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[flippedeclipse]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to pop in and say hello again. Been keeping up with the thread whenever I can, a lot of these posts are gold.

Currently suffering from writer's block on the most ambitious story I've ever taken on and was wondering, what's the most outrageous idea you've tried to justify and make believable in Mass Effect fanfiction?

[Spartanburger]

flippedeclipse wrote...
what's the most outrageous idea you've tried to justify and make believable in Mass Effect fanfiction?

An Android capable of networking with synthetics whilst still being Organic-based. 
At least, that's the extremely short version. Lacks a huge amount of detail.

[IliyaMoroumetz]

flippedeclipse wrote...
Currently suffering from writer's block on the most ambitious story I've ever taken on and was wondering,
what's the most outrageous idea you've tried to justify and make believable in Mass Effect fanfiction?

I'd say, but then I'd be spoiling an important plot point for one of my stories. :3

dublin omega 223 wrote...

Not all SI stories are bad, look the Mass Vexations series thats an exeception.

NO!  No ifs, ands, or butts!  

Tell me, why should I, or anyone for that matter, read a Mass Effect story to read about some random Jon or Jane Q. Public's adventures in the Mass Effect univese?

That's right; there isn't any!  I don't want to read about you!   I want to read about Mass Effect characters.  Not you.  Capice?

Modifié par IliyaMoroumetz, 10 juin 2012 - 02:43 .

[fluffywalrus]

I'm going to have to agree with Iliya. I mean, as a writing exercise, sure, I guess I can see the point if you're just trying to improve your ability, but...as a story directed at an audience...SI stories are often incredibly uninteresting, annihilate my suspension of disbelief, and often have so many well known characters OOC that they're often difficult to read.

That, and there isn't much that annoys me more in a story than the "I woke up in the Mass Effect Universe, and I know what's going to happen, and I'm suddenly a friggin awesome commando or something, and all these canon characters are falling in love with me I'm such a cool person, and Shepard is all like 'Hell yeah you can join us you awesome random person you, and then I go and pretty much beat up Saren myself. Whoo" storyline (note: similar storylines also heavily annoy me).

There's no point to SI. OC, yes, but SI? No. Never. Ever.

Modifié par fluffywalrus, 10 juin 2012 - 03:05 .

[dpMeggers]

Drussius wrote...

In this regard, are there published novels about the ME universe? I have heard a comic series mentioned, which I have little to no chance of being able to muster enough spare money to check out, and I was just wondering how much established lore is out there, given that my knowledge of the setting comes from the games and reading every single codex entry in them (what can I say? I found it all fascinating). Would that be a sufficient base for building a story? Is that where most of you who have written fanfics started? Or would I inevitably come across someone who says that "The novel 'such-and-such' already covered that, so your story is going against canon".

If you're looking for more info about the ME universe I suggest checking out the Mass Effect Wiki. It has the synopsis of all of the novels and most of the comics, as well as all of the lore from in game, character bios etc. I've found it to be one of the most useful resources for writing my fics.

[gearseffect]

Hey all I currently find myself in a bit of a tough spot. Back when I was pumping out chapters and really had my writing flowing with both Breaking Points and Awakening, it was hell at least a month and a half ago maybe two months.

Anyway I've always known that a main source of my flow was due to the very intelligent and thought provoking discussions in the Samara thread. Going in there and reading and replying was like someone was pulling the dam of creativity down and my juices just flowed so well and it all took off fantastically.

However the Samara thread has dried up and lacks much of what it had, everything has already been hashed out to death, and we got so little content of Samara in ME3 and what we did get left us with more questions then ever before. All have been hashed to death the thread has dried up and not much to talk about anymore.

Now the longer things sit it's like my juices just don't mesh and flow anymore. I used to be able to sit down and write up a chapter one night, finish polishing it, and editing it, cutting and condensing all in roughly 3 days.

Now I can't even get the flow and vibe right when I try and re-add content to my early chapters, I just draw a blank, it's like nothing seems to line up right anymore.

I've tried to put the same music on, I've tried to play ME2 again, I've tried to take a week long break, I've tried this and that, I've tried reading other Fanfics, but none of them are quality Samara fanfics. The other source of my creative flow came from reading just as passionate Samara fans works, and they've also dried up. Yeah I'm up sh!t crick without a paddle right now.

Hell I even tried to deny myself sleep for 24+ hours, (what that's been know to spark some flow for me, sleep deprivation starts the flow and then get some sleep and come back and look at what I got and continue the flow.), and none of it works. It's like the magic is all gone. I know I'm whining again but god dang it, I'm gonna have a p!ss fest here because maybe it will get something flowing.

Another thing I don't see much that also would spark much juices to flow was when I had about a dozen hardcore Liara fans trolling me with their Liara avatars, Liara banners, and Liara everything telling me things like "You obviously don't care enough about Samara, if you did you'd get over the fact she's not ever intended to be a LI, and you'd just be happy with the one Asari you can have"

Then there was those Liara fans that would create topics about "BW needs to make Liara DLC for ME3 like LotSB" and all those Liara people trolling me and seeing stuff like that would build into this giant rage and then BOOM I'm cr@pping out more chapters and I'm cr@pping out so much creative juice that I have enough for at least 2 other projects and BOOM. More goodness because Rage is one hell of a motivator.

Anyway way yeah I'm having a pity party and I don't really give a sh!t if it p!sses anyone off, because my juices just are not flowing anymore, I want them to, but they won't. Brah it's frustrating BW clearly hates the ME2 fan base they even went to the extent of taking the ME2 Facebook page down. More giant dumps on us they don't care. At this point if they announced an exclusive DLC pack for Samara's character I'd be less excited about it and more worried that the incompetent fools f*ck up her character and make her suddenly really horny and needs Shep NOW. Which would so cheapen and hurt her character. 1

Those jerks seem to have wanted to kill Samara off really bad just look at the ME3 default settings, if you don't import from ME2 Samara is dead, those jerks are trying to throw her away the most interesting character, most unique character, and they can't even see her for that. Hell you look at the female squadmates in the whole series, and you know which one is the toughest, most bad@ss chick, smartest, independent, survivor, can hold her own in situations where the odds are completely against her 5000 to 1 and she comes out on top. That's Samara, not Miranda, not Tali, not Liara, not Ashley, not Kasumi, not EDI, not Morinth, not Jack. Samara stands above all the other female and male squad mates in terms of every freaking aspect needed to kick and ass.

Samara could wipe the floor with Jacob T. Grunt, Vega, Zaeed, Kaidan, Garrus, Thane, Legion, Mordin, Javik, EDI, Ashley, Kasumi, Jack, Miranda, Tali, Anderson, Saren, Liara, Wrex, Morinth Javik, Aria T'Loak, TIM, Kai Leng, and Shepard, with out so much as breaking a sweet, and BW wants to throw her away like some worthless unworthy character, like Fist. It's insulting not only as a fan of Samara, but it is more of their chauvinistic anti-woman behavior they seem to have been infected with badly in ME3.

God dang it you know how freaking dumb this is? You know how upsetting this is? I've I've wait a minute You've all just bore wittness to me finding my creative streak and juices yet again. HAHAHAH OFF I go to do some reworking and some more great stuff.

Thank you all for baring witness to this.

[Caligno]

I've been working on a Mass Effect fanfic for the past few months, and I've received close to no criticism outside of my beta readers. If anyone could go through it and help me figure out what kind of bad habits or general issues I tend to have are, I would greatly appreciate it. The story is right here. Any extra angles and opinions would greatly help me going forward.

That said, I'm also willing to be a bouncing board for ideas or to go through other fanfics to give my own reviews.

[fluffywalrus]

Caligno wrote...

I've been working on a Mass Effect fanfic for the past few months, and I've received close to no criticism outside of my beta readers. If anyone could go through it and help me figure out what kind of bad habits or general issues I tend to have are, I would greatly appreciate it. The story is right here. Any extra angles and opinions would greatly help me going forward.

That said, I'm also willing to be a bouncing board for ideas or to go through other fanfics to give my own reviews.

Ghuh. 86k words...I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow(or, technically later today...it's 4:30AM) to read over this, but I'll be sure to take notes and give as much constructive criticism as possible when I do.

I will be honest...I haven't read anything but the minor summary of your story, but I get the gist that your story is an OC that tags along with Shep eventually.
Ambitious, but difficult.  My username on FFnet is thedeadflag. Hopefully, if I wake up in time, I'll have reviews in the afternoon. Otherwise, they'll be Sunday night EST.

[Obsidian Gryphon]

Caligno wrote...

I've been working on a Mass Effect fanfic for the past few months, and I've received close to no criticism outside of my beta readers. If anyone could go through it and help me figure out what kind of bad habits or general issues I tend to have are, I would greatly appreciate it. The story is right here. Any extra angles and opinions would greatly help me going forward.

That said, I'm also willing to be a bouncing board for ideas or to go through other fanfics to give my own reviews.

Going to ask about chapter 2 here because I find it rather strange that a green recruit, is invited into the N7 program. The ICT only recruits officers, soldiers who had already undergone officer's training and the field of fire. Furthermore, Garvel was given command after a few weeks in the training course?  I don't think ICT would readily dump a squad under someone who has not earned his stripes or even gone on a single mission, even if he's a extremely talented biotic with extraordinary powers. If I were an officer in that program and told I've to follow the orders of such, I'll be wondering if there's a problem with the brass. Could you make some clarifications? I'nm curious.

Modifié par Obsidian Gryphon, 10 juin 2012 - 09:32 .

[fluffywalrus]

gearseffect wrote...

Hey all I currently find myself in a bit of a tough spot. Back when I was pumping out chapters and really had my writing flowing with both Breaking Points and Awakening, it was hell at least a month and a half ago maybe two months.

Anyway I've always known that a main source of my flow was due to the very intelligent and thought provoking discussions in the Samara thread. Going in there and reading and replying was like someone was pulling the dam of creativity down and my juices just flowed so well and it all took off fantastically.

However the Samara thread has dried up and lacks much of what it had, everything has already been hashed out to death, and we got so little content of Samara in ME3 and what we did get left us with more questions then ever before. All have been hashed to death the thread has dried up and not much to talk about anymore.

Now the longer things sit it's like my juices just don't mesh and flow anymore. I used to be able to sit down and write up a chapter one night, finish polishing it, and editing it, cutting and condensing all in roughly 3 days.

Now I can't even get the flow and vibe right when I try and re-add content to my early chapters, I just draw a blank, it's like nothing seems to line up right anymore.

I've tried to put the same music on, I've tried to play ME2 again, I've tried to take a week long break, I've tried this and that, I've tried reading other Fanfics, but none of them are quality Samara fanfics. The other source of my creative flow came from reading just as passionate Samara fans works, and they've also dried up. Yeah I'm up sh!t crick without a paddle right now.

Hell I even tried to deny myself sleep for 24+ hours, (what that's been know to spark some flow for me, sleep deprivation starts the flow and then get some sleep and come back and look at what I got and continue the flow.), and none of it works. It's like the magic is all gone. I know I'm whining again but god dang it, I'm gonna have a p!ss fest here because maybe it will get something flowing.

Yeah, those creative droughts blooooow. They're horrendous. Sometimes, every trick in the book can't weasel your way to even a little oasis.
I mean, when it happens to me, my last straw is forcing myself to write about krogan renditions of classical human ballet, which is monumentally frustrating and heinous to write, to the point where I want to write about anything else and just stop writing about Krogan attempting pirouettes.

But sometimes even that doesn't work.  Generally, I just write anyway, hoping that something will spark me. Even if the writing is bad. I usually delete it after a bit anyway, but it's a reminder that I CAN write, with writer's block. That I'm on the cusp of realigning myself.

I'm not sure what you need to do. Waiting it out doesn't seem like a wonderful idea, but  if you've tried everything, and it isn't working, then perhaps that's an unfortunately useful path. Get your mind off writing. Focus on the other things in your life that interest you. Absorb the environment around you. I dunno.

Another thing I don't see much that also would spark much juices to flow was when I had about a dozen hardcore Liara fans trolling me with their Liara avatars, Liara banners, and Liara everything telling me things like "You obviously don't care enough about Samara, if you did you'd get over the fact she's not ever intended to be a LI, and you'd just be happy with the one Asari you can have"

Then there was those Liara fans that would create topics about "BW needs to make Liara DLC for ME3 like LotSB" and all those Liara people trolling me and seeing stuff like that would build into this giant rage and then BOOM I'm cr@pping out more chapters and I'm cr@pping out so much creative juice that I have enough for at least 2 other projects and BOOM. More goodness because Rage is one hell of a motivator.

I've got to say, I haven't really ever seen a Pro-Liara troll, but I'll take your word for it. As my avatar likely gives me away, I'm pretty entrenched in the Liara fanclub. Don't get me wrong, I admire Samara's character and I yearn for more content with her...my heart broke for her numerous times across the series. She's such a wonderful and tragic character. Probably my third or fourth favourite Asari (Liara->Aethyta->Samara/Benezia->Aria->Tevos->Others).
However, I will somewhat mimic the notion that Samara isn't an involved LI...she's a Justicar following the code in the middle of a war that requires as little sidetracking as possible. I think Bioware heavily shortchanged the Samara fanbase by barely having her in ME3, but it just wasn't going to work. Not within the gme series at least. Afterward, if both lived, then yeah, totally. I think they could have had a really nice scene in ME3 echoing the future possibility, but Samara is not a character that's going to be victim to her emotional whims. Her incredible self control and sense of duty wouldn't allow it, not when there are more important things to be done.
And saying that people should "be happy with the one asari you do have" is silly. These are characters, not collectables. People grow attached to some characters more than others. I, for one, dislike Kaidan, Jacob(the priiiizze) and Miranda. I've tried to like them, but I can't. Yet, I really enjoy Tali, Wrex, Ashley, and Jack. I'm lukewarm on Garrus, who everyone seems BFFs with. It's just how we take to different characters.

But yeah, it's dirty-pool for some Liara fans to crap in your face about Samara's lack of meaningful content. I mean, I personally think everyone got screwed in the romance/LI department, though I recognize despite the romances being miserable across the board, some characters had more total content(even if it was meh).
But yeah, rage can be a motivator. I'm a pretty placid person, I think I've gotten angry maybe six times in the last decade. Not an easy emotion to evoke from me, but emotions make me creative, so watching/reading something happy, heartwarming, heartbreakingly sad, etc. usually gets me going to some degree.

Anyway way yeah I'm having a pity party and I don't really give a sh!t if it p!sses anyone off, because my juices just are not flowing anymore, I want them to, but they won't. Brah it's frustrating BW clearly hates the ME2 fan base they even went to the extent of taking the ME2 Facebook page down. More giant dumps on us they don't care. At this point if they announced an exclusive DLC pack for Samara's character I'd be less excited about it and more worried that the incompetent fools f*ck up her character and make her suddenly really horny and needs Shep NOW. Which would so cheapen and hurt her character.

Please never say Brah again.
As for Bioware, Well...(see below)

Those jerks seem to have wanted to kill Samara off really bad just look at the ME3 default settings, if you don't import from ME2 Samara is dead, those jerks are trying to throw her away the most interesting character, most unique character, and they can't even see her for that. Hell you look at the female squadmates in the whole series, and you know which one is the toughest, most bad@ss chick, smartest, independent, survivor, can hold her own in situations where the odds are completely against her 5000 to 1 and she comes out on top. That's Samara, not Miranda, not Tali, not Liara, not Ashley, not Kasumi, not EDI, not Morinth, not Jack. Samara stands above all the other female and male squad mates in terms of every freaking aspect needed to kick and ass.

Samara could wipe the floor with Jacob T. Grunt, Vega, Zaeed, Kaidan, Garrus, Thane, Legion, Mordin, Javik, EDI, Ashley, Kasumi, Jack, Miranda, Tali, Anderson, Saren, Liara, Wrex, Morinth Javik, Aria T'Loak, TIM, Kai Leng, and Shepard, with out so much as breaking a sweet, and BW wants to throw her away like some worthless unworthy character, like Fist. It's insulting not only as a fan of Samara, but it is more of their chauvinistic anti-woman behavior they seem to have been infected with badly in ME3.

Samara is strong and awesome, certainly. Smart as well. Controlled. Efficient. However, her dedication to her code can be used against her in some situations(as Nihlus proved, once). I'm not sure she could take out Shepard(depending on the class), Javik, Wrex, Aria...or a prime Thane. It'd be close across the board, too close to call on all accounts IMO.

I truly believe Bioware just goofed on their deadlines, and ran out of time. The proof is throughout ME3, so I wouldn't take it personally. Every character was cheapened. Look at how most dialogue is. I considered the Kasumi DLC in ME2 a waste because I couldn't really discuss anything with her, and that's how most of ME3 is with all characters. Virmire survivor that's in all 3 games? Barely a peep from them after Mars in ME3. Generally, all characters were screwed in regard to content. I'll admit that Liara got some good scenes for certain, but the bug that erases her LI history from LotSB, and the fact that her actual LI-specific dialogue is microscopic...it's a hollow victory.

Bioware ran out of time and money. They tried to push out the finale to a complex series in a span of two years, while redoing the gameplay engine and adding in different modes, among other things that take a lot of dev time.

Yeah, Bioware has definitely cheapened their stance on women since ME1. I don't know if I blame EA for that, or Bioware's marketing team. It's unfortunate, but at least it's mostly been visually rather than also infecting the writing(which I found to be rather strong throughout the series).

God dang it you know how freaking dumb this is? You know how upsetting this is? I've I've wait a minute You've all just bore wittness to me finding my creative streak and juices yet again. HAHAHAH OFF I go to do some reworking and some more great stuff.

Thank you all for baring witness to this.

Well, at least you've maybe shook the pyjak off your back Hurrah!

[MrStoob]

@gears

Nice that a wee rant to get things off your chest helped your muse.

[MrStoob]

flippedeclipse wrote...

Hey guys,

Just wanted to pop in and say hello again. Been keeping up with the thread whenever I can, a lot of these posts are gold.

Currently suffering from writer's block on the most ambitious story I've ever taken on and was wondering, what's the most outrageous idea you've tried to justify and make believable in Mass Effect fanfiction?

Not published yet, but I'm TRYING to write a story where one character suffers from post-traumatic stress.  It's hard to work that in around all the other events going on while they would recover and be able to get back into the fray.  Not certain it's going to work at all TBH, you can't just drop a happy pill to get over that.

Not so much 'outrageous' but certainly difficult.

Modifié par MrStoob, 10 juin 2012 - 09:41 .

[Caligno]

Obsidian Gryphon wrote...

Going to ask about chapter 2 here because I find it rather strange that a green recruit, is invited into the N7 program. The ICT only recruits officers, soldiers who had already undergone officer's training and the field of fire. Furthermore, Garvel was given command after a few weeks in the training course? I don't think ICT would readily dump a squad under someone who has not earned his stripes or even gone on a single mission, even if he's a extremely talented biotic with extraordinary powers. If I were an officer in that program and told I've to follow the orders of such, I'll be wondering if there's a problem with the brass. Could you make some clarifications? I'nm curious.

"Initially, candidates train for more than 20 hours per day, leading small combat teams through hostile terrain with little sleep or food. Trainees who do well are awarded an internal designation of N1 and are invited to return. Subsequent courses - N2 through N6 - are often held off-planet and include instruction in zero-G combat, military free-fall (parachuting), jetpack flight, combat diving, combat instruction, linguistics, and frontline trauma care for human and alien biology. "

Excerpt taken from the Mass Effect Wiki's N7 page. Was it unclear?

Good point about his acceptance in the first place, though. I'll try to find a way to make that flow better.

[Obsidian Gryphon]

Caligno wrote...

Obsidian Gryphon wrote...

Going to ask about chapter 2 here because I find it rather strange that a green recruit, is invited into the N7 program. The ICT only recruits officers, soldiers who had already undergone officer's training and the field of fire. Furthermore, Garvel was given command after a few weeks in the training course? I don't think ICT would readily dump a squad under someone who has not earned his stripes or even gone on a single mission, even if he's a extremely talented biotic with extraordinary powers. If I were an officer in that program and told I've to follow the orders of such, I'll be wondering if there's a problem with the brass. Could you make some clarifications? I'nm curious.

"Initially, candidates train for more than 20 hours per day, leading small combat teams through hostile terrain with little sleep or food. Trainees who do well are awarded an internal designation of N1 and are invited to return. Subsequent courses - N2 through N6 - are often held off-planet and include instruction in zero-G combat, military free-fall (parachuting), jetpack flight, combat diving, combat instruction, linguistics, and frontline trauma care for human and alien biology. "

Excerpt taken from the Mass Effect Wiki's N7 page. Was it unclear?

Good point about his acceptance in the first place, though. I'll try to find a way to make that flow better.

That is true. That clarifies the type of training the candidates undergo. However, the first paragraph stated :

Interplanetary Combatives Training (ICT) is the Systems Alliance's premier school for leadership and combat expertise. The Interplanetary Combatives Academy, sometimes called "N-School" or "the villa," recruits officers from every branch of Earth's militaries to partake in grueling courses at Vila Militar in Rio de Janeiro.

and

There is little shame in failing an N course - the training is so extreme that even qualifying for N1 elevates an officer to a position of respect. The universal prestige of merely attending the academy helps to restrain trainees from taking excessive risks in pursuit of higher honors.

Although ICT qualification by itself does not guarantee higher rank, those officers who are able to complete the program are typically well suited to senior leadership positions.


Chapter 1 started off fine, but the pacing of chapter 2 was uneven, like you're rushing to kick the char up the ranks, so to speak.   A good read nevertheless.  

Modifié par Obsidian Gryphon, 10 juin 2012 - 10:19 .

[Caligno]

Yeap, that's going to get changed. Thanks.

[Drussius]

dpMeggers wrote...

Drussius wrote...

In this regard, are there published novels about the ME universe? I have heard a comic series mentioned, which I have little to no chance of being able to muster enough spare money to check out, and I was just wondering how much established lore is out there, given that my knowledge of the setting comes from the games and reading every single codex entry in them (what can I say? I found it all fascinating). Would that be a sufficient base for building a story? Is that where most of you who have written fanfics started? Or would I inevitably come across someone who says that "The novel 'such-and-such' already covered that, so your story is going against canon".

If you're looking for more info about the ME universe I suggest checking out the Mass Effect Wiki. It has the synopsis of all of the novels and most of the comics, as well as all of the lore from in game, character bios etc. I've found it to be one of the most useful resources for writing my fics.

I appreciate the suggestion, and I may just do that. However, wiki pages make me very, very nervous due to past bad experience. I have about 10 websites I visit regularly and I never go anywhere else. I don't open emails from people I don't recognize, I never download attachments even from people I DO recognize (and my friends all know this, so they don't send them anyway), and so forth. Yet the one and only time I went to the Dragon Age wiki years back to check something, my computer magically manifested a virus that I required professional support to get rid of, as my antivirus software kept "removing" it only to have it reappear in the followup scan.

Still, as I love the ME universe and would very much like to be accurate when I write something, I will probably check it out before I get to actually writing my story. However, as I am currently in the stage of organizing my thoughts and doing writeups on individual characters, work on the actual story is still a little ways off.

[MrStoob]

Quick query for history/lore.

Does Liara ever meet Aria at any point?

[TrulyInnovative]

MrStoob wrote...

Quick query for history/lore.

Does Liara ever meet Aria at any point?

Yes, they meet in Mass Effect: Redemption (the comic book, issue 2).

Modifié par TrulyInnovative, 10 juin 2012 - 12:09 .

[gearseffect]

So given my current splurge and finding my groove back, I was wondering your thoughts on something I'm not sure of, After Akuze would it be a bit much or turn people away if I had Shep sort of spend much of his time in bars trying to escape reality in the bottom of a bottle? Would that be something that would turn you all away?

It's just gonna be sort of a quick glance back on the events right after Akuze nothing too detailed.

[fluffywalrus]

gearseffect wrote...

So given my current splurge and finding my groove back, I was wondering your thoughts on something I'm not sure of, After Akuze would it be a bit much or turn people away if I had Shep sort of spend much of his time in bars trying to escape reality in the bottom of a bottle? Would that be something that would turn you all away?

It's just gonna be sort of a quick glance back on the events right after Akuze nothing too detailed.

So long as the angst is done well, tasteful, and fitting to your character, then I don't see the issue.

[hot_heart]

Yeah. Sounds fine to me, gearseffect.

I have a query! Is there a standard Alliance issue sniper rifle? If so, I'd guess it's the Mantis. Though I'm thinking of an N7 squad...

The details aren't too important but, hopefully, there will be some difference where a character can distinguish between Alliance or Cerberus snipers.

[fainmaca]

flippedeclipse wrote...

Hey guys,

Just wanted to pop in and say hello again. Been keeping up with the thread whenever I can, a lot of these posts are gold.

Currently suffering from writer's block on the most ambitious story I've ever taken on and was wondering, what's the most outrageous idea you've tried to justify and make believable in Mass Effect fanfiction?

Hmm. I've got a lot to choose from.
 
I've occasionally pushed the bounds of acceptable action, such as when i put an army of indoctrinated Yahg against an army of Krogan battlemechs while the indoctrinated All-Thresher (my version of Kalros that I created before the Against All Odds trailer even aired) ripped Krogan ships out of the sky. Having an Ardat-Yakshi meld with a Reaper. The Biotic Airdrop. I feel these just pushed the limit of what tension the readers could take, but I have a few even more extreme versions to come that i'll need to handle carefully.

In addition, there are some scenes I have scripted now that show results of previous reader votes, some of which will kill beloved characters, and one in particular that takes something hugely important away from Shepard.

[Sialater]

fluffywalrus wrote...

gearseffect wrote...

So given my current splurge and finding my groove back, I was wondering your thoughts on something I'm not sure of, After Akuze would it be a bit much or turn people away if I had Shep sort of spend much of his time in bars trying to escape reality in the bottom of a bottle? Would that be something that would turn you all away?

It's just gonna be sort of a quick glance back on the events right after Akuze nothing too detailed.

So long as the angst is done well, tasteful, and fitting to your character, then I don't see the issue.

What Fluffywalrus said.  As a matter of fact, I think all Sole Survivors would spend a great deal of time in a shrink's office proving they were still fit for duty.

[MrStoob]

TrulyInnovative wrote...

MrStoob wrote...

Quick query for history/lore.

Does Liara ever meet Aria at any point?

Yes, they meet in Mass Effect: Redemption (the comic book, issue 2).

Crap.  That sorta puts the kibosh on my current story thread.  To what extent do they interact beyond that image?

I suppose I could fix it by inserting something into the Redemption tale...?

EDIT: just read the freebie part and it's not looking good.    I was really enjoying writing these parts too.

Modifié par MrStoob, 10 juin 2012 - 01:52 .

[TrulyInnovative]

MrStoob wrote...

Crap.  That sorta puts the kibosh on my current story thread.  To what extent do they interact beyond that image?

I think this is the full dialogue:

Aria:

Your friend is better-looking than your usual company, Feron, which means she can't be your friend. I like how she dealt with the ...gentlemen downstairs. But you really must leave poor Anto alone. So many years and he still hasn't learned that nothing is secret from me, certainly not in my own establishment. He's lucky I'm fond of him. It's a good survival trait.

It isn't often that the Shadow Broker sends his minions to me for help. Something big and juicy, I'm betting. Anto, some privacy, please.

Feron (to Liara):

I'll handle this. Just keep quiet.

Feron:

Just checking on some merchandise, Aria -- the body of Commander Shepard. I know the Blue Suns are set to deliver it to the Shadow Broker. I need to know where.

Aria:

You don't --? I knew the Broker liked secrecy, but for his own man not to know what he's up to...

Aria (to Liara):

And you. I know you. You're one of Shepard's crew. Were you able to speak when Shepard was alive? The Shadow Broker is powerful, but Omega is mine. I know everything that happens here. I do know about the transfer -- but I need something in return, Feron. Why is the Broker so interested in Shepard?

Feron:

I -- I don't know. That's we're trying to find out --

Aria:

Bull****! Of course you know. And if you want to find Shepard, you'll tell me.

Liara:

Because the Shadow Broker is working with the Collectors! They're the ones that want Shepard's body!

Aria:

The Collectors! No one said anything about the Collectors!

Liara:

I thought you knew everything that happened on --

Aria:

Out of here, both of you! Anto, get in here -- and get them out, now!

Liara:

Wait! I told you what you wanted to know. Where are they taking Shepard?

Aria:

The lower levels of Omega -- the old mining processing plant. The Blue Suns were taking your friend there. This meeting is over.


Edit:

Heh, and I see that was all available in the preview. Anyway, you could just choose to ignore Redemption if you want to, just let the audience know that this is what you're going to do.

Modifié par TrulyInnovative, 10 juin 2012 - 01:59 .