9962 réponses à ce sujet

[dpMeggers]

lillitheris wrote...

LanceSolous13 wrote...

dpMeggers wrote...

Question: doing some writing for Akuze and I'm wondering which tanks I should used. The M29 Grizzly was the standard infantry tank for thirty years according to the wiki, which would span up to about 2180. The M35 Mako was developed for rapid response, which I assume a colony going dark would necessitate, but I haven't found it's development date. So, question is, Mako or Grizzly, or both, or Grizzly and some sort of proto-Mako?

I would suggest the Mako. Players who missed James and Cortez talking about the Grizzly won't know what you're talking about while player who played Mass Effect 1 will know what you're talking about. Also, readers will be a bit more...connected to a scene in a Mako with a giant Threasher Maw appearing out of nowhere to kill everyone.

Very good point.

Devil’s advocate: players also know that the Mako can take down a Maw. In that respect, an older — or maybe experimental? — model might work better.

…In fact, you might be able to introduce some extra tension if the squad was denied access to the new vehicles and had to make do with an outdated model.

Both good points but in the end I decided to go with the Grizzly. Because it's old and frequently ruined in ME1. (All those dead tanks in ME1? Grizzlies). Thanks for the help.

  Mr Stoob wrote...
Don't forget Toombs though! 

Well sure he survives, but you don't find out for 6 years and you find traumatized and homocidal/suicidal. I'm not sure that counts as happy ending.

Re: Gravitas, emotional scenes, character death.
I try not to kill my characters off unnecessarily. One of OCs was doomed from the start (it shouldn't be a shock when he dies, as I establish in chapter 1 that he was killed on Akuze), but I don't really want to be sequentially killing people off. I had a few reviews re: Elysium *highlight for spoilers* that asked me not to kill off certain characters and I admit that I contemplated it for a moment, and then I realized that killing them would serve no purpose whatsoever other than for teh dramaz (which was not a good enough reason for me). I don't want to go the Rocks Fall Everyone Dies route on purpose.

I try to mix in a bit of lightness into my heavy chapters through dialogue. Even if it's just a moment like one character putting their hand on another character's shoulder to show that they're there, a sort of hope spot.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who gets torn up a bit by their own writing.

[Icyflare]

fainmaca wrote...

Icyflare wrote...

When a soldier finishes his last tour of duty and is released from his mandatory period of duty to the military, does he usually stay an enlisted officer, or would he be promoted based on his performance?

Basically, what I would like to know is what is the usual rank of a soldier who finishes the minimal amount of military service required of him?

Well my father served in the Royal Navy for about 7 years and got to the rank of Chief Petty Officer (somewhat of an equivalent to a Sergeant). He had plans to progress to Lieutenant, but those unfortunately never came to pass. Maybe that'll give you some context as to what may be feasible?

Yeah, that does help. I just needed a general idea of a rank plausible enough for someone who's been in service for about four years.

[TheMarshal]

It's always interesting to see what's on the "Favorites" list of the people who favorite my stories. That and what sort of stories they write. Obviously given what I write, there's a lot of FemShep/Liara love.

I'm curious, though. Do you guys read the same sort of stuff that you write? The same pairings and the like? Do you even read other people's stuff while you're working on your own?

[fainmaca]

TheMarshal wrote...

It's always interesting to see what's on the "Favorites" list of the people who favorite my stories. That and what sort of stories they write. Obviously given what I write, there's a lot of FemShep/Liara love.

I'm curious, though. Do you guys read the same sort of stuff that you write? The same pairings and the like? Do you even read other people's stuff while you're working on your own?

I have a lot less time for other people's stuff these days. That sounds bad, but its not what it sounds like. I'd love to read more fanfic, but between my own life and the one I lead as Fainmaca, I just run out of seconds in the day.

As for what I do read, it is usually Jack/Shepard stuff. I try to avoid alternate ME3 plots, as I fear it may meddle with my own ideas or inspire a lack of confidence in my writing.

[fluffywalrus]

TheMarshal wrote...

It's always interesting to see what's on the "Favorites" list of the people who favorite my stories. That and what sort of stories they write. Obviously given what I write, there's a lot of FemShep/Liara love.

I'm curious, though. Do you guys read the same sort of stuff that you write? The same pairings and the like? Do you even read other people's stuff while you're working on your own?

I read a lot of stuff similar to what I write, mostly because I'm curious to see what other people came up with given the same criteria I was given. For instance, origin stories. I love them dearly, and it's amazing to read so many different takes on events, so many different Shepards...all from a handful of basic vague templates.

And I do read other's stuff while I'm writing mine. I know some feel they can't, without distracting themselves from their initial purpose, but I've had my Shepard fleshed out in my mind for years, so I don't really worry about that.

As for pairings, I'm definitely heavy on the FShep/Liara, but I also enjoy some stranger ones too. There's a Liara/Traynor one that's enjoyable, there was one with Aria/Samara that was interesting...and anything with Aethyta usually draws my attention, too.

Modifié par fluffywalrus, 05 juillet 2012 - 11:47 .

[dpMeggers]

TheMarshal wrote...

It's always interesting to see what's on the "Favorites" list of the people who favorite my stories. That and what sort of stories they write. Obviously given what I write, there's a lot of FemShep/Liara love.

I'm curious, though. Do you guys read the same sort of stuff that you write? The same pairings and the like? Do you even read other people's stuff while you're working on your own?

In game I've romanced Ashley, Jack, Kaidan, Garrus and have plans for eventual Miranda (I also had a FemShep who was waiting for Joker - alas, poor MacKenzie's relationship has been relegated to an AU pairing) so I'm pretty open to which pairings I read. That said I've been reading a lot of FemShep/Liara recently because it's very popular among the writers in this thread and I'm working on digging through their works.

Actually I'll give just about anything a shot once, except AUs becuase I have a really hard time getting into stories which deviate from the established storyline a great deal. 

I read others' stuff while I'm writing, in part because I like to read about other people's Shepards and in part because I like to see their characterization of established characters, which can be helpful when you're trying to write about them yourself. Win win, good reading and help writing

[Spiritwolf1]

I've been reading all sort of the fan fic while writing my story. I find it interesting to see how people view the characters, some similar to me some not so much. Some of the stories have just been wonderful and somewhat inspirational. I like the Liara/Shepard ones, but I have liked others as well. Garrus is another favorite of mine so I read stuff with him in it.

[hot_heart]

I'm trying to read other stuff but I appear to have a real patience problem, and some just kinda bore me. It's probably more my own itch to try and make some progress on my own stuff. Also, there's a worry that some stuff will bleed into mine, which has a very narrow focus and a strong character voice.

Plus I'm usually pretty braindead once I'm home from work and eaten, so I can't even concentrate properly. Do you guys work too? How do you find the motivation?!

Modifié par hot_heart, 06 juillet 2012 - 12:09 .

[lillitheris]

TheMarshal wrote...

It's always interesting to see what's on the "Favorites" list of the people who favorite my stories. That and what sort of stories they write. Obviously given what I write, there's a lot of FemShep/Liara love.

I'm curious, though. Do you guys read the same sort of stuff that you write? The same pairings and the like? Do you even read other people's stuff while you're working on your own?

I read mostly FShep/Liara, others when recommended; not nearly enough of either, though (I prefer to leave reviews as often as I can, which means I don’t read as much ‘casually’). There are a few I’m cordoning myself off from because I know they deal with elements that I want to introduce, and I deem it necessary to avoid cross-contamination. Those are fairly rare.

I have to say that chapterwise reviewing is really much easier as a reader…a few lines and you get the big picture along the way. Also super helpful as a writer, of course, at least for me.

[Icyflare]

TheMarshal wrote...

It's always interesting to see what's on the "Favorites" list of the people who favorite my stories. That and what sort of stories they write. Obviously given what I write, there's a lot of FemShep/Liara love.

I'm curious, though. Do you guys read the same sort of stuff that you write? The same pairings and the like? Do you even read other people's stuff while you're working on your own?

I do read others' writings, althought it's often as an excuse to not work on my own =/

However, there are many good pieces out there, and it would be a shame to not go through as possible. I read a lot of Femshep/Liara, but I also like any work with excellent characterization and a quirky/off-beat sense of humour.

When I'm super concentrated on my stories, I avoid other people's stories like crazy. I have a horrible tendency to have my writing style be influenced by the last thing I read, so I isolate myself as much as possible if I need to get some ideas out. Between projects, I read like mad. I like to collect bits of writing techniques that I may like to use in my own stories.

Modifié par Icyflare, 06 juillet 2012 - 12:36 .

[Drussius]

Icyflare wrote...

TheMarshal wrote...

It's always interesting to see what's on the "Favorites" list of the people who favorite my stories. That and what sort of stories they write. Obviously given what I write, there's a lot of FemShep/Liara love.

I'm curious, though. Do you guys read the same sort of stuff that you write? The same pairings and the like? Do you even read other people's stuff while you're working on your own?

I do read others' writings, althought it's often as an excuse to not work on my own =/

However, there are many good pieces out there, and it would be a shame to not go through as possible. I read a lot of Femshep/Liara, but I also like any work with excellent characterization and a quirky/off-beat sense of humour.

When I'm super concentrated on my stories, I avoid other people's stories like crazy. I have a horrible tendency to have my writing style be influenced by the last thing I read, so I isolate myself as much as possible if I need to get some ideas out. Between projects, I read like mad. I like to collect bits of writing techniques that I may like to use in my own stories.

I do tend to be a little influenced by what I read when I am writing, and it's something that really bothers me, so I try to avoid it. However, I do still like to read a little bit of other peoples' work when I feel my will to write starting to wane. It's nice to immerse myself in a setting - ANY setting - and get myself back into the spirit of writing. The hardest thing about reading other peoples' work when you're writing in the same setting, such as now when I'm writing an ME fanfic and reading a few others, is that when someone else has a brilliant idea, I hate that I can't use it, when I occasionally REALLY want to.

As for WHAT I'll read, I'm fickle. I'll read about any character or pairing or setting as long as something about it grabs me. Some concepts grab me and some just don't do anything for me. I have loved everything I've read from my fellow writers here so far, and I have a bunch of stories that I want to read eventually, but I am taking it slow on the reading because I don't want other people's ideas bleeding into my work. At least not beyond the ideas and discussions I've asked for.

[Obsidian Gryphon]

TheMarshal wrote...

I'm curious, though. Do you guys read the same sort of stuff that you write? The same pairings and the like? Do you even read other people's stuff while you're working on your own?

I do though it largely depends on the style the writer employed, the flow and rhythm. A run through the first few chapters is enough for me to know whether I like it. I tend to go for the same pairings; femShep + Liara. Unfortunately, I'm unable to get into the stories of other pairings. Probably because I don't have any Sheps going for other plausible LIs though I did "experiment" about to see the dialogues. In the end, there is only one pairing for my Shep.

[Drussius]

About the discussion on emotional scenes and writing:

I occasionally get a smile or get a tiny bit choked up over scenes I've written. But my fear is that it's because of the scene I envisioned that I feel what I feel, rather than because the writing does an adequate job of communicating what I wanted to communicate on its own. It's one of the things I look forward to getting feedback for... to see if my writing comes across the way I intend for it to come across.

I am not an emotional person (though a certain fanfic I recently read had me on the verge of happy-tears), and I struggle to adequately express emotion in my writing because I'm just not that guy. It takes an awful lot to make me mad. I have to suffer a pretty serious injury to find myself in tears. I've never been heartbroken in my life, even when my relationships fell apart. I laugh pretty freely, but I just don't experience intense extremes of emotion very often. It's hard to write something you don't feel, and I'm afraid that the difficulty will show through in my stories. I guess we'll see.

But in the end, I don't grieve over the death or the sorrows of my characters even though I am extremely attached to every character I've ever created. If the character's fate is what I think serves the story best, then I'm usually just fine with going there.

[mireisen]

Hi group. I didn't read through all the threads but I'm in need of a beta reader. I've got one on it right now but a 2nd reader couldn't hurt. Is anyone on Google Docs and familiar with it? It's a FemShep/Garrus fic...well sorta. More focused on Garrus between ME2-ME3 stuff.

[Seracen]

Lhino wrote...

Hey guys, I just dropped in to introduce myself. I am going to start up my own Mass Effect inspired fan-fiction and I was referred here by ElectricZ. I am still writing the first bit of the story. It will be based on events that occur after Mass Effect 3. So far I have about 3 pages typed out of the actual story and another full page for the synopsis (I have been planning it for a while, finally found some time to do it). Any of you veterans have a few tips for a new-comer? I will most likely be posting it on fanfition.net.

Hey Bud!  Welcome to the fold!  My main advice is to have fun with it.  I usually like to write out a skeleton of events beforehand.  However, I've done excercises in writing before, where I start with an event and just see where the events take me.  It's a cool way of going about it, but it lacks structure, and can get away from you.

As boring as it seems, I've been alleviating my writer's block by filling out worksheets on new characters and plot progression.  You can find decent resources online (google search "the writer's craft" and use some of their free resourcs).

[TheMarshal]

I'll answer my own question. I used to read a LOT more than I do now. I'm not sure it has something to do with the hiatus I took before ME3 was released or what, but I find myself far less interested in reading others' stories now. And it's not due to fear of concept adoption, since what I'm writing tends to not be anything that anyone else is writing (of course that's speculation, since I don't actually read much other stuff!)

When I was reading, I usually stuck to FemShep/Liara, though I occasionally drifted to Liara/Miranda, Miranda/Jack, etc.

[noxiuniversitas1]

Hey guys,

Gonna answer some interesting points in the thread when I have some time,but has anyone else notice FFN acting up? I used to get emails when a new PM was received, but ever since yesterday evening, I've had a few without the customary email notification... mostily noticed them by chance.

Edit: hrrrmm... on the back of an email from tayg, I checked my stories, and it's apparently also dropping my review alerts :\\

Modifié par noxiuniversitas1, 06 juillet 2012 - 05:53 .

[fluffywalrus]

noxiuniversitas1 wrote...

Hey guys,

Gonna answer some interesting points in the thread when I have some time,but has anyone else notice FFN acting up? I used to get emails when a new PM was received, but ever since yesterday evening, I've had a few without the customary email notification... mostily noticed them by chance.

Edit: hrrrmm... on the back of an email from tayg, I checked my stories, and it's apparently also dropping my review alerts :

I recieved one story alert notification email since yesterday, when I should have gotten four. It's been weird. I've had to randomly check my alerts page.

[Icyflare]

^Nope. All my notifications are fine, and I get everything that I should get. I even got notification from stories I didn't realize I was following. That one I blame on the new review system.

Edit: Wait. Apparently, I lied. Some of my PMs didn't come through until I logged into my FFN account.

Modifié par Icyflare, 06 juillet 2012 - 06:26 .

[Spiritwolf1]

hot_heart wrote...

I'm trying to read other stuff but I appear to have a real patience problem, and some just kinda bore me. It's probably more my own itch to try and make some progress on my own stuff. Also, there's a worry that some stuff will bleed into mine, which has a very narrow focus and a strong character voice.

Plus I'm usually pretty braindead once I'm home from work and eaten, so I can't even concentrate properly. Do you guys work too? How do you find the motivation?!

I know my motivation is sometimes pretty low because of work. I do shifts so my hours are all over the place. Also I really have no one to talk to about my fan fic cause geek is not cool where I work and only one other person has played the game and he never finishes his games. My husband laughs whenever I bring up Mass Effect cause he considers it an soap opera, which I guess in some regards it is.

Day shift Im up at , obviously 3 in the morning. I use my car ride to think about possible scenes (I have a crap load of "soundtrack" music TSFH, ES Posthumus and a lot of stuff I found all over the place) that I plug into, I even have it seperated into moods so if I need a certain mood while writing it helps get me there. Playing the game helps a bit but the best for me is the alone time in the car.

[MidnightRaith]

TheMarshal wrote...

It's always interesting to see what's on the "Favorites" list of the people who favorite my stories. That and what sort of stories they write. Obviously given what I write, there's a lot of FemShep/Liara love.

I'm curious, though. Do you guys read the same sort of stuff that you write? The same pairings and the like? Do you even read other people's stuff while you're working on your own?

I read a massive amount of fanfiction. I mostly read Liara/Femshep stories and I burn through them at a rapid pace. As far as FFN goes, I  mostly know what has and hasn't been done in the Liara/Femshep crowd, which is what gave me ideas for Striking. I purposely set out to do something that either hasn't been done yet or touched very little on. I spent one weekend a while back to start at the very last page of the Liara/Femshep tagged stories and went through all of the fanfics that I thought interesting or worth reading. (Fics worth reading usually don't have an extreme amount of grammar mistakes in their summaries or are longer than 600 words or so.) Took some time, but I did it. It is fortunate that this fandom still has a strong fanbase. Otherwise, I would have moved on a long time ago to painstakingly go through another fandom.

[lillitheris]

Haven’t noticed any problems, but then I don’t get many messages anyway.

[Obsidian Gryphon]

noxiuniversitas1 wrote...

Hey guys,

Gonna answer some interesting points in the thread when I have some time,but has anyone else notice FFN acting up? I used to get emails when a new PM was received, but ever since yesterday evening, I've had a few without the customary email notification... mostily noticed them by chance.

Edit: hrrrmm... on the back of an email from tayg, I checked my stories, and it's apparently also dropping my review alerts :

Yes, it is slower than usual and I did't get review, pm alerts.  Some words in my fanfic didn't even turn up, even after a few attempts in correction. In the end, rather than copy paste, I typed them in.

[Sweawm]

Currently sitting in a very hard writing time, using every last bit of my will to get writing. That time where you have an idea of what to write, want to write but just can't sit and write?

I'm currently working on writing the last couple of chapters for a really long running Fan Fiction I have running: Twenty Nine Seventy One which has been up for a year now and run quite well for about thirty five chapters now.
The pain of not being able to write that finale, even though I know just how to end it with a superb twist, is really infuriating.

Gah. Everybody hates writer's block, right? <_<

Modifié par Sweawm, 06 juillet 2012 - 10:51 .

[lillitheris]

^ Pretty sure, yep!

Are you ‘just’ procrastinating, or is there something about the story? Could it simply be that you don’t want to finish it? You want to keep it going, so you avoid advancing.

In that case, I think it might help if you had something lined up for your next story — whether it’s a sequel or not…but can’t speak from experience even at the anecdotal level.

Edit: fun anecdote: I liked the first “Witcher” so much that rather than finish it, I stopped playing halfway through the quest that leads to the final boss. In my addled mind, this is better than having completed it. Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever did.

Modifié par lillitheris, 06 juillet 2012 - 11:33 .