Fanfiction Lounge

Sorry if I was out of line or anything Astinus. :( It's just that Thursday is the worst day of the week for me because from 9:30 in the morning to 7 in the evening I'm pretty much off at either class or work, except for about an hour between my last class and work, and forty minutes between the second and third (last) class. So when I'm on that hour break and want to relax and stuff and then see all that stuff going on it kind of grates on me a bit. Especially since after years of drama at that chat room I "admin" (IE, sit back and do nothing) at I've sort of become an internet hippie or something who hates anything that even remotely resembles an argument or drama.

I guess I just need a better place to go to relax. <_<

And I know the internet and this forum and this thread aren't meant to be happy but they should! And I'll be damned if I don't try to make it so! *Skips off throwing glitter on everyone*

EDIT: How many bold topics have I ignored in a row now? Whenever I post lately I'm too tired to sit down and type out a long reply answering them... I'll get back on them eventually, not as if anyone cares!

Astinus said:

That is mini-modding.

Click to expand...

Okay then, my sincerest apologies. That is not sarcasm by the way. ^_^ Just if you thought it was.

Now back to normal FFL activity.

How would everyone feel about a fic with original Pokemon? Assuming the fic is well-written and the new Pokemon sufficiently fleshed out would it still be too awkward or otherwise unappealing to read?
I don't really care if it's fakemon or not as long as the fic is appealing then I would read it. The fic I'm writing now could be considered semi-fakemon but not entirely because it contains a person fused to a Groudon[which is an original Pokemon] which means it is a semi-fakemon.

On the topic of fakemon, I'm comfortable with it as long as it's explained in detail as most non-anon characters are...

And I know the internet and this forum and this thread aren't meant to be happy but they should! And I'll be damned if I don't try to make it so! *Skips off throwing glitter on everyone*

Click to expand...

Pbfffffglitterupnoseahhh! That's what you get for waking up in Vegas!

Okay guys, I'm having some trouble right now with one of my villains. He gets royally owned in the chapter I'm writing, his body burned to the point that he's near-death. In order to save himself, he must merge with the physical embodiment of darkness, which turns him into this kind of ghost/wraith/thing. My problem is that I can't decide what kind of person I want him to be after this. Will he become a tormented soul that has nothing but bitterness and a cold, hard-edged blade for the world that left him in this state? Or maybe he should realize as he lays dying that what he truly desires is redemption, only to learn that keeping himself alive means he must desert that commodity? Perhaps he should simply go insane, or be so consumed by darkness that he loses his will entirely, becoming nothing but a shell controlled by the rage, hatred, and sorrow roiling inside him?

I'm really stuck with this, and it's kind of driving me crazy. So I'd like to ask if any of those ideas strike anyone's fancy above the others? This guy becomes the main villain down the road, more or less, so he needs to be really evil while still being complicated and even pitiable, if possible. If it helps at all, he has no material possessions and nothing left to live for, pretty much, except perhaps revenge against another character for killing his pokemon.

txteclipse said:

Pbfffffglitterupnoseahhh! That's what you get for waking up in Vegas!

Okay guys, I'm having some trouble right now with one of my villains. He gets royally owned in the chapter I'm writing, his body burned to the point that he's near-death. In order to save himself, he must merge with the physical embodiment of darkness, which turns him into this kind of ghost/wraith/thing. My problem is that I can't decide what kind of person I want him to be after this. Will he become a tormented soul that has nothing but bitterness and a cold, hard-edged blade for the world that left him in this state? Or maybe he should realize as he lays dying that what he truly desires is redemption, only to learn that keeping himself alive means he must desert that commodity? Perhaps he should simply go insane, or be so consumed by darkness that he loses his will entirely, becoming nothing but a shell controlled by the rage, hatred, and sorrow roiling inside him?

I'm really stuck with this, and it's kind of driving me crazy. So I'd like to ask if any of those ideas strike anyone's fancy above the others? This guy becomes the main villain down the road, more or less, so he needs to be really evil while still being complicated and even pitiable, if possible. If it helps at all, he has no material possessions and nothing left to live for, pretty much, except perhaps revenge against another character for killing his pokemon.

Click to expand...

The choices are clear

1.A tormented soul that has nothing but bitterness and a cold, hard-edged blade for the world that left him in this state.

2. He should realize as he lays dying that what he truly desires is redemption, only to learn that keeping himself alive means he must desert that commodity.

3. He should simply go insane, or be so consumed by darkness that he loses his will entirely, becoming nothing but a shell controlled by the rage, hatred, and sorrow roiling inside him.

I just had to organize it. *shot*

For me, the second choice would seem like the path that most writers tend to use when it comes to this kind of think. Although, I kind of like the third option because frankly, what's better than a killing machine? Number one however, seems a bit too soft in comparison with number three.

Bottom-line I'd go with number three. I don't know about everyone else though. The character that you're aiming or reminds of Lord Voldemort to a certain extent. I think that the realization of redemption should come after he reaches his goals and then he realizes that there's nothing left to live for or something along those lines.

txteclipse said:

Okay guys, I'm having some trouble right now with one of my villains. He gets royally owned in the chapter I'm writing, his body burned to the point that he's near-death. In order to save himself, he must merge with the physical embodiment of darkness, which turns him into this kind of ghost/wraith/thing. My problem is that I can't decide what kind of person I want him to be after this. Will he become a tormented soul that has nothing but bitterness and a cold, hard-edged blade for the world that left him in this state? Or maybe he should realize as he lays dying that what he truly desires is redemption, only to learn that keeping himself alive means he must desert that commodity? Perhaps he should simply go insane, or be so consumed by darkness that he loses his will entirely, becoming nothing but a shell controlled by the rage, hatred, and sorrow roiling inside him?

I'm really stuck with this, and it's kind of driving me crazy. So I'd like to ask if any of those ideas strike anyone's fancy above the others? This guy becomes the main villain down the road, more or less, so he needs to be really evil while still being complicated and even pitiable, if possible. If it helps at all, he has no material possessions and nothing left to live for, pretty much, except perhaps revenge against another character for killing his pokemon.

Click to expand...

Admittedly, I'm unfamiliar with your story, and I could only tell you what I would do in such a situation, so it's possible that it won't mesh with your writing style at all.

What I would do is have him become evil. Monstrously, relentlessly evil. Strip him of all humanity, at least initially. Take his goals, and magnify his desire for them tenfold, and his ruthlessness a hundred fold. After all, it is highly plausible as he merges with darkness itself.

And then have him begin the learning process again. Only now that he is true, pure evil, can he understand that what he does is wrong. Before he could perhaps have rationalised his actions, but now he cannot. And here comes the internal conflict: the human part of him is redeemed, but the darkness part of him mostly overwhelms this. From this, you can have a pitiable villain, as he has little control over his actions, but still someone that will stop at nothing (except for the occasional time when perhaps his humanity overpowers the darkness) to stop/destroy the protagonist.

txteclipse said:

Pbfffffglitterupnoseahhh! That's what you get for waking up in Vegas!

Okay guys, I'm having some trouble right now with one of my villains. He gets royally owned in the chapter I'm writing, his body burned to the point that he's near-death. In order to save himself, he must merge with the physical embodiment of darkness, which turns him into this kind of ghost/wraith/thing. My problem is that I can't decide what kind of person I want him to be after this. Will he become a tormented soul that has nothing but bitterness and a cold, hard-edged blade for the world that left him in this state? Or maybe he should realize as he lays dying that what he truly desires is redemption, only to learn that keeping himself alive means he must desert that commodity? Perhaps he should simply go insane, or be so consumed by darkness that he loses his will entirely, becoming nothing but a shell controlled by the rage, hatred, and sorrow roiling inside him?

I'm really stuck with this, and it's kind of driving me crazy. So I'd like to ask if any of those ideas strike anyone's fancy above the others? This guy becomes the main villain down the road, more or less, so he needs to be really evil while still being complicated and even pitiable, if possible. If it helps at all, he has no material possessions and nothing left to live for, pretty much, except perhaps revenge against another character for killing his pokemon.

Click to expand...

I always enjoyed villains who had redeemable qualities and who waver between those and nastier ones, kind of like a drug addict trying to get clean. It keeps me guessing as to whether he'll be a reformed villain or something even worse. A villain who is just plain evil or crazy (at least initially, he can become pure evil as long as we can see the change) is boring. There's got to be something human inside that makes us relate, if ever so slightly, to him so that we can be thoroughly horrified later that someone with a little humanity in him could do something so dastardly.

I would go pretty much with a mixture of #2 and #3. You said you want to have him evil but at the same time redeemable qualities, right? #3 sounds like that is the way he should go instead of being bitter with the world. #2 could show some human qualities in him and that he does want to redeem himself.

So yeah, like Scarf said. Would be interesting to see him go between #2 and #3.

txteclipse said:

Pbfffffglitterupnoseahhh! That's what you get for waking up in Vegas!

Okay guys, I'm having some trouble right now with one of my villains. He gets royally owned in the chapter I'm writing, his body burned to the point that he's near-death. In order to save himself, he must merge with the physical embodiment of darkness, which turns him into this kind of ghost/wraith/thing. My problem is that I can't decide what kind of person I want him to be after this. Will he become a tormented soul that has nothing but bitterness and a cold, hard-edged blade for the world that left him in this state? Or maybe he should realize as he lays dying that what he truly desires is redemption, only to learn that keeping himself alive means he must desert that commodity? Perhaps he should simply go insane, or be so consumed by darkness that he loses his will entirely, becoming nothing but a shell controlled by the rage, hatred, and sorrow roiling inside him?

I'm really stuck with this, and it's kind of driving me crazy. So I'd like to ask if any of those ideas strike anyone's fancy above the others? This guy becomes the main villain down the road, more or less, so he needs to be really evil while still being complicated and even pitiable, if possible. If it helps at all, he has no material possessions and nothing left to live for, pretty much, except perhaps revenge against another character for killing his pokemon.

Click to expand...

Because it has to do with shadows a bit, I liked the last one, namely that he loses his will entirely. However if you find him strong enough, then you could have him actually know what he is doing etc.

I'd hate to give you a cop-out answer, but go with the answer that best matches up with the way magic works in your world. If, for example, merging with shadows just mean a loss of pain or whatnot and immortality, then you'd be looking at option #1, which I admit would be a bit less desirable because a broody, emo embodiment of darkness slips into the cliche bin. If it's a heavily painful process that nearly tears his soul apart or at least costs the blood and flesh of his body in a practically Satanic magic ritual, then I'd imagine we'd be looking at #3 with a dash of #2 and a side order of reader-pity because they'd all be going, "Sweet Jesus, the universe hates this poor guy."

To be honest, I say it like this because it's a tendency of writers in general to think that darkness = evil (more so than, say, darkness = antihero), so in order to really figure out how you're going to have this happen or what's going to happen to his mindset, you'll probably want to first figure out how the process works and what the embodiment of darkness really is. Yeah, that was a bit vague, but basically, all it means is that if you've got a process laid out clearly, the result will probably end up just being the logical next step.

That might not help as much as what the others have said, so if I've just confused you or something, feel free to ask.

Valentine said:

I'd hate to give you a cop-out answer, but go with the answer that best matches up with the way magic works in your world. If, for example, merging with shadows just mean a loss of pain or whatnot and immortality, then you'd be looking at option #1, which I admit would be a bit less desirable because a broody, emo embodiment of darkness slips into the cliche bin. If it's a heavily painful process that nearly tears his soul apart or at least costs the blood and flesh of his body in a practically Satanic magic ritual, then I'd imagine we'd be looking at #3 with a dash of #2 and a side order of reader-pity because they'd all be going, "Sweet Jesus, the universe hates this poor guy."

To be honest, I say it like this because it's a tendency of writers in general to think that darkness = evil (more so than, say, darkness = antihero), so in order to really figure out how you're going to have this happen or what's going to happen to his mindset, you'll probably want to first figure out how the process works and what the embodiment of darkness really is. Yeah, that was a bit vague, but basically, all it means is that if you've got a process laid out clearly, the result will probably end up just being the logical next step.

That might not help as much as what the others have said, so if I've just confused you or something, feel free to ask.

Click to expand...

I feel kind of dumb right now, because I definitely should have elaborated upon this earlier, but the darkness he merges with is created from fear that he's collected in this necklace he has. It's strung with those red pearls that Misdreavus keep around their necks. That's right, this process is canon-based FTW.

Anyway, now that I've slept on it, I think I will do a combination of #2 and #3. He'll become this ridiculously powerful monster that literally consumes the fear of his victims for nourishment, so any actions he takes will be deliberately calculated to inspire the most fear possible in everyone and everything around him. However, somewhere in there will be a human spark that gains the upper hand every once in a while, offering him a moment of clarity. I'll use those to good effect in his redemptive process, if I decide he's to be redeemed, or some other way if not.

Yay! Thanks everyone. I love this place.

EDIT: Oh, as for the darkness = evil thing, the evil characters in the E.C. are aligned with the dark type. They all have dark pokémon, travel at night, and derive their power from those fear orbs. Since Latios and Latias are affiliated with and derive their power from light, the contrast between dark and light is a central theme throughout the story. Cliche? Probably. I don't worry about it too much, though.

I really like that monster, though he sounds overpowered. :B

txteclipse said:

I feel kind of dumb right now, because I definitely should have elaborated upon this earlier, but the darkness he merges with is created from fear that he's collected in this necklace he has. It's strung with those red pearls that Misdreavus keep around their necks. That's right, this process is canon-based FTW.

Click to expand...

In that case, I'd definitely say he'd end up going batcrap insane at one point or another, considering you're talking about fear juice concentrate right here. So, at least part of #3's probably going to be hard to avoid unless he doesn't also experience an overwhelming wave of the exact emotion he's harvested as soon as he comes in contact with it. Beyond that, your explanation -- where he deliberately farms fear from people in order to sustain himself -- is pretty sound itself.

EDIT: Oh, as for the darkness = evil thing, the evil characters in the E.C. are aligned with the dark type. They all have dark pokémon, travel at night, and derive their power from those fear orbs. Since Latios and Latias are affiliated with and derive their power from light, the contrast between dark and light is a central theme throughout the story. Cliche? Probably. I don't worry about it too much, though.

Click to expand...

Mostly, yeah, I was trying to say that if there's no rhyme or reason for it other than going with the usual symbols, then it'd be cliche. I'd say it's logical to go with darkness as a contrast to Lati@s because of their typing (e.g., Psychic < Dark), but even then, beyond that, if you've got some way to show that darkness + magic = bad (which you certainly do thanks to the fear orbs and the fact that they're opposing Lati@s to begin with), it really is kosher.

Kisaragi said:

I really like that monster, though he sounds overpowered. :B

Click to expand...

He will be powerful, but not invincible. The fear he merges with initially is from his deceased Weavile, so he also gains an affinity for ice. This makes it bad for him to be subjected to sunlight or fire or hot things, so he has a few built-in weaknesses. Humans with typing is kind of loltastic. On top of that, he's fear powered: no fear means no strength. Enter stoic characters such as Eli and the prince.

In that case, I'd definitely say he'd end up going batcrap insane at one point or another, considering you're talking about fear juice concentrate right here. So, at least part of #3's probably going to be hard to avoid unless he doesn't also experience an overwhelming wave of the exact emotion he's harvested as soon as he comes in contact with it. Beyond that, your explanation -- where he deliberately farms fear from people in order to sustain himself -- is pretty sound itself.

Click to expand...

I haven't really decided how the fear eating will work exactly, but I'm thinking it will probably just strengthen him by adding to the darkness that has been meshed with his body. In any case, the orbs will catalyze the emotion into dark energy, so it won't be like he's tripping on pure fear or anything.

Perhaps I can make him sort of vampiric, where he has this overwhelming hunger for fear that simply overcomes him once in a while and forces him to hunt something down and scare it to death in order to "eat." It would go well with him not being able to expose himself to intense sunlight. He could even be somewhat of a good guy otherwise, if I choose to go that route, which I might because I take my baddies conflicted-no-chaser.

Anyway, I think I have a lot of good options. Now I just need to pick the one that will work the best. Probably couldn't have done it without you guys, so thanks again.

EDIT: *watches a fleck of paint peel off the lounge wall* Sooo...anyone listened to the new Imogen Heap album yet? I'm downloading it right now.

*Brushes away cobwebs and dust in the Lounge, opens the door wide, and pulls open the curtains to brighten up the lounge. Then, puts on Black Fedora and tries to bring activity back to the dying lounge.*

This lack of activity is killing me so I decided on a new Bolded Topic.

Do you prefer to write in a serious and somewhat archaic tone or, do you write in a humourous, somewhat modern manner that children can understand without much difficulty.

For a better understanding of my nonsensical query, refer to the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and Flesch Reading Ease readability statistics.

Examples:
Lord of the Rings as opposed to Harry Potter.

Do you prefer to write in a serious and somewhat archaic tone or, do you write in a humourous, somewhat modern manner that children can understand without much difficulty.

Hmmm that's a tough question; one almost that I'd need a secound opinion on (though I don't think two fics would suffice as proof).

However, I will say that I think I use a bit of both.

Mizan Nix Zamnie said:

Do you prefer to write in a serious and somewhat archaic tone or, do you write in a humourous, somewhat modern manner that children can understand without much difficulty?

Click to expand...

I just write in the most natural manner possible -- as in, the way I speak, barring slang like "kinda." I don't really make an effort to be archaic or modernistic (or even to dumb myself down or make my writing sound flowery and any more pretentious than I already am) because pushing myself any more than necessary ends up making my writing sound forced or feel like work.

Valentine said:

I just write in the most natural manner possible -- as in, the way I speak, barring slang like "kinda." I don't really make an effort to be archaic or modernistic (or even to dumb myself down or make my writing sound flowery and any more pretentious than I already am) because pushing myself any more than necessary ends up making my writing sound forced or feel like work.

Click to expand...

Actually, that's what I meant by the second one. In a natural manner and not overly flowery like LOTR. Thanks for clarifiying.

*fixes*
Do you prefer to write in a serious and somewhat archaic tone or, do you write in the way that sounds most natural to you such as the way you speak in every day conversations?

Do you prefer to write in a serious and somewhat archaic tone or, do you write in the way that sounds most natural to you such as the way you speak in every day conversations?

I like to write that's more natural. I hate, hate to force myself to write in flowery prose unless I suddenly have a good one that sprung up (for instance, at the end of Chapter 20). Another thing is I write comedy and suspense, and those genres are fast paced stories, so flowery prose will slow everything down.

Also, I prefer to write in a lighthearted tone, per say. For instance, NE has loads of serious stuff but I also put some comedy in there so that the story doesn't get too dramatic and intense. Some writers can be able to write a story in a serious tone all the way through, but I can't.

And txtclipse, was listening to some of the songs from AOL music, and so far liking it. :)

EDIT: Mizan fixes the topic while I was answering it! :O

Do you prefer to write in a serious and somewhat archaic tone or, do you write in a humourous, somewhat modern manner that children can understand without much difficulty.

I don't really see how "humorous" and "modern" relate to each other. I mean, there's been humor in writing for almost as long as there's been writing. There's also no correlation between how funny something is and how easily children can understand it. I mean, just look at Yes Minister. Trying to understand a comedy about the British bureaucracy as an American child is pretty freaking hard (I can attest to that).

Now for an actual answer. I literally cannot write for very long without putting in something that's supposed to be funny or tongue-in-cheek, regardless of whether it's a serious story or not. Even in real life, I'm always trying to slip some humor into any and every situation. I don't think people laugh enough, and I constantly do my best to alleviate the effects of this problem.

icomeanon6 said:

I mean, there's been humor in writing for almost as long as there's been writing. There's also no correlation between how funny something is and how easily children can understand it.

Click to expand...

Would it be out-of-place to make a Chaucer reference right about now?

Oh, Chaucer.