagnet=]'s favorite tropes. The chapters of ''Calliope's Update Girl'' are grouped to "stages", and the chapter number is typically given as "stage.chapter", with two exceptions: Loading Screen 1 (between Stages 2 and 3), for which the Roman numeral I is used, and Stage 3, which only has 7 chapters.

* ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow - Neither John nor Dave got into college, and Rose finished her first year early. Jade, as an island native, has been largely homeschooled by her grandpa. Calliope and Caliborn used to go to school, but don't have the need for higher education, as both are supported by commissions that Calliope does.

->The life of a Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} character, within the bounds of Homestuck, is hard. The life of a Homestuck character, taken entirely outside of the context of Homestuck and placed in an universe where Homestuck exists, is somehow even harder. It doesn't help that, whenever you go anywhere, people are always insisting you are a roleplayer and/or a cosplayer, but yet, somehow things become even worse when a madman, one who calls himself Creator/AndrewHussie, makes you read about the adventures you never had.

** For the sake of posterity: he has space-manipulating powers allowing him to create additional floors to houses, make [[TrademarkFavoriteFood arrow candies]] that are glued with air and never run out, spies on private conversations (altough, the ability isn't unique to him) and apparently built the Frog Temple all by himself, also implying that he [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld really is at least 413 million years old]]. [[note]]By comparison, Her Imperious Condescension, the second oldest character, has been an empress for "only" 413,612 solar sweeps, or ca. 900,000 years.[[/note]] That, and there's hinting that he's the cancer that Karkat gave to the universe. [[note]]Well, part of it; the other part is apparently our ''own'' [[SelfInsert ASBusinessMagnet]].[[/note]]

** It is heavily implied, though, that Karkat is actually skipping school to meet up with Hussie. It is also humorously implied that despite his age, [[HeldBackInSchool he is actually in the seventh grade]].

* FanDumb - The ''Homestuck'' fandom, at times. Most notably, they insist that ''Homestuck'' is all about the trolls, and even infect the actual characters with the thought.

-->Prediction status: X[[note]]The chapter was written in October 2014. It is set in April 2016. ''Jailbreak'' (the episode) premiered in March 2015.[[/note]]

* DistantPrologue - The first chapter doesn't have a specified date, but deals with the main characters' backstory. The second chapter is set in the summer of 2012, and only from the third chapter on the plot moves on to 2016.
** There is no ''indication'' that we're in 2016, though, until the very last chapter of Stage 1. It was a deliberate choice, used to invoke a distinct "when ''Homestuck'' is done" future, until [=ASBusinessMagnet=] realized that it wouldn't work.

** Oh, and it turns out [[spoiler:"Andrew Hussie" is actually not the name of whatever entity this is, but rather just a name it began claiming as its own (despite also, via DemonicPossession, also being [[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} Randall Munroe]] and, in the past, Creator/RoaldDahl)]].

* UnusualChapterNumbers - One of [=ASBusinessMagnet=]'s favorite tropes. The chapters of ''Calliope's Update Girl'' are grouped to "stages", and the chapter number is typically given as "stage.chapter", with two exceptions: Loading Screen 1 (between Stages 2 and 3), for which the Roman numeral I is used, and Stage 3, which only has 7 chapters.

* {{Foreshadowing}} - [=ASBusinessMagnet=] either loves this trope, or otherwise only uses the fic itself as inspiration. If you look carefully, there's foreshadowing for [[spoiler:Andrew Hussie possessing Randall Munroe in the second fic, ''in chapter two of the first fic'']].

** Oh, and it turns out "Andrew Hussie" is actually not the name of whatever entity this is, but rather just a name it began claiming as its own (despite also, via DemonicPossession, also being [[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} Randall Munroe]] and, in the past, Creator/RoaldDahl).

* DemonicPossession - Andrew Hussie has apparently taken over the essence of [[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} Randall Munroe]].

* FanDumb - The ''Homestuck'' fandom, at times. Most notably, they insist that ''Homestuck'' is all about the trolls.

-->Prediction status: X[[labelnote:*]]The chapter was written in October 2014. It is set in April 2016. ''Jailbreak'' (the episode) premiered in March 2015.[[/labelnote]]

** For the sake of posterity: he has space-manipulating powers allowing him to create additional floors to houses, make [[TrademarkFavoriteFood arrow candies]] that are glued with air and never run out, spies on private conversations (altough, the ability isn't unique to him) and apparently built the Frog Temple all by himself, also implying that he [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld really is at least 413 million years old]]. [[labelnote:*]]By comparison, Her Imperious Condescension, the second oldest character, has been an empress for "only" 413,612 solar sweeps, or ca. 900,000 years.[[/labelnote]] That, and there's hinting that he's the cancer that Karkat gave to the universe. [[labelnote:*]]Well, part of it; the other part is apparently our ''own'' [[SelfInsert ASBusinessMagnet]].[[/labelnote]]

* ''Calliope's Update Girl - Book One'' ([[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10726027/1/ FF.Net]], [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/2382974/chapters/5264753 AO3]]), the first fic, which follows the premise in the most straightforward way. Roughly half of its text comes from NaNoWriMo 2014. It has been released as an e-book with at least an author's note on every page; [[http://calliopes-update-girl.tumblr.com/post/127741782818/calliopes-update-girl-book-one the download links are here.]]