The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

Mini-Pak'Ma'Ra is just awkward to say and to type, although admittedly mini squid-cthulhu sarcodines would be cool.

Mini-Shadows is a pretty good compromise between Mini-Vorlons and Mini-Pak'Ma'Ra.

Oh, and ninja-laser-kudos for writing B5 missions. I couldn't find any badfic for them-

Obviously I wasn't looking hard enough.

Yeah, but I don't get that much. And I'll know it's from you/Maudlin/PPCers anyway!

They've got incredibly good spam filters.

Do you have a gmail account? I'll just send you an invite to the google doc.

IIRC, THX-1138 was the title of the first movie George Lucas ever made or something like that.

*snicker* at number three - yes, that does sound quite likely.
Thanks for the help - it's much appreciated.

...appreciative of all the work my mom and her siblings put into letting my grandfather live at home for as long as possible. He ultimately died at home, so it was definitely worth the months and months spent gently convincing him that he needed various types of help.

I love the idea of an atomised bacta inhaler.

I'm quite cordial with this guy; I've actually told him about you guys and that I've rec'd his story here, he was flattered. He said he'd listen to any advice you had for him, so, yeah, I'll tell him.

If there's a cure somewhere out in the multiverse, you could plausibly have PPC Medical "borrow" it in some form. An inhaler of atomised bacta or kolto from Star Wars might do the trick, and may prove less than permanent, allowing it to be used as a "reliever" temporary plot device (I'm thinking Asterix's magic potion here!).

As for self-inserts, in my case Logan is a more psychotic, athletic, more random version of me, with my low-level addictions to various soft drinks blown up into a compulsive dependence and with an even more flippant and annoying sense of humour, but with a few random quirks thrown in for good measure.

I still haven't written Logan enough for much character development to occur, but I'm aiming for his character to diverge in interesting directions, even if he does start out as more-or-less a self insert.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. It'll probably be funnier if it's just a treatment, since that way it can wear off unexpectedly. Your suggestions have given me a good idea of how I can handle the condition with agent!me.

Even if doesn't cross the line to plagiarism, a too-blatant shout-out might only serve to annoy some (like me) who like their references subtle. In this, as in many things, following the example of Terry Pratchett, cause let's face it, the Discworld series is littered with shout-outs and hommages- but PTerry never (or rarely) just quotes a line unaltered.

In summary, yeah, as much as "This party... Is over!" is an awesome line, I think they should be able to find an effective way to evoke it rather than invoking it, to coin a phrase.

Elcalion

1 - Yes, many of our agents have been recruited by other agents, some of whom may or may not exist in canon.

2 - So long as the armband is black. That's the key thing.

3 - I'm pretty sure that agents receive *snicker* on-the-job training.

Though I'd say it's a good idea to add flaws you don't have as well as abilities you don't have. Agent Laburnum is, on the good side, more physically fit, slightly more sociable, and has opportunities to do much cooler stuff than me, and on the bad side, more self-hating, affected with far more psychological problems (in her case, beserker rages, depressive tendencies, some gender identity issues, and a refusal to acknowledge that any of the above might be a problem), and more careless (I do let my mouth run away with me in real life, though I don't do it as much as I used to, but I'm not stupid enough to try and face hundred-to-one odds alone).

I'm thinking about Agents that I could use, but I'm not sure if some of these ideas would work. So:
1. Can one of my Agents have been recruited by another, already existing Agent that is no longer active in the PPC, and hasn't been for a while? (i.e, not one of mine.)

2. If an Agent is a giant cat, for want of a better term, is it okay if she doesn't wear a proper uniform? Cats don't wear clothes, see. I was thinking a black armband with a Flashpatch could substitute.

3. How long does it take for an agent to become trained and ready for missions after they have been recruited?

You're allowed to like whatever you like - as someone wise once said, there's no accounting for taste. Also, you're hardly "supporting" anything; if it were a bought book, yes, but this is the Internet - the only way you could 'support' the fic would be to widely advertise it on different forums and communities as a great fic. So don't worry there.

As for whether or not it's plagiarism in the first place... maybe. Probably, if it's not actually a Star Wars fic. To me it mostly reeks of lack of imagination, but as you're comparing a canonical work to a fanfic work, it's not much of an issue.

If you think they would take it well, I'd say there's no harm in tactfully telling them you find the homages too overt. Use your best judgement.

:)

That's like saying, "Hungry? Here, have a fork!" But I know what you mean; Star Trek has an easy cure for lung cancer by 2150, and the continumn stretches all the way to the 31st century, so you could easily say your agent was cured by Trek technology that Medical snitched to patch up canon characters.

Anyway, Neshomeh's right - take whatever best suits, especially if you can make it into a plot device or just somehow amusing.

He admits them, that he's inspired by those things. He says it's a tribute to things he likes, intending to portray them positively. The vast majority of the fic is quite well-written and original and has no need to plagiarize, so I believe him personally.

He is, however, known to revise his fics when he gets done with them. Do you think I should ask him to make the references less overt?

Muahahahaha! *eg*

~Neshomeh, actually rather flattered by that remark. {= )

You see, in system shock, the main character, Hacker, is male and also the exclusive viewpoint character.

Argh. I might have known. Poor guy--it's because he's so eye-candy-ish, of course. If necessary, I'm sure Nurse Mirrad would be happy to help out on that one, being a former Ranger himself.

~Neshomeh

If you're at all familiar with the Dragonlance books, Raistlin's cough potion might be applicable. It's not precisely specified what it does (except ease the cough) or how it does it, so it might work for agent!you, and you could probably get it from Medical.

If you prefer science over magic, maybe a hypospray from Star Trek, in which future-set continuum they may have discovered a treatment or even a cure for what you have. *shrug* I'm sure there are lots of possibilities, and if there is one thing the PPC has, it is excellent medical care. Igor might even offer to get a new set of lungs for you. They're excellent at that sort of thing, are Igors. Just don't ask where the new lungs come from...

I recommend whichever suits you best and makes for the most interesting and/or funny story. {= )

~Neshomeh

about "Fanfic can't be plagiarism".

Fanfic is, almost by definition, copyright infringement (unless the owner gives express permission or the work is in the public domain - author's death + either 50 or 70 years depending on where you are), but that's a separate issue to plagiarism.

Summarising in my own words, here's the difference (based on conversations I've had over the years with my sister, who's a copyright lawyer - although I may have got confuzzed on some of the details):

Copyright infringement is, basically, someone taking someone else's intellectual property and using it without permission - e.g. say, if Warner Brothers used Mickey Mouse in one of their cartoons without permission, that would be copyright infringement.

Plagiarism is someone passing-off another's work as their own. Fanfic can definitely be plagiarism - the whole fandom wank surrounding the Cassandra Claire Draco Trilogy is a case in point.

Whether Eragon is plagiarised is a separate issue. It definitely is heavily inspired by Star Wars in matters of plot, but for it to be plagiarism, I think it would need to be lifting lines of dialogue with little modification.

As for the fic Chliever mentioned; not sure if it would count as plagiarism per se, but does sound as if the author is a little bit shameless in their borrowings/hommages.

Elcalion, descending from soapbox

If you feel that your condition is a key part of your character, then you don't need to cure it altogether--perhaps the cure is something worked into the disguise generator, or it only lessens the symptoms. But I definitely agree that even our self-insert agents are usually not completely true to the original.