Character Development Thread--Discussion

Post up.

Might be a while before I post. Got some pals over 'cause the 3rd is more convenient than the 4th.

I literally wrote a post but something screwed up during posting. It took me a while to write it too... I'll try again.

Edit: Got it.

edited 3rd Jul '15 7:30:16 PM by electronic-tragedy

That's the reason I write most of my posts "offline" using Open Office or Notepad. I can at least save them locally to my computer from time to time and if something glitches when I'm posting I can just copy and paste again.

I've been spending so much time writing posts for the CD Ts that I now have to fight the urge to put two single quotes around things that I want to italicise at work or when writing normal documents in Open Office.

I've been doing that as well. (Writing them in Notepad, that is, not wanting to use TV Tropes formatting elsewhere).

There is a browser extension I use called Lazarus and it actually saves whatever you write from segments to the whole post so if you lose your post you can recover it simply by clicking a button.

edited 3rd Jul '15 10:00:22 PM by Sphinxyness

BTW, still working on a post for Seon.

Yeah, I use Lazarus too, and it's been pretty reliable. One time it failed to save my current draft of a post for no clear reason, and that left me pretty peeved, but otherwise it's a good extension. I also use it to shortcut writing location tags. Just load up the last post and delete everything past the location.

Anyway, I'm free now. Working on a post.

edited 3rd Jul '15 11:12:19 PM by Ryuhza

On second thought, probably not going to get a post in for Seon before tomorrow.

I only use OpenOffice when I want access to the extended character set and now I've set up a file from which I can copy and paste most of the ones I want into my Notepad documents anyway.

Usually I type it up in a post and copy/paste it onto a notepad file I specifically use for TV Tropes, but I guess I was so ready to post it I forgot to do so. Thanks for those alternatives though.

Sphinxyness, I'm not entirely sure how to respond to your latest post. Is Kiyumi trying to punch through the shockwave that's coming her way or something?

Due to mountain and holiday, posts should not be expected until Evening Pacific time.

I will likewise be busy with holiday things for much of today.

Basically yeah. Lol She decided to take the full blast to the face while trying to get one good attack in.

edited 4th Jul '15 9:50:04 AM by Sphinxyness

And posted.

I know some folks are gonna be busy with the 4th, but do we want to talk about the next thread some more or what? If we want to do some kind of wilderness borderland then I'd lean towards jungle. Got an idea that I want to use that would work best with a jungle setting.

Not that "desert" and "jungle" are the only settings on tap, but based on what's been thrown around... that's my leaning.

We're probably gonna combine a desert and jungle (even though we have 2 votes for desert and one for jungle, though I personally lean more for jungle)- I was thinking the jungle in question is an over-grown oasis of some sort. I think Collen said there could be a military sort of outpost there too, and to possibly help out those who cross to the border world.

I'll start up another post soon, and not try to lose it during posting.

I know it's a bit late now, but isn't anyone going to talk about Resort? We usually do that after a thread is pronounced dead. It wasn't terribly active/exciting, at least while I was in it, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Hoshi's conversation at the bar with Gwion really helped me flesh out her world, and the thread in general let me get a feel for her personality in general. What I like to call "sit down and tell me about your everything" conversations can be a great thing. The skiing was fun too, while it lasted.

Anyway, I don't have much to contribute in regards to the new thread... I'm apathetic towards the concept of a generic, big ol' jungle/desert/oasis, though. The Weird West idea sounded interesting, but I can see how it might be seen as restrictive.

I'm not sure about having a military-style outpost, personally. Like I said before, I'd like something a little more permanent than a tent camp, but I feel like a military post sort of restricts some potential characters.

Also, my Fourth of July celebrations are over, so I can hopefully respond somewhat more quickly to posts now.

On Resort: I was just waiting for the official word on whether or not it was actually dead.

On the whole, it was definitely one of our worst performing threads. Sonzai having to leave probably didn't help matters, but beyond that I don't feel the setting in and of itself was an issue. I think the real problem, as Wolf pointed out some time ago, that there just wasn't any conflict. To add on to that, I think the problem was that there was no one really trying to create conflict. There's definitely room for that in a casual thread (the original Resort and Mansion both being prime examples); it just relies on people stirring up the pot a little. Another problem was that it just didn't bring in a whole lot of people, for whatever reason, and that probably hurt it a lot as well.

As for what I thought of it: Apart from the conversation Camille had with Isaac early on, I can't say I really enjoyed it that much or got a lot out of it. Camille was fun to write for, though, and I hope I can bring her back into a much better performing thread. However, it did highlight the problem I have with being stupid particular about the characters my own interact with lately. I'm hoping the next thread fixes that a little.

As a little retrospect to myself, I could really stand to bring in some of my characters who aren't teenage girls for once. Considering not a lot of other people here specialize in that kind of character, I imagine the characters I have that don't fit that mold would have an easier time finding compatible characters to interact with.

As for the new thread: I'm not a big fan of a military base for the same reasons as nrjxll (and partially because that's not my favorite thing to write about). As for the overall setting I'd be fine with either a jungle or desert; the former has more potential for hidden secrets and whatnot, but the latter would fit more with the character I'm planning on bringing in (who is actually native to such a setting).

If all had gone well, I could have brought some kind of conflict into resort, but the thread was too far gone before I was even finished with the intro post, and it would have taken longer than that to stir the conflict up. Shame about that. Of course, a lot of that is on me for taking forever to write the thing.

On the plus side, it got me to do a lot of background work for three characters that I haven't introduced yet.

You know, considering the number of military or paramilitary background characters people have brought to the threads, I feel compelled to point out not one of us who uses them has ever complained that adding nonmilitary elements to the settings compromises our ability to bring a character. The camp is an element, not the whole setting.

Avoid it if you have to, but frankly it'd be a big enough difference from what we normally do that I'm all for it. The threads have been very same-y of late.

It is meant to be sort of the hub, though.

Also, that comparison doesn't entirely work, because military or paramilitary characters would still be somewhat out of place, since the outpost likely wouldn't be for their military. (Which is another reason I don't like the idea that much - I've never really liked it when the threads have NPCs in more than very minor roles).

Speaking of sameness, though, that's also another reason why I'd prefer a desert setting to a jungle - I feel like we did the "settlement surrounded by jungle with ruins inside it" thing fairly recently in Archipelago. While Dig Site was also a desert, it was much shorter lived and longer ago, and it wouldn't necessarily have to be the same kind of desert. (Of course, it wouldn't have to be the same kind of jungle either).

As a counterargument that's not very effective because of the essential nature of the fish-out-of-water of the threads. It's not as though any character, ever, has been entirely on home ground (with the exception Glacias' during Ren Island). What you are saying applies equally to pretty much any civilian character in any setting in any thread we've done; Tera Chimera and I even got some mileage out of that back in University.

edited 4th Jul '15 9:38:51 PM by Night