Subject: This...
Author:
Posted on: 2013-10-19 03:36:00 UTC
...is good. I think this agent is good.
Good work.
Subject: This...
Author:
Posted on: 2013-10-19 03:36:00 UTC
...is good. I think this agent is good.
Good work.
Ah f**k it, let's get this over and done with...
--Agent Apollo--
-Real Name: James Pierson
-Age: 28
-Gender: Male
-Race: Powered Human
-Home: Winchester, Hampshire, England/ Ryde City, Isle of Wight, England
-Appearance: James stands at six foot exactly. His short black hair extends into two short sideburns coming down to just below his earlobes. He has light blue eyes. His overall build is similar to that of an athlete, years of exercise, doing both running and archery means that he is quite fit.
-Personality: Overall James is quite warm and welcoming. He can (and quite often does) shut down his emotions whilst performing a specific task. Tactically minded he was initially looked upon to be the Leader of the second group of Guardians, although he didn’t like the role and was happy when Atlas (another character, not the Titan) stepped in to take up the role.
History: Coming from a scrapped original story James Pierson was one of what was called the first Generation, the first powered humans to evolve on an unkind and xenophobic Earth. Luckily for James his power was not as obvious as others and so he was able to live in a relatively loving family until he moved to Ryde City for university, or at least that was his ruse. For James was also known as Apollo, his power being perfect vision, able to see in darkest night or through a smokescreen with next to no trouble. As Apollo James utilized a bow and a baseball bat, a simple yet effective weapon that was easy to use and maintain. James was a part of a larger team of superheroes known as the Guardians who tried to not only help the world but also bring in peace and equality for all Powered. James was able to escape having been left ‘on a solo mission’ when the story was scrapped. The plothole deposited him in the HQ.
-Preferred Weapons: Bow (and thereby arrows) and baseball bat.
-Department: DMS, Freelancer Division
-Main Fandoms: Harry Potter, Pokemon, Starcraft, LOTR, Percy Jackson, Warhammer 40K, Narnia, Redwall.
Writing Piece: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14NdXmaWzxlEHCO_U56yDbK9OK6eJQz-p16hzYODi1do/edit
Hit me with your worst. (I'm joking)
Storme Hawk
I am sorry to say that, for now, I think the answer has to be no. There are a few reasons for this.
1) Preparedness - You only have one character, and there is no indication that you have another agent in mind or another PPCer to write with at the moment. Your original link didn't work. You also forgot the badfic link. All of those are small, by themselves, but together they point to a lack of preparation.
2) Writing sample - There are a couple of problems that I would like to point out. The first being word choice. You have a tendency to use the same words over and over again. 'Whilst' and 'hidden' are the two that stand out in my mind. Why is nothing ever obscured or out of sight? Always hidden. It leads one to consider what they might be hiding.
Another problem is the pacing. The story is, at once, moving too fast and too slowly. I attribute this to what is sometimes known as the "info dump". I understand the need to get information out to the audience. However, you need to balance that against the need to keep the audience engaged. I found it difficult to read on through the background information to get to the too-fast plot.
On a more structural note, you need to work on your punctuation. There are a lot of commas missing from that story.
3) The badfic - It isn't really that bad. The spelling, punctuation, and grammar are pretty good. The story is not a new idea, but it does have some twists that could make it interesting. The characters are, more or less, in character. It does suffer from terrible pacing and awkward dialogue, but really it's just boring. I didn't see anything in the first two chapters that struck me as being mission-worthy.
Part of writing for the PPC is knowing what makes a fic bad. To quote the FAQ: For Other People, "The stories we make fun of are not the stories that are mostly canonical, but have one or two flaws, or the stories that perhaps might be disrespectful towards the original work. We deal with the most awful, Sueish, worst-written, canon-warping fanfiction there is." Unless there is something that I haven't seen yet (and let me know if there is), then I have to call this one mediocre at worst.
So, all of that tells me that you are not yet ready to write in the PPC. The key word there being "yet". Work on your writing. Come up with a partner for your agent or find another PPCer to write with. Find a fic that is worse than mediocre. When you've done all of that, come back and try it again.
-Phobos
Just because you haven't really put it in your reply, but what do you think of Agent Apollo himself?
I wasn't able to get a really good read on his personality in the story, due to some of the things we've already talked about. I think he has potential, and he might play well with a partner who is less serious. His power is useful, but not broken. He has a strategy that utilizes his strengths and he seems to think things through. All of that is good. I would like to see him in a scene that isn't so background heavy, though, (maybe one of PoorCynic's workshop prompts) just to get a better idea of what he is like.
One thing I wonder about (not because it is at all important, but because this is the kind of thing I think about) is his use of a baseball bat. There is nothing wrong with a bat as a weapon, of course. As you said, it is effective and easy to maintain. However, it doesn't seem to work with his style, at least in my mind. His style seems to rely on stealth. The bow works well with that idea. On the other hand, a baseball bat is about as subtle as a...well, a baseball bat. It is hard to hide and kind of awkward to carry around.
In my mind, it makes more sense for him to have something that can be used in a stealthy manner, but also be used if stealth fails. So, what options are there? If you want to stay with blunt weapons then you could go with a billy-club/nightstick/baton, especially a telescoping version. For bladed weapons, you are probably down to daggers and knives. There is, of course, a third option: no weapons. Maybe he knows jujutsu, which uses no weapon, or just a short weapon,to take down armed and armored opponents.
Anyway, that was a lot of words to devote to something that is pretty unimportant, in the grand scheme of things. Let me know if you have any other questions, or if I can make something clearer.
-Phobos
Thanks, won't say I'm happy about that, but I think I can understand you're reasoning.
1) There is another Agent down the line (my Time Lord alter-ego) however I want to know more about the Whoverse before I write it, rather than cocking things up left right and centre now. The only time I've used google docs in the past are for RPing Pokemon battles so I've never had to share it and the link with others, it's more of me simply not knowing how to do it than anything else. And I'll admit, forgetting the badfic link is kinda bad.
2) Thanks, I suppose it's one of my writing tics, I'll try to improve it in the future.
I suppose I'm trying to explain a whole world and the story in a chapter, I'll take it on board.
Noted, I understand that.
3) I was kinda thinking that if I can do a more mundane mission to start off then I can work on worse missions as I get more experienced. If the story isn't that bad should it be removed from the list of badfic then?
Thanks once again
Storme Hawk
...just search up one of your fandoms on the Circle. Something always comes up guaranteed on that front.
On the lack of permission, don't worry. You'll get there.
As will I.
I think you'll find me in the Pit, the Circle is one step too far. besides before I typed up my Permission Request I scrolled through the list of unclaimed badfic and picked out a dozen or so others that I could use, mainly from their summary, now it's just me reading through them proper to work out if I can do them or not.
It is good to see you taking my comments to heart and looking at how you can improve your writing.
1) Getting a handle on the canon before writing that character is a great idea. GDocs are useful, so learning a little more about how to use them is a good plan. And forgetting the badfic link is not a huge problem, by itself.
2) I know a thing or two about writing tics. I have a few of them, myself. You just have to be aware of them, and work to overcome them if they are getting in the way.
Like I said, it's a balancing act. I would recommend looking through the information in the first half of the story and finding the minimum that you need to make the story make sense. The rest can be sprinkled in as you need it. A good example of what could be cut is this bit:
"Why they were called the Guardians was not widely known besides that they were guarding something. From their actions speculations and rumours hinted that said thing could be anything from Ryde City, to Britain to the other Powered to King Arthur himself, although that last one and others like it were often scoffed at and dismissed."
It doesn't really add anything to the story at that point, it is never referenced again, and it could easily be added in to some dialogue later. Something like this, perhaps:
"So, I get that we're supposed to be the Guardians and all but...what are we guarding, exactly?"
"I heard it's, like, King Arthur or something."
That takes less space, and we get the information from the characters rather than the narrator, which shows that people in-universe are wondering about it.
As to the comma issue, a good beta is your best friend.
3) I wasn't aware that it was on the list of unclaimed badfic. I definitely think it doesn't belong there. While it isn't great, I didn't see anything that says it is really bad.
I think you have the right idea, here. Starting small and working your way up is a good plan. Keep looking and find a story that you think you can make into a funny mission.
You are, understandably, not happy about the result, but you are reacting in a constructive manner to the comments that I gave you. That is a very good thing. If you keep this attitude, and work on the things we've talked about, then I am sure you will get permission in the future.
-Phobos
1) Yeah, the only other Agent I can think of creating at the moment is a version of real world me, but I'm not sure I want to do that. I think I'll spend an hour or so playing around with GDocs just to get a feel for things.
2) I could mention their naming again it'd just need a lot more writing or a timeskip to sensibly do so really. The conversation you suggested would only work between two of the initiates really, in what I suppose would be there 'downtime' in the Guardian HQ. The original name came from protecting Ryde City and then other Powered, the King Arthur name drop is something I'm working on in the current incarnation of the story, to the point where most of the surnames for the characters have some link to the knights (Gawainson, Tristan, De Bors for Thorne, Nova and Clone for example). It doesn't really need to be there I suppose, but as I've been writing the sample I've been changing between one incarnation and another and so ideas plots etc. have become kinda mixed up, but also because I have such a short space (comparatively) to put it all in I've added new plots and stuff just for the story (for example Spammer running off when she did, hell Spammer only really appears in the latest incarnation). I think I'm babbling so I'll shut up and move on.
3)OK, although having looked further into it, there are a couple of really annoying points in it (OC learning shield charm by end of first year for instance) but I get that it's not really bad enough.
Thanks for the comments
Storme Hawk
Sitting at my computer thinking there was something I'd forgotten in my Permission request and, well here it is...
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9462324/1/Inside-the-story
Sorry about that
Storme Hawk
First of all, your GDoc's private. To change that, click the blue share button at the upper left corner of the screen.
Second, agents usually go in pairs. Are you planning on having Apollo be a solo agent, or do you simply not have an idea for a second agent yet?
...is good. I think this agent is good.
Good work.
...that some of us can't access your piece of writing? (i.e. me)
Oh, the irony. I tried to access your writing piece via your original link, Storme, and I arrived at this page where I apparently needed to "permission" to access the piece. *laughs once more*
Oh, you write well, Storme, and I think you will be sucessful in your Permission request. Good luck!
~Autumn
Realized what I've done, and sorry about that. I've reposted it on Live Journal (on an account I've literally just created so if I've done something wrong it's out of ignorance not on purpose). the link being here:
http://storme-hawk.livejournal.com/#post-storme_hawk-700
once again apologies
Storme Hawk