Jun 2015 Archive, part c

I like helping out my fellow writers. My email is diamondcloud@gmail.com

(I'll pass on the Lemon Pie, though, if that's all right. Too sour for me.)

I totally did not spend the last hour reading the whole thing. HAHAHAHA. That would be a waste of time that I don't have to waste.

I'd just read the first one, so it's exciting to know that there's more to the story out there. Thanks for the link!

The only bad part I can remember was that it wasn't finished when I started reading it, so I had to wait for updates.

Like sjosten said, it has now since joined the ranks of Legendary Goodfic. Because it's Just That Awesome.

Best Star Trek (sort of) webcomic ever!!! :D :D :D

We made it one of our Legendary Goodfics a little while back here: http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=199610;article=270949;

Here's to the big guy who was always there for me when I needed it.

Santé!

Thanks, Dad. We may not always get along, but you're still the best possible father I could have.

My dad got me into Doctor Who, which has since become one of my biggest fandoms. He's been a solid pillar for me in my thus far pretty turbulent life.

*raises glass* Here's to you, dad. Thanks for being awesome.

Sorry about the super belated welcome back. I have been very busy replacing my roof.

Anyway, what have I been up to? Not much really. Not sure if you have seen it, but if the January date is correct I am going to guess not. Me and Iximaz finished our crossover mission! After, like, a year. I'm currently on mobile, so I can't link, but I'm sure you can look it up yourself.

Anyway, how have things been for you? Well, I hope.

You don't know who I am, because apparently I got here, when you had already disappeared (That means around January).

So anyway, welcome back, and have this replica of The One Ring, that does nothing, except when you put it in boiling water. Then it makes peach-flavored tea.

You need a returnbie starter and a good item, so here we go! =]

Your New Game Plus starter:

Iiiiiiiiit's Tyranitar!

And your starting item is:

Brilliant Behemoth from Risk Of Rain!

Now, the synergies here are pretty obvious if you play Doubles, because Brilliant Behemoth increases the power of moves that hit multiple Pokémon by 20%. This ALSO removes the penalty from those moves if they DO hit multiple opponents. While it actually works really well with anyone who has Parabolic Charge, it's still nice on people with STAB Earthquake, though Mega Tyranitar's still probably a better bet. =]

Have one of my own shed feathers and a complimentary kit of Spikes!

Have an animate origami frog.

You don't know me; I joined a month or two ago, but it's cool to see a returnbie! Welcome back!

Well, I'll be! Welcome back to the Board! Glad to see you're making a comeback.

I don't think we ever finished our little project together, right? I think it's about time we fixed that...

I'm doing great; just finished my screenwriting class last week, and since we're not meeting during finals week, I have a chance to write/relax before my second summer class starts.

PPC-wise, I'm starting to wrap up my second mission and write my third. Both should be interesting.

Here, have this stuffed Leprechaun... He may or may not spill out Lucky Charms if you slice him open.

Okay, enough with the stereotypes :D... for now.

But seriously, though, welcome! Now I have someone to Beta my Irish agent :D

Here, have this cup of confused Lapsang Souchong tea as a welcome-back gift — it's not quite sure whether it smells like a campfire or not, so treat it gently, aright?

*throws cakefetti*

Haven't seen you on in forever! Take this fresh plate of welcome-back SPaGhetti!

How's life been treating you?

My name is JacksepticyeI remember you! You wrote the mission that introduced mini-Moggets to the world! YAY KITTIES

You're still running their adoption center, right?

Or should we call you Samurai? tIS? The Swordsman of Hibernia? Oh, whatever. Hi! Welcome back again.

(I think you had a cowritten chapter of The Ispace Wars ongoing with me, but... honestly I can't remember. I've kind of dropped the ball on that myself, though I intend to pick it back up again At Some Point.)

(Eesh, at this rate I'm going to have to suggest another UK Gathering...)

hS

Glad to see you again. I was afraid you might be gone for good. Welcome back!

... And oh god, I never did get around to that Gathering report. Between one thing and another it kinda fell through the cracks. I should, uh, maybe fish it out of there. >.>

In the last several months, my old job ended, I found a new one that isn't as good but at least gives decent hours, and I recently came out with a new interlude and mission, and Phobos added a short story to the Catastrophe Theory collection, which should interest you, IIRC. {= )

In other news, Iximaz, Desdendelle, and Poor Cynic are our newest Permission Givers, and Iximaz PPC'd the whole Rose Potter series. That was a thing.

You were looking for lots of reading material, right? That's what drew you back? ^_~

How are you? Work been keeping you busy?

~Neshomeh

It's the Pit. It's full of voles. And not the cute voles either.

I mean, if nothing else, you can always ask one of us. Not to toot our collective horn, but we're pretty good at this beta reading lark. =]

The plug has been pulled on my Plans. They're going to the same resurrection-proof section of the Idea Graveyard that I put Sigma.EXE.

For those not in the know, my Plans were to kill Valon, and transform him into a Victim Ghost from Silent Hill 4.

I ran the idea through five people, all of whom thought it was a great idea, or kept their reservations to themselves. The sixth PPCer to get the idea started raising all sorts of questions, that I just couldn't find good answers to. Then one of the first five admitted concerns she had, and got me to start seriously rethinking this. Another of the first five suggested I post this topic on the Board.

So, I guess you can all thank SeaTurtle, Iximaz and SkarmorySilver for knocking some sense into my skull, and saving Valon.

First off, your motivations seem a little... off to me. You seem to be mostly concerned with what other people think about your agents. While I understand that it's good to get feedback on your characters and hear positive things about them, I think you should put creating a good story over being famous within the PPC. So if you think your Plans are going to make for an interesting story and you want to write it, then go ahead. But if your only motivation is because you feel like it's required in order to get them in some kind of nebulous Hall of Fame... then maybe you shouldn't. Poorly written Sue-fics get lots of favorites and comments, but that doesn't mean that's what you should aspire for.

Secondly, I think it's better to focus on personal drama than big, HQ-rocking drama. Some things, like what happened to Rina, are likely to have wide-spread effects; other things aren't likely to ever really be heard of outside their RA. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have an impact on the people it happened to. If your characters cross a line on one of their missions and end up in trouble, it might make the news or it might not. But that doesn't matter to the people it happens to. What matters is the way that it changes things for them. Even something little that might not seem significant at all to outsiders can have a major influence on the people it happened to. Look at Derik in Neshomeh's most recent mission. Even if he and Gall never tell anyone else about what happened, it's clearly shaken him a lot.

And on a final note, I feel like you're being a little unfair to some of the other PPC writers. Just because a character doesn't stick out to you doesn't mean that they're bad or unorignal, it's just a matter of personal taste. I'm not saying all PPC stories are perfect and it's wrong to criticize them, but it kind of comes off a little as "if I don't remember them, then they're worthless."

Big events? Don't accomplish anything.

Drama for the sake of drama? Is boring.

Shaking up the narrative just to say you did? Quite frankly, is trite.

For a long period of time as part of the PPC, I read every single findable and published mission. We're talking /years/ worths of spin-offs, and dozens and dozens.

The ones I can talk about in casual conversation or discussion and bring up easily with other boarders?

It isn't because they were attached to big attention-grabbing events. Quite frankly, I barely recall the whole list of agents that were volunteers for the Alumia emergency back in 2008- and that was quite a Sue!

As for the characters you listed: What do you really remember about them?

Unfortuantely I can't say anything about Rina, because I haven't read those spin-offs (My apologies!), but for the rest?

I remember Nume because Nesh's missions are clever, and she has interplay and continuing growth between Nume and Ilraen.

Dafydd? Thanks to hS' missions featuring Dafydd, I know way more than enough about Silmarillion and the Feanoreans than I would otherwise. hS builds history and background information into his missions without making it feel forced. It isn't just about the big events, it's about what leads up to it and what happens after- the causes and results.

Suicide? Let's start with the base stock- Suicide's creation and entry into being a PPC agent is truly unique, as far as any goes, and the fact he's stayed himself- rather than being adapted into acting like a modern age agent?- well worth remembering!

Laburnum? Oh, I certainly remember that spin-off, and not only because of those big attention grabing events you cite.

Cadmar? Shark teef. 'Nough said.

If you're taking the attitude that it is all about big events making waves and attention grabbing to make a character unique and not 'stock', you're dead wrong- and it's an attitude that won't serve you well as far as making your own characters develop. You don't have to focus only on the badfic; aside from that, the stock formula is stock for a reason- or are you suggesting that TOS is forgettable and generic, by these standards of yours? Besides, the main component of hS' mission based spinoffs and and Neshomeh's? Stock. It's not what happens that makes them memorable, it's the writing and care behind them. Quality, rather than quantity or explosiveness.

While my own spin-off's mostly faded into the distance with time, I still used the stock formula, and altered where I needed to do what I wanted with my own characters' personal story arcs. I mixed it up by using plenty of interludes between missions- in fact, I was one of the first to start that practice!- and by having a leadup and cooldown both before and after the mission itself in each story.

Sometimes you have to dump plans you've made for months- it's not a waste of time or effort. As a writer, your first and foremost goal is to write something that's enjoyable and works well as a whole. If you're crafting it to match some sort of formula for expected success, you might find it, but you'll not enjoy it as much as you will otherwise.

There's nothing wrong with stock, if you know what to do with it. It's just the broth. What you do with it and what you put into it results in an actual soup.

Or Suicide, or Cadmar?

If you're thinking of "Subjugation," I must point out that the mission never actually got done, and Nume wasn't even originally supposed to be involved—he and Cameo were retconned in after Shae and Jo's author dropped out of the project. He's not even mentioned in the little bit that did get written. Furthermore, if it's such a big deal, why don't you name Rez, Flip, Gunny, and Wayne, who were actually involved from the beginning and also have fine and distinguished careers otherwise?

And Suicide doesn't have any other big events to his name, really. Unless you're counting Sakhmet or something, but her badfic isn't even Legendary, so you couldn't possibly be considering that...

As for Cadmar, unless I missed something (which is quite possible, since I can't read everything), the biggest thing to happen to him was that he got turned into a her and stuck with it. It was a big deal for Cadmar, sure, but genderbenders do happen occasionally. It's not precisely earth-shattering, y'know?

Perhaps you actually remember the things that happen to these characters for other reasons that might be worth noting?

~Neshomeh

Well that's kind of depressing. Oh, well.

hS

Take the Notary. She's the Time Lord everybody loves to hate. In fact, she's one of the more memorable agents I've seen (and I've seen quite the amount in the four or so years I've been around). Did she do anything notable? No. She was in a WhatThe mission, a couple Chilli Con Council interludes, and that's about it.

She didn't even turn into a dragon in the end! *cries*

I hadn't thought of it before, but yeah, it does have an awful lot in common with a certain subset of bad fanfics.
I didn't think it was a very good movie. I got a sense of what it was trying to do and it was very admirable, but I thought it was very poorly executed. Good ideas killed by sloppy and messy writing.

But I think Maleficent has more to do with the recent obsession with retelling the villains to be more sympathetic. I guess it's due to value dissonance between what was collected back in 19th century and how Disney wants to portray all characters as rich in detail and have every reason for their evil.

Isn't this the woman who condemns an infant to death and then stalks her for the rest of her life? Sure, she starts out and ends up 'good' (though she's still pretty violent about it at the end), but she goes through one heck of a dark patch in between. Nor were the fairies 'demonised', from what I remember - they were dim-witted, certainly, but not evil.

I thought it was a brilliant film, myself - a fantastic look at an old story from the other side, as it were. Yes, it changed things around some - but I don't think it's as black-and-white as you read it as.

hS

This is the best I can come up with:


"La solution de silicate de sodium est manufacturée en faisant dissoudre du dioxyde de silicium dans une solution d'hydroxyde de sodium. Le résultat est un produit extrêmement caustique avec une stoechiométrie qui varie en fonction du rapport Na₂O : SiO₂ du composé. Par conséquent, ces solutions possèdent des formulations nominales de Na₂SiO₃, Na₂Si₂O₅ et de Na₂Si₃O₇ qui ont des rapports Na₂O : SiO₂ de 1:1, 1:2 et 1:3 respectivement dans l'eau. Les produits du ICL contiennent de 9 à 18% de Na₂O par masse selon leur type et leur application. Cette information fait référence à la solution de silicate de sodium avec un rapport Na₂O : SiO₂ d'à peu près 1:1,65."


One thing: I'm feeling iffy about the translation of "by weight, according to grade and application". I translated "weight" into "masse" (as in by mass unit whatevers) and "grade" into "type" (I would use "quality" as an alternate translation but I'm missing a little context so I played it safe). Any additional information would help me polish up this passage.

Otherwise, I feel 95% sure this is correct. I'm not a really super-technical writer (yet) so I'd advise you trying to seek a professional in your field to double-check this thing because this looks important.

Have some Minecraft Cake! It will restore your health!

Have a flock of exceedingly small origami cranes.

Twenty two. You know, according to some people*, the years that are double (11 22, 33, ext.) are lucky years for you. So, clearly we need to start off this lucky year with a little celebration! Yes kids, it's that time again! I give you a Fanon Pinkie Pie Party!(tm)

What is a Fanon Pinkie Pie Party you may ask? What makes it any different from a regular Pinkie Pie Party? Well, I'll tell you!

As you probably know, the My Little Pony brand is made primarily for little girls. Unfortunately, this means Hasbro forces canon to mostly restrict Pinkie's parties to those suitable for a five year old little girl. (Although it seems we are getting through to them somewhat!) While this is all well and good for said five year olds, those much older then that can only find so much enjoyment from them that is not based on pure nostalgia.

Enter the Fanon Package, where we use a dash of Fanon and a drop of OOC to break the shackles enforced by corporate onto our favorite Party Pony. Now she can be the Super Duper Party Pony she was meant to be, and throw you the BEST PARTY EVER! Music, drinks, lights, snacks, party games, and quite simply the most delicious cake you will ever taste!

BUT WAIT, there's more! Pinkie Pie uses a mixture of her fourth-wall breaking abilities and a Remote Activator we managed to acquire to bring in ANY CANONS YOU WANT! Just choose your prefered location, provide a list of your favorite fandoms, and we provide the rest! Party with Pokemon, tango with a T-Rex, even get to hug without consequence!

By the end of the party, specially programed robots with Neuralyzers will sort out all of the canon mess left behind, so don't worry your little head over any damage to the continua. They will even neuralyze you, making the party seem like it never happened and that all you were doing was reading about this fantastic party!** The robots even have time travel abilities, due to being based off of the T-1000, so you won't even notice the time difference! This is quite simply the best party you will never remember!

The next time you have a special event to celebrate, just remember: There Ain't No Party Like a Pinkie Pie Party!

*Me, mostly.
**Should you have memories of said party, even vague ones, we recommend writing down, in detail, what you remember. Perhaps in story format. This will help in the healing process from the neuralisation.

From one Pokémon fan to another, have your choice of Gen IV Trainer-issue bags of holding!

Happy Birthday! I stole some of Bilbo's birthday cake: here you go!

[Song redacted due to copyright infringement]
Anyway, have this psychic pet rock! It broadcasts its thoughts to everyone in a radius of around 3 feet, but since this is a rock, it can't think, so, no one notices. Hey, it could be useful. Maybe.
There's also this blue tiger plush. Be careful, though, the instructions manual says there's a... Drowning risk? Huh.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY OLDE FRIEND~♫

The cake is on the table,
And it is awfully bright,
'Cause there's so many candles on top.
But you are so decrepit,
Your chest so tight,
When you blow them out your lungs are gonna pop.

As per tradition, the Iximaz Birthday Song!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
MAY ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE
HOPE NOBODY MAKES YOU BLUE
AND YOUR CAKE DOESN'T EXPLODE IN GOO!

*blows noisemakers*

Not to kill the moment, but here's a fundraising drive to help save Syria's threatened cultural treasures. I can't give too much at the moment, but I consider sharing it with everyone reading this a partial victory.

On a less serious note, here's a Boo's Sheet from the Paper Mario-verse (makes you invisible) and a nifty wireless mouse!

Have a shovel enchanted with Moon Saber! When you deal damage with it, you heal by the same amount.

Allow me to respond with a song that expresses my thoughts on that:-

Get Better.

=]

And when did Kyaris get the extra head? According to her entry in the PPC Wiki, she had seven heads, but here, she has eight.

So far, it's well written. One tiny error slipped through, though:
We already invoked the Ispace Accords with Jurisfiction; OFUU was the logical next step.

Shouldn't that be "OFUDisc"?

I've to admit, writing Richard's, Alice's, Thumper's and Granite's scenes as I've okay enough knowledge of the setting.

I'll take your suggestions and advice to heart and start re-editing my parts to improve upon the story as much as possible.

Cheers for taking the time to give the Prologue a look over. I'll be sure to pass on the parts you suggested we work on and we are currently looking for a beta, awaiting responses from any we've contacted already.

The intelligence report was a fun read as well.

If you choose to read on, I hope you enjoy the story.

As I've stated previously, we have got plans for this fic, right now, it's just a matter of getting all of us online at the same time with spare time to write in.

ANd I also like how you put it - it's the PPC, expect the unexpected to mess up poor agents' lives.

That bit of calling in canons to help was interesting, too.

It's not compulsory. No, really. You can store it via a weak measurement thing that allows you to monitor it safely without causing it to annihilate matter. How do I know this? Because World One scientists at the University of Toronto managed it a few years back and I wouldn't hesitate to say that Trek's future science has improved the technology drastically. =]

I just have a hard time coming up with the basics of it, I guess? I don't know where to start.

You're probably aware of this already, but there's always Memory Alpha if you need to look up the definition of a term or find references to it. For example, here's their page on tetryon particles.

Well, the Black Butler section is overrun with Sebastian/Ciel fics, anyone/OC (or anyone/reader!) fics, Modern Girl Transplant fics (often falling under "anyone/OC"), modern AUs to enable Sebaciel...ugh. It's just bizarre how they treat the characters. Someone really should set up an OFU (I think a possible one was alluded to way back in IAHF Year One).

I don't know if it's the crossover-heavy nature of the canon, the bonkers hard-to-follow plot, all the "cute" guys, or some combination of the three plus anything else I forgot to mention, but Kingdom Hearts is rife with badfic. From Sues and Stus to bad slash to ill-constructed crossovers, it's a canon with a little something for everyone.

Does that fandom have any goodfic? I don't think it does. One of the most infamous fandoms for bad fanfic ever.

Also, from personal experience, Percy Jackson. All Sues, all the time. You want somthing to spork, just go to FF.net, click the first Percy Jackson fic you see, and start ripping it to shreds.

Everything you just said, plus the Skulduggery Pleasant fandom. I have only found about 10 decent fics there. And don't even get me started on Fairy Tail. I love the series to death, but would it kill the fanfic writers to at least make something halfway decent?
Reccomendations for both fandoms would be appreciated.

The majority of them seem to be 'OC tags along as a companion and is either a) the Doctor's long-lost daughter, b) secretly the last Time Lady, c) a Whovian sucked into his world, or d) just a "normal human" (probably with some hacking or fighting skills to make up for their otherwise normality)'. If they are options b, c, and d, expect romance.

I'll see if I can find some time to have a look at it tonight or tomorrow! :)

You have two Hebrew speakers on Board! DawnFire and me, to be precise.
Anyway, on to your request: the 'x-iel' suffix actually means 'my x is god'; for example, 'malkiel' - 'malki' my king + el = my king is god (I won't bother you with the exact grammar here).
Onwards. אפס is pronounced 'EH-phes' and it indeed means 'zero'. So if you want to use that as a basis, you get Ephesiel, which roughly means 'my zero is god'. If you want the literal meaning, you get something very unlike an angel's name or, indeed, a name at all.
'Firstborn' is בכור bkhor, so that's a tad easier - בכורהאל Bkhor'ha'el is literally 'God's Firstborn'.

...but I haven't got Permission yet. Do the usual rules apply for this sort of thing?

But I've had interesting ideas for a real-life LARP involving Gallifreyan politics. So that could work...
I think agent!Kitty would have a lot of fun hamming it up as the Lady President or something, considering that I occasionally yell at my brother in what he's deemed my 'haughty Time Lady voice'. And then I promptly switch to Leela mode. :D

Who could organize...hm. The Troupe, maybe? Another acting group? Bored agents? The Time Lords?

...I'll think a bit more :)

~DF

I think the worst games I've played/seen are
1. Superman 64
2. Sonic '06
3. Metroid Prime Hunters
I really wonder how people could get interested in Metroid Prime Hunters... I couldn't even figure out what was happening. Sounds like a wonky basis, but it really wasn't good. At all.

Going back to my childhood and the NES.

I give you: Bible Adventures

It consists of three absolutely terrible games, not because of the subject matter, but because the gameplay is just boring, repetitive, and stupid. Seriously, in the David and Goliath game, you start by herding sheep. Noah's Ark is one giant fetch quest where you carry around a stack of animals above your head. Terrible.

On the other hand, the same company produced a game called Exodus which was actually pretty all right. It had a level of complexity and difficulty that was nice.

-Phobos

But about my main genre, car racing games, I guess it is the critically acclaimed Need For Speed Shift (and its sequel).

I wonder if the "racing drivers" who reviewd the game as being a realistic simulation have ever driven a car in their life.
Long story short, handling is terrible. A full race-spec car on slick tyres handles like a brick on soap wheels. Steering is incredibly inconsistent too - cars will either refuse to steer or go on a full four-wheel drift. No mid way in between. I initally thought it was due to me using a keyboard, but after hooking up my steering wheel to the PC results were the same.

Tuning is pretty inconsistent either - I can swap a fully tuned 800 horsepower Toyota Supra engine on a "works" (full race tuned) Toyota Corolla GT-S (basically a Super GT GT300 class car), and yet I can't set the top speed any higher than the non-swapped Trueno's 264 kph... meaning that the engine is stuck with the wrong gearing and the car is actually SLOWER.

A stock-bodied (so basically no aerodinamics aside a small optional spoiler with... 20 kilograms or so of downforce) Toyota Sprinter Trueno (Japanese Domestic Market equivalent of the Corolla GT-S) tuned to 240 horsepower in Gran Turismo will consistently set faster lap times on the Nurburgring Nordshleife than the GT300 wide bodied, full aero, 350 horsepower full-on race car Shift offers.

This:


Is faster than this:


That's all.

...it's Sonic '06. I haven't actually played it, but from what I can tell, it's horribly cliched and involves a Canon Sue.

They do an even worse job of retelling the book, and don't even get me started on the ridiculous Shrieking Shack level with the charmed skeletons.

"We've got an injured boy who has to drag himself into and out of this place every month! Let's litter it with pitfalls and monsters that try to attack everything they see! That's a good idea, right? RIGHT?"

Maybe I'm being nitpick compared to everyone else, but Rowling, I loathed that game.

On the flip side, I love the LEGO Harry Potter games. The LEGO games are always awesome.

Game Grumps pretty much covers it.

As for worse games, well, Stuart Ashens has a series about them, but the worst game I've ever played was probably Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for the PS1. It was very definitely Not Very Good, and it's based on my least favourite of the Harry Potter novels.

And that horrible bloody segment with the cat can DIE IN ALL THE FIRES-

Tolkien would never have written men-who-sleep-with-men or women-who-sleep-with-women. He was a Victorian-minded Catholic, of course he wouldn't! The Tolkienian friendships that people tend to project homosexuality onto - Frodo and Sam, Maedhros and Fingon, etc - are reflecting a very different dynamic. As Alleb said, the Laws and Customs of the Eldar text specifically negates homosexuality in Elves.

But that doesn't mean they don't fit into his world. Tolkien would never have written about Minas Tirith's sewage arrangements, either, but it must have had them!

As Alleb also said, I've written a story about this very subject. I have another one in the works building a whole theory on the subject. Remember, the Laws and Customs is an in-universe document - it can be wrong, or limited in scope, or simply concealing information.

So no, Tolkien wouldn't have written it, but no, that doesn't mean they can't be well-done and canon-friendly.

hS, 'do not go to the elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes...'

But I'll throw in my two cents.

No, I don't think he would, or did. In fact, in Morgoth's Ring (if I'm remembering correctly) he makes it pretty clear that Elves are never homosexual. Huinesoron will definitely be able to answer this better; actually, I think he made a fic about it. He goes by his Boarder name on the Pit, so you can find it there. I'll leave him to give a more in-depth answer.

But...yeah. I'll let hS take this one.

May I ask, though--are you saying this is badfic? If so, could you tell me why you think it's badfic? I'm curious (and don't feel like reading it to find out).

~DF

DawnFire...
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...
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You have a new fan! Really, Kozar has become my favorite Agent from now on!

Nice to see the wated again, too! ^_^

I had fun reading the mission. It was interesting to see Rina interact with a Time Lord that didn't hate her her on sight.

Hmm... given that in ten years, Rina Four has aged four hundred, I'm wondering if maybe it's a little more than bad luck that she looks like Arin...

I think there's something somewhere that says something to the effect of "by writing missions, we're creating more goodfic and thus increasing the average quality of fanfic," but that's not really why we do it. We do it because it's fun and makes us feel better about the existence of badfic. Those of us who actually want to help a particular fic or author improve give concrit. (And no, it doesn't often work.)

Also, "bash" is a strong word. These days we strictly do not bash the authors or even talk about them at all if we can avoid it, and as DawnFire said, we do try to use our missions as a form of critique to point out what doesn't work in a particular story and explain why, though again, the success of this varies. And you're mistaken if you think it's for the badfic author's education. We actually prefer that the authors never find out we sporked their stories. However, we learn from each other, and other people who read PPC missions can learn things from them, too. So that's another way we indirectly improve the quality of fanfiction, and fiction in general.

Have we mentioned that several PPCers have gone on to be published authors, and one that I know of is a professional editor? I recently did some freelance proofreading work myself, as a matter of fact. Dunno if the book will be published yet, but I'd like to think it stands a better chance now. The PPC helped me learn to see what's actually on the page rather than what I expect to be there.

~Neshomeh

That is our means for providing constructive criticism, and how we show how some fanfics did it right. Well, that and offer up badfic for the killing by another group, but tbe that as it may.

I also think that a mission, when done right, should be a humorous dissection into what made a particular fic not work. It's not just poking fun, it is pulling apart the worst of the worst bit by bit to show exactly what the shortcomings were, and possibly how to fix them. Now, not everybody shares this same goal, and that's fine. But when you see one of my missions (you know, some time next year) know that is what I am trying to do.

But unfortunately I get a Connection Reset error every time I try to access your site.

Well, I was certainly warned, so there's that.

And it was certainly a representation. (A July, actively present, seemingly ignoring. Or is she?)

I can't quite comment on the content of the first one; I know even less about prehistoric Mesoamerica than I do Lord of the Rings. But at the very least, you've done an excellent job of reflecting the type of forum discussion you see some places. It's so funny precisely because it's so true. The play was also very funny, though I was slightly disappointed that Thanasius didn't get a chance to do any Shakespearian snarking.

*wipes her eyes* The Plort play had me in stitches, especially every instance of caw. Dear lord what is wrong with me.

I would say poor Neshomeh and Phobos, but it looked to me like they were having a fun time in the play.

Lady Iximaz would get a kick out of this... But probably because the playwright didn't grossly misrepresent her. XD

...

Caw.

*wanders off giggling like a lunatic*

Just out of interest, what would Scapegrace be in Quenya, Sindarin, &c? I can trade for Tau... sort of. =]

I love how involved this setting has become, and I'm really glad to have been a (small, weird, slightly irritating) part of it. I also love the ideas presented, though my personal headcanon is that the fields of the Pelennor were actually chinampa - the famous Aztec floating gardens, whose construction was rediscovered by 6th-age empires along the lakes left after the Anduin had its course forcibly changed by the medium of Anatolian meteorite.

Also, and I realise this is ever so slightly contentious: Numenor's positioning on Hawai'i is an almost exact match for where the lost continent of Mu/Lemuria/Similar-Pseudoscientific-Claptrap, at least according to my Umberto Eco. If we accept the Sundering of Numenor as analogous to the mysterious disappearance of Mu, then it makes sense to have the Hawaiian islands as Numenorean.

Also also, where do the Pacific Islanders and Melanesians fit into all this? Are they also Maiar? Were they the original Shipbuilders? CAN YOU TELL I LOVE THIS SETTING WAY WAY WAY TOO MUCH YET? =]

Finally, onto Plort: I may possibly have to dredge up some of the Early Modern Drama group I was part of a while back. It should be fun. What for I'm sure that you can guess. =]

They weren't missions, but:

There are recorded Radio Plays of two of the three play scripts that hS wrote ages back. He may well still have them on a computer, or one of the people who went to one of the UK Gatherings after around that time will as well. I also in theory have the files recorded by the others for the third one, I think. Not so sure anymore, since that's several computers ago.

I even made a Choose Your Own Adventure set in HQ that's ages old at this point (that I really need to find someway to get published again) that was eventually supposed to have a sequel indeed put in during a mission.

However, said CYOA was written and published way back in 2008 so it may well be some time before that ever happens, if it does...


-July, apparently as bad as hS

I was just curious as why ye don't seem to experiment around with doing missions or something.

Like have an agent try to educate a Mary Sue (not sure which types of sues would fit the idea, probably the ocs) on how to fit better into canon and get annoyed at the sue's failures at doing so until they get it right or are so stubborn that they stop trying. It could plenty of heart-warming moments with a dash of comedy, and the Mary Sue can be punished like those in those University pieces ye are connected with for getting things badly wrong.

As I said, it is just a suggestion. The whole idea can still run on the rule of fun and funny. I'd just like to see ye think outside the box and try experimenting with what you usually do around here.

Breathing Space was the second storyline in the only PPC webcomic that's actually been created yet, Generic Surface. Yes, it is a full-length mission.

There's also a Shakespearean play of an AU!PPC mission being, er... we'll say 'written'. ;)

(However: generally no, people don't, because prose is a lot quicker than any of those things. I will note that even first-person mission reports were pretty darn innovative back in the day...)

hS

Good writing is good writing, and most of the time, if we actually enjoy reading something, we're not going to do a mission to it.

Great mission. I've never heard of Black Butler before. But if it's got Inspector Abbeline in it, I'll have to check it out.

One small nitpicking point... When the CAD said "Earl Ciel Phantomhive", that was wrong. The correct name for an Earl would be "Earl of Phantomhive", "Lord of Phantomhive", or just "Lord Phantomhive". That's assuming Phantomhive is the name of his Earldom. If it's his personal surname, you can call him something like "Ciel, Earl Phantomhive of [wherever]" but that's a bit of a mouthful so don't bother!

Anwyay, the important thing is, never get the name of his Earldom mixed up with his personal names.

But apart from that, it was a brilliant story. Loved the cats, and the idea the POVs are minis. And you made the setting clear enough that I could follow everything without knowing anything about the canon.

... although I don’t know anything about "Black Butler".

Alas, I found one typo:
Seriously, my home fic had better transitions that that!
Should be "better transitions than that".

I liked how you handled the minis.

HG

Some thoughts:

---

"Do you know how many non-working-class Black people lived in London back then?"

Yes. Not many. However, there were a LOT of black servants around, generally freed slaves or their descendants. Which means Miguel could quite easily be wearing a suit, if a slightly lower-quality one. Makes him look like the help for Vi and Chris.

---

"Also, the royal palace looked off, probably because the Sue had called it a castle."

I assume that's Buck House you're talking about? Because there's quite a lot of royal palaces in London, and none of them look like castles. Indeed, there's a perfectly serviceable fortress in there. It's got a big ol' tower in it and it's in London. Hm. If only I could remember the blasted name... =]

(EDIT: Yes it is.)

---

Hayato POV

POVs are about half as big again as their lowercase counterpart, the pov. Instead of going "snrf?" they go "Grnf." Additionally, rather than using the pov's method of scuttling up a character's back to perch on their head, the POV inflates itself with a lighter-than-air gas, presumably helium, and floats onto the character's head. Its frequent squeaky Grnfs are as a result of the gas leaking out, and its scuttly bits flail wildly in order to steer it in mid-air.

I am not a biologist.

I don't care.

Gimme the POV.

---

"The cat—Ciel POV—looked Chris in the eye and swished his tail once."

So POVs are just minis?



---

"She got her eye replaced! That’s definitely something I’d want to look at right away!"

For one thing, you're not supposed to keep glass eyes in at night.

---

"A fourth Continuity Cat, this one with a scar over its right eye and shorter fur, appeared and ran from Ciel’s side to investigate/play with the other cats."

Violet Greenfield: crazy Continuity Cat lady. =]

---

"The Words took her literally, and the Sue suddenly looked like a human-shaped blob of opaque reddish jelly in a dress."

Would you like a jelly baby?

---

"Did they know about heart attacks in Victorian England?"

Yes. Yes they did.

---

On the whole, I rather enjoyed that despite not being at all familiar with the canon.

But no POVs for Scapegrace.

0/1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.

As I am at the mercy of the school terms, some point in August would be easier for me.

I-or-we should be able to make it, though which it is depends on the date.

So, in no particular order:

-What are Sunday opening hours like in Canterbury? Sunday would make it easier for me to drag Kaitlyn along.

-If we're doing August, the last two weekends would be our best options: I can get my parents to look after the children. That actually applies to September, too - I guess there's nothing that says all Gatherings have to be during the school holidays!

-To throw in an early-date wildcard... what about July 11th? That's the Saturday two weeks from tomorrow. Kaitlyn might/should be free (at least for the afternoon), and the lack of school holidays might even make it possible to breathe in Canterbury.

Obviously in the last case, we'd need to move quickly on the planning. Where are you proposing we meet initially? If people are coming in by train (we're driving), near the station is probably a good bet...

hS

Count me in if you still need people.

Deal me in.

Hmm, are these meant to be badfic writers or alter-egos of ourselves?

Well, if it's meant to be potential students, then here:

Name: Helen Ortega
Snippet: Helen is one of the fans who is very much interested with crossovers and melding all of the recent Disney (and some not-Disney) movies into one canon. The Hiccup-Merida-Jack Frost-Elsa-Rapunzel all at Hogwarts, kind of thing. She's well meaning, but has a tendency to sucker onto an idea, write a bit of it, and then drop it for a new variation. As such, she rarely sticks with a project long enough to learn from it.
Appearance: Short, somewhat curly red-brown hair, grey eyes, and fair skin. She's also rather a beanpole in terms of body type.

LO: Esmerelda (not technically a Princess, but still!)
Favorite Prince: Hans - he's not a hero, but at least he has a character and is kind of a fun villain
Favorite Princess: Merida or Elsa
Favorite Villain: Maleficent, especially after the new adaptation.

(As for me, I am having some trouble thinking of an LO in the Disney canon, my favorite princess might be Mulan, I can't really think of a prince because they are rather dull, and Ursula is just so very fun as a villain.)

Sara Damin. She's bookish, sarcastic, loves pointing out all the mistakes and potholes in movies and books, daydreamy, and can switch from quiet to angry in a snap. Favorite Prince is Li Shaang, favorite Princess is Meg, and favorite Villain is Scar. (Because he actually achieved his goal of becoming king! If he hadn't slipped with telling the truth about his crime, he would have won all the way!)

Let me think about the favorite characters for a bit...

Name: Nathanial Gibbots Apperance: Brown hair and brown eyes. Personality: Thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread. Has incredible struggles with ADHD, Up to Eleven. Usually has self-insert Gary Stus hook up with a princess.

LO: "MERIDA MERIDA MERIDA SHES BADASS"
Favorite prince: "what kind of question is this their all giiiiiirly eww.
Favorite princess: "MERIDA MERIDA MERIDA WHY ARE YOU ASKING TWICE!?"

Favorite Prince: Eh. Um. Hm. I'll come back to this.

Favorite Princess: Probably Belle, just because she's a book nerd, like me.

Favorite Prince: Ummmmmmmmm. Well.

Favorite Villain: Hands down, Maleficent. She is just so amazing and powerful and scary in every way, and I love Eleanor Audley's delivery of every line in the original movie. (Haven't seen the movie Maleficent.)

Favorite Prince: HURRRRRRRR Most of them do so little, it's hard to even think of a good one. I didn't want to repeat a movie I already said, but the Beast is probably the prince with the most character. And even when he is still in beast mode, he still has some redeeming qualities.

But a potential fanbrat character that you can use if you want to.

Name: Nicole "Nick" Wong
Age: 14
Favorite Princess: Mulan
Favorite Prince: Aladdin
Favorite Villain: Ursula
Lust Object: Aladdin
Appearance: A petite, boyish-looking Asian girl, with very short black hair, brown eyes, and sharp features.
Personality: Nick writes Disney stories not because she likes Disney movies, but because she hates them... or so she claims. The truth is that she's still a huge fan, but she feels like she's supposed to be too old for them. She complains that the stories as-are are "boring" and "dumb," and the female characters "suck" because they don't do any fighting. She also has an unfortunate tendency to act superior and ignore anyone who corrects her. Nick's stories are technically fine and feature decent action scenes, but generally take the form of thinly-veiled diatribes about how the movies would be so much better if they went exactly the way she wanted them to.

Also, if you're just doing Disney Princesses, you might want to indicate that somewhere in the title of your OFU?

Fanbrat!TheShyIon:

Name: Ion
Age: 15
Appearance: Beanpole, pale, with dirty blonde hair (constantly tangling) down to her bottom. Light gray eyes.
Common Mannerisms: Bites nails, occasional hand-flapping.
Lust Object: (This is a hard one. Elsa or New!Maleficent?) Let's go with Elsa.
Favorite Princess: Does a queen count? If so, Elsa. If not, Anna.
Favorite Prince: Hans. (She dislikes the 'nice' princes.)
Favorite Villain: Maleficent.
Personality: Cracks under pressure easily -- probably one of the first to break down crying and apologizing. Embarrasses easily. Very friendly. Finds it extremely hard to lie. Probably would see this as an opportunity if she wasn't so horribly embarrassed about having to attend. Drools all over the female villains (though not quite as much as with Elsa, of course.) Over-explains.
Likely Crimes Against Canon: Has a decent grasp of grammar, surprisingly -- the crimes would probably be heinously OOC femslash villain-shipping and having self-inserts go after Elsa. Probably after Villain!Elsa. Terrible at description. Shoving bizarre headcanons where they don't fit.

(Yes, I used to be a fanbrat. No, this isn't exactly how I was -- more a mix of how I was then and how I am now, with all the writing-improvement removed. I was *always* a fangirl for villains, though. Still am. This got too long, drat it. Sorry.)

Name: Adam Johnson. Alias, Jetstream.
Personality: Attention seeking, full stop. Wants the spotlight and will go out of his way to get credit. He's not without at least a smidge of honor, though, and will back down if people call him out on his actions.
LOs: Ariel. Just... ARIEL. Also Eric. Yes, he's bi.
Fave princess and prince: See above. I'd throw in Peter Pan and Hiro Hamada, but you did say this was princesses only, so...
Fave villain: Dr. Falicier. He's such a badass and his Villain Song is the best of the lot, period.

Name: Ellie Scotswood


Favourite Princess: Oh, but it is so hard to pick just one...

Favourite Prince: Pick one at random. They are nothing but haircuts nailed to cardboard.

Favourite Villain: Villains are bad. Why be bad when you can be a good girl? I, I am a good girl. Am I not?

LO: ... no... no, i do not have one and never will... you cannot prove it... please do not tell my parents...

Snip:-

It was wish fulfillment of the highest order.

Ellie knew it, not in a deep down sort of way but consciously. It was a choice she was making to write what she wanted, because she wanted to write it. And what was wrong with it? Why shouldn't she wear a pretty dress and go to the ball? Why shouldn't she dance the night away? Why shouldn't she lean in and kiss --

And there was her answer, staring her down like she was a whole hour late home. There was exactly why she shouldn't. It was simply down to who she wanted, and who she knew she wanted. She'd filled a notebook with stories of her ballroom, and, well, Ellie hated them. Not as much as she hated herself for writing them, though, but that wasn't the issue. She hated her old stories, because she knew how shameful they were. Oh yes. That had been made quite clear.

But she couldn't get the pictures of those nights of dancing out of her head, however hard she tried to squash them flat. Every dream was a ballroom, different but the same, dancing and dancing until dress touched dress and-

-And that was why she wanted to squash them. It was nothing but idle wish fulfillment, nothing more. Typing them up helped, and while sometimes she published them on fanfiction.net - through the necessary five or so proxies - most of them she just printed out and burned in the back garden.

Ellie was typing now, and while she typed, words came unbidden into her head:

"A dream is a wish your heart makes..."

I could see an avatar version of myself applying for the hell of it and seeing what he can learn that he didn't know before.

I'll go ahead and use Dylan Read, AKA both my Plort name and the name of the OFU coordinator I have floating in my head. It's the closest you're getting to my real name, without being a close friend anyway.

In-universe name: Dylan Read

Disney LO: Elsa, though he's unlikely to admit to it. Dylan feels that feeling lust for a fictional character is kinda pointless. He thinks that Elsa is gorgeous, but also feels that he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell with her.

Favorite Prince: Uh... pass? The princes are all the same to me, so Dylan would probably feel the same.

Princess: Vanellope von Schweetz Anna. An interesting and complex character, and I love how Frozen handled the genre.

Villain: Hans. Very dark, very disturbing, very surprising. Best plot twist ever.

... yeah, can you tell what my favorite Disney movie is?

Personality: He'd probably apply for DOFA voluntarily, just to see what he could learn that he didn't already know. He's hungry for knowledge, too cynical to think that the canons would like him (it's an OFU, he has a point), and would openly disapprove of anyone who admits to making darkfics (like say, self-harming heroes).

... okay, he's me, so he's going to sing and he's got a damn good voice. I He tends to sing the first song to pop into my his head. Nobody has a problem with how it sounds... the problem is that he sings at the absolute worst possible times, and tends to interrupt other people's thoughts and actiARE YOU REEEEAAAAAADY!?

I just need to know all of the pertinent information you need, so I can start working on it right away!

This is a Princess-exclusive 'verse: no Peter Pan, Robin Hood, or Alice in Wonderland. Mickey himself is only referenced, never seen. Thought that was worth mentioning.

What they tend to do is freeze, which I imagine would be quite uncomfortable.

But... this is Star Trek. Don't they have forcefields, like, everywhere? I'd just assume a forcefield 'spacesuit' until told otherwise.

For that matter, do the Borg still have biological eyes which are covered in fluid? Do they have respiratory systems any more?

hS

Which saddens me, because I love dystopian stuff in general and I'm a Christian, so it would be right up my alley... But I've read plenty and I've never seen it done right.

You'd think it would be really easy. It's certainly tempting. Revelation has the plot right there for you--good guys, bad guys, monsters, natural disasters, and even a relatively happy ending. But that's also part of the problem. Depending on how literally you take it, now you have to try to tell a story that's already been written, in ancient poetic language, but tell it in the modern or future era in realistic writing.

The result seems to be a narrative completely overrun by plot holes as the authors assume that just because it fits into the Revelation narrative, they can declare that it happens in the modern world and they don't have to justify its causes or effects. Everything becomes one gigantic deus ex machina, and in the conversion God becomes so inconsistent, capricious, and downright insane that you could mistake him for a three-year-old stomping on a sand castle. People become statistics, the heroes become incorruptible and the villains irredeemable. It's generally a huge mess.

The best apocalyptic fiction I've seen haven't been sweeping whole-world narratives; they've been short stories, snapshots of what a world in such turmoil might look like, focused in on individual people just trying to survive and do the right thing in the middle of an apocalypse that's as much human-caused as anything else.

But those are few and far between. I've given up on it, mostly. People seem to think that just because something's religious, you don't have to write well.

I'm a recent returnbie myself, and it's good to see you back. I'm pretty sure I remember your name from before.

How have you been?

Have an animate origami frog.

Welcome back! Have this plate of freshly-made SPaGhetti!

Lessee, the major events around here you missed were another Plort RP, PG elections of myself, Desdendelle, and PoorCynic, and the sporting of the Rose Potter series.

Unless I missed something, anyone?

Anyway, nice to see you again!

This one's made of Super Hardened Steel, so it can hurt Titans!

I don't actually remember you- sorry 'bout that- but this is as good a time as any to start! Who are you, exactly? What are your fandoms? Would you like this slice of genuine Evelyn Smythe chocolate cake I'm offering as a returnbie gift? Do you even like chocolate cake? If not, are you insane?

It sounds simple, but it still gets overlooked.

The classic 'tenth walker'-style Sue will join up with the canon characters and go through their adventures, because that's what the plot of the canon was. And the canon characters will allow them to do this because that's what the fanfic plot requires. Regardless of whether allowing a stranger to tag along is a good idea, and sometime even with the stranger having no real motivation to join up with them. Motivation is an important part of characterisation.

Sues have previously been described here as 'unintentionally flat' characters. I.e. characters with no depth beyond a bare minimum. Some Sues have a tendency to be nothing more than physical descriptions with a collection of powers/abilities. Flat characters aren't necessarily a Bad Thing - they can be useful in certain contexts: the faceless masses in the background, the NPCs populating game towns so that they don't look deserted, etc.

If your characters are in a bar, and they mention the barman, that's probably enough detail and characterisation for him (as long as he exists just to serve the other characters their drinks). A physical description could add a bit of flavour to the scene, but isn't always necessary. You can get away introducing background characters just with the role they are playing in the story - you can't get away with introducing someone as 'the/a protagonist' and expecting your readers to take your word for it.

They need a reason for what they do, and they need to react believably to the things that happen to them, and the people they encounter. Also, the people that they encounter should react believably to them (when they don't, PPC agents start talking about people being thrown out of character).

It's hard to have a decent character without having characterisation. Think about their likes and dislikes, their hope and fears. And think about why they do what they do.

If their reactions to story events are dictated by the requirements of the future plot (or in the case of tenth walker style stories, the requirements of someone else's future plot), then those characters are pretty weak (in narrative terms, nothing to do with physical strength). If, on the other hand, their reactions are dictated by their personality - they do those actions / make those choices because that is what they would do, then you've got yourself much better characters.

Exactly what makes a Sue is a very complex topic, so avoiding Sues is a fairly complex task. And there are plenty of other things to consider outside of the stuff that I've just talked about, but giving a character a proper personality is a damn good starting point for ensuring they don't end up a Sue.

- Irish

Honestly, this is the kind of question that doesn't have a single answer. While extremely obvious Sues are fairly easy to avoid - don't make your character the best swordsman ever or so beautiful it's a curse - these are in the end the symptoms, not the cause.

A few random tips:

• Let your characters be hurt by their flaws. Frequently Sues will have flaws that make them appear "cool," such as a bad temper or a tendency to mouth off, but they'll never get unjustifiably angry or insult the wrong person.
  
• Don't be afraid to let bad things happen to your characters or have them make mistakes. Coddling can easily turn a well-written character into a Sue.
  
• Try not to take any criticism of your character personally. This can be especially hard if your character tends towards self-insertion, as it can sometimes feel like a personal slam. But getting indignant on your character's behalf will only hurt your ability to develop them.
  

Now, we can start to move on from this topic. I mean, we have a few years, but son we can start to move on to actually important things, like how we are going to encourage manufacturing here in America, or how we are going to handle the intelligence gathering we have been doing, rather than if two consenting adults want to live together and be recognised for it!

I know it seems like I am dismissing how important this is for many people. I am not. I am thrilled for my homosexual brothers and sisters. I just thought the answer was so obvious, we would have been able to move on by now.

Now, as for the discussion we are having below... I'll get to that later on.

Same Love.

I'll chip in my two cents on the issue. I think it was the right result and I also think that the legal reasoning is adequate. I am a little disappointed that Chief Justice Roberts did not join the majority. As a 5-4 decision, they are always subject to attack, a 6-3 would have been more authoritative. I am also disappointed that it took this long. A few years ago the Court faced the same issue in Windsor, but they kept their holding narrow. The fact is that all of the law that Justice Kennedy cited existed at the time of Windsor and had not changed.

I will say though, that from a jurisprudential standpoint, the dissent was not wrong at least with regard to that this decision was taken out of the hands of the public. Scalia was not wrong when he said that this decision had the Court acting as a Super-Legislature. Though I do not think the situation is as dire as the dissent makes out. The Court has acted in that way since its inception, so I think it is over stating the risk.

Then last comment on this, I am disappointed in Chief Justice Roberts' dissent. The first problem was he cited to the Dred Scott case. Which was superseded by Constitutional Amendment, namely the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. You do yourself no favors when you cite to the case that found slavery constitutional. And then he brought up the slippery-slope argument. These are just bad legal arguments to make. Because it means that neither the facts, nor the law is on your side.

This is breaking the rules left and right. We're not allowed to argue about religion, according to the PPC Board Rules. So, I suggest we stop and leave our views with ourselves.

Unlike everyone else, I'm not thrilled. To be honest, I'm horrified that this happened. But I'll leave it at that.