9960 réponses à ce sujet

[gearseffect]

Not sure about your problem MrStoob, just know that I have had problems with if I have different font styles I have to look out because it tends to mix them up and make things a bit whacky.

@fluffywalrus Ha the torture thing, I had Hackett (or Hackett's underlings) tutoring Batarian POWs but it was not on camera so to speak it came out after the fact, and I debating having that scene in there. I put up a poll here before I wrote that and bassicly wanted to know if anyone here thought Hackett could be capable of torturing Batarians, while most said no the one comment that sealed it in was about no more so than the US Military tortures it's enemies.

If I hadn't seen that comment I would have left the thing out, but that comment I was like OK there we go.

As far as torturing my characters I don't see much point in it, I mean the most torturing I do to my Shep at this point is due to him being locked up and he finds himself spending too much time in his own mind. First time he's been doing nothing in ages it's tormenting him. Even then I don't go to much into the particulars.

Rape of characters on screen what I have never read that and a LI getting captured what? That's not ever gonna happen, hell If anyone would need to be rescued from being captured it would be Shep. I can't ever see Samara being captured.

Hell no I have other plans to have things develop between them and pointless sex really that's in Fanfics sex just for sex? If they want to do that don't ya think maybe they should just write a smut fanfic?
As you can see I' haven't read much fanfic yet, got a stock pile of them in my favs I need to read and review after reading.

One thing that turns me off is is a chapter is like miles and miles long, I can't sit and read a computer chapter book with 20+ pages in a chapter if I do I get a headache so giant long chapters is not something I generally like.

Also I was wondering that sliver haired Alliance lady on the committee that dies at the beginning of ME3 does she have a name? Because if she don't well that sucks, well hell does her bald whipping boy on the committee have a name, how about that black dude on the committee or what ever skin color that dude had that never said anything?

Any of those three have names?

[fainmaca]

I've seen a few comments on OCs recently which have set me thinking- are they a good thing to have in your fic?

Some of you have said that an OC cannot have a place of real prominence in the fic, as they'll always play second fiddle to the canon squad.

However, I've found that, in the course of writing my story, the OCs are swiftly becoming the preferred characters of the fic. In particular, my Revenant character is consistently the favourite squadmate when I poll my readers. I've currently got a squad of 20 plus Shepard, where we have all ME2 squaddies except Tali, plus Kaidan and Feron. In addition, we have the OCs of Etarn, the Batarian diplomat, Jano, a Quarian martial artist and soldier, Jorall, an ancient Krogan warlord and scientist, Elanie, a rogue Cerberus operative turned Shadow Broker agent, Delexia, a Turian pirate.

Of these, Etarn, Delexia and the Revenant consistently beat out other canon characters in popularity, with only Garrus, Jack (the fic's LI) and Legion giving them a run for their money.

[mythlover20]

Hi everyone. just introducing myself. i'm mythlover20, but everyone calls me myth. Most of you won't know me, but those of you who do (hi gears! So this is where you buggered off to, huh?) will likely know me as the Co-Founder/Editor/Proofreader/Artist Liason/Introduction Writer/Contributor to the Thane Fanbook Project being run here on the BSN and on DA. I'll pop in from time to time, but right now I'm just about to start my complete Margurite pt so I'll say a proper hello later.

First: fainmaca? I have OCs in mine, but I find that either they do play second fiddle, or if they are the main focus of the story, that the characters from the original IP are rather out of place in the tale. But I have read fics where other cases are true, and sometimes even in the same fic.

I do feel though, that most times they are left in the canon characters' shadows. It's just what I've seen in most ffs I've read.

Night all. I've got an early start in the morning.

[fainmaca]

I suppose I've just found a good centre point, then. I give all of my characters equal treatment as squad members, trying to give them an equal number of shipboard conversations and to avoid overuse out in the field. I mean, some of the characters even have potential romance paths plotted out, although its not my intention to have this version of Shepard stray from Jack. Granted, I have made some of the OCs more plot-integral in this potential ME3 plot because they can't be dead like the ME2 cast, but it doesn't really show, I think.

For example (SPOILERS) there's a point where Shepard has returned to Earth just after the Reapers have made their devastating return to the Galaxy. While trying to convince the Alliance of the danger, he is detained, the Normandy grounded and the Commander faces trial while the rest of his squad is imprisoned, except for Etarn, who has diplomatic immunity (the Alliance not wanting to further worsen relations with the Hegemnony). Thus, when the Reapers invade Earth and Shepard is still imprisoned, Etarn is able to get to him and set him loose, the crew then narrowly escaping rather than being trapped while the Reaper forces move in on them. While its an important plot point that couldn't really have taken place without Etarn, it doesn't feel like he's overshadowing any of the original characters, nor is he standing in their shadow.

On the other hand, Grunt and Mordin are important to the Genophage plot, with the prof being needed to complete it and Grunt being needed as a viable test subject. If either are missing, the Genophage cure research is put back by several years, maybe even decades. If both are dead and Maelon's research has been destroyed, then there is next to nothing, meaning a cure could take generations to complete. Krogan support for Shepard's War effort is based upon how complete the Genophage is, with a full cure for the Genophage given to Wrex guaranteeing 100% of Tuchanka's forces. In this way, previous, killable characters are important, but the plot doesn't stall if they're missing.

After having to put this much thought into every plot point, I can understand why Bioware may have felt making ME3 was a monumental undertaking.

[lillitheris]

fainmaca wrote...

I've seen a few comments on OCs recently which have set me thinking- are they a good thing to have in your fic?

Some of you have said that an OC cannot have a place of real prominence in the fic, as they'll always play second fiddle to the canon squad.

Everything is good when done well!

I’m not sure I’d say that an OC should play second fiddle to the canons, just that the latter should not play second fiddle to the OCs. The better you can integrate the characters…

If you’re good enough you can do whatever you please, of course

However, I've found that, in the course of writing my story, the OCs are swiftly becoming the preferred characters of the fic. In particular, my Revenant character is consistently the favourite squadmate when I poll my readers. I've currently got a squad of 20 plus Shepard, where we have all ME2 squaddies except Tali, plus Kaidan and Feron. In addition, we have the OCs of Etarn, the Batarian diplomat, Jano, a Quarian martial artist and soldier, Jorall, an ancient Krogan warlord and scientist, Elanie, a rogue Cerberus operative turned Shadow Broker agent, Delexia, a Turian pirate.

Of these, Etarn, Delexia and the Revenant consistently beat out other canon characters in popularity, with only Garrus, Jack (the fic's LI) and Legion giving them a run for their money.

I’m not sure how you’re polling, but remember to take into account the “least worst”/second best effects when other support is divided.

[fainmaca]

lillitheris wrote...
I’m not sure how you’re polling, but remember to take into account the “least worst”/second best effects when other support is divided.

I just use the FF.net vote mechanic and content of reviews and PMs received. Of these, the Revenant is the character I see most requested for character expansion/additional content, while people are even beginning the act of shipping my OCs with canon characters (Delexia and Garrus seems to be quite popular, even though I've never hinted at something like that).

This growing preference for certain characters even shapes what order people want to see the missions done in (at the start of every act, I give Shepard a series of dossiers like in ME2, which he is free to do in the order he sees fit. The readers then vote for which mission they want to see first, and I order them accordingly.) An example would be in the current act, where I proposed seven missions: The final war for Tuchanka, the Reaper invasion of Thessia, possible Rachni activity on Illium, A growing civil war in the Migrant Fleet, negotiations with the Batarian Hegemony, a lost Prothean ruin, and a rogue Cerberus facility. Of these, I chose to write Tuchanka first as I had the most fresh ideas for it, then the Readers chose to do Thessia next as it seemed more urgent, followed by the Rachni, a mission they'd been waiting for for some time. Then, they chose to do the Batarian mission and the Prothean mission next, with many saying they wanted to see these missions because they focused on Etarn and the Revenant. Considering these missions were more popular than a chance to see Tali again, I take that as a sign of the popularity of then characters.

[fluffywalrus]

fainmaca wrote...

I've seen a few comments on OCs recently which have set me thinking- are they a good thing to have in your fic?

Some of you have said that an OC cannot have a place of real prominence in the fic, as they'll always play second fiddle to the canon squad.

However, I've found that, in the course of writing my story, the OCs are swiftly becoming the preferred characters of the fic. In particular, my Revenant character is consistently the favourite squadmate when I poll my readers. I've currently got a squad of 20 plus Shepard, where we have all ME2 squaddies except Tali, plus Kaidan and Feron. In addition, we have the OCs of Etarn, the Batarian diplomat, Jano, a Quarian martial artist and soldier, Jorall, an ancient Krogan warlord and scientist, Elanie, a rogue Cerberus operative turned Shadow Broker agent, Delexia, a Turian pirate.

Of these, Etarn, Delexia and the Revenant consistently beat out other canon characters in popularity, with only Garrus, Jack (the fic's LI) and Legion giving them a run for their money.

Like I said a while back (too lazy to search a few pages for it), doing OCs well requires a really nice balance and really good writing to make them near as likeable as the canon characters. If you've done that, give yourself a pat on the back, because most don't when their characters are up there in 'screentime' with the expected crew and whatnot.

In the end, really good writing can trump the norms.

[Severyx]

Man, I step away for a couple days to handle school and I miss quite a bit.

fluffywalrus wrote...

MrStoob wrote...

Gah! This is doing my head in now. I've re-uploaded and re-edited a doc several times now on FF, and the same section keeps ****ing up. It'll annoy the crap out of me thinking of anyone getting to that bit and thinking "WTF? This sentence makes no sense."

Are you using the symbol - ?
Because I've had bad results using it. When I have, it has removed the - as well as numerous characters afterward, causing sentences to fall into disarray.

Also, on an unrelated note, has anyone noticed that adding the long section breaks in FF.net's editor adds a bunch of words to your total?
Or, at least, a few of them increased my word count by like, 150-200, I think..

Yes. I've quickly found that FF.net HATES any of the typically used breaks. A line of asterisks more than two long, dashes, double spaces to denote change in time or place. . . None of it works. It disappears from the document and adds an invisible collection of words each time. It makes changing perspective/time/place infuriating. This is why I always recommend (to my friends who I can actively hand the files off to) that they read the actual documents. The formatting is much better, and you can actually tell when there's a change.

I've had to add author's notes to one of my chapters apologizing for the jarring change in perspective (main character to a secondary due to circumstances) because I denoted it in the actual document and it vanished once it hit the site. I tried adding it several times through the editor, only to curiously increase my word count with no visible result. It's a bug with their software, but they seem unaware, or unable, to fix it.

Hmm. I wonder if it's possible to troll with word count. Pad the document with thousands of non-existant words. . . Maybe I should cut that train of thought right there. Hah.

[fainmaca]

Here's a break that seems to work no problem: ~o~0~o~

I've never had any issue with it, and if you bold it and put it centre-page, it makes a clear enough statement that you're shifting prespective.

[Severyx]

fluffywalrus wrote...

Like I said a while back (too lazy to search a few pages for it), doing OCs well requires a really nice balance and really good writing to make them near as likeable as the canon characters. If you've done that, give yourself a pat on the back, because most don't when their characters are up there in 'screentime' with the expected crew and whatnot.

I'm starting to feel like the odd man out around here. My story is nearly all OCs with two established characters taking limelight for a very short time (one might as well be classified as a 'guest appearance' because it's so brief).

I hadn't really thought of the complications of OC versus canon character (CC) read time. I suppose I should be glad that I didn't give myself that challenge - writing my current fic is challenge enough, since it's my first writing attempt.

[fluffywalrus]

Severyx wrote...

Man, I step away for a couple days to handle school and I miss quite a bit.

fluffywalrus wrote...

MrStoob wrote...

Gah! This is doing my head in now. I've re-uploaded and re-edited a doc several times now on FF, and the same section keeps ****ing up. It'll annoy the crap out of me thinking of anyone getting to that bit and thinking "WTF? This sentence makes no sense."

Are you using the symbol - ?
Because I've had bad results using it. When I have, it has removed the - as well as numerous characters afterward, causing sentences to fall into disarray.

Also, on an unrelated note, has anyone noticed that adding the long section breaks in FF.net's editor adds a bunch of words to your total?
Or, at least, a few of them increased my word count by like, 150-200, I think..

Yes. I've quickly found that FF.net HATES any of the typically used breaks. A line of asterisks more than two long, dashes, double spaces to denote change in time or place. . . None of it works. It disappears from the document and adds an invisible collection of words each time. It makes changing perspective/time/place infuriating. This is why I always recommend (to my friends who I can actively hand the files off to) that they read the actual documents. The formatting is much better, and you can actually tell when there's a change.

I've had to add author's notes to one of my chapters apologizing for the jarring change in perspective (main character to a secondary due to circumstances) because I denoted it in the actual document and it vanished once it hit the site. I tried adding it several times through the editor, only to curiously increase my word count with no visible result. It's a bug with their software, but they seem unaware, or unable, to fix it.

Hmm. I wonder if it's possible to troll with word count. Pad the document with thousands of non-existant words. . . Maybe I should cut that train of thought right there. Hah.

Aye, I'm kind of glad my laziness has worked out for the most part. I habitually never double space after full-stops, I rarely ever use "-", but the strange thing is that I use "..." all the time, and I haven't had any issues with it from what I recall. But now I'm paranoid and am triple checking XD

[lillitheris]

MidnightRaith wrote...

Huzzah! I finally got around to starting to review again. Lilitheris, I gave the first of yours, so be on the lookout for that. It is much easier to review based chapters rather than the entire work.

Awesome, thanks!

Yes, I think it’s much easier, albeit less pressing, even if the fic is just a few chapters. It’s easier to organize your thoughts without worrying about being too verbose, and on the other hand, maybe don’t feel guilty leaving the occasional “read this chapter, too” instead of a detailed analysis. I hope it would also encourage including more critique because as the reviewer already has rapport.

As a writer, it’s also interesting to see how the individual chapters work and how the reader’s relationship to the story evolves over time – in my view, it’s a very useful thing to see the difference between “yay awesome chapter” for one, and “this was pretty good” for another, from the same person. Even though neither is exactly a hard critique, which I’m sure many are uncomfortable leaving, you still get an idea of what works and what doesn’t.

I’m a little conversational as a reviewer myself, so I often end up noting things like potential plot points with full knowledge that the author’s probably thought about it already (but there’s an off-chance they haven‘t).

[lillitheris]

fluffywalrus wrote...

Aye, I'm kind of glad my laziness has worked out for the most part. I habitually never double space after full-stops, I rarely ever use "-", but the strange thing is that I use "..." all the time, and I haven't had any issues with it from what I recall. But now I'm paranoid and am triple checking XD

They have their allowed format and all that, but this is some new bug that got introduced. They changed something about the doc manager on the 28th, and that seems about right for when I started noticing problems.

[Severyx]

lillitheris wrote...

They have their allowed format and all that, but this is some new bug that got introduced. They changed something about the doc manager on the 28th, and that seems about right  for when I started noticing problems.

Yes, but the problems I've detailed out have been around (and continue to exist, as far as I know) for at least a year. I'll be reviewing and updating my chapters once I'm done (Lord knows the first half of the story needs some editing love), so I'll keep an eye on this as I go forward.

lillitheris wrote...

As a writer, it’s also interesting to see how the individual chapters work and how the reader’s relationship to the story evolves over time – in my view, it’s a very useful thing to see the difference between “yay awesome chapter” for one, and “this was pretty good” for another, from the same person. Even though neither is exactly a hard critique, which I’m sure many are uncomfortable leaving, you still get an idea of what works and what doesn’t.

Indeed. I once had a reader who reviewed that they weren't sure they'd like my main character, and they were pretty skeptical on whether or not he'd be too mary sue-ish. That was around three or four chapters in, I think. Several chapters later, that opinion changed to "Okay, I can see where this guy's coming from, but I'm not sure he'll be able to carry me through the story." Several more chapters later, it changed again to "You know what? I like this guy."

I'm not sure if this is evidence that I need to work on early iterations of his character, or if it's because I held back just enough information to gradually grow his character in a way that eventually settled with readers.

Modifié par Severyx, 31 mai 2012 - 01:17 .

[Sialater]

Severyx wrote...

lillitheris wrote...

They have their allowed format and all that, but this is some new bug that got introduced. They changed something about the doc manager on the 28th, and that seems about right  for when I started noticing problems.

Yes, but the problems I've detailed out have been around (and continue to exist, as far as I know) for at least a year. I'll be reviewing and updating my chapters once I'm done (Lord knows the first half of the story needs some editing love), so I'll keep an eye on this as I go forward.

lillitheris wrote...

As a writer, it’s also interesting to see how the individual chapters work and how the reader’s relationship to the story evolves over time – in my view, it’s a very useful thing to see the difference between “yay awesome chapter” for one, and “this was pretty good” for another, from the same person. Even though neither is exactly a hard critique, which I’m sure many are uncomfortable leaving, you still get an idea of what works and what doesn’t.

Indeed. I once had a reader who reviewed that they weren't sure they'd like my main character, and they were pretty skeptical on whether or not he'd be too mary sue-ish. That was around three or four chapters in, I think. Several chapters later, that opinion changed to "Okay, I can see where this guy's coming from, but I'm not sure he'll be able to carry me through the story." Several more chapters later, it changed again to "You know what? I like this guy."

I'm not sure if this is evidence that I need to work on early iterations of his character, or if it's because I held back just enough information to gradually grow his character in a way that eventually settled with readers.

I had a similar issue with Meghan Shepard in Loved.  I got a review saying the reader was afraid Meghan would just be another Sue, but then I saved her.  Or something. 

[lillitheris]

Eugh, had all kinds of problems writing today -.- I had this chapter planned out, but then I ended up moving something, leaving this one short, and none of the future chapter plans could quite be split up, leaving me to agonize over just publishing this one short, or trying to expand it or introduce some additional perspective…ended up just publishing the short version since I had already delayed entirely too long.

Modifié par lillitheris, 31 mai 2012 - 08:04 .

[MidnightRaith]

Damn. Storm took out my internet and now I have to use my phone.... Huh. Now the power went out while I was typing this. :/

Well, I wanted to say that I use the Em Dash in my fics. This is the dash you see in books and is longer than the dash I commonly see fanfic authors use. The site hasn't eaten yet as far as I know.

[noxiuniversitas1]

lillitheris wrote...

fluffywalrus wrote...

Aye, I'm kind of glad my laziness has worked out for the most part. I habitually never double space after full-stops, I rarely ever use "-", but the strange thing is that I use "..." all the time, and I haven't had any issues with it from what I recall. But now I'm paranoid and am triple checking XD

They have their allowed format and all that, but this is some new bug that got introduced. They changed something about the doc manager on the 28th, and that seems about right for when I started noticing problems.

Yeah, I use " -" " a lot because my characters get interrupted when they're speaking. Pretty much had a chapter a day up with no problems until the 28th, when all my hyphens disappeared. It was a nightmare correcting!

[noxiuniversitas1]

MidnightRaith wrote...

Damn. Storm took out my internet and now I have to use my phone.... Huh. Now the power went out while I was typing this. :/

Well, I wanted to say that I use the Em Dash in my fics. This is the dash you see in books and is longer than the dash I commonly see fanfic authors use. The site hasn't eaten yet as far as I know.

I use em dash, too (except where hyphens are grammatically correct). FF ate all of them on the 28th - hoping the bug's gone now

Modifié par noxiuniversitas1, 31 mai 2012 - 08:58 .

[lillitheris]

MidnightRaith wrote...
Well, I wanted to say that I use the Em Dash in my fics. This is the dash you see in books and is longer than the dash I commonly see fanfic authors use. The site hasn't eaten yet as far as I know.

Oh, don’t even remind me…the dash rules (sorry, dash and hyphenation rules) are some of the most asinine in all punctuation.

-   dash
–  en-dash
— em-dash

Then the hyphen actually isn’t the same as dash, or the minus-dash or whatever the hell the not-dash dash is called, but can be used. Or the other way, don’t remember. It’s just incredible nonsense.

That said, I probably should start using the em-dash again. Been using en-dash because it’s just an Opt switch whereas I need Opt-Shift for em-dash

[gearseffect]

Hey Myth, no this isn't where I've ran off to. I get off work and I'm so worn out and tired that I'm just not able to make it around to my normal places hell I got about 6 PMs I haven't been able to respond to yet, I'm just burnt out.

With that I off again

[PMC65]

gearseffect wrote...


Oh cr@p umm I just saw PMC65 post, umm I kinda want to know now if you don't like the feel of my fanfic "Breaking Points" and is it got too much of a dark undertone, and if my Shep's past falls under your thing about Passion of the Christ, because I mean I have my Shep's background as Mindoir and Akuze, and I really haven't go into much detail about those things but I did in Chapter 1 of Breaking Points I did mention that my Shep used to take comfort in the fact that none of those things ever broke him. Heh see titlle "Breaking Points" hint hint somethings gonna go done but will it be able to break him?

Well you'll just have to see when I get there, but I do got stuff planed out.

I'm sorry ... I wasn't meaning that. I can read a Mindoir mixed with Akuze and enjoy it.

What I was referring to is when the writer is continually beating Shepard with no moments of light ... this is normally done just so they can show how tough he is or to explain why he is so ruthless or just because they really want the audience to know their Shepard is "TRAGIC". The problem for me is that life is shades of light and dark. There has to be a balance ... at least for me.

I once started a story that by chapter three Shepard had been a drug addict, male prostitute, pimp, beaten up and left for dead by a rival gang, his arms broken by his surrogate mother, his wife OD'd, his child stolen by abusive surrogate mother ... All within the first three chapters! Not once did Shepard smile, laugh or love ... his wife was a prostitute that he knocked up while high on red sand so he married her ... after she threatened to kill herself if he didn't ... and so on.

I mercifully pretended to shoot him in the head and closed the story. 

*And if this was someone's story ... sorry. But I can't take that much sadness without relief and that poor guy was crying out to be put down. And quickly!  

[Mr.BlazenGlazen]

So anyone else want to leave some feedback to my story? I should be writing the next chapter by this weekend.

[gearseffect]

@Mr BlazenGlazen I'll read it hopefully later tonight and then get ya some feedback for it.

Same with you Midnight, I did read your story last night have to read it again tonight and write a very in depth review for it.

Quick question, when read fanfics do you like it when someone continually clarifies he said, ya know every time someone says something they have to do that whole he said thing?

Because when I write I try and avoid using the whole he said thing as much as possible. If there is some sort of emotion I want to convey with how it's being said I usually try and get creative with how I word the said thing, with things like dryly said, flatly stated, taking charge of things he asked, and so on. Rather then just said.

I've read some fanfics where it has done the said thing a bit too much and I find it off putting. Another way I try and avoid it is if two characters are only present then I maybe have one use the other characters name once, I also do that if character 2 sort of walks into a scene with only character 1 I have one character open by using the other characters name.

Just was wondering what your thought are on that?

Another thing I was wondering was, when you read do you get tired of when there is only one person in the scene and rather then use he or he'd it keeps using the characters name?

[fluffywalrus]

PMC65 wrote...

I once started a story that by chapter three Shepard had been a drug addict, male prostitute, pimp, beaten up and left for dead by a rival gang, his arms broken by his surrogate mother, his wife OD'd, his child stolen by abusive surrogate mother ... All within the first three chapters! Not once did Shepard smile, laugh or love ... his wife was a prostitute that he knocked up while high on red sand so he married her ... after she threatened to kill herself if he didn't ... and so on.

I mercifully pretended to shoot him in the head and closed the story. 

I'm honestly curious as to how someone could will themselves to write that. I know that I've written a snippet or two of future events for my fic that are pretty harsh, and even those little bits made me feel pretty terrible. And I'd really consider myself to be pretty darn desensitized to violence, gore, etc.

I just don't know how they'd make it past chapter 1.