General writing discussion.

Malkavian · 2012-03-14 20:15:33

Also writing beginnings for stories and origins for characters is a bitch. You have to establish some sort of normalcy you're not going to use in the rest of the story.

Nova · 2012-03-18 21:00:32

Whenever people in the stories talk about alternate realities, they always note that there are as many of them as there are variations of the world. There are infinite numbers of alternate realities, they say; one for every choice that is different, one for every time something happens differently.

Originally, there must have been just one world, I figure. The Big Bang, scientists refer to it as; or the state that the world at its’ first moment of creation, as God-fearing Christians say.

Then, the first thing happened. I don’t know what it was; maybe an atom of hydrogen moved. Maybe a caterpillar moved its’ leg. Either way, things began changing. That atom could have moved in any number of different directions; and for each of the directions the atom could have moved in, an alternate reality was created where that atom did move. That caterpillar could have put his foot down in any one of thousands of different spots; areas so small you couldn’t see them with a microscope. One nanometre to the left here, or one nanometre to the right. Bam, forty thousand different alternate realities just spawned.

Then the next thing happened. Maybe another hydrogen atom moved, spawning another sixty million alternate realities. Maybe the first hydrogen atom hit another, causing them to both move. Maybe a leaf fell; maybe the caterpillar lifted his leg again. Except this happens in every single one of the alternate realities just created; forty thousand different realities being created in each of the forty thousand realities that were created less than a second before. A simply staggering number of realities, created from a caterpillar deciding to walk two steps forward.

Technically, this is not infinite. If you had the time, the processing power, the words for a number so large, and a way to actually count them faster than the realities could spawn, you would be able to count the number of realities. You can’t do that with an infinite number; by definition, it is uncountable, as there is always more.

However, when there are that many realities around, the difference between a number so large and infinity is... arbitrary.

You may be wondering how this is relevant; why you’re reading this.

Well, the number of realities spawned like this is very relevant to me.

The date is April 21^st, 2011. At exactly twenty-six milliseconds past four seconds past five minutes past eleven in the morning, I was cursed by a warlock. I had been tracking him for a long time; several months, in fact. And he very much did not like this.

The spell is called an “Infinite Duration Repetition Loop”. Technically, as we just went through, the spell doesn’t last for infinity... but it might as well.

I have been cursed to relive the next month, over and over. Every decision that is made, every one of those billions and billions of variations of the same action, spawn a new reality, and I have to live through them all.

Luckily, there are only so many variations that the spell can cover. I will only have to live through the realities spawned through the decisions and actions made during the five or so seconds it took for the spell to become active- and all the realities spawned on each loop since.

So, eventually, the spell will be over- assuming I can live through all the loops made in the meantime. All several billion (times billions times billions times billions) of them.

I may be freed of the spell eventually. In an eternity or three.

In the meantime, you may enjoy listening to my story.

Wondering if I should continue with this or just leave it as an idea.

lrdgck · 2012-03-19 06:05:59

Begins nice.

Nova · 2012-03-19 07:08:38

Ends worse, I'm guessin'.

It's okay, I probably won't take it anywhere. Even if I did, I'd probably take it in a totally different direction than where it was leading.

lrdgck · 2012-03-19 07:57:27

Nah, you misunderstood I guess. I mean it's a nice beginning. If the rest's having the same style, it's gonna be nice too.

BTL snark: oh my, does it mean I'm hugboxing (or how did they call it)? Sorry. I'll throw some shit at you in a moment.

Nova · 2012-03-19 08:11:13

Oh. Sorry, I am not used to having people praise my work, usually people just make fun of it or tear it to pieces.

I was trying to go for an informal yet philosophical tone. I figure, if I want to keep up this tone, it would be best if I wrote it in first person, as it lends itself best to pondering thoughts. I would also probably want to avoid having too many action-y scenes, so it would end up being quite a slow-moving work.

I guess I will give writing the first chapter a shot tomorrow, and see how it goes from there.

TheConductor · 2012-03-19 10:35:52

Nvm actually

MillerCross · 2012-03-19 12:20:20

that intro could do with some clean up here and there, but I like it quite a bit. Wanna read more.

lrdgck · 2012-03-19 12:29:12

If you don't want to, I'm not saying you have to write the whole story in informal-philosophical first person. I might have chosen the wrong word to describe it. Generally it's written reasonably well, you know, clear and so on, so if you can keep this level, the rest of the story should be enjoyable too. But then, I'm neither SA nor BTL, so what do I know.

MillerCross · 2012-03-19 12:31:08

Can you please stop doing that?

lrdgck · 2012-03-19 12:33:51

It is possible.

lrdgck · 2012-03-22 14:39:52

But you know, folks laugh at 'Tropes, but the troping training let me realise that like the entire supposed main cast of my Epic Fantasy Series (TM) was, to put it delicately, so suetastic. I had conveniently orphaned badass expy of myself who jumped at the call, and an expy of a girl I like, and another expy of myself (from a different angle). Mweh heh heh. But, now is the fun thing. Sounds horrible, ain't it? Well, I don't know, myself. The first guy was supposed to be a kinda deconstructive/subversive wacko who deludes himself he's a chosen hero, the expy of me being here a kind of a case of write who you know. Kinda puts that in different light, I guess. The second guy was also a lil' bit crazy, kind of a "for Science!" kind of guy with decent chances of imposing his ideas (younger son of a ruler) on a whole country. The girl was the worst, though, she'd likely end up with no desueing traits if I didn't change the concept thoroughly, so I was thinking that to keep her I'd have her stay in the background. So I am kinda at a loss if that trio is salvageable or not, sounds like it could be pulled off, but then, it's not like I'm anybody in the trade of a writer.

So, that much. I wonder whaddya say of that.

MadassAlex · 2012-03-22 14:58:43

I'd say "scrap it" but that's my solution to everything I write, ever. But then again, I've ended up accidentally coming back to old ideas with a new perspective and they've been all the better for it.

MillerCross · 2012-03-28 00:47:06

"I really could do with something resembling sleep", thought Harris to himself as he meekly stirred his coffee. He had slept for only two hours. He had spent the other three hours of his assigned rest period staring at the roof and wondering if there was a point to his work and life, while trying to reminisce what motivated him to even consider joining the force.
"I was just a stupid kid, wasn't I?", he muttered as he drank the coffee. He promptly noticed that the coffee needed sugar and made a crack about his bitterness being contagious to an audience of himself. "Nah, it wasn't just 'being a stupid kid'. I was naive, yes, but...well, what else was I supposed to do? All I ever wanted to do was work in the Force and I never learned or was mentally prepared to do anything else but...well, this."
As he slowly stood up, he couldn't help but crack a sad smile at the thought of him being mentally prepared for this. Sure, he desired it, he thought, but he did not realize that living like this, the way the Force demands you to live, it takes a mental and spiritual toll, not to mention physical. He was making a sacrifice in the name of other people's safeties, but they probably wouldn't know who he is, even if he died on duty. He's just another man, doing the job that maintains other people's realities safe.
He got ready for the long day awaiting him the same way he got ready for every day. He wondered if this was a sign that he was becoming part of the loop. He wondered what it would be like, to be stuck in that endless loop of time he monitored carefully and so gingerly. Especially in his case, being aware of it, but unable to move outside of his routine. He at first thought that this was what was happening to him and that it was just a manner of time before he became a living vegetable man. Then he rationalized that him realising this, and that the fact that he was allowed some leniency in his ways of patrolling and investigating kept that from happening.
"all that matters", he thought to himself as he got on the elevator to the lobby, "Is that I finish this goddamn job and I get home sooner rather than later"
As Harris walked out, he approached the security guard at the door.
"Hey, um...can't quite remember your name, mate, sorry". Harris felt very awkward because of this as he thought it demonstrated that maybe he wasn't looking at his turf as carefully as he should have
"Eugene, sir"
"Oh, Eugene, gotcha. Can you do me a favour and keep this package here, please?"
"Sure will, sir"
"Thank you kindly, friend"
As he walked out, he realized that he had forgotten something important.
"Eugene, a friend of mine will come for that package today." Harris made a note to kick himself however he could for forgetting little important things like this that made him feel even more awkward when it came to deal with people, especially without feeling like blowing his cover
"Fair enough, sir. I'll sit on it 'till they come for it. Name of the picker?"
"Litton"
"Thank you, sir"
Harris walked away from the building and wondered whether he should retake the package and run away, before he was ever found. But he knew that he would be found. His job easily made him stand across the world. It helped a lot that the Force can find him anywhere or anywhen he leaves to.

this is what happens when your friends force you to write

MillerCross · 2012-03-29 00:43:01

As Harris walked to his car, he was wondering whether he could change his routine today. While he planned and machinated in order to spend some time unwinding around town, he quickly realised that he just wouldn’t feel well doing it. “Geez, I’ve become a bloody slave. The worst kind of slave, even. The willing and meek kind.”

Harris started his car and then started to drive to Surveillance Point A. He quickly recapped to himself what he already knew in order to remember what he could have forgotten. There are 7 surveillance points across the city where different officers were stationed. This being a big city, it merited special attention, as its economical, political and social moves were of great importance not only to his superior, but to people as a whole. He needed to get to each officer during the day, and check for any disturbances, disorders in the planned timeline of events or just anything that could have gone wrong. He then compiled the reports, checked the equipment and scouted the general area respective to each Surveillance Point to check if anything was missed and then he proceeded to the next one. After doing this for each surveillance point, he collected the information and prepared it in a package for Superintendent Litton.

To him, this always played out the same way. Surveillance point one was where Sally was stationed. Blonde, tallish, blue-eyed woman in her thirties. She joined his team around…well, he didn’t know. He wondered if this was another toll the job had taken. He had lost his sense of “macrotime”, as he had grown to call units of time beyond minutes and hours. Days, weeks, months, years, they’re all the same to him. there’re only two days that matter to him: The day when he leaves and the day when he comes back.

He drove as swiftly as he could to SP1, while trying to maintain a low profile and not speeding. Along the journey he was very tempted to stop at coffee shop and buy some donuts, but he knew that time was of great importance in this routine.

The thing about SP1 is that it was by far the easiest point by far in terms of maintenance due to the fact that it was simply not demanding. After all, only two big events happened here. Harris couldn’t quite remember them, but he knew they weren’t big in the historical, “bigger picture” sense, but only in a “These events will lead to some other events that will lead to some other events that will lead to some other events that some other schmook will deal with”

As Harris pondered bitterly about the nature of his work and how inconsequential it felt in contrast to how important it was, he arrived to SP1 and quickly parked his car. Harris gave a quick look to the other seat to check if he had left anything that he might want to take out of the car to find nothing, and wondered when was the last time that he had even seen that seat being occupied by something that wasn’t paperwork, cellphones or bad hamburgers from shoddy fast food restaurants. He realised that he had forgotten the SP1’s keys (He had a set in case the house was ever compromised, or in case any of the men and women under his command decided to go insane, which was the most likely scenario, or simply obstructed the work they set out to accomplish every day)

SP1 was a brown house with two floors. Both of the floors were adjusted so that they could be habitable. The basement was the one that contained the equipment and records relevant to both Harris’ and Sally’s work. He wondered if the neighbours thought of this house as empty and how did she deal with being locked down in a house for almost all day and how quickly did she run whenever she had free time, or at least, if she did run away. Harris always felt bad about this mental speculations of his, because they reminded him of how lonely he was regardless of the fact that he actually had people who could be his friends were he not so kept to himself

Harris rang the door to announce his presence and entered the house wondering whether he could convince Sally to eat something before work without sounding like a romantically minded person. He really needed company, even if it was just a casual talk about work. Anything that wasn’t the sound of his own thoughts. Most importantly, he wanted to feel like he wasn’t alone in this work. Talking about this, about being stuck in time, anything, sounded like a delightful prospect to him. He decided to not venture further into the house, sit down in the sofa and await for Sally to come to the living room

Another episode in the "juan writes because of a friendly competition" saga

lrdgck · 2012-03-29 17:23:41

So I had once that idea for a story or a series of them. I have a number of such ideas, not that I'd ever write down any, but it's nice to think I have the starting point if I sat down to it. So, back to the story. Kind of Two-Fisted Tales, set in the modern day. Obviously (and likely to the point of homage) Conan-inspired, with a protagonist who's a great admirer of Conan stories.

And you know? Turns out my bro's heard of such a guy. Picks fights with everyone for the fun of it, all he's ever read was Conan, wears a Mjollnir pendant. Oh, and just by the way, he's a brony.

Some say it's not good to stuff people you know into your fiction. But what to do when they make more hardcore characters than whichever fictional ones you could imagine?

Alkthash · 2012-03-29 19:17:10

It's totally a good idea to stuff people you know into your fiction. They are the sort of people you can write about because you have a pretty good idea how they would react to most things and you also know what they sound like.

MadassAlex · 2012-03-30 01:14:57

While there's a risk of glorification, real life is the best inspiration for fiction. The more I look back on my own life in this context, the more I can see applicability for many events and people in fiction within a different context. I remember that I once found myself in what must have been the modern, urban equivalent of siege preparation. Like fuckin' Helm's Deep. Except there were about five of us behind the wall rather than, you know, however many hundreds.

But it was interesting to have that claustrophobic, isolated experience. It was very frightening, but I gained an appreciation of exactly what it's like to prepare and wait for violence in one's own defense.

So, one day, I'll probably write about half a dozen or so characters holed up somewhere waiting for something awful to find them. Just 'cause I had that experience.

Malkavian · 2012-04-10 22:12:02

So another small piece of fanfiction. This time, Spider-man!

.---

This always had to happen when Mary-Jane was around, didn't it?

She watched as her ex-boyfriend, better known to the world as the Amazing Spider-man, fired his webbing at Hobgoblin who was... back from the dead? A clone? Someone else in the costume? She a hard enough time keeping up with this stuff when she was being kidnapped every week.

“Come on, Hobby!” Spider-man yelled catching each Pumpkin bomb Hobgoblin tossed at him with his webbing and flinging them into the air. “”Broadway of all places? I mean, I was choked up when they canceled Seussical the Musical too, but you have to let things go, man.”

“This is what happens when New York doesn't listen to the Kingpin!” Hobgoblin shrieked, launching his hoverglider at the wall-crawler. Spider-man jumped off the wall and dodged the charge...

...leaving him clear to grab a certain redhead for a hostage. Oh great. Just what I needEEEED she thought as she was carried into the air.

“That idiot won't dare make a move against while I have you -Argh!” Hobgoblin hadn't expected Mary Jane to give him a solid.

She had been kidnapped and people had tried to kidnap her so many times. Self-defense lessons were something of a must living with a Parker. That hit seemed to be the proper distraction as Spider-man used his webbing to grab Hobgoblin by the ankles and pull him off his glider. More webbing shot out, cocooning Hobgoblin to the wall while he caught Mary Jane with other web-shooter.

“You are way good at this.” Mary Jane said as he pulled her into his arms and gently put her on the ground.

“Well I've had a lot of practice.” Spider-man answered.

“We still up for coffee later?” MJ asked.

“I've got some stuff at Horizon to finish, but I should be able to make it in time.” Spider-man said. “Just try not to get kidnapped while I'm gone.”

“Yeah, like you could have gotten him without me.” MJ said as Spidey swung away.

.----

Mary Jane sat in her usual seat as Peter came in, with his faded clothes and overstuffed knapsack.

“I'm amazed.” Mary Jane said. “How long did we live together and I never taught you how to match colors.”

“Hey, you try to keep fashion in mind when your clothing keeps getting shredded by supervillains.”

“Well, you're not wearing that gaudy green glowing thing anymore. That's progress at least.”

“That was a state-of the art, light-bending stealth suit.” Peter protested.

“Yeah, and it made you look like an extra from that Tron movie.” Mary Jane replied. “Just ordered the coffee you wanted.”

“Thanks, I've still gotta head back to Horizon later. I've got a ton of stuff I'm working on.” Peter said.

“More inventions to help Spider-man beat the evil monsters that plague our city?” Mary Jane asked.

“Been taking up a lot of my time.” Peter admitted. “Though I didn't expect to have as much time as I do now.”

MJ nodded. “Breaking up will do that.”

“Yeah, I've kind of gotten used to what my... relationship with Spider-man does to my love life.” he said. “I guess I was just worried telling Carlie would push her away when it was actually lying to her that did that.”

“How've you been coping?”

Peter did his best not to turn red as he took a sip of his coffee. “Well, I did the whole trying-to-rebound thing.”

“oooh.” Mary Jane said sympathetically. “Who with? Betty's dating Flash... Glory? Norah?”

“Flca.” mumbled Peter.

“Felicia? As in the Black Cat?” Mary Jane did her hardest to stifle a laugh. The amusement in her voice was hard to hide though. “Tiger, you really need to quit that girl. It never ends well.”

“Maybe you'd be right if it actually began.” Peter said. “She shot me down before I could even ask.”

Mary Jane grimaced. “Well that's one bullet dodged.”

The conversation continued. Mary Jane are Peter were vastly different people but the comfort and ears they provided was something no one else could provide. Unfortunately, their time would have to end as it always did. Peter was both employed and trying to keep New York safe (an inconsistent combination for him) and he had to go.

Peter paused before opening the door. “MJ... I know we didn't exactly break up on the best terms, but we seem to have picked up the pieces pretty well.” Mary Jane braced herself as a question she knew she would never want to answer. “Things seem so natural with the two of us. Do you ever think that maybe we should pick things up again?”

“And you said you weren't on the rebound, tiger.” she replied. “That ship sailed a long time ago. We've got a nice thing here don't we? Someone we can just talk to about things every few days? Why spoil it?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, I guess you're right.”

Mary Jane let her smile fade after Peter had left.

MillerCross · 2012-04-10 22:21:00

too many typos, man.

I still liked it and you actually got Spidey's quippy side down. Most non-comic writers kinda fail at that, in my experience.

Malkavian · 2012-04-10 22:23:44

>too many typos, man.

I really should proofread. >_>

Alkthash · 2012-04-10 23:37:11

Was the Flca bit a typo or supposed to be Peter mumbling out her name really fast?

MillerCross · 2012-04-10 23:38:30

I'm trying to understand how you can even mumble that and i've got nothing

Malkavian · 2012-04-11 00:46:50

It's a typo but on reflection it's awkward sounding.

All Nines · 2012-04-15 12:28:34

Seeing as how I still haven't been able to bring myself to write anything, or even write an outline, I got an idea, and I thought I'd share it with anyone else who's having trouble writing anything (not that it's an original idea of mine, I mean): just make characters, rather than try to come up with a plot to write about at first. I wonder if this idea's already been given, and hopefully that doesn't sound too shallow; the intent is that, by randomly putting select traits together, one can come up with new plot points, look at how some characters might interact with some others before even being worked into an outline or a story, and further flesh out these characters so that they can be used well later. Not sure if I'll even try this myself, but it might be what I need to get going.

ClockworkUniverse · 2012-05-04 19:38:56

So, I've mentioned this before, but I'm working on a setting. Basically, the plan is to have a lot of VERY loosely-connected stories with a sort of overall plot, taking place over the course of the entire history, but I'm not sure if I should have the introductory story relate to it at all. Should the first story set in it be more of an introduction to the setting itself rather than something that establishes anything related to where I'm going with the whole project?

FeoTakahari · 2012-05-05 02:31:17

If they're really that loosely connected, write each story in such a way that you don't need to have read the others to understand it, then publish them separately. If they get enough interest, you can combine them for an anthology.

ClockworkUniverse · 2012-05-05 11:12:17

That's sound advice. My question, though, is more of how early I should introduce elements related to the overall metastory.

FeoTakahari · 2012-05-05 16:07:34

^ Have you ever played a video game tutorial that introduced all the gameplay elements at once? It rapidly becomes confusing--potentially even unplayable. A good tutorial instead introduces and explains its mechanics at the point they become relevant. And a very good tutorial makes it so you never realize there was a tutorial at all.

(It's been a while since I read it, but I vaguely remember Ender's Game as a story that handled this pretty well. September Snow, which I just read the beginning of, is an example of how not to do it, telling the readers about the world's history and the nature of the government when we could probably infer much of it from context.)

lrdgck · 2012-05-06 07:10:49

So, hmmm... I've been thinking, inspired somewhat by Morrowind among other things, that Roman Judea is a very interesting place to set a story in, as historical or Fantasy Counterpart setting. But from the point of view of Romans. That must've been quite a culture shock to them, with all the religious and political factions among the Jews and their incomprehensible religion. Naaah... it's already been done, I bet. But I'm just musing, so whatever.

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