Subject: Congrats, des! (nm)
Author:
Posted on: 2012-10-08 23:15:00 UTC
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Suicidal Overconfidence: Des Tries to Get Permission Again by
on 2012-10-06 20:16:00 UTC
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Despite the title, I'm not that confident. But I'm confident enough to try again.
Agent profiles.
A sample of my writing, introducing said Agents.
A bad Artemis Fowl and Doctor Who crossover-fic to spork. -
Hi again? by
on 2012-10-08 17:56:00 UTC
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Anebrin's probably concussed or in some sort of shock. Also, he probably shouldn't be walking if he's running into walls after being hit on the head, but since when have the flowers been great on employee safety?
(Also, technical note: are Fighter, Ranger and the like supposed to be titles? I figured they were, due to the setting and the consistency with which you did it, but if they aren't then they need to not have capitals at the beginning.)
After that, Des' trick of "I've analyzed your fandom," actually reads okay, for Des being in shock/concussed. It does make some sense for ppc agents that come from world one to guess fandoms that they're very familiar with, and it's not especially Sherlock-style specific. Anebrin not having a lot of reaction to what is essentially a non-personal deduction is okay, because, let's face it, Sherlock gets cussed out because he blurts out things that are private in front of all of Scotland Yard. What I have slight trouble with is that Anebrin might be surprised that someone knows what type of elf he is, even if there are multiple types in his home world: either they are easy to tell apart (as they probably are in a videogame) or they are very hard to tell apart, and so far his only experience is within his own world. He does not know where he is, that there might be elves from other worlds in HQ, or even what has happened to him. If it is easy, in his setting, to tell elves apart based on dress and hair color, he shouldn't be as shocked by Des' deduction as he is. (Compare: Hey, I see you have red hair and green eyes, are you Irish? Yeah, I know it's stereotypical, but if it works in the setting he'd be used to it.)
If Anebrin is going to get riled up, I'd think that knowing where he came from would be the thing to bother him, unless the elf group is some sort of secret in the game. Plus, the getting riled up just doesn't seem to jive right with how stunned he was a moment before. He needs to transition from stunned to wigging out over things being crazy, or something.
However, the battle scene read a lot better than the last time. -
Re: Hi again? by
on 2012-10-08 18:12:00 UTC
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Yes, Fighter, Ranger and the like are (unit) names and are supposed to be capitalised. I followed Anebrin's home continuum, which capitalises unit names (Elvish Fighter, Troll Shaman, Wolf Rider, etc) but not race names (elves, orcs, trolls, goblins, etc).
Anebrin is the concussed one -- you mixed them up. And Anebrin is surprised because, let's face it, it's like an alien landing in your front lawn and saying 'hello there, human from Anytown, America'.
Regarding the surprise: duly noted.
Last but not least, the fighting scene is better because it's basically jump-cut away. No fighting = less places to fail in. -
Re: Hi again? by
on 2012-10-08 22:54:00 UTC
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Did I type Des? I confuse myself, I suppose. (Scrolling through comment - oh, hey. Yeah, I did. Clearly, my head knew what my fingers did not.
It wasn't clear to me whether or not Anebrin actually knew on a conscious level that he wasn't in his home world. Plus, he's taking everything very calmly until that point...
What existed of the fighting scene worked pretty good. It was gotten through without being over-generalized or dragged out. -
Re: Hi again? by
on 2012-10-09 07:42:00 UTC
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That is a relief.
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Donning my official Hat. by
on 2012-10-08 17:44:00 UTC
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Right, let's do this. Analysis, ho!
The Profiles
Anebrin: Well, I'm going to assume you've characterised Irdiyan elves correctly... :P. Actually this is quite interesting, because while 'falls through a plothole into HQ' is a common origin story, it's almost exclusively for World One agents. And, going on to the story, it's very rare that the actual fall-through gets written. No problems here, provided he does develop personality beyond 'Is Basically Haldir'.
Desdendelle: I love the idea of 'Oh, yeah, I'm from basically World One, only they teach us axes in school'. However, as with every gimmicky origin, it really needs to be used as something other than a gimmick. If you don't ever mention his homeworld again (do they have legal duels? Are wars constrained to ancient weapons?), it just becomes a way to accelerate his weapons training for free - a deus ex machina, basically. So that's a warning flag, but not a major one. I have no problems with the rest of his character, as he falls nicely into the Standard-PPC-Agent slot.
(Oh, and: argh, more Floaters? Seriously, is specialisation so hard?)
The Storywords
Wow, that's a lot of betas. Actually that almost worries me, since it means any problems may have been filtered out - but I suspect Vixenmage wouldn't let that happen for a Permission piece.
I'm flagging a few somewhat 'off' uses of linking words in your sample - for example, 'as well as that stony, burnt smell the more experienced Rangers and Avengers told the rest of the elves was that of troll shamanic magic' feels a bit heavy on the 'that's, and 'If things would have gone as planned' just sounds strange - but since those are the only two I found in the first page, and I'm actually looking for them, I don't think it's a problem. Again, the second sentence I just referenced is quite long - but I haven't tagged any others as being too long, so it's not a major concern.
As to the rest of the piece: I've already mentioned that Anebrin's reactions are bothering me, and I'll expand on that. He comes across as confused and disoriented... but not disoriented enough. He seems coherent enough that he should be reacting more strongly to what's happening - particularly if (and I don't know if it is) teleportation is possible in his canon.
I'm also somewhat concerned over how lax the Marquis is getting over recruiting proceedures. I'm sure there used to be at least some paperwork... actually Dafydd tells me he had to wait two days for them to find a copy in a language he could read - and then another two days while he filled it out. But this is the PPC, we're a bit haphazard over that sort of thing, so no real problems there.
Overall, I'm quite impressed. I went back and reread your last request thread, and the comments there were mostly that your writing was bland and unexpressive. I think you've fixed that quite well (although, always room for improvement), so unless someone's spotted something I didn't...
Permission Granted.
Go wild. ;)
hS
PS: The glasses-related comment in Anebrin's thoughts amused me, possibly because I've played around with the idea myself. ~hS -
Because assuaging worries is important? by
on 2012-10-08 18:53:00 UTC
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I was actually worried about being too much of a beta, initially, but that was on fixing the original permission piece - on this piece, I looked it over, I think, twice, so I was almost going "Aaah! I haven't beta'd it thoroughly at all!" But it looks like the comments and discussions that were had over the original piece were taken to heart, because I only noticed one or two lapses on the look-over, and it looks like you approve, so...
Yay! Congrats, Des! -
Consider me thoroughly assuaged. (nm) by
on 2012-10-08 19:22:00 UTC
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YES! by
on 2012-10-08 18:24:00 UTC
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Woohoo!
-Dances around-
Uhum. Anyway...
Anebrin: Oh, Anebrin will develop a personality. He'd be boring to write otherwise. And most BfW!elves aren't like Haldir -- 90% are like Thranduil (with his less-than-stellar treatment of Thorin and co.), 5% or so are toned down versions of... Iunno, Galadriel (basically, the Druids/Shydes/Enchantresses/Sorceress/Sylphs which deal with the faerie), and 5% are like... whatever elf that behaves nicely to humans (not Legolas).
Agent!des: I should and would mention his homeworld again. The best way seems to have him mention details casually in missions and tell a lot more in an interlude.
(Floaters: It's because I want to be able to spork multiple types of fics without having to invent more agents. Two are enough for me.)
'That's: Probably because I'm a native Hebrew speaker. I'll watch out for those.
Anebrin's reactions: Yes, TP is possible in BfW, though it's not very widespread -- IIRC, it's limited to Silver Magi, which are rare; the chances of him meeting one, or even witnessing one teleporting, are slim. I should take note of this.
Glasses: Well, I knew that there aren't any glasses around in the Aethenwood, so I thought, 'how would someone who had never seen glasses in his life describe them?'. -
Congrats, des! (nm) by
on 2012-10-08 23:15:00 UTC
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Congratulations! (nm) by
on 2012-10-08 19:56:00 UTC
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Just clearing something up. by
on 2012-10-07 20:35:00 UTC
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I understand that Des is supposed to be an author-avatar of you, but is he also supposed to be a Sherlock Holmes write/look/sound alike? I'm getting this for a) your description of him having a "Sherlock Holmes-esque coat" (Not that that's bad, but the many different adaptations of Sherlock have featured different coats, so it's not really a sound description) and b) his immediate analysis of Anebrin. It's a bit far-fetched for him to get every single thing correct, especially because there are so many different types of elves and The Battle of Wesnoth is not a very well-known fandom (I'm basing this off the 0 fanfics I've found for it on ff.net). Anebrin also has very little reaction to this analysis, which is unusual as Sherlock Holmes gets cussed at a lot whenever he does it. You might want to look into that.
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Somewhat Biased... by
on 2012-10-07 22:34:00 UTC
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While acknowledging that as Des' beta, I have some bias towards his writing sample, I must raise an eyebrow at the idea that a character who wears a long coat and has analytical tendencies is assigned to a Sherlock Holmes X-alike, especially since his analysis of Anebrin amounted to "You have all the physical characteristics of said elves, and I happen to know the fandom." There are plenty of analytical, even detective-esque archetypal characters who are still nothing like Sherlock Holmes. He's certainly the easily-identified example, but I don't think every character who shares his characteristics is in danger of being a clone.
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Again, just clarifying. No offence/ignorance/bluntness meant (nm by
on 2012-10-08 21:48:00 UTC
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None taken. by
on 2012-10-09 07:41:00 UTC
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One of the perks of four/five failed attempts is a relatively tough skin.
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A comment on Anebrin. by
on 2012-10-07 21:00:00 UTC
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Without wearing any manner of Permission-related hat for now:
Anebrin comes across as, well, 'stunned' is the only word I can come up with - the sort of effect often described in fiction as mild concussion. He just sort of... goes with everything in a haze of bewilderment. Which would explain his non-reaction to Des' analysis.
My question, then, since I'm supposed to be analysing your writing on an official basis, and therefore I can't assume, is: is that deliberate? Is he meant to be that thoroughly bewildered that he just accepts the weirdest things?
(I note that you do mention - in passing - that he hit his head, and again that he's 'groggy'. My question stands: Did you intend his 'concussed' state to persist for the entire piece?)
hS, trying to judge -
Well... by
on 2012-10-07 21:11:00 UTC
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Well, yes, Anebrin is mildly concussed. It's deliberate.
BfW is, indeed, an obscure fandom -- it's a FOSS TBS game -- but I know it, and know it well, so I figured that an author avatar would know it, too.
Regarding the coat: I meant a brown longcoat (I might get a picture up tomorrow. Hopefully). That's what I think of when I think about Sherlock Holmes's coat. Des is supposed to wear that coat, but certainly isn't supposed to sound like Sherlock. -
Re: Well... by
on 2012-10-07 21:56:00 UTC
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Is that plot twist you had in an earlier version still going to happen?
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Re: Well... by
on 2012-10-08 07:18:00 UTC
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I hope we're both talking about the same thing: yes, but at some later, unspecified (as-of-yet) point.
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The Coat by
on 2012-10-07 21:29:00 UTC
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Take the Tenth Doctor's longcoat and shorten it so it only reaches the wearer's knees, make it a little bit more shabby around the pockets and the edges and you have Des's longcoat.
He also has a grey one which is heavier and longer (ankle-length), but does not wear it a lot.