Writer's Block Daily

... isn't that just proving a link to their main page? That doesn't actually notify anyone of anything.

It delivers you a PM that points at the post.

Huh, okay I just tested it in Yack Fest and it did deliver to myself, see, but it didn't in here.

Soo indeed it is a disparity.

edited 27th Feb '17 8:51:39 AM by Adannor

And actually recalling some things about other cases of new functionality: things invented at a later date need to be enabled for older threads on personal basis. Trash Heap, the one I used for testing, may have requested such enabling at some point while WBD did not.

Let's see if this works- I've seen it done in the Constructive Criticism thread before.

~CrystalGlacia

EDIT: It did not work. I also tried it in the Sandbox once, and it didn't work over there, either.

edited 27th Feb '17 9:00:22 AM by CrystalGlacia

back on topic, i guess i shouldn't really care i guess.

any who, i heard that non earth based cultures in fantasy seem to borrow heavily from medieval, roman, feudal societies. how might i avoid this?

Borrow from places, systems of government, and time periods that are not the ones you listed.

Remember, it's totally okay to create cultures that are not parallels of real-world ones. And to use some aspects that you didn't get from any real-world cultures.

In one of mine, it's built on a Pacific islands base with influences from East Africa, India, Israel, Indonesia, and a dash of Finland, with an original religion and pantheon, and a 1920s level of technology. Because there's a serious lack of industrial or postindustrial fantasy that isn't also set on at least an alternate Earth.

edited 27th Feb '17 10:58:11 AM by CrystalGlacia

I've always wanted to see a fantasy story set is something like ancient Rome/Greece/Egypt or even earlier.

My solution was to consider some of the historical elements of my setting (In particular the lack of mineral resources) and use real-world countries with similar situations as inspiration, but ultimately develop naturally based on the history and religion of the nation. So the result was an India-inspired country that had been influenced heavily by it's largely-swamp territory, reliance on plant resources, and frequent warfare with neighboring territories for stone and metal. Then I filled it out with some cultural details that are adhered to fairly strictly without necessarily being explained, such as mode of dress, art and architecture, etc.

So a setting developed like that might still have trace elements of possibly more feudal societies, but that isn't a bad thing in and of itself—it gives the reader something to base their expectations in, while the details are what will make it more memorable.

Hey there, Ewolf. I can't say for sure without reading your story, but here's some reassurances. Clearly you're drawing on the Horned Hunter of Celtic Mythology like I did, but that doesn't make it a ripoff of my story. First off, this is technically a public domain character because he's Older Than Print. LOTS of people use The Wild Hunt and the Horned Hunter in their stories.

1) Your version of the Horned Hunter and my version operate differently. The Horned Hunter is called a serial-killer in my story because many interpretations in Celtic Mythology DO describe a serial-killer. I mean, "dude wears a deer-skull to ritually hunt people" is right up there with the Zodiac Killer and Jack the Ripper. Ancient people might not have used the term serial-killer, but the concept of "murderer who selects his victims and kills them in a distinct manner" is probably Older Than Print.

Your Horned Hunter is a cannibal who probably wants to eat your protagonists because they happened to go on a camping trip in his area, but my Horned Hunter essentially set up the entire story to prey on the protagonists' vulnerability and isolation from their family. Two serial-killers with the same mask, but vastly different motives and methodologies.

2) My story's tone is different from your story's tone. Yeah, there's horror elements in Moonflowers, but since I call it a Fairy Tale, there's lots of tiny details that don't relate COMPLETELY to the plot of "people need to escape a serial-killer fairy." Alima's cousin plays a kid's game with some of the town's children, and while the rhyme they sing is clearly about the Horned Hunter, the rhyme itself calls him "the King Under the Hills." Maidin the river-spirit wants to hook up with Owen, and he watches over the town's children. The older generations know things that the younger generations don't. Christians and pagans have a lot of religious tension. The Wild Hunt reveals that one character is gay out of nowhere just because they love tormenting people emotionally as much as physically. Some characters are dead. Combs, plants, and houses can talk.

I wanted to show that people have lives outside of being a serial-killer's victims, so that means an excuse to throw magic everywhere. One of my readers said that the story feels like Spirited Away, which is was a hilarious surprise since I CONSCIOUSLY drew from Pans Labyrinth and Green Angel.

Tealdeer: Unless your Horned Hunter inspired a children's game, is an Otherworldly king, and shows blasphemous levels of arrogance since he's pissed off MULTIPLE gods in his power-tripping, I'm pretty sure your version of him isn't going to sound the "ripoff" alarm.

edited 27th Feb '17 9:04:01 PM by Sharysa

Ah. Nothing quite like spending an hour and a half writing a scene, only to finish it and think, "You know, this would probably work better in a completely different way in a completely different part of this chapter that would force me to totally change how the next scene plays out, forcing me to either go back and change it or try and remember this good idea for the second draft".

Writing is fun.

You can always cut and paste it into a separate document to avoid the "remember it later" problem. :)

Okay. I use Fountain formatting on my screenplays. So when I come to a point where I want to add a scene for later use that doesn't fit with anything else I'm currently writing, I just force a page break before (===), a page break after, and describe what generally happens in the gap between them.

That and I just wanted a reason to plug Fountain because it's free and cross-platform and awesome.

edited 28th Feb '17 11:37:30 AM by AwSamWeston

how the heck can you describe someone who can punch people with a plasma fist? plasma cascades around his fist or something?

Depends on the mechanics of how the plasma interacts with the fist. What you provided could work.

Glowy fist of doom.

think like a elemental punch. if i wasn't so lazy i could draw it out for you.

Kind of like Shego from Kim Possible, I'm imagining?

Alternatively, here's a good video of real Plasma going on:

Aside from 'flaming lightning', I might use terms like 'churning' or 'seething', particularly if it were trying to move around an object (Such as the fist emitting it).

EDIT: Huh, markup's not working on those. Well, you can follow the playback ID's if you're curious I suppose.

edited 7th Mar '17 2:46:49 PM by kegisak

but it has impact.

might i ask a few questions:

• is there several ways a 14 year devout Christian finds out he's gay?
• and so, how might it affect him?
• and how can he come to terms with his homosexuality?

(linking me to some blogs or resources is good too. heck, I'll recommend it)

,,,,,whelp. i killed a thread,

Bro, it's been two days. That's not killing a thread.

Plus it's hard to answer your question because there are so many factors in it.

What type of devout person is he? The "Go to church all the time because that's what you're supposed to do," or "prays a lot and is very attached to the concept of God" kind? Is his family hostile or friendly to outsiders? What kind of school does he go to?

edited 9th Mar '17 1:29:05 PM by Sharysa

seems easy enough.

• the kind of guy who's very attached to god
• his parents are at least kind but are best described as noble bigots
• and he goes to your usual catholic school.

edited 9th Mar '17 1:35:00 PM by ewolf2015

"Being a Christian" doesn't preclude someone from being gay, let alone finding out they're gay. As far as I understand, for most gay people it just kinda... makes sense. Like pieces of a puzzle falling into place. And in this day and age, everyone at least knows what homosexuality is.

As far as someone "coming to terms" with their homosexuality... That's a whole story in itself, and it happens differently for everyone. This is the part of the writing process where you have to figure out the character's personality, his beliefs and values, his social environment, the personalities and behaviors of all the people around him. Is he repulsed by homosexuality, or is he more forgiving of it? That question alone can determine whether the conflict is more "accept himrself" vs "make others accept him for who he is." And you'll find way more questions than just that one, questions that you'll have to ask if you want this character's progression to have any meaning. There's a whole rabbit hole you can fall down, here.

Time to get to work.

On a different note, ewolf, I'm not sure you give yourself enough credit. First off, it's kind of impossible to kill a Pinned thread like this one. Secondly, a lot of these questions you're asking are questions of the Hard and Deep category — and they're good questions to have! But the fact is, all the best writers have to wrangle hard questions like yours, and no one's gonna just lead you to the answers. Let alone strangers on the TV Tropes forums.

Heck, if we had all the answers you're looking for, some of us might just write the thing ourselves!

edited 9th Mar '17 1:53:33 PM by AwSamWeston

The catholic element is an important one to note. I do have some knowledge of the situation from a protestant perspective. That said, I have the knowledge not because of my own experiences, but because of those of a close friend. I'm not certain they're mine to share, hence why I was kind of keeping my mouth shut.

and i kinda forgot to add this:

this was in a thread that i just posted. also, forgive me for the deep and hard questions. I'm too smart for my own good.

edited 9th Mar '17 2:43:46 PM by ewolf2015