The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

I particularly liked "Do Mustafar shadow-demons have wings?" Excellent question, well worth debating.

I nominate Urag gro-Shub of the Mages' College of Winterhold for a position on the list of Most Dedicated Librarians. He's an Orc, both defying and living up to cultural stereotypes in pursuit of his calling. Not even the Arch-Mage is above his rule in the Arcaneum. He's one of my favorite NPCs in Skyrim. ^_^

~Neshomeh

Yes, I agreed with that part, too. I'm not sure why I specified only for hS. I think I just assumed that it was also agreed with, or such.

It was, uh, quite late at night when I typed that.

Information-retrieval "missions" is a nice concept, the gaggle of kids asking silly questions was a nice touch, and it's really good to see the universe being expanded generally.

- Tomash

I'll restate my approval for the Harassment Amendment and the Discussion Amendment, even if they get shuffled around a bit.

I've left some comments on the Harassment Amendment.

For the Discussion Amendment, perhaps 20 might go better as 17.5? I think it's related closely enough to the "please talk about things and don't just post bare links" point. (20 is such a nice number, though, if that's what it ends up being.)

I agree that the Chitchat Amendment is unnecessary and thus disapprove.

~Neshomeh

There were a good few funny moments throughout (the entirely "doggy style" thing, Ave teasing Zeb about Jacques, the "domestic" part, the superhero landing part), the execution method was clever, and the framing with Elanor's tantrums was neat. The whole thing felt TOS-y.

- Tomash

Just curious. 'Cuz I didn't mean people should always run away from anything challenging, either, if that's a concern? I mean that knowing when you're in over your head and need to get out (or not jump in in the first place) is good.

~Neshomeh, clarifying her clarification.

I’m currently not in the mood to get much involved into anything, but I looked through the relevant threads and I think that you’re absolutely right.

HG

A comfortable mission length for most people to read seems to be about 15-30 pages (varies with font size and margins), but there's nothing wrong with going over that if you've got enough story for more. The main reason not to extend a mission is to cover an entire fic in excruciating detail. You don't have to go through the whole thing with a fine-toothed comb, especially if it's practically a novel itself. Once you get a significant canon breach and a convenient point for your agents to jump in, you can end it.

As for percentage of quotes, there isn't a number we can give you. My personal rule of thumb is that I quote anything that I think needs to be seen to be believed. That can be in the sense of "wow, can you believe how funny/terrible/bizarre this is?" or it can be because I'm spinning a hopefully-funny interpretation of it and need people to see I'm not just making it up with no justification.

Corollary: If it's boring, don't quote it.

As with any story, you just need to make sure that everything in a mission has a good reason to be there, and it will be fine. {= )

~Neshomeh

First, an addendum: Iximaz isn't banned from the Discord, they removed themself. If they do decide they are comfortable returning at some point, I suggest that they state their intention clearly, on the Board, just as they stated their intention to leave. That way, everyone may be aware that the situation has changed and why.

For now, though, I want to make sure that we put a definitive cap on this thing and that everyone can move on comfortably. So, let's give it over the weekend for people who might not have time to jump in during the week. Then, if nobody objects or has any suggestions for improvement, my proposal with addendum, as written, will be the plan, and we may all expect it to be upheld until the situation changes.

Thanks,

~Neshomeh

Wanting more information is always good; it's just that there's so much of it, and impossibly nuanced.

Rendered archive is here. It only goes back to mid-2008, alas, because that's as far back as Tomash could get when YourWebApps decided to remember they don't save everything forever. There's also here, which has everything in Google spreadsheets and stretches back further, but only includes subject headlines before mid-2008, and even then those years are incomplete.

Have fun, we'll see you in about five years. ^_~

~Neshomeh

Nice, simple little story. I like Cass's attitude towards sleeping times, and the unnecessary background detail in the explanation for the helmet, and the pajama-print armor at the end. I also like that when Cass discovers the reason for Em feeling vulnerable, she immediately stops acting sleepy and irritable and becomes supportive.

—doctorlit, down at 9 PM, up at 4 AM

"Mornin', sleepyhead."

"mrflmrf."

"I said, mornin', sleepyhead!"

"mmffuggoff."

"HEY!"

"Aaa!" Cass sat bolt upright for exactly 0.3 seconds. Then her head collided with the top bunk and she bounced back down onto the pillow. There were words. Most of them had four letters.

"Sooooo, d'you remember what today is?"

"with a rusty- mwha? No, not really, too busy being in pain at the moment."

Em stepped back and spread her arms wide. "It's your unbirthday! Wooooo!"

"... I don't follow."

"And that means we're going out to celebrate-"

"You wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me this?"

"It's three pee emm, Cass."

"Yes, and I'm still technically a student. Three in the afternoon indeed. What the hell kind of waking-up time is that? What sad, demented people are ready to do anything by then?"

Em quirked an eyebrow. "Most of them."

"That is both lies and slander." Cass still stretched, yawned hugely, and glanced at one of the clocks. "Anyway, look, it's only twenty past five in the morning."

"That's the clock tells time in Tahiti."

"Then today I am being Tahiti-ish. Tahitian? Tahitese? One of them." Cass blinked and rubbed her eyes, moving her thick mane of hair out of the way and tucking it behind her ears. "Wait. Hold on. What's that coming out the top of your head?"

"Uh..." Em paused, smiled sheepishly. "It's a plume."

"I know it's a plume, but - wait. You're wearing a knight helmet. Why are you wearing a knight helmet?"

Em lifted the visor up and rubbed her brow, the movement of her wrists making the metal hinges squeak. "Look, Cass, I know you don't go out much, but... well, a few days ago I went to the cafeteria and a huge fight kicked off. Some doofus in a uniform showed up and started posturing, and Sally from group therapy - you know, the ex-Suvian from NCIS? - saw her and had a flashback, and before I could do anything there was this mass brawl. And, and I hadda get out, y'know? An' I got dinged in the head by a plate on the way out, which is... which is why I'm wearing the helmet."

Cass just sat there, staring. Then she got up and wrapped Em up in a wordless, fierce hug.

"Thanks, Cass."

Time passed.

"You don't want to go back alone, do you, Em?"

"Gurl, I don't wanna go back period. But I have to eat, and I have to make you eat - yeah, Cass," Em raised a hard, forestalling the objection, "I know I'm not your carer, but you kinda suck at remembering to eat most of the time. I just... yeah."

Cass let go and stepped back. "Well, I'd better go and get dressed then. But before I do..."

She fished her wand out from under her pillow and flourished it at Em. The other girl's clothes suddenly ballooned outwards and adopted a metallic sheen, as well as joints, hinges, and a general armoured theme. Alas, the newly-Transfigured suit of armour still had the same Paw Patrol print as Em's pyjamas, but it was the thought that counted.

"Uh, what?"

"Now you match!" Cass grinned and hugged her partner again. "Right then. Let's get this over with. I'm... actually hungry for once."

And so they wandered off towards the cafeteria, clanking noisily, arm in arm.

*start battle music*

Thought I might as well combine both of my otherwise separate prompt threads into one this week. So without further ado today's prompt will be:

"What's that coming out the top of your head?"

Nova

There aren't many puns you can do with prompt are there? (This is not an invitation for people to spiral out of control with puns)

Thanks for the random ideas, I may fiddle with a few of them because I prefer having the prompts be applicable both inside and outside the PPC. And thanks for the answers, so far I have 1 Once a month, 1 Bi-weekly and two abstains so I'll probably continue every other week until I get more results to look at.

Honestly, I mean it.

In regards to B) yes I do want to continue doing the prompts, I was just worried that other people didn't want them, or didn't want to see them.


Novastorme

To start, for the record: I tried to come up with something to make the pants prompt work. I do want to make an effort to participate in each one, but in this case, my characters just aren't the sort to be pantless. But I am sorry for ignoring that one.

A) Honestly (and in light of wanting to participate in every one, both writing a prompt and commenting on all the others), every other week is way too often for me. I think once a month would be a lot more manageable for me.

. . . But of course, I'm only one data point. I recognize it's not fair to everyone else to do it less often just because I'm in a bad work situation right now and have almost no functional free time. I'll certainly bow to the popular vote on this.

B) Literally doesn't matter. If you're ever busy, shoot me a message in any medium, and I'll happily do it for you.

C) Literally anything. From anywhere. In fact, have some random ideas:

*short snippet of the EPC version of one of your PPC characters

*short snippet of one of your PPC characters before they joined

*snippet of an AU version of one of your PPC characters if they were background canons in a continuum of writer's choice

*someone turns into an animal unexpectedly

*a piece of equipment malfunctions

*a stranger arrives

*meeting a Flower from outside your character's usual department

*an entire room disappears

*your agents encounter a physical sign of past events and react to it

*adventures of a mini in HQ

*a store in New Caledonia

*visiting someone from pre-PPC life

*how one of your characters would react to/think about the piece of real world media you most recently consumed

*meeting an animal (or plant?) your character never encountered before

*gnomes

*cafeteria food

*making a mess and trying to clean it before it gets noticed

*a ghost, maybe?

—doctorlit is aware that most of these only work for PPC characters. That is because the PPC is the only canon he truly cares about, anymore.

The Nineone thing is actually a sort of artefact from earlier developments of Ninetwo, when she was Weed Ninety-One.
I'm, er, not sure why I changed that. Probably something to do with how 'Nineone' sounds a touch too similar to 'Anne' or whatever.

And I have cleaned up the rest of the errors, all spick and span and cute and toot and this and that; cheers for pointing them out!

I've not actually read as much Douglas Adams as I ought to, but I've read enough to take that as quite the complement! I do prize a very sort of, distinctive writing style, and try a lot to try and keep it very distinctive. I mean, people like Vonnegut or Heller - you can tell it's their writing, just by reading a line of them. Love that kind of stuff.

And I was hoping for a more of a surreal comedy, more than anything else. Have a bit more variety within PPC fic, y'know? Lot of missions and all and the like.

Glad you enjoyed it, and I really bloody appreciate the concrit - it's great, knowing the stuff I set out to do worked, y'know?

I always love seeing more of the Musée, and of Lorelai and Dr. Cornelius. This new type of "mission," as it were, is very unique, and I like that there's an element of difficulty to it without making it dangerous or tense. Good use of Ekyl's character, and of the younglings. A lot of their questions were quite amusing!

I also like that you found a way to give both Jocasta and Cator screen time, and then honor them with statues and the name wall at the end. Aside from being nice from our out-of-universe perespective, it feels like the sort of thing Dr. Cornelius would do. (Or maybe that part is Lorelai's contribution?)

A long typo ago:
The dimly-lid corridor behind the shelf led to an equally-dim flight of stairs.

—doctorlit, too old to be trained as a Jedi

This is fantastic, sir. I loved reading this. You have such a dry, sarcastic, Douglas Adams-y sense of humor to your narration. I don't think I could ever manage to reproduce that sort of writing voice, and I'm a little in awe of your ability to keep it going so strongly through this entire story.

I especially love the long-winded, highly metaphorical descriptions of your characters' personalities and physical appearances. Also, the little recurring details, phrases and sounds you use to keep all the different parts of the story tied together. And even with six characters on the page during the framing parts of the story, you use the voices of all six to maximum effect, and they all play off of each other so cleverly and effectively, even the cat.

Plus, the entire story is just pure humor. There's no time to think about the realistic implications of such injuries or whatnot because there are always more jokes taking up my mental space as I continue. There's not a single moment of slowness or other weakness to the entire piece.

You, sir, are an excellent writer, and this story was an intricate work of art. Well done!

Errors! (Some, maybe.)
There's one paragraph in the "Ninetwo and Anne's Cat" section where you start mentioning a Nineone, but I can't tell from the context if that's Ninetwo thinking about another Weed, or if they're typos.

"Nineone never understood that, never did. All the grey, and how long - very long - the corridors were. It boggled the mind. It boggled, Ninetwo hastily reconsidered, her mind, which was, among other things, she was certain, very easily boggled. Nineone was not very fond of her own mind, among other things.

In "Finch and Bingle":

"he used much of it comprehending, dissecting, understanding, and lengthily observing and imagining every single one of these potential deaths."
That first "he" should have a capital "h," since it's not connected to the dialogue of the previous line.

"‘Why are you being so loud,’ Finch hissed, covering his auditory sensors with a pair actuators, wincing at every whir and click they made."
I think you wanted, "a pair of actuators"?

—doctorlit, the most entertained

I have two questions. First, is there a preferred or recommended length for a piece before it should be split? My original intention was to make my story a 3-parter, one per part of the trilogy, but it's getting so long that I am considering splitting it in two.
My other question is how much quoting from the fic is too much? I want the characters to react to the Words, but I don't want to overdo it.

Can I maybe get a link? To the general archives I mean. I would be interested in reading as much of ppc history is available, not just about this.