First towel!

Subject: First towel!
Author: Sedri
Posted on: 2008-11-12 08:33:00 UTC

Artic seems to have answered most of your questions. I was about to give you the wiki links, but July is indeed dangerous, so I'll settle for saying hello, echoing the Artic's comments about Permission asking, and add that any reasonably bad fic can be PPCd, even if we usually go for the worst of them. If it's dramatically out of character - ESPECIALLY if it involves rape as a plot device - you can do it. Once you have Permission. Go for it!

And welcome!

- Sedri

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Hello? by Red_Fiveclawed on 2008-11-12 06:28:00 UTC Reply

So...hi.

I've been lurking on and off at the PPC wiki and making my way through the original series. I'm thinking about making my own PPC, so...here I am. Thought I should get acquainted.

I get a bit nervous about writing in 'verses that don't belong to me (like the PPC), especially when it feels like I'll never make it through all the canon material (again, like PPC). So I'm hoping one of you guys would be willing to beta for me or at least put up with incessant questions.

I'll leave you with two for the moment:

What qualifies for PPC badfic standards? I've got this one Heroes fic in mind that has been bugging me for ages, but compared to a lot of the stuff I've seen here, it's the Fanfic of the Year. Well, maybe not, but the author actually knows basic grammar and puts together a coherent story. It's just that everyone is ridiculously out of character and the wangst is up to a trillion and it MAKES ME ANGRY GRR I HATE RAPE AS DRAMA DAMMIT.

It's called The Road to Redemption. Would it qualify?

Secondly, and much more embarrassingly...how do you get rid of badfic plot bunnies? I've had this idiotic wangsty fic bouncing around since, erm, less advanced portions of my life and I can't get rid of it. Every so often it pops up in my mind and I giggle like a schoolgirl. You guys spork badfic on a regular basis and I'm guessing some of you write fanfics, so I was hoping you might have suggestions.

Newbie.... by Ulalume on 2008-11-17 01:24:00 UTC Reply

*gives a pack of stickers* Since everyone else gave out the good stuff. *sticks one on the face of the newb.*
On "The Road to Redemption"-is there a link?

Never mind, didn't look at other replies.(It's already dark) (nm by Ulalume on 2008-11-17 01:25:00 UTC Reply

First poke! by Neshomeh on 2008-11-15 20:32:00 UTC Reply

*poke*

>.>

~Neshomeh, reviving an old tradition.
Hi! by Anjilly on 2008-11-15 18:00:00 UTC Reply

Hiya! Welcome to the PPC! *gives you bleeprin* You'll be needing it...
*notes nebwie knows where wiki is, so gives rabies* (nm) by JulyFlame on 2008-11-14 03:38:00 UTC Reply

*also notes that she cannot spell 'newbie', so headdesks* (nm) by JulyFlame on 2008-11-14 04:18:00 UTC Reply

Though a "nebwie" sounds kinda cute...whatever it is... (nm) by Anjilly on 2008-11-15 18:01:00 UTC Reply

Sounds like one of the critters from "The Dark Crystal." (nm) by Neshomeh on 2008-11-15 20:30:00 UTC Reply

Would that be a mini-newbie, then? (nm) by Sara on 2008-11-16 06:15:00 UTC Reply

Hiya! by Sara on 2008-11-13 04:42:00 UTC Reply

I gift you with an egg whisk! It's shiny, gold-plated, and whisks not only eggs, but author wraiths and spambots! Use it for good and not evil.

Welcome to the insanity!

Mmm...exorcisms by Five_redclawed on 2008-11-13 23:02:00 UTC Reply

Can I give it to my Agents? They can jam it into the heads of possessed characters and whisk out the author wraiths. Which is an image that makes me giggle. Prepare to face...the Whisk of DOOOOOOM!!!!

...Four exclamation marks. This place is already getting to me.

'ey! by Techno-Dann on 2008-11-13 04:13:00 UTC Reply

As the Official Bumper Sticker Giver, it's my (oft-neglected, unfortunately) responsibility to give you a PPC bumper sticker.

*gives Red a PPC bumper sticker*

Welcome to the board!

Concerning question one, we've actually been trying to get back towards the original spirit of the PPC - less epicly bad fic, more run-of-the-mill stuff. I think your story qualifies.

As for two, there's a couple techniques - could you subvert it by converting it into a goodfic? Could you write it as parody? Could you write it, burn it to a CD (or a floppy, if it's small enough), and then burn the disk?
First graduated cylinder and mini-tackle! by Lily Winterwood on 2008-11-13 01:18:00 UTC Reply

Welcome to the insanity!

Well, what qualifies? Let's see...
1) Canon characters acting so OOC that you don't even recgonize them.
2) Overly perfect Original Character who lands a Canon character.
3) UnCanonical places and realms. (Sparklymuffinland does not exist in Middle-earth, thank you very much.)
4) Lack of a plot line.
5) Melodrama. Oodles of melodrama. (And that fic you've mentioned does sound pretty bad...)
6) Loads of technical errors.

Badfic plot bunnies? I write them down for the desk drawer. Or computer file somewhere far, far away. Then, after a few years/months/weeks/days, I go back and laugh at the fic. Maybe even MST it. But that's how I handle plot bunnies. *grin*

Well, once again, welcome to the PPC! Now, because you got tackled by a bunch of mini-Dragons and mini-Balrogs, you might want to either see Cassie or the Medical Department for some burn salves. *evil laugh*
Hello! by The Trojanhorse on 2008-11-12 21:12:00 UTC Reply

A link to the fic would be useful so that someone can take a gander at it ... but rape as a plot device is Bad. We does not like, precious, no.

Here, have some introductory lembas to munch while everyone rallies round :)

Link to fic by Red_Fiveclawed on 2008-11-13 22:04:00 UTC Reply

Here's the link:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3709995/1/TheRoadto_Redemption

I'm afraid I'm not very good at inserting links in my posts, so you'll probably have to copy and paste it.

It's a twenty chapter Heroes fic. I'm guessing it was written after the season 1 finale, which makes it slightly more understandable...but it still makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Amnesia!Sylar feels so...cliche. As does the twist ending discovery bit in the last few chapters (that's the rapey bit).

It's not spectacularly terrible, it just makes me want to shout out the author....yeah, if I keep going I'm going to start to rant. I do that a lot.

First cigar! by Spud avec on 2008-11-12 18:55:00 UTC Reply

*shrugs* You could always use it to distract a Sued Big Boss or something.

Anywho, nice to see a new face around (mostly because it means I'm not the freshest newbie anymore, haha!) and I hope you'll stick around long enough to be spinning-off with the best of them.

Also: Rape as Drama... nah. It shouldn't be used as an excuse to cry.
Hi! by lynxihez on 2008-11-12 16:39:00 UTC Reply

First, welcome. Can't forget my manners. :P

Second, loads of people beta each other's missions here. There's a link on the PPC Wiki, which is at ppc.wikia.com . The beta page is at http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/PPCBetaReader_Directory - all of these people beta, me among them.

The fic you mentiones sounds pretty bad - OOC is always a charge, and rape as a plot device? No.

What I tend to do for badfic plotbunnies is write them, then store them deep in the recesses of my computer so no-one knows they're there. As a result, I've written a lot more than I let on. :P
First plover! by Tawaki on 2008-11-12 16:26:00 UTC Reply

BTW, will your Agents be based in a TARDIS or a Response Center?

You can have a TARDIS? by Red_Fiveclawed on 2008-11-13 22:12:00 UTC Reply

That is awesome. I knew HQ had a few, but I didn't realize they used them for response centers.

Does it matter significantly for the agents? I'd like to write one of my Agents as a vaguely passive-aggressive Time Lady, but she would be the newbie on the team. It's not inconcievable that her human partner lives in a response center. Could you give me links to the report files for Agents based in TARDISes?

Yeah, you can by Ansela on 2008-11-13 22:17:00 UTC Reply

They were introduced as emergency RCs during the Macrovirus invasion, so Agents who were out in the field and therefore not infected could return to World One from wherever they were.

http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/TARDIS

First Egg! by Platinumyo on 2008-11-12 16:24:00 UTC Reply

Here is an egg for you. I have no clue what's in it.

*hands you a large egg*

Re: First Egg! by Red_Fiveclawed on 2008-11-13 22:14:00 UTC Reply

I will put it in an incubator and hatch it.

Let's hope it's not a Cosmic Horror. That'd probably piss off the Flowers.

Nah, no Cosmic Horrors. by Platinumyo on 2008-11-15 23:17:00 UTC Reply

It's probably some sort of slime from Dragon Warrior. Probably.

Have some Anti-Lustin! (nm) by WikiMaster on 2008-11-12 10:18:00 UTC Reply
First... uh... glomp? by Makari on 2008-11-12 09:27:00 UTC Reply

^_^ I like new people, and knowing that other people are just as confused as I am if not more. =D Also, fellow ex-lurkers are fun.

Like Sedri said, it looks like Artic got your questions pretty well. So... I'll leave you with an excited glomp and a fairly standard query: what fandoms besides Heroes are you familiar with?

Be warned that if any games from the Tales series are on the list, you will probably be subject to more glompings by me.

Fandom lists by Five_redclawed on 2008-11-13 22:59:00 UTC Reply

Nope, sorry, not much of a gamer. I have a bad enough computer addiction problem already (you guys are NOT helping). I do have a soft spot for Metal Gear Solid, though I've only made it through the second game (I'm working on the first). Weird stuff makes me happy. I liked the ending of the original Neon Genesis Evangelion, okay? It was thought provoking and I found it genuinely uplifting. No, seriously!

Right now, my biggest fandom in Doctor Who. I've also started dabbling in Supernatural and may, some day, actually getting around to watching Battlestar Galatica or Farscape or Babylon 5 or...suffice to say, I like well-done sci-fi. I'm also a fan of Pushing Daisies and BRITISH Life on Mars, but I can't see myself enjoying fanfiction from those shows. I'd also like to look into more British TV when I have the chance.

I'm a big western comics geek, especially the Deep and Mature Works of Art Graphic Novels: Sandman, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, the Invisibles, Persepolis, you name it, I'll probably have read it--and if not, give me the title so I can hunt it down. Which isn't to say I don't read comics for fun. When I can, I try to pick up Powers and the new Spirit, and my complete collection of Bone is a prized item.

Book series I read: A Song of Ice and Fire, Discworld, Wheel of Time...there are probably more, but I can't think of them. I've read a lot of books. Back in the day, I was a big fan of Tamora Pierce and Brian Jacques, but I haven't read their recent books.

Anime/Manga: Death Note, Naruto, Akira, anything by Hayao Miyazaki, Princess Tutu, Cowboy Bebop, Elfen Lied, Ouran High School Host Club, Baccano!, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Hellsing (manga) and Fullmetal Alchemist (anime). I'm working my way though Monster (manga) on and off, and someday I'll get around to catching up in the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. Ditto Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. I'm hoping to get into Serial Experiments Lain and FLCL in the future.

Western Animation: Transformers Animated and Avatar. I'm making my way through Transformers: Beast Wars, too.

That's about all I can think of...feel free to throw names at me, I'm very forgetful.

Also...REVERSE GLOMP! Sorry to be a letdown on the Tales bit, but maybe we share other fandoms?

Oh, yes. by Makari on 2008-11-13 23:36:00 UTC Reply

We help. It's what we're here for. To help unfortunate merfolk like yourself... whoops, sorry, wrong song. :P

Weird stuff is definitely of the good. I've never played MGS, but I've heard good things. I'd watch Doctor Who if I could ever find it. x.X Ever heard of Red Dwarf? I blame the BBC. For... uh... not everything, but a lot. Keeping Up Appearances, too, though that's not so sci-fi. Still funny, though.

I'm not so into the western comics, actually... most of the styles sort of turn me off. I blame too much exposure to manga. But Sandman, yes. Discworld, yes. Wheel of Time, definitely yes. Tamora Pierce, yes, Brian Jacques, sort of... You are about the fifth independant person to recommend A Song of Ice and Fire, so obviously I shall have to read it. Them. Whatever.

Amazingly, we share most of the anime/manga. I'm not familiar with Akira or Elfen Lied, though. Princess Tutu is win. Ever heard of Katekyo Hitman Reborn? *hopeful grin* It's a nifty series. Kyou Kara Maou is also sort of good, but I can't watch it. x.X

So yes, we share fandoms. :P I approve of your taste; you're officially a nifty person in my books. Yay glompage... oh hey.

What do we call you? o.O Five_redclawed seems a bit of a mouthful to me, though fine as a full name. Nicknames? =D I have ideas bursting out my ears.

Nicknames, huh? by Five_redclawed on 2008-11-14 21:53:00 UTC Reply

Yeah, I guess it is a mouthful. I used to go by Lawrence-chan but I was thinking of dropping it because of the fanbrat implications that "-chan" carries (it's an inside joke by the way involving the movie Gettysburg...yeah, it's a long story...). But you can call me Lawrence or Lawrie if you like. Or something else. I'm kinda interested in the nicknames you're thinking of.

In terms of Doctor Who, check out your local video store. Or, if you are a starving college student like me, there's this website called Sidereel.com where you should be able to get most if not all of the new seasons. Getting the old series is more difficult, but NuWho is as good a place to start as any.

I'm surprised you haven't heard of Akira--it's a classic. So go watch it. You are forbidden to call yourself an anime geek unless you've seen it. :P It's been a while since I've seen it myself, actually, but I read and reread the manga all the time until my brother took it with him to New Orleans. It's excellent stuff, if pretty disturbing sometimes. But it's disturbing for a reason! Trust me, I nearly majored in English! I'm all about analyzing the subtextual messages and stuff!!

But before you leap into Elfen Lied, you might wanna look it up on Wikipedia or something. It's...really gruesome. I mean, I liked it, though it was a good series, but the first few episodes were difficult to get through. And, well, its detractors claim that it's just about gratuitous violence and fanservice. I'd say there's a lot more to the show than that but I just thought you should know, it's kind of an acquired taste. You should definitely check out the opening sequence, though. It's gorgeous. I've never seen anything like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKvZS3xe8zQ&feature=related

Oh Princess Tutu. I only finished watching you and I want to buy you and hold you forever. And figure out all those classical pieces that make up your soundtrack. I tried to show it to a friend, but he thought it was too girly for him. Yes, it's about ballerinas but it's AWESOME in so many ways!! Ah well. By the way, there's a really neat AMV on youtube that you should check out called Hold Me Now. I don't usually go for AMVs, but this one's pretty good. It was one of the things that got me into the series in the first place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHZqxecCukg

Katekyo Hitman Reborn rings a bell, but I can't say I've ever seen it. What's it about?

Yep. Nicknames. ^_^ by Makari on 2008-11-14 22:58:00 UTC Reply

Lawrie works, I suppose. My first instinct was to call you Five, though. (Imaginative!) And I can have fun with numbers. The '_redclawed' bit makes me think of the Warriors series, but the warrior(s) with the closest name(s) to yours met... hm... unhappy ends. I could call you Lawrie-claws, but that sort of defeats the purpose, as it is, in fact, quite long. Well... three syllables... I suppose it could work.
If you can follow the train of thought that leads me to ponder calling you Angie, you get a cookie. =)

Starving college students unite!

Oh, I've heard of Akira; I've just never watched it. I should. I think I saw it at the local Rogers recently, so it's something to look into. I asked a friend about Elfen Lied, actually, and received a BYOT warning...

And Princess Tutu. am a dancer; I was surprised at how much of it was pretty darn close to reality. Especially that pointe class in second season.

The soundtrack is pretty awesome, isn't it? n.n I recognized a lot of the pieces but couldn't name them all, which wound up driving me nuts. x.X

About Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Hm. Well, it's about a fairly average Japanese middle-schooler (I think. I believe he's... fourteen?) who really, really sucks at school and... pretty much everything. His nickname is 'no-good Tsuna,' which should tell you something. (Full name Tsunayoshi). Anyway, turns out this kid is one of the last remaining candidates for the new head of a fairly prominent Italian family.

Yes, it's a mafia family.

A tutor, who also happens to be one of the family's top hitmen, is sent to whip him into shape. This tutor also happens to look like a baby. Cue the weirdness.

It's actually enormously entertaining.

Actually it comes from this fan by Five_redclawed on 2008-11-16 08:43:00 UTC Reply

...It hangs on my wall and is several feet long. And is red. With Chinese dragons on it. With five claws. See, in Chinese mythology, the royal dragons had five claws on their feet, while less important ones had only four. Well, something like that, it's been a while since I've really looked at my mythologies. I'm afraid I don't know this "Warriors" series you mentioned, though...what's it about? And what does "Angie" have to do with it? Looks like I'm going cookie-less

By the way, I'm totally going with Lawrie-claws from now on. Doesn't matter if it's a mouthful. It's too awesome not to use.

It's funny that you mention Five as a nickname, though. I'm not sure how much you know about Doctor Who, but sufficed to say that the main character frequently regenerates (read: transforms) into a new body (read: new actor) every few seasons. It's how they've kept the show going for so long. So we Whovians refer to the different doctors as numbers. For example: "Poor 8 really deserved more than that crappy movie. He deserved a season or two of actual, good British TV shows before regenerating into 9." The point is, when you say you were thinking of calling me five, I get the image of a rather kind-looking man with a stick of celery stuck on his lapel. Hee. Just makes me giggle a bit.

I also got into Princess Tutu because of dancing, by the way. I'm a Balkan folkdancer myself, which is very different from ballet. But still, if you're a dancer, you know how wonderful it is to watch as well as dance/perform. You really come to appreciate good dancing and the meaning of the movements. Of course, Princess Tutu is just a cartoon, not real people, but I loved the way it used dancing as a metaphor for feelings, fighting, etc....you know what I mean.

That's awesome. by Makari on 2008-11-16 09:15:00 UTC Reply

Want. :P
The 'Warriors' series is about feral cats, divided into four Clans, who hunt, fight over territory, and generally live in a forest somewhat near humans. (Yes, the humans become an issue.) The series starts when a young kittypet, a house cat, wanders into the forest, gets a little lost, and winds up joining one of the Clans.
They suffer a little bit from Slytherin Syndrome in the case of ShadowClan, I think, but other than that it's actually a pretty good series. The first is called "Into the Wild," if you want to look for it. The author is Erin Hunter.

Prepare to be awed by the connections I can make.

Fiveredclawed --> Five --> Fifth --> Fifth Hokage aka Tsunade --> Genesis Seal thingymajigger(yes, it's a technical term) --> oh hey one of those guys in Crisis Core was named Genesis! Nifty! --> Hmm, what was his friend's name? Angeal? --> Angie!
This is what a good train of thought for me looks like. I could actually follow that. Anyway, though, I suppose Lawrie-claws it is. n.n

I know that much about Who. :) I like watching it when I can, but I just can't ever find it. I'll have to check out the site you mentioned. A stick of celery, huh? Maybe we should be calling you something to do with celery...

Balkan folkdance... uh... wow. I will admit, I've never heard of that before. ^^ You'll have to enlighten me. (Or I could Google it, but where's the fun in that? :P)

Hehe, to sum up: Princess Tutu = Win.

First towel! by Sedri on 2008-11-12 08:33:00 UTC Reply

Artic seems to have answered most of your questions. I was about to give you the wiki links, but July is indeed dangerous, so I'll settle for saying hello, echoing the Artic's comments about Permission asking, and add that any reasonably bad fic can be PPCd, even if we usually go for the worst of them. If it's dramatically out of character - ESPECIALLY if it involves rape as a plot device - you can do it. Once you have Permission. Go for it!

And welcome!

- Sedri
*Gives First Bleepolate* by Artic Blade on 2008-11-12 08:10:00 UTC Reply

Welcomeness! It's fun to delurk.
Firstly, in order to write in the PPC Universe, you need to gain Permission. You do that by hanging around the Board (This place) for about a month, getting to know people and letting us get to know you.
As for the PPC Canon, the Wiki will help. I'll leave July to do that, otherwise I may get a spork in the hand.

The quality of a badfic is really up to the PPCer themself. You do need a list of charges, but that generally changes from story to story.
And getting rid of plot bunnies, write the plot bunny, giggle, and then squirrel it away whee no-one can see it.