9962 réponses à ce sujet

[Spiritwolf1]

dpMeggers wrote...

You can actually only see it if you've opened a chapter of the story itself. So if someone only reads because of followers/favs, they will have to have at least glanced at the first chapter. If people actually read like that it's going to artificially inflate chapter 1 views. 

Does anyone actually only read stuff because it has high review counts? Am I the only one who finds that really bloody weird?

Actually I started with people from here, I favorited a lot of stories from here and then branched out if someone sent me a link to a story I would like. But mostly I am a Liara fshep hound so I look to them first. In saying that I enjoyed the Miranda one as well.

Modifié par Spiritwolf1, 13 juillet 2012 - 06:37 .

[hot_heart]

Spiritwolf1 wrote...
In saying that I enjoyed the Miranda one as well.

Thanks again!

I think my tastes are a little skewed, so I'd be looking at the stories that don't have many reviews (and those ones usually look daunting because of massive wordcounts).

[Drussius]

hot_heart wrote...

Spiritwolf1 wrote...
In saying that I enjoyed the Miranda one as well.

Thanks again!

I think my tastes are a little skewed, so I'd be looking at the stories that don't have many reviews (and those ones usually look daunting because of massive wordcounts).

Eep! My five chapters together come to 43,000 words...

[Ursakar]

Drussius wrote...
Eep! My five chapters together come to 43,000 words...

Sounds fine to me.

[Spiritwolf1]

Ursakar wrote...

Drussius wrote...
Eep! My five chapters together come to 43,000 words...

Sounds fine to me.

It's not the size that counts...

[hot_heart]

Haha. Sorry, dude. I have a few from here that I need to get through, though I'll certainly give the first chapter a look. At least with yours being fresh there won't be loads of reviews already there so I'd actually have something to add.

[Drussius]

hot_heart wrote...

Haha. Sorry, dude. I have a few from here that I need to get through, though I'll certainly give the first chapter a look. At least with yours being fresh there won't be loads of reviews already there so I'd actually have something to add.

I am thinking the first chapter will go up sometime tomorrow, most likely. And I'll try to figure out how to get a link in my sig when it does. No idea if there's some sort of delay after you publish something though. Is there? Or does it become available right away?

Edit: On FF.net, I mean...

Modifié par Drussius, 13 juillet 2012 - 07:11 .

[dpMeggers]

Drussius wrote...

hot_heart wrote...

Haha. Sorry, dude. I have a few from here that I need to get through, though I'll certainly give the first chapter a look. At least with yours being fresh there won't be loads of reviews already there so I'd actually have something to add.

I am thinking the first chapter will go up sometime tomorrow, most likely. And I'll try to figure out how to get a link in my sig when it does. No idea if there's some sort of delay after you publish something though. Is there? Or does it become available right away?

Edit: On FF.net, I mean...

Officially there's an 'up to 30 minute delay.' Not that I've ever noticed that actually happen.

As for your sig: In the left sidebar under your profile picture there are a whole bunch of options.
The second option is "Profile." You'll get a pop-out menu when you scroll over it, second last option is 'Forum Settings.' Click on that.
You'll now be on a page which will give you an option to type in a signature. To create a link, select the BBCode button (far right at the top of the text bar).
Type in [ url=The url of your story ]The Title of your Story [ /url ] (without the spaces) and whatever else you want to say about it and hit save.
Voila, instant advertising.

Modifié par dpMeggers, 13 juillet 2012 - 07:17 .

[Drussius]

^ Thank you! I figured it would be in the profile area somewhere, but I had no idea how to code a link into it. That will be very helpful!

[lillitheris]

TheMarshal wrote...

So, now that I've settled on a concept for my BB fic, I have a new problem: I don't actually know Ashley's voice that well. Does anybody have a recommendation for fics told from Ash's POV? Preferably something that doesn't revolve around romance, but I'll take anything!

There’re (only) 11 Ash-primary stories in my fanfic thread, but check them if you haven’t yet.

Quite a few fics I’ve read — probably a majority — have Ash instead of Kaidan, though, so you may be able to get some ideas there. Mel’s Ash in DE1 and DE3 is pretty good for my tastes, anyway. But then she would be…

Modifié par lillitheris, 13 juillet 2012 - 07:52 .

[lillitheris]

dpMeggers wrote...

Does anyone actually only read stuff because it has high review counts? Am I the only one who finds that really bloody weird?

Quite a few people do; limited time, make the (presumably) best out of it. I’d imagine it’s more common with non-writers. It’s certainly not a solid indicator of quality, that’s true.

Here’s the telltale: there’s some reason they include those stats. I’m cautiously optimistic that it’ll actually balance things out since, as you point out, reviews and follows/faves aren’t always directly proportional. The introduction could be intended a parallel metric to reassure those who do look at the counts — but the question is still whether it’ll harm those with few of either.

…

The FFN 30 minute update window is, as far as I have experienced, only for updating chapters. Occasionally reviews take a while to pop up, too, so it likely just means they’re caching fairly aggressively. I’ve never experienced a new chapter not being immediately available — which makes sense, since it’s a new resource and cannot have been cached!

Modifié par lillitheris, 13 juillet 2012 - 07:53 .

[fluffywalrus]

lillitheris wrote...

The FFN 30 minute update window is, as far as I have experienced, only for updating chapters. Occasionally reviews take a while to pop up, too, so it likely just means they’re caching fairly aggressively. I’ve never experienced a new chapter not being immediately available — which makes sense, since it’s a new resource and cannot have been cached!

Whenever I post a new chapter, it's available immediately...but it's almost never searchable (at least, properly) within ten to twenty minutes. I always have to fiddle with the parameters in order to get it to show up.

So I've experienced a delay of sorts...the chapter's there, but people can't get easy access right away.

[lillitheris]

^ That could be, yeah. Notifications go out right away, and it can be accessed through the URL or navigating the pages within the story. I rarely look at the search, to be honest.

Edit: looking at it now, it seems they’ve actually changed the search quite a bit since last.

Edit2: and of course the search from going from the Games > Mass Effect at the top of a fic is still different from the actual Search search

Modifié par lillitheris, 13 juillet 2012 - 08:40 .

[HNNNNNNG]

So, I've never wrote fan fics before, but I do want to start. I came up with a name, and it was going to be like a sorta sitcom - a little short thing, with each 'chapter' being a new little plot.

Problem is, since they're going to be mainly lots of talking between characters, whats a good way to point out whose talking? The constant (name) says: or Said (name) is boring, and what about switching when another character interrupts two others?

[TheMarshal]

With just two characters talking back and forth, you only need tags for the first few lines. Provided you follow the convention of each new person talking on a separate line, the rest is easy to follow:

"We need to make sure," said Ib.
"That you are who you say you are," said Ob.
"And in order to do that..."
"We have to perform a few things."
"Tests, if you will."
"Trials of your skill."
"Knowledge of the world."
"The world in which we live."
"These will be done through a series of questions."
"Queries."
"Such as..."
"Who is speaking right now?"

(Ruthlessly paraphrased from a Thursday Next book that I haven't read in seven years)


When you introduce a new character, you have to reset the tags:

"What are the odds?" wondered Josh.
"The odds are... astronomical," said Sam.
"We can figure this out..."
"Sure."
"They sample 800 people, so-"
"Guys?" CJ interrupted. "Would you stop being amazed by the math of it all?"
"Sorry," Sam said.

Modifié par TheMarshal, 13 juillet 2012 - 08:58 .

[HNNNNNNG]

Thanks for the example and help

[lillitheris]

TheMarshal wrote...

When you introduce a new character, you have to reset the tags:

"What are the odds?" wondered Josh.
"The odds are... astronomical," said Sam.
"We can figure this out..."
"Sure."
"They sample 800 people, so-"
"Guys?" CJ interrupted. "Would you stop being amazed by the math of it all?"
"Sorry," Sam said.

You know…to learn dialogue writing, one could do much, much worse than “The West Wing”… Should be required watching.

…

The basic rule is that you have to introduce the speakers, and then you can elide naming them again so long as it’s unambiguous who is speaking. On the other hand, my characters tend to do something while talking, so I have quite a few ‘action tags’ (and sometimes take liberties, like in this first paragraph):


"That sounds fine, Li," Kasumi nodded. "I wont hold it against you that you don't like me and want to get rid of me."

"What? That's not true! …Oh, I see. Very amusing, Kasumi."

The thief was already grinning wide, but went ear to ear when Liara pulled out what looked unmistakably like gym clothes out of the little bag. "Not enough running for your life in the last couple days, doctor?"

"I…" Liara started, trying to figure out which way the bright orange gym shirt was supposed to go on, "Steve said there is a physical therapy room here and they had these available at the requisition office. I feel silly for not thinking of it myself. I quite took to the daily exercise on Normandy."

"I'm sure you did," Kasumi said, still grinning brightly.

"I did, I— Oh…hush." Liara admonished her kindly, violet creeping to her cheeks. "I was considering asking you to accompany me, but you insist on making fun of me, perhaps I shall do it alone!"

Trying to stifle a chortle, Kasumi made an earnest apology, and then decided to try a hunch. "I would be honored to accompany you, but I'm afraid I can't exercise with these injuries…"

Modifié par lillitheris, 13 juillet 2012 - 10:42 .

[Spiritwolf1]

Just got this with my ginger chicken, thought it was fitting since we were talking about feeling unconfortable showing people our writing:

Comfort zones are most often expanded through discomfort.

Of course I think warm hugs are better

[TheMarshal]

 How do you handle multiple actions per line of dialogue?  I kind of get trapped in the comic book mentality where there's a visual indicator of something happening which can break up the dialogue.

Example:

Panic overtakes me. "NO! No! No, please!" It feels like everything is slipping away, my one chance at this. I'm not ready to be outed. Not like this. "Please... Please don't!" Visions of exactly how the asari government would react to someone claiming to be me flit through my head. Strapping me to a chair and interrogating me while the DNA test runs in the background. I gotta imagine interrogations go a lot smoother when you can just pillage someone's mind. And knowing how the human government would react to such an interrogation... "Please..."

Like, should this have been broken up into multiple paragraphs?  It feels awkward to have three different lines of dialogue put into that paragraph, even though they're basically happening one right after the other.

[lillitheris]

^ I know that feeling exactly. I try to use the rule that at most there are two parts of dialogue per paragraph, and still kind of feel awkward about it. That said, I don’t really think it’s that big of a deal to occasionally allow yourself to stray, so long as the text still reads well — which you’re in better position to judge when you’re aware that you’re writing something that needs special attention.

“You must know the rules before you can break them,” I think the saying went.

That particular paragraph you quoted is atypical in that the speech is actually independent of the narration; they cohabit, if you will. As such, I think it works fine, and conveys a sense of urgency. If they were more intertwined, then it’d make sense to split the paragraph up — but it would also probably be easier to do!

Edit: if you do find it awkward, still, then I think Drussius’ recommendation below is sensible. It loses a little bit of the impact, perhaps, but it might be easier to understand.

…

…Ginger chicken? I’m not sure I want to know But yes, just like exercise — if you want to get better, you have to push beyond what you can do now.

Modifié par lillitheris, 13 juillet 2012 - 10:59 .

[Drussius]

TheMarshal wrote...

 How do you handle multiple actions per line of dialogue?  I kind of get trapped in the comic book mentality where there's a visual indicator of something happening which can break up the dialogue.

I do this on occasion, though not quite as much action as what is included in your example. In the case of your passage, and others might disagree with me here, but I would break it into three paragraphs, as follows:

Panic overtakes me. "NO! No! No, please!" It feels like everything is slipping away, my one chance at this. I'm not ready to be outed. Not like this. "Please... Please don't!"

Visions of exactly how the asari government would react to someone claiming to be me flit through my head. Strapping me to a chair and interrogating me while the DNA test runs in the background. I gotta imagine interrogations go a lot smoother when you can just pillage someone's mind. And knowing how the human government would react to such an interrogation...

"Please..."

It's just the length of the part in the middle that makes it seem a little awkward when I read it. If it were a much shorter line in the middle, I think it would have been fine as it was. Like if it was just the Visions of exactly how the asari government would react to someone claiming to be me flit through my head. "Please...." then I would have left it as one block.

[hot_heart]

I don't really have a problem with the original way, but I agree with Drussius about the middle part and like the restructure.

[Obsidian Gryphon]

OT. Ginger chicken is nice. Fry it with sesame oil and the aroma is heavenly.   I always try to throw in other stuff in dialogues. Using alot of "said" just make me feel stiff and awkward but sometimes, I can't get inspiration as to how to make it more interesting. "Action dialogue" seems slightly easier.


"What happened?" she coughed to clear her throat and realised he did not hear her when he remained silent. She repeated in a stronger, louder voice.

"Infrasound, magnified, sent a shockwave in our direction. Whoever's caught in its path..," he did not bother to elaborate.

"Skipper?" she got to her feet.

"No word. Game plan?" he stood, his jaws working grimly.

"We get out of here and take as many as possible," she checked her rifle.

"If we're going to do it, have to be fast, I see only one shuttle left," he nodded past the collapsed tent to where a single shutlle was still standing intact on the far side of the creature's entry. The exterior lights a beacon of hope.

"Stay on my six then," she said.

"Haven't I always?" 

Modifié par Obsidian Gryphon, 14 juillet 2012 - 12:12 .

[Drussius]

Obsidian Gryphon wrote...

I always try to throw in other stuff in dialogues. Using alot of "said" just make me feel stiff and awkward but sometimes, I can't get inspiration as to how to make it more interesting. "Action dialogue" seems slightly easier.


"What happened?" she coughed to clear her throat and realised he did not hear her when he remained silent. She repeated in a stronger, louder voice.

"Infrasound, magnified, sent a shockwave in our direction. Whoever's caught in its path..," he did not bother to elaborate.

"Skipper?" she got to her feet.

"No word. Game plan?" he stood, his jaws working grimly.

"We get out of here and take as many as possible," she checked her rifle.

"If we're going to do it, have to be fast, I see only one shuttle left," he nodded past the collapsed tent to where a single shutlle was still standing intact on the far side of the creature's entry. The exterior lights a beacon of hope.

"Stay on my six then," she said.

"Haven't I always?" 

This is my method of writing dialogue as well. I like to include little action notes with my dialogue. As will be clear to anyone who bothers to read my fic when it goes up. I'm in the same camp of finding "she said." "he asked." "she replied." or just lines of dialogue with no identifiers at all a bit repetitive. I use action notes like these to mix things up, throwing in an occasional "he said." or just a lone line of dialogue to further vary things.

[Wolf_Mar09]

Hmm I new to this side of the forums, but I love writing, and the Mass Effect universe is full of great things to write about. I didn't have much time to read through the whole thread (Sorry about that) but if you have any pointers to help me start out, I'll be very thankful. No need to tell me the basics of writing, I have that down, just things like, maybe sites you all use or ways you guys connect and read each other's work.