15 things to know before reading Homestuck

what-the-fuck-is-homestuck:

Homestuck is not exactly like every other webcomic out there on the internet, so if you are interested in reading it, here are some things you might want to know ahead of time. 

1. HOMESTUCK IS REALLY FUCKING LONG. When I say that it is long, I mean it. It is over 4,000 pages and still going. It will take time to read. 
2. HOMESTUCK USES FLASH, YOU CANNOT READ ALL OF IT ON A PHONE OR A DEVICE THAT CANNOT USE FLASH. 
3. YOU WILL PROBABLY NEED HEADPHONES. There is sound and awesome music, you will be missing out if you keep the volume off. 
4. IGNORE THE SIDEBAR ON THE LEFT. At the MSPA site, there is a sidebar on the left of the page with links to other pages. DO NOT CLICK ANY OF THEM EVER. They are newer pages and will ruin things for you. 
5. DO NOT GOOGLE ANYTHING, USE THE WIKI, OR LOOK FOR HOMESTUCK THINGS UNTIL YOU ARE CAUGHT UP. You will be spoiled. Everything will be ruined. Absolutely everything. I recommend staying off of tumblr for a while as well, Homestuck has a habit of appearing everywhere.
6. DO NOT JUDGE IT BY THE ART STYLE. It is supposed to look like it is done in paint. It gives it character and you will quickly get used to it. 
7. IT GETS BETTER. The beginning of Homestuck may seem dull to many and you may wonder why this is even popular, but keep reading. It gets better, really. I wish that I originally had someone that smacked me in the head whenever I whined that it was boring in the beginning. 
8. PAY ATTENTION TO EVERYTHING. Keep an eye peeled. Two eyes peeled. Three eyes peeled. Take notes. Write things down. Look at the picture. Re-read the text. Almost every single detail becomes important later in the story. 
9. READ THE PESTERLOGS. Pesterlogs are essentially chatlogs and may seem long, meaningless, and annoying to read. If you skip them, you will understand abso-fucking-lutely nothing. 
10. DO NOT SKIP OR SKIM. You cannot skim Homestuck. You cannot read it in one night, or while you are half asleep, or during a time that you will forget everything later. Regardless of how boring something ( THE INTERMISSION )  may seem, it becomes important later and you need to read it. 
11. HOMESTUCK IS COMPLICATED. Trust me, it is. It really is. If this is your first time reading Homestuck, you will be confused and your head may hurt. You will need to use your thinking, analyses, and reading comprehension skills. 
12. IT IS NOT ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO MAKE SENSE. If you have read the pesterlogs, have paid attention, and there is still some sort of concept or plot item that confuses you, chances are that it is not supposed to make sense yet or it is about to be explained. That is just Homestuck’s style of storytelling. Do not, I repeat, do NOT go looking for the answers until you are caught up, as they are probably major spoilers. You can always re-read later. 
13. COMPLETE ALL OF THE GAMES. They often have important information that is only found in them. It will take time, but play them until you have used single option available. 
14. ENJOY HOMESTUCK FOR YOURSELF. If you have heard horror stories about people that like Homestuck, screw them. They do not matter. You do not have to be a part of the fandom to read Homestuck and in reality very few Homestuck fans act like whatever you may hear or see. A dick liking something does not instantly make everyone that likes that particular thing a dick. 
15. NEVER SKIP THE FUCKING PESTERLOGS. NEVER SKIP THE FUCKING PESTERLOGS. 

NEVER

SKIP

THE

FUCKING

PESTERLOGS 

In the end, Homestuck is actually a surprisingly amazing and addictive story, this is coming from someone who was completely convinced that it was going to absolutely terrible. 

Homestuck is not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you are thinking about reading it, do it! There is nothing to lose. You might just have fun.