Fanfiction Lounge

[Duncan McNeil]

Hmm, well the thing is I ORIGINALLY based the characters around my friends, but I found out that I don't know much at all about my friends since I'd rather keep to myself than ask them about stuff. So the alpha characters fell bland and made for horrible dynamics.

And I don't know what I want in the terms of personalities so I can't really use that technque. :S

Eh? Your characters are pretty good. Unfortunately, I really can't say much about coming up with characters. According to my reviewers one of my strong points is characterization, but I didn't intend for it to be that way. The dialogue just kind of flows. I don't have to stop and think, "What would Michelle do here?". I just know what she would say and keep going. Heh, lots of help I'm sure.

 

[txteclipse]

I have this kind of thing where I try to make my characters as utterly human as possible.

One of my main characters starts off basically depressed, since a long series of bad things has happened to him. However, the pokemon he meets basically helps him out of it. She acts as his foil: whenever he is down, she encourages him, and vice versa.

Another of my characters is a converted bully, and he clings to some of his old habits. Over time, he is taught to be better about such things, but it's a process. The pokemon he meets is his foil, in much the same way as my other character. The creature is very noble, which is nearly opposite him, and it rubs off.

Basically, character developement is the hardest part of writing. You have to start with someone, whoever you want, and then mold them into however you want them to be. The degree you do this to is up to you. The person could start out weak and become strong, or could start out cruel, and then become good. Or, the person could go from good to bad, or flux between many different facets.

Remember: characters are probably the most important part of your story. Don't feel bad about taking a little longer to choose who you want. If stories are buildings, then characters are the foundation. And you don't want a building with a bad foundation. It makes writing very, very difficult.

 

[Scytheteen]

Well, I'll join in on this. Personalities for humans are in my opinion harder to do than pokemon personalities, even though it is basiclly the same. I really just base all my characters in my story off everybody who I know. For those of you who don't do that and just make up a random character, there are a few good ones. Hanako and Lord94 said them being arrogant or a quiet one are good ones. Duncan's personalities are good too. You can also make your character some sort of really emotional person, and have them get very emotional when they are battling, or when they lose to a high-stakes game, or even battling someone who is close to them. In my opinion, human personalities are one of the hardest parts of building a story, but they are probably the most important. Just work it out and eventually you'll get something.

 

[Dogar The Brave]

Exactly what everbody else said. If you're still stuck search it up on google or wikipedia, you'll find something.

Oh, and that note, who here actually uses Wikipedia? I do, a lot, but I can normally tell what's true and what's not because it's 'The Online Encyclopidia that anyone can edit'. So, there will be people who mess around it it, like me.

Also, does anyone know where I can find some useful guides for reviewing? I find it quite fun, and I want to get better.

As for personalities, my favorite one would be the quirky, shy person who always saves the day at the last second.

 

[JX Valentine]

Oh, and that note, who here actually uses Wikipedia? I do, a lot, but I can normally tell what's true and what's not because it's 'The Online Encyclopidia that anyone can edit'. So, there will be people who mess around it it, like me.

I admit I do, if only to get a basic idea of what a subject is. For example, if I hear something mentioned -- like a new show -- and end up thinking, "Huh. I've never heard of that before," I look it up on Wikipedia to get a bit of information on what it's about.

For research papers, however, I try not to use it because of exactly the reason you've mentioned.

Also, does anyone know where I can find some useful guides for reviewing? I find it quite fun, and I want to get better.

I actually wrote a short one for another forum (mostly because I was getting ticked at the number of reviewers who simply missed the point of reviewing), and at the risk of shameless advertising, you can find it here. Unfortunately, there's a few things that need to be added and tweaked (like how to properly review, I should think), but it should give you a general idea of what the best type of review might be.

(Incidentally, if there's enough interest, I'll make a version for PC, maybe with the said missing section if I can find a way to put it into words.)

 

[Dogar The Brave]

Thanks Jax, that was very helpful. I would say you should copy and paste it into a section here except that there is more you could edit in.

And I think we all agree we want you to create a section for it. Well, I do anyway.

But, I was talking with my friend, and he is big in on the industry of innovation - like he thinks in the next three years there won't be any books - it'll all be audio books and ipods will be a life item. Anyways, we started talking about wikipedia and he bet me five hundred Euro that Wikipedia will be used as a school within the next fifteen years.

Anyone think he's crazy, like I do? Or do you think he's right?

 

[Duncan McNeil]

...I honestly have no idea. I doubt that Wikipedia will be used as a school, but we're getting way off topic here, aren't we? Yeah...

What is your main purpose as a writer? Just for fun? Or do you plan on actually becoming an author? I know there are some really talented writers on here and The Big Green Lagger that are actually good enough to be published.

I know I'd really like to be published one day. I'm not nearly good enough right now, but I'm working on it. :D What do you guys think?

 

[Dogar The Brave]

Well between me and all of you guys, I'm actually very close to getting an actual book published: The Gemini Tiger Cat.

It took me three years to complete, so many edits.

My agent is in talks with a publisher, so yeah...

As for being off topic, I belive this is entitled: Fanfiction lounge, the place to be off topic.

Point proved.

 

[Negrek]

But, I was talking with my friend, and he is big in on the industry of innovation - like he thinks in the next three years there won't be any books - it'll all be audio books and ipods will be a life item. Anyways, we started talking about wikipedia and he bet me five hundred Euro that Wikipedia will be used as a school within the next fifteen years.

No books in three years? Totally preposterous. If nothing else, real, solid books hold a great deal of sentimental value for most people--I know that at least my mother will take a whole lot more than three years to be won over to the audiobook format. There's also the fact that, currently, audiobook readers don't have sufficiently large libraries to attract a tone of people, tend to be harder to read than actual books due to screen size, and are expensive enough that people would rather buy a real paper book than bother with "high technology." Might books eventually be replaced by digital media? Perhaps. In three years? Absolutely not.

Also, I'd love to get in on that 500-Euro bet.

What is your main purpose as a writer? Just for fun? Or do you plan on actually becoming an author?

Published.

 

[Duncan McNeil]

Well between me and all of you guys, I'm actually very close to getting an actual book published: The Gemini Tiger Cat.

It took me three years to complete, so many edits.

My agent is in talks with a publisher, so yeah...

As for being off topic, I belive this is entitled: Fanfiction lounge, the place to be off topic.

Point proved.

XD Heh, yeah. Point proved. ^^

So you're really that close, eh? That's actually how I got started writing. My friend wrote a ten page story and showed it to me. We both got really excited about it and decided to write a book based on it. XD We were both pretty bad, but that got me start on writing.

We still plan on doing the book, but we both want to get better at writing first. Heh, five years and 4 full rewrites later we're getting close. :D

 

[Astinus]

Oh, and that note, who here actually uses Wikipedia? I do, a lot, but I can normally tell what's true and what's not because it's 'The Online Encyclopidia that anyone can edit'. So, there will be people who mess around it it, like me.

Like Jax (who needs an "Apple" before her name, me thinks, because I'm tired), I use it to get a general idea first about the subject. Like for fic purposes, when I needed some quick information about the Shinto religion, I hopped over there to get an idea. Same with the Seven Deadly Sins for another fic. (What am I writing about? Who knows!)

Hanako and Lord94 said them being arrogant or a quiet one are good ones.

:P Mine's just arrogant because it was the last Sin (Pride) I needed. Every other one was filled, except for Sloth, which I didn't want her to have.

But, I was talking with my friend, and he is big in on the industry of innovation - like he thinks in the next three years there won't be any books - it'll all be audio books and ipods will be a life item. Anyways, we started talking about wikipedia and he bet me five hundred Euro that Wikipedia will be used as a school within the next fifteen years.

Books disappearing in the next three years? There are still people who are not technologically elite and still go the old-fashioned way. A friend and I were talking about this, only in terms of grocery stores (since I work in one). A competitor has plans to replace the older registers that still need cashiers with newer registers that are self-service with no cashiers. My friend determined that the senior citizens would leave that store because they don't want to deal with no fang-naggled technology. There's still going to be a market for regular old books.

What is your main purpose as a writer? Just for fun? Or do you plan on actually becoming an author?

I swallowed too much ink a few years ago, and it's trying to get out. And also, I have no other talents except for story-telling, so it's all I can do. What I plan to do with my writing is become a copy-writer. I never wanted to be published, though my mom keeps dropping hints that that's what she wants to see. I'm just happy filling notebooks for free.

(Incidentally, if there's enough interest, I'll make a version for PC, maybe with the said missing section if I can find a way to put it into words.)

Do it. You know you want to to help avoid school work. xP

 

[Alter Ego]

On the nots of fics - anyone up for reviewing mine?

*Cough* I thought I already said I'd do that yesterday. Bleah, you'd already have one from me if things had gone as planned, but yours is the one I lost to a random computer crash yesterday, and today was completely eaten up by small IRL things. (2-hour university information seminar, plus about an hour and a half commuting between home and said seminar, walking and feeding the dog etc.) I just haven't had the time to sit down and make a proper writing (or reading) effort all day. x.x

So yeah, review to come sometime between tomorrow and Sunday, depends on how much of a reviewing mood I get into and how much I find to remark on.

Alter Ego, your decision about the point of view is like what Melville did in Benito Cereno. The character that the story focuses on, Amasa Delano, sees hints about what actually happened, but he's so simple-minded that he doesn't get it. But the readers do because they can see a bit more and put more together. So if your main character can see things about the other character but doesn't put them together until later, it would be a fun read.

Well, I don't know if my character is simple-minded enough not to see any connections, but it would be very much like him to draw the wrong ones. xD Mmmhmm...I'll keep that idea in mind, see how that works out in practice. ^^

Okay, so, what's wrong with that? Other than the fact that it sounds like a mentally handicapped fourteen-year-old, I mean?

Rofl. And people wonder why I enjoy reading guides so much. xD

Seriously, if you're up for making an improved version of this I for one support that notion 100 per-cent. Wish I had had some thing like this back when I first started reviewing. :3

Anyways, yeah, a paperless future is not one I'd enjoy. I for one like books that are there for the sole purpose of being read, thank you very much. xP

 

[Dogar The Brave]

*Cough* I thought I already said I'd do that yesterday. Bleah, you'd already have one from me if things had gone as planned, but yours is the one I lost to a random computer crash yesterday,

Must've slipped my mind... Is your computer unable to recover files?

No books in three years? Totally preposterous. If nothing else, real, solid books hold a great deal of sentimental value for most people--I know that at least my mother will take a whole lot more than three years to be won over to the audiobook format. There's also the fact that, currently, audiobook readers don't have sufficiently large libraries to attract a tone of people, tend to be harder to read than actual books due to screen size, and are expensive enough that people would rather buy a real paper book than bother with "high technology." Might books eventually be replaced by digital media? Perhaps. In three years? Absolutely not.

Books disappearing in the next three years? There are still people who are not technologically elite and still go the old-fashioned way. A friend and I were talking about this, only in terms of grocery stores (since I work in one). A competitor has plans to replace the older registers that still need cashiers with newer registers that are self-service with no cashiers. My friend determined that the senior citizens would leave that store because they don't want to deal with no fang-naggled technology. There's still going to be a market for regular old books.

I guess that's five hundred euro for me then!

We still plan on doing the book, but we both want to get better at writing first. Heh, five years and 4 full rewrites later we're getting close.

Rewrites don't necassarily mean anything.

Seriously, if you're up for making an improved version of this I for one support that notion 100 per-cent. Wish I had had some thing like this back when I first started reviewing

Yeah - come on Jax, we're waiting! No, just kidding, seriously though - it'd be brilliant if you did.

Ok, I know there were more people I should've responded to there, but I just chose those quotes randomly.

 

[Alter Ego]

Must've slipped my mind... Is your computer unable to recover files?

Not ones I haven't saved. I always use the advanced reply box to write my reviews so I can get all the quotes my sticklerish little heart desires, but the damn thing died on me just as I was about to copy-paste it into a text document for safe keeping. >.<

And yeah, since I forgot to answer this one...

What is your main purpose as a writer? Just for fun? Or do you plan on actually becoming an author?

Me? I do it for the sheer joy of writing. I mean if something I write is actually worth publishing then great, but it's always been more of a hobby for me. How to say...the enjoyment in improving at what I do has always been my main motivation.[/Writing geek]

 

[Astinus]

Rewrites don't necassarily mean anything.

Not to be rude or anything, but what does that mean?

I've been rewriting a fic for years and I can see an improvement in my writing skills. No one can write as wonderfully in the beginning without some practice.

Rewriting is actually a standard part of writing anything. Find me anyone out there who is a writer who hasn't had to rewrite something.

Wish I had had some thing like this back when I first started reviewing. :3

For reals. I had to learn how to review by practice and watching others.

 

[Dogar The Brave]

Not to be rude or anything, but what does that mean?

I've been rewriting a fic for years and I can see an improvement in my writing skills. No one can write as wonderfully in the beginning without some practice.

Rewriting is actually a standard part of writing anything. Find me anyone out there who is a writer who hasn't had to rewrite something.

Sorry - I guess I should've explained myself clearer. Yes, some rewrites do make the story brilliant, and nearly all improve. But sometimes you don't need to rewrite because the story is perfect as it is. But as they say: An author is never truly happy with his/her work.

 

[Alter Ego]

Sorry - I guess I should've explained myself clearer. Yes, some rewrites do make the story brilliant, and nearly all improve. But sometimes you don't need to rewrite because the story is perfect as it is. But as they say: An author is never truly happy with his/her work.

There's no such thing as perfection, it's just a matter of how good you are at spotting the flaws. Different people will also have different views on what the 'perfect' way to do things is, so there's no universal perfect. D=

Honestly, there's always something that could have been done better somewhere and I've never heard of anyone writing perfection in their first try. Thinking that your work is perfect from the get-go is a sign of deep, personal bias rather than skill. I mean, with that philosophy we get people like...well, I hate to be pointing fingers so I won't give any names except The Mega Champion. xP

 

[Dogar The Brave]

Whoa, I never said I was perfection - you completely misread what I said.

 

[Alter Ego]

Whoa, I never said I was perfection - you completely misread what I said.

You said, and I quote "sometimes you don't need to rewrite because the story is perfect as it is." all I did was argue against that statement. Never once did I say that you, the forumite I am currently addressing, actually think that your work is perfect; it was just speculation on what going by the assumption that something can be perfect from the start causes, so I'm afraid that the misread is on your part here. Curse the English language's ambiguity. >_<

 

[Dogar The Brave]

Sorry - I guess I should've explained myself clearer. Yes, some rewrites do make the story brilliant, and nearly all improve. But sometimes you don't need to rewrite because the story is perfect as it is. But as they say: An author is never truly happy with his/her work.

Sorry - I guess I should've explained myself clearer. Yes, some rewrites do make the story brilliant, and nearly all improve. But sometimes you don't need to rewrite because the story is good enough as it is. But as they say: An author is never truly happy with his/her work.

Happy now?

Edit: I think I just got somebody banned.