285 réponses à ce sujet

[LimeInfiltrator57]

@ Timberley
I think those things Jack wears on her ears are possibly a form of Biotic Amp.

I was thinking of writing a fanfic about the files the Shadow Broker had on my Spacer-Sole Survivor Shep, as well as a ShepxLiara fic where the ship Shepard's mum is stationed on is declared MIA and Shepard, Liara, Tali and Garrus go to investigate the disappearance. Thoughts? 

Modifié par LimeInfiltrator57, 23 mai 2011 - 05:15 .

[ElectricZ]

LimeInfiltrator57 wrote...
I was thinking of writing a fanfic about the files the Shadow Broker had on my Spacer-Sole Survivor Shep, as well as a ShepxLiara fic where the ship Shepard's mum is stationed on is declared MIA and Shepard, Liara, Tali and Garrus go to investigate the disappearance. Thoughts? 

Sounds like a plausible premise. Is the Shep in your story in contact with dear ol' mom on a regular basis, or more like "I'll see you when I see you?" You'd really need the latter for this to work I'd think, or else Shepard would clue in pretty quickly something was wrong.

Any further thoughts would require more detail about the plot that follows.

[TheMarshal]

Does anybody know of any decent Shepard/Other friendship stories? Or at least stories where there is a featured character who is not a romantic interest? The vast (vast) majority of stuff I've found which have Liara/Tali/Ash/et al in them always have them as love interests, and I'd love to see someone's take on them from a friendship POV.

[ElectricZ]

TheMarshal wrote...

Does anybody know of any decent Shepard/Other friendship stories? Or at least stories where there is a featured character who is not a romantic interest? The vast (vast) majority of stuff I've found which have Liara/Tali/Ash/et al in them always have them as love interests, and I'd love to see someone's take on them from a friendship POV.

Hate to flaunt my own works, but I aim squarely at stories that show the friendships that develop within the squad as opposed to turning the Normandy into the Love Boat.  The stories I enjoyed writing most actually happened without Shepard
around, allowing the squaddies to deal with one another without the
Commander's calming influence. I'm one of those suckers who ached for more squad interaction and actually miss the elevator rides from ME1 where the gang would get to know each other. I started writing fanfic specifically to address the fact that Tali went from "OMGWTFBBQ You're with CERBERUS now" to "Eh, necessary evil, what are you gonna do" in the space of a cutscene after she rejoined the Normandy.

Got a link in my sig. G'wan, give it a click. I'd be interested to hear from other authors who feel the same way.

Modifié par ElectricZ, 25 mai 2011 - 04:12 .

[Severyx]

ElectricZ wrote...

Hate to flaunt my own works, *snip*

LIES.

[AnimaTempli101]

How so?

As to the friendship Fic question:

My work will try to focus on the squad dynamic however there will be romance and it is an OC story.

[ElectricZ]

Severyx wrote...

ElectricZ wrote...

Hate to flaunt my own works, *snip*

LIES.

Come on now, Sev... "LIES" is completely inaccurate.

It was *a* lie. :innocent:

Apology accepted.

[Sialater]

Well... how about a friendship one between three Shepards? 

Persephone Rising

[fainmaca]

TheMarshal wrote...

Does anybody know of any decent Shepard/Other friendship stories? Or at least stories where there is a featured character who is not a romantic interest? The vast (vast) majority of stuff I've found which have Liara/Tali/Ash/et al in them always have them as love interests, and I'd love to see someone's take on them from a friendship POV.

ElectricZ is the master of all inter-squad relationships. I especially enjoyed Second, and his/her portrayal of Tali/Legion is sublime in Tomorrows Dawn and its sequel. I haven't come across many other fics that deal with a Shep who isn't romancing someone. For a fic that more or less expands upon what you already know about the characters, try Luxdragon's fight for the lost. It's an expanded novelisation of the ME2 plot. It really opens up the Normandy crew's personalities and has changed my perception of more than one character.


Shameless plug: My own fic is kind of focused on potential game plot, but the chapters that take place between missions do have Shepard wandering around talking to his crew, and some of the relationships the Commander has with his crew and the squad has with one another flows very well. My personal fave is a moment between Jacob and Zaeed on Dholen. I won't spoil it, but I felt that that point in the story really encapsulated the mercenary's personality very well. Also the latest chapter is a good one for inter-squad banter. A mission with little to no combat involved, like Thane or Samara's LM. Link in my sig, if you fancy giving it a read.

[jamesp81]

Severyx wrote...

ElectricZ wrote...

Hate to flaunt my own works, *snip*

LIES.

I am happy to flaunt my own works.  See my sig line.

[Severyx]

Never said anything was wrong with plugging your own works. *Shamelessly points to his sig* Just that it's a lie (or lies - I stand by that ) to say you hate doing it!

Fanfiction with 'platonic' relationships between Shep and crew or just with the crew amongst themselves definitely has a place in the ME fanfiction scheme. There was certainly a desire after ME2 for more developed relationships with the various characters, especially in the non-romantic sense. These allow writers and readers to explore what relationships the various characters might have had if BioWare had expanded upon that particular detail more. If I wasn't so dead bent on writing original characters, I'd probably have swayed in that direction myself.

Modifié par Severyx, 26 mai 2011 - 12:30 .

[ElectricZ]

@Fainmaca - thanks for the props. Because I liked the characters in ME, I want to do right by them. But I think that probably anyone who writes fanfic gets into it for just that reason.

How's your vote-on-the-plot live interactive fiction experiment going? I'm still astounded that you can produce as much as you can in shuch a short time. You mentioned having to take a break for a day or two after finishing a chapter -- it always seems like after I post something I want to take a breather myself, and can't really start writing again until I "feel" like it. But it always seems to come back.

Severyx wrote...

Never said anything was wrong with plugging your own works. *Shamelessly points to his sig* Just that it's a lie (or lies - I stand by

that ) to say you hate doing it!

What? How'd that banner get in my sig? I hate those things, too! Only attention ****s and shameless self-promoters stoop to such tactics.

What would be even worse is some schmoe coming up with cover art for his fanfics. I mean, really, that's just tacky!

There was certainly a desire after ME2 for more developed relationships with the various characters, especially
in the non-romantic sense. These allow writers and readers to explore what relationships the various characters might have had if BioWare had expanded upon that particular detail more. If I wasn't so dead bent on writing original characters, I'd probably have swayed in that direction myself.

Which is probably why a lot of people (myself included) get into fanfic. I wanted more, and begging my computer to give it to me just wasn't working out so I made my own. It's been said before but one of ME's biggest drawing points is its narrative, and in that regard we're all making our own DLC to suppliment the game. It's just we use a word processor instead of a level editor to create it.

Some of us just use the defined textures and models to create these new levels, and others (like Severyx) use the engine but otherwise work from scratch.

I do wonder what the original creators of the game (or any creative work) think of fanfic, though. I mean, think about how you would feel if your original work struck it big, then all the sudden you started seeing people pull the strings on characters you created, making them say and do things you never imagined... Would you be flattered? Amused? Horrified? Protective? Is it a compliment that we're paying them, or a disrespect of their intellectual property?

Hypothetical question to all the authors out there: What would your reaction be if someone took your favorite fanfic and decided to re-imagine it?

Edit: Really? The text parser edited out "attention ****"? I should go wash my mouth out with soap...

Modifié par ElectricZ, 26 mai 2011 - 02:27 .

[Sialater]

Do fanmade covers count as attention whoring? 


By Chignon


By Shenzi

[ElectricZ]

Sialater wrote...

Do fanmade covers count as attention whoring? 

Totally.



Nice work on your covers, BTW... much more "art" looking than my touched up screenshots!

Modifié par ElectricZ, 26 mai 2011 - 03:24 .

[Sialater]

Well... damn.

[AnimaTempli101]

I seem to remember David Gaider saying that in his opinion Fan-Fic is like "watching somebody touch your wife and not in a 'Tickle-Me Elmo' way."

And if somebody used my idea? If they do it justice sure.

[Sialater]

AnimaTempli101 wrote...

I seem to remember David Gaider saying that in his opinion Fan-Fic is like "watching somebody touch your wife and not in a 'Tickle-Me Elmo' way."

And if somebody used my idea? If they do it justice sure.

I aspire to be a professional writer.  I use this for practice, not because I can't think up my own stuff, but because there's a ready-made audience for me to try out what I want to try out and give immediate feedback.  I've only improved in my skills as a writer since I started this up.  And gained in confidence.  Confidence that may bolster me throughout all the professional rejections I'll be getting when I finally do get the novel finished and ready to sell.  After all, I've got some fans already.  Even if they are on the internet only.

That being said, I find that if I ever "make it,"  I'll have no problem with fic on my worlds/creations.  I'll even deal with slash for characters that wouldn't remotely look at one another as a sexual being EVER.    It would be rather hypocritical of me to do otherwise.

[AnimaTempli101]

Oddly enough I did it the other way round. I started off writing my own stuff, completely out of my own imagination, then I got ME and the rest (look down) is history....

[Sialater]

AnimaTempli101 wrote...

Oddly enough I did it the other way round. I started off writing my own stuff, completely out of my own imagination, then I got ME and the rest (look down) is history....

I've been writing my own stuff since I was 16.  I even sold a short story, professionally. Those were both a LONG time ago.  But I realized I had serious stage fright and couldn't seem to finish a novel to save my life. 

FF to the rescue.  I had to get over my fear.

[ElectricZ]

Sialater wrote...

I've been writing my own stuff since I was 16.  I even sold a short story, professionally. Those were both a LONG time ago.  But I realized I had serious stage fright and couldn't seem to finish a novel to save my life. 

FF to the rescue.  I had to get over my fear.

Hear, hear! That's got to be the #1 show stopper of any writer is actually showing your writing to anybody else. You spend so much time creating something very personal, and writing is a very personal art, to expose that to other people is genuinely frightening.

At least it is until you actually do it. Then you find it's really no big deal. And as with anything else, once you get over the fear of trying you can do it to perfect the process. We're minor-leaguers, some playing for the love of the game, others hoping catch the eye of a talent scout and get called up to the show.

Where did you sell your short story, Sia?

[LimeInfiltrator57]

ElectricZ wrote...

LimeInfiltrator57 wrote...
I was thinking of writing a fanfic about the files the Shadow Broker had on my Spacer-Sole Survivor Shep, as well as a ShepxLiara fic where the ship Shepard's mum is stationed on is declared MIA and Shepard, Liara, Tali and Garrus go to investigate the disappearance. Thoughts? 

Sounds like a plausible premise. Is the Shep in your story in contact with dear ol' mom on a regular basis, or more like "I'll see you when I see you?" You'd really need the latter for this to work I'd think, or else Shepard would clue in pretty quickly something was wrong.

Any further thoughts would require more detail about the plot that follows.

It starts off with Hannah and her crew on the SSV Kilimanjaro picking up a "Prothean" (notice quotation marks )  artifact as ordered by Admiral Hackett. On the return trip the SSV KIlimanjaro is declared MIA. Liara finds out about this from one of her agents in the Alliance. She remembers a discussion she and Shepard had on original Normandy about his mother and messages Shepard to come see her as soon as possible.
After Shepard arrives on Hagalaz Liara comes onboard the Normandy and inputs the last known coordinates of the Kilimanjaro. When they arrive Shepard picks out Tali and Garrus to join them. They board the ship and find... pretty much nothing really. A few dead bodies here and there, but most of the crew have disappeared. Eventually they find a survivor, who is rambling on about the shadows and walls moving. Garrus takes the man back to the Normandy for help, whilst Shepard, Tali and Liara continue to explore.
Eventually, they find a circle of ten or so crewmen clustered around an object on their knees. Shepard calls out to them, and almost immediately they start shooting. Shepard and co. switch to Concussive Rounds so nobody dies, then examine the object, which turns out to be a lot more than the Alliance originally thought. 

That's all I've thought of so far.

[Sialater]

ElectricZ wrote...

Sialater wrote...

I've been writing my own stuff since I was 16.  I even sold a short story, professionally. Those were both a LONG time ago.  But I realized I had serious stage fright and couldn't seem to finish a novel to save my life. 

FF to the rescue.  I had to get over my fear.

Hear, hear! That's got to be the #1 show stopper of any writer is actually showing your writing to anybody else. You spend so much time creating something very personal, and writing is a very personal art, to expose that to other people is genuinely frightening.

At least it is until you actually do it. Then you find it's really no big deal. And as with anything else, once you get over the fear of trying you can do it to perfect the process. We're minor-leaguers, some playing for the love of the game, others hoping catch the eye of a talent scout and get called up to the show.

Where did you sell your short story, Sia?

THAT is an excellent analogy.

I sold the story to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress XV.  (If you want a link, I'll PM the amazon site -- it's available used.)  I used a penname.

[TheMarshal]

AnimaTempli101 wrote...

I seem to remember David Gaider saying that in his opinion Fan-Fic is like "watching somebody touch your wife and not in a 'Tickle-Me Elmo' way."

And if somebody used my idea? If they do it justice sure.

I attended a fiction-writing session at Wondercon recently, and the the author giving the talk basically called FanFiction a waste of time, saying something to the effect of "If you're gonna write, why bother writing fanfiction?"  I think his assertion was that because you couldn't sell fanfiction, that there wasn't any point in writing it, which is of course not the reason I write, nor is it the reason I write fanfiction.  I'm not looking to get published or become a professional writer (though maybe after I retire in 30+ years...)  I write because I can't help it, because this game has inspired me, because these stories are coming to me and the only way to get them out of my head is to put them down on paper.  And the fact that an author would poo-poo that because it's not marketable is pretty sad...

[Sialater]

TheMarshal wrote...

AnimaTempli101 wrote...

I seem to remember David Gaider saying that in his opinion Fan-Fic is like "watching somebody touch your wife and not in a 'Tickle-Me Elmo' way."

And if somebody used my idea? If they do it justice sure.

I attended a fiction-writing session at Wondercon recently, and the the author giving the talk basically called FanFiction a waste of time, saying something to the effect of "If you're gonna write, why bother writing fanfiction?"  I think his assertion was that because you couldn't sell fanfiction, that there wasn't any point in writing it, which is of course not the reason I write, nor is it the reason I write fanfiction.  I'm not looking to get published or become a professional writer (though maybe after I retire in 30+ years...)  I write because I can't help it, because this game has inspired me, because these stories are coming to me and the only way to get them out of my head is to put them down on paper.  And the fact that an author would poo-poo that because it's not marketable is pretty sad...

Well, frankly, most professional writers don't understand the concept of writing as hobby.  They've either done it for so long, they've forgotten the struggle in the unknown trenches, or they've developed such a disdain for their own craft that the idea that someone would write without the ultimate goal of being published is just anathema to them.

[TheMarshal]

Sialater wrote...

Well, frankly, most professional writers don't understand the concept of writing as hobby.  They've either done it for so long, they've forgotten the struggle in the unknown trenches, or they've developed such a disdain for their own craft that the idea that someone would write without the ultimate goal of being published is just anathema to them.

That I can understand.  I've been a professional engineer for so long that the idea of going home after work and doing my own little 'side projects' just for fun makes me cringe, and it never ceases to amaze me that there are people out there who actually do just that.