9960 réponses à ce sujet

[Seracen]

Back on the Farscape line, I had a mooch around IMDB and although I was aware that they recycled their acting troupe a lot if they need anything voiced, I was quite surprised to see that Crais (Lani John Tupu) also does the voice for Pilot.  Never would have called that.  I've also had a good laugh at the number of the actors who have appeared in all those bad Aussie daytime soap operas we used to get in the 70s and 80s, like A Country Practice, Flying Doctors, The Sullivans, and so on.  

I asked Lani what it was like doing two main characters.  He said he'd have to do double the ADR work, and left the studio hoarse and weary every day.  Funny enough,  Claudia, Ben, and Virginia hadn't realized he had to do so much work.  It was a real treat meeting them; it's nice when your icons are nice people!

 

Welp, finally started poking away at another fanfic.  It isn't based on ME (rather, on the anime Sword Art Online).  Trying to rush out a few chapters so I can at least develop a following before the new season finishes...though after that I fully intend to take my time writing the rest of the series.

 

On that note...I just realized that I never really consider fanfic lengths ahead of time.  Even my one-shots were just however long I needed to tell the story.  Sure, I knew they would be shorter than full length...but even those went longer than I'd estimated.  Considering the tome I just finished writing...I have NO idea what to expect from this forthcoming project.  I just hope it isn't another 400 page monster!

 

I'm not daunted, I just find it amusing.

[YurigirlzCrush]

I haven't been worried about the lengths of my stories either. I am trying to keep all the chapters (other than the prologue) more or less uniform in length, but i'll end up writing as many chapters as it takes to tell what I want to tell. *nod* even if it's 1,082 chapters long by the end. *pauses* I really hope none of them are that long... *grins* of course, it would help if my mind didn't insist on working on a different story every day or even writing something new each week. my list of fanfics in progress is getting a little excessive. especially after I just binge-watched the entire Firefly series on Netflix yesterday afternoon and this morning.

[MrStoob]

Indeed, I try not to worry too much about that either.  My oneshots range from just a few hundred words to a few thousand.  But I think one should not labour a point if it's not necessary, so I try to very much get to the nub of the matter of what it is I'm trying to tell/say.  Probably one of my shortest is about the first natural krogan still birth after the genophage is cured, which may be a bit odd, coz really that subject could fill reams.

[YurigirlzCrush]

totes off topic, but I'm surprised:

 

I'm guessing the new Transformers movie is pretty bad? I woke up to a text from my friend Jim (a huge Transformers fanboy) swearing all kinds of vengeance on Michael Bay... so I went to watch a review from one of my fav internet critics to see if maybe Jim was overreacting because sometimes he does that... and the review was even worse! *shakes head* I guess I'm lucky I'm not into those types of movies! either that or two of my trusted sources for movie info are wrong on this one. which I guess is possible... *smiles*

 

 

on topic: (well, in terms of it's about writing for a fanfic, but not really ME related *sheepish*)

 

for the crowd familiar with Firefly/Serenity: if you were going to write a fanfic for the genre (and wanted to include some Chinese snippets to keep with the flavor of the show) how would you handle them? currently I'm just writing the dialogue and inserting Chinese where it feels appropriate and then putting a translations section at the very end of each chapter. Or would it be better to maybe put the translations in parenthesis directly in the dialogue? Like... "Wo buneng xiangxin zhe... (I can't believe this...) How did we not see this coming?"

[Ignis Mors]

totes off topic, but I'm surprised:

 

I'm guessing the new Transformers movie is pretty bad? I woke up to a text from my friend Jim (a huge Transformers fanboy) swearing all kinds of vengeance on Michael Bay... so I went to watch a review from one of my fav internet critics to see if maybe Jim was overreacting because sometimes he does that... and the review was even worse! *shakes head* I guess I'm lucky I'm not into those types of movies! either that or two of my trusted sources for movie info are wrong on this one. which I guess is possible... *smiles*

 

 

on topic: (well, in terms of it's about writing for a fanfic, but not really ME related *sheepish*)

 

for the crowd familiar with Firefly/Serenity: if you were going to write a fanfic for the genre (and wanted to include some Chinese snippets to keep with the flavor of the show) how would you handle them? currently I'm just writing the dialogue and inserting Chinese where it feels appropriate and then putting a translations section at the very end of each chapter. Or would it be better to maybe put the translations in parenthesis directly in the dialogue? Like... "Wo buneng xiangxin zhe... (I can't believe this...) How did we not see this coming?"

Some people who are Transformers fanboys are just, "This isn't G1, **** this!" I have before gotten into screaming matches on Transformers forums about TF Prime(The best transformers series ever.) They were like, "G1 was way better than this." It pretty much depends on what you expect from a Transformers movie. If you expect it to be a deep characters/story thing, you're going for the wrong things. Think of them like a dumb 80's action flick. Something like a lot of Schwarzennegar's work. 

Also, there is Optimus Prime riding Grimlock, a film which has this, at least in my opinion, gains instant immunity to any and all criticism.

[hot_heart]

for the crowd familiar with Firefly/Serenity: if you were going to write a fanfic for the genre (and wanted to include some Chinese snippets to keep with the flavor of the show) how would you handle them? currently I'm just writing the dialogue and inserting Chinese where it feels appropriate and then putting a translations section at the very end of each chapter. Or would it be better to maybe put the translations in parenthesis directly in the dialogue? Like... "Wo buneng xiangxin zhe... (I can't believe this...) How did we not see this coming?"

 

I would put translations at the end, along with how to actually pronounce them phonetically ("go-suh"). Partly because doing both together seems too disruptive, but also because you never knew quite what they were saying during the show/film.

 

Obviously, it's important that the Chinese usage is still understandable in context (remember, in the show you had all the benefits of an actor's performance and such) so that's a consideration.

 

Additionally, it would probably encourage people to read back through again, and that's got to be a good thing.

 

If you want any help with the dialogue, let me know. I love love love the Firefly dialogue and I know it can be a tricky thing to get right. I was tempted to write a 'missing episode' at one point, but I just don't think I have the time/patience.

 

Good news is that my nightmare fortnight/anti-vacation is almost over, and I'll be back to reading a lot more and finally finding time to share feedback soon enough.

[teh DRUMPf!!]

 Looking for ideas here, what's a good "James Vega nickname" for specialist Traynor?

[MrStoob]

Hmmm.  Not certain what reference Vega would use in reaction to her accent, except maybe something that implies 'lar-de-dar' or maybe something more facetious, like 'Nancy' hehe.  That's an 'Oliver!' reference, in case you were wondering.

[Seracen]

 Looking for ideas here, what's a good "James Vega nickname" for specialist Traynor?

I must be nice...I must be nice...I must be nice...Trying to avoid saying mean things, per what her character inclusion meant.  As a plot device...I was not very receptive to her.  As a person, I liked her, and found her amusing and quirky.

 

I could see him naming her "radio" for her skills, or "chess" for her hobby.  I do like Stoob's idea of "Nancy."  If you want to reference DA2, you could always use "Daisy" or "Sunshine," as she has a very kind and bubbly personality.  However, I don't think Vega would necessarily name her.  After all, he never named Cortez, and they seem best friends.  I just feel that Vega reserves nicknames for strangers he doesn't know well, or relationships that confuse him (ie: the Commander that he both respects yet feels an equal to).

 

Actually, this could also tie back into DA2, if you have Sam ask Jimmy why she doesn't have a nickname...in fact, I can see her teasing him about it ("What, I'm not worth a nickname, Mr. Fridge McLargehuge?").  Now that I think about it, I may have to use that idea...the scene almost writes itself!

[YurigirlzCrush]

Seracen, Vega did name Cortez. he calls him Esteban almost constantly. *smiles* (although I probably misspelled that and butchered it horribly... that's just what it sounds like).

 

and thanks, hot heart, for helping lay my doubts to rest. I've been putting the translations at the chapter's ends so far, so i'll keep doing that. and you are so right about the speech patterns being tricky. but I do all my writing in two stages, so I can't take you up on your offer to look it over yet. right now I'm just writing rough drafts. So presently I am writing dialogue that's only partially accurate to the show. I use some of the verbal bits, but I'm not worrying about it sounding perfectly authentic yet. when I do my edit, I basically rewrite everything to make it a lot prettier to read, and that's when I'll concentrate on rewording the dialogue to fit better into the flavor of the show. all the conversational content will be set up by then, so it's all just a matter of making it sound nice. *smiles*

[Seracen]

Seracen, Vega did name Cortez. he calls him Esteban almost constantly. *smiles* (although I probably misspelled that and butchered it horribly... that's just what it sounds like).

 

and thanks, hot heart, for helping lay my doubts to rest. I've been putting the translations at the chapter's ends so far, so i'll keep doing that. and you are so right about the speech patterns being tricky. but I do all my writing in two stages, so I can't take you up on your offer to look it over yet. right now I'm just writing rough drafts. So presently I am writing dialogue that's only partially accurate to the show. I use some of the verbal bits, but I'm not worrying about it sounding perfectly authentic yet. when I do my edit, I basically rewrite everything to make it a lot prettier to read, and that's when I'll concentrate on rewording the dialogue to fit better into the flavor of the show. all the conversational content will be set up by then, so it's all just a matter of making it sound nice. *smiles*

Forgot about that, lol!  He said it so naturally, I always thought his name was actually Esteban.  I remember now that it was..."STEEVE!!!"  Even still, it still strikes me "Steve Esteban Cortez."  Ah well.  I still feel like he wouldn't necessarily name everyone.  I am sure there are some crewmates he didn't have nicknames for.  Personally, my Femshep pretty much quelled his desire to call her "Lola."  Of course, my Femshep was a bit more Renegade than my BroShep, and she didn't care much for Vega's sass.

 

I suppose if I were a member of the Normandy crew, I would stare at Vega and teach him how to pronounce my name properly...but that's only because people have been butchering the pronunciation of my name all my life, haha!  Eventually, I cut my name in half for my nickname, but I would have been less receptive to others giving me one (which tried to happen a few times).

 

Point being...how would Samantha react to him giving her a nickname?  Would she be flattered or offended?  For my story, I had Tali tease Vega about it...

 

Tali: "Mr. Vega...are you disrespecting an Admiral of the Quarian Flotilla?"

 

Vega: "What?!  Er...no MA'AM!!!"

 

Garrus: [chuckles] "Stop tormenting the poor guy..."

 

Vega: "Oh...it was a joke...ha...hah...."

 

I kind of left it open as to whether Tali was amused, didn't like her nickname, or found the whole affair simply odd.  Probably a combination of all three.  Actually, considering the DLC, Vega might name Samantha "toothbrush."  I can picture Sam giving him hell for it, haha!

[Seracen]

So, I was just looking at some of the metrics for my story traffic...odd...

 

Within the first two months of "Requiem" being released (ME3 ending fic published soon after the game dropped), I had over 400 visitors with over 2000 views...resulting in a dozen or so reviews.

 

Within the first month and a half of "Paladins" being completed (the recent story), I have had nearly 1000 visitors with over 4000 views...resulting in 3 reviews.

 

Alas, ff.net still hasn't sent me the reset on my original account, but I can extrapolate the counts from the reviews present on those stories.  Still, the trends are a bit counter-intuitive...

 

Firstly, it's humbling to realize that so many people are reading your content.  On the other hand, I don't let myself become too enamored of it, as there are plenty of stories, videos, etc, that garner far more views.  But considering the earlier question of garnering reviews...it's odd.  I have more views on this story, but less feedback.  Is it b/c ME3 is so far removed?  Well, that can't be it, b/c the visitor rate hasn't dropped.  Is it that I haven't done a proper job of exposing the story out there?  Well, that's another beast entirely, as of this post, there are over 15,000 ME fanfics.  I can create as many tags as I want, I highly doubt the filtration process will make it that much easier to find my stuff.

 

Incidentally, I generally search out fanfics by completion, then further hone what I will read according to romantic pairings, or how eye-catching the flavor text summary is.  I only follow the incomplete works of author's I know about (eg: the people in this thread, or the faves of my fave authors).

 

While I am on the subject, posting fanfic has been responsible for some of the greatest blessings in my life.  I have made lifelong friends and honorary family members from interacting with my fellow fans and co-authors (from the posts on the old account).  Furthermore, this thread remains a daily stop for me, these conversations, and writing/reading fanfic in general, are a great source of enjoyment and calm.

 

I will now stop before my ramble gets all maudlin...

[YurigirlzCrush]

I really hope I get that sort of readership when I finally put something up for public viewing. I'm so nervous about the idea that I might not see anyone coming to read my stories. *frowns* reviews would be nice, of course, but I'm really afraid that no one will be interested enough to bother reading, or that the reviews I do get will be negative. that sort of reception might sort of crush me. I would honestly be ecstatic with 2000 views! if 2000 people actually cared enough to read what I write? *smiles* so worth it! even if none of them have anything to say. at least I would know it was good enough for people to read.

 

 

oh. when I filter for something to read though, I don't generally limit to completed stories. as long as something has been updated recently (or is marked complete) I'll give it a read if it interests me. my filters are always romance genre, English language, >5000 words, and then romance pairing if I'm looking for something specific. or just one character if I don't care who they're paired with.

[Seracen]

I wouldn't worry about finding people who enjoy your writing.  You seem an intelligent and sincere enough!   Having read some snippets of your work, I look forward to reading future projects!

 

Furthermore, there is a niche for practically any story; it's just a question of finding it.  I will state that I've gotten quite a few PM's off of redirects in my sig in these forums.  Personally, I am more likely to click on sigs to find quality work.  But yeah, per my earlier statement, I am partial to the completed works...I am generally bad with cliff-hangers.  Hell, I will avoid watching an entire series/season of an anime/tv show, just so I can binge watch it later on.

 

Which is why Dresden Files perturbs me so, lol.  I love the series, but it'll be at least 5-10 years before it finishes!  I waited on Wheel of Time until the last books came out...so I am rolling through those right now, between classes and writing.

[Seracen]

Hah, I find myself thinking and blocking out my story at all times, sometimes during overly long speeches and such.  Ah well, bump for great justice!

 

EDIT: Found a way see lifetime visitor counts, as opposed to month-by-month...  Holy crap!  I am still certain that several of you have plenty more (if reviews are any barometer), but if I could channel even half of those counts into my subsequent projects...it would be amazing!

[YurigirlzCrush]

I do have to admit that I totes skew the numbers on stories I read, I'm sure. *smiles* I mean... if I'm reading your story, you get a view hit on the first chapter every time I go to the story, then you get a hit on the last chapter I read, because before I read a new chapter I always reread the one before it first to remind myself what happened last, and then you get a view for the new chapter! so for stories I follow, the authors get three hits out of me every single time I go to their story. and that's assuming I don't open the story, click the reviews to see if maybe I could put up the first review of the chapter (I have a weird obsession with that) and then reopen the story again. in which case you get four. *grins*

[MrStoob]

I do have to admit that I totes skew the numbers on stories I read, I'm sure. *smiles* I mean... if I'm reading your story, you get a view hit on the first chapter every time I go to the story, then you get a hit on the last chapter I read, because before I read a new chapter I always reread the one before it first to remind myself what happened last, and then you get a view for the new chapter! so for stories I follow, the authors get three hits out of me every single time I go to their story. and that's assuming I don't open the story, click the reviews to see if maybe I could put up the first review of the chapter (I have a weird obsession with that) and then reopen the story again. in which case you get four. *grins*

I think that kind of thing gets filtered/managed by the user/IP.

[teh DRUMPf!!]

 Next chapter's almost ready for publish! I may even share it here when I'm done.

 

Teaser-spoiler ahoy...

 

Spoiler

Traynor kills the latest main enemy.

[Seracen]

 Next chapter's almost ready for publish! I may even share it here when I'm done.

 

Teaser-spoiler ahoy...

 

Spoiler

Traynor kills the latest main enemy.

Hah, to that I would reply, as Vega...

Spoiler

Damn it Toothbrush...you stole my kill!!!

[MrStoob]

Hah, to that I would reply, as Vega...

Spoiler

Damn it Toothbrush...you stole my kill!!!

Is 'Colgate' a reference-able international brand?

Spoiler

Damn it, Colgate...you stole my kill!!!

[Fatiguesdualism]

 Looking for ideas here, what's a good "James Vega nickname" for specialist Traynor?

Bit late, but how about 'reina' it's Spanish for 'queen' which kind of ties into Traynor's accent (gotta love RP  ) and chess?

 

Anyway talking about 'Firefly' I've only just discovered the 'Tales of the Ketty Jay' series has finished with a fourth book (it came out last year - there are times when I miss living near a book shop!  ) 

[Seracen]

Is 'Colgate' a reference-able international brand?

Spoiler

Damn it, Colgate...you stole my kill!!!

Does Colgate exist in the future?  It sort of reminds me of Blade Runner.  Funny enough...nearly all the companies that showed up in that film are now bankrupt and nonexistent!  IIRC, they labeled it a sort of curse.

 

There you go Product Placement!  Fear the inclusion and oversaturation you may get in the next ME game!!!  I shall totally write a fanfic where my Shepard vandalizes a "Space Hooters" while fighting a Krogan in a "Starrbux" uniform!

[MrStoob]

I don't mind that kind of silly reference if it's done well and humorous.

 

I had a 'shtick' oneshot of the ME1 crew having their first 'music night' (Wrex wanted combat styles from around the galaxy but Shepard said "Wrex..." in her impatient mother kind of a way) and 'Earth' (ofc) comes up as the first choice.  Wrex chooses 'Spring' from Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

 

...

 

“Wrex...” Verity says, “you never have to contact banking establishments do you?”

 

“Uh, not often. Why?”

 

“Because every time they put you on hold to speak with a manger to authorize a perfectly simple transaction after patronising you for the previous half hour, they play this damn music! God only knows how it circulated the galaxy so quickly.”

[Seracen]

Brilliant idea... fighting a krogan "Starbuxx" employee while listening to Vivaldi WHILE INSIDE the Space Hooters!!!

 

In all seriousness, I love those little moments of culture clash.  I said this earlier, but an amusing little tidbit I had was Shep having to explain what "Mexican Standoff" meant.

[MrStoob]

Talking of cultural nuances: elevator music.  Now, I'm from the UK and I don't recall being in an elevator with music, except possibly during a short period in the 70s.  Does music still get piped in, in the US?  Is the elevator music gag a throw-back to a bygone age, but timelessly reference-able by self-reference?  I just pondered, I wouldn't mind some cheese-core muzak being piped in.