Random Questions Thread

@Millership w/o striking an anvil, what about stylized fire/molten metal coming out from the hammer blows to evoke a forge?

@ewolf2015 I'm reminded of Axl from Kingdom Hearts who had grips/handlebars within them or alternately, the user instinctively hold them a certain way or just plain gloves while slashing at the target with the occasional forward thrust and maybe Death or Glory Attack Superman Punch. RL chakrams are not only thinner than what you'd expect from watching Xena, but (aside from not being Precision-Guided Boomerang either,) came in a variety of sizes from ring/bracelet-sized to "can be draped around the neck with room to spare" and gained centrifugal force by being twirled around the finger and-... fuck it, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakram

i considered using a bostaff

@Hallow Hawk: Technically you can use "(CONT'D)" as often as you want. But 1) it'll be really boring for audiences to just see one character talking, and 2) whole pages of just dialogue are extremely confusing for whoever's directing the thing — if in doubt, add in a tiny bit of character movement or a gesture or a sigh or something.

also it is weird that although i want to be accurate, i wanna take some liberties considering how fynari are very different from their normal invertebrate counterparts ? like how male worker bees exist but are rare and aren't really focused on.

Not weird at all. Sometimes in order to have an effective story, you have to take some creative liberties with the details.

i'm going to writing a script for a gag of a day web comic. where do i start in writing one?

For your reference, this was the first result when I searched Google Images for "Comic Script Format." Hope it helps!

When organizing a paragraph, as a rule of thumb, what is the better way to do that?

1. To have a sentence describing some event come first, then elaborating upon what it implies, or
2. To make a point first, and then place the event at the end of the paragraph, so it would act as a conclusion and would demonstrate that thought "in action".

Take this one:

It is sort of a transitory paragraph, though. Should I move the first sentence to the end of it?

Before you ask, yes, the fact that the coal prices have risen and that master Lund is having financial problems is not just trivia, it's relevant to the plot.

edited 13th Oct '17 1:13:57 PM by Millership

The way a paragraph is structured has less to do with what's "right" and more with the author's personal style. In your example, everything after the first sentence acts as a logical conclusion to the sentence itself. But if you move that sentence to the end it becomes almost a punctuation, of sorts. This is purely a matter of personal taste.

My bigger concern is the number of adjectives and adverbs you have in that paragraph. Too many at once and they can be distracting for an English-language reader. If I were editing this, here's what I'd write:

edited 14th Oct '17 4:53:39 AM by AwSamWeston

Yeah, I'm aware of that problem. Russian (the language I'm writing the original in) has a bit diferent stance on the role of adverbs and adjectives in writing style. And Purple Prose in general.

That's fine and all, but translating is kind of like adapting from one language to another. A long string of adjectives / adverbs might be fine in Russian, but in English it's clunky and readers who are on the fence will be more likely to put the book down, even if it's a masterpiece in the original language.

Are Japanese British people a thing? If they are, what is it really like? What happens when they move into a new neighborhood in america?

I just recently changed my main characters race to mixed race since so felt iffy on writing white characters nowadays.

edited 14th Oct '17 5:42:57 PM by ewolf2015

People of Japanese descent living in the UK? Yes, that's a thing. Something that I've noticed about UK-produced media (at least, Torchwood, Doctor Who, and The Sarah Jane Adventures) is that they're far more likely to portray minority characters whose race/nationality doesn't really affect their characterization much, if at all, which implies a different racial climate from the US. I don't really understand real-world racial dynamics myself, however, so don't quote me on that.

But I think what's more important here is the apparent feeling that you shouldn't be writing culturally western white people, which is frankly bullshit. Cultural diversity is great and all, but I think it's perfectly acceptable to have characters of minority ethnicities whose backstories allow them to be primarily culturally familiar or whose native culture plays little role in the plot, because goddamnit, you're trying to write an adventure story, not an essay about race and cultural integration in a country you've never been to.

that seems valid but at the same time slot of people insist it has to be accurate. Ford the most part, race is just second thought but I do ask myself s sometimes ask why is this person that race.

Accurate to what? Their notions of how a person of [insert minority demographic] 'should' have grown up and what their relationship with their native culture 'should' be?

Yes, the minority culture/ethnicity/religion parts that you decide to show should be accurate, but unless the entire point of your story is examining the dynamics of race and culture (which I'm pretty sure it's not), you are not required to saturate your characters in it. I didn't make Tsadro gay or put him in an interracial marriage because I wanted to create LGBT fiction or focus on what it's like for a white and black guy to be married, so I don't focus on what it was like for either of them to come out or grow up as gay men and surrounded them with people who couldn't care less about what they are.

And the whole notion of asking why anybody, real person or fictional character, is of a minority demographic really underlines a lot of preconceptions our society makes about ethnicity, like that not being white and culturally American is somehow always noteworthy, or that there always needs to be a special reason or plot justification why someone is a minority. Well, just because stories exist that make race, culture, and ethnicity the centerpiece doesn't mean that stories that aren't about those things shouldn't be allowed to just drop in minorities without fanfare. We need both.

I obviously it's more about a plain jane learning to handle her powers in a town that's more than meets the naked eye. Throughout the story she meets all sorts of strange creatures with a few being from japanese mythology and sometimes solving paranormal mysteries in this new town. She's aided by a half demon girl who's the complete opposite of her whom likes to poke fun at her scaredy cat behavior.

Race is mostly an afterthought unless I want to tackle some real life issues.

You're already delving into supernatural elements so I don't think that a deep treatment of race issues is even relevant. Just as long as your entire cast isn't straight white folks, you'll be fine, I think, and that's mainly because you're mixing in Eastern mythology, which could have some Unfortunate Implications.

edited 16th Oct '17 6:23:00 AM by Fighteer

I dunno, race issues could be worth discussing even in a supernatural setting. Unless the behaviours of humans in such a setting are drastically different from regular Homo sapienses, that is.

You certainly could, but my point is that not every work that bothers to include people who aren't white, cisgender, straight, and middle-income is required to include race issues in the plot. The thought that including minorities in your fiction somehow requires that you examine themes of discrimination and whatnot alongside the pulpy genre fiction you really want to make scares a lot of creators away from including minority characters in stories that don't center around their demographic. My point is that you don't have to and probably shouldn't pile on discussion of discrimination or other minority-related issues if you don't want to, and if it would distract from the story.

edited 16th Oct '17 7:58:49 AM by CrystalGlacia

When first making a pilot episode, should it be in media res or serve as an introduction to the characters?

The goal of a pilot episode is to introduce viewers to the world of the show, to the characters, and to what a typical episode will look like. Sometimes the pilot episode is chronologically in the middle of the show. Sometimes a pilot episode never airs and is intended for network bigwigs. But most of the time, the pilot starts at the beginning of a show's timeline and establishes the characters, setting, etc.

With all that said: Pilots are usually harder to write than any other episode simply because you have a lot more information to pack in and the same amount of time as any other episode.

exposition is okay In some doses. I just don't wish to overload to much information and just give enough so the reader can out the puzzle pieces together.

I'm just saying this considered i wanted to practice on writing scripts more often.

edited 21st Oct '17 3:49:39 AM by ewolf2015

When I say "introduce," that doesn't have to mean "write exposition" — An introduction can be as simple as "here's this character. Here's her personality. See her interact with the other characters." Obviously you can't overload the viewers, but there's a lot of tricks you can use in a script to present an idea in a split-second that you could never do in a book.

A lot of people on this site write prose, which is great, but there are certain things screenwriters do, certain terms we use, that are completely bonkers to a literary mind.

I have four roleplay characters who are sisters and all of them are musicians. Since they're Dangan Ronpa characters, some Mary Sue traits are allowed. I considered adding a fifth sister, if anything to improve the dynamic the four already have.

In short, I wonder if someone could suggest me what kind of personality could add to the dynamic they already have, based off in what kind of people they are. I have more elaborate profiles, too.

- The first sister is one one year older than the rest, is calm and nurturing. She can be overly opinionated and stubborn, though, and has trouble accepting she might be wrong. This causes her to get into arguements with the second sister. She has trouble coping with change in general and doesn't deal all too well with strangers. She's more grounded, not as emotional as her sisters and somewhat strict.

- The second sister is very emotional and fragile and unconsciously hides her emotions so she won't be hurt by others, which is why she has trouble trusting people. She's stubborn and opinionated, not to mention passionate about the people she cares about. She's very curious and has played detective a few times. Tends to question everything, doesn't care much about rules which causes friction with the first and third sisters.

- The third sister is the flashiest: she's loud, very sensitive, overly strict, very talkative and takes herself way too seriously. She tends to bottle up her emotions so as not to worry others. Despite being the most outgoing sister, she tends to avoid getting too close to people so she won't suffer the pain of loss (for backstory reasons). She's tenacious and stands for what she believes in, but not directly so as to avoid conflict - which she can't handle much.

- The fourth sister is the most adaptable. She's not as tenacious as the others and has a tendency towards escapism because she finds reality boring. She's kind-hearted and does her best to help people, but isn't the most practical person around so she doesn't always knows exactly how to offer this help.

How do you scare people without relying on jump scares, gore, or shock value?