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[Obsidian Gryphon]

lillitheris wrote...

Incidentally, here’s said codex entry:

:

Languages and translators. Languages are naturally very varied in the galaxy. Most species still have multiple languages in use, usually regionally or by clan or similar, but a common language used within the species—like English is for humans.

The translators nearly everyone has equipped are extremely powerful, having been in use and constant development for closer to two thousand years. They are perfectly capable of translating any languages they’re programmed for with microsecond delays—essentially as well, or better, as a native speaker’s brain can. These are used in the cases where there is no common language, or when a party feels they would be limited by their skill. The translators also emulate the speaker‘s voice, simplifying the experience, and by default modulate the actual foreign-language speech out from the stream going through the aurals. The only unsolved problem is that in a face-to-face conversation, the speaker’s words will be out of sync with the speech. This can be disconcerting.

Partially for this reason, the Citadel established a common language early on. As the asari were the first species, and the salarians who came next were quick learners, the language chosen was the common tongue of the asari, Astran. It is used for all official and public communications, and widely used in everyday life. All Systems Alliance personnel learn Astran—in fact, most schools on Earth have begun teaching it as their second language in the decades after humans joined the galactic community.

Astran is from the Thessian republic of Astra. The name derives from the word for ‘mountainous region‘ because Astra spreads along most of the significant highlands of Thessia. (Nos Astra, the capital of Illium, means something like ‘the mountainous region which we built’.) The vast natural resources and shelter of Astra made it the biggest player in Thessian politics and economy, leading to the dominant role of its language.

Serran is the language of Serra, the republic in which the city of Serrice lies, and whence Liara T’Soni is from.

Can you provide the link to this codex entry. I'm curious as to where it's buried under because I never could find it.   It's in wiki, right?

Modifié par Obsidian Gryphon, 15 août 2012 - 12:49 .

[fluffywalrus]

Cmdr. Ken Shepard wrote...

lillitheris wrote...

Cmdr. Ken Shepard wrote...

I'm sorta lost with Fanfiction site. Am I unable to upload until my story is complete? Where can i upload it as is now and link it to people so I can get feedback?

You can upload them in the document manager, and then there’s a separate step to publish it… On the site, you can use the DocX feature to send a copy of an uploaded document to another FFN user.

…

@Drussius: Whifflebat?

Fail for me, looks like I have  to wait a couple days to use stuff anyway on the site.

@Drussius : How about the name Chandra, have a friend with that name and spelling...always thought it seemed Asari-ish.

Aye, FFnet has a small window of delay initially. Put in place to reduce spam or whatnot. I keep meaning to point it out when people come in here looking to post stories they started, but I forgot sometimes Apologies!
Still, kind of worth the wait. Best site to host your stories on, anyway.

[lillitheris]

Obsidian Gryphon wrote...

Can you provide the link to this codex entry. I'm curious as to where it's buried under because I never could find it.   It's in wiki, right?

It’s riiiiight here!

I sneakily said

Now, of course, I realize that I should just have made the difficult-to-include part a codex entry… Incidentally, here’s said codex entry:

[Obsidian Gryphon]

lillitheris wrote...

It’s riiiiight here!

Oh wait.   It's your expansion. I thought it's in WikiME.   *bops head*

[lillitheris]

I don’t really have anything useful to say…but I did notice that the Views/Visitors ratio on FFN is closer than it’s been. Not by that much, but a bit.

[lillitheris]

But what does it mean?! Nothing…

[lillitheris]

Ooh, I did think of something, actually. For those of you who have not been following my story, “Unity” currently clocks in at 32 chapters plus the codex/DP chapter, and so close to 100 k words that it makes no difference.

Shepard just woke up. It’s been about a week since the Crucible.

I did always intend to write a fair amount before but to say that I ended up surpassing my estimate is, well, an understatement. I had a lot of fun with the characters, and didn’t want to push things to flashbacks when I could just tell them in ‘real time’.

The aspect I’m slightly curious/nervous about, of course, is how well I managed to establish Eevy through the other characters…Will the reader have a certain mental image already? I don’t know if I purposely injected extra detail about her, but I suppose I didn’t try to rein in the other characters from discussing or referring to her.

Anyway, rambles. It’s an interesting thing in retrospect.

[fainmaca]

Ugh. Been away on a trip (i.e. unable to properly prowl the forums) for over a week. That means three things- 1) fallen behind on RL things that keep getting in the way of proper nerdy things, so will have to take time out to catch up, 2) fallen behind on this board, and now have a lot to catch up on, and 3) fallen behind on writing, most annoying of all. I'll try to get up to speed on all 3 ASAP.

In the meantime, an odd musing came to me today- do you think writing can be taught, or must the skill be gained through use? Does writing suffer from being constrained by the walls of a classroom, the shackles of formulae, the ropes of peer opinion? Or does it benefit from a mind which has not been pre-adjusted to preset ideas of what good writing is?

[lillitheris]

You presumably mean writing prose/fiction? Everything can be taught to some degree. Everyone isn’t willing to learn. Those who are willing, some will be better at it than others.

The out-of-the-box motif is appealing, but humans are at the very least accustomed, if not outright evolved, to be especially receptive to certain types of narration—ones that have been perfected over millennia of storytelling.

I think it’s unlikely that someone would come up with a revolutionary new way of storytelling just because they lack formal education. It’s more that they happen to discover the same by themselves (I hope this is the case for me). On the other hand, while it’s possible to teach these narrative techniques and wossnames (in addition to, you know, spelling, vocab, etc.), that doesn’t guarantee that a good story is produced.

However, a narrow answer to ‘can storytelling be made into a formal process?’ is yes. Evidence: TV shows. By following certain rules, they create stories that are interesting (enough) for a significant portion of the population.

Modifié par lillitheris, 15 août 2012 - 08:27 .

[lillitheris]

lillitheris wrote...

hot_heart wrote...

lillitheris wrote...
Or pink if you’re an asari…

OK, now you've lost me.

There’s an as-yet explained oddity that the Crucible pulse and beam seemed crimson or purple to the human POVs, and pink to the asari…the other races are also unknown.

I tell a lie…I forgot that I also touched on this in Wrex’s POV. The krogan, it turns out, saw a purplish-green pulse.

(Bonus points if you get the reference. Actually, it’s basic enough that I might deduct points if you don’t know )

[fainmaca]

Yeah, I do mean prose/fiction. What brought this line of thought on was that I was browsing several job sites, looking at avenues that offered a career in fictional writing, and so many of them demand BA degrees and so on to even be considered, it set me wondering whether limiting such avenues to those privileged few that make it through the education system to that point was a good thing. It feels a little to me as though the world focuses so much on education and not enough on the foundations upon which an education can, possibly, expand.

[lillitheris]

All creative professions should primarily hire by portfolio, not education. (Edit:  of course, there’s a reasonable chance that you’ll have a decent portfolio if you have an education supporting your creative urges, but it’s in no way guaranteed, or required).

Modifié par lillitheris, 15 août 2012 - 08:51 .

[hot_heart]

Sorry, little busy trying to get this chapter done, finally. Already got way too distracted by another thread.

Only thing I will add right now is: to break the rules, you must first know the rules (and variations thereof, uttered by famous artists among others).

[lillitheris]

^ That’s a good rule (ahah), but there’s the risk of overinterpreting it. It is specifically about breaking form, accidentally or intentionally.

Not knowing a rule doesn’t mean you’ll fail; just that the particular kind of failure could have been a success in a different context (which you’d know if you knew the rule)

[MacNasty]

fainmaca wrote...

Yeah, I do mean prose/fiction. What brought this line of thought on was that I was browsing several job sites, looking at avenues that offered a career in fictional writing, and so many of them demand BA degrees and so on to even be considered, it set me wondering whether limiting such avenues to those privileged few that make it through the education system to that point was a good thing. It feels a little to me as though the world focuses so much on education and not enough on the foundations upon which an education can, possibly, expand.

It does seem that a higher education is required often in jobs today. Personally I lack such experience searching for jobs but from what I have seen it does seem a requirement. The focus is that because someone has gone through school they must be better, yet oftimes those who do go through school lack the natural talent for those who don't. Personally, I don't do so well in classes. Being taught doesn't work well with me, I prefer experimentation, but it can be different for everyone. Some people need to be shown the way through teaching. It really does depend on the person... It is rather sad, though, that certain places won't even look for people without a college education.

[fainmaca]

So sometimes its not about what you know, its about what you know you know, or that you know you don't know? Or is it about what you don't know that I know that you know that I don't know that you might not know that I know?

[hot_heart]

lillitheris wrote...

^ That’s a good rule (ahah), but there’s the risk of overinterpreting it. It is specifically about breaking form, accidentally or intentionally.

Not knowing a rule doesn’t mean you’ll fail; just that the particular kind of failure could have been a success in a different context (which you’d know if you knew the rule)

True, but I meant it with regards to 'stumbling' across a revolutionary new form of storytelling rather than in general terms.

Plus, I think to be truly phenomenal plays into that '10,000 hour rule'.

Modifié par hot_heart, 15 août 2012 - 09:05 .

[lillitheris]

I do firmly believe in that. It takes 10 000 hours of practice to get close to the pinnacle of your ability in a certain field (whatever the field, and whatever the ultimate level of ability).

[lillitheris]

There’s adultfanfiction (.net, maybe?), and I think AO3. Deviantart will allow MA content, but it’s not a great publishing platform except for one-offs.

…

On that topic, does anyone have an AO3 invite (recent)? I’d still like to get an account, but they stopped giving invites at some point…

[fluffywalrus]

alleyd wrote...

I've written a couple of things on the subject of Shepard's Sexual healing power (inspiration from the LI of Jack in ME2) Thing is I'm wary of publishing because it is adult content and I remember earlier messages I got when I published something I rated mature, and it was Tame compared with the new work. Any ideas on where to post?

FFnet is still fine for that. There was a "scare" a while back, warning of the admins pulling all M related content. Didn't happen, won't happen. Chances of yours getting purged is incredibly slim, as someone would have to personally report your fic.

You could also post on deviantart, but good luck getting viewers :\\

Modifié par fluffywalrus, 15 août 2012 - 09:56 .

[lillitheris]

I wouldn’t push it on FFN if it’s really actually MA. (Personally I consider something like Rae’s stories still firmly M, but no idea what alleyd has been writing.)

[Seracen]

alleyd wrote...

I've written a couple of things on the subject of Shepard's Sexual healing power (inspiration from the LI of Jack in ME2) Thing is I'm wary of publishing because it is adult content and I remember earlier messages I got when I published something I rated mature, and it was Tame compared with the new work. Any ideas on where to post?

I posted under my old, and now unaccessable, acount a firmly M rated fic for Devil May Cry.  It involved a fair amount of action, and ended with extremely copious amounts of shagging.  The term for the fic was "lemon" at the time, so people knew what to expect.

Even though I can't access the account anymore, the fic is still there, so I can't imagine anything short of a "Natzi (sic) Death Rape Machine" would garner you a ban-hammer.

PS: DON'T google that term (old Japanese hentai...seriously, WTH Japan?)!!!  I had the misfortune to do so, at the behest of a friend...I still haven't forgiven him, although I have gotten even, haha.

Modifié par Seracen, 15 août 2012 - 10:11 .

[Icyflare]

fainmaca wrote...
Does writing suffer from being constrained by the walls of a classroom, the shackles of formulae, the ropes of peer opinion?

I don't believe that writing is restricted by formula so much as it is stifled by imposing arbitrary rules that has to do more with the appearance of writing than with the actual process itself. I can't remember which author it was, might have been Stephen King or Dostoevsky or whoever, but once when a writer who would eventually become famous was in a creative writing class at university, his instructor lectured on the importance of imbuing social-politcal commentary into everything they wrote. The young writer raised his hand and asked, "Why can't a story just be a story? Why does it have social meaning?" The class consequently laughed at him, and the instructor told him he would never get far with that mindset. Fast forward a couple of decades, the instructor is forgotten and the writer is still remembered. Ironically, I don't recall the exact name, but I'm certain it happened to Dostoevsky or Gogol.

Anyways, point of the story is that forcing everyone to follow a specific formula doesn't work, and that rebelling authors often establish new evolutionary paths for the novel/story format. I mean, if certain writers weren't experimenting with or revolting against previously established literary models, then how the hell did we ever get something like Jame Joyce's Finnegan's Wake? For those of you unfamiliar with the book, it's infamous for having words that resemble English blend together to create new ones that will give most readers a headache via constant interpretation by the end of the first paragraph. Ick.

classrooms can be confining, but they can also offer a way to learn which techniques are considered "good" by teachers and fellow readers as well as why. They also offer a good guideline against what to rebel against if a writer is planning to go down that path.

Or does it benefit from a mind which has not been pre-adjusted to preset ideas of what good writing is?

EDi said that moral decisions shouldn't be made in a vacuum, and I think the ability to judge what good writing is must be treated with the same care. One should be exposed to various stories that are considered "good" to learn the various technique employed in a piece as well as taught to understand why and how these works are so acclaimed by the literary world. If you are acquainted with what works, then you can figure out what doesn't and incorporate those inferences into your own writing. If you can do that on your own, then more power to you. The important thing is know and constantly learn about different techniques so you can be aware of the evolution of your own writing.

I think what might be meant here is whether the writing ability itself is bolstered by not having been brainwashed by conventionally-held standards of "good writing".  In this case, I would say yes, because if a mind has been pre-adjusted to preset ideas of what should be done, then the mind itself has dulled or lost the ability to be objectively critical, which is crucial in order to truly improve yourself as anything, much less a writer. However, I could have totally misinterpreted this statement as well, but I think my points can stand on their own merit in that case.

TL;DR: The important thing for writing is to be objectively critical about your own work. Having preset ideas of what is considered "good" and not critically evaluating them from time to time leads to a dulling of your sense of judgment about the quality of writing. I don't mean to be verbose, but I like discussions like these. They're stimulating.

Edit: By the time I finished my big long post, there were six new ones. I should really pay attention to the value of brevity.

Modifié par Icyflare, 15 août 2012 - 10:26 .