9962 réponses à ce sujet

[Seracen]

That reminds me, does anybody else like to hold off on finishing an fanfic until the story itself is done? That's kind of how I watch my anime, although I know that the release schedule on anime at least is more reliable.

Not saying I don't read incomplete works as well, I just prefer to start with the completed ones. There are a few long running stories that I've consciously stopped reading, so as to prevent myself going insane waiting for updates (even when they come on a regular basis).

[hot_heart]

Lilivati wrote...
I wrote a half a chapter of a new story set five years after the end of the war, with galactic civilization on the brink of collapse due to the sheer scale of the lingering destruction. I don't think it would be particularly well received. But when you think about it, even if you discount the damage to the relay network, full recovery will probably take generations... And meanwhile you've got a lot of people struggling to survive and governments that were mostly wiped out in the initial invasion. The whole galaxy might end up looking like the Terminus for a little while.

I think I might just like telling morbid and depressing stories.  

Bit late on this, but I like that idea!

It's all very well having happy stories/endings but a story requires some sort of conflict. There's certainly a lot of potential, considering how you could have left the galaxy. Plus, I doubt BioWare will ever expand on every possibility anyway.

[MrStoob]

hot_heart wrote...

Lilivati wrote...
I wrote a half a chapter of a new story set five years after the end of the war, with galactic civilization on the brink of collapse due to the sheer scale of the lingering destruction. I don't think it would be particularly well received. But when you think about it, even if you discount the damage to the relay network, full recovery will probably take generations... And meanwhile you've got a lot of people struggling to survive and governments that were mostly wiped out in the initial invasion. The whole galaxy might end up looking like the Terminus for a little while.

I think I might just like telling morbid and depressing stories.  

Bit late on this, but I like that idea!

It's all very well having happy stories/endings but a story requires some sort of conflict. There's certainly a lot of potential, considering how you could have left the galaxy. Plus, I doubt BioWare will ever expand on every possibility anyway.

In my current sporadic ME tales, the remnants of the combined fleets is all that's left of civilization and old wounds fester.

[Progman Omega]

MrStoob wrote...

hot_heart wrote...

Lilivati wrote...
I wrote a half a chapter of a new story set five years after the end of the war, with galactic civilization on the brink of collapse due to the sheer scale of the lingering destruction. I don't think it would be particularly well received. But when you think about it, even if you discount the damage to the relay network, full recovery will probably take generations... And meanwhile you've got a lot of people struggling to survive and governments that were mostly wiped out in the initial invasion. The whole galaxy might end up looking like the Terminus for a little while.

I think I might just like telling morbid and depressing stories.  

Bit late on this, but I like that idea!

It's all very well having happy stories/endings but a story requires some sort of conflict. There's certainly a lot of potential, considering how you could have left the galaxy. Plus, I doubt BioWare will ever expand on every possibility anyway.

In my current sporadic ME tales, the remnants of the combined fleets is all that's left of civilization and old wounds fester.

Aha!  So the BSG references come full circle, and Mass Effect BECOMES BSG!  Tell me, do the geth start wearing asari skin, or quarians?  Which makes Hackett Adama...AND SHEPARD KARA THRACE...or LEE ADAMA!   

[Lilivati]

hot_heart wrote...

Lilivati wrote...
I wrote a half a chapter of a new story set five years after the end of the war, with galactic civilization on the brink of collapse due to the sheer scale of the lingering destruction. I don't think it would be particularly well received. But when you think about it, even if you discount the damage to the relay network, full recovery will probably take generations... And meanwhile you've got a lot of people struggling to survive and governments that were mostly wiped out in the initial invasion. The whole galaxy might end up looking like the Terminus for a little while.

I think I might just like telling morbid and depressing stories.  

Bit late on this, but I like that idea!

It's all very well having happy stories/endings but a story requires some sort of conflict. There's certainly a lot of potential, considering how you could have left the galaxy. Plus, I doubt BioWare will ever expand on every possibility anyway.

Sometimes I am really curious where they plan to take things next.  I mean, in many ways, the reapers defined the Mass Effect story, and now one way or another, they're gone (as an opposing force).  And like you said, every story needs conflict.  Since they're essentially having to build a new central conflict, there are so  many possibilities it's impossible to guess.  Very exciting!

Anyway, I poked away at the idea a little more.  Not sure what I'll do with it.  Maybe post it up and just acknowledge it will have VERY sporadic updates.  Or keep it to myself until it's done.

MrStoob wrote...

In my current sporadic ME tales, the remnants of the combined fleets is all that's left of civilization and old wounds fester.

Have you seen Hackett's speech from the EC low-EMS destroy ending?  Seriously good stuff.  

[MrStoob]

Progman Omega wrote...

MrStoob wrote...

hot_heart wrote...

Lilivati wrote...
I wrote a half a chapter of a new story set five years after the end of the war, with galactic civilization on the brink of collapse due to the sheer scale of the lingering destruction. I don't think it would be particularly well received. But when you think about it, even if you discount the damage to the relay network, full recovery will probably take generations... And meanwhile you've got a lot of people struggling to survive and governments that were mostly wiped out in the initial invasion. The whole galaxy might end up looking like the Terminus for a little while.

I think I might just like telling morbid and depressing stories.  

Bit late on this, but I like that idea!

It's all very well having happy stories/endings but a story requires some sort of conflict. There's certainly a lot of potential, considering how you could have left the galaxy. Plus, I doubt BioWare will ever expand on every possibility anyway.

In my current sporadic ME tales, the remnants of the combined fleets is all that's left of civilization and old wounds fester.

Aha!  So the BSG references come full circle, and Mass Effect BECOMES BSG!  Tell me, do the geth start wearing asari skin, or quarians?  Which makes Hackett Adama...AND SHEPARD KARA THRACE...or LEE ADAMA!   

I had pondered the BSG similarities.  It's all getting a bit way out there though, hence its sporadicness.

Edit: and what makes you think Hackett would be in charge...?  You humans are all racist!

Modifié par MrStoob, 18 mai 2013 - 06:43 .

[Seracen]

MrStoob wrote...

I had pondered the BSG similarities.  It's all getting a bit way out there though, hence its sporadicness.

Edit: and what makes you think Hackett would be in charge...?  You humans are all racist!

Hey Hey...YOU'RE the one who tried to get a 15 cm serrated blade into the Citadel! 

[MrStoob]

Seracen wrote...

MrStoob wrote...

I had pondered the BSG similarities.  It's all getting a bit way out there though, hence its sporadicness.

Edit: and what makes you think Hackett would be in charge...?  You humans are all racist!

Hey Hey...YOU'RE the one who tried to get a 15 cm serrated blade into the Citadel! 

I didn't say I had one, I only objected that the Citadel might not let me on with one if I did have one...

[Seracen]

MrStoob wrote...

Seracen wrote...

MrStoob wrote...

I had pondered the BSG similarities.  It's all getting a bit way out there though, hence its sporadicness.

Edit: and what makes you think Hackett would be in charge...?  You humans are all racist!

Hey Hey...YOU'RE the one who tried to get a 15 cm serrated blade into the Citadel! 

I didn't say I had one, I only objected that the Citadel might not let me on with one if I did have one...

That reminds me of the elemetary school kid who brought a melon and a machete for lunch one day!

Ah man, comedy gold.  It's a shame there wasn't more of it in ME3.  I know, Reaper War and all.  Still, barring some offbeat humor with EDI, and BLASTO, I feel there was a small lack of respite from the doom and gloom.

Of course, Citadel DLC handled a lot of those complaints.

Speaking of, I'm still trying to get certain chapters structured properly in my fic.  I dub these the "banter chapters," as their main purpose is to display the emotions the characters are going through.

Yes, I know I can do that in other avenues, but there's something a lot more intimate in the downtimes that I just prefer.  As fun as it is to write, however, I can't help feeling I can't indulge myself TOO much.

It's for the sake of the readers.  I don't want to fatigue them from overly prolonged action, but I don't want to bore them with endless dialogue.

Then again, some of the best moments I've garnered from Game of Thrones, or the anime Fate Zero, came from nothing but dramatic exposition.

[MrStoob]

Seracen wrote...

MrStoob wrote...

Seracen wrote...

MrStoob wrote...

I had pondered the BSG similarities.  It's all getting a bit way out there though, hence its sporadicness.

Edit: and what makes you think Hackett would be in charge...?  You humans are all racist!

Hey Hey...YOU'RE the one who tried to get a 15 cm serrated blade into the Citadel! 

I didn't say I had one, I only objected that the Citadel might not let me on with one if I did have one...

That reminds me of the elemetary school kid who brought a melon and a machete for lunch one day!

Ah man, comedy gold.  It's a shame there wasn't more of it in ME3.  I know, Reaper War and all.  Still, barring some offbeat humor with EDI, and BLASTO, I feel there was a small lack of respite from the doom and gloom.

Of course, Citadel DLC handled a lot of those complaints.

Speaking of, I'm still trying to get certain chapters structured properly in my fic.  I dub these the "banter chapters," as their main purpose is to display the emotions the characters are going through.

Yes, I know I can do that in other avenues, but there's something a lot more intimate in the downtimes that I just prefer.  As fun as it is to write, however, I can't help feeling I can't indulge myself TOO much.

It's for the sake of the readers.  I don't want to fatigue them from overly prolonged action, but I don't want to bore them with endless dialogue.

Then again, some of the best moments I've garnered from Game of Thrones, or the anime Fate Zero, came from nothing but dramatic exposition.

My musings are littered with conversations that have no point other than to show some emotional headspaces and moments of wit/banter between characters.  And to show a side of a character that I want to expand on, be it relevant or whistful, canon or personal.

[xariadne]

Hey, for Tali and Garrus writers out there...

Does anyone have tips on their gestures and body language? I'm in a bit of a time crunch now, so I don't have time to do a lot of replaying/studying, but I'd like to get their movements right in the story, not subbing in too many human gestures. I know a few things, like Garrus's mandibles move a lot, and Tali always seems a bit more expressive (because of the suits?), but if people have specific info or suggestions about how they move when they're happy/sad/angry/whatever, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

[Drussius]

I have not written for either character personally, but I've played through all three games six times each, and I noticed a few little details. My take on turians (not just Garrus) has been that their mandibles seem to move as a reflex or unconscious reaction, sort of like when a human's jaw clenches, they grind their teeth, etc. I used it in my own story as a way to point out when others were noticing signs of agitation in my turian character.

As for Tali, I've noticed that she tends to wring her hands a lot when she's anxious or nervous. Others may have keener insights than that.

[Seracen]

xariadne wrote...

Hey, for Tali and Garrus writers out there...

Does anyone have tips on their gestures and body language? I'm in a bit of a time crunch now, so I don't have time to do a lot of replaying/studying, but I'd like to get their movements right in the story, not subbing in too many human gestures. I know a few things, like Garrus's mandibles move a lot, and Tali always seems a bit more expressive (because of the suits?), but if people have specific info or suggestions about how they move when they're happy/sad/angry/whatever, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Garrus tends to lounge about, as if he's extremely confident and comfortable no matter where he is.  His shoulder are square, as if ready to pounce, but it's a lazy sort of readiness.  There's a reason we call him "space Batman."

Yes, his mandibles click when he's nervous, and he likes to point (as if enunciation bits of conversation).  He also shrugs a lot, as much a stretching motion as anything else.

Tali wrings her hands a lot, and she shuffles a bit when speaking.  A lot of this is b/c she's not as confident, but also b/c BW used this as a way to make her more sympathetic.  In the first game, we are SUPPOSED to look at her as a little sister.  In later games, that feeling grows however it will, but it always remains a "I must protect her" chemistry.

She also cocked her head to the side a lot, runs her hands over her bucket, and thrusts out her hips when being sexy/playful.

[Lilivati]

Got a question for you all I haven't been able to answer to my own satisfaction. What kind of injury do raw biotic abilities like warp leave behind? Obviously something like throw is easy- it's the same as being knocked with force into another object by any means. But I'm having some issues thinking through how, say, a glancing encounter with warp or shockwave might affect the body. I imagine there would be a lot of bruising and tearing rather than burns or similar injuries.

Dark energy in the ME universe is of course used to manipulate mass, but maybe it's just biology is my weak point, but I can't see how that in itself is inherently weaponizable. Changing mass enough that you get a huge but highly localized gravity differential, on the other hand, is useful. So I guess I see warp as kind of the opposite of the (poorly named) singularity. Singularity creates a highly localized field of null gravity, whereas warp is perhaps a highly localized field of intense gravity? Enough to draw blood towards it and tear open skin and muscle, maybe break bones under the right circumstances? I'm writing a huge biotic battle in my current chapter and this is starting to become an issue. >_> I don't get over-the-top gory or anything but this is supposed to be a hard fight for the team and people should come out of it a little worse for wear.

[Drussius]

Warp, I believe, was described as a rapidly-shifting mass effect field, which I took to mean it basically shreds whatever is caught in its bounds. In fact, in the first game, I believe it actually says it shreds whatever is caught in the field. It is supposed to be very useful for destroying armor or destabilizing shields, but if used on a living creature directly, it would essentially compress and pull apart their tissue. Bruises, tears in the flesh, and broken bones certainly seem feasible.

And actually, a singularity is supposed to be a vortex of powerful gravity, not null gravity. The ability description says it creates a powerful gravity well, similar to a miniature black hole. It sucks things toward the center and holds them aloft, which is why things caught in the field can't continue to fire... they can't point a weapon because of the intense gravitational pull toward the singularity's center.

[Lilivati]

Thanks for the info on warp. It sounds like what I planned should work then.

I admit I hadn't looked up singularity because it seems so obvious what happens, though I have always wondered WHY it was called singularity when it doesn't behave like a real singularity. I mean, like, not even a little... Exposing people to a strong enough gravitational field to cause that effect, localized to that extent, is going to cause HUGE tidal strains and that would only be the start... Singularity in-game is a relatively gentle effect and this should be an instakill. I dunno, space magic I guess, but I think I'll avoid trying to explain its mechanism because it makes the astronomer in me want to cry. And overall for being sci-fi and not "real science" ME doesn't do a terrible job, so it's a little surprising.

Nonetheless, thanks for the education. It's very useful!

[Seracen]

Yeah, I always pictured Warp as a localized razor storm created by biotics.

Reave is a little more difficult to explain, but I always explain it away as a stun field that takes over the nervous system, and the force required to create it gives the biotic a rush.

If I had to explain, I'd liken it to the Vulcan mindmeld, in that the biotic is reaping sensation from the nervous system of their enemies; but this is more "poetry" than science.

Modifié par Seracen, 22 mai 2013 - 07:58 .

[MrStoob]

Isn't biotics all just manipulating gravity fields anyway?

[Seracen]

MrStoob wrote...

Isn't biotics all just manipulating gravity fields anyway?

True enough, but it's nuanced...sort of like how much of Italian food is a conglomeration of pasta, tomato, and cheese.  It's the way that various parts work together that changes the nature of the thing.

[ftkerns]

Wow. Can't believe so much time went by so quickly. If I may delve into my personal life for a moment...Still unemployed and living on money from my 401k, which I'll have to pay taxes on out of my own pocket, but I'll be completely out of money by then unless I manage to land a job. As you might imagine, that's been screwing with my head for quite a while.  Still haven't been able to get the computer fixed, either, and now the laptop has been behaving oddly. And then there's my car...augh...

Well, at least the car is something I can use in something I write. It started stalling at stop signs and traffic lights...then recently this cranked up to eleven, and it now has a tendency to stall while it's in motion. Imagine this scenario: I'm heading home on a six-lane highway, pushing the throttle down and moving the car forward--then it stalls just as I enter a six-way intersection. So I have to shift it into neutral, start the engine, and whip it back into Drive while coasting uphill with a line of cars and trucks barreling full speed up behind me. Two of them had to swerve into another lane to avoid hitting me.

I've got to fit that into a story just so something positive can come out of it. Maybe a rapid-transit car chase like the one in the Shadow Broker DLC. Couple characters are chasing someone--and suddenly their engine just quits and the car plunges out of the sky.

Argh. 

Anyway, sorry, just had to get that out of my system. Now, down to business....

Seracen wrote...

ftkerns wrote...

Just now saw this and had to jump in for a moment (replies to other stuff coming ASAP). 

One movie that popped into my head immediately was Split Second. Trailer here, for anyone who hasn't seen it: 

He has seen the future. Now he has to kill it. He'll need bigger guns.

Early 90s instead of 80s, but it's close enough. Absolutely badass movie, and one of the last 80s-style action flicks. Plus, Rutger Hauer.  So many awesome lines....

I consider myself a connosieur of cheesy 80's and 90's action flicks...how in the heck did I miss this gem?!

It's funny too, b/c it sounds just like the Lundgren flick I referenced earlier.

EDIT: just finished watching it...ah man, I miss movies like those...

So do I. It's a pretty obscure movie. When it was released, I think it was in theaters for about a week in some markets. Where I lived at the time, it skipped the theaters and ended up on VHS a few months later. As far as I know, it's out of print.

I'm a big fan of 80s and 80s action movies, too. I Come in Peace is definitely another favorite of mine. I remember it actually being pretty well-made and having some real production values. I have a soft spot for the really low-budget ones, though. Another favorite of mine is Moon 44. (Trailer: )  Not a buddy-cop movie, but very much in the mold of early-90s action flicks. 

Seracen wrote...
Only one problem, the premise of the story.  Actually, I could use opinions, if anyone is willing.

I'm basically looking for a way to resurrect Thane without completely breaking the lore.  I am loathe to employ a 2nd Lazarus Project, as that cheapens the drama of looming death, and ruins the tension.
So far, the only thing I can come up with is alt realities colliding.  For instance, one world where Femshep chooses Destroy, another reality where BroShep chooses Control.

The worlds collide, bringing over a few select people from BroShep's world: himself, Ashley, and a healthy Thane.  Now I have a whole conceit as to how I'll get THAT mess to work.

I'm really late to the party on this, but...the colliding-realities thing is the only way I can think of to bring Thane back, too. It doesn't really fit the Mass Effect universe, but if you're sticking to canon, the entire bit with the Crucible and the Catalyst is completely ridiculous, anyway, so if anything could make it happen, it'd be that.  If I remember correctly, no one figured out what the Crucible does, so you could write in any side-effect you want. So, maybe firing the Crucible causes a rupture between alternate universes. 

And if you wanted to have a little fun with it, you could have a Shep who chose Destroy, and when realities collide, he/she could meet a Shep from a universe where the Crucible never existed, the Catalyst was never encountered, the Reapers were never nerfed into drones controlled by a single AI, and the Reapers were defeated with advanced ships and weapons and outside-the-box tactics, and EDI and the geth are alive and well. Imagine the conversation that could happen when Shep tries to explain the Crucible/Catalyst to alt-Shep. I'm fond of the idea of alt-Shep shaking his/her head and muttering, "I'm sorry, that's too goddamned stupid to believe." 

Seracen wrote...

So far, I am pegging the baddies as a cabal of asari (who want the Shadow Broker's powers), ex-Cerberus (led by Maya Brooks), and a lone Leviathan (as the rest have retreated to darkspace).
Also, they have a vested interested into brainwashing BroShep and Co, to finally kill FemShep and Co.
Honestly, while I can make it work, the whole thing is getting convoluted.  I generally hate alt realities colliding. The only reason this happened was b/c of the Catalyst exploding the mass relays (I don't like reality hopping too often, makes things easy and unwieldy at the same time).

So my question is: what purpose would such a cabal have for doing any of this, and what are some alternatives I could do?
1) primary point is to bring back Thane.
2) secondary (negotiable) point is to have a FShep/MShep meeting, but unlike the clone situation.  I'm fine with the old comicbook "we fight first then become allies" mindset.
3) motivation for the baddies to do ANYTHING in a post Reaper War society.

Hmm. Yeah, that kind of thing could be hit-or-miss. The first thing that popped into my head was, the cabal could be a sort of indoctrinated cult who bled through into this reality when the rupture happened, and they want Shep dead because he stopped the Reapers. And if Shep chose Control or Synthesis, the Reapers would still physically exist, and the cabal wants to find a way to revert them to their "harvest/kill all advanced life in the galaxy" schtick.

And now that the cabal knows other universes exist, they decide on a new goal: ensure Reaper victory in every universe. 

Another possibility is that the cabal is a vanguard of a new villainous force who were waiting for their chance to strike. They either came from an alternate universe, somehow, a very long time ago, or they somehow knew about the other universes and knew that the Crucible would allow the universes to collide. Their masters, which are even worse than the Reapers, exist in one of these alternate universes, and the cabal wants to open the door into this universe for them. And they'd want Shepard dead because they know that he/she would try to stop them.

I'm thinking these beings might be something like the Shadows or the Hand on Babylon 5, only cranked up to eleven. 

hot_heart wrote...

Figured some people here may get a laugh out of this.

Don't make fun of renowned Dan Brown.

That was hilarious.  Pure awesome. I have to admit, though, that I do get really...frustrated when someone who can't write his way out of a wet paper sack gets published and his books become bestsellers and are adapted into movies. It took me more than twenty years to finally get a book accepted by a publisher, and there were so many times during those two decades that I came within a heartbeat of simply giving up....

But that's one of the reasons I love articles like this one. It shows that someone out there can tell the difference between good writing and bad.

Sorry if any of that seemed bitter. It's been a rough 20+ years. Really did get a kick out of the article, though. 

AustereLemur799 wrote...

Sorry to drop in again. I was just mulling over a question. I've come to realise that the main reason that I've had writer's block since November is because I fear that my next chapter will divide the crowd - sort the wheat from the chaff, as it were.

Up until now, I've mostly played things safe. But now I'm going off and taking risks.

My question tonight is: do you stick to the established program to keep people happy or do you go with your own story? 

Again, I'm really late getting to this.  But I want to say, it's best to write your story, your way. Whatever the story is that's in your head, it's the one the needs to get out, and it should unfold the way you envision it. If you start changing it to keep the readers happy, it might work for some, but might not work for others. And it would compromise your telling of your own story.

Hopefully this makes sens...it's creeping up on midnight and my brain is starting to shut down. But basically...your story should go where it needs to go, and forcing it to go in a different direction might not pan out. 

AustereLemur799 wrote...

I've just been feeling so low and useless for such a long time. I lurk on here and feel happy for people for getting on with their stuff, but at the same time it reminds me of my incompetence and failures (I know, logically, I shouldn't look at it that way).

In some ways I'm regretting starting my story. I've never, ever seen anything through to the end in my lifetime. I look at my writing and know that it was just a pipe dream.

I can't even count the number of times I've felt the same way. There's always a chance things will improve, though. When I first started writing, I never finished anything. I'd get five or ten pages in, and suddenly feel like it wasn't working, or the story was crap, or whatever--and I'd pull the ripcord and start over from scratch. Then the same thing would happen and I'd throw away what I wrote and start over. And then I'd do it again. Over and over. But eventually, I reached the point where I finally finished my first story. And damn, it felt good. 

I don't remember how old I was when I realized I wanted to be a writer--to actually make a living at it. I'm pretty sure I was under ten. I realized one day that the books on my shelf didn't just materialize out of thin air--someone wrote them, and got paid to write them. And I started writing. Even at a single-digit age, I realized I was writing crap, but I just threw it away and started again, and kept going until I started seeing hints of competence in what ended up on the pages.

I was seventeen when I sent my first story off to a magazine. It was rejected. The next one was rejected. And so was the next, and the next, on and on and on. I spent most of the past twenty years in a mix of depression and anger (because of the constant failure and being so miserable in the town I lived in and the miserable jobs I ended up stuck in). Like I said in one of the above paragraphs, there were times when I almost gave up and let the last remaining spark of hope for any kind of future fade away to nothing.

Then, finally, in February, it happened. Just a couple weeks after I moved to Tucson, I got an email from the publisher I'd sent one of my novels to. It had been accepted. She asked me to go over the book one more time, fix anything that needed to be fixed, and then she'd send the contract. I revised the book and emailed the final draft, the contract was drawn up a couple weeks later, I signed it and filled out a couple other forms...and now I'm just waiting for the book to be published.

Granted, the publisher is small and the novel will just be an ebook for now--but it's a start. It's officially contracted by a publisher, and that's something I can put on my resume when sending more of my work out. And who knows what else it could lead to in the future. By the time the contract expires, the publisher might be able to publish print editions. Or a bigger publisher might pick the book up and put it out as an actual, printed novel.

Anyway, it took a long time, but it finally happened because I didn't give up, as much as I sometimes wanted to. I was seventeen when I started, and I'm thirty-nine now...but I've finally got my foot in the door. So, even if you're not looking to actually be published, just don't give up. Keep at it, and you'll finish your story and it'll find an audience. And when that happens a few times, you'll grow more confident with your writing, ad maybe the pressure you feel will lessen at least a little. 

Seracen wrote...

Speaking of, I'm still trying to get certain chapters structured properly in my fic.  I dub these the "banter chapters," as their main purpose is to display the emotions the characters are going through.

Yes, I know I can do that in other avenues, but there's something a lot more intimate in the downtimes that I just prefer.  As fun as it is to write, however, I can't help feeling I can't indulge myself TOO much.

It's for the sake of the readers.  I don't want to fatigue them from overly prolonged action, but I don't want to bore them with endless dialogue.

That's always a good idea. I tend to have "banter scenes" rather than "banter chapters." A scene or two of action--often with some humor in the action itself--followed by a cool-down scene with a few characters just talking. Or sometimes several "talking" scenes interrupted by intense action. Though once in a while I do write a whole chapter that's just characters talking. One of the early chapters in Freelancers started with a dramatic scene with Sidonis confessing to Lia how he sold out Garrus and his team. After that, it turned humorous, with most of the team ending up at a costume party on Bekenstein. (Just imagine a quarian dressing up as the Doctor, complete with fez.  Now picture her bickering with a drunk asari and shutting her up by snapping, "I ****ed your sister!" )

Follwed by a chapter of building suspense and a couple chapters of mostly action. Took me a while to find a balance. 

I'm...pretty sure I had a specific point to make, but it's kind of fallen out of my head. Probably because it's almost 1 am now and my brain's barely functioning.  I'll probably wake up in the middle of the night and suddenly remember....

So I'll just post this while I'm still awake enough to click the submit button. But first...I'll finish by saying, I posted another chapter of Freelancers a couple days ago, and one of the comments I got just made my day: "Your doing the Mass Effect universe a great service. keep it up."

Wow.  Very cool. :happy: It's always a relief to find out something I wrote didn't suck.

Now, if I can just start posting more often, so I don't end up with these gigantic posts every time....

Modifié par ftkerns, 23 mai 2013 - 08:08 .

[Seracen]

 @ ftkerns:  I hope life stops all the shenanigans against you. Also, thanks for the input!

I am still torn on the clone vs alterniverse decision, on the other fic.

If I go clone, I am basically cloning half the Normandy crew, b/c you can't just bring back Thane, I literally have to bring back other chars to justify him coming back.

On that note, however, the "Cult of Reaper/Shepard" makes a fine idea, and a fine way of explaining why anyone would do anything.  I am loathe to try to create a new enemy to outdo the reapers.  However, if this is a cult we are speaking of, the Leviathan from my idea could be picking up the thralls for it's own purposes.

I'll definitely have to acknowledge you in the credits as well, to please let me know if there's a name you prefer (ff.net, deviant art, or BSN ID)!

@ Progman Omega: same thing, you prefer this username, or another one?

Modifié par Seracen, 23 mai 2013 - 07:39 .

[Lilivati]

MrStoob wrote...

Isn't biotics all just manipulating gravity fields anyway?

Biotics use dark energy fields to manipulate mass, which is not really the same thing at all.  Changing mass changes gravity, but ME seems to dramatically underestimate how extensively mass must be changed to produce certain effects.  ME conflates mass and gravity a lot and that's one reason why the thing is so confused.  We tend to think of mass as the amount of "stuff" in an object but what a hypothetical mass effect field would likely be doing is not reducing/increasing the amount of stuff, but altering the inertial mass of basic particles within the scope of the field.  (For example, this allows a  dramatic reduction in the mass of a starship without changing the volume of the starship, which is how FTL is accomplished.  Technically, I think they are giving the starship negative mass but that's a whole other topic.)  College was long enough ago that it's not very clear to me how changing the inertial mass would impact the gravitational field produced by an object beyond the fact that in the ME universe, it does.  It's not even very clear in reality how mass gives rise to gravity although it does- and interestingly enough it's thought that real dark energy, though it interacts with gravity, does not interact with mass fields.  Hence my ongoing difficulty trying to invent a pseudo-scientific rationale for biotic effects that doesn't completely jump the shark.  Deep explanations are not even really that important to my story so much as I like wrapping things in neat little packages and probably get hung up on details waaaaay too much.

{end ramble}

Modifié par Lilivati, 23 mai 2013 - 09:22 .

[Ignis Mors]

Lilivati wrote...

MrStoob wrote...

Isn't biotics all just manipulating gravity fields anyway?

Biotics use dark energy fields to manipulate mass, which is not really the same thing at all.  Changing mass changes gravity, but ME seems to dramatically underestimate how extensively mass must be changed to produce certain effects.  ME conflates mass and gravity a lot and that's one reason why the thing is so confused.  We tend to think of mass as the amount of "stuff" in an object but what a hypothetical mass effect field would likely be doing is not reducing/increasing the amount of stuff, but altering the inertial mass of basic particles within the scope of the field.  (For example, this allows a  dramatic reduction in the mass of a starship without changing the volume of the starship, which is how FTL is accomplished.  Technically, I think they are giving the starship negative mass but that's a whole other topic.)  College was long enough ago that it's not very clear to me how changing the inertial mass would impact the gravitational field produced by an object beyond the fact that in the ME universe, it does.  It's not even very clear in reality how mass gives rise to gravity although it does- and interestingly enough it's thought that real dark energy, though it interacts with gravity, does not interact with mass fields.  Hence my ongoing difficulty trying to invent a pseudo-scientific rationale for biotic effects that doesn't completely jump the shark.  Deep explanations are not even really that important to my story so much as I like wrapping things in neat little packages and probably get hung up on details waaaaay too much.

{end ramble}

Can't we all just agree space magic is cool and move on? This is making my head hurt. 

[ftkerns]

Seracen wrote...

 @ ftkerns:  I hope life stops all the shenanigans against you.

Oh, so do I.  And thanks!  Despite my constant worry about making ends meet, I'm still better off than I was before. Just a couple weeks ago, I read an article about the suicide rate in Oregon skyrocketing to the point where it's something like 41% above the national average, and one of the reasons was depression, which is likely due to the high unemployment rate and the cold, rainy, miserable climate. And the town I was in is a bad place. Merely living there nearly gave my soul cancer.

But now I'm not under constant stress and I'm living in a place where I can see sunshine more than three months out of every year, and I can step outside in the morning without feeling like I've been locked in a freezer. So my life has improved vastly. I've got about three months before the 401k runs out, so I should be able to land some sort of job by then. So there's still a chance things will work out, as long as my car doesn't kill me first. 

Seracen wrote...

Also, thanks for the input!

I am still torn on the clone vs alterniverse decision, on the other fic.

If I go clone, I am basically cloning half the Normandy crew, b/c you can't just bring back Thane, I literally have to bring back other chars to justify him coming back.

No problem, I'm happy to help. :happy: I'd actually forgotten to mention the clone bit. I thought it'd just be Shepard, but now that you said half the crew would be cloned... This has a ton of potential. If I remember correctly (and if I'm not conflating this with something else entirely), one of the possibilites you mentioned a while back was the Shep clone was created by Cerberus, but they goofed and the clone ended up female instead of male. Could make for an interesting story if Cerberus screwed up several of the clones and they ended up the opposite gender.  For instance, imagine how awesome a female Zaeed would be. Especially if the clones are programmed with the originals' memories. I've suddenly got this image in my head of fem-Zaeed growling at some random guy, "If you keep staring at my ******, I'll shove this rifle up your ass and fire a concussive shot."

And given Cerberus's track record with their experiments and projects, it's not unreasonable to think yet another of their ventures would turn into a bit of a pooch-screw. 

Seracen wrote...

On that note, however, the "Cult of Reaper/Shepard" makes a fine idea, and a fine way of explaining why anyone would do anything.  I am loathe to try to create a new enemy to outdo the reapers.  However, if this is a cult we are speaking of, the Leviathan from my idea could be picking up the thralls for it's own purposes.

I'll definitely have to acknowledge you in the credits as well, to please let me know if there's a name you prefer (ff.net, deviant art, or BSN ID)!

Glad you like the idea. :happy: Now that you mention it, yeah, coming up with something even more powerful than the Reapers would be a bit much. Having the Leviathan using the cult would make a much better story.

As for acknowledgement, either my ff.net username or just my real name, Fred T. Kerns (which I've begun using wherever possible) with a link to my website (http://fredtkerns.weebly.com/) which has links to just about everything I'm doing online. And thanks! 

Ignis Mors wrote...

Can't we all just agree space magic is cool and move on? This is making my head hurt. [smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/sad.png[/smilie]

Well, some space magic is cool. And some space magic pushes things so far that it breaks the story. 

Anyway, I find this kind of stuff fascinating. Probably because I'm a colossal nerd.  How colossal? Well, a few weeks ago, I had finally managed to get a pretty big chunk of writing done on my current Transformers Prime fic, when I reached a point in the story where a ship began transiting the far side of the moon. I wanted to insert something in the dialogue about how long they'd be in communications blackout with Earth until the ship passed back around to the near side. I ended up spending nearly an hour trying to find the answer (which is 45 minutes, by the way). I could've just glossed it over, but I wanted to get it right. 

I managed to write a few more paragraphs, but then I started wondering, out of nowhere, whether Cybertron's inhabitants could be considered a Type I, Type II, or Type III civilization. I think I whizzed away another hour and a half looking up stuff on various wikis and whatnot, and never really figured it out. Should've used that time to keep writing, but sometimes I just nerd out on stuff like this. 

[teh DRUMPf!!]

 The next chapter of my 'fic is giving me fits.

It's just a back-and-forth conversation, and I've written out nearly everything I want to talk about, but the "flow" really sucks!