Character Development Thread--Discussion

@Wolf

Alright I won't do anything big just conversations.

It's just that we don't even know what Rin's reaction to the place is after the "clean-up" (Time Skip).

So should I move the time forward again in Capital, since apparently there's only one very early riser?

Also waiting on Blackfire in Frontier, BTW.

As always, I'm pretty busy during the week. I can't guarantee anything before, like, Friday or Saturday...

That's no prob. Just wanted to make sure you got a fair chance without the story taking off from under you.

Will post tomorrow.

So yeah, I'll probably advance the time in Capital when I get up tomorrow - if nothing else so I can post for Qrlil.

I've stayed up way too late. Posting tomorrow will be delayed, but I'll still try to get to it quickly.

So, I saw the discussion of what the next thread should be, and I wanted to pitch an idea for a casual thread I had while out of commission: Character Holiday Party. Everything associated with the winter holidays, and even a secret-santa kind of thing. Whether your characters celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, something unique to their world, or just want to come for the atmosphere, everyone is welcome.

I'll try to wait a few more posts, but if Stalker doesn't act soon, Recon's going to have to take another turn. Sorry Sphinx.

That's not a bad idea for a casual thread - but if it's to have any relevance, it ought to be launched pretty soon. I enjoyed Character Halloween, but in retrospect I really wish we had started it before October 30th.

Just posted a large post. Stalker's gone, sorry if that ruined any fun you wanted to have. lol But I had to bring in Trinity cause I had this scene planned out for awhile. ^.^

No sweat, didn't have a fight planned for this guy and Stalker anyway.

Should point out by now the tank is probably pretty far away; several hundred meters at the least.

The silence is deafening.

Did you see what day it is? Granted, I'm the exception to the rule because my dad has to work today, but lots of people like to spend their Thanksgivings with their families. Not with their faces shoved into a screen. Complaining isn't going to make people want to whip their phones and laptops out just to post here.

And I hope you get used to this for the next six weeks, because you know what's coming up? Finals, for students. Christmas preparations. Christmas itself. Visiting friends and family. New Year's. The start of the Spring 2016 semester. The threads always slow down this time of year because a lot of people have life obligations. It is not because the current threads or characters suck. Do not slide back into old habits.

edited 26th Nov '15 5:18:18 PM by CrystalGlacia

What said. She's a lot more coherent than I probably am.

Anyways, I'll have further comments when I'm sober, but for now, I'll just say: dude, chill. It's not a great time for the CDTs because we're all a bit busy in meatspace, but I for one am not unhappy with the state of the current CDTs. Just wish I had more time for 'em.

edited 26th Nov '15 4:00:41 PM by KillerClowns

I was actually referring less to the state of the current ongoing CDTs then to the lack of discussion here about a new thread. I'd like to explore both daird's idea above, and the thought of revisiting a past concept, in more detail, but that's not going to work if no one else has anything to say about them.

In light of past comments, yes, I should have clarified that more. I'm admittedly unhappy with the current state of Frontier, but it's not like complaining about it will make any difference.

edited 26th Nov '15 4:12:56 PM by nrjxll

@Character Holiday Party: Not a fan, personally. Given how long the threads tend to last, "Specific Season-based Theme Party" will seem deeply silly when it works its way into, say, February.

Also, yeah, Academic Crunch Time starts about now. I'm certainly feeling the burn. I'll still try to post on the weekend, but let's not call it a promise...

okay then, boss.

Here's what I came up with for the Secret Santa details, should we go the holiday route.

Each writer sends a PM to the SS Overseer, detailing what gift each particular character they bring in brought with them. Gifts should be relatively small, maxing out at roughly the size of a toaster, have some sort of practical use, and come with a note inside the package saying who to talk to if you have questions about how it operates or something like that. If your characters don't want to participate, that's fine; just put in the PM that they didn't bring anything. Who gets what is determined by RNG, with the only rule being that nobody gets something from their own universe. When it comes time to open the gifts, there may need to be a no-post time for several hours, because the coordinator now has a boatload of their own P Ms to shoot off. Now, I do know that this means a whole lot of work for the poor schmuck that gets stuck with record keeping (I volunteer as tribute), but it's the best way I could think of to do it.

What do you think?

I might just be too invested in rebooting a thread, but even still, I'm not a fan of seasonal threads in general, or parties (in real life or as threads). Posting activity in Writer's Block as a whole slows way down for most of December and almost stops between Christmas and New Year's, meaning that even if we did start this thread like now, it most likely would end up lingering into February. And who wants to be reminded of Christmas after New Year's? I don't.

But let's set aside the issues of seasonal threads for a second and look at the gift exchange. First, it wouldn't work unless writers interested in partaking in the exchange come to the thread in multiples, which usually only happens at launch. Those solo writers who trickle in after launch fever dies down would be stuck either opting out or waiting for another writer to come by. And if nothing else, the fact that characters are being matched entirely blind with others who are not of their setting means that you'd end up with a lot of incompatible gifts that are practical for the gifter and impractical for the giftee. Say if you gift a scarf and it ends up going to a tropics-dweller, gift anything at all that requires electricity and it goes to someone from a non-electrical world (there's a lot of those here), or gift something like a good-quality set of ink pens or a flashlight and it goes to someone from a sci-fi world where all writing is digital and everything is indoors.

But, still. Let's say the gift exchange went off without a hitch and now characters are hanging out with each other, eating, drinking, being merry, playing with their gifts, and probably talking, too. Since everyone's gifts are from a setting they're not familiar with, it's only obvious that they talk about their gifts with their senders, right? The tropics-dweller with the scarf asks what it must be like to live someplace where it gets cold, for starters. The person who has no access to electricity and may not even know that it can be used for power asks how they managed to get lightning to power their gift. The sci-fi person with pens or a flashlight is astounded that anyone still uses paper or needs to carry a light source when they can just think about turning the light on. Lookee here, we have another thread where the conversations are more than likely to get stuck on worldbuilding, and very low-level worldbuilding about nuts and bolts to boot, all taking place at a snail's pace because it's Christmas on TV Tropes.

Not to mention that if you haven't yet worked out a Christmas equivalent or other gift-giving holiday for your setting, you've got your work cut out for you. I love worldbuilding and have a love-hate relationship with Worldbuilder's Disease like any other speculative fiction writer out there, but these threads are still the Character Development Threads, not the World Development Threads. Daird, this is not meant to be a dig at you personally, as we've had issues in the past with threads where not enough events took place to move conversations past setting and into character. A thread like this that is based on an aspect of Earth culture yet is intended to function as a meeting ground for other worlds would perpetuate the problem.

But I didn't write all that just to say that a holiday party thread has no merit. I could see a party thread working... if we replaced the Earth-specific Christmas angle with a generic winter theme, and replaced the gift exchange with a potluck. There'd be no prepwork necessary, no dependence on a single person. Sure, the thread would be limited to characters who can safely consume human food, but it is a major common ground- food brings people together. Regardless of where you're from, y'all gotta eat. If we were all on board with doing a party thread, that's how I'd do it.

TL;DR: A holiday party thread with a gift exchange that matches people from other worlds is too worldbuilding-centric and there's not enough people around Writer's Block during December to actually keep it moving. Why not try a winter potluck instead and practice writing some Food Porn?

Damnit! I read all that and then discovered there was a TL;DR version at the bottom

Character Pot Luck sounds like a fun idea.

I don't know, I'm kind of bad at writing food-related stuff.

edited 27th Nov '15 6:06:46 AM by Collen

I personally like the idea of mixing Dream and Express— it's an interesting idea.

I don't know, I think having a holiday theme might get stale real quick and I can't think of suitable characters right off the bat. (I kind of want to bring Kommissar back in since he's interesting and always needs help in development, but he'd forget to bring food to a potluck, honestly)

Also I think I'm going to quit the CD Ts after Frontier. I'm going to start college next year and I think I need to start managing my time better. I mean, I'll still linger around and might take it up again once I feel ready, but for now, not so much. I'll help launch another thread, but I can't exactly promise I'll participate in it.

I'm going to be busy again today, but will get to posting some point, I promise.

edited 27th Nov '15 6:25:53 AM by electronic-tragedy

Again, I really only brought up a potluck as an option for if we were dead-set on a party, and to my knowledge, that's not the case. There's only so many ways you can do a party thread before it starts to turn into a rehash.

edited 27th Nov '15 6:27:19 AM by CrystalGlacia