I feel like this needs to be said: The reason why I haven't been posting on here much is because whenever I have problems with my fanfics (plot-related, writer's block, etc.) I just ask a few of my friends on FF.net for help since they've been reading my fanfics and have a general idea of where I'm going with them. I also don't have much to add most of the time, so I feel like there's no reason for me to post on here. 
Erm.... first post on the next page? * shuffles uncomfortably *
No probs, Gamer. Just because you do post here, I'd personally say don't feel obliged in any way, that'll only add to your worries if nothing else. Horrible when it feels like your work is falling apart before your eyes, I've had periods of that. Hope you get yourself sorted. 
Top post by proxy!
...
On the third day of accusations and speculations, the tone turns in Shepard's case being heard in Vancouver.
“Commander Shepard,” a representative begins, “throughout your campaigns against Saren, the geth and the Collectors, your conduct has come into question.”
“Well, d'uh, that's why we're all here isn't it?”
The representative looks annoyed and says with seriousness, “An Earth Systems Alliance officer is accountable for all their actions, and represent the people of Earth in all that they do.”
“Of course!” Shepard replies, unsure of the accusation or if there is one.
“For the benefit of the panel, I have drawn up all monies in question. You will find the full details uploaded to your omni-tools.”
“Monies? What do you mean?” Shepard now asks.
“Commander Shepard, how did you fund your campaign against Saren?”
“Well... we received payments from the Alliance for operations conducted. All standard procedure.”
“Alliance payments are standard and transparent, and would certainly not cover the expenditure shown in these records.”
“We traded and sold the armour and weapons we salvaged in the field to bolster the pot.”
“Again, all accounted for in the records, but still a serious shortfall; over the campaigns, this falls into the millions.”
“Is there a specific accusation here?” Shepard now asserts.
“Commander Shepard, over the last three years you have stolen millions of credits from private accounts with blatant, opportunistic and wilful disregard.”
“I...”
“We have received complaints from Illium, Omega, the Citadel, Noveria, all and sundry organisations, various private individuals, the list goes on. You used your hacking knowledge meant for official operations to protect the galaxy and stole from anyone and everyone across the galaxy!”
“It was mostly the proceeds of crime...” Shepard attempts to justify.
“Mostly? It would seem anywhere you have been assigned, consoles, datapads, credit chits, any available source would be exploited and went straight into your pocket. Did you ever even bother to check whose accounts you were hacking? Few of the complaints we have received have been from those incarcerated or otherwise disposed of due to your work!”
*giggling* that's funny. I always thought the same thing while playing the games. you just steal money from anywhere you can find it. even a safe in your friend's hideout (ME2, when recruiting Garrus, you empty the safe in his room... or... well, I always do. *sheepish*). but it never gets mentioned in the games. I appreciate that you wrote something about it in your story! *grins*
and good morning all! happy Sunday!
for those of you living in the UK, or especially if any of you are familiar with Welsh slang, what are some commonly-used teen slang over there? and what do they mean, if it's not obvious?
quick edit for a style question... which would be the better way to write this?
"He's a lot bigger and harder to... you know... murder."
or
"He's a lot bigger and harder to, you know, murder."
I need some context, otherwise... * mind = in gutter * 
Wales is just south of the border where I am in Merseyside, where most of us in the 70s went for camping holidays. 
Had a quick look and this any help? The lass' accent isn't overly strong so you should be okay.
"He's a lot bigger and harder to... you know... murder."
or
"He's a lot bigger and harder to, you know, murder."
Either, either, or, I'd say. Personally, I'd usually go for the ellipse version (...) for that kind of thing but readers probably won't notice or be bothered either way, unless they have strong held feelings about such things, in which case you can't win. Edit: in hindsight, I'd also say it depends if the person is trying to be purposefully coy or not.
Edit (for reasons of waffle).
Do you ever hear or read a line that you think, "I wish I'd written that." or some such? I recently played Saints Row IV a lot (hugely fun game, and stupidly stupid) and on one of the radio stations I heard this:
*coming out of extreme face-melting dubstep track*
"There is important breaking news! And there is music radio. Unfortunately, I am presenting the latter. This is Jane Valderama for K12 Radio."
No probs, Gamer. Just because you do post here, I'd personally say don't feel obliged in any way, that'll only add to your worries if nothing else. Horrible when it feels like your work is falling apart before your eyes, I've had periods of that. Hope you get yourself sorted.
Top post by proxy!
...
On the third day of accusations and speculations, the tone turns in Shepard's case being heard in Vancouver.
“Commander Shepard,” a representative begins, “throughout your campaigns against Saren, the geth and the Collectors, your conduct has come into question.”
“Well, d'uh, that's why we're all here isn't it?”
The representative looks annoyed and says with seriousness, “An Earth Systems Alliance officer is accountable for all their actions, and represent the people of Earth in all that they do.”
“Of course!” Shepard replies, unsure of the accusation or if there is one.
“For the benefit of the panel, I have drawn up all monies in question. You will find the full details uploaded to your omni-tools.”
“Monies? What do you mean?” Shepard now asks.
“Commander Shepard, how did you fund your campaign against Saren?”
“Well... we received payments from the Alliance for operations conducted. All standard procedure.”
“Alliance payments are standard and transparent, and would certainly not cover the expenditure shown in these records.”
“We traded and sold the armour and weapons we salvaged in the field to bolster the pot.”
“Again, all accounted for in the records, but still a serious shortfall; over the campaigns, this falls into the millions.”
“Is there a specific accusation here?” Shepard now asserts.
“Commander Shepard, over the last three years you have stolen millions of credits from private accounts with blatant, opportunistic and wilful disregard.”
“I...”
“We have received complaints from Illium, Omega, the Citadel, Noveria, all and sundry organisations, various private individuals, the list goes on. You used your hacking knowledge meant for official operations to protect the galaxy and stole from anyone and everyone across the galaxy!”
“It was mostly the proceeds of crime...” Shepard attempts to justify.
“Mostly? It would seem anywhere you have been assigned, consoles, datapads, credit chits, any available source would be exploited and went straight into your pocket. Did you ever even bother to check whose accounts you were hacking? Few of the complaints we have received have been from those incarcerated or otherwise disposed of due to your work!”
Shepard: "Merely repurposed for protecting the galaxy. For the greater good, and so forth..." 
Shepard: "Merely repurposed for protecting the galaxy. For the greater good, and so forth..."
What good is there when those assigned the task are not themselves? 
Well, after a month of umming and arring over it.. finally decided to begin the process of moving things over to fanfiction.net.
I'm super nervous about it, on one hand I want a wider audience. On the other, I don't want a larger, more critical audience. Does that make sense? Why do writers tend to be the most socially-perplexing of human beings, my anxiety levels are going through the roof here. However, it's the right thing to do. More exposure will ultimately help me.
It's hard to comprehend the possibility that something you put lots of blood, sweat, and tears into might not be appreciated or even strongly disliked by someone else. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. So here goes nothing.
Also just wanted to drop a note in case someone thought my work was being plagiarised, my fanfiction.net ID is indeed leonia42 (well, currently, I forgot the old one from way back when). Hopefully putting up something "complete" won't give people the impression that I intend to wrap up past works (though anything can happen, I've really enjoyed the freedom of writing for my own characters and can't see myself going back to stuff that's years old now).
Anyway, enough about me. What are you all up to lately?
On a tricky bit at the mo. While I've resolved an issue (Liara/Vido/Zaeed conflict thing that's a longstanding part of my tale), I've created new ones. I know what I want to say, but just having trouble finding the words to fit. It's supposed to be a bit of a 'reveal', so I don't want it to fall flat. It was well handy for me that it was the Blue Suns that tried to kill Liara during Resurrection. I'd already started using the Blue Suns in my original trilogy fic, so when I read Resurrection, that opened all kinds of avenues and so I played with some. Liara sets up the Zoryya job for Zaeed, for e.g., hoping to get payback on Vido for his betrayal at Omega. That's about all in my writing news right now. I'm in a ponderous phase I think. Usually that hangs around for a bit then once things are a bit more sorted in my brain, then the fingers can type.
Edit:
Me again, eh?
Just came for a minor waffle. I was considering that it's nearly September already, which usually means we're into the long drawn out build up to Christmas. Which means it's about time to start thinking about Xmas Oneshot Specials! Yay! Thankfully, I've got half a one I started last year but never got around to completing. So I've started tidying it up, give it some kind of conclusion and whatnot. Such 'specials' are usually fun to write as it's an opportunity for general silliness, the aliens' take on our culture(s) and so on. Garrus doesn't get Christmas at all, unhelped by Shepard's atheistic views.
“It's all sky fairies to me, Garrus. But people can celebrate their supernatural delusions any way they choose, all the better if I get to have a lie in and a few drinks to boot.”
'I dunno' VS 'I don't know'
I've noticed in my various works that I use 'I dunno' quite a bit, particularly for those with an 'American accent'. Thessian asari say 'I do not know', of course, but even the likes of Garrus or Sam Traynor are not immune from the odd 'I dunno'. I think it feels a bit jarring because unless it's Donnelly (och aye) or Zaeed (fackin' pansies!) speaking, I don't usually give characters an accent like that. Any feelings either way about 'dunno' from anyone? 
I dunno. *grins and runs away*
I dunno. *grins and runs away*
*shakes fist*
Why I oughta...
I don't really use the term 'I dunno' in my fanfics, tbh.
Too focused on new DA info to really think of anything interesting to add. Mostly stuff about DA Keep 
I tend to use the most proper grammer I possibly can when writing, unless I am having to portray a character's mannerisms. That is why I have trouble writing for characters sometimes. If it fits, use it, but prefer as much proper grammer as possible. It's a personal taste thing really.
I'm having a hard time with character dialogue actually for this exact reason. I write in fairly proper grammar other than using slang and whatever appropriate to the character, but when I read it back it doesn't read naturally. It sounds like more natural speech reading it back with gonna, shoulda, coulda, woulda, dunno, y'know, etc., even if my spellchecker hates me for it... and with certain characters, there's a lot of apostrophes at the end of words too. goin', doin', darlin' thinkin', drawin', and so forth. it's also hard because I can hear the characters in my head, but sometimes representing all the speech mannerisms in my mind is hard... stammers, pauses, interruptions, stops and restarts, etc. and don't even get me started on trying to represent accents like Scottish or Irish. I gave up and changed the nationality of the side character I was trying to represent that way. I just couldn't figure out how to represent the heavy accent in text. I was afraid it would be too hard to read.
p.s. insomnia sucks!
I haven't had to deal with accents yet but I imagine it can be challenging if you're trying to get it just right, especially if its something you don't hear every day. You can take the lazy approach and just say what accent they are speaking in but that takes the fun out of it.
My difficulty recently was trying to retrain my brain to think in American English for all my turian characters. Ultimately who knows how it sounds in the reader's head, each of them is going to interpret what they "hear" differently. I've read a lot of books where the accents and slang made it downright boring to read dialogue because I had to read everything so many times over to understand it. It's a necessary evil when reading historical fiction set in a time when English hasn't been fully developed. Not usually a problem in modern-day science fiction though, do translators convey that sort of thing?
You have to ask yourself if it's worth adding that level of detail, what bit about that character or dialogue sequence needs it to be there to come across properly or can you say the same thing in another fashion, maybe through mannerisms when they aren't speaking. If you're trying to subtlety let the reader know where a character originates, you can do that in other ways too.
As for "dunno", I use that in my "typing-voice" to mimic what I'd say audibly when chatting online but it looks a little sloppy otherwise (just my opinion on it),
I just think speech mannerisms and personalization of dialogue is one of the most important things, which is why I'm stressing myself to get it all just right. I mean, if every character uses perfect, grammatically correct English, conversations between them just become sort of bland, imo. *frowns* my favorite authors are the ones where they can start a chapter with a line of dialogue (before any other narrative) and I can instantly identify which of their characters are speaking. or at least narrow it down to a couple. when the characters' voices are that distinct to me as a reader, I know the writer is doing an awesome job of individualizing them.
I too prefer to use 'proper English', but for the 'I dunno's I use, they're more like a pause in thought for the character.
"I mean, we could go to the bar, or maybe you want to do something more interesting?"
"I dunno... I'm not really bothered what we do to be honest."
"You think he's the spy?"
"I dunno. Doesn't seem the type to me."
I wouldn't really use it like:
"I dunno what the matter is."
So that's something anyway(?)
Oh, and I did Robbie Burns' poetry at school, so odd accents/colloquialisms in written form are not completely unfamiliar to me. http://en.wikipedia....wiki/To_a_Mouse
We did do a book called 'A Pair of Jesus Boots' in English Lit at school, which was written in my local slang/accent of Scouse (Liverpool). I suppose in the UK there's such a variety of accents, we're a bit more used to seeing 'contractions' and transliterations in writing to portray a particular accent.
Edit: 'Jesus Boots'. Scouse slang for fully open 'hippy' sandals.
I'm having a hard time with character dialogue actually for this exact reason. I write in fairly proper grammar other than using slang and whatever appropriate to the character, but when I read it back it doesn't read naturally. It sounds like more natural speech reading it back with gonna, shoulda, coulda, woulda, dunno, y'know, etc., even if my spellchecker hates me for it... and with certain characters, there's a lot of apostrophes at the end of words too. goin', doin', darlin' thinkin', drawin', and so forth. it's also hard because I can hear the characters in my head, but sometimes representing all the speech mannerisms in my mind is hard... stammers, pauses, interruptions, stops and restarts, etc. and don't even get me started on trying to represent accents like Scottish or Irish. I gave up and changed the nationality of the side character I was trying to represent that way. I just couldn't figure out how to represent the heavy accent in text. I was afraid it would be too hard to read.
p.s. insomnia sucks!
I've found there are other methods one can employ. You can note how a character pronounces (or even mispronounces) a particular word, to get a feeling for the accent or other little bits here and there. Whether they roll/trill a particular R (like a Scottish burr), what consonants they lean on, etc.
Well, still on the 'dunno', I was watching BBC news with the anchor and a political correspondent discussing current situation in Ukraine. The anchor asked the English and well spoken correspondent if sanctions would make any difference. She narrowed her eyes and frowned in thought, then just said, "Dunno..." then expanded on her doubts. So I'm happier with my usage.
It's a fine line with some accents too. Go too far and it's more like mocking. Then you read Burns and it's like, "When does it become too far?!"
So I thought I'd revisit the earlier question about how many open projects one juggles simultaneously (an understandably recurring topic on this thread).
Well...for me it is looking like it will be three this time around (in order of priority)...
1) Sword Art Online
2) Mass Effect
3) Elder Scrolls (post Skyrim, with throwbacks to Morrowind and Oblivion)
That's not taking into account the half-dozen or so original projects that I've put on hiatus, or the myriad other derivative works. So again...3 active projects...potentially. Methinks one of them will be put on hiatus though, as I have only ever been able to properly juggle two at once. Hmm, maybe I can get my beta to help co-author one of them...we've been angling to do a collaboration for years!
It's been ages since I did collaborative fiction (although, if I recall correctly, that's how I got my start in fanfiction really). It brings it's own unique problems and solutions; but writing with the right group can be imminently satisfying!
I find it hard to prioritise because of the way I write. Writing when the mood takes me and not necessarily for a particular franchise is not really conducive to concentrating on a specific work. I have been considering investigating if there are any cheap and cheerful 'creative writing' courses around my area, to help me focus and map/plan better (I say 'better', I don't particularly plan at all at the mo).
So far, with the brief 'career' I have in writing, I think my strengths are in dialogue/scenes, my weaknesses are most definitely in weaving in a coherent plot. Most likely, for the above mentioned reasons. But knowing your weaknesses means you know what you need to focus on for improvement I suppose. I have to decide for myself if I want my hobby to become something more 'serious'. I don't mean like SERIOUS serious, but like with my guitar playing, that's something I've worked on for decades now, I am serious about it, even though I'm still really at 'hobbyist' status and know I will not suddenly become famous or receive wide acclaim. It just makes me happy.
*Looks around sheepishly before reaching for the coffee*
So, ah, hmm...I realise I haven't commentated on anything recently! Sorry about that I'm just going to have to admit to slacking recently. 
On the 'dunno' topic I kind of view it as swearing, not in a 'you-should-never-use-foul-language' way but more as something that only needs to turn up occasionally. As hot_heart mentioned there's other ways of conveying mannerisms and sometimes you don't even need to actually write down what your character's actually saying (usually works best if the character has an established mannerism I suppose ) just give a quick description and let the reader fill in the details!
As for how many open projects I'm juggling -- "Aye cannae' jouggle!" (sorry YurigirlzCrush but "Aye ken your meanin' on written how same fake spake is jus' pair murder; you'd be scunnert by the end so you would." 
I can only pray my neighbors don't see that last bit, otherwise... 
) Joking aside, I'm struggling with just the one at the moment. Just thinking off adding another is bringing out a cold sweat!
Well, I finally published chapter 19 for my main DA fanfic, TLFW, after a few months of not adding anything to it. 
On the upside, after I type up the next chapters for A Warden's Letters and my SI fanfic, I'll be working on chapter 20 for TLFW. That's a big milestone for me since this is the longest fanfic I've done, not to mention that I'm pretty sure it'll be the longest fanfic I'll ever type. All that's in the way is chapter 17 for A Warden's Letters and chapter 9 for my SI fanfic...
We're generally a positive bunch here, but I had to share this list of 'most face-meltingly awful fan fiction'. It's from a little while ago (2010 I think) but they really are... ugh... Not for the faint hearted or easily offended/disgusted. Indeed, it's mostly lemons, but someone took time to write these things! And as the complier comments on the last one (a pokemon tale...), it's an 'self insert', a term which in this case is enough to make me shudder. You have been warned lol.
WARNING There is a spoiler warning here to prevent idle clicking on something that you don't want to see. What has been seen cannot be unseen. After unintentionally disturbing Gamer072196's life forever more (sorry 'bout that), I am editing in this warning. WARNING
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