45 replies to this topic

[Velox]

So there was an awesome topic for this in the COT forum -- now it's official! Post anything here that you want to get advice on or have a problem with, as long as it's related to writing. 

 

Here's the place to discuss your writing with fellow writers. You are encouraged to use this topic to discuss ideas for or to post WIPs of stories you plan to post in this forum, but anything writing-related goes, just like the old topic. 

 

[toa electro]

So do I just post here ?cause when I clicked your link I saw the topic locked !
And I was wondering if something like this would be acceptable



I'm going to Hawaii in a couple weeks and I wanted to take advantage of that opportunity and make a bionicle or Lego based film! First I have to write a script .
And tell me any ideas or any typos or misspellings

Ok so here's my idea,
A kid lives on an island that was formerly mata Nui, he stumbles upon something on the beach,
It turs out that it's the mask of time !
And he researches about it and finds out there should be more masks and he goes around trying to find clues a bout t what happened

Although I still need a plot and some more concepts,

And I'm working on a vahi that looks old and rusted from ages of burial

[TNTOS]

A kid lives on an island that was formerly mata Nui, he stumbles upon something on the beach,
It turs out that it's the mask of time !
And he researches about it and finds out there should be more masks and he goes around trying to find clues a bout t what happened

Although I still need a plot and some more concepts,

Firstly, I can tell you're not aiming to be canon-accurate, otherwise you wouldn't have a human kid as your protagonist. Regardless, until you tell me more, I will just work from the premise that this has some relation to the canon story.

Okay, so how did this kid get on the island of Mata Nui anyway? In the canon, the island of Mata Nui was destroyed when Mata Nui himself awoke. You need to figure out how the island is apparently still around or what it's even doing on Earth, considering that as far as we know, humans and Earth don't even exist in the Bionicle universe.

It seems to me that you've got a basic plot already. "Kid finds Mask of Time and decides to find out where it came from." Try to flesh out your protagonist's personality and goals, as well as the world he's in. That should hopefully give you some more plot and character ideas.

Hope I helped .

-TNTOS-

[toa electro]

 

A kid lives on an island that was formerly mata Nui, he stumbles upon something on the beach,
It turs out that it's the mask of time !
And he researches about it and finds out there should be more masks and he goes around trying to find clues a bout t what happened

Although I still need a plot and some more concepts,

Firstly, I can tell you're not aiming to be canon-accurate, otherwise you wouldn't have a human kid as your protagonist. Regardless, until you tell me more, I will just work from the premise that this has some relation to the canon story.

Okay, so how did this kid get on the island of Mata Nui anyway? In the canon, the island of Mata Nui was destroyed when Mata Nui himself awoke. You need to figure out how the island is apparently still around or what it's even doing on Earth, considering that as far as we know, humans and Earth don't even exist in the Bionicle universe.

It seems to me that you've got a basic plot already. "Kid finds Mask of Time and decides to find out where it came from." Try to flesh out your protagonist's personality and goals, as well as the world he's in. That should hopefully give you some more plot and character ideas.

Hope I helped .

-TNTOS-

 

Kewl thnx for replying um my idea was kinda like an alternate universe concept where aqua magna was earth "in the time before time", and it never really was destroyed by teridax.

[Aderia]

Hey. People. How do you name characters? I'm having issues. For made up names (i.e. bionicle), and also human names. What works for you, because the method I was using doesn't work very well for me anymore.

Edited by Aderia, Dec 31 2012 - 05:00 PM.

[BenLuke]

For Bionicle sounding names, I'll usually just look up random words in the Maori language that apply to the character and use that. 

[The Novelist Called Nuile]

When it comes to BIONICLE, my habits vary. My favorite method is to use foreign words, sometimes altering them or only taking parts of them. Sometimes I cut names or words apart and try and put them together in ways I like. Or, I’ll just slam my hand on the keyboard and see what comes out.

Human names are easier. I just sit and cogitate. I think of authors or people or actors I know, people that have some sort of connection to the character I’m naming. For example, to a mischievous imp I might give the cognomen Watterson. A detective I might name Colin, or a farmer Douglas.

 

Sincerely, Nuile: Lunatic Wordsmith

Edited by Nuile: The Wiseguy, Dec 31 2012 - 05:13 PM.

[Ymper Trymon]

For human names, my tendency is to use names that fit the person's cultural background and sound believable. Whether it sounds, to my ear, like a name that fits the person's role in the story is of secondary importance to me, because, generally speaking, your parents can't see the future when naming you.

 

I actually have significantly more difficulty coming up with names for individual aliens, because I've got to come up with an entire culture and language (or, more likely, multiple languages) first. I kind of cheated with the Diemawr, because their lengua franca is basically Welsh, but even so I've still got no idea what their actual naming conventions are.

[Judge Alex Humva]

I've found that when I want foreign/alien sounding names I take a list of words and reverse them. Cheap, but it works. My alien race in Starscape for instance was the Natsirt, which I got from taking the name Tristan and reversing it. It doesn't work with every word but it can make some pretty cool sounding names. Why, all of my locations in one of my old RPGs, Alkermpa, were simply the names of my friends reversed. Revor makes a pretty cool sounding port city.

[Alastor MacBatman]

I generally roll a d26 on a dice rolling program for a letter and run from there, assuming it's a modern/urban setting (if not, I generally google a few name generators and roll until I find a name that I like).

 

Anyone got suggestions on how to divide setting notes? Minor hassle to dig through my current set up (a few text files outlining the bases of the setting- kingdoms and royals, magic and technology, calendar, setting mythology, etc.), so I'm curious if there are any alternatives.

Edited by Alastor MacBatman, Jan 02 2013 - 06:38 AM.

[The Inquisitive Automaton]

Though it's incredibly cheap of me to say, for more complex names (Like that of Bionicle characters), I commonly just mull things over in my head, starting off with a certain sound and swapping letter around to make something comprehensive until I find something I like the sound of, usually onomatopoeic. That said, I do occasionally use different methods for coming up with names, such as adapting names from classical mythology into something that sounds a little more Bionicle-esque (Thanatos into Thantox, Hermes into Harmaisis) or mixing and matching English words that correspond with a character's personality and certain traits (Envy and jealous to make Eyvous).

[toa electro]

i just look up maori names and reverse it or just make wierd sounds till something sounds right

[Ymper Trymon]

I generally roll a d26 on a dice rolling program for a letter and run from there, assuming it's a modern/urban setting (if not, I generally google a few name generators and roll until I find a name that I like).

 

Anyone got suggestions on how to divide setting notes? Minor hassle to dig through my current set up (a few text files outlining the bases of the setting- kingdoms and royals, magic and technology, calendar, setting mythology, etc.), so I'm curious if there are any alternatives.

---

That kind of depends on how deep you're going into the setting. I would keep separate notes on climate, geology, local ecosystems, customs, language, dress, statistical information on the society (average height, average income, typical skin/eye/hair color, etc.), technology, and other things that might be useful, but I also tend to go completely psychotic on world-building.

[TNTOS]

Hey. People. How do you name characters? I'm having issues. For made up names (i.e. bionicle), and also human names. What works for you, because the method I was using doesn't work very well for me anymore.

Sometimes, I'll just take random words and splice them together. Other times I'll take a word from a language (such as Latin, for instance) that I feel is relevent to the character's power, appearance, or personality and apply it to that character, sometimes changing it slightly if I want to be subtler.

I also sometimes edit English words a letter or two or turn them backwards. I also play with anagrams sometimes, rearranging the letters in a word until I get a good-sounding name. And, of course, sometimes I just smash the keyboard and hope something good comes out of that, especially if I'm in a hurry .

So I have several different methods and I don't always use the same method twice. It certainly keeps the naming process interesting, to say the least.

-TNTOS-

[Lord of Ice]

Hi there I have been working on my story for about two years and I need lots of help with it as I have a small case of dyslexia. So that makes it very hard for me to write out the story I have been very hard at work with this story and I have about 170 pages written. This is my dream to make this into a three books sometime I need as much help as I can't get and if someone was up for a Co:author of this story I would be 100% up for that. 

I know asking for help for this huge project is a long shot but I would love the extra help. 

Thank you for your time.

[ZOMBI3S]

I absolutely suck at quotation grammar, could someone help me with that?

 

Also, if anyone is interested in proofreading chapters in my epic before I post them, please let me know! I re-read them like five times but I still find errors after I post them 

[Aderia]

I absolutely suck at quotation grammar, could someone help me with that?
 
Also, if anyone is interested in proofreading chapters in my epic before I post them, please let me know! I re-read them like five times but I still find errors after I post them 

              "I concur," she said.

"I concur." She spoke fiercely and then ran away.

"I concur," she said, running away.

Before running away, she said, "I concur."

Before running away, she spoke a final time. "I concur."

~ BioGio

 
@Quotation Grammar:  From your friend and mine, Bio Gio. I actaully received this as part of a review on a short story a while ago, I refer back to it often, and quote it in reviews when I find it necessary. Have at it.

 

@Proofreading: I'd love to but I've found myself swamped with school. But I will say, if you've read over your stuff that many times, go ahead and post it, and there is always the Epic Critics Club at your disposal. =)

 

Also, people, thanks for all the tips on naming characters and all, up thar. They were really interesting to read through, and see how diverse the authors here are.

Edited by Aderia, Jan 08 2013 - 04:20 PM.

[Jean Valjean]

The epic I promised in the old topic, which was set to start on the first weekend of 2013, will be behind schedule.  While I am into it by quite a few chapters, I have yet to complete what I feel is the first true narrative arc, and I will not start posting the chapters until I am where I want to be in the story and have the insurance of at least having a story together that has an ending, should I write no further.  I could potentially not post the prologue for another month.  This is unfortunate, but real life caught up with me, and I have other concerns that come first.  The chapters will each also be in need of revision to make sure that all the grammar is in line and that everything I have written thus far is consistent.  With some effort, I will be able to post OTC's first significant epic, although moral support would be nice, and I will sometimes frequent this topic with vague questions when I need to brainstorm.

 

A this point I'd also like to just through out some of my inspirations.  Currently, Victor Hugo is influencing me heavily, although I look at Tolkien and Star Wars writers to inspire my sense of fantasy.  The idea of a world where everything has always been different interests me, and telling stories using strong, timeless archetypes interest me.  I would like to continue in the footsteps of the great ambassadors of fantasy in order to capture the imagination of readers, but with the sincerity of Victor Hugo, who has helped me along my way as I continue to discover who I am as a writer, as I also wish to build works that inspire the best in society and can help bring people peace, because at the end of the day I want to be more than just a man who sat in a room and typed out words.

 

For this reason, I'm not going to be a writer first and foremost.  I'm giving up some of my sense of identity to pursue other things bigger than myself, and then I will start publishing things.  I want to write about fantastic worlds, but I haven't seen the world enough.  So I'm fixing that by joining the army after college.  I basically encourage all writers to write what they know and to know very much, preferably from first-hand experience.  So for me, I hope to learn how to give everything to the world, because I realized that I don't want to just write for myself anymore.  Back in the old days, when the original topic lived in the archives, that was perhaps my primary flaw, and I don't want to have that anymore.

 

Those were just some bigger thoughts I thought I'd spread around.

 

24601

[TNTOS]

I basically encourage all writers to write what they know and to know very much, preferably from first-hand experience.

This man. Knows what he's talking about.

Seriously, though, that's really good advice. While writing is ultimately about sitting down, usually alone, and pounding out those words that you need to get out, it is extremely important to have a variety of experiences under your belt. Even if you write fantasy, you still need to have a lot of experience in order to understand humanity and the world better, which is integral to any good writing, really.

If your life thus far hasn't been varied, then I suggest trying new things. You might not be able to explore faraway places or go on exotic adventures, but surely there's a place in your local community that you haven't been to or have thought about visiting. You'll feel more confident writing a variety of different stories if you have a lot of experiences and knowledge under your belt.

-TNTOS-

[Lord of Ice]

I think I should post this again because I think no one saw it 

 

Hi I have been working on my story for about two years and I need lots of help with it as I have a small case of dyslexia. So that makes it very hard for me to write out the story. I have been very hard at work with this story and I have about 170 pages written. This is my dream to make this into a three books sometime I need as much help as I can't get and if someone was up for a Co:author of this story I would be 100% up for that. 

I know asking for help for this huge project is a long shot but I would love the extra help or even small help would be welcomed 

 

Thank you Very much for your time.

[TNTOS]

I think I should post this again because I think no one saw it 
 
Hi I have been working on my story for about two years and I need lots of help with it as I have a small case of dyslexia. So that makes it very hard for me to write out the story. I have been very hard at work with this story and I have about 170 pages written. This is my dream to make this into a three books sometime I need as much help as I can't get and if someone was up for a Co:author of this story I would be 100% up for that. 
I know asking for help for this huge project is a long shot but I would love the extra help or even small help would be welcomed 
 
Thank you Very much for your time.

You didn't need to repost it. I think no one responded because you haven't told us anything substantial about the story itself. All we know is that you've been working on it for a while, have much of it already written, and intend to expand it into a trilogy . . . which really isn't as much as it sounds when you think about it.

I suggest giving a short summary of the plot, as well as the title, because as it is I have no idea if your story is fantasy, sci-fi, romance, western, mystery, horror, or any other genre or combination thereof. You haven't even told us the title, so I'm not sure how you expect to get help if you don't even tell us what it's about.

-TNTOS-

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

Woot, this topic is active again! Fair warning, I don't have much to contribute to the conversation at the moment, I'm just posting so it shows up in My Content

Actually, I do have a question along the lines of quotation grammar. I have trouble with stuff like this:

"No... I mean... I trust Darik, but how am I supposed to know that... " - Taphir gestured at the dragon - "this... is Darik?"

What's the proper grammar for interjecting an action into dialogue? I feel like this is going to be something I want to do often, but my current best guess looks awkward.

[BenLuke]

The way I've usually seen it done us this, if the action is taking place in the middle of a sentence:

 

 

"This is how you-" he stepped across the room. "-Interject action into dialogue, see?"

Edited by Javert, Jan 21 2013 - 03:23 PM.

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

*reads up* Somebody asked about names. Names are always... interesting. 

 

My strategy is usually to start with a real word that describes the character. Sometimes it's English, sometimes I'll run it through Google Translator, depending on the naming convention I'm using for that character. Then I start swapping letters and sounds around until it's unrecognizable, but sounds good.

 

I also try to have a consistent look for each culture's names. For example, these are all dragon names from Eons:

 

Nalfaer
Argona (started with "arrogant")
Broquiin (started with "broken wing" - although he doesn't have a broken wing anymore. Sometimes my characters change and the names don't.)
Suveiar (started with "survivor")
Veiarru (started with Suveiar; it's his father)
Aelganar
Ganear
Raerqk

 

You can see I use a lot of double-vowels, especially "ae" because it looks and sounds cool.

 

Now these are all human names:

 

Darik Alluccota
Amia Alluccota
Tomias Alluccota (the Alluccotas are all family... in case you didn't figure that out)
Taphir Kelson
Trode [no last name yet]
Frima Gordan
[no first name yet] Tairel
[no first name yet] Ormin

 

 

(I'm still not happy with the spelling for "Alluccota" yet. It's pronounced al-OO-ko-TUH and it's meant to be vaguely Italian - even though there is no Italy Any suggestions?)

 

Whee, feels nice to share story details again.

[Jean Valjean]

"Sometimes my characters change but my names don't."

 

Ah, the memories.  Actually, those instances usually give me good storytelling ideas so that I can perhaps incorporate bits of the reasoning behind the old name into the new elements of the story.  By that, I mean names like Mr. Maker, Scissorsquid, and a few others whose names I don't really feel like changing.  Well, I might change the name of the Scissorsquid race.  The scissor part makes sense, but they have absolutely nothing to do with squids, so the name will one day change, when I get around to the part of the story that involves them.  I think I'd still somehow write one of them as killing a squid early on just as a reference that only I would get, though.

 

Then there's adapting a name that was previously unacceptable to a new name that fits the character.

 

Silver Bird was once Lugia, my most prominent example.  Lucy was once Mewtwo, because I thought that he was a very manly woman thing.  Master Legious was Count Dooku, and then Darth Santus, then Darth Legious, and finally his current name.  Although I might create a character named Santus just because of that and write him in such a way that hes a tribute to the writing process.  Monthus was Mon Motha, before I realized that the name came from Star Wars.  Vee was Veemon, Waldo the eugab was Gabumon, Blitz Anthony Macker was Blitz Krieg Maker, Mathias was Muzeca (although his race is now called the muzca), Dexter's real name turned out to be Daxtorum (Because why would an alien have a human name?), Lee Wark was Leonardo Warp (before I removed a few lettters from the Kitilik alphabet), the Kitiliks were Rukis from Neopets, Euthanasia Bones was California Bones, Kobus was Kragggh (with 3g's, which really makes him inferior to his older brother, Kraggh), and Lob was Absol.

 

Yeah, many of those were unoriginal.  I can usually remember which of my characters are the oldest because of these.  Silver Bird is probably the oldest out of all of those old names.  In fact,  believe the oldest characters of them all are myself, Death, Magical Jack, and Silver Bird.

 

Anyway, I've been thinking about literature a bit, in particular the art that makes its way onscreen.  I was looking back on some of Spielbeg's masterpieces and remembering just how brilliant those 80's were.  Seriously, you had so many good things that are remembered still today.  Take, for example, E.T., a poster child for the magic of 80's music, and the child on the playground Spielberg was.  It wasn't a book adaptation, not a sequel, prequel, midquel, shared universe, remake, or part of a franchise.  There was a time when the kings of cinema were far more original, when risks were bigger and people tried fascinating new things.  Jurassic Park might not have been an original screenplay, but the book wasn't a big craze like Harry Potter, Twilight, or The Hunger Games.  It was a very innovative age of filmmaking where people were inventive with their imaginations.  Nowadays, people go for the sure thing, and they hunger for continuations to big series that get their justice.  It's a craze, and I'm sure people will get over it in another decade.  Somebody will dare to create a new big thing unique to cinema.  I suppose it isn't a hole lot to complain about, since some of the series are cool, and a new Superman movie is coming out, and I love Superman.  Back in the day, legends of mythical heroes were told over again and again among ancient civilizations, and it seems like we might be in one of those eras.  People talk as if we lost something.  I think we have, yes.  Movies today certainly are not as good as movies back in the 80's.  My mother was spoiled.  Yet, I consider what people were talking about in the 80's, and it gives me some perspective, because Star Wars initiated an era where high concept rules the cinema.  There was a ton of high concept, and some critics complained, because leading up to Star Wars people were making artistic, low concept film.  Then boom, effects film became an industry and very nature of cinema changed.  Looking farther back, musicals were once the royalty of cinema, because those were fascinating new things that talkies wanted to take advantage of, much like how The Wizard of Oz (still perhaps the greatest of the Greats), showed off with innocent, child-like amazement its color.

 

Pondering the seeds of greatness, I recall these things in the cinema and apply them to writing, and I see where they have been sewn.  So much of it comes from simply allowing myself to be a child in my backyard.  My best writing has always come from when I am eight years old again, when I am happy and my shame in daydreaming was nonexistant, and how sometimes even the simplest things amazed me (so long as they weren't girly, because those were too simple and to be made fun of).  Hence, brilliant settings and larger-than-life characters could be inspired from everyday objects.  I still recall how a mixing bowl inspired Atlantis, and a swingset inspired an epic flight.

 

Then I recall the innocene of having my favorite story told once, and then again with surprising new complexity.  I recall being amazed and in-love when a good story kept on getting better and better.  This happened when I read Harry Potter, or really, any series, so that I could be occupied for a long time.  I also recall seeing the animated Hobbit movie, and then the animated Lord of the Rings films, and loving how things kept on getting bigger and more fantastic as they went along.  So I understand the appeal to sequels, because it's cool to feel that after some time you can still return to a story.  The people who really got it right, though, were J.K. Rowling and George Lucas for writing out a story that took up a whole series, because ultimately that was what I always liked.  A story that went on and one, and could take days to tell.  I liked creative genius that could take small things and make them big.  Now as an older reader, I have to thank Jeff Smith for the pleasurable experience of reading Bone as a freshman in high school.

 

Yet, my thoughts don't end there.  There are many branches of thought I could work through based off of these observations on the movies, but the one that stands out to me the most right now and is really moving me is the style of the 80's, and especially Stephen Spielberg.  E.T. was a masterpiece, but the funny thing is that it would be a B-movie flop today, because everyone would have seen the ending coming and they would have claimed that it was simplistic, for children (which somehow is an insult), without a plot, and containing only the most basic characters.  In spite of it all, E.T. is an icon of the big-screen and one of the greatest films of all time.  The imaginations of the viewers, and the charm of the big-screen back then was different, though.  How do I know that standards have changed?  Superman Returns basically proved that the heartwarming and simple movie that's meant to fill someone with childlike wonder is no longer welcomed home.  It truly was brilliant, and had a magnificent visual poetry to it, but interests are changing.  I suppose I have Christopher Nolan to thank for that, who's really driven home an interest in intense man vs. man conflicts, darker storytelling, and impressionism over romantic fantasy.  My criticism of Nolan isn't severe, but I have truly noticed a change in cinema the new Batman films, and a drive to make things edgier and familiar characters hardcore.  I don't know if I'm stating my view on this right, but overall, there's still definitely a distinction between today's storytelling style and yesterday's, and it's not because of the special effects.

 

Yet, many of the movies today...There's not that mystic sense that I get from the 80's.  Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars, all original franchises that started all on their own, still trump anything released today.  Then there was E.T. and other single movies that stood out all on their own.  Titanic, Hook, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Jaws (I'll admit, not all 80's stuff) all became icons of cinema history.  Then there was their predecessor, the grandaddy of creating bold icons, 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Some of these had lesser-known sequels, but that's really beyond the point.  What amazes me is that there was a time when a story could be put out there and not be part of a series, and it could be a big thing.  Stephen Spielberg in particular talent for adding this definitive cinematic feel to his works.  An original high-concept film could be more than just a B-movie so long as it treated itself with that sense of child-like wonder that Spielberg had.

 

So what do I have?  I'm a wannabe author for a series of science fiction books.  Certainly, when I start out, I will not have a series on my hand.  When you are a beginning writer and you sit down to write a book, you don't have the right to suppose anything of its success.  You can't bedazzle someone with imagery or music.  You can't market it with trailers in the latest Superbowl.  There's you, the paper, and the off chance that someone will read it.  So what can I do, really, to leave as powerful of an impression as I can and leave my mark?

 

It might be getting redundant by now, but the answer to that question probably includes the key word "child like".  I don't want to approach my literature just as a novel idea (no pun intended).  There has to be some level of sincerity in it, some level of awe, and a firm belief in what I'm writing.  I don't really base my premise for writing off of the current movers and shakers of cinema.  Nolan and Whedon are looking at ways of giving major-league teams a good season, but that's not the same as creating a team from scratch.  It's different when people are familiar with a concept, it's proven its success and following in society, and people are interesting in seeing it being taken one step further, whether it be through a sequel or adaptation into other media (such as the adaptation of Ghost into a stage musical).  But really, people are going to run out of mainstays to work with, and I realize that I can never be a storyteller like Nolan is a storyteller because I'm never going to be a writer for DC or Marvel, or a director who helps develop the latest version of Sherlock Holmes.  I'm out on my own, making my own stuff, and I really only have one go at it.

 

So I think of how the tales I knew as a child that were already in place a decade before I was born, how each of those had a sense of magic, and how those were bold.  How each of them had a definitive feel to them that said "I am not a B movie."  I'm not entirely sure what it is, if I haven't said all of the buzz words I need to already, but it's there.  I write high-concept, and I definitely know that I want something that goes beyond what Looper was, which which was one of the few original high-concept films this year, and yet it was a b-movie compared to the rest of the giants that came out, and though I will remember it fondly, it's hardly a classic.  Frankly, the same goes for Inception, another good action movie with Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  What makes this creative original film, in spite of its quality, resonate less than other original, innovative films back in the 80's?  I don't know.  Maybe it was expectations going in.  It wasn't advetised as a new big thing or as a blockbuster, but I think I know why that was.  In part, there's the culture today, but there was also the issue of reverence.  It was creative, but it didn't dare to dream of itself as if it could be a big thing and let loose.  E.T. sure did that, and so did Titanic.  There was a certain attitude eminating from those before you even saw them.  Take that away, and you get Looper, a time-travel movie with a cool premise and a good plot that will never become a classic because it didn't bother to try and be a definitive experience.

 

I want to try.  I want to try and deliver a definitive experience.  I want the fantasy, the return to childhood, all of it.  I want my writing to hold strong, and to be more than just a unique "what-if?" type of book that tries to tackle a high-concept premise as if it was low-concept (which is the trend today, since a lot of sequels, remakes, adaptations, and franchises can do, since the concept has been explored before and they can move on to a low-concept story within the original premise, such as with Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy).  Then perhaps I can have a strong, noble book series that it's possible to be a fan of, and maybe even for someone out there in the world be his or her favorite books.  I know I want them to be mine.

 

Because I remember Star Wars, and I remember what that can bring to the table.  It was the popular thing to hate the prequel trilogy (just as it was popular to hate Superman Returns and the new Indiana Jones movie), but I remember seeing it through the eyes of a child.  I was eight, and my parents were going through a divorce.  Star Wars was just the fantasy I needed, and even though Attack of the Clones wasn't as cool as The Phantom Menace (Obi-Wan wasn't as interesting as Qui-Gon yet), it was the perfect escape, the thing that gave my life when I was an energetic twig.  I really look forward to the new movies with the utmost love, hoping and believing that they will present Star Wars, nothing more and nothing less.  It's the one shot that people have of rediscovering just how simple perpetual amazement really is.  "Keep them children," I say, and I have no shame.  I want to return to my childhood so bad, and any movie or book that can do that is dear to my heart.

 

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[Neelh]

May I interject with how I name characters?

 

Anagrams, vowel swaps, and punching the keyboard are usually methods that I use. Also, looking through a dictionary, splicing words together, and mutilating them to fit Troll naming schemes.

[Pahrak #0579]

Well, I am trying to work out a new story...suppose I'll give this a try.

 

To be honest I'm not entirely convinced I have a good idea here, so any kind of feedback would be much appreciated.

 

Working title is "Order Rebuilt."

After Marendar was released, it wiped out all Toa and Glatorian and left the Matoran and Agori to fend for themselves on Spherus Magna.  Years pass, and a group of Matoran get called into a lab on the edge of New Atero, where they are then drafted to be a new type of defender.

Using plans left behind by Nuparu, the Matoran and Agori have constructed "Exo-Vahki"--large machines resembling Metru-Nui's old enforcers that have been redesigned from the ground up.  To stop their programming from going out of control like last time, Nuparu designed these new Vahki to be piloted by Matoran; the tentative group chosen includes Kapura, Hafu, Onepu, Kazi, Tamaru, and Macku.

The Matoran are not given a choice in the matter, and after reluctantly learning the basics they journey into the forests of Bota Magna.  Search parties sent into the jungle rarely return, and those that do claim to be repelled by the biomechanical dinosaurs within.  The Exo-Vahki meet with some success in fighting these creatures, only to be captured by the one controlling them: a humanoid named "Taeron" who claims they have entered his territory and must be disposed of.

Each Exo-Vahki was designed with a specific role in mind.  Exo-Nuurahk absorbs damage; Exo-Zadakh is lightning-fast; Exo-Rorzakh is a technician; Exo-Keerakh is a scout; Exo-Vorzakh was designed with raw strength in mind, and wields a broadsword carved from the hull of the Great Spirit Robot; Exo-Bordakh is a jack of all trades unit and wields a staff infused with every Toa Disk salvaged from the Matoran Universe, the last traces of Elemental Power in this new world.

All Exo-Vahki are wired with Kanoka--shrink and enlarge disks to control their size for practical concerns, plus whatever disks are best suited to the specific unit's role. (Nuurakh has Disks of Shielding, Zadakh has Disks of Speed, etc) Every unit (with the exception of Vorzakh) has internal flight mechanisms like the original Vahki; Vorzakh's were removed due to the sheer number of Kanoka of Strength necessary to give it the strength to wield its broadsword.  Those who built the Exo-Vahki know that the Kanoka will eventually lose power and are being sure to keep more on hand; the Toa Disks, particularly, will run out of energy at a relatively alarming rate, meaning whoever pilots the Exo-Bordakh must be very wise about how they use them.

There are several different species of biomechanical dinosaurs roaming Bota Magna, each with strange attributes given to them by the experiments of the Great Beings.  Velociraptors move at the speed of a Kakama-user, tyrannosauruses breathe beams of intense heat, pteradactyls have limited control over the air, and so on.

Taeron's exact connection to the dinosaurs is unknown, but they all follow his command without question.  He is capable of communicating with Matoran/Agori as well, and he has unbelieavable physical strength.  In addition, Taeron possesses an ability thought to be linked to the Kanohi Faxon: he is able to copy the traits of any biomechanical dinosaur for a limited amount of time, making him at least as dangerous as everything else in Bota Magna combined.

 

That's most of what I have so far.  Hopefully I'll be able to work it into an acceptable story.

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

So lately I've been thinking about scale a lot - my story involves a massive intergalactic conflict, driven by a handful of individual main characters. There's a lot of ways to handle a large scope...

 

Tolkien: Actually fill in all the gaps and put the resulting information in appendices and/or other reference books. In theory, this is the best way to do it, but it can make your story very hard to read since it's dragged down by backstory, and since writing is only a hobby for me, I simply don't have time to write up a huge backstory for every planet and every region on that planet.

 

George Lucas: Make everything in the universe smaller on the inside. Planets are basically countries (usually single-biome), and all of the points of interest on a planet are clustered within a radius of a couple dozen miles - everything else is empty space. Logically, this makes no sense and leads to a lot of fridge logic. However, the popularity of Star Wars is evidence that this can work, done properly, if you're in a high-fantasy setting.

 

Rowling: The events of the story affect the whole world, but there's only a small section of the world where anything important is happening. The goings-on of the rest of the world are too mundane to write about. This actually works really well because it keeps the scope of the story small while acknowledging that there's more to it. However, Rowling piggy-backs on Earth, so she gets a lot of culture and backstory for free (as well as an unlimited supply of Muggle victims). Since I'm building up a whole universe, I don't have that advantage.

 

What are your thoughts on scale, particularly on a galactic level?

[TNTOS]

@Dinobot Pahrak: Your story idea sounds really interesting. I'd love to read it, if you decide to write it. But I do have a couple minor quips:

After Marendar was released, it wiped out all Toa and Glatorian and left the Matoran and Agori to fend for themselves on Spherus Magna.

So is Marendar still around or not? Your summary isn't very clear, although if that's meant to be a mystery to be solved later, that's not much of a problem.

Also, why did Marendar wipe out the Glatorian, too? It was designed to wipe out Toa only. Did the Glatorian get in the way or something?

To stop their programming from going out of control like last time, Nuparu designed these new Vahki to be piloted by Matoran; the tentative group chosen includes Kapura, Hafu, Onepu, Kazi, Tamaru, and Macku.
The Matoran are not given a choice in the matter, and after reluctantly learning the basics they journey into the forests of Bota Magna.

Why aren't the Matoran given a choice to decide whether they want to use the Exo-Vahki? Who forces them to use the Exo-Vahki? For that matter, who built the Exo-Vahki in the first place? All you said was "the Matoran and the Agori," but that can't mean all the members of both species worked together. Was it a group of Agori and Matoran engineers, perhaps?

Besides those few quips, your story sounds very interesting. I'm interested in seeing what you do with it, if you decide to write it.

-TNTOS-

[Pahrak #0579]

My thoughts on Marendar was that it wandered off and hasn't been seen since.  Maybe it would be better if I said its remains were found a while later?  It's being used primarily as an element of backstory, and I wasn't planning to give it an appearance in the "present" of the story.

 

As for wiping out the Glatorian, several of them were given Toa powers by Mata Nui, and once Marendar saw this it adjusted its programming to include Glatorian as well.

 

A secret team of Matoran and Agori were chosen to build the Exo-Vahki, yes.  I haven't worked out every member since it would be a fairly large group, but I thought Balta, Defilak, Nuhrii, and Berix would be involved.  The members were selected by the ruling council of New Atero--the seven Metru-Nui Turaga and eight Agori (two from each tribe).

Most of the Matoran selected were mentioned in Nuparu's original notes on the project, and the team wanted to honor his wishes.  The exception is Kazi--Nuparu originally picked Kopeke, but as he is the Chronicler, the builders decided they should use someone else, so Balta nominated Kazi.

Early on in development, Defilak and the others realized there was little chance anyone would really want the job of a pilot once they discovered how demanding it could be, and constantly switching pilots would hamper unit cohesion.  As such, they decided to pick a team and stick with it, telling the pilots that it was their Duty to the people of New Atero.

[Jean Valjean]

Jedi Knight Krazy, I'm personally more of a Tolkien in a Star Wars universe, but if I may suggest another option, there's always inspiration that can be taken from superhero comics.  I'll use DC as my primary example: in increasing scale, you have Aquaman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel, Superman, Martian Manhunter, and then villains like Brainiac, Orion, Doomsday, Anti-Monitor, and Darkseid.  In other words, the characters on their own are capables of being movers and shakers of entire galaxies.  Throw in armies influenced by these characters (whether by their leadership or by other forms of interaction), and you can easily have a giant intergalactic conflict driven by them.  Therefore, you characters can be in individual places, but the the conflict can be everywhere.

 

I sort of take that approach.  There's a mythology to my stories, where there are some entities and characters who are a part of or know about some of the Big Ideas in my universe.  There is one character near the end who is meant to signal the end times.  There is another who acts as an evil overlord of the entire multiverse, and he has some extreme power and tactical skills to back it up.

 

So in so many ways these conflicts are about the leaders.  Then there are the simple underdogs who unknowingly possess the MacGuffin.  There are various ways of endowing characters with importance.  It's always because I intended them to have such forms of importance in the first place, though, and hardly a form of "giving the underdog powers as the plot demands".  New characters are almost always conceived as having some form of relevance to the larger conflict, whether direct or indirect (such as through their influence of another character with direct relevance).

 

-

 

Meanwhile, I have purchased a number of notebooks to write down ideas whenever I have them and build upon the vision I have for my universe.  THey have been put into various different categories:

• Character Notes
• Monosmith (my most complex character)
• Cinematic Style
• Music
• Quotes
• Backstories (primarily for mover-and-shaker characters)
• Memories of Childhood
• Childhood Fantasies (just as important as memories of actual events from childhood, as to get back into my youthful imagination is paramount to discovering what my stories are all about)
• On the Design of Species
• Settings
• Cultures
• Science Fiction Technologies (I'm trying to get a consistent grasp of what does and doesn't exist in my universe, and right now it's my #1 source of writer's block)
• The Quest of Tobias (a specific serial I'm having writer's block on)
• The Adventures of Mary (the end result of TQoT, where I write down any cool ideas whatsoever that I will later build on)

With so much creativity, I never really want any of it to go to waste, so new ideas are constantly recorded.  I might just create a dream diary as well, although I don't normally write in those, and most of my dreams don't really inspire anything new.  Besides, I think that these are enough categories as it is.  I can think of a few more, but I'm going to make progress on these other notes first before moving on.

 

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[TNTOS]

So does anyone here outline?

I don't. I tried to years ago when I first started writing, but it never felt right, so I decided to just write my story and see where it would take me from there. This method works pretty well for me, although I understand why some people might outline.

-TNTOS-

Edited by TNTOS, Mar 02 2013 - 09:16 AM.

[The Inquisitive Automaton]

I don't normally bother with outlining. One of the most fun things about writing The Best Kept Secrets is that while there's schedule and I have the actual bones of the narrative, there's still a lot of space in between for me to include sub plots and extra characters. I tend to think up the beginning, the ending and any other key scenes and just going along from there.

That said, for The Shadow of This Red Rock, I made an outline for each chapter and I'm already finding it fairly restrictive. It works in keeping the story neat and organised but experimenting and playing around with the characters while I write isn't as easy.

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

So does anyone here outline?

I don't. I tried to years ago when I first started writing, but it never felt right, so I decided to just write my story and see where it would take me from there. This method works pretty well for me, although I understand why some people might outline.

-TNTOS-

 

I write outlines. It helps because I usually have a pretty good idea of where I want the story to go before writing and if I don't outline it, I'll miss important things.

 

It also helps to write a couple of outlines - for my current story, I wrote an outline, and halfway through realized that it made no sense, so I completely changed the plot. I came back a couple months later and found even more things that made no sense, so I had to change those, too.

 

For later books in the saga, though, I'm just writing down important scenes in the approximate order in which they happen. I'm forbidding myself to think too much about Book 2 before Book 1 is even started. (It's not working, of course. I'm already thinking of aftermath short stories )

[Aderia]

The first epic I wrote, I didn't outline. It was the longest, and probably the funnest one I've written. I remember being able to sit for hours and just -write-. It was definitely a great way for me to start out, it was a great experience. But the story was also horribly scatter-brained, even for a middle schooler's piece of work. Since then, I've outlined my epics, but they haven't been as long or fun. Hopefully, once I have more free time on my hands, I can experiment to find a happy middle between the two methods.

[Velox]

Does anyone here outline?

-TNTOS-

 

Yeah, I do. At least most of the time. If I feel a writing spree sometimes I'll just write, but almost always I have at least some sort of outline, even if it's just a quick few words of notes. I know it doesn't work for everyone, but it definitely works to me. It makes it much more easier (and fun) to write out the scene/story/etc., then, because I don't have to worry about where exactly it's going--I have a general idea of that outlined--all I need to worry about is writing it. And if things change as I do that, then that's fine; I don't need to always follow my outline. But I do like using one, even if it's not a formal outline but just a few notes. Even for small things--for example I recently wrote a poem for my creative writing class, and I had just a few small lines of notes. I ended up changing half of it, but it gave me a general idea of where I wanted to go, and allowed me to write the poem much quicker. After all, for me at least, the longest part is often thinking up of the plot (and characters)--if you handle that before hand, you can just focus on writing.

 

For my first novel that I started for NaNoWriMo, I actually outlined very extensively. The plot was fairly complex, and I immediately begun running into many small problems (and some huge ones as well). So I'm incredibly glad that I did end up outlining, because to accomplish the plot that I had in mind, I definitely needed to iron out any of the problems I had. 

 

On the other hand, I've also been working on an epic/serial that I haven't been outlining as much. As I sit down to write each chapter/episode, I'll make quick, rough outlines, but otherwise I'm just "letting the plot goes where it takes me" and not outlining further ahead than I'm at currently, with the exception of a few ideas I have.  It's working so far, and I think it definitely works because the story is following a group of survivors, in a non-modern setting. For my novel on the other hand, it takes place in modern times, and a lot of the "problems" I ran across were things to do with how things are now whereas things may have been possible a few hundred years ago. 

 

So yes I realize I'm ranting now, but: Do I outline? Yes, almost all the time. How extensively depends on the type of story, and how I want to write it. If I want to have a complex plot with many problems for my main character along the way, it's very helpful to do an in-depth outline (saves me from becoming frustrated while I'm actually writing so that I can actually write. Plus it's just really fun planning a story as a whole, without having to write it all out), but if I'm not or writing a shorter story, then all I do is jot down quick notes. 

 

 

[Jean Valjean]

I outline for my major projects.  If it's a book series, I seem to do nothing but outline.  Considering that the IDES might be as long as the Encyclopedia Britannica, that's probably a good idea.  Since, in their published form, The Adventures of Mary will be over 2.6 million words in length (53 books, 50K each), and I intend for those all to have a surprising amount of interconnectedness, I certainly intend to outline those.  While I do sit down and discover my stories first, I do so in brought strokes of detail that go into an outline before getting into the final manuscript.  I have multiple notebooks I keep with information on my series written down. My works tend to spend years in the brainstorming process before actually getting down on paper, because I don't want to casually discover something so much as I want to add flesh to the bones of a vision.

 

Also, I see my work as a mythology.  There is a pantheon of characters, and I wish to understand the story behind that pantheon before sittig down and presenting it in long prose that closely follows individual scenes.

 

However, with short stories, I tend to instead create a small mental outline, but nothing official, and I often discover my stories as I write them.

 

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[Legolover-361]

To continue the conversation about outlines: Outlining has only helped me indirectly when writing stories. The few times I have written a decently detailed outline, the final product has deviated from my original plan. As I normally only write short stories, writing only skeleton outlines (e.g. one-line establishment of each scene) or winging it doesn't inhibit my writing too much, though I think writing a novel would require, at the very least, a skeleton outline.

Speaking of novels, I feel I would be able to write one if I treated it as a sequence of short stories; I have procrastinated far too long on writing a novella and have an idea for a potential novel, so I hope my changed perspective will encourage me to ignore the intimidation factor and just write. Has anyone else used this viewpoint to write a multi-chapter story, or do most of you treat such a large story as a single, continuous tale?

[TNTOS]

Has anyone else used this viewpoint to write a multi-chapter story, or do most of you treat such a large story as a single, continuous tale?          

 

I treat my novels/epics as a single tale. It's actually a lot easier for me that way, perhaps because I am a better novel writer than short story writer.

 

-TNTOS-

[Jean Valjean]

(quick logs in just to comment in this one topic)  I see my stories as one continuous tale.  However, I see them as being divided into plot points, and my chapters tend to be as long as individual narrative arcs, or steps along the journey.  Whenever I feel a step has been completed, I end a chapter.  When I write my outlines for books, they usually get separates into chapters then, because as I write those I feel that there are "beats", and each of those chapters represents a beat, or a sequence of events that come together to form an important section of the story.  I do like to make sure that some part of the story concludes itself with each of the chapters, while at the same time, of course, introducing other things that lead into the next chapter.  I don't necessarily see them as individual short stories.  It's more like there being many weeks in a year and I can tell you how my year went by describing how each of my individual weeks went, covering a different narrative point with each week while tying them all together to form one cohesive story about how my year went, hopefully delivering a strong dominent impression. 

 

I also see my individual books as parts of a larger story.  While I try to see them as individual stories, since it's practical, that takes effort, because I'm simply just inclined to see everything in terms of the big picture.  I guess it helps that I name my individual books, IDES part I, IDES part II, IDES part III, and so forth up to IDES part XVIII.  There's definitely a collective identity there, sort of how all the volumes of a World Book encyclopedia but they all share only a fraction of the cover and have to be put on the shelf in the right order in order to show any big picture (speaking of which, with the pace and the scope I'm viewing my series with, my series just might be the length of an encyclopedia set).  The individual books are mostly just stages in this tremendous epic.

 

Also, I have The Adventures of Mary, a tie-in series that should be 53 books long.  One of the big things there is going to be pacing, because I have a narrative arc that spreads through the entire series, and I want each book to connect to the arc in an integral way.  Therefore, I am going to have an outline once I know how it's going to go, basically detailing what step along her path she's on, what major part of canon gets covered, and what elements of the mythology should be pulled in that make it so integral to the overall plot.  That being said, my outline for the series is more likely to be a synopsis for each book, except with spoilers.

 

On that note, while I have already said that I will be postponing my BZP version of The Adventures of Mary, I realize that I might not put it on here at all, or at least that putting it here will be postponed for even longer than I imagined.  I worked on it as best as I could, but looking back, I realize that I want to rewrite giant chunks of it because some of the elements of my story's sociology are inconsistent.  I have a grasp of real-world sociology, but I threw my initial character into a foreign situation that I understood incorrectly, and I was also writing it while I was also still struggling (as I am now, even still) with the implications of what I intended this universe to be like.  I might be ready after this next summer, but there are no guarantees.  This is all speculation.  I certainly have more important things to get to, but if I ever get into that series, I will not publish it half-heartedly.  I am going to go into it with gravitas and write the closest thing OCT will ever get to the Bionicle Paracosmos.

 

Until then, I have a story that I know I will write soon that will be composed with intentions of going into the upcoming Ambage anthology.  Knowing this, I intend on writing something that feels a bit more official than my usual works, and also something that I wouldn't be able to write about on BZPower anyway.  Unfortunately, looking at the rock face that is my schedule for the next week, nothing will come of that ambition during that time save for a few outlines, but I look foreword to undergoing some editing with the Ambage and looking through their writings as well.

 

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