9959 odpowiedzi w tym temacie

[fluffywalrus]

lillitheris wrote...

I’m feeling kind of whiny today, so I’ll get this off my chest:

I’d really like more interaction with my readers. Unity has around 400 regular readers and it seems to be climbing* but I think only 7 or so different people have commented on it either on my thread here or in FFN reviews. One guy (?) leaves a comment after each chapter, and that’s always nice.

It’s not so much that I need to have a daily fix of ultra-detailed and useful reviews or OMG UR AWSUM (although a girl can dream, right?), I’d be just as happy if someone told me they hated something I wrote every day, or that they stopped reading because of X.

OK, maybe not as happy…but I wouldn’t be displeased. You know what I mean. Interaction! I’m a social animal.

* I’ve actually been keeping an eye on the visitor count and trying to observe trends and drop-offs…I have 3 chapters after which there’s a sharp drop-off. Some of this is natural erosion, and some just coincidental, but I’ve been looking at those chapters to see if there are particular problems with them that might be contributing to it.

Hrm. I totally get wanting reader interaction...I do a lot of my writing for myself, but the thought of someone enjoying it enough to actually say so, or give constructive feedback is nice. Especially constructive stuff, because I'm a rusty as hell writer that isn't sure I'm pacing the story properly and building characters properly and all that jazz.

I'm going to admit, I'm a bit intimidated by your fanfic because you update regularly and I already have a hell of a lot of fics I'm actively following. Fifteen chapters in like, 24 days is crazy! I have precious little free time as it is to write and read, and I fear I'd just stop writing. :\\  I mean, I want to read the Dark Energy fic too by Malaradark, and a slew of others but...they're so loooong, and I'm not in the habit of sacrificing sleep anymore
But maybe if I can will myself to read just one more fic....maybe I'll be fine. Oh hell, I have a few hours today, I'll dive in
I've started the habit of reviewing every fic whenever a new chapter comes out(or every other chapter if they update often) just because...well, I can. It takes a minute or two. I'm not sure why others don't just take the time to either let people know they like it or don't or whatnot.

[MrStoob]

Hi all. I've been inspired by the great work on this forum in general to have a go myself. I'm working on a short scene at the mo. Don't think I'm ready for a full on story just yet, I haven't written any fiction since my last CV (resume), so it might just be complete tosh lol. I'll post up once I'm done.

[Sialater]

Hmmm, discovered this just in time to ask a question of my own for lore...

Do the quarians have a funeral tradition/ceremony? If not, what do y'all think they might do?

(I'm assuming no actual burial, but jettisoning the bodies into the nearest star or nebula.)

[MrStoob]

Hm, gotta wait a couple of days before I can upload to FF anyway.

[Spartanburger]

I get the feeling that I'll be spending much of my time in this thread in the near future.

BTW: lillitheris, I find it funny that your post-ME3 fic "Unity" has the same name as my post-ME3 one-shot.

IliyaMoroumetz wrote...

Self-Insertions are of the DEVIL! They are made of egotistical ******!

Although I agree for a direct Self Insert, I am pretty sure it can be done well. I think the coined term is to use/create an "Author-insert-fantasy-persona." Then the goal is to make the character as realistic in the universe itself.

This is the biggest problem for me.

I am currently writing a fic that's in the same universe as the two one-shots I've made to far. I wanted to create a character that I've had floating around in my head for some time. The whole idea was to be some kind of technology-god thing. It didn't seem... fun... with the character as powerful as he was, so I tore him apart and rebuilt him from scratch (rather literally). In the end, he's kinda become a "Tony Stark" of the ME universe, only with way more problems and not as badass.

Sialater wrote...

Hmmm, discovered this just in time to ask a question of my own for lore...

Do the quarians have a funeral tradition/ceremony? If not, what do y'all think they might do?

(I'm assuming no actual burial, but jettisoning the bodies into the nearest star or nebula.)

Well, although it's not mentioned in the game, you are probably correct in assuming that they jettison the bodies.

The body itself would probably be rapped in fabric of the same pattern as the clan of the dead Quarian, and before being jettisoned a prayer would be said similar to Tali's pass code or the phrase used before the meeting of the Admiralty board in ME2. Something about the soul going to join the ancestors.

[MrStoob]

Seeking advice:

Would an asari refer to another asari as a 'woman'? Like, "She was a beautiful woman" or would they more likely say "She was a beautiful person"? I'm sure Aethyta would call me an "anthropocentric bag of dicks" on this point lol. They do use a lot of female-centric words but wasn't sure on this one.

[lillitheris]

MrStoob wrote...

Seeking advice:

Would an asari refer to another asari as a 'woman'? Like, "She was a beautiful woman" or would they more likely say "She was a beautiful person"? I'm sure Aethyta would call me an "anthropocentric bag of dicks" on this point lol. They do use a lot of female-centric words but wasn't sure on this one.

Yes. You have to take into account the translation software. Another option is to use ‘asari’ wherever you’d use ‘woman’…but you’re still stuck with ‘she’ unless you AU your Systems Alliance to be progressive enough to have adopted e.g. ‘se’ to mean both ‘he’ and ‘she’ (this is – don’t laugh – one of my favourite things about the country I’m currently in, no gender pronouns.)

I actually briefly considered using ‘se’ in my fic, but that’d probably be pushing it…

Also awesome that you’re going for it too!

Użytkownik lillitheris edytował ten post 26 maj 2012 - 08:11

[lillitheris]

Spartanburger wrote...

I get the feeling that I'll be spending much of my time in this thread in the near future.

BTW: lillitheris, I find it funny that your post-ME3 fic "Unity" has the same name as my post-ME3 one-shot.

Tehee, yes! Yours is actually next on my list…

Sialater wrote...

Hmmm, discovered this just in time to ask a question of my own for lore...

Do the quarians have a funeral tradition/ceremony? If not, what do y'all think they might do?

(I'm assuming no actual burial, but jettisoning the bodies into the nearest star or nebula.)

Well, although it's not mentioned in the game, you are probably correct in assuming that they jettison the bodies.

I would personally assume that they either ‘recycle’ the bodies or otherwise store their ashes/similar to be, keelah’selai, deposited on Rannoch one day.

There’s no lore, not even for Rael’Zorah’s death so far as I know…I haven’t spent serious time on  it but my romantic vague thought is that all their belongings including the suit are either gifted or made into spare parts to benefit the Flotilla. The bodies themselves would be cremated and used to feed the soil. Although, thinking about it, there’s something appealing about the thought that the ashes would be saved to be sown into the first new fields (or a garden if the alternative is squikky) on Rannoch or something like that. Maybe there’d be a choice for the deceased? Or, you know, pre-deceased choice.

The funeral ceremonies I haven’t really thought about…There’s so few of the quarians (I’m actually bumping them up to about 50 million instead of the 17(?)) that each death is a big deal…whole ship attending, that sort of thing.

Użytkownik lillitheris edytował ten post 26 maj 2012 - 08:10

[MrStoob]

lillitheris wrote...

Spartanburger wrote...

I get the feeling that I'll be spending much of my time in this thread in the near future.

BTW: lillitheris, I find it funny that your post-ME3 fic "Unity" has the same name as my post-ME3 one-shot.

Tehee, yes! Yours is actually next on my list…

Sialater wrote...

Hmmm, discovered this just in time to ask a question of my own for lore...

Do the quarians have a funeral tradition/ceremony? If not, what do y'all think they might do?

(I'm assuming no actual burial, but jettisoning the bodies into the nearest star or nebula.)

Well, although it's not mentioned in the game, you are probably correct in assuming that they jettison the bodies.

I would personally assume that they either ‘recycle’ the bodies or otherwise store their ashes/similar to be, keelah’selai, deposited on Rannoch one day.

There’s no lore, not even for Rael’Zorah’s death so far as I know…I haven’t spent serious time on  it but my romantic vague thought is that all their belongings including the suit are either gifted or made into spare parts to benefit the Flotilla. The bodies themselves would be cremated and used to feed the soil. Although, thinking about it, there’s something appealing about the thought that the ashes would be saved to be sown into the first new fields (or a garden if the alternative is squikky) on Rannoch or something like that. Maybe there’d be a choice for the deceased? Or, you know, pre-deceased choice.

The funeral ceremonies I haven’t really thought about…There’s so few of the quarians (I’m actually bumping them up to about 50 million instead of the 17(?)) that each death is a big deal…whole ship attending, that sort of thing.

Soilent Green anyone? 

[IliyaMoroumetz]

Spartanburger wrote...
Although I agree for a direct Self Insert, I am pretty sure it can be done well. I think the coined term is to use/create an "Author-insert-fantasy-persona." Then the goal is to make the character as realistic in the universe itself.

This is the biggest problem for me.

Pretty much.  Almost always, the case is the author is able to enter the universe of their choosing through absurd means and is somehow, despite having no training, no experience, and no clout, is able to somehow develop a rapport with fictional characters as though they were intimately aware of them.  I call complete bull turds on that.

I am currently writing a fic that's in the same universe as the two one-shots I've made to far. I wanted to create a character that I've had floating around in my head for some time. The whole idea was to be some kind of technology-god thing. It didn't seem... fun... with the character as powerful as he was, so I tore him apart and rebuilt him from scratch (rather literally). In the end, he's kinda become a "Tony Stark" of the ME universe, only with way more problems and not as badass.

That's closer to an OC than anything else, as long as it's not you.  

And even then, OCs are a precarious thing.  Because the problem with OCs is more often than not, hack fanfiction authors use these poorly disguised SIs as being more capable than the existing cast, instead of trying to write their own stories.

OCs are meant to be used sparingly and have little, to no, impact on the established story if they are to be effective.

[jtav]

Silly question, but how do you get people to read your stuff? My taste in fic runs to non-canon pairings. Liara/Mirand, that sort of thing. Advertising on the BSN hasn't been pleasant, shall we say?

[gearseffect]

This is just a complaint I have to get off, I find that the one thing that fuels me to write more is feedback, all feedback, constructive criticism especially, and insight into how I'm pulling things off.


I really enjoy well thought out, engaging feedback. However I've been sorely lacking that as of late on my Fanfics, most my feedback I've been getting is basically the equivalent of feedback people give to art on deviantart sometimes "Good job nice work".

Anyway side note, I don't know how to see my stories view count and stuff on Fanfic.net. This may or may not be a good thing for me to find out how to see that.

[Spartanburger]

IliyaMoroumetz wrote...
OCs are meant to be used sparingly and have little, to no, impact on the established story if they are to be effective.

Personally, I disagree with this statement. The problem is that it is difficult to create/write in a new and original character and make it as interesting as the predefined characters. I remember one fic that brought in plenty of original characters from Shepard's past in the Alliance and even before then. They were by all means important for the story and they were interesting characters, but they were simply not as interesting as the ones we know and love like Tali, Garrus, Joker, EDI, Vega, Ash, Kai Kai, ect ect.
Once again, the whole idea is balance. If an OC character is to interfere/impact the established story, it has to be done in a believable way. Don't have too many important OC characters either, else the pre-established main characters might start to seem irrelevant. At least, that's what I think from what I've read.

[Spartanburger]

gearseffect wrote...

Anyway side note, I don't know how to see my stories view count and stuff on Fanfic.net. This may or may not be a good thing for me to find out how to see that.

Everything you need is under the "Traffic Stats" thing.



I am always surprised by the numbers I see here.

Użytkownik Spartanburger edytował ten post 26 maj 2012 - 08:50

[lillitheris]

fluffywalrus wrote...

Hrm. I totally get wanting reader interaction...I do a lot of my writing for myself, but the thought of someone enjoying it enough to actually say so, or give constructive feedback is nice. Especially constructive stuff, because I'm a rusty as hell writer that isn't sure I'm pacing the story properly and building characters properly and all that jazz.

I definitely get that. I’m a complete novice myself so I’m sure there’s lots of insight I could gain from those. My chosen field of work is also essentially just a big critique-feedback loop of constant improvement and scrapping of previous work, so I’ve no problem with someone telling me I suck (hopefully in more specific terms ).

But first and foremost I…I dunno, I just kind of want to feel that there’re people reading!

If I actually get someone who likes my dream sequences or the way I portray Vega or whoever, all the better. Or someone who dislikes it enough to tell me where they differ, for that matter.

I'm going to admit, I'm a bit intimidated by your fanfic because you update regularly and I already have a hell of a lot of fics I'm actively following. Fifteen chapters in like, 24 days is crazy! I have precious little free time as it is to write and read, and I fear I'd just stop writing. :  I mean, I want to read the Dark Energy fic too by Malaradark, and a slew of others but...they're so loooong, and I'm not in the habit of sacrificing sleep anymore
But maybe if I can will myself to read just one more fic....maybe I'll be fine. Oh hell, I have a few hours today, I'll dive in
I've started the habit of reviewing every fic whenever a new chapter comes out(or every other chapter if they update often) just because...well, I can. It takes a minute or two. I'm not sure why others don't just take the time to either let people know they like it or don't or whatnot.

I hope you do take the plunge and read mine! Although, in interest of fairness, if I had to recommend just a single one to read, it’d be DE. It’s just absolutely awesome both in the colloquial and literal meanings…plus as an occasional bonus we get ravynwriter (=Mel) visits here!

I’m here all the time, of course

(Also, full disclosure, I’ve spent a whole lot of time figuring out the aftermath events way before I started writing. The “Meaningful Sacrifice” thread in my signature is really what the whole thing grew out of.)

…

I have no idea if this is actually a big thing or not…but if there’re a lot of people out there who only leave reviews at the end of the story, or arc, or after having caught up 50 chapters, that could be one reason for the dearth. Dunno how it can be encouraged, but leaving something at least every two-three chapters would be pretty awesome for me as an author.

Or let’s say in a case like my fic that (for now) updates fairly often, or Mel with her mindboggling pace of nearly every weekday: do a big summary-ish review weekly or biweekly, and leave shorter notes inbetween?

…

Also, my ‘chapter every other day, not once a week’ dogma: this varies, of course…it works for me, right now, but there’s nothing stopping you from trying a chapter every three days. The crucial part is more the ‘not once a week’ Ideally, if you’re like me, you should be just slightly pressed on time – for others, it might work better with a small grace period, so to speak. You just have to find the right balance that you can’t afford to get off-track.

…

Er, /rambling  And to think someone once asked me why I liked Liara…

[o Ventus]

lillitheris wrote...

o Ventus wrote...

I have an awkward fanfic confession--

I like to write my own fics, but I don't much care for reading others. Does this make me a bad person?

Nope… I assume you do read published work at least? Also, do you care about having readers yourself?

Also, then end of a school year is a terrible time to be a writer.

Wait ’til you work full-time

I suppose I mangled the wording in my post to the point of no return. I'll read a published fic, of course. No qualms about that. But if you're someone I don't know either personally or as an author, I tend to not do anything with it. A bad social stigma, I guess is the best way to put it. Probably ingrained from my early years of reading nothing but god-awful Transformers and DBZ fics from people who are anonymous.

[fluffywalrus]

lillitheris wrote...

I hope you do take the plunge and read mine!

Done and done!  Twas a good, refreshing read

I have no idea if this is actually a big thing or not…but if there’re a lot of people out there who only leave reviews at the end of the story, or arc, or after having caught up 50 chapters, that could be one reason for the dearth. Dunno how it can be encouraged, but leaving something at least every two-three chapters would be pretty awesome for me as an author.

Hrm. I can understand leaving reviews at the end of a story, but only if it's like 1-5 chapters. Otherwise I'd feel like some sort of miser. I know that when I read established stories with a lot of chapters, I do a review at the most recent chapter only, summing my thoughts up.

Also, my ‘chapter every other day, not once a week’ dogma: this varies, of course…it works for me, right now, but there’s nothing stopping you from trying a chapter every three days. The crucial part is more the ‘not once a week’ Ideally, if you’re like me, you should be just slightly pressed on time – for others, it might work better with a small grace period, so to speak. You just have to find the right balance that you can’t afford to get off-track.

Hrm. I've been trying to set my deadline as once a week, but it's not that I don't write each day. I tend to write what comes to mind, so I have part of a chapter done right now, and then I have segments of chapters later on that I haven't even started yet. I kind of just jump all over the place, and I normally rewrite what segments I do write in advance, but it usually helps speed things up.

Not sure I could write a chapter every other day, but every 3 or 4 days seems do-able. I usually aim for 3500-4500 words, so that gives me enough room, usually.

Anywho, I wrote you a big review on FF. And thanks for the advice

[lillitheris]

Seracen wrote...

I think SI's are a step to a much larger form of writing. It's what many author's do to wrap their heads around the writing process. On occasion, it can be done well, as long as the character holds true to a certain sense of ideals and progresses through arcs like normal characters

New perspective, thank you. As a learning device it makes sense even for ME where, as was mentioned, Shepard basically is a SI (if you so desire). Perhaps it’s still easier to anchor onto Shepard as a separate character for this type of writing.

However, a true master can hide SI quite handily, especially if the entire thing is original. Case in point: Jim Butcher and The Dresden Files. Although, to be fair, Dresden isn't 100% based off Butcher.

I’d make a distinction between Lily Lillitheris ending up in a parallel universe and basing a character – even heavily – on yourself. :happy:

[gearseffect]

MrStoob I encourage you to write your fanfics, and I'd be more than happy to offer you any support I can to help or even just give feedback in anyway.

@Spartanburger You are a godsend and You know what I noticed when I looked up that stuff, was that the chapters of my Fanfics that go into very deep, emotional character building moments get the most attention.

HAHAH It's what I strive for YES YES, Fuel FUEL FUEL! FUEL. The numbers on the last chapter of Awakening HAHA great great great, haha, I'm off to continue writing my next chapter to awakening!!!! YEAHHHHHH

[MrStoob]

Thanks gears. And yea, feedback is always needed. No sense being creative in a void. As a musician I know it can be frustrating if no-one is listening or commenting. Is it good? Is it awful? Does it need tweaking?

Edit: I had a look at your Samara stories gears, I like them.  I think you've captured the sense of dark undercurrents that Samara carries with her very well.  I can't do direct reviews yet sorry, as I'm too new to FF.  Good work.

My pedantic Englishness forces me to mention spelling.  Not everyone is bothered about such things, but it can be off-putting to some.  That'd have to be my only criticism.

Użytkownik MrStoob edytował ten post 26 maj 2012 - 11:13

[lillitheris]

Quick jot…is there a line beyond which someone becomes an OC rather than just an incidental name? Is there a distinction or terminology between side-role/supporting OCs and creating an original main character? Does an established side-role character without much established background – I’ll use Hannah Shepard or Aethyta as an example – become an ‘OC’ when you start fleshing them out more?

The first chapter of “Unity” actually features someone you’ve never heard of as a POV, for example – I don’t consider them to be an OC as such, they’re just there for a different perspective on the situation. I in fact specifically mention that there will be this type of stuff occasionally, but that I’m not introducing any new real OCs playing major roles in the near future…but on the other hand, I’ve featured Hannah, Aethyta, Kal’Reegar and will probably keep bringing them back.

I’m not really looking to change how I write in general (I like fleshed-out costars and extras), so I guess what this jumble boils down to is how I can communicate this to the reader who may be taken aback by the style initially? Are there some magic words I can use?

(Please feel free to engage in a wider discussion about developing canon but very loosely established characters, too, it’s an interesting issue…)

[lillitheris]

Spartanburger wrote...

gearseffect wrote...

Anyway side note, I don't know how to see my stories view count and stuff on Fanfic.net. This may or may not be a good thing for me to find out how to see that.

Everything you need is under the "Traffic Stats" thing.

I am always surprised by the numbers I see here.

…I’ve actually gone so far as to import the visitor counts into a spreadsheet at least daily because as nice as the graphs on FFN are, they’re disjunct. Got a couple little analysis graphs so that I can look for trends…

Yes, I’m a dork…a dork with a computer to boot (tehee).

[lillitheris]

fluffywalrus wrote...

lillitheris wrote...

I hope you do take the plunge and read mine!

Done and done!  Twas a good, refreshing read
:
Anywho, I wrote you a big review on FF. And thanks for the advice

Awesome, thank you! I’ll reply over there, unless there’s anything you feel might be of general interest.

Also, you read fast – definitely get started on DE.

Also, my ‘chapter every other day, not once a week’ dogma: this varies, of course…it works for me, right now, but there’s nothing stopping you from trying a chapter every three days. The crucial part is more the ‘not once a week’ Ideally, if you’re like me, you should be just slightly pressed on time – for others, it might work better with a small grace period, so to speak. You just have to find the right balance that you can’t afford to get off-track.

Hrm. I've been trying to set my deadline as once a week, but it's not that I don't write each day. I tend to write what comes to mind, so I have part of a chapter done right now, and then I have segments of chapters later on that I haven't even started yet. I kind of just jump all over the place, and I normally rewrite what segments I do write in advance, but it usually helps speed things up.

Not sure I could write a chapter every other day, but every 3 or 4 days seems do-able. I usually aim for 3500-4500 words, so that gives me enough room, usually.

You’d have to experiment, yeah, and it’s fully possible your workflow just needs the time to simmer. If you’re hitting your 1/week, that’s still fine – the problems are mainly if you try 1/week and fail regularly…that’s when you should definitely try switching it up.

[fluffywalrus]

lillitheris wrote...

Quick jot…is there a line beyond which someone becomes an OC rather than just an incidental name? Is there a distinction or terminology between side-role/supporting OCs and creating an original main character? Does an established side-role character without much established background – I’ll use Hannah Shepard or Aethyta as an example – become an ‘OC’ when you start fleshing them out more?

The first chapter of “Unity” actually features someone you’ve never heard of as a POV, for example – I don’t consider them to be an OC as such, they’re just there for a different perspective on the situation. I in fact specifically mention that there will be this type of stuff occasionally, but that I’m not introducing any new real OCs playing major roles in the near future…but on the other hand, I’ve featured Hannah, Aethyta, Kal’Reegar and will probably keep bringing them back.

I’m not really looking to change how I write in general (I like fleshed-out costars and extras), so I guess what this jumble boils down to is how I can communicate this to the reader who may be taken aback by the style initially? Are there some magic words I can use?

(Please feel free to engage in a wider discussion about developing canon but very loosely established characters, too, it’s an interesting issue…)

I think that fleshing out established characters like Hannah Shepard, Aethyta, Bailey, Kal'Reegar, etc. is different than making a new character, if only because most people who are familiar with the IP are familiar with those characters. There's enough to extrapolate a full character from, so long as you use what you know to flesh out the character.
OCs are new characters, and unless a lot of time will be put into developing them, they should remain side/support characters where they can flourish to a degree.

But the thing is, the reader has to care about the character, to a degree, if you want them to enjoy reading about them. You using Kasumi to bridge that gap with your OC in the first chapter was a smart decision, because I can't say for sure that I would be up for reading a full intro chapter to a Mass Effect story where I'm unfamiliar with the character(s) involved, unless I'm prompted with that to begin with(like, the subtext under the title of the story details that it's an intro story, or a large OC cast, or something). It's primarily about expectations. Were I to write a story with the first 5 chapters being populated only by OCs, but where the story was labeled "Commander Shepard has defeated the Reapers and wants to have sexytimes with Councilor Tevos", I could only expect readers to stop reading after the first or second chapter. It's not that OCs are a bad idea, it's just that in a situation such as this, they're not expected to play a major part, and depending on the pacing and how long each chapter is, the reader is left unaware whether the story will get to what they want to read.

People already have attachment to characters in the IP they care about, even if it's residual. Using Aethyta as a major character in a story wouldn't be jarring because going in, the reader likely knows the basics about Aethyta and is familiar with them, allowing the story to be grounded in the Mass Effect universe.

To me, any character not mentioned or recognized in Mass Effect is an OC in a ME fanfic. They don't need to be a major character, they don't need to even have dialogue. Any character I'm not familiar with is IMO an OC. And if you want to include more, then for sure, pursue that. It's just, the reader needs a reason to care, otherwise those sections will drag. That's why pairing them up with a familiar character to carry them is a good idea, and helps ease interest onto the OC.

As for any magical words...not sure I can help there.

[IliyaMoroumetz]

So, Lili, question; if I were to wait until your story is done, what would you want? One big comprehensive review or a review per chapter?

I also humbly submit my Kelly story! I would like to think that she's actually heroic in it.