Subject: This is... a comedy?
Author:
Posted on: 2010-08-28 17:26:00 UTC
I've recently heard of this place, and i'm shocked to hear that it's supposed to be a comedic group of stories. I have also heard of people being berated for having stories being too serious.
Honestly, I think this has some "serious potential" rather than just "silly potential" to be just plain funny.
And the PPC tends to err on the side of caution.
Have a chocolate bar?
Hello! Have a seventeen foot long, multicolored, wool, knit, scarf (curly wig not included), and a bag of jelly babies.
Please use them IRresponsibly!
Don't feed it Sues.
Have a smoothie and a test tube full of Anti-Matter!
Welcome to the Board! Please deposit your sanity in the provided receptacle. *indicates bucket marked "Warg Fodder"* You shan't need it here. Also, here is software to help you learn to speak 1337.
Fair winds!
Now you can throw BBQs.
Alright. I guess this just isn't the community for me, so, yeah....I might see you around, might not.
Although, as the others have said, we want to keep all PPC writings low on the serious-ness scale, we don't require every discussion here on the Board to be silly. We don't want things to get too gritty or gloomy and we will put our collective foot down if threads get too angry or start hurting someone's feelings, but that doesn't mean we can't have serious discussions. You might like them. Please at least lurk around for a while and see what you think.
If not... well, thanks for dropping in.
*pokes*
As Barid explained, yes, the PPC is for entertainment, and we have no desire to be anything else. Just because something has the potential to be something else doesn't mean you should make it so. Fertilizer, for example, has to potential to be an explosive--but then it can't make your plants grow, and also you could go to jail for blowing stuff up.
If you want to write totally serious stories, that's cool; just leave the PPC out of it, thanks. {= )
Also as Barid said, you're welcome to hang around the Board either way, but we have a list of things that we ask (read: politely insist) all newcomers read when they join up. These are them:
* The Original PPC Series, which is our canon and sets the tone for the whole thing.
The Board:
* The Board Constitution
* The FAQ: For the Board
The Wiki:
* We have our very own PPC Wiki
* The very-important-to-read-before-requesting-Permission Permission article
* Our Guide To The PPC, which further explains the humor thing
* The Mission Writing Guide
* The Slash-Sporking Guide
* The FAQ: For Newbies.
If you want to edit the wiki, make sure to read the editing tutorial, which includes notes about style and etiquette.
And finally, but very usefully,
* The List of Everything PPC
And that should do. Welcome!
~Neshomeh
But primarily, yes, it's a comedy, and even the serious bits tend to turn into humour fairly rapidly.
I've always thought it was more about writing quality, or at the least finding a balance, really. For example, hS and yourself have written serious stories for the PPC, though still including humour at times, and I don't see either of you being driven out of the community for it. :P
As I've said to others here, I sort of see it like the Discworld series, especially since Discworld was an influence on TOS; humour is a part of it, but there is the possibility of writing a more serious story for it as long as it doesn't get too gritty to fit the overall tone of the series.
The two aren't mutually exclusive, I don't think; it's more than possible to have both without breaking the story as long as you do it well. For example, the recently-finished Crashing Down story was rather serious, but there was humour in there at parts, where it wouldn't be out of place. Mitigation and all that is more important than adhering exclusively to one or the other, but that's probably just my opinion. Sorry for going on about it; I wasn't meaning to be rude, or to go into speech-mode.
Have a set of polyhedral random number generators.
To answer your question: yes, this is a comedy. The original purpose of the PPC was to write humorous stories about badfic. While I agree that there is "serious potential" that is not the stated purpose of this organization. Now, we do have some stories that deal with serious subjects, but they do so through humor. I would direct you to an article on the wiki, especially the five links in the line "...and likes it that way."
As for berating people for being too serious, we have never, to my knowledge, berated anyone for being too serious. We have asked that they not be so serious in their PPC writings. We have even encouraged them to write serious stories (though not in the PPC continuum) and have even offered to beta those stories and will, in all likelihood, read them if they are posted.
So, those things aside, if you are looking for a very serious setting in which to write, the PPC may not be the place for you. However, we still welcome you to stick around and chat on the board.
-Barid