9962 réponses à ce sujet

[fluffywalrus]

And a very nice chapter indeed!
Really enjoyed that you included Lidanya...always wondered what the Matriarch was like, being the captain of the Destiny Ascension and all. Really nice work Really caught the raw desperation from Alice.

[IliyaMoroumetz]

Funny you should mention the BB Marshall, I'm writing the story I'm going to be submitting for that as we speak. Hope to see what you got in mind.

[lillitheris]

Drussius wrote...

I guess I just cut the game scene much more slack than you do because in the same situation, I probably would have stood there, protected the councilor, and let Thane do his thing without getting in the way...

Oh hell no. You shoot that bastard full of holes. Thane had a gun. He was also at least 5 meters away. It’s a clear shot for the others even if you’ve never  held a gun in your life — and you have three of the best shooters in the freaking galaxy just standing there.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the quality of the scene, because this thread is for support on the fanfictions we are all writing, not to argue over game mechanics and story execution.

I think the Kai Leng scenes are an extremely important example of What Not To Do When Writing A Story, and should be studied and internalized as such

The tragic part is that it would have been so easy to do in a reasonable manner. Thane is on one side of room, and Shepard gets pinned down by a squad of commandos/ATLAS/whatever. Thane is distracted and Leng emerges from the shadows and nips Thane in the back. Boom. Alternatively, Thane runs to throw himself before the salarian at the last moment when Leng emerges from the shadows.

However, instead of a realistic, understated scene, the writers wanted to:

0. Have a big fight scene;
1. Make Kai Leng look badass;
2. Use a f— sword;
3. Make Thane look like he was going out like a badass hero in an epic clash (or whatever).

Because of this, they failed miserably. This is one reason why I try to closely examine anything I write for badassery…it’s very hard to do right and not go into parody.

…

Also, in interest of accuracy: a sword isn’t actually a close close-quarters weapon! The most effective range of a sword deserving of the name is a meter from you body! A dagger or knife is what you’d use as your backup. At the same time, if you’re more than two meters away from your armed opponent, you’re in trouble.

Modifié par lillitheris, 12 juillet 2012 - 09:54 .

[LanceSolous13]

I have to very much agree with the above points.

[Spiritwolf1]

lillitheris wrote...
Also, in interest of accuracy: a sword isn’t actually a close close-quarters weapon! The most effective range of a sword deserving of the name is a meter from you body! A dagger or knife is what you’d use as your backup. At the same time, if you’re more than two meters away from your armed opponent, you’re in trouble.

I agree. Actually if you know how to properly weild a knife and are less then two meters from your armed opponent they are in trouble. A person armed with a knife that knows how to use it is deadly, not to mention that when you are talking reaction time, 2 meters is not much for any weapon. I would rather face down a person with a sword then a knife.

[TheMarshal]

IliyaMoroumetz wrote...

Funny you should mention the BB Marshall, I'm writing the story I'm going to be submitting for that as we speak. Hope to see what you got in mind.

I'm toying with a few concepts right now and having a hard time deciding.  So I'm doing outlines to see which one has the most promise.

[lillitheris]

Y’all so organized and stuff.

[dpMeggers]

Ha! What is this organized of which you speak?
Quick question: are cardinal directions capitalized? (Eg: north, south, east, west vs. North etc.)

[lillitheris]

I think there are regional differences, but generally no when you just mean the direction.

I think you would capitalize when saying something like “Up North we prefer custard”, when it becomes the name of a region, essentially. Not sure, though. English capitalization is dumb.

Edit: and proper names, of course, e.g. “You enter through the North Gate” vs. “you enter through the north(ern) gate”.

Modifié par lillitheris, 12 juillet 2012 - 05:46 .

[Spiritwolf1]

Not unless they are in a title, like I live in North Dakota
I went to the north side of the room, (No capitals)
Go south 3 blocks then turn east (No Capitals)

[dpMeggers]

It's time for the dpMeggers' Question of the Day!
(It's less fun than Aunty Lilli's colourful chart time, but here we go...)

Is there anything you do that helps you find a character's voice?

I find myself reading my character's lines out loud, or saying them before I write them down, in whatever regional accent I've written for them. For example, in my OC list I have a French-Canadian character, a Newfoundlander, 4 characters with varying degrees of a Belfast accent, and an upper-class Jordinian. Now I'm a reasonably good mimic, so I can do this (I also tend to give people accents that I'm capable of mimicking). But even with established character's I tend to speak their lines with the speech patterns we see in game. Which would make me look nuts if I didn't make sure I was alone while I'm writing. It's also one of the reasons I can't listen to music while I write, it's conflicting auditory information.

So how do you find your character(s) voices?

Edit: Thanks for the help on the whole North/south divide. Also @ Lilli, it's "Oop North" dear. 

Modifié par dpMeggers, 12 juillet 2012 - 06:00 .

[lillitheris]

I don’t read out loud-loud. I read out in my head, though, to get the cadence right and so on.

For characters it matters for, anyway. For Vega, for example, I find it‘s sufficient to just do a sanity check occasionally.

[MrStoob]

lillitheris wrote...
 “Up North we prefer custard"

Scousers 'ere, Scousers there, Scousers fookin everywhere!

Modifié par MrStoob, 12 juillet 2012 - 06:56 .

[Drussius]

dpMeggers wrote...

It's time for the dpMeggers' Question of the Day!
(It's less fun than Aunty Lilli's colourful chart time, but here we go...)

Is there anything you do that helps you find a character's voice?

I find myself reading my character's lines out loud, or saying them before I write them down, in whatever regional accent I've written for them. For example, in my OC list I have a French-Canadian character, a Newfoundlander, 4 characters with varying degrees of a Belfast accent, and an upper-class Jordinian. Now I'm a reasonably good mimic, so I can do this (I also tend to give people accents that I'm capable of mimicking). But even with established character's I tend to speak their lines with the speech patterns we see in game. Which would make me look nuts if I didn't make sure I was alone while I'm writing. It's also one of the reasons I can't listen to music while I write, it's conflicting auditory information.

So how do you find your character(s) voices?

Edit: Thanks for the help on the whole North/south divide. Also @ Lilli, it's "Oop North" dear. 

As someone who roleplayed in tabletop RPGs for an unhealthy portion of his high school/post-graduation years, I try to put myself in the mindset of a character and let the dialogue flow from the train of thought that runs through my head. With that said, however, I think that some of my dialogue seems extremely natural, and some of it I struggle a bit with. It really depends on the conversation at hand. I've been finding it especially difficult to give the four asari characters in my current work their own voices, since everything sounds similar when the speech patterns are especially formal. So if anyone has any inspired answers to your question, I'd love to know as well!


On the focus of my current exasperation, I am midway through chapter five of my story and still have yet to give the story a name. I just can't decide on something catchy and concise, since this is usually something I only do when I am completely finished writing a story and in this case I plan to start putting it up before I actually finish the whole thing. I don't want to cop out and just call it something like "The Battle for { insert colony here }" or anything like that. Sigh. I'm not a fan of the placeholder title I've been using (Mass Effect: { colony name here } ), since the second half of the story does take place there, but the story itself is about a group of characters that get drawn into events there, not about the location itself. I need to figure out something that has some flavor to it.

This has been bugging me for days now...

[lillitheris]

“Mass Effect: A Group of Characters”? For bonus points, a Kirrahe cameo.

[dpMeggers]

lillitheris wrote...

“Mass Effect: A Group of Characters”? For bonus points, a Kirrahe cameo.

"Mass Effect: I Hate Thinking Up Titles"
or
"Mass Effect: Things Happen"

[Drussius]

lillitheris wrote...

“Mass Effect: A Group of Characters”? For bonus points, a Kirrahe cameo.

I love to include cameos. I have a few nods to minor established characters planned. However, sadly Kirrahe doesn't fit into the timeline of the story. Although I would absolutely love to include him!

Edit: And Meggers, thank you for the Liara terminal reference. That one made me laugh in the game. "I despise thinking up titles for my academic research" or something like that, wasn't it?

Modifié par Drussius, 12 juillet 2012 - 08:15 .

[MrStoob]

Mass Effect: <insert well considered witty title here>

[Spartanburger]

dpMeggers wrote...

lillitheris wrote...

“Mass Effect: A Group of Characters”? For bonus points, a Kirrahe cameo.

"Mass Effect: I Hate Thinking Up Titles"
or
"Mass Effect: Things Happen"

"Mass Effect: For Lack Of A Better Name"

"Mass Effect: IN SPAAAAAAAAAAACEEE"

"Mass Effect: Incert Clever Title Here"

On the topic of names, they are truly difficult to come up with. A good bet is to focus on a theme of the story itself. For example, in the fic that I am working on, one of the main themes are the reasons why the main characters are continuing on their story. Shepard has his own reasons, squadmates have their own reasons, and [semi-important OC #1] has his own reasons too. They change over time and are a rather large focus in how they must remember why they are doing what they are doing, otherwise the action becomes meaningless. Thus, why I've settled on the name "What We Fight For." Earlier title concepts were "What Is Real?" "Assimilation" "Ascension" and "Love, Loss, and Leadership" (that last I am still holding on to. It just... fits in some situations)


tl;dr: Think of the themes of the fic and play with that as a title.

[Icyflare]

dpMeggers wrote...

lillitheris wrote...

“Mass Effect: A Group of Characters”? For bonus points, a Kirrahe cameo.

"Mass Effect: I Hate Thinking Up Titles"
or
"Mass Effect: Things Happen"

Mass Effect: Gravitation? Mass Effect: People Meeting Up And Then a Colony Thing? Mass Effect: Some Characters Plus Zaeed?

[Drussius]

Icyflare wrote...

dpMeggers wrote...

lillitheris wrote...

“Mass Effect: A Group of Characters”? For bonus points, a Kirrahe cameo.

"Mass Effect: I Hate Thinking Up Titles"
or
"Mass Effect: Things Happen"

Mass Effect: Gravitation? Mass Effect: People Meeting Up And Then a Colony Thing? Mass Effect: Some Characters Plus Zaeed?

LOL. Some Characters Plus Zaeed! I should have thought of that one!

I am trying to come up with something based on the central theme, as was suggested. I'm just having difficulty coming up with something that fits the theme and is simultaneously concise and catchy. I am good at naming my stories when I'm done with them, but since it's a work in progress I'm less sure of the what the overall tone of the story will be when I'm done. I am also undecided as to whether or not I should include "Mass Effect:" in the title or not. I don't view it as necessary, but I wouldn't be opposed to it.

Sort of circling around the central idea of fate or destiny, since it is really pure chance that draws the various characters into the events of the story rather than a conscious choice. I'll come up with something eventually.

[TheMarshal]

dpMeggers wrote...

It's time for the dpMeggers' Question of the Day!
(It's less fun than Aunty Lilli's colourful chart time, but here we go...)

Is there anything you do that helps you find a character's voice?

I find myself reading my character's lines out loud, or saying them before I write them down, in whatever regional accent I've written for them. For example, in my OC list I have a French-Canadian character, a Newfoundlander, 4 characters with varying degrees of a Belfast accent, and an upper-class Jordinian. Now I'm a reasonably good mimic, so I can do this (I also tend to give people accents that I'm capable of mimicking). But even with established character's I tend to speak their lines with the speech patterns we see in game. Which would make me look nuts if I didn't make sure I was alone while I'm writing. It's also one of the reasons I can't listen to music while I write, it's conflicting auditory information.

So how do you find your character(s) voices?

Edit: Thanks for the help on the whole North/south divide. Also @ Lilli, it's "Oop North" dear. 

I haven't created too many OCs that have more than a handful of lines, so I usually don't worry about nailing down their voice.  For others, though, I try to find an acress or character from a TV show or movie and plop them into the role.  Carly, Alice's friend in Returned was basically Busy Phillips' character from Cougartown, right down to the blonde hair and big teeth.  When I wrote Ashley's lines in A Good Night, I drew a LOT of inspiration from Angela from Bones.

First-person POVs are simultaneously easier and more difficult for me.  When I was writing Alissondra in Observer, I was basically channelling myself, if I were a snarky over-sexed asari.  I had to catch myself from doing the same thing with Alice in Returned, 'cause as much as she is an extension of me, she's also very much NOT me.  So I had to stay on my toes to make sure *I* wasn't coming through.

[noxiuniversitas1]

Hello thread! You move fast! I'm back in the dreary, rainy UK and I have a problem. I have no desire to write. I think it's going to last a long time.

Help!

[MrStoob]

Drussius wrote...
 I've been finding it especially difficult to give the four asari characters in my current work their own voices, since everything sounds similar when the speech patterns are especially formal.

I suppose then you have to give character to each, even if that's not essential to the tale.  Even something as simple as asari 1 is naive, asari 2 is overbearing, and so on, then work that in to the dialogue, no matter how innocuous.

[Spiritwolf1]

Liara Queen of titles