9962 réponses à ce sujet

[fluffywalrus]

Drussius wrote...

It must be nice to have beta-readers! I occasionally send my finished works to my father or a few close friends to get their thoughts, but I could never bring myself to send along anything I didn't consider to be finished. And I certainly wouldn't do it with the fanfic I'm working on, given the fact that none of my friends or family know ANYTHING about Mass Effect. They'd be lost just for the simple lack of details on the various races and such (since I'm writing a fan fiction, I haven't felt the need to fill in details such as how Quarians have weak immune systems, or that the Asari are a mono-gendered race... Fans know these things. My dad and my friends would probably just think that I have a space suit/lesbian fetish or something.)

I'm essentially just planning to publish what I have when I'm happy with it, and hope that the criticisms aren't too harsh from anyone who happens to read it (but don't hold back if you DO read it. If my writing sucks I want to know why, so that I can improve in the future).

And on a side note... Insomnia sucks. Too tired to write anything because I can't think straight, not comfortable enough to actually sleep because of the heat and humidity, and my daughter will be waking up (and inevitably waking ME up) in just a few hours. At this point I'm going to lie down again and hope that I can get at least two hours of sleep before I have to get up again. And you're welcome for this wonderful glimpse into my life! I'm sure it's more than any of you needed or wanted to know

I kind of stay away from beta readers, personally, because I'm sure I would agonize over each thing they point out until I blow it all up and lose my motivation(has happened in the past with short stories I wrote, and in the lore creation department when making a campaign in a time-skipped Forgotten Realms world).

Like you, I release what I'm happy with at the time. It gives me plenty of time afterward to mull over more minor details, stylistic issues, and constructive criticism I recieve. It lets me improve at a pace without feeling overwhelmed, and I can look back on my past mistakes and see how far I've come Though I know it's not the best path to get incredibly better as a writer, it's the best fit for me right now.

Because, really, I write for myself. I enjoy that others read it, but I write for me, so I can have something to look back on(I don't expect more Mass Effect games in the future, so I like doing stuff like this to give myself a memento). My primary concern is if I'm happy and having fun writing. I'm not sure I could do that with a beta, given my past experiences. I'd scrutinize myself too severely over every paragraph. I'm already a slow writer...on a greatly productive day I'll type up 2500 words.

As for your insomnia...I really hope it passes soon. I've dealt with it on and off through my life and it really really blows. Best of luck

Modifié par fluffywalrus, 22 juin 2012 - 08:01 .

[lillitheris]

Caligno wrote...

lillitheris: I got about halfway through before I hit the character limit. I hope I didn't rip into it too hard, because what you have really wasn't as bad as my review might have given the impression of.

No, thank you! It’s quite useful, giving me a perspective into examining the text. You hit a couple of the points I’d noticed, but you had many new good/interesting points (of which one or two I disagree with:)).

Also, there was around 6-7 paragraphs or so that I couldn't find any issues with, and it was in the first conversation. I can tell that one of your stronger points is dialogue.

I’d never have thought so, initially, but I do find dialogue the easy part.

[Caligno]

I fully expected disagreement; actually there were a couple I wasn't sure of but kept in anyway since my experience is that having extra opinions on certain things can help somewhere else.

I'm the same way, honestly. I can't describe anything for crap, but apparently I'm good at interactions between characters.

[fainmaca]

dpMeggers wrote...

And on that note: The metric system will be the measurement system of choice in the ME universe (at least for humanity). Discuss.

I'll be in a box in the ground before I let you colonials take over with your damn metric system. I live in a world of feet and inches, and most of the world map is red.

On a more serious note, I actually work in a clothing store, so I guess I'm just used to the old ways. A 34" waist sounds so much better than an 85cm one.

As for betas, I actually don't bother with one. I'm mostly just wanting to get the material out there to my readers, and I know I'd get impatient if I had to wait on someone reading it first.

[Obsidian Gryphon]

Icyflare wrote...

Well, I'll never complain about walking in the snow here again.

Getting back on the thread...when do you guys call it quits for editing a story and just submit it?

When I get to the end of the visualised scene I have in my mind. After that, I just go over it once, through semi-clouded eyes  and submit (warts and all), occasionally going back to published chapters to edit / add.

[noxiuniversitas1]

Icyflare wrote...


I'm in Vancouver, BC, where we have a bit of everything season-wise except heavy snowfall for winter. Summer peaks at 34 degrees Celsius and winter bottoms out at around -15. However, if we get five centimeters of snow (or two inches), the whole city freaks out and shuts down. It's not our proudest season.

 Vancouver! Have you ever been to a restaurant called Tojo's? Had the best sushi I've had in a very long time there. Also there was this pancake / brunch place... can't quite remember the name... the servings were so ginormous, I think I ate about 3% of the stack before feeling a bit ill from all the sugar

Ursakar wrote...

Five centimeters you shut down? Wish I could live in your place. Here in Ukraine we had close to thirty cm (12 inches) last winter and I stil had to go to work. On foot.

Eh the UK shuts down with 0.5cm...  snow! close all schools! and I was trapped in Heathrow overnight once because of snow... all 2cm of it

And then A&Es get flooded with broken bones because people have apparently not learned not to walk on ice...

Icyflare wrote...

Getting back on the thread...when do you guys call it quits for editing a story and just submit it?

I usually write a chapter in a single sitting - I hate carrying things over to the next day - "work expands to fill the time," so true for me. The only editing I do is to read it once-over, and then I publish. An average chapter takes about 2-3 hours. The only one-shot I've written took about 20 minutes.

Short attention span and all that jazz...

Drussis wrote..

And on a side note... Insomnia sucks.

Zopiclone 5mg PO ON 
Failing which, sleep hygiene

In all seriousness, I know insomnia really does suck, and I don't even follow any of the above advice myself (won't take the hypnotic even if someone else prescribed it to me, and I have terrible sleep hygiene). I kind of go to bed at about 2-3am and have gotten used to functioning with 4-5hrs sleep on average. But yeah... trying to sleep when everyone around you is does kinda blow.

From feedback from patients, good sleep hygiene really does work best. Drugs... meh.

Modifié par noxiuniversitas1, 22 juin 2012 - 10:38 .

[fluffywalrus]

noxiuniversitas1 wrote...
Eh the UK shuts down with 0.5cm...  snow! close all schools! and I was trapped in Heathrow overnight once because of snow... all 2cm of it

And then A&Es get flooded with broken bones because people have apparently not learned not to walk on ice...

A similar thing happens in a lot of places that aren't covered in snow year round, I figure. I've seen it year after year, people somehow forgetting how to drive in snowy/icy weather. It boggles my mind that even in places like Edmonton and Ottawa and Montréal....well, alright, I can't say I'm surprised at Montréal, they have horrendous roads and drivers there...but I don't know how people can just forget so easily.
Same with walking on icy sidewalks. It's like people forget that running/jogging/sliding on ice is a bad time. Short flat steps and you're usually fine.

I just can't imagine an airport shutting down from two centimetres of snow...though I suppose you all don't have the same equipment as we do here, and I guess are buildings are better prepared for such conditions. Kind of like how I'd melt if I went to some country around the equator during summer. Just not prepared for that.

Zopiclone 5mg PO ON 
Failing which, sleep hygiene

In all seriousness, I know insomnia really does suck, and I don't even follow any of the above advice myself (won't take the hypnotic even if someone else prescribed it to me, and I have terrible sleep hygiene).

From feedback from patients, good sleep hygiene really does work best. Drugs... meh.

'Sleep hygiene' really does help. I'll admit, I fail on a number of those suggestions, but eh. Not too big on sleeping meds. When I took them, they didn't work too well, and usually messed me up more than they helped.

Most people I know who have trouble sleeping generally just have bad habits and are stressed/depressed.

[lillitheris]

Caligno wrote...

I fully expected disagreement; actually there were a couple I wasn't sure of but kept in anyway since my experience is that having extra opinions on certain things can help somewhere else.

Did an edit pass, and it does read much less choppily now. Some of the things that you too noticed brought a kind of sense of abruptness to some of the passages… Didn’t include all suggestions, and ended up changing some structures a little more extensively, but definitely helpful notes. Thanks again!

[Sialater]

I LOVE my Beta Readers. I would shower them with presents if one didn't live in Germany and one in Australia.

But, I still get final say on when a chapter is done. I've overridden my Betas before because I was just too bloody tired to continue screwing with the chapter and I was utterly sick of it.

[survivor_686]

Speaking of fan fiction, anyone else having trouble logging into the website? Haven't been able to do so for the past couple of weeks.

So for the time being am loading my fics onto Deviant Art

[Obsidian Gryphon]

survivor_686 wrote...

Speaking of fan fiction, anyone else having trouble logging into the website? Haven't been able to do so for the past couple of weeks.

So for the time being am loading my fics onto Deviant Art

No. I can access FFN fine on my end.

[fainmaca]

I find FF.net waaay better than DA for uploading material. then again, my chapters constantly go over the limits DA puts in place (considering the limit is like 8k words and my chapters can reach as much as 70k, that's a lot of splitting) so i may just find it annoying because I write too much. Then again, I find the system clunky, too. FF.net is just so much smoother.

But in answer to your question, I haven't been having any trouble logging in. Just the usual trouble trying to update, trying again 15 times, then realising I need to okay the guidelines again.

[fluffywalrus]

survivor_686 wrote...

Speaking of fan fiction, anyone else having trouble logging into the website? Haven't been able to do so for the past couple of weeks.

So for the time being am loading my fics onto Deviant Art

That's weird. I would clear all your browser history/cache/etc., close your browser entirely, wait a bit, open it up, and try again. I can't see why you'd be locked out for any other reason...unless you're using Internet Explorer, which is actually a demon from the fourth level of hell.

I'm personally not a big fan of DA's submission process. There are word caps, there's the whole "pick through twelve layers of subcategories" part, there's the fact that you can't implement chapters or anything similar without editing past deviations and manually providing links, it has a smaller community of ME fanfic writers, it has no easy way to search through the fanfics ...it's a huge mess. I prefer FFnet if only because of their submission process and their comprehensive search functions.

[dpMeggers]

fainmaca wrote...

I'll be in a box in the ground before I let you colonials take over with your damn metric system. I live in a world of feet and inches, and most of the world map is red.

Colonials? Sweetheart blame the French. 

Icyflare wrote...

Getting back on the thread...when do you guys call it quits for editing a story and just submit it? 

After I've read it over twice without changing anything - this usually means I've read it over about 5 or 6 times. I figure if I've read it twice and nothing needs to be changed, it's good to go.

fluffywalrus wrote...

A similar thing happens in a lot of places that aren't covered in snow year round, I figure. I've seen it year after year, people somehow forgetting how to drive in snowy/icy weather. It boggles my mind that even in places like Edmonton and Ottawa and Montréal....well, alright, I can't say I'm surprised at Montréal, they have horrendous roads and drivers there...but I don't know how people can just forget so easily. 
Same with walking on icy sidewalks. It's like people forget that running/jogging/sliding on ice is a bad time. Short flat steps and you're usually fine. 

I think it's denial. We're all "What this? No it's not snow. It's only October we don't have snow yet. It's...cheese! Yes, yes perfectly safe to drive on. That over there? It's not ice. It's...crystal! We're decorating the sidewalks, they're not pretty enough."


I also haven't had a problem with FF. And I can't stand sumbitting writing to deviantart. Drives me bloody insane.

[survivor_686]

fluffywalrus wrote...

survivor_686 wrote...

Speaking of fan fiction, anyone else having trouble logging into the website? Haven't been able to do so for the past couple of weeks.

So for the time being am loading my fics onto Deviant Art

That's weird. I would clear all your browser history/cache/etc., close your browser entirely, wait a bit, open it up, and try again. I can't see why you'd be locked out for any other reason...unless you're using Internet Explorer, which is actually a demon from the fourth level of hell.

I'm personally not a big fan of DA's submission process. There are word caps, there's the whole "pick through twelve layers of subcategories" part, there's the fact that you can't implement chapters or anything similar without editing past deviations and manually providing links, it has a smaller community of ME fanfic writers, it has no easy way to search through the fanfics ...it's a huge mess. I prefer FFnet if only because of their submission process and their comprehensive search functions.

Am using Chrome. I click on the login button and it just hangs. Essentially I get the "Webpage not available" thing and I can't login, upload or even review other fics.

For the time being am uploading pdfs onto DA.

[Sialater]

survivor_686 wrote...

fluffywalrus wrote...

survivor_686 wrote...

Speaking of fan fiction, anyone else having trouble logging into the website? Haven't been able to do so for the past couple of weeks.

So for the time being am loading my fics onto Deviant Art

That's weird. I would clear all your browser history/cache/etc., close your browser entirely, wait a bit, open it up, and try again. I can't see why you'd be locked out for any other reason...unless you're using Internet Explorer, which is actually a demon from the fourth level of hell.

I'm personally not a big fan of DA's submission process. There are word caps, there's the whole "pick through twelve layers of subcategories" part, there's the fact that you can't implement chapters or anything similar without editing past deviations and manually providing links, it has a smaller community of ME fanfic writers, it has no easy way to search through the fanfics ...it's a huge mess. I prefer FFnet if only because of their submission process and their comprehensive search functions.

Am using Chrome. I click on the login button and it just hangs. Essentially I get the "Webpage not available" thing and I can't login, upload or even review other fics.

For the time being am uploading pdfs onto DA.

Make sure Chrome isn't blocking a script.

[noxiuniversitas1]

survivor_686 wrote...
Am using Chrome. I click on the login button and it just hangs. Essentially I get the "Webpage not available" thing and I can't login, upload or even review other fics.

For the time being am uploading pdfs onto DA.

How strange - I just opened Chrome and there don't seem to be any problems. What about trying a https://www.fanficti...ogin.php]direct link to the login page[/url]?

[MrStoob]

Hi all.

Quick query on a dilemma I've created for myself. I added a chapter to my story prematurely and want to remove it. I've posted a non-chapter to explain that I will do so, to anyone who has been reading it.

How do the group feel about publishing, then pulling chapters?

[dpMeggers]

MrStoob wrote...

Hi all.

Quick query on a dilemma I've created for myself. I added a chapter to my story prematurely and want to remove it. I've posted a non-chapter to explain that I will do so, to anyone who has been reading it.

How do the group feel about publishing, then pulling chapters?

I've done it. Realised at one point that my 14 chapter fic was just going to wind up hanging and I was never really going to finish it, so I ditched chapters 9-14 because the writing was getting worse and chapter 8 was a reasonable stopping point. And that's where it ended.

I wouldn't suggest doing it on a regular basis, but ultimately, these are our babies and we want them to look nice. So if you think you need to pull it and fix, go for it.

[fluffywalrus]

MrStoob wrote...

Hi all.

Quick query on a dilemma I've created for myself. I added a chapter to my story prematurely and want to remove it. I've posted a non-chapter to explain that I will do so, to anyone who has been reading it.

How do the group feel about publishing, then pulling chapters?

If you feel it's for the best, I say why not?

Personally, I didn't have too much issue with the chapter. It was a decent time-jump for certain, but wasn't a poorly written chapter. Just seemed slightly out of place, but that said, you did jump up the timeline fairly quickly throughout your fic, so it's not entirely out of sync with what you've already established. I think I'm just used to origin fics jumping around until the in game events hit, where it's slowed down considerably.

If you want to review it and feel that action is best to ensure fluidity in the story, then go for it. I don't see the harm in it.

Modifié par fluffywalrus, 22 juin 2012 - 04:51 .

[noxiuniversitas1]

So, EC on 26 June?

[dpMeggers]

noxiuniversitas1 wrote...

So, EC on 26 June?

So it would appear. I'm approaching it with...caution? I'm prepared to be disappointed but won't object to being pleasantly surprised. We'll see.

[lillitheris]

It’s too early. Although, on the upside, I don’t think I’ll have to even consider (and then reject) changing anything in “Unity”.

Modifié par lillitheris, 22 juin 2012 - 06:18 .

[Drussius]

I do hope the EC gives me more of what I wanted out of the game's ending. I was as annoyed by the plot holes/space magic as everyone else, but I could have forgiven it if I had seen that my efforts came to something. I won't get into it too deeply because this isn't really the thread for ending complaints/wishes, but I would have been a bit more forgiving if I'd seen races rebuilding, life continuing, and perhaps little blue children...

At the very least, since the EC was supposed to be free, it won't hurt to download it. I really don't see how it can make it any worse. At worst, I figure it just won't be any better.

[Icyflare]

noxiuniversitas1 wrote...

 Vancouver! Have you ever been to a restaurant called Tojo's? Had the best sushi I've had in a very long time there. Also there was this pancake / brunch place... can't quite remember the name... the servings were so ginormous, I think I ate about 3% of the stack before feeling a bit ill from all the sugar

I haven't because I've also heard it's pretty expensive for everyday eating ($20+/person). I would like to try it out one day when I'm feeling reckless and crazy with  my money

Not sure about the pancake/bunch place. I may have an idea, but I can't be sure unless you happen to remember cross-streets or the nearest landmark.


The EC's coming out in less than a week? I need to finish my third ME3 playthrough then. It's hard though because when I play, I'll die on Insanity with my Sentinel, get depressed, throw away my controller, screaming, "IT'S JUST LIKE THE ENDING", then repeat until I'm discouraged from touching my console. Need to finish. Somehow.

Modifié par Icyflare, 22 juin 2012 - 06:48 .