The plug has been pulled on my Plans. They're going to the same resurrection-proof section of the Idea Graveyard that I put Sigma.EXE.

For those not in the know, my Plans were to kill Valon, and transform him into a Victim Ghost from Silent Hill 4.

I ran the idea through five people, all of whom thought it was a great idea, or kept their reservations to themselves. The sixth PPCer to get the idea started raising all sorts of questions, that I just couldn't find good answers to. Then one of the first five admitted concerns she had, and got me to start seriously rethinking this. Another of the first five suggested I post this topic on the Board.

So, I guess you can all thank SeaTurtle, Iximaz and SkarmorySilver for knocking some sense into my skull, and saving Valon.

First off, your motivations seem a little... off to me. You seem to be mostly concerned with what other people think about your agents. While I understand that it's good to get feedback on your characters and hear positive things about them, I think you should put creating a good story over being famous within the PPC. So if you think your Plans are going to make for an interesting story and you want to write it, then go ahead. But if your only motivation is because you feel like it's required in order to get them in some kind of nebulous Hall of Fame... then maybe you shouldn't. Poorly written Sue-fics get lots of favorites and comments, but that doesn't mean that's what you should aspire for.

Secondly, I think it's better to focus on personal drama than big, HQ-rocking drama. Some things, like what happened to Rina, are likely to have wide-spread effects; other things aren't likely to ever really be heard of outside their RA. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have an impact on the people it happened to. If your characters cross a line on one of their missions and end up in trouble, it might make the news or it might not. But that doesn't matter to the people it happens to. What matters is the way that it changes things for them. Even something little that might not seem significant at all to outsiders can have a major influence on the people it happened to. Look at Derik in Neshomeh's most recent mission. Even if he and Gall never tell anyone else about what happened, it's clearly shaken him a lot.

And on a final note, I feel like you're being a little unfair to some of the other PPC writers. Just because a character doesn't stick out to you doesn't mean that they're bad or unorignal, it's just a matter of personal taste. I'm not saying all PPC stories are perfect and it's wrong to criticize them, but it kind of comes off a little as "if I don't remember them, then they're worthless."

Big events? Don't accomplish anything.

Drama for the sake of drama? Is boring.

Shaking up the narrative just to say you did? Quite frankly, is trite.

For a long period of time as part of the PPC, I read every single findable and published mission. We're talking /years/ worths of spin-offs, and dozens and dozens.

The ones I can talk about in casual conversation or discussion and bring up easily with other boarders?

It isn't because they were attached to big attention-grabbing events. Quite frankly, I barely recall the whole list of agents that were volunteers for the Alumia emergency back in 2008- and that was quite a Sue!

As for the characters you listed: What do you really remember about them?

Unfortuantely I can't say anything about Rina, because I haven't read those spin-offs (My apologies!), but for the rest?

I remember Nume because Nesh's missions are clever, and she has interplay and continuing growth between Nume and Ilraen.

Dafydd? Thanks to hS' missions featuring Dafydd, I know way more than enough about Silmarillion and the Feanoreans than I would otherwise. hS builds history and background information into his missions without making it feel forced. It isn't just about the big events, it's about what leads up to it and what happens after- the causes and results.

Suicide? Let's start with the base stock- Suicide's creation and entry into being a PPC agent is truly unique, as far as any goes, and the fact he's stayed himself- rather than being adapted into acting like a modern age agent?- well worth remembering!

Laburnum? Oh, I certainly remember that spin-off, and not only because of those big attention grabing events you cite.

Cadmar? Shark teef. 'Nough said.

If you're taking the attitude that it is all about big events making waves and attention grabbing to make a character unique and not 'stock', you're dead wrong- and it's an attitude that won't serve you well as far as making your own characters develop. You don't have to focus only on the badfic; aside from that, the stock formula is stock for a reason- or are you suggesting that TOS is forgettable and generic, by these standards of yours? Besides, the main component of hS' mission based spinoffs and and Neshomeh's? Stock. It's not what happens that makes them memorable, it's the writing and care behind them. Quality, rather than quantity or explosiveness.

While my own spin-off's mostly faded into the distance with time, I still used the stock formula, and altered where I needed to do what I wanted with my own characters' personal story arcs. I mixed it up by using plenty of interludes between missions- in fact, I was one of the first to start that practice!- and by having a leadup and cooldown both before and after the mission itself in each story.

Sometimes you have to dump plans you've made for months- it's not a waste of time or effort. As a writer, your first and foremost goal is to write something that's enjoyable and works well as a whole. If you're crafting it to match some sort of formula for expected success, you might find it, but you'll not enjoy it as much as you will otherwise.

There's nothing wrong with stock, if you know what to do with it. It's just the broth. What you do with it and what you put into it results in an actual soup.

Or Suicide, or Cadmar?

If you're thinking of "Subjugation," I must point out that the mission never actually got done, and Nume wasn't even originally supposed to be involved—he and Cameo were retconned in after Shae and Jo's author dropped out of the project. He's not even mentioned in the little bit that did get written. Furthermore, if it's such a big deal, why don't you name Rez, Flip, Gunny, and Wayne, who were actually involved from the beginning and also have fine and distinguished careers otherwise?

And Suicide doesn't have any other big events to his name, really. Unless you're counting Sakhmet or something, but her badfic isn't even Legendary, so you couldn't possibly be considering that...

As for Cadmar, unless I missed something (which is quite possible, since I can't read everything), the biggest thing to happen to him was that he got turned into a her and stuck with it. It was a big deal for Cadmar, sure, but genderbenders do happen occasionally. It's not precisely earth-shattering, y'know?

Perhaps you actually remember the things that happen to these characters for other reasons that might be worth noting?

~Neshomeh

Well that's kind of depressing. Oh, well.

hS

Take the Notary. She's the Time Lord everybody loves to hate. In fact, she's one of the more memorable agents I've seen (and I've seen quite the amount in the four or so years I've been around). Did she do anything notable? No. She was in a WhatThe mission, a couple Chilli Con Council interludes, and that's about it.