Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[canisaries]

time for some memey yet totally unironic advice: if you ever want to write a dream scene or any fiction operating on dream logic in general, watch xavier: renegade angel. it's just amazing how the plots and scenarios manage to make sense in the moment even when everything is completely surreal.

 

[diamondpearl876]

Pokemon. And I'm not looking for anything in particular. Just fun all around adventure fics with a dose of horror or darkness to keep me on my toes. Preferably something fairly new so that I don't have to go on an archive binge.

Well, there's always the Workshop Directories (one for in-progress fics and one for completed fics) to look at stuff you might be interested in! If you do read, feel free to leave some comments for the authors to let them know what you liked/didn't like/etc!

 

[Beth Pavell]

I'd still take a look at Unpredictable regardless

 

[TRNatalie]

Pokemon. And I'm not looking for anything in particular. Just fun all around adventure fics with a dose of horror or darkness to keep me on my toes. Preferably something fairly new so that I don't have to go on an archive binge.

There's one I'm fond of called "The Thirteenth Hour". It's about a Clefable and a Gengar that gain special abilities on Friday the Thirteenth.

 

[Persephone]

For my money, best one on site is Striking Back: Memoirs of a Clone over in the archive.

For currently running stuff looking at previous award winning stories and authors is a good way to start. Or just picking a random title on the front page and reading the prologue to get a feel for it.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

@ArtemisOfTheMoonTribe There's this recent-ish Mystery Dungeon one where the protagonist gets turned into a Lugia. I haven't read any of the Pokémon fanfics on my favourites list on Fanfiction.net for ages.

I like it when speculative fiction shows us how species of differing physiology would co-exist and form a society. I don't like it when each species is homogeneous. The bar for things that do the former, but not the latter, has been set so low that it's one of the main reasons I unironically enjoy Cars. On the opposite end of the popularity spectrum, I also like Friendship is Magic's worldbuilding for the same reason.

The driving force behind many of my story ideas is such a society. Unfortunately, I have a hard time coming up with actual plots because I worry they're too convoluted.

The current incarnation of my story idea for the world of EverBright is that a crisis (an unknown entity is using magic to steal light) is causing different species to - shock, horror - work together. Some want to solve the crisis, including our friendly protagonist, while others are so desperate to survive that they've become troublemakers.

 

[Beth Pavell]

My problem with speculative fiction is that it tends not to make for a very good story. The Long Earth had this problem, as does 1984, actually. Obviously the point usually isn't an entertaining story in an of itself, but it does beg the question of why an essay, perhaps with narrative interludes, might not do the job better

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I meant sci-fi and fantasy, not cautionary tales.

I only realised this morning that it's Zelda Month! Should I rework my point about Spirit Tracks from the script of my PMD video, that's now in limbo, into its own video?

(What happened is that I asked people on another website for advice with the PMD video, only to discover that my main point needed to be completely reworked.)

 

[TRNatalie]

@Nitro Indigo Then you might like the Wings of Fire series. It's not really sci-fi but it's fantasy and very good.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

@TRNatalie I used to read Wings of Fire, but got bored during the sixth book. I liked how the first arc was about how prophecies are overrated, but didn't like how the second arc was about a "real" prophecy.

 

[Beth Pavell]

1984 is sci-fi. Sci-fi with ideas recognisable to a generation that remembers the Second World War all-too well, but science fiction almost always has more in common with the present than the future

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I'm more into fantasy than sci-fi anyway.

 

[TRNatalie]

I used to read Wings of Fire, but got bored during the sixth book. I liked how the first arc was about how prophecies are overrated, but didn't like how the second arc was about a "real" prophecy.

I can understand that. I personally liked the second arc because I thought it was cool to get an understanding on where prophecies came from, Darkstalker's an interesting character, and the eighth book showed not all of the Skywings are grumpy and bad tempered (besides Peril) but I can understand why people wouldn't like it.

 

[Flaze]

My problem with speculative fiction is that it tends not to make for a very good story. The Long Earth had this problem, as does 1984, actually. Obviously the point usually isn't an entertaining story in an of itself, but it does beg the question of why an essay, perhaps with narrative interludes, might not do the job better

Do you think this problem applies to something like Minority Report as well? It is true however that speculative fiction stories, especially sci-fi stories, tend to focus more on the gimmick that essentially defines their world, though granted you have stories like Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep/Blade Runner where the gimmick leads into other aspects of their lives changing, thus grounding it more, but it doesn't change the fact that it all stems from one thing.

That being said, I do find it interesting when shows explore that. I mean, shows like Black Mirror thrive on doing that every single ep, though you could say that the point of a show like that is to showcase the gimmicks more than tell stories since it's episodic, the fact that they can tell you touching and heartbreaking stories in every episode besides exploring the gimmick also says a lot.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I bring this up because yesterday, I saw a comment chain on another website asking what the future of a fantasy world such as Lord of the Rings would look like. Someone linked to an article about Pixar's upcoming original urban fantasy movie.

@Flaze The term for series like Black Mirror is anthology.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Do you think this problem applies to something like Minority Report as well?

I think it depends upon how much the author wants to lecture their readers, to put it bluntly. The better kind of speculative fiction tends to be prepared to stop explaining what these days often called "lore" in favour of the narrative instead

 

[Nitro Indigo]

@TRNatalie Also, Moon's psychic trust issues made me feel uncomfortable.

I like the idea of a world that went to ruin so long ago that life has moved on since then, like The Wind Waker but not. Basically, the backstory of EverBright is that the ruler of one of the first civilisations went on a power trip and made it so his kingdom was the only place in the world with light, then banished everyone he didn't like to the beyond. Eons later, the antagonist wants to return the world to its former glory, with no regard for the inhabitants of EverBright.

I still can't think of a good inciting incident for the protagonist, though.

 

[canisaries]

working on a prize banner really gets me in the mood for another banner of my own. sadly, i've already got banners for all of my stories (and one WIP i really need to finish one of these days) that i want to do ones for.

eh. i'd really want to just finish a chapter of my story already, given that it's the most boring one, but i need to come up with worldbuilding in the middle and i just fear i'm gonna end up contradicting myself and forming some huge plot hole. then someone will point it out and i'll feel like a moron.

i can't wait to be done with this part of the story, the latter part is a lot more intense and interesting.

 

[BackSet]

*bursts through wall* Did someone say Wings of Fire?!?

I've been trying to work on a fanfic but I can't think of anything.

 

[TRNatalie]

Yeah. It's my favorite book series next to How to Train Your Dragon.