Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[Beth Pavell]

ff.net won't be my primary posting ground for just that reason. I can't find much to read there, either, between the masses of dippy amourshipping stories and melodramatic plots. Just looking at the top page as it stands now ... well, it's not so bad. About six fics that could be called shipping, ten or eleven of them involving Ash in some way. Oh, and one lemon

 

[AceTrainer14]

I just had a look myself, and it was going well, nothing that seemed particularly abhorent, and then I read the summary for 'Flirting with Fire' and I think I've been put off reading anything new on there for quite some time.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Yes, that rather does seem to be continuing the proud tradition of ff.net melodrama

 

[Misfit Angel]

and then I read the summary for 'Flirting with Fire'

Oh good god

 

[Kelleo]

Oh, are you guys only looking at the Pokemon stories? Those are mostly horrible horrible horrible lol. Just plain bad shipping fics. The Pokemon fandom is the biggest shipping fandom I've ever seen, even considering the FE one.

You should try checking out fics for Zelda and FE, I actually find a good percentage of them tend to be fairly well-written. FE does still have the once in awhile awful shipping fic (because pairings are a thing in a lot of these games as well), but other than that, it shouldn't be hard to find good stuff among these.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I did have a quick look once or twice at the Zelda lot - partly because I was muddling though my on-again-off-again writing of my own - didn't really see a lot to catch my attention. To be fair here, I've not really been much of a fan of reading about canon characters anyway

 

[Kelleo]

Well, I guess we have different tastes, I like reading about both canon characters and OCs. Especially if the OCs fit in pretty well and interact well with the canon characters. I say if a story is going to have both though, focus a little more on the OCs. We know about the canon characters already, so we readers are going to be more interested in the OCs instead!

This is why I've been focusing a little more on developing Kelli and Vira than Link and Navi in TAP.

 

[Lugion]

Today I made a dude mad by saying that Legolas would beat Rambo in a six-way archery battle between those two, Marvel's Hawkeye, DC's Green Arrow, Katniss Everdeen, and Merida from Brave... that occurs in a forest.

This is the same dude who a few months ago told me that Batman v Superman was going to be great, Zac Snyder is a genius, and that Suckerpunch will be remembered one day as a modern Citizen Kane.

 

[Misfit Angel]

Of course Legolas would win, he's a poorly written character who is destined to win all the time.

...uhh, at least four on that list are as well...

 

[AceTrainer14]

@Lugion You can always use this graphic to back up your argument. Though really the fact they think Zac Snyder movies are good means they should just generally be ignored.

 

[Beth Pavell]

If you go by the books as your source material, there's really not that much to go on as far as Legolas' archery skills are concerned

 

[Lyrebird]

That's unfair to ignore someone based on their tastes in film. People like different things, the only thing you'll sound like it is a pretentious jerk face.

 

[AceTrainer14]

I meant their opinion, not generally ignoring them. Though the context is key: if its your best friend or a family member, probably not, but someone you are not likely to talk to again? Why not.

 

[Lord Kyuubi]

If you go by the books as your source material, there's really not that much to go on as far as Legolas' archery skills are concerned

Didn't Tolkien mention somewhere that the reason Legolas took up archery was because he already felt he'd mastered swordsmanship and wanted something new to try? I could've sworn I heard that somewhere, maybe I'm just making it up. Who knows?

 

[Beth Pavell]

Didn't Tolkien mention somewhere that the reason Legolas took up archery was because he already felt he'd mastered swordsmanship and wanted something new to try? I could've sworn I heard that somewhere, maybe I'm just making it up. Who knows?

I don't remember it. I'm almost certain it's not in The Lord of the Rings or the associated appendicies. It might be something that appears in his unpublished notes (I haven't read all of those). I've noticed that you have to be a bit careful with second-hand Middle Earth lore. People have a tendency to conflate Tolkien with all standard fantasy tropes. Or, people make references to something that Tolkien wrote a scrap on that didn't find its way into a book, and quote it as having the same status as the canon (Such as it is)

 

[Kelleo]

Er, I really doubt that Legolas would beat Hawkeye or Green Arrow when those two have access to high-tech arrows. Isn't Legolas from a more medieval-ish fantasy world? I've seen some of LotR before, but not much.

 

[Lord Kyuubi]

I don't remember it. I'm almost certain it's not in The Lord of the Rings or the associated appendicies. It might be something that appears in his unpublished notes (I haven't read all of those). I've noticed that you have to be a bit careful with second-hand Middle Earth lore. People have a tendency to conflate Tolkien with all standard fantasy tropes. Or, people make references to something that Tolkien wrote a scrap on that didn't find its way into a book, and quote it as having the same status as the canon (Such as it is)

Ah, fair enough. Thinking about it, it doesn't really sound like something I'd expect Tolkien to have written, but I really didn't know. Anyways, thanks for sorting this out.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Well, Legolas is a better woodsman than any of the other contestants in that list. Do Hawkeye or Green Arrow wear any armour? I suppose it's a moot point since superheroes tend to be made of iron as the plot demands ... but in any case, it doesn't really matter if the arrow is flint or steel, if the target is flesh.

Hm. I had a quick look at the Wikipedia pages for those two. So far as I can tell they're both entirely human. Given that I'm inclined to call it for the wood elf. At least, it would be in character for Legolas to find somewhere nice and quiet to observe the skirmish, and wait for the others to murder each other before getting involved himself.

 

[Tophat Dragoneye]

I do remember seeing Legolas firing arrows at targets he wasn't even looking at (behind him for example) in one of the Tolkien movies. Ultimately, I think his skills offset Hawkeye's and Green Arrow's equipment.

Whatever the case of whoever is the better archer, I think however we can all agree that they're all among the best of the best.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Slightly boastful post, but today I've hit 300 reviews for 8ES on FF.net. It only took five years and 107 chapters to do so.

In less good news, I messaged the semi-plagarist to start a conversation about three days ago and they haven't responded, so that's reassuring.