Answers - PPC Posting Board

Subject: Answers
Author: Neshomeh
Posted on: 2008-11-15 01:14:00 UTC

Long enough to give an idea of your skill level and style, but not very long. A couple of pages, maybe?

2. Missions take as long as it takes to gather enough charges to make a kill/exorcism or fix whatever needs fixing. Agents could return minutes after they left if they wanted to, but I would think that existing in two places at once tends to get stressful after awhile.

3. If you're planning on getting stuff published, I wouldn't mention the PPC in it. First of all, the PPC is a borrowed idea. We're allowed to play with it online by the grace of its creators, but publishing and making money with it is another thing. Second, good luck explaining the PPC to your agent/editor/publisher. Short answer: no.

~Neshomeh

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I de-kinda-lurk, with Questions~ by CirГchen AnekГЎth on 2008-11-15 01:03:00 UTC Reply

How long should Permission-seeking writing samples be?

A bit theoretical:
2. How long, in HQ time, do missions take -- as long as the fic, as long as the agents spend in the fic (not counting if they, say, skip over bits of time) or...? Theoretically, since portals can travel through time (at least in fics), couldn't they bring the agents back, say, ten minutes after the mission came in, no matter how long it took? Food for thought. :)

And now something really theoretical and a bit strange:
3. Let's say there's an author-writer-person writing an original story and s/he is aware of the PPC. Even though it's an original story, could the character join, perhaps in the Epilogue?
Oh... I didn't word that very well. Basically, in an original story, could the canonical ending be that the character joins the PPC? (Obviously it would have to be credited &c, if this is even possible.)
I say the canonical ending because I believe there are some original characters from works like that running around, but I think these tend to be AUs.
Considerations: If the work ever gets published and acquires fanfic, can you imagine the effect on the Agent? *shudders*

*C, who is inquisitive today.

Well, on number 3... by Lily Winterwood on 2008-11-15 20:38:00 UTC Reply

You could maybe hint at it? Like this...
"In the end, so and so was recruited to join an organization dedicated to preserving the well-being of literary characters."
Make the references vague, and don't mention stuff that will need a lot of explanation later. It is the epilogue, right?
*grin* Just don't mention the PPC by name.

*nod* by CirГchen AnekГЎth on 2008-11-15 20:43:00 UTC Reply

I'm thinking about going...

Main character: "Look, I want out of this world. Any ideas?"

Character 2: "Well, did you ever hear about the... *whisper*"

Main character: " ...What? ...You're kidding me. Really? Awright!"

Character 2: *grins*

Except more, er, prose-ish.

The only problem... by Huinesoron on 2008-11-16 19:14:00 UTC Reply

... is that this might look like a sequel hook. Depends on whether you're okay with that.

hS

I think I'll live. by CirГchen AnekГЎth on 2008-11-16 20:43:00 UTC Reply

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that!

Maybe. by kgarrett on 2008-11-15 21:03:00 UTC Reply

Handling it that way, via implication and not explicitly mentioning the PPC itself, could work. It'd definitely be more possible. I'd think the legal stuff and the like would only come into play if you specifically said "main character joins the PPC" at the end of the book. Could be tricky if you then had the character show up as an agent in a PPC spinoff, but that idea would work better than what I thought your idea was at first. Especially since it leaves it open to interpretation about if it's actually the PPC.

I'd have to agree with Neshomeh there by Sedri on 2008-11-15 06:59:00 UTC Reply

Your ideas are fascinating, Ciri, but just a bit too complex. Stick to the simple, at least for now. *feels very bad for saying this... but says it nonetheless*

Simple's no fun... Oh, okay. :) (nm) by CirГchen AnekГЎth on 2008-11-15 20:22:00 UTC Reply
Have to agree here. by kgarrett on 2008-11-15 07:15:00 UTC Reply

Your ideas sound interesting, but it'd be better to save them for later. For things like agent bios and writing samples, it's best to stay simpler, more like summaries. If either of them are too massively long or detailed the PG won't be able to get through it, and overall it's just far more information than actually needed in the bio case. If you want to work with both it could be a good idea to make a more detailed version, but keep it to yourself for reference and make a more summarized version for your actual permission attempt. And as Neshomeh said, I'm sorry but using the PPC like you stated in an original fic probably wouldn't be allowed, especially since it's owned property.

Gotcha. Thank you~ (nm) by CirГchen AnekГЎth on 2008-11-15 20:15:00 UTC Reply

Answers by Neshomeh on 2008-11-15 01:14:00 UTC Reply
1. Long enough to give an idea of your skill level and style, but not very long. A couple of pages, maybe?
  
  2. Missions take as long as it takes to gather enough charges to make a kill/exorcism or fix whatever needs fixing. Agents could return minutes after they left if they wanted to, but I would think that existing in two places at once tends to get stressful after awhile.
  
  3. If you're planning on getting stuff published, I wouldn't mention the PPC in it. First of all, the PPC is a borrowed idea. We're allowed to play with it online by the grace of its creators, but publishing and making money with it is another thing. Second, good luck explaining the PPC to your agent/editor/publisher. Short answer: no.
  
  ~Neshomeh