#1 - PPC Posting Board

Subject: #1
Author: Huinesoron
Posted on: 2020-12-07 08:50:21 UTC

I have one of those: Findulias the mini-Balrog wound up being a protagonist.

"Like I say," Mortic said, smiling pleasantly, "ignore him. Oh, yes – you also have technical issues, such as paragraphing and, notably, misspelling one character's name consistently – Findulias, didn't you notice you were on fire?"

Findulias frowned at her hands, which were, indeed, burning hot enough that she had left palm-prints in the armour. "But… I'm the Princess of Nargothrond," she said uncertainly.

"You're a mini-Balrog," Mortic said gently, "and once we get you to New Caledonia, Cass at the Adoption Centre will get you proper treatment to help you adjust."

Luthien squinted at her companion, as if trying to see through a thick mist. "You know, you do look rather… fiery," she admitted.

I saw it as basically the same as when an agent or a crash-test dummy gets drafted as a character in the fic: the badfic makes them say what it wants to. So what if it's not logical? It's a badfic!

But where it's just one instance of a misspelled name, you could just have the expected character speak, while the mini just appears. Minis are manifestations of typography, not of story logic; they don't have to link up perfectly.

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Two questions about mini's. by Discofurby on 2020-12-07 03:49:51 UTC Reply

What if a mini talks in the story? I'm asking because one Enterprise badfic had "Jonathon" Archer say something, even though mini-Tribbles aren't supposed to be able to talk.
What sort of mini does The Simpsons make? I'm asking because the "How Will I Clean My Fur?" mission (which I didn't write but is set in the Simpsons universe) has two mini's.

#2 by doctorlit on 2020-12-07 14:25:15 UTC Reply

In the comments on that Simpsons mission's posting thread, Meta chose three-eyed fish as the mini for that universe.

—doctorlit adopted one, incidentally
#1 by Huinesoron on 2020-12-07 08:50:21 UTC Reply

I have one of those: Findulias the mini-Balrog wound up being a protagonist.

"Like I say," Mortic said, smiling pleasantly, "ignore him. Oh, yes – you also have technical issues, such as paragraphing and, notably, misspelling one character's name consistently – Findulias, didn't you notice you were on fire?"

Findulias frowned at her hands, which were, indeed, burning hot enough that she had left palm-prints in the armour. "But… I'm the Princess of Nargothrond," she said uncertainly.

"You're a mini-Balrog," Mortic said gently, "and once we get you to New Caledonia, Cass at the Adoption Centre will get you proper treatment to help you adjust."

Luthien squinted at her companion, as if trying to see through a thick mist. "You know, you do look rather… fiery," she admitted.

I saw it as basically the same as when an agent or a crash-test dummy gets drafted as a character in the fic: the badfic makes them say what it wants to. So what if it's not logical? It's a badfic!

But where it's just one instance of a misspelled name, you could just have the expected character speak, while the mini just appears. Minis are manifestations of typography, not of story logic; they don't have to link up perfectly.

hS

I had one too! by Scapegrace on 2020-12-11 12:54:44 UTC Reply

Cadence the mini-Discord was a recurring speaking part who snarked at the agents. Writing them was really fun!

My personal take is that it can be fun to make minis have more of a speaking part, especially when you're deep in the weeds of a really weird badfic. Technically, I think most minis are meant to go "zub zub" or "shneebs" or "what do you mean I can't dip my bacon in bouillabaisse this is workplace discrimination you'll be hearing from the union about this", but as with everything in the PPC, we'll let things slide a bit if it's well-written and funny. Canon-friendliness and good writing is better than canon-slavish-adherence and dull writing any day, and that goes for us as well. =]

Also now I wanna see a mission to a badfic involving a pov and a mini. I want that very, very much.

snrf.

So I'm not positive this is what you meant... by Huinesoron on 2020-12-11 14:24:17 UTC Edited Reply

... but my mind immediately jumped to "a mission where the agents are a pov and a mini". So my initial thought was the Avengers Minitiative, but Midguard can talk, so where's the fun in that? Ditto with a Courtyard Team mission, which would have to be a Pack/Army teamup: the wolves are just too chatty.

No, what we'd need would be an excuse for a mini-Balrog (classic, expressive with their roars, but don't talk like mini-Aragogs) to team up with the General or Skulduggery P.O.V.. I could probably swing that, actually; I'd just need an excuse for Kaitlyn and Selene to get stuck somehow, and Elberath or Thanduril to go help them out.

For ideal comedy value, it would also need to be what I think you mean: the main character is a first person '[Name] POV', and the second lead is a mini. Bonus points if there's also a General POV, meaning the General keeps popping up to berate Skulduggery.

...

That's a tall ask, isn't it?

hS, definitely not going FFn trawling

IMMEDIATE EDIT: There's no General POV, but this looks perfect. Aragon is a main character, and both he and Legoals get their own pet POVs. At one point the OC main character gets her own mini.

Majestic. Absolutely majestic. by Scapegrace on 2020-12-11 15:15:07 UTC Reply

Have you looked at that character bio/rundown/thing for the lead Suvian? Amongst her weapends [sic] is, and I'm not making this up: throwing stares. Not stars. Stares.

Just glorious. I can't wait to see a mini-Balrog and POV toddle through Arda watching the antics of a very sparkly POV and her mini-Balrog handlers. I am champing at the bit!

Important question! by Huinesoron on 2020-12-18 14:16:31 UTC Reply

It is undeniable that Dawn is a pov: she is described as 'Ella's P.O.V.' at the top of the final chapter. So when, in the final chapter, she spawns 'Dawm'... is that a mini-pov? Or just a mini-Suvian? Or some combination of the two?

hS

Hmm. by Neshomeh on 2020-12-18 15:16:43 UTC Reply

Well, if the main POV is one of the larger, all-caps varieties and very sparkly, maybe misspelling it downgrades it to a lowercase pov, also very sparkly? That would be your "bit of both," I think?

I'm just entranced by a couple of lines in chapter 4, though. I mean, first, ????'s P.O.V. Poor critter must be so confused! But then:

> As i looked, I saw something that cut my eye.

Oh, no. Oh, dear. Poor ???? (whose identity is totally not given away by the title of the chapter or anything).

And:

> "Lady Ella, Lord Elrond expects your presents at once,"

Jeez! Demanding bugger, this Lord Elrond! {X D

This is a fun one. Looking forward to the mission! ^_^

~Neshomeh

*snrrrrrk* by Neshomeh on 2020-12-11 16:06:22 UTC Reply

Oh, this is beautiful. Apparently the hobbits are all over five feet tall now? She's made ~~Aragorn~~ excuse me, Aragon 6'6"!

And her horse—the photo of which is something I'm pretty sure I tore out of a calendar and put on my wall as a kid—she gives its height in feet and inches, too. Converted into hands, 6'9" is a massive 20 hands and 1 inch if we're measuring at the withers, like we ought to be. For reference, the tallest horse ever was 21 hands and 2.5 inches, and the tallest horse living in 2010 was 20 hands and 2.75 inches. It's just about plausible for a shire or a belgian, but since the horse pictured is a friesian, no way. Also, just look at the scale we're talking about here. No way you're gonna be riding around Middle-earth on that with anything like stealth, and forget comfort. {X D

~~Yes, I was one of those girls who was super-into horses, why do you ask?~~

~Neshomeh thought shire horses were the coolest. Possibly in part because they were called "shire."

The ideas keep piling on. by Kittyauthor on 2020-12-11 14:38:21 UTC Reply

So that's what happens when POV is changed that way.

I thought it was only for when POV was integrated with a paragraph of text or something, not offset.

Now I kinda wanna pov, but Predicon might not play well with another mini.

~Kittyauthor, who has learned two things today, is panic-writing a page and a three-to-four page essays and doing chem homework, as well as adding more badfic to their list and planning a badfic where O'Ryan gets his voice stolen by a Sue.

(PS: I really need to get back to writing those essays.)

Ah! I was just gonna have the mini buzz around and beep every time the story said its name, but... by Kittyauthor on 2020-12-09 22:11:03 UTC Edited Reply

... Rowan (er, sorry. The mini is named Rowen) as a mini is just... snickers

(This is referencing a Scythe fic I wanna mission.)