General writing discussion.

DonZabu

In a sense. The more he uses it, the more his thinking and decision making skills fade, so he has to rely on it more and more. It's not so much "The ring compels me to put it on" as it is "I have nowhere else to turn at this point, so I'm putting the ring on".

So basically, yes.

delta534

I could see it turning into a slight Lord of the Rings ripoff, depending on where you took things. I would keep it and treat it as a cursed item which has a method of reversing the effects that is not throwing it into the fiery pits of Red Mountain.

DonZabu

Actually, here's what I had in mind:

For part 3, Vendal makes his trek into Red Mountain and kills Dagoth Ur like normal. After that, he becomes the leader of Morrowind, and as the decades go by and various types of shit goes down, he uses the ring more and more against his better judgment, until at one point his mind is such a husk that Azura is able to take over his body like a puppet and use him for what she planned to do all along: kill Vivec.

Since the Battle on Red Mountain when the Dwemer disappeared, Vivec and his Tribunal became the dominant form of worship in Morrowind in place of Daedric worship, which was bad news for Azura because the power a Daedric prince has is proportional to how many worshipers they have (I believe the canon says the same thing, but I could be wrong). Since her power was weakened, the only way Azura could exert any force on the world was by using a mortal body as a conduit, which is where Vendal came in.

So the whole thing is one giant revenge plot, on a cosmic level; by killing Vivec (and then presumably, the other members of the Tribunal), and using Vendal as a mouthpiece, she can bring Daedric worship back in earnest. And since Vivec's own power is weakened ever since the Heart was destroyed, Azura through Vendal ends up killing him, and since Vivec was the one who stopped the Ministry of Truth asteroid, his death makes the rock fall again and destroy Morrowind (IIRC, the same thing happens in that Infernal City book, but for different reasons). All in all, Azura fucks over her own revenge plot.

I'm afraid that kind of ending might be too sudden and arbitrary, though. What do you think?

delta534

If you can make the climax of the story be death of the tribunal you'll be fine.

Personally I would drop a few more hints through out the story that this is a giant cosmic level revenge plot and spend some time working in the events of the tribunal expansion pack before killing Vivic. I would also make it that the tribunal is somehow wrong for the world, making the death of the tribunal the logical climax of the story instead of the death of Dagoth-Ur

DonZabu

Thanks for the advice.

delta534

You are welcome 

Magus

So about a month ago I finished the first draft of a musical I had been working on for about a year, a parody of romantic comedies called Beautiful Timeless Eternal Love. Due to frustration at the frequent hiatuses I had to take due to class, I swore to write a page of my next play every day.

So far, so good–I missed a day but wrote two pages the next. Other than that I've been consistent. I'll tell y'all what the play's about when I'm done, I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it.

Icalasari

Hey, so I assume I can get help here with a legend I'm stuck on writing for my game world, right?

If so, well:

I can't get the flow to go right. I can't even get halfway done because the flow is jilted. Any tips on how to make a traditional oral story? If it helps with the advice, the being spoken of in the legend is an eccentric old man who is a forest spirit. Every time his forest is assaulted, he gets aggressive, even killing small armies. However, he is kind to those who respect his territory, and has been known to help children who get lost

DonZabu

Tell a story about how people tried to defile the forest, but met their grisly end at the hands of the forest spirit. Tell it like you would tell your friends about a fishing trip where you saw the Loch Ness monster.

(/has little writing experience and probably has no business giving out advice)

The_Edge

I've been doing frame work for a script for about three years now, but I haven't started the script yet. I'm stuck with the opening. I was thinking about starting with a few minutes of exposition from and about the main character. Usually something like that is a big nono with "Show, don't tell" and such. I could maybe show throughout the story, but I'm sure not. Thoughts?

MillerCross

I wrote this yesterday during the night. It was an idea that I decided to sort of start without any framing or preparation to see where would it lead me. Any input/feedback/etc is appreciated. If it's liked well enough, I'll do more. Probably. 

"A flash of light. That's all I remember. A flash of light. The brightest light. I don't even remember its colour, whether it was blue, yellow or whatever. All I remember is that light was involved. That's my only memory from yesterday. Heh, that must have been the greatest drunken binge in the history of ever"

"But...what am I doing here?" thought the man.

He looked down at his body. He was wearing a suit. He had never worn a suit in his life. Well, he had, but not willingly. At least, not if he could avoid. "Ugh, I look like a damn butler", he thought. "Welp, at least...I don't look like a raggedy one" he thought as he noticed that the suit was in impeccable conditions. "For whatever that's worth..."

The man decided to stand up. His legs hurt, and he grunted as he stood up and then he felt his bone crack for a sec. "Ugh...definetly need more exercise...That'll go in my "To-Do-When-I-Remember" list...". He realized this meant that he won't remember in a week or two, but he decided to not care for a while "Prioritze, prioritze...you don't even know where you are..."

He had been so distracted examining his current outfit that he had no time to look around the place...and then he looked at the ground and saw sand. Sand everywhere.

"Fuck, no...you gotta be kidding me...no fucking way..."

He noticed that there were mountains and hills...and then saw a road. 

"Oh, thank fucking god"

The man took a few eager steps before feeling a searing headache and deciding to stop for a bit and evade the sun's cold look

"Cold? You're kidding, right?" the man snarled at his own thought derisively.

Deciding to keep his description because of the heat and general boredom, he sat down on the ground and decided to check his coat for anything that might be useful. Inserting his hands into the pockets, he felt a rectangular object. Solid, definetly leather. He got it out to examine it closer. 

It was his wallet. Jet black. He opened it and saw his ID.

"Mark Williams"

And saw his face next to it. At least, what he remembered his face to be, he added in his thoughts. And then, he questioned his sanity for even holding that thought for a second.

"Oooh, look at that handsome man. Welp, almost handsome."

The face was the face of a square-jawed, late thirties, black haired, clean shaven man. Brown ("Almost black", he added) eyes and thin lips. "Certainly a good face. At least, not a bad face. Not deform...yeah. I can live with this"

Mark was starting to question his sanity and his thoughts more as he noticed that he was commenting on his face more than any other person would have. And he also noticed that he was commenting too much on his thoughts. And then reflecting on his comments on his thoughts. And then to dwell on his refelxions of his comments with relation to his thoughts. And then he just decided to stop it and focus on what else could he find on his wallet.

Mark opened his wallet to see some money. Around 50$ bucks. "That'll pay the cab. Hopefully" and nothing more. "I could've sworn I had a credit card and some licensces...wonder how I'll get them back...fucking bureacracy, how does it work?"

And then, he took his sight off the wallet to see a bright...something in front of him. Willing to investigate, and bored out of his brain as well as generally desperate for a way home, Mark stood up, grunted, and then walked briskly over to the shiny objects, and noticed that they were said licenses. His driving one and the one that allows him to be a Private Investigator.

"I guess I'll find out about bureaucracy later. Hopefully, never", Mark thought as he picked up said objects and saving them very carefully in his wallet and then putting said wallet inside one of his pants' pockets. He decided to ditch the coat and started to take it off until he saw something fall off. It was a receipt for the suit. Realizing it was rented, he took it off and decided to fold it over his arm in order to not get a heatstroke.

Deciding that there was nothing else to do, he walked over to the road and decided to walk to the east, not knowing where it'd lead, but at least, hoping to find his way home. Or at least a town. Or a vehicle. Or a gas station. "I dunno. Something, damn it.", he whispered to himself desperately. And he walked, till his legs begged at him to stop it and take a rest, yet he didn't, because he didn't want to stop. He felt that any bit of hope would escape if he did. So he kept on walking, feeling the sand on his shoes and the heat on his neck, as well as the sweat on his brow. He knew (Or at least, he thought he knew) that he'd find something if he didn't stop walking toward the direction he was walking to. Using the few navigation and orientation skills he had, he concluded he was heading north. Thinking that that was somehow, the best choice (And then questioning it grudgingly along the way) he moved.

AHR

IJBM: People being complimented for telling the stuff they write, instead of showing the stuff they write. 

MillerCross

Indeed. 

AHR

He noticed that there were mountains and hills...and then saw a road. 

This line seems rather badly formatted. It's telling rather than showing, and it kinda takes us out of the story. Like we're not really there. It also comes across as really really roleplay-ish

The man took a few eager steps before feeling a searing headache and deciding to stop for a bit and evade the sun's cold look

REALLY telling, not showing / roleplaying style.

Chagen

Would naming a male character "Rom" sound really stupid?

Noimporta

Conteeeeext.

AHR

No more than any other basic made up name. It sounds like Ron.

MillerCross

@AHR: Thanks for the tips. will be taken into account.

But yeah, that's what happens when you write something at 2:00 AM >_>

Chagen

The context is that this story takes place in Post-Cyber-Punk world. Due to a quasi-Singularity, technology based names became super popular.

His friends tend to call him "Read Only Memory" as a joke.

AHR

The joke seems kind of lame, but the name makes perfect sense.

Chagen

At least he wasn't named "Ram"="Random Access Memory".

All Nines

IJBM: I haven't written anything in like two weeks (sorry, Cygs. ). I don't know what to write since I haven't had the time to flesh out a concept I sorta have by writing an outline or anything, and I can't write without at least that much motivation.

To get the creative juices flowing, can someone toss a random writing prompt at me? As long as it doesn't involve names of anyone here, because I don't think I'm that good at figuring out what everyone's like.

Nova

Fantasy? Sci-fi? Regular universe? What?

AHR

I empathize Everest. I've been done since orientation.

All Nines

@Cygan: I don't really give a shit what it is as long as it's enough for me to write a page or two. Hell, toss an erotica prompt at me for all I care.

>_> Or maybe not.

AHR

OK.

Two people are unwillingly set up on a blind date with each other. One is asexual, one is aromantic. They become friends.

All Nines

@AHR: Challenge accepted.

Forzare

"IJBM: I haven't written anything in like two weeks "

IJBM: I haven't written anything in like two months.

WRITERS BLOCK FFFFUUU

ClockworkUniverse

IJBM: I started finally writing the actual text of the work, and then got stuck on the details of how to handle a scene...

All Nines

^ Dude, I hate that. Happens ever time.

Also, 297 words in so far. -writes a bit more- 324!

Daily quota met. -not in Minimum word counts anymore-