9962 réponses à ce sujet

[Fatiguesdualism]

Progman Omega wrote...

Not sure if this isn't in line with standard protocol, or something, but here goes:

QOTD:  Where do you draw the line between head-canon and psuedo-canon?  That is, how much do you feel you can change about established dialouge/plots/relationships without your story dipping into the AU pot?

There's a protocol for QOTD?  Aww Nuts!    Anyway haven't anything to add, I readily admit to throwing whole chunks of established lore out the window.  The only time I have any qualms though is if the lore in question is something in either ME1 or ME2, stuff from the books/comics/apps, etc (none of which I have read) is all fair-game.   But then my stuff is AU, so. 

Modifié par Fatiguesdualism, 22 avril 2013 - 08:47 .

[Tairis Deamhan]

Progman Omega wrote...

Not sure if this isn't in line with standard protocol, or something, but here goes:

QOTD:  Where do you draw the line between head-canon and psuedo-canon?  That is, how much do you feel you can change about established dialouge/plots/relationships without your story dipping into the AU pot?

If there is one thing I've learned about Bioware games it's that the only 'canon' that matters is really the characters themselves. Bioware has always created amazing characters... but plots held together by duct tape, blind optimism, and suspension of disbelief.

So unless it makes the character themselves seem out of character, I don't really care (as can clearly be evidenced by my fic diverging sharply from canon in its third incarnation). The monumental failing that was ME3's plot just made that an easier distinction to make.

Modifié par Tairis Deamhan, 22 avril 2013 - 09:42 .

[Seracen]

CDR David Shepard wrote...

Is there anyone here willing to help me out and write a quick backstory shortstory for me?

Feel free to PM me, I'm always down for more discussion and brainstorming!

Tairis Deamhan wrote...

Progman Omega wrote...

Not sure if this isn't in line with standard protocol, or something, but here goes:

QOTD:  Where do you draw the line between head-canon and psuedo-canon?  That is, how much do you feel you can change about established dialouge/plots/relationships without your story dipping into the AU pot?

If there is one thing I've learned about Bioware games it's that the only 'canon' that matters is really the characters themselves. Bioware has always created amazing characters... but plots held together by duct tape, blind optimism, and suspension of disbelief.

So unless it makes the character themselves seem out of character, I don't really care (as can clearly be evidenced by my fic diverging sharply from canon in its third incarnation). The monumental failing that was ME3's plot just made that an easier distinction to make.

Agreed.  Honestly, there's so much variance depending on the choices you make, as long as we get the feel of the characters and universe right, I can roll with whatever.

Having said that, I prefaced my current story as following a "hybrid control/destroy" ending; although in reality, I was referencing my own alternate version of the ending (for which I wrote a complete story as well).

Modifié par Seracen, 22 avril 2013 - 11:00 .

[ftkerns]

Augh...life has been getting in the way lately, keeping me from posting here. So much to catch up on. So, working backward from here....

Progman Omega wrote...

QOTD:  Where do you draw the line between head-canon and psuedo-canon?  That is, how much do you feel you can change about established dialouge/plots/relationships without your story dipping into the AU pot?

I don't really worry much about it. I've played the first two games often enough that I remember the broad strokes of it all. Since my particular fic began shortly after ME2 ended, I'm mostly building on those events. If there's something specific I need to reference, I'll look it up on the ME wiki or watch a scene on YouTube. Usually, if I'm not sure about something and can't find much (or any) info on it, I'll just make up something on the spot. Though, granted, one thing that makes this easier is that most of my characters are OCs and I'm not following Shepard or the Normandy crew...just have these characters on their own little ship doing their own thing.

When it comes to Mass Effect 3, though, as I mentioned a number of pages back, I'm not worrying about any of it because I'm throwing the entire game out and writing my own version of the Reaper invasion, war, and how it ends. 

Anyway, for the most part, this approach has worked pretty well for me. There's only one thing I screwed up massively (so far). Had a C-Sec officer describing a ground battle near the end of the First Contact War, which had the grandmother of the human porn star I mentioned in a previous post (Natalie Kurakova, now a retired general) making a stand against a squadron of turian fighters. They were strafing her and she coldly stood her ground, lined up a shot with her sniper rifle, and nailed a headshot on the squad leader, then proceeded to headshot all the other pilots except one, who was so terrified that he landed and surrendered.  My big screw-up was that I had her firing a rifle that used thermal clips. A reader pointed out to me that weapons didn't have heat sinks back then. Only then did I realize the scale and scope of my brainfart. 

Spiritwolf1 wrote...

http://www.stripes.c...romise-1.216687


Medi gel

That is so awesome. I  technology.

MrStoob wrote...

smudboy's ME3 plot analysis goes into levels of 'dumbness' quite well and the different types, usually characters who shouldn't be dumb, acting dumb. For example, Shepard queries with Anderson why he/she needs to go to the Citadel when the fighting is on Earth. Terrible out of character moment. That whole opening scene has people acting dumb...

True. That entire opening sequence was wretched. If only the stupid hadn't spread throughout the game... 

Smudboy also does a wonderful job taking apart the Extended Cut and delves into a lot of the same kinds of things. One that really sticks with me is the evac scene, when EDI's fembot body is one of the squadmates. Shep acting as if that really is EDI, and not just a mobile platform she was remote-piloting, was so ridiculous, I could feel the creases in my brain smoothing out while watching it. That wasn't the only bit of stupid in the EC, but it was one of the most jarring for me.

Drussius wrote...

^ Agreed on people acting dumb, but a lot of that was forced exposition because they were, as I recall, claiming that ME3 was an excellent 'introduction' to the Mass Effect series as a way to draw new players. If they didn't explain the importance of going to the Citadel, new players wouldn't get it. Still, I agree that it was one of those "she really wouldn't need to ask" moments.

Edit: And I also question the judgment of people who play the third installment of a trilogy before the first two. 

I remember hearing them say that, and even before the game was released, those comments just had me shaking my head. The final installment of a trilogy is a great place for new players to jump into the story? Seriously? 

I think a much better introduction would've been the trial that The Arrival made us think we would see. Imagine the game beginning, the player takes control of Shepard...Shep arrives at Arcturus Station, meets the officer in charge and a security team...and surrenders himself/herself into custody. The officer places Shep under arrest and recites the charges--destruction of a star system, 300,000 deaths, etc. Cue the "Holy CRAP!" reaction from the players.

The trial itself would've been a good way to introduce new players, and refresh the memories of experienced players who maybe haven't played the previous game in a while. But no, the game starts with Shepard sitting on his ass for six months instead of doing everything he can to prepare for the Reapers, and then going full-retard when they invade.

And I agree about people playing the third and final game in the series before the first two. At that point in the story, there shouldn't be any time wasted explaining things--if players don't know what the story is at that point, it's their own damned fault. It reminds me of a comment I got on a chapter of a novel I posted on Fanstory a few years ago. It was something like chapter twelve or fifteen or thereabouts. The reader admitted that was the first chapter she'd read, and said she didn't understand what was going on in it--and gave the chapter a low rating. Okay, I have no problem with someone giving me a low rating if I've written something poorly or if they simply don't like the story, but don't start reading the book in the middle and dock me because you don't understand what's going on in it. If someone doesn't start at the beginning, they deserve to be lost and confused. 

MrStoob wrote...

hot_heart wrote...
God, I hate that opening so much it's unreal. [smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/lol.png[/smilie]

Ha!

"How do we stop them?"
"Stop them?  This isn't about strategy or tactics!  We fight or we die!"
"Hm.  Don't we need some kind of strategy or tactics to fight?"
"I SAID: We fight or we die!"
"Yes... but..."
"FIGHT or DIE!"
"Is he going to keep on saying that?"

...and so on.

Sorry. [smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/grin.png[/smilie]

Gahhhh... "We fight or we die!" Well...no ****, Shep. 

Argh, the stupid, it BURNS! 

hot_heart wrote...

QOTD time!
Do you ever worry that you're not writing your protagonists/characters as smart as they should be?

Not really. My protagonists are usually pretty smart, as well as Genre Savvy. Not that they don't make mistakes. They should make a few, because they shouldn't be flawless. I just have to keep a close watch on the story to make sure I don't make them too smart--like, having them make logical leaps that require them to have more information than they actually have, and things like that. When I write stupid characters, they're usually thugs working for the villain, and I write them that way purely for humor. And when one of my protagonists does say or do something stupid, I'm usually pretty quick to have another character lampshade it.

Not from my Mass Effect fic, but for whatever reason, the first example of this that popped into my head was from my first Transformers Prime fic...

Ratchet stepped up to the main console and brought up an image of the recently arrested Pretender. "While being questioned, this one claimed that she and a few others simply wanted to settle here. According to her, the death of our homeworld caused them to reconsider the path they took all those years ago. Some of them even started families with humans to blend in."

"So," Jack said, "they've gone native?"

"So they would have us believe." Ratchet shrugged. "I doubt it's true, but a small part of me hopes it is. Optimus must be rubbing off on me." He nodded at the image of Mendoza on the screen. "This one even has a son. And you've already seen her husband, Lucas Conrad."

"A kid?" Jack flicked a puzzled glance at Arcee. "That's possible with a human and a Cybertronian?"

Ratchet rolled his eyes. "It's called adoption."

"Oh." Jack's face grew hot. "Right."

Heh. Every now and then, I have a little fun at a character's expense. 

One thing I can't stand, though, is when a writer hands a character the Idiot Ball just because the plot needs to get from Point A to Point B. Blarg....

MrStoob wrote...
So Thought/Question of the Day: Are you writing what/how you expected or intended, or have you consciously changed your style/content to what you want?

Mostly it's how I expected/planned, though with Freelancers, right now I'm just sort of coming up with the story as I write it, and planting the seeds for only a few things that'll come up later. I do have a ton of ideas to work into the story as it unfolds, especially once it gets into the war with the Reapers. There are a few things here and there that developed in a way I didn't expect, though. The biggest surprise was the Quint/Dakka relationship. I hadn't planned to do much with it, just tossed the idea into third chapter that this badass krogan woman had a crush on one of her human crewmates for the sole purpose of making the human character uncomfortable. Several readers really liked the pairing, so I rolled with it and had the pair actually get into a relationship.

With my TFP fics, I had more concrete ideas for several stories, the last of which would've concluded the overall storyline. But then one of the readers said something that gave me an idea for another story arc. And then two completely separate little things clicked together in my mind, and gave me an idea for yet another story. And with this and a few other factors, I'll probably change how the overal story finishes. Maybe even add more fics to the series, if more new ideas keep popping into my head.

And with my novels, I actually scrapped an entire book in the series because of the way the second book developed. I had a whole plot in mind for the third one, but the second book ended up going in a direction I didn't expect, which made that book much better than my original idea for it, but also meant the planned third book wouldn't work. So I threw the whole thing out. Might be able to use the basic plot for completely different story somewhere down the road, but it just wouldn't work with these particular main characters as they were at the end of the second book.

Seracen wrote...

Anyone else feel this way? I mean, inspiration can hit whenever, but it hits me more often at night.[/u]

I wish inspiration could come to me on a somewhat regular schedule, but it doesn't. I'm always thinking about the varioius stories I'm working on, no matter what I'm doing, I use whatever "idle time" my brain has for thinking about plot developments, characters, lines of dialogue. Sometimes a bunch of stuff clicks into place and I'm able to start writing immediately, and sometimes I sit here trying to get the ideas from my head to the keyboard and it just doesn't happen. 

And sometimes I have an idea that I just love, but have to wait for the story to catch up to it, then use the idea at the right point. Like, the Dakka/Kai Leng fight I mentioned when we were talking about writing action scenes. I'd had the basic seed of the idea about a year ago, and back then it was just the image of Dakka fighting someone and getting run through with his sword, then grabbing his hand and preventing him from pulling the blade out, shoving it back in and laughing in his face before pounding her fist into his head until his skull looked like a condom stuffed with cracked walnuts.  Over the next few months, little details clicked into place, bits of dialogue, and finally deciding to make Leng her opponent. And I was just dying to use it, but didn't find the right spot in the story until the chapter I posted a couple weeks ago.

I also have a couple lines of dialogue that I can't wait to use, but I have to hold back until I find an appropriate place in the stories.... 

And...there's probably a lot of stuff I've forgotten to comment on, but it's late and my brain is starting to shut down and this post is too long already.  So, time to just post it....

Modifié par ftkerns, 23 avril 2013 - 07:10 .

[MrStoob]

ftkerns wrote...

Seracen wrote...

Anyone else feel this way? I mean, inspiration can hit whenever, but it hits me more often at night.

I wish inspiration could come to me on a somewhat regular schedule, but it doesn't. I'm always thinking about the varioius stories I'm working on, no matter what I'm doing, I use whatever "idle time" my brain has for thinking about plot developments, characters, lines of dialogue. Sometimes a bunch of stuff clicks into place and I'm able to start writing immediately, and sometimes I sit here trying to get the ideas from my head to the keyboard and it just doesn't happen. 

And sometimes I have an idea that I just love, but have to wait for the story to catch up to it, then use the idea at the right point. Like, the Dakka/Kai Leng fight I mentioned when we were talking about writing action scenes. I'd had the basic seed of the idea about a year ago, and back then it was just the image of Dakka fighting someone and getting run through with his sword, then grabbing his hand and preventing him from pulling the blade out, shoving it back in and laughing in his face before pounding her fist into his head until his skull looked like a condom stuffed with cracked walnuts.  Over the next few months, little details clicked into place, bits of dialogue, and finally deciding to make Leng her opponent. And I was just dying to use it, but didn't find the right spot in the story until the chapter I posted a couple weeks ago.

I also have a couple lines of dialogue that I can't wait to use, but I have to hold back until I find an appropriate place in the stories.... 

And...there's probably a lot of stuff I've forgotten to comment on, but it's late and my brain is starting to shut down and this post is too long already.  So, time to just post it....

I do similar.  I have ideas for scenes or conversations sometimes that I think would be interesting but have to wait for an appropriate moment in the flow of the story.  Sometimes, if I know the scene/convo would just not fit or work in my current main, I'll whip something up anyway and shove it in my side-stories/one-shots/AU project.  I find it handy to be able to get the idea onto 'paper' and put it to bed.

Modifié par MrStoob, 24 avril 2013 - 08:44 .

[Seracen]

^^ @ MrStoob & ftkerns: I also have scenes rolling around in my head, waiting to be released at the correct moment.

Mostly, I just incorporate it into the skeleton outline. However, on those occasions where I am inspired to craft an entire scene, I have another document where I keep such scenes, then plug them into the story once the time has come.

As far as inconvenient times, I just wrote a scene at 2AM this morning, after having laid in bed for an hour, trying to get to sleep...blargh!!!

[flying phoenix51]

I'm looking for someone to read some of my fanfiction. Most of it is incomplete, so I am looking for feedback on where it is. I am new and I want to make sure what I'm writing isn't junk and others might want to check it out. Message me if you are interested. It is Mass Effect, FemShep, Spacer. My big story is Pre-ME and a few of the smaller ones are during game time. Let me know. Thanks!

[Progman Omega]

Seracen wrote...

^^ @ MrStoob & ftkerns: I also have scenes rolling around in my head, waiting to be released at the correct moment.

Mostly, I just incorporate it into the skeleton outline. However, on those occasions where I am inspired to craft an entire scene, I have another document where I keep such scenes, then plug them into the story once the time has come.

As far as inconvenient times, I just wrote a scene at 2AM this morning, after having laid in bed for an hour, trying to get to sleep...blargh!!!

I have this problem.  I have this problem so hardcore with action scenes and big emotional pay-off moments that need an entire series to build it up for it to even work.  So I write it aaaaaalllll out, and WAIT.

Freakin' hate waiting... 

[enayasoul]

MrStoob wrote...
So Thought/Question of the Day: Are you writing what/how you expected or intended, or have you consciously changed your style/content to what you want?

Yes, and no.  Like any story it changes and evolves. It's certainly not the same story I started out with two years ago. It's changed unexpectedly in some areas. Some areas of the story I had intended to include and other parts that I had written originnally may end up in the story afterall but in different places that fit better.

Even with two latest chapters, it wasn't what I had planned but when with the flow of what the characters were telling me, what my mind came up with, I had to see it through.

I've always been a bit concerned on how I portray these characters. Miranda especially and the rest of the crew. Shepard, I can mold however I want.

That's why constructive criticism, or feedback from the readers is important, in some cases. If the comments really help you, or encourage you to continue or do better. One reader can see it one way, while another has a totally different interpretation. I have to wonder if I'm really telling what I wanted to get across... am I good enough? But regardless... you have to write what you know, research what you don't know, and ultimately write how *you* want to tell the story, good or bad.   I like setting up plots and tend to have a lot of emotional scenes, I think. I know, when they hit me, I get misty. heh. :innocent:

The next chapter is basically done but needs work editing and making sure it all flows well and make sense. Probably won't be published until sometime next week. Have three days left to my college speech class. See, procrastinating a little with my homework speech due today. It's only 5-7 minutes. I can do this. Heh. I can't wait for this class to be over with.

Updated edit:  Changed my mind... posted my newest chapter early this morning. hah! My 5-7 minute persuasive speech turned into 13 minutes. Gah!

hot_heart wrote...

QOTD time!
Do you ever worry that you're not writing your protagonists/characters as smart as they should be?

Yes, all the time.

Modifié par enayasoul, 26 avril 2013 - 05:53 .

[Seracen]

Lord...it's 4 AM and I'm writing a darn scene...

Anyways, a grammar question for the group. Seeing as how I am capitalizing Asari, Krogan, Drell, etc...should I be capitalizing "Human" as well, or only in certain instances?

Progman Omega wrote...

I have this problem.  I have this problem so hardcore with action scenes and big emotional pay-off moments that need an entire series to build it up for it to even work.  So I write it aaaaaalllll out, and WAIT.

Freakin' hate waiting... 

 I feel your pain, brother!  

enayasoul wrote...

Updated edit:  Changed my mind... posted my newest chapter early this morning. hah! My 5-7 minute persuasive speech turned into 13 minutes. Gah! 

I feel your pain too, lol 

Modifié par Seracen, 26 avril 2013 - 08:37 .

[fluffywalrus]

Seracen wrote...

Lord...it's 4 AM and I'm writing a darn scene...

Anyways, a grammar question for the group. Seeing as how I am capitalizing Asari, Krogan, Drell, etc...should I be capitalizing "Human" as well, or only in certain instances?

Yes, otherwise Aethyta would call you an anthropocentric bag of dicks
I mean, you'd be normalizing humanity as default status by not capitalizing it if others are.  Sure, we readers are humans, and if you were writing a series of Cerberus-created messages, it would be pretty accurate, but not capitalizing Human would just come across as othering all galactic species aside from humans.

Outside of that, it would also be good to just maintain consistency.

[Tairis Deamhan]

fluffywalrus wrote...

Seracen wrote...

Lord...it's 4 AM and I'm writing a darn scene...

Anyways, a grammar question for the group. Seeing as how I am capitalizing Asari, Krogan, Drell, etc...should I be capitalizing "Human" as well, or only in certain instances?

Yes, otherwise Aethyta would call you an anthropocentric bag of dicks
I mean, you'd be normalizing humanity as default status by not capitalizing it if others are.  Sure, we readers are humans, and if you were writing a series of Cerberus-created messages, it would be pretty accurate, but not capitalizing Human would just come across as othering all galactic species aside from humans.

Outside of that, it would also be good to just maintain consistency.

Just on a grammar **** point... you shouldn't be capitalizing Drell/Asari/Turian either if you're being grammatically correct. Species names aren't capitalized, if they were it would be 'The quick brown Fox jumped over the fence'.

Proper names are capitalized however, such as the name of governments. So the turian species is lower case. The Turian Hierarchy is capitalized because it's a proper name.

[hot_heart]

Tairis Deamhan wrote...
Just on a grammar **** point... you shouldn't be capitalizing Drell/Asari/Turian either if you're being grammatically correct. Species names aren't capitalized, if they were it would be 'The quick brown Fox jumped over the fence'.

Wouldn't it be the 'The quick brown Fox jumped over the lazy Dog', for your example?

[Seracen]

Lili also brought up this point. The thing that confuses me, however, is if you turn on subtitles in the game, all species titles are capitalized, just like proper nouns.

Perhaps it because all the uses are "The Krogan" or "The Asari" as a people, as opposed to "the lone drell" or "a random quarian."

Still odd though...

[fluffywalrus]

hot_heart wrote...

Tairis Deamhan wrote...
Just on a grammar **** point... you shouldn't be capitalizing Drell/Asari/Turian either if you're being grammatically correct. Species names aren't capitalized, if they were it would be 'The quick brown Fox jumped over the fence'.

Wouldn't it be the 'The quick brown Fox jumped over the lazy Dog', for your example?

No, because the fox is this singular, random entity.

A turian.
A turian soldier.
Turian Hierarchy

The third one is capitalized because it is part of a named entity. Kind of like how if you're talking about apple trees, apple isn't capitalized. if you're talking about the company Apple, it is.

[Khelish]

fluffywalrus wrote...

No, because the fox is this singular, random entity.

A turian.
A turian soldier.
Turian Hierarchy

The third one is capitalized because it is part of a named entity. Kind of like how if you're talking about apple trees, apple isn't capitalized. if you're talking about the company Apple, it is.

I used to always write "Quarian" or any other species, using capitalized letters.

Glad I stopped that bad habit. 

[hot_heart]

Seracen wrote...
if you turn on subtitles in the game, all species titles are capitalized, just like proper nouns.

Perhaps it because all the uses are "The Krogan" or "The Asari" as a people, as opposed to "the lone drell" or "a random quarian."

Still odd though...

Are you sure? I don't doubt that maybe there are those instances, but take Wrex during this, for example. Or Joker's first line here.

fluffywalrus wrote...
No, because the fox is this singular, random entity.

No, that wasn't my point!

I know the rules regarding that. I agree with and abide by them.

I was trying to 'outdo' the grammar **** (and be the grammar fuhrer, maybe?) as I've not heard the phrase about the fox jumping over a fence, since the phrase holds no grammatical significance without the dog part.

Modifié par hot_heart, 27 avril 2013 - 10:16 .

[Seracen]

Huh...maybe I'm just remembering it wrong. Honestly, I think it was in ME 1 when most uses of the races were done as proper nouns, again b/c they were referring to the people as a whole.

Now that I see it like that, I suppose my brain was just reading what it expected to read. Funny how things like that work in our minds.

Well, that's the advantage of writing so much of it in advance...plenty of time to change it! In fact, I believe my upload will be stuck at 8 chapters until I finish.

I'd much rather bang out the story and then edit the hell out of it, which is much easier with a finished product.

[MrStoob]

*ahem*

"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

So's that it contains all letters of teh alphabet.

As you were...

Modifié par MrStoob, 27 avril 2013 - 01:18 .

[hot_heart]

Precisely!

[AustereLemur799]

Thank you guys and gals ever so much  - I've never met a bunch of nicer, accepting people (that's a fact! ).

As I said; I'll try and keep my crap to myself and if I'm ever being weird or too self-deprecating (comes with the territory); just tell me to shove-off and shape-up and I will try my best.

This last issue of head-canon versus pseudo-canon (apologies again if my spelling is off, but dyslexia and alchohol generally don't mix! But I'll try me best! Hopefully you'll know what I'm trying to get at anyway...) is an interesting one.

Personally I first got inspired to write fanfic because I saw what we were presented with by Bioware and wanted to take it further.

With my fic, I released an author's note about how I wanted to stay as true to canon as possible (with a few changes to shake things up, but not change the vanilla story beyond recognition). The further I go on, however, the more I want to change things up - because I get new ideas that I think will improve the ME story so much (arrogance, obviously! ).

I think that it's inevitable for the kind of people we are as writers (I mean the creativity inside us, among other things), to want to 'improve' on things and take them further.

In my fic, I've broken my initial promise to stay as true as canon to possible. But I have set myself rules; so far I haven't gone too far out of the 'canon' boundaries. I've just inserted things that could, in theory, happen behind the scenes - stuff that we haven't seen (so anything's possible, really).

Also I like to think that I've improved the story in some way (I know that's really arrogant! ).

My situation is that I started writing my fic a year ago for my Mum who has never played the games. But then I had to be mindful of not patronising my readers who have played the games. Now I'm trying to create storylines that take into account the ME novels that a lot of people haven't read (and that I myself don't even remember!). Credit to Drew Karpyshyn as the main story brain in ME1 and 2, but he isn't the greatest novelist in the world (that's not to demean him because I really wish he was there for ME3!).

My aim is to integrate the novels into the games - along with my own twists - but it's not always easy.

Getting over my alcoholism and my general crap long enough to write is one thing. But then there are issues such as chronology and organising things in a suspenseful way (if any of that makes sense) to try and sort out. It's not like watching Murder She Wrote on TV... 

I really wish that I could myself back on the map. Credit to you all. Yes, I envy you  - but, at the same time; you're also a massive inspiration!

Heck, if it wasn't for writing and story-telling; I would've been done with this life and this world seven years ago.

Thanks again for putting up with me - I really can't stress that enough.

[Ignis Mors]

 Didn't notice the QOTD about avoiding AU and such until just now. So, anyways, I don't try to avoid AU, I embrace it like an old friend. I try to put at least one AU thing in every last one of my chapters. One that sticks out to me is because of how out of the blue it was. After the Samara recruitment mission, I had a group of Collector vessels attack Illium, and Harbinger hack into the Normandy using the Collector ships that are nearby... somehow. I don't worry about the tech bits. I just handwave it aside with 'reaper tech'. You could call it an homage to ME3!  (Really, how does Cerberus go from a hundred or so people to a galaxy  spanning army in the space of six months?)

[Seracen]

AustereLemur799 wrote...

Thank you guys and gals ever so much  - I've never met a bunch of nicer, accepting people (that's a fact! ).

As I said; I'll try and keep my crap to myself and if I'm ever being weird or too self-deprecating (comes with the territory); just tell me to shove-off and shape-up and I will try my best.

This last issue of head-canon versus pseudo-canon (apologies again if my spelling is off, but dyslexia and alchohol generally don't mix! But I'll try me best! Hopefully you'll know what I'm trying to get at anyway...) is an interesting one.

......
Thanks again for putting up with me - I really can't stress that enough.

Glad to hear we're a positive influence Lemur!  I wish you all the best of luck with your travails.

As far as your writing is concerned, I don't see why you can't change the tone or direction of the story.  If it works, and makes you happy, go for it.

I mentioned this before, but I completely put one of my stories on the backburner, b/c I wasn't happy with it.  I got some really good advice that changed the way I look at crafting my stories.

Sure I haven't touched that story in nearly 5 years, but when I get around to it, it'll be worth it.

If you feel self-conscious about changing tack, I'd write another author's note, outlining your intentions, and just go for it.

As far as keeping all the canon straight, it helped me to create a timeline of events (esp considering the alternates I chose).  This way you don't have to have all that lore in your headspace, taking up room that should be allocated for your story.  Even in my skeleton draft for the story, I incorporated another timeline.

I also referenced a cheat sheet for writers, which included a flow chart (what event leads to which repurcussion, how does this advance the plot, etc).  There have been plenty of great references posted here, but I can send oyu what I downloaded from the public domain, or send you links.

I'm still in the throes of my own fic, but if you need another soundboard or beta, I'm always game.  I've broken my own rule about staying "pristine" for a few of our fellows in this thread already! 

Fair warning, I don't know how much I could read, or how quickly I could reply, but feel free to ask away!  Great discourse is ever a source of inspiration for me!:happy:

EDIT: As far as making assumptions about the audience, I am writing my fic as much for folks who didn't play ME.  I mean, obviously you should have played ME to read the story, but the story should work on it's own as well.

As such, I'll do minor explanations in a non-invasive way.  For those who've played the games, it's more imagery, for those who haven't, it's necessary setup.

Modifié par Seracen, 28 avril 2013 - 02:05 .

[Seracen]

Ignis Mors wrote...

 Didn't notice the QOTD about avoiding AU and such until just now. So, anyways, I don't try to avoid AU, I embrace it like an old friend. I try to put at least one AU thing in every last one of my chapters. One that sticks out to me is because of how out of the blue it was. After the Samara recruitment mission, I had a group of Collector vessels attack Illium, and Harbinger hack into the Normandy using the Collector ships that are nearby... somehow. I don't worry about the tech bits. I just handwave it aside with 'reaper tech'. You could call it an homage to ME3!  (Really, how does Cerberus go from a hundred or so people to a galaxy  spanning army in the space of six months?)

Bwaha!  Agreed completely.

Incidentally, the "Tasteful Understaded Nerdrage" vid said it well.  As long a a good narrative cohesion is established, any number of storyline decisions are valid!

The example used in the vid was Legion's ultimate fate.  We don't question the logic behind it, because it flows well and makes sense within the confines of that particular drama.

Modifié par Seracen, 28 avril 2013 - 02:08 .

[Ignis Mors]

Seracen wrote...

Ignis Mors wrote...

 Didn't notice the QOTD about avoiding AU and such until just now. So, anyways, I don't try to avoid AU, I embrace it like an old friend. I try to put at least one AU thing in every last one of my chapters. One that sticks out to me is because of how out of the blue it was. After the Samara recruitment mission, I had a group of Collector vessels attack Illium, and Harbinger hack into the Normandy using the Collector ships that are nearby... somehow. I don't worry about the tech bits. I just handwave it aside with 'reaper tech'. You could call it an homage to ME3!  (Really, how does Cerberus go from a hundred or so people to a galaxy  spanning army in the space of six months?)

Bwaha!  Agreed completely.

Incidentally, the "Tasteful Understaded Nerdrage" vid said it well.  As long a a good narrative cohesion is established, any number of storyline decisions are valid!

The example used in the vid was Legion's ultimate fate.  We don't question the logic behind it, because it flows well and makes sense within the confines of that particular drama.

About Legion's death I agree more with smud than Mr.Btongue. I think that Legion should have been able to back himself up before doing it. It doesn't make sense that Legion, a computer program, couldn't have just copy and pasted himself to a backup storage site so that he doesn't die.