(no subject)

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Righto. Well, it seems that most of you are interested in the writing workshop. So here's how it'll work. Just sign up below with the topic you'd like to write about. If you don't know what you want to write about and would like ideas, just indicate that and we'll chime in to let you know what we see as your greatest strengths.

If no one takes issue with it, I think I'd like to write about Characterization. I can put up my essay in a day or two as an example and then you all can post yours. Just space them out a bit if you would. XD

Comments

[mangy-mongrel.livejournal.com]

Grammer is probably my only strong point. XP Any suggestions would be welcome!

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

But not spelling. :D *teas*

Hmm, there has to be something else you're good at. Why do you enjoy playing? Maybe that will help...

[mangy-mongrel.livejournal.com]

XD Yes, my spelling can go bonkers sometimes.

Hmm. Actually, I would say that what I love most about playing would be the bantering - I love writing witty* repartee, and thinking about WWLD** on-the-spot, as it were. Not that I manage to do this a lot, seeing how most of you guys are 12hrs away from me. T___T



*Well, at least what I *think* is witty. XP
**What Would Luna Do?

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Would you like to write about dialogue, then? How to get that fun, quick, back-and-forth?

And the time difference shouldn't really make a difference, because there is none to the characters. We just need to find you someone who will respond right away. I'm up for a Crowley-Luna or Adam-Luna interaction some time, if you'd like. ;)

[anathema-witch.livejournal.com]

Umm, any ideas for a topic I could take up?

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

I'll ask you what I asked Luna. Why do you like playing? Maybe that'll give us a clue about what you could write about.

[anathema-witch.livejournal.com]

Well, I mainly play for the strange and wacky conversations that Ana always seems to end up in, ooh and learnign things about hospital liek thigns that I wouldn't have ever known beforehand...lol, like Pepper and her broken shoulder that time at the BBQ...

That help?

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Well, then, how about writing about research and what role that can play in the game? I know I'm looking up stuff all the time - medical stuff, popular culture, you name it. That sound interesting?

*note to everyone* Oh, and the rest of you can chime in with ideas, too...

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm not sure if I'm going to do an essay or not, but I thought it might be helpful to people who are trying to decide what to write about if I were to list a few topics I'd personally like to hear about:

Britisms/British Culture-- This might be two seperate topics, but to our few British players, some corrections of our mistakes or explanations of things that non-British types might not realize about the culture would be amazing!

Maybe a 'Getting into the game' or something for n00bs? That might be especially good coming from someone from a canon without a lot of representation?

Shipping/Romance-- Sorta falls under characterization, but would be really interesting to hear about, perhaps? And I'm not sure if this is a seperate topic, but sexuality?

Plottage? Has no one claimed this? It's an interesting topic...how much is too much plotting, how much is too little, and what makes a good plot?

You know, this may be ironic from the girl playing the guy who hasn't gotten off in nearly twenty years, but the shipping/sexuality one kind of interests me. If anyone else wants that one, go for it (seriously, I'm not just being polite. Or feel free to grab half of that topic if you want) but if there isn't any other interest, I'll be happy to write it.

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for throwing ideas out there!

I think John's working on one for 'getting into the game' but the others all sound really interesting. I hope you will write the one on shipping/sexuality. I'm sorely tempted on that and plotting, but I can't hog all the good topics. ;) I might mention it a bit in passing for characterization, though...

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Hee, I think I will write the shipping one, thank you, although I'm not quite sure what needs to be said about sexuality. This game is pretty good at avoiding the stereotypes/everyone is gay! syndrome/too black and white sort of issues that you see a lot of elsewhere. But let me know if there's anything under that category you'd like to see addressed.

And I'm glad John is writing the getting into the game one-- it'll be great to read (plus, she is the only one currently representing her canon, so see? I'm a genius!). I do hope you do mention romance/sexuality in your characterization piece, since I think romance writing is essentially a sub-category of characterization.

*coughs* If no one else claims the plottage, and you have the time, you really ought to write that. I would enjoy reading it. :)

Oh, and another suggested topic I just thought of? How to Write Really Awesome Non-Sue Female Characters? With all of the men and man shaped beings running around, it's nice to see some women, and in my experience, being female doesn't appear to grant the ability to actually write plausible women. I'd love to read it. :)

[violet-wine.livejournal.com]

But it's impossible to create Sues in this game, since you aren't allowed original characters.

[lumelle.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, it isn't. It really really isn't.

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Hee, I agree with Muri, I've read many cases of people taking a nice well rounded non OC and sueifying her, and there are many authors who have created sues to begin with.

But I think it must really be said that I wasn't referring to anyone in this game, just in RPing and fandom in general. I just think that, in general, people are often afraid of playing female characters because we're afraid of writing sues. I know I'm always somewhat wary of female chars for this reason. :) But there are quite a few strong females in this game, so I think it would be an interesting subject if someone wanted to write about it.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

I just think that, in general, people are often afraid of playing female characters because we're afraid of writing sues.

As if writing a male character guarantees that you won't.

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Again, majorly majorly agreed. Although I think one of the worst issues facing male characters isn't so much the sueness as the feminization, but I actually don't see that here so much. But I think, especially since we don't do OCs here, it becomes easier to play well rounded, interesting male characters than their female counterparts simply because, unfortunately, authors tend to write far more strong* male characters than they do females, even if they do write some interesting females. Only exception I can think of on this off the top of my head is Pterry, who seems to write very interesting characters fo both genders.

Plus, Mary Sue phobia does tend to fall unequally upon females, probably because there's far more OFC or OCC female char badfic out there, so often I think people incorrectly associate OFCs with Sues.


*hesitate to use this word, because it's so cliche. Plus, characters can be weak or wimpy and still be interesting and valuable characters. But it's quite a bit shorter than 'well-rounded, well devloped' etc.

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Well, we do have a rather high majority of gay/bisexual characters, but that may be because most of our characters are man shaped and/or technically genderless. But you wizard types, I dunno, must be something in the water... ;)

*g* We'll see about the plottage. But if anyone else wants it first, they're welcome to it. And I will mention romance in the characterization, but I'm looking forward to your shipping one to see the issue in detail.

And good female characters is another good topic.

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

It's the inbreeding. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

(And I know our ratios still don't reflect the real world, but I've seen RPGs where if there's an attractive male character, you can just assume he likes men. I'd say we're more reasonable than most. XD)

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

*giggle* Won't be much more of that if everyone's gay. :D

(Yeah, much more reasonable. We have one attractive straight male holdout who everyone keeps trying to hook up with guys. XD But I'm teasing. When we had Mr. Wednesday, Destruction, and Newt things were slightly more balanced.)

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Dude. Adam? Shadow? Loki? Doc? Kudos to Docling, btw, for having such a pretty char and choosing to go hetero XD.

Besides, I don't really count angels and demons because 1. sexless, 2. Milton says they're all 'gay'. I can prove it. Raphael says at one point that angels shag other angels, but there are also several points where it's indicated that there are no female-shaped angels. If the Puritans say angels bugger one another, then it has to be true.

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Point. I should have looked at the character list before saying anything. Though Adam is mostly asexual. *cough*

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Asexual still counts as notgay. ;)

(Also, just cursing myself for missing the opportunity to make a cheap 'Sirius is in the closet' joke. Geez, must have been too early or something. XD)

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Until this wank thing gets finished... *ahem*

(Aw. XD)

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

(Loki would like to state that he feels insulted by you not considering him attractive.)

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

(Hey now! XD I just forgot since he's not actively looking for a partner.)

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

(Just you wait until he gets into the hospital wing.)

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

(Oh dear... I thought that was a joke!)

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

(Honey? No it somehow became serious.)

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

(*cries*)

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

(Well, if you're absolutely against it, we should probably discuss it with Ana.)

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

(I can't say that I like it at all, but as long as what you're doing is within the rules, I can't forbid it. I would ask that you think about it, though. I mean, we've already done the pregnancy thing. And how likely would it be to have a population explosion in the middle of a war, that, if they lose, will mean that everyone dies? Who'd want that for a child? Besides, would Ana cheat on Newt? I don't get that feeling canonically. Or that she'd be content with single parenthood - she doesn't know that Loki will survive. Just, please, think through all the long-term consequences for the characters and the game. I mean, who's going to play these kids? Does that unfairly bypass our two characters rule once they're old enough to talk and act on their own? What do they contribute to the game? to the plot? It's just... a lot, you know?)

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

(Well, Ana's said that yes, she would cheat on Newt and the idea so far is that Newt will raise Honey with her. It's not a planned pregnancy, though, so Loki's survival and single parenthood won't figure into the decision to sleep with him. Neither Ana nor I have two characters at the moment, so I can't see how we'd be bypassing the three characters rule here. As I said we should discuss it with Ana, though. This whole thing started from her saying Ana would like to have a child. - Loki, he'd like to sleep with her and he likes children, but it's Ana's baby, Ana's idea and Ana's decision to have or not to have Honey.)

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

(But that's assuming things of a future player that we don't even have. What if someone shows up wanting to play Newt and gets forced into this situation of having to raise someone else's kid? That's not fair. At least leave him out of it so his future player can make his/her own decision about whether or not to get involved.

And Anathema is so practical, canonically, that I cannot imagine her neglecting birth control even if she does intend to cheat.

Whatever. I realize this is Ana's issue, and I need to take it up with her, so I'll stop complaining to you about it now. Sorry.)

[violet-wine.livejournal.com]

I'd like to write about dialogue and style in general. Perhaps names or symbolism as well.

Disregard First Post

[violet-wine.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhhhh...whoah, okay I get it now. Sorry.

I would like to write about culture and everyday life, both in history and in fantasy. I would also like to write about world-building in general.

I know most writing advice now says to avoid the 'hassle' of world-building and creating cultures, but I think it can be great fun, as well as very rewarding!

Re: Disregard First Post

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

^^ Not quite sure what you mean, but if you'd prefer to write about culture and everyday life and world-building, please feel free. I don't know much about that, so it should be interesting.

Re: Disregard First Post

[violet-wine.livejournal.com]

Well I'm into high fantasy, meaning stories that take place in totally different worlds (Anne McCaffery has her Pern, Terry Prachett has his Discworld, RA Salvatore has Faerun...), and I just love pretend politics and making up religions, cultures, languages, customs...not many people do that much work anymore, but I still like to have a whole world that I'm in charge of, that way I don't have to worry so much about research, just continuity.

That's my forte in writing, really, so that's my offering. I can also help with dealing with animals in fiction, including making new species.

Re: Disregard First Post

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

All right. Sounds like a plan. :D

Re: Disregard First Post

[violet-wine.livejournal.com]

Awesome. However, I would like to request that my essays wait until December, as I'm taking part in Nanowrimo this year. Thanks!

Re: Disregard First Post

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

No prob. We don't have to do this all at once.

[lumelle.livejournal.com]

I doubt I have any strong points aside from being posty to the point of flooding, but if you think otherwise, I'd like to hear any suggestions. XD

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

You know, I'd actually like to learn more about the role of Christianity and how that intersects the game. How close or far we are from stereotypes of angels and demons as religious people see them or something like that. Would that interest you?

Conversely, you could write about making major life-changing decisions in regards to characters. Like why a player would decide to have a character Fall or get pregnant or do something else major and how that affects their personalities and lives, etc.

[lumelle.livejournal.com]

I like the major decisions idea. :) About that, I actually can write something.

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Great!

[lordofthesouth.livejournal.com]

I claim imagery. And will beat anyone with a pointy beating stick if they challenge for it.

Well, probably not. But I'd like to do it, anyhow.

You might even be able to convince me to write a little smut.

When do we start? Where do we post them? ^^;

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

*giggle* It's all yours.

Ooh. And how might we convince you of that? :D

I'm going to post mine to MP in a day or two as an example, but if you've got yours done and want to put it up, then by all means, do so. There's no set format or anything.

[lordofthesouth.livejournal.com]

*happy dance*

Sacrificial offerings of pie. ...or you could just ask really nicely? Tee.

Okies. It'll probably be a couple days before I get anything worth really posting. I have a txt file full of random things that I have to work into a proper article. I drove my publications teacher batty with the way I organize things. ^^;

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

*ritually burns a slice of blueberry* Pretty please with whipped cream and a cherry? :D

No worries. Mine's pretty scattershot at the moment, too.

[allthisnonsense.livejournal.com]

Shrubbery okay? Crowley is a gardener...