Subject: Re: Word of warning, Max:
Author:
Posted on: 2009-12-05 20:30:00 UTC
If by "three sheets" you mean "three bottles of wine", Sedriface, then yes, I was. What gave it away?
So long as my betaing services won't be required on Christmas Eve or Day, then count me in. Generally the going rate for it these days is you have to persuade Ansela to keep me supplied with tea throughout, but she's pretty pliant so that shouldn't be too hard.
Hello. I'm MAXinsanity, as you can see from the name.
I write, draw, and play vidya games, plus i've read several PPC missions now.
I've written fanfiction once before. I think I did pretty well (Don't find it though, I'll hate you for it).
I also have got a rather large original story in my head. I want to keep it a surprise, so I'm not going to say much more about it other than that it'll be one of the more major points in my PPC writing.
Speaking of my PPC writing, I've already got some done, and have about 2 or 3 agents written down already... The more sinister side of the PPC is also a central role in my PPC related writing, portraying it as slightly more destructive and manipulating than what I've seen everyone else write it like. And each of the stories I've written down are far larger than a mission, rather they're more like a series of missions with original stuff interspersed inside every now and then.
...And that brings me to why I'm here:
1. I want permission.
2. I want to show off some of my writing, which I will if I have to do so in order to get said permission.
3. I'll improve my writing doing this, and get lulz in the process.
...I hate introductions...
And how to overthrow them.
Greetings, life-form. I come bearing dice. You now have a full set...if a full set means 300 d12's and a d30.
I am fairly new here, but I have to say...some of what I see has me worried. I think that you should listen to the advice of Neshomeh and the rest and run your ideas past someone who has been around awhile. Run it past several someones, just to get a better sample.
Anyways, have fun and don't eat in the cafeteria if it can be avoided.
*proffers her obligatory plate of lembas*
Such enthusiasm is good to see, but I think you're taking the whole thing a bit more seriously than it's meant :) We're a place for having fun at the expense of badfic, not for SRSFACE dystopic worldbuilding at the expense of fanfic :)
Have a poke around on the Wiki and you'll get the idea :D
Welcome!
Welcome to the PPC! Here's a flamer-proof (don't ask how) shield from the Raven Armory and a bottle of bleeprin in case of badfics. The story idea sounds interesting.
Can I call you Max? Anyway, help yourself to a venomous arthropod!
... using your ideas for an original work, rather than a PPC-based one? I don't want to discourage you from joining or writing PPC-based stuff, but we decided as a community some while back that we'd had enough world-shaking events, and though I can't speak for the whole Board, my personal feeling is that what you're describing is more complicated than we're prepared to deal with right now. (I hope other people will speak up on the matter one way or another.)
This community was founded on a love of canon and light-hearted sporking. I don't know which PPC missions you've read, but you should read the Original Series, which is here: http://www.misssandman.com/PPC/story.html
Also, this is the article on Permission that Pads mentioned: http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/Permission
And finally, first poke! *pokes*
Welcome!
~Neshomeh
I did read the Original series, it was a good use of some time a while ago I've also read a couple other ones.
Yes, I know, the Genesis are a bit too crazy for this. I should have kept that one to myself, despite them being really cool and all. Forget everything I said about them.
Omega is fine though. I never liked that idea much.
As for my overly serious tone compared to the other stories, I guess that's just how I write. The world isn't a very nice place to me, and it shows in my writing. I'm sorry if my writing feels out of place, but it's what I do.
I've also managed to create a Sonichu article on the PPC wiki. It definitely deserves to be on the list of Legendary Badfic (Anyone who's seen it will probably agree with me).
Trust me. The world can be a really shitty place-- I know what you mean. It hasn't been the greatest life for me, either. But the best way, in my experience, to make things that much more bearable is to laugh them off. Or at least laugh at them. If you're walking home from work, and it's sleeting and snowing and raining, all at once, and a truck goes by and soaks you to the bone, it sucks, but if you're laughing, it takes a little of the sting out of it. Life's easier if you can laugh at yourself. Fumble a catch, stumble in your graceful catwalk, hell, spill ketchup all over your new shirt. It's easier if you can laugh.
Terry Pratchett's a good example-- his world can get pretty dark, but the sense of humor comes through anyway. That's like the PPC, a lot. It's not necessarily a cheerfulhappylovely place, but that doesn't mean it has to be all drama and angst.
...but it's not how we write. And it's not what we at the PPC are about. I have nothing against serious stories, but if you want to write a spin-off that becomes part of the PPC universe, you can't take your story (or your characters) too seriously.
To quote Neshomeh from an earlier post:
"On that note, I'd like to talk about the spirit with which the PPC was intended. I've noticed a disturbing trend among newer members toward levels of power and aggression, completely unmitigated by an appreciable sense of humor, that I have no doubt would make Jay and Acacia regret ever leaving the PPC for others to write about.
Get this into your heads: The PPC is NOT about who can be the coolest, most badass agent. It is NOT about who has the biggest, most explosive toys. It is NOT about who can handle the most disgusting smutfic. It is NOT about doing something that no one has done before. It is NOT, and I stress this in particular, about making sense.
The PPC, in a nutshell, is NOT a pissing contest.
The PPC is about humor, good writing, humor, good writing, and, yes, humor. If your goal is anything but both humor and good writing, then please go away. I'm serious about this. I like seeing new people come in, I really do, but I'm sick of people thinking they need to improve the PPC, be it with novelty, expansion, logic, or anything else."
So, welcome to the Board...and I would like to see what you have written so far before giving Permission.
~Araeph
I thnk it was decided that Sonichu, and the whole CWC-verse, is its own established canon.
Much like we can't kill Bella Swan or Edward Cullen, we can't kill Sonichu or Christian, much as we'd love to.
It's probably considered it's own established canon not to protect it from sues and the like, but because if it wasn't... The entire PPC would have an insanely big problem on their hands, as it'd damage the affected continua beyond all repair.
It's still one of the worst things to crawl out of the internet though, that's for sure.
Have an egg whisk! It's shiny, gold-plated, and, hey, it whisks eggs! It's also pretty useful for getting rid of those author wraiths and pesky spambots. Use it for good and not much evil.
Welcome to the insanity! Enjoy the ride.
Hey, another newbie onto whom I can pass my unwanted goods!
Have some gym socks, too!
Welcome.
Now I have to resist the urge to link you to NSFB fi...il you do.
Not since the "incident..."
Here. Have a spider drone! It's a fairly cool 3.3 meter tall robot with a .50 Cal chaingun.
Enjoy, and welcome to the PPC!
But I think I will resist.
Instead, I'm giving a Mad Cat from battletech.
You win this round. Until next time!
Welcome to the Board. Please deposit your sanity in the provided receptacle. *indicates bucket marked "Warg Fodder"* You shan't be needing it here.
^= mere formalities. Here, have a lovely bunch of coconuts.
I'm giving away all my Agents' friends and family members...
Welcome! And may I say it's excellent to see such enthusiasm. A few points:
1) I'm sure someone will throw you the wiki link to Permission soon enough (I don't know the coding to embed it myself). The short version is: we don't just hand it out willy-nilly. You'll need to hang around for a month while we get to know you a bit first.
2) You will indeed have to show off your writing; how else can Permission-worthiness be judged, if not by checking your writing skills?
3) Most excellent reasons for writing. I heartily approve.
And a subsidiary 4) Tell us more about this sinister side. From what little you say it sounds like the sort of idea that could do to be run past the Board first.
Here's a rather gruesome transformation sequence from the second story:
_________________
Falras contorts into a bizarre shape. His hind legs fold up, and shift position, so they're in between his four arms.
They stretch and warp, making snapping and cracking noises all the while. Metallic feathers rip out, making them look like wings.
His spine grows in length at an extreme speed. Gore spews out of the gaping hole in his backside. Metallic veins begin to run along the newly made structure, looking like highly elaborate barbed wire.
His fur falls off at an alarming rate. His ribcage bursts open, exposing organs and metal tubing. The abomination's hands fall off, and four massive blades sprout from his bloody wrists while the arms stretch and extend.
And finally, his skull crumbles into a puppet-like blob, resembling a human head. It is perfectly smooth and featureless, compared to the rest of the jagged, disgusting form...
Now he does not speak. Only the sound of extremely loud breathing comes from him. The exposed skeleton is a polished chrome, and it's flesh is a dull metallic gray...
______________
That's a roughish draft of the transformation sequence. I'm hoping to make it more disgusting/gruesome than it already is.
As for the question about the PPC being sinister and the like, that's going to be the main thing in the third story, which I've only started. Some of the more familiar villains of the PPC will appear in the third one as well, as the other two that I've got anything written for have new enemies.
The bizarre Genesis are ancient beings, older than the PPC or even World One. They used to be the natural protectors of the myriad continua that they themselves created until World One was created. When World One was formed, the Genesis flew into a rage, crippling all the worlds that they had created and going into hibernation until one of the worlds they had created was restored. They can travel in between continua, and speak of things such as the "Natural Order", "The Mother" and "The Grand Amalgam" when they threaten and address the PPC.
There are two major threats in the second story that are new, at least to the PPC:
Omega are creatures that reproduce by destroying continua. They are the very threat the Genesis had to completely eradicate early on in the existence of everything itself. The transformation sequence I put up there earlier is a pretty good description of what one looks like. Poor Falras D:
And finally, The Grand Amalgam.
Mostly called that by the Genesis, it is better known to the PPC and World One as Sonichu, a webcomic that puts even the most disgusting of legendary badfic to shame. It must constantly absorb more continua in order to stay cohesive. If left to run, it would absorb all continua, and simply cease to exist due to the reality inside it being stretched to the very limit.
Why the new line for every sentence? Why the present tense? If you must keep the present tense, that first "so" really doesn't fit. The narration seems a little too far removed from the action, for present tense. I think the short version of this paragraph is: fancy a detailed beta on this one?
Seconding the notion already expressed that you seem to have some Very Big Ideas here. Very Big Ideas need to be run past everyone and discussed before being implemented; we're playing in a shared world here, remember, and if someone changes everyone's lego into sticklebricks without warning, it ruins the game.
I wrote it in Notepad. Notepad sucks when it comes to some things, but it saves space. Writing it in Microsoft Word just didn't make sense to me.
And yes, I know, I've got an insane amount of ideas. Blame my highly overactive imagination for that.
Have you tried Google documents? It's an online word processor, that uses a lot less RAM than Word, doesn't eff up as often, saves all work online so documents don't take up hard drive space, can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection and, best of all to me, allows you to share documents for beta reading and cowriting. You can do spreadsheets and presentations on there as well.
Our beloved Pads is fondly known as a Grammar Nazi for good reason. Don't take it personally. She's right, of course - she always is - but I suspect she's also three sheets to the wind right now - aren't you, love?
But as said, she's right. We've had people come in before with Very Big Ideas that were almost all politely turned down for reasons very similar to why I imagine yours will. It's very possible to redeem them, of course - ever Mary Sues can be redeemed - but... well, I think I've said this already in my other post, so I won't repeat it.
Also, Pads, if you read this, I may have a very massive beta job coming up in a few weeks. There'd be a tight time limit, but are you interested?
If by "three sheets" you mean "three bottles of wine", Sedriface, then yes, I was. What gave it away?
So long as my betaing services won't be required on Christmas Eve or Day, then count me in. Generally the going rate for it these days is you have to persuade Ansela to keep me supplied with tea throughout, but she's pretty pliant so that shouldn't be too hard.
When sober, you're usually a tad more tactful with the fragile newbies, m'dear ;p
I'm hoping to have the story done before then, but it depends entirely on my characterisation-expert-beta, who has a busy life; if she's not free in time, then it'll have to wait. And the story, when finished, will be about 110,000 words - maybe a bit more. And Ansela... maybe I can practice trans-continental mind control?
Practice now? I'm trying to persuade her now, and I've just warmed her feet for her, but she's being ever so cruel and resisting.
Yes. Tact isn't really my strong point at the best of times, and the bottle does not improve matters.
This doesn't sound like it's going to be in the spirit of the PPC, so please run your ideas by the Board and Permission Givers before you go planning grand-scale sagas.
That said, welcome! First pincushion!
Those are some... interesting ideas. Especially the transformation thing, that's both interesting and disturbing at the same time.
By the way, welcome to the Board. Have some chocolate.