Subject: Looking for a good place to start.
Author:
Posted on: 2014-07-12 20:24:00 UTC
I'm looking to start learning a bit more about how the PPC works, in the hopes that I might be able to write my own missions someday. I figured the best way to do that would be by reading missions, so where should I start? I finished the Original Series already, so any recommendations are appreciated!
Huineroson, Herr Wozzok, Araeph, and Neshomeh all come to mind.
And also some things that are not interludes, but are sort of like them. In no particular order:
* "The Search (for the Sentient Cannabis Plant)" by Trojie and Pads.
* "July's Birthday" by Trojie.
* Anything marked "Miscellany" in JulyFlame's spin-off, but unfortunately, I don't think it's all accessible at the moment. (I'm theoretically helping her fix this, but it's on her Zeeblio site, and Zeeblio is a pain in the eema.)
* Phobos' "Going Postal" and "Going Postal 2." While these are stories in a Postal Department spin-off and thus not technically interludes, they have that "goofing around in HQ" quality to them.
* "The Search for love" by Guvnor of Space.
* Most of FicPsych's case files and some of the other stories were written as interludes or preludes.
* "Happy Days," "Recovery," and "Relocation" by Herr Wozzeck. These are all from his Floaters/DMS spin-off. It helps to have read the preceding missions to understand them, but I don't think not having read the missions is prohibitive.
Aaand that's all I have time for right now.
~Neshomeh
In asking "why have I not seen this before" I poked around and found that the answer was in the way it was presented.
I'm willing to contribute my boredom to a master-list of non-mission stuff, I'm just not sure how to organize it. Somewhere in my open tabs, I have an agent who is in a lot of interludes that are just as useful as reading killed-fic.
In the interest of making it easier for people to find my work, could you explain what was presented oddly? Also, how could it be presented in a better way?
-Phobos, who wants people to read his stuff.
When I was reading the PD wiki page, I leaped straight to this...
The link to the Complete List takes you right to the Postal Department section, so it doesn't get much easier to find the relevant stories. The links are there to show you where the stories are. If you won't take the time to read them, then there's nothing anyone can do to help.
Also, if you are going to dismiss the link to the Complete List, how is adding a new link to a new list, which would contain nothing that isn't already on the Complete List, going to help? Isn't that just another link that you'll dismiss?
-Phobos
It's not completely solvable. Having a complete list of non-missions would at least make non-missions easier to find, much like the complete list of killed badfic makes missions easier to find.
Going up a little, I had clicked on Mordecai to learn more about the postal department, and ended up reading "forbidden fruit tastes nasty." Bad luck on the coin flip there.
On the list by department, it's a huge gamble on how much clicking and searching I'll have to do to actually find what I'm looking for, or if I'm just going to get distracted by something that looks more interesting. On the positive side, I was randomly clicking around for something that would bolster my point when I accidentally tripped over something that looks like it might be useful for a question I asked a few days ago.
The problem is that my favorite interludes aren’t just events that happened between missions. They are parts of story arcs and can’t be understood without reading the missions that happen between these interludes. So I recommend the interwoven adventures of Cali (by Miah) and Cadmar (by Caddy-shack).
To get it all in chronological order, start with ‘First Interlude: “How Cali met Miah”’ linked on Agent Cali’s page and read through the missions also linked there up to ‘Third mission ... with Trainee Cadmar’, which is also linked on Agent Cadmar’s page as ‘Training mission 1: ... with Agents Cali and Miah’. From there you have to follow the separate story arcs on both agents’ pages, synchronizing where missions and interludes are linked on both pages:
‘Cameo B: “First Contact”’ a. k. a ‘Interlude 1: Agent Intro”’
‘Second Interlude: “Truth and Dare”’ a. k. a. ‘Interlude 3: “Truth and Dare”’
‘Tenth Mission: “Dragon Lady”’ a. k. a. ‘Mission 4: “Dragon Lady”’
‘Third Interlude: “Picking up the Pieces”’ a. k. a. ‘Interlude 4: “Picking up the Pieces”’
‘Eleventh Mission: “Optional”’ a. k. a. ‘Mission 6: “Optional”’
‘Fourth Interlude: “Truth and Dare II”’ a. k. a. ‘Interlude 5: “Truth and Dare 2”’
‘Thirteenth Mission: “Sateda”’ a. k. a. ‘Mission 9: “Sateda”’
‘Fifth Interlude: “McKaLoy’s Forttnight”’ a. k. a. ‘Interlude 8: “McKaLoy’s Forttnight”’
‘Sixth Interlude: “Christmas ... On Sheep Cloning Day”’ a. k. a. ‘Interlude 9: “Christmas”’
‘Sixteenth Mission: “Against All Odds”’ a. k. a. ‘Mission 10: “Against All Odds”’
If you also try to follow the stories of other agents who cross Cali or Cadmar’s way, it becomes quite an achievement, and in the end you know half of the PPC.
HG
I'm not particularly good at remembering individual stories, but the mini-Mogget adoption centre stuff? And maybe that one where that one agent goes home, jokingly tells someone to call her Mary Sue and then gets turned into an actual Sue? Storms, I think I'll just rec any and all stories where the agent goes home for a visit or whatever. I love those ones.
-Aila
(Sorry I can't provide links--I can't remember any of the names.)
Can we have another companion page for the Killed Badfic list to have a master list of non-mission stories?
Teek Virtanen visits home with a little help by her friends.
Fritz Sorgebrunnen’s mother meets a Pony.
Do you remember others?
HG
Ah, I remember reading another Fritz story about why there are no gingersnaps.
*reads*
Somehow, I had no idea that either of those ones existed. And they were wonderful. As for others, well, there're the interludes where Xanthus Garkaran goes back to the Mass Effect universe, and I'm pretty sure there was one with Stormsong and Skyfire and Molly Rath that I read awhile ago, where they put on disguises and went to World One. Also, there was one where Laburnum went back home, I think. That's all I can remember at the moment, though.
-Aila
Amelia "Lee" Keaton and Ian Nahinu with Samantha Maxwell attend a wedding.
Just putting the other links in here as well (how could I forget these?):
Xanthus Garkaran goes back to the Mass Effect universe, and other stuff.
Stormsong and Skyfire with Molly Rath and Moses Taggson, and Drake and Naomi, and Foxglove and Laburnum all visit World One. (Rated PG-13, despite the warning that pops up for Laburnum's site.)
Sequel to the above: Laburnum goes home (unrated, harmless.)
HG
*reads* *has no clue what's going on or what canon they're in* *enjoys anyway*
Speaking of weddings, though, wasn't there that one hS interlude where Daffyd met Constance's dad?
Thank you for doing the links--again, I'm sorry I'm being so useless with them.
-Aila
Ever After. It was originally going to extend into their wedding, but then I decided I didn't want to write that. ;)
Also, the entirety of The End of the Beginning technically consists of catastrophe-less interludes... half of them are still in the future, of course.
hS
You're thinking of this and this by the Irish Samurai for mini-Moggets, and the first part of this for the Mary Sue thing. (Interesting trivia - there is an agent in common between these stories! Kayleigh adopts a mini-Mogget, and is also bjam's superior or... something in the second part of the Vemi story! Fun times. ;))
hS
Disclaimer: These are "classic" spin-offs that I think are particularly helpful in gaining an understanding of the PPC and which I personally enjoy. I'm in no way intending to imply that other spin-offs aren't good or that you HAVE to like these ones. There's a lot of good stuff out there, by authors both old and new. {= )
* Caitlin and Sidh - This is just a one-off, but I think it introduces the PPC really well, has excellent characterization, and is overall high quality writing. I wish they'd written more.
* Architeuthis - The original Department of Intelligence series. Her definition of a Mary Sue is out of date now, but this is still an important foundational series.
* Nenya and Rosie - The Jay and Acacia Kooky Spin-Off Nerd Society. Of particular inspiration to me is the FicPsych chapter.
* Mara and Isaiah - The Department of Technical Errors. Excellent and foundational. Araeph is a real-life editor, so you can't go wrong taking cues from her.
* Trojanhorse and Paddlebrains - Department of Bad Slash. Absolutely hilarious. Takes an under-appreciated department and owns it in a way few others have managed before or since. (Plus, if you're looking for badfics in which the author did not do the research, you'll find a lot of that here.)
* Dafydd and Selene (and Constance) - Department of Geographical Aberrations. hS went on to write the PPC's history (or at least, what the Flowers want us to think is the PPC's history ^_~ ) and is an incredibly influential person hereabouts. That didn't happen by accident—that happened because he's a highly talented writer and generally well-liked.
* Suicide, Diocletian, and Ithalond - This is a more recent spin-off, included because Tungsten Monk is quite simply one of the funniest people I know. Also, she's a real-life published author now.
Someday, I'll put together a full rec list of PPC stories from different eras... It would be a long list, though, so I'm leaving it at this for the time being.
~Neshomeh
Nesh's stories are definitely must-reads. Other than that, I'd have to agree with the suggestions here and in other posts. All of these here are especially noteworthy, though.
Basically, just pick something and go! There's a lot out there to read, in case you hadn't noticed. ;)
Read around, see what catches your eye. That's how I got my start. What sort of fic do you most want to kill? Bad slash? Sue? Crossover?
If you're looking for specific author/agent recommendations, I'd go for Herr-Wozzeck's missions, Ian and Lee, PoorCynic, and the Fisherman & Evie.
1) What fandoms? It's rather hard, but not by any means impossible, to make sense of a mission in a canon you are unfamiliar with.
2) More importantly, what is it about fan fiction that bothers/amuses you? I go in for spelling and linguistic errors, so I follow more closely the Floaters', Techical Errors, and Mary Sues Departments.
In terms of actually learning "how the PPC works", the wiki is likely going to provide you much more concentrated information than the missions.
I'm familiar with a ton of different continuities, so for most things I'll just need a quick refresher to remember how the canon goes. In terms of what bothers me in fanfic, my ire is mostly focused towards works where the author clearly did not care about doing the research on what they're writing about. I'm only familiar with the DMS right now, so I'll take a look at the other departments. Thanks!
Which media do you like? If you have a preference, here is the place to go. http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/KilledBadfic
What type of fanfiction would you prefer to spork, if you're up to doing many different canons? ppc.wikia.com/wiki/TheCompleteListofPPCFiction
My favorite tactic to find missions is to wander around the wiki or press the random button. There's usually links to different stories towards the bottom of the article.
One is an official mission, the other is out-of-continuity, but they are sporking the same fic. I find that it is an interesting comparison how two people approach the same work.
http://uncommon-comma.livejournal.com/1208.html
http://gabriella-n-ice.livejournal.com/1385.html
This sort of thing is right up my alley - thanks!