9962 réponses à ce sujet

[hot_heart]

For mine, I always had a sort of road map but, as it started receiving some favourable attention, I decided to make a few more tourist stops, so to speak.

In scriptwriting terms, the process is usually to write a treatment that summarises the general course of the story. From there you break it down into a scene-by-scene with some notes on what occurs, maybe with key pieces of dialogue, too. And you can put those on 'scene cards' which you may want to move around, depending on what's occurring. Though that last step may not apply to this sort of writing.

I don't think I'd ever write without some sort of plan or ending in mind because, personally, I'd feel like I was stringing along the audience and doubt I'd be able to pull off a fulfilling conclusion if I got carried away with it. I understand why some people prefer to just let it flow though.

[Seracen]

lillitheris wrote...

Seracen wrote...

In my story, I like the idea of Aethyta (Liara's dad) being the new Asari councilor.

Is it logical to assume she'd speak in a more official tone? I mean, she's still the same no-nonsense woman, or she's supposed to be.

It would be logical to assume she would, yes.

She wouldn’t, of course, but was a logical assumption

Yeah, that's what I was thinking...blargh...

Oh well, I've rewritten whole chapters before...

@ MacNasty: The whole thermal clip issue playing into the storyline is the result of a shoddy explanation for a game mechanic.  I honestly thought, when I first saw the idea, that they had retconned the whole thing.  They do poke fun at themselves when Shep talks to "his biggest fan."

Don't see why Quarian women wouldn't be in the Migrant Fleet Marines, just that the only one we've seen in Kal'Reegar.

PS: Apologies ppl, I'm catching up on the forum again, so you know what that means...

[Seracen]

Outlawstar15a2 wrote...

I have a lot of story ideas. I like to avoid using canonical main characters like Shepard and Liara. I luv my Liara but I find (from my experience at least) that most people frown on such a practice. I wanted to do a story with all new characters maybe a few cameos from some minor characters.

Honestly, if well crafted, I think folks would enjoy the writing, whether or not it involved a main character that they had pre-concieved notions about.

Also, nice to see you elsewhere, I'll try not to talk your head off about Outlaw Star, as in the other thread !

@ MacNasty, again:  The naming convention for the Quarians reminds me almost of the Dark Elves, as crafted by R.A. Salvatore (who jokingly yet sincerely apologized to the community for creating such a difficult to understand fad, haha).  I always figured that the names were a combination of Middle Eastern and Romani (Gypsy, I think that's the proper term for it).

Modifié par Seracen, 20 août 2012 - 06:43 .

[Seracen]

hot_heart wrote...

OK, for my own purposes, how does everyone view the course of events for Sanctuary? This is assuming Miranda survived ME2, obviously.

It's guaranteed that I've probably missed some detail somewhere, and so multiple perspectives on it would be most useful. Thanks in advance!

I always figured that she'd been embedded, and in hiding, for a while.  I mean, the whole intel gathering thing suggested to me a longer, slower process.  Also, this provides an explanation as to why she's gone the whole darn game (barring those other times she's investigating, of course).

If she DID get there just before the Reaper invasion, I still surmise it's before Kai Leng, and she starts leaving the messages.

I then figure, if you warned Miranda, she's able to fend off Kai Leng reasonably succesfully, which prompts him to leave once he gets the data he needs; also explains Miranda's "scratch," as anything she got from a Reaper would likely look worse.

Orianna being there is a bit wierder for me.  I mean, She replaces Miranda, if Miranda is dead by ME3, so there's that.  I consider her to be locked up in a room somewhere by the father, then brought out when the Reapers arrive, and then we see the standoff at the end.

[Seracen]

YurigirlzCrush wrote...

sorry to interrupt another question with a question, but how many writers here plan out the path of their story in advance? and for the ones that do, how detailed do you get? do you block out the plot per chapter? or just put together an overall timeline? I think i'd be rubbish at writing a story without a clear plan for how it goes, but i'm a bit lost in putting it together on top of fleshing out the characters i'm adding from imagination + figuring out the proper tone for the established characters we all love. wanna get some idea of how other peeps are successful at it.

Said this before, but I write out skeletons for the plot, basic beats I want to hit along the way.

Tough chapters I script out like writing the scene for a movie, then daydream the whole thing in my head before writing it.

I've also done the whole gung-ho approach, where I just start with a premise and let the characters determine how the story goes.   Each path has it's merits and pitfalls, you just have to find the right balance for yourself.  I found that worksheets helped me, but only if used sparingly, I don't like to turn my writing into homework!

For said worksheets, I only fill out character sheets for OC's, as I feel the games adequately set up many of the other characters I am writing about.

PS: huh, that wasn't such a bad run.  At least, I don't figure I've stolen a whole page worth of posts...

Modifié par Seracen, 20 août 2012 - 06:41 .

[MrStoob]

On the subject of thermal clips:

I had Miranda explain the change to Shepard on the way to Freedom's Progress, Shep instantly asks "So the geth drop quicker now then?"

Miranda has to uncomfortably explain that geth technology has adapted to the change and it has now become circularly pointless.

Modifié par MrStoob, 20 août 2012 - 07:19 .

[MrStoob]

YurigirlzCrush wrote...

sorry to interrupt another question with a question, but how many writers here plan out the path of their story in advance? and for the ones that do, how detailed do you get? do you block out the plot per chapter? or just put together an overall timeline? I think i'd be rubbish at writing a story without a clear plan for how it goes, but i'm a bit lost in putting it together on top of fleshing out the characters i'm adding from imagination + figuring out the proper tone for the established characters we all love. wanna get some idea of how other peeps are successful at it.

Personally, I have certain specific scenes in mind and how to get from one to the other is the bit that I do on the fly, riffing it like.

And yea, getting the 'tone' of the character is important I think, but we all have our own interpretations of each character.  For e.g. Liara is 'barely an adult' as she likes to explain, and the daughter of Lady Benezia, so I thought 'teenage posh girl' lol.  As a teen, she's a bit lazy, greedy and selfish, which works well with her ME1 character hehe.  So while it's my personal interpretation of the character, it's believable and has gone down well with my readers.  So basically, you don't have to stick strictly to the game characters, and it seems people like to see a bit of interpretation they may have not seen before.

[Spartanburger]

I'd just like to pop in and point out how awkward a sentence looks like when you forget that cap-lock is on, especially when it is about someone disentangling themselves from bedsheets after a nightmare.

[hot_heart]

Spartanburger wrote...

I'd just like to pop in and point out how awkward a sentence looks like when you forget that cap-lock is on, especially when it is about someone disentangling themselves from bedsheets after a nightmare.

Heh. You reminded me of certain script formatting where certain elements are in caps to aid in production/draw attention to elements being introduced. In my head, I can't help reading them as shouting.

For example, The Dark Knight opens with:

BURNING. Massive flames. A dark shape emerges- The BAT SYMBOL. Growing. Filling the screen with BLACKNESS.

And shortly after that:

A man in a CLOWN MASK holding a SMOKING SILENCED PISTOL ejects a shell casing. This is DOPEY.

I have a problem.

[YurigirlzCrush]

thanks to so many people for responding to my question. unfortunately I had to go to work shortly after I posted it, or I would have thanked you all sooner. *smiles*

still trying to find my footing, so looking for advice on lots of different things. i'm sure i'll have lots more odd questions to ask.

I have to ask this tho... where did you get the excerpts from the dark knight's script? were you in the movie somewhere? or involved in production. regardless, those bits are kinda funny. I read the caps as shouting too.

[hot_heart]

YurigirlzCrush wrote...
I have to ask this tho... where did you get the excerpts from the dark knight's script? were you in the movie somewhere? or involved in production. regardless, those bits are kinda funny. I read the caps as shouting too.

Oh, I wish!

Unfortunately, I wasn't. There are sites that have copies of the screenplays, usually earlier drafts and such. The Dark Knight features some things that were never even shot, I believe. If you wanted that specific script, it is here.

The site has an archive of them here, but they can be found in other places too. It can be quite useful to read them, especially because some of the instruction/direction can capture a moment so succinctly.

I had actually taken to reading a fair few on my Kindle...when I should've been reading books instead.

[fluffywalrus]

hot_heart wrote...

Spartanburger wrote...

I'd just like to pop in and point out how awkward a sentence looks like when you forget that cap-lock is on, especially when it is about someone disentangling themselves from bedsheets after a nightmare.

Heh. You reminded me of certain script formatting where certain elements are in caps to aid in production/draw attention to elements being introduced. In my head, I can't help reading them as shouting.

For example, The Dark Knight opens with:

BURNING. Massive flames. A dark shape emerges- The BAT SYMBOL. Growing. Filling the screen with BLACKNESS.

And shortly after that:

A man in a CLOWN MASK holding a SMOKING SILENCED PISTOL ejects a shell casing. This is DOPEY.

I have a problem.

Haha, well, don't be hard on yourself, it seems some actors take the caps for yelling as well.
On some episode of hercules, iirc, someone botched the script and accidentally left an emotive element in the dialogue
www.youtube.com/watch
Was very, very funny to watch.

[YurigirlzCrush]

I always wondered about movie scripts. tried out for a part in a drama club production as a freshperson in highschool but even after practicing and practicing before the audition I forgot half my lines. my memory sucks. *frowns*

but still, that was a great movie and I bet the script is an interesting read. might have to check it out later. it'll probably be a bit weird to read a script for entertainment. I remember reading the one for drama club, but I skipped over all the lines that weren't for the part I tried for.

[hot_heart]

fluffywalrus wrote...
On some episode of hercules, iirc, someone botched the script and accidentally left an emotive element in the dialogue
www.youtube.com/watch
Was very, very funny to watch.

Haha. Yeah, I remember seeing that. I do recall someone say it was supposed to be like that, but I can't really see it, and I don't know enough about the show or that particular episode to assume any different.

[YurigirlzCrush]

fluffywalrus wrote...

hot_heart wrote...

Spartanburger wrote...

I'd just like to pop in and point out how awkward a sentence looks like when you forget that cap-lock is on, especially when it is about someone disentangling themselves from bedsheets after a nightmare.

Heh. You reminded me of certain script formatting where certain elements are in caps to aid in production/draw attention to elements being introduced. In my head, I can't help reading them as shouting.

For example, The Dark Knight opens with:

BURNING. Massive flames. A dark shape emerges- The BAT SYMBOL. Growing. Filling the screen with BLACKNESS.

And shortly after that:

A man in a CLOWN MASK holding a SMOKING SILENCED PISTOL ejects a shell casing. This is DOPEY.

I have a problem.

Haha, well, don't be hard on yourself, it seems some actors take the caps for yelling as well.
On some episode of hercules, iirc, someone botched the script and accidentally left an emotive element in the dialogue
www.youtube.com/watch
Was very, very funny to watch.

omg. thank you for that. I got a good giggle out of it. *grins*

[hot_heart]

YurigirlzCrush wrote...
it'll probably be a bit weird to read a script for entertainment.

I think it can vary, depending on the film, really. Some are a lot more descriptive and require a bit of visualisation, only it doesn't read as smoothly as prose. And they might cut around a lot, too, which can be disorienting.

I tend to read scripts where I really like the character exchanges or to go a bit deeper into a film when I don't have easy access to rewatching it. You get some real tasty lines in some films.

[MacNasty]

I've hit a bit of a problem in my story. I'm not sure how I should handle engineers. Should I make them like they were in the games, or should they be like the generic soldier just better? What do most of you do?

[YurigirlzCrush]

to clarify, why would an engineer be better than the average soldier in your view? if that's the way you view them, great (and you probably just answered your own question if so), but is there a specific reason that you would view them as more elite overall, rather than say, as people who have technical skill and knowhow, but at the expense of advanced weapons and combat training? I don't think anyone's opinion should sway your story. but i'm learning from others that if you ask yourself questions, like why an engineer could be seen as better than the generic soldier, or why not, your ideas will probably solidify all on their own. *smiles*

p.s. thanks fluffy! for everything!

[Spiritwolf1]

When you mean Enginer are you talking about the actual engineers from the game like Adams and Donnelly and Daniels?

[fluffywalrus]

Haha, I'll echo YurigirlzCrush here:
Why would an engineer be better than the average soldier?

Let's detail what an engineer specializes in, in order to figure out how to handle them.

In the game, soldiers use their mass access to weaponry and highly tuned combat training to overwhelm enemies. Engineers, on the other hand, play a more subtle role.

They help modify the environment to skew it in favour of their squad. Whether it's using drones to pull enemies from cover, hacking enemy synthetics to provide surprise firepower from within their ranks, overloading enemy shields or sabotaging their weapons to prevent enemies from having an advantage, freezing them or lighting them on fire with omni-tool combat processes, and they often have the ability to heal their squadmates to some degree and/or heal the greatest vehicles in the known galaxy (the Mako, of course).

All in all, they're a support character, using light weapons, so their firepower is almost always indirect. They weaken enemies and provide advantage to their squad, but it's often a game of pluses and minuses with them. They're not in your face, they often remain behind cover due to their restriction to light armor. They need to be agile and a smaller target if they want to get around the battlefield quickly and keep themselves protected. They don't have the combat training that most other classes have endured, so if one were to get up to to an engineer, it would most likely not go over well for the tech expert.

Engineers are a useful tool to have in a squad, but they require others to take the focus off of them, which is where classes like the Vanguard and the soldier come in handy. One can't say that the Engineer is better than a soldier, they both perform drastically different duties, and are stronger through aiding each other than they would be if there were a squad of engineers, or a squad of soldiers.

Of course, outside of battle, they would likely be tech experts working on various parts of the ship. See: Tali in Engineering, working on the core.

Modifié par fluffywalrus, 21 août 2012 - 12:14 .

[lillitheris]

The Normandy is also a special case wrt. squad composition. I’d imagine that in regular units it might be something like two engineers or techies per platoon.

[Obsidian Gryphon]

To add on egineers in game. They also throw up holograms (Salarains).

The latest breed of engineers (Quarian & N7) also have super-duper dim-sums which they throw willy-nilly at a bunch of very hungry enemies. Very effective because they ate those dim-sums and expoded. Hence, the notion that engineers cannot defend themselves is a myth.  

Modifié par Obsidian Gryphon, 21 août 2012 - 01:28 .

[lillitheris]

Creative use of foodstuffs

[MacNasty]

I wasn't sure whether they would receive the same combat training as normal soldiers would, then also receive training as a combat engineer, so they would have the same combat skills as normal soldiers, yet they would have tech skills on their side still. Thanks for clearing it up!

[lillitheris]

I view the SA Navy as working very much with specializations, but this is very similar to current systems. You have basic training, and then branch out into a specialty (or just stay in the infantry).

Of course it could also be inverse, sort of like a ROTC: you first go to school, then come in for basic and continue from there.

And all ground troops will have continuous battle skills training updates, too.