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AirofMystery Since: Jan, 2001
#1826: Jun 3rd 2011 at 12:23:18 AM

Uh...well, there's one story where all these stock-British personages start appearing in Britain, and they find out it's because a comet passing Earth exudes a mysterious force that causes the world to resemble the British Invasion and so fall into chaos. (In fact, most of the stories are that weird.)

One thing I'm kind of concerned about is the Chinese-American wizard guy's father, who is also a wizard. He and his brother are both parodies of Fu Manchu and the Mandarin, but they're not really particularly villainous. Their dad (the Chinese-American wizard's grandfather) is a deconstruction of the Yellow Peril villain - he fought for China against the European and Japanese when they were grabbing lots of Chinese land, so they all demonised him. (The 'your terrorists are our freedom fighters' dichotomy.)

FreezairForALimitedTime Responsible adult from Planet Claire Since: Jan, 2001
Responsible adult
#1827: Jun 3rd 2011 at 12:28:30 AM

I think so long as you do your historical research, and don't put anyone up on soapboxes, it should be a fairly easy-to-pull-off storyline. If you really want help, maybe On-Topic Conversations could help out...

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada
GIG Forever livid from Where I want to be Since: Feb, 2010
Forever livid
#1828: Jun 3rd 2011 at 2:50:08 AM

In my summer induced insomnia, I think I have my plotline for my little story. So now I have no excuse not to write it. No backing down now!

_| ̄|○ God I need sleep.

edited 3rd Jun '11 2:50:20 AM by GIG

MrAHR Ahr river from ಠ_ಠ Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: A cockroach, nothing can kill it.
Ahr river
#1829: Jun 3rd 2011 at 2:51:42 AM

Exposition, thou art an elusive foe. Have at thee.

Read my stories!
OhSoIntoCats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
CyganAngel Away on the wind~ from Arcadia Since: Oct, 2010
Away on the wind~
#1831: Jun 3rd 2011 at 7:47:02 AM

Hi.

I should sleep >.>

There are too many toasters in my chimney!
OhSoIntoCats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#1832: Jun 3rd 2011 at 8:11:09 AM

I need to think of bad guys :/ This is hard.

Leradny Since: Jan, 2001
#1833: Jun 3rd 2011 at 10:11:01 AM

What sort of bad guys do you need? Motives for plot already outlined? Plot for motives already established? Decisions between Affably Evil or Complete Monster?

snowfoxofdeath Thou errant flap-dragon! from San Francisco Suburb Since: Apr, 2012
Thou errant flap-dragon!
#1834: Jun 3rd 2011 at 10:18:23 AM

Thinking up bad guys isn't too tough, but finding reasonable motivations is much harder in my experience. I usually leave off mentioning it until necessary so I have more time to think about it.

Someone just told me that as soon as he realized that the first third of Chapter 1 was actually a flashback, he decided I didn't deserve a critique. Something went wrong somewhere.

Warm hugs and morally questionable advice given here. Prosey Bitchfest
FreezairForALimitedTime Responsible adult from Planet Claire Since: Jan, 2001
Responsible adult
#1835: Jun 3rd 2011 at 10:22:08 AM

Some people are also uptight, with bugs up their asses about things like flashbacks or prologues or whathaveyou. These are not necessarily people you want critique from in the first place; Single Issue Wonks do not necessarily have your best interests at heart.

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada
OhSoIntoCats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#1836: Jun 3rd 2011 at 10:53:43 AM

[up][up] I haven't written a bad guy for several years so I have no idea what to do.

I'm writing an evangelion ripoff so there's these monsters or whatever that won't attack anyone under about 17 years old. I guess they're also difficult to kill with conventional weapons. This is about all I have.

chihuahua0 Since: Jul, 2010
#1837: Jun 3rd 2011 at 11:45:41 AM

@snowfoxofdeath: Why are people bothered by things like prologues and flashbacks?

I'm really bothered when authors don't use section breaks, for both flow and pacing reasons, but that didn't stopped me from reading The Hunger Games.

Hmm...should I start a thread on Reading Pet Peeves in this forum, or in the Literature forum?

edited 3rd Jun '11 11:47:49 AM by chihuahua0

snowfoxofdeath Thou errant flap-dragon! from San Francisco Suburb Since: Apr, 2012
Thou errant flap-dragon!
#1838: Jun 3rd 2011 at 12:41:25 PM

It seems that they think they don't contribute to tbe story, but I need mine for essential background information, so I'm going to need a really good reason to get rid of it.

Warm hugs and morally questionable advice given here. Prosey Bitchfest
MrAHR Ahr river from ಠ_ಠ Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: A cockroach, nothing can kill it.
Ahr river
#1839: Jun 3rd 2011 at 12:45:25 PM

Flashbacks break the flow of a story —coughNarutocough—

Prologues are either a bunch of information to a story we have no emotional attachment to, OR a scene that makes no real sense since we don't know the context and isn't really needed(Like Eragon).

Read my stories!
GIG Forever livid from Where I want to be Since: Feb, 2010
Forever livid
#1840: Jun 3rd 2011 at 1:33:06 PM

_| ̄|○ <——- This is me after I get home and see that Everyone has dibs on the computer before me.

I am tempted to just type this thing out on the PS 3.

snowfoxofdeath Thou errant flap-dragon! from San Francisco Suburb Since: Apr, 2012
Thou errant flap-dragon!
#1841: Jun 3rd 2011 at 1:33:43 PM

I just don't know what to do with this anymore, then.

On the bright side, I have conveniently arranged the sequence of events in a way that allows me to plow on without having to kill everything if I have to completely rethink Chapter One.

Warm hugs and morally questionable advice given here. Prosey Bitchfest
Dec Stayin' Alive from The Dance Floor Since: Aug, 2009
Stayin' Alive
#1842: Jun 3rd 2011 at 1:59:48 PM

…I totally just realized that, after cutting out the original scene #1, my story now starts with a flashback. Not that that's a bad thing, but now I feel really stupid for not realizing it a lot earlier…

600 words. Pulling my hair out over the chapter #2 subplot again. Dear God, WHY WON'T IT END??? /melodrama

Nemo enim fere saltat sobrius, nisi forte insanit Deviantart.
chihuahua0 Since: Jul, 2010
#1843: Jun 3rd 2011 at 2:04:40 PM

I want to start an attempt on a novel, but I don't know which idea to go for.

In short, I'm having real writer's block.

edited 3rd Jun '11 2:05:18 PM by chihuahua0

chihuahua0 Since: Jul, 2010
#1845: Jun 3rd 2011 at 2:06:38 PM

[up] The problem is that some of them require research, and I don't want to do any right now.

Maybe I should just try to write the short story for the contest for now...

...What is a good software to use to outline stories? yWriter5 doesn't seem to be my cup of tea.

edited 3rd Jun '11 2:07:21 PM by chihuahua0

Leradny Since: Jan, 2001
#1846: Jun 3rd 2011 at 2:08:45 PM

Okay so write the one requiring the least research.

RE outlines: Just write a list of the events in the order that the story progresses. That's all outlines are, really.

MrAHR Ahr river from ಠ_ಠ Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: A cockroach, nothing can kill it.
Ahr river
#1847: Jun 3rd 2011 at 2:10:52 PM

Bullet points. Most writing programs have them.

Hell, I wrote an outline once, and didn't even USE bullet points. Just a lot of spaces and a casual typing attitude.

edited 3rd Jun '11 2:11:46 PM by MrAHR

Read my stories!
Dec Stayin' Alive from The Dance Floor Since: Aug, 2009
Stayin' Alive
#1848: Jun 3rd 2011 at 2:13:57 PM

Notebooks. You can buy them at the supermarket.

...But no, seriously, I don't know. I know Scrivener has some interesting things like virtual note cards you can move around, but that costs money. That and the fact that I've never used it, so can't vouch for it.

Nemo enim fere saltat sobrius, nisi forte insanit Deviantart.
Leradny Since: Jan, 2001
#1849: Jun 3rd 2011 at 2:30:16 PM

Virtual note cards? Really? The only thing that should be in anyway complicated is the plot.

MrAHR Ahr river from ಠ_ಠ Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: A cockroach, nothing can kill it.
Ahr river
#1850: Jun 3rd 2011 at 2:32:56 PM

Guess it's good if you don't want wall of texts...or something.

Read my stories!

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