The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

All right, let's start this. Most of you probably don't see me as the source of this sort initiative, especially as I'm still a newbie at heart, and more than a year on this Board has not changed that (I've also done a lot of things that I'm not proud of, but this is not the thread to disscuss that).

However, I do pay attention to when someone speaks about the PPC state of affairs. I was there when the gradual descent into 'Cerebus Syndrome' was seen, and spoken out against. I was also there when the first 'PPC: more than just killing stuff' thread was established. I didn't post in either of them, but I think I got the message.

Anyway, Pads is right. Anyone with half a brain can see that (although I somtimes wonder if I even have a brain) We've been overtaken by the "See Sue. Hunt Sue. Kill Sue" ethos, and most people outside the PPC know us only for that. I've only read a few Bad Slash fics (as Slash isn't my thing) but I've always tought that it was an Important part of the PPC, both in-universe and out.

As I only read a few missions at a time, I always tought that the Bad Slashers, the people from Despatch, and the others in the 'no killing departments' were still there, doing their work. I didn't even notice that Trojie and Paddlebrains were on hiatus, and I tought that they were still doing the work that made the PPC much more than a bunch of Blood Knights.

Now that one of the people I admired (even though I rarely read her work) is gone, I would like to finally try to start something by myself. I know that I would probably get some things wrong, but there's no harm in trying, at least in this matter. As this is already a long and rambling post, I'm going to type my proposed solutions to this matter in another one. Please post your replies to it instead of this one.

But as I'm the first one to catch wind of this post (or so it seems) let me do you the courtesy of starting another PPC: More than killing stuff thread. Maybe something can be done about what's happening.

Nothing to feel guilty about. Just farewell is fine. :)

Anyway, I am sad that you're gone. Farewell to you, wherever you may go.

Don't feed it Sues.

It's been a year of hiatus. I guess in the interim nothing much changed; the "See Sue. Hunt Sue. Kill Sue" ethos remained. I've just had a conversation in the Lounge wherein someone asked me, in all honesty and no pisstaking, what the DBS is.

What's the DBS? The source of more missions than all of you, save Indemaat, who is a sporking machine unto herself, managed to produce in a year. And for all the DBS was your most prolific department, you never even made it known that such a department existed.

Sue slaying, that's all we'll do, and that's all we'll be known for, and that's all newbies will learn.

D'you know, I still feel bad that I never read TOS? D'you know why I didn't? For one it was full of Sues. I know most of you care about that stuff, and fair play to you, but not all of us are masochistic enough to go reading the OC categories on ff.net. I couldn't give a crap about Sues if I tried. I read slash. Sues don't really figure at all, ever.

And the other reason is the punctuation. The grammar. The spelling! It needed a damned beta. I recently came across a wiki page pointing people to Miss Cam when they bitch about not being native speakers. Am I the only person who's noticed Miss Cam NEEDS A BETA? There are flagrant abuses of syntax left, right and centre. Everywhere there's someone people hold up as a paragon of good English, and everywhere they need a BETA. We betas are not just here for shits and giggles! And yet no one feels they need our services, once their crappily punctuated and ungrammatical work has achieved the legendary status.

That's not enough, alone, to send me packing. But that plus the ethos plus, really, the way no one even noticed when Trojie and I stopped writing for months... And even when we are around, people only remember the DBS halfheartedly, when they're reminded. ... it. We put a lot of work into it. A lot of work and a lot of thought and a lot of time and a lot of effort. And a year after we stopped writing - and no one here even noticed - people don't even know what the DBS is.

... that shit.

Our missions stand and can be part of your canon, but I'm out.

So. I'll be back when the majority of you have grown up, and got lives, and left this place, and been replaced by a new generation of kids. I hope some of you will, in the meantime, read some DBS missions, realise what the DBS is, and enjoy them.

Later, peeps.

Chapter 31:

Suddenly I was in fornt of teh School. In front of me wuz one of da sexiest goth guyz I had ever seen. He was wering long blak hair, kinda like Mikey Way only black. He had gren eyes like Billie Joe Amstrung and pale whit skin. He wuz wearing a blak ripped up suit wif Vans. It was…………………….Tom Bombodil!1111

Chapter 33:

“NOOOO PLZ!1111” Lumpkin bagged as Serious started 2 suk his blood. I laffed statistically. I tok some photons of him and Snap bing torqued. (ok I no dis iz men but fink abot it ppl dey r pedoz nd Snap trid 2 rap dem and neway sadiztz rok haz any1 seen shrak atak 3 lolz).

And of course, this gem from Ch. 42:

“Crucious!!!!!!!!!1” I shouted selectively pontificating my blak wand and she started screaming koz she was being tortured and I laughed sodistically.

If you define a Mary Sue as a character with special powers and no decernable flaws, she could be in goodfic, because it is not the special powers or the lack of flaws that actually make a fic bad.

If you define a Mary Sue as a character that causes canon characters to behave unlike themselves and causes the plot to be nonsensical, then a Mary Sue can't be in goodfic because her very definition negates goodfic.

There is a page for that on the wiki.

to one of the PPC epics where a Mary Sue factory is discovered. Strange that there isn't a wiki article on that.

Don't feed it Sues.

It's all a matter of persaonal definition, I think. In my book, a Mary Sue is a character who steals the show by way of being excessively pretty/powerful/adorable/angsty/et cetera/all of the above. The ridiculous over-the-top-ness of the character is a major part of that definition, but not all of it. If such a character appeared in a story but didn't steal the show, I wouldn't be so quick to label it a Sue - it might be, but I'd want to judge each such case individually.

It's not a foolproof system - the matchmaker Sues who exist to force canon characters into OOC relationships may well be an exception - but that's how I go about it.

So to answer your original question, Charlie, I'd say not - I agree with Aster; if a Mary-Sue-like character were to be in a good story that isn't deliberately playing on the concept, I wouldn't call it a Sue - not outright.

...Pretty much every line in 30 H's. Though, my personal favorites are the descriptions of Harry's guitar ...slayer: "Wrought from the silver heart of heaven's false promise, laced with vessels that pulsed with angel's menstrual blood, hewn from the horns of Satan's generals, it laughed as it was set loose, a laugh that only Harry could hear, but no one could share," and his book: "It wasn't really a book, because the pages were made of lasers and the words were made of headless women making godless love to dragons made out of motorcycles, but it was still reading."

Also, I would love to know what chumpits are, and where I can buy them.

Also, "'You are the demons.' And then John was a zombie." deserves special mention.

I see what you're saying, and I agree.

The only exception would be a story so short there isn't room for anything outside the main idea.

What I meant was that all the events in the story and the behaviour of the other characters only relate to the main character. As you say - the entire fictional world revolves around one character and there's never a hint that there's anything more to it than scenery with which the main character can interact.
I definitely agree about viewpoint constraints meaning that a single-POV story will focus on a single character, but I think that there should be some suggestion that there are other things going on, even if we never get to see them. For example (and I know this is hardly an example of a short story) the Harry Potter books were usually very tightly focussed on Harry, but sometimes other people's stories intersect with his and we get to see that they do have thoughts and feelings separate from him, and things do happen that don't directly tie into what he's doing.

Not sure how much clearer that was...

I think we'll get along quite well indeed. 'specially if you ever wind up with Agents working around Pokemon, 'cause man is that area understaffed. :P

I give you... a Mudkip! :D Because everybody loves them. And this one likes you.

Especially with short stories.

Any story in which there is only one viewpoint character will typically revolve around that character to at least some degree. Even if only to the degree that it is limited to what said character perceives.

I can think of one exception to this. However the narrator is telling a story that he pieced together both from his own experiences and what he learned from others.

I can't, however, think of an example of a good story in which the entire fictional world revolves around one character.

I am, however, inclined to say that legends such as the Arthurian tales have different rules for characterisation.
I will agree, though, that Galahad is a total and utter Stu.

(Though I loved Python's Galahad to pieces)

In my opinion, if a story revolves around a single character, then that fact ruins both the story and the character.

Hey:
This is probably something I should know, but I couldn't find it on the Wiki. The fic I'm considering killing if I get Permission is marked as possibly being a Factory Sue. What exactly does that mean in terms of how a mission should pan out? Does it make any difference? Does it mean that she'll put up more of a fight? Should I not do one of those for my first mission? I've picked out some others I can do and may just unclaim this one. I don't want to either make a fool of myself by suggesting a fic unsuitable for a newbie, or make a total hash of my first mission.

Crib notes:
Should I change fics? If not, does the fact that Raina is a Factory Sue make a difference to the mission?

...the Holy Grail story (Mallory, not Python) thrills despite Sir Galahad's urpleness.

I have a liking for the Big Lipped Alligator Moment that is the 'Auras uniting' scene in 'An Elf's Love':

(Copied from an MST and formatted for your enjoyment)

Suddenly winds pick up and her aura appeared. It was gold and suddenly changed to bright white. It threw everyone near her away. Aragorn caught Gandalf before he got hurt. Elrond stood, eyes bugged out. Frodo stood; his glued on her. Aragorn tried to get near her, but again, he was thrown away from the wind.
Rosa screamed in pain, yet calmed a little when she felt strong and comforting arms enclose around her. She opened his eyes to see Legolas holding her. He somehow was able to get to her.
Rosas’ aura encircled both her and Legolas, growing larger. Suddenly, Legolas’ aura materialized. It was a forest green color. It grew and enveloped itself around Rosas’ aura. As this continued, their auras unite. Elrond and Gandalf gasp at the tremendous power they sensed from their combined auras.
Rosa began to calm a little, but she felt another wave of pain and the wind picked up. The whole room became even brighter. Everyone veered away so they wouldn’t be blinded. Rosa began thrashing around. Legolas clung onto her tightly. He then began chanting words of comfort in her ear, hoping it’ll calm her. As quickly it came, it was gone. The wind died down. Rosas’ and Legolas’ auras are gone.

There is no foreshadowing for this phenomenon, as best I can make out, and once it's over, no-one speaks of it again.

Welcome to the madhouse! Kindly check your soul by the door. You can reclaim it when you leave . . . IF you leave.

Lovely to meet you :) I don't recognise you, no, but that's because I'm not a Pokemon fan. Might I ask what other fandoms you enjoy? Myself, I'm a fan of Star Trek and Wicked, among many others.

Also, here are the regularly-bestowed-upon-newbies Links that are, in short, a collection of articles and other useful URLs that we politely ask every newbie to read, as they really do contain Useful Information. In relative order of sensible-reading-ness, they are:

* The Original PPC Series, which we assume you've already read.
* The List of Killed Badfic, which will direct you to a large number of non-Original PPC Missions.

The Board:
* The Board Constitution
* The FAQ: For the Board

The Wiki:
* We have our very own PPC Wiki
* The very-important-to-read-before-requesting-Permission Permission article
* Our Guide To The PPC
* The Mission Writing Guide
* The Slash-Sporking Guide
* The FAQ: For Newbies.
When you are ready to edit the wiki, make sure to read Neshomeh's excellent editing tutorial.

And finally, but very usefully,
* The List of Everything PPC

Again, nice to meet you, and welcome!