TO ALL FAN FIC WRITERS

[Dre_o]

Recently I had an Idea ( a boredom idea), would any FanFic writers want to do a joint project?

I know what your thinking....oh wait, no I don't.

What I was thinking is that we all put in one character and have people alternate on writing chapters, after we settle on a story line of course.

Any thoughts? Let me know! Ya wanna participate? POST! Feel like commenting on my insane idea? Go ahead and post! Why am I rambling? I don't know!

And if anyone knows if this has been done before, please slap me in the head.

[CupOfCoffee]

Sounds like a group fic to me!

http://www.pso-world.com/viewtopic.php?topic=76511&forum=12&21

[HUnewearl_Meira]

We do, in fact, call this concept a group fiction, Dre_o. It's been a while since we've had one, however.

[ColonD]

I'm always up for it. It might help me add more substance to 'Beta's' exsistance. Well, since it's been a long while since a group ficition, and I've had more practice with writing, why don't we start one? One with pre-made plots and plans.

[Dre_o]

Ah, I see. Thank you for the info. Unless anyone has any objections, I would still like to continue with it.

[Xaeris]

Well if you'd have me, I'd be happy to join in on the wordcrafting. I think it'd be interesting to see other people's take on the same group of characters and how they meld together.

[Dre_o]

Another idea I had is that we might write each part of the story from our respective character's point of view, unless of course someone wanted to write of another person's character.

That would allow for the story to be seen from as many different views as possible.

AND, this format would prevent any one character from taking the center stage and being the hero (of heroin)

And Xaeris, I would be happy for you to be on the team and the exact same for you ColonD.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dre_o on 2005-10-16 16:15 ]</font>

[ColonD]

Also, since your planning the story, when would it take place? My character's personallitys change slightly over time.

[CupOfCoffee]

I'd probably like to give this a try as well, as long as the plot seems interesting. I abstained from our last group fic because there was basically no story to it.

[Dre_o]

I will keep that in mind Cup of Coffee because I too want it to be interesting.

I am beginning planning on the story line and events but any idea help would be awsome. Having some character names and details would also be very helpful. Feel free to PM me or post character details or storyline ideas.

I will also let everyone know when I start forming the frame work so they can plan accordingly.

Remember, characters and writers are still needed

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dre_o on 2005-10-16 15:42 ]</font>

[trypticon]

Actually, it hasn't been a while since we've had a group fan fic. We had one this summer, and it flopped. Seemed to me that more people were interested in just having their character sit at the bar or go into their room and search their closet than push any storyline in any direction. That is the unfortunate part of having a group collaberation. Without a slated direction for the project to go, you end up having it go all over the place, and it just ends up looking sloppily pieced together.

[Dre_o]

On 2005-10-16 16:12, trypticon wrote:
Actually, it hasn't been a while since we've had a group fan fic. We had one this summer, and it flopped. Seemed to me that more people were interested in just having their character sit at the bar or go into their room and search their closet than push any storyline in any direction. That is the unfortunate part of having a group collaberation. Without a slated direction for the project to go, you end up having it go all over the place, and it just ends up looking sloppily pieced together.



I have to agree, that is why I will create a SOLID story of every character doing SOMETHING or TRYING to do something important and staying in the picture or that character won't be in it at all.

Which brings me to my point:

IF YOU DONT'T WANT TO WRITE AND HAVE YOUR CHARACTER IN THE STORY,I hate to be rude but I'm getting this out of the way now,PLEASE DON'T ASK ME TO PUT HIM/HER IN THE PLOT.

That is all, and I appologize again.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dre_o on 2005-10-16 16:20 ]</font>

[trypticon]

Why are you appologizing for that? That is a very good stance. If people don't want to put the effort forward of placing their own character's personalities into the given story, then they have absolutely no business of being so greedy and expecting others to place them in there for them.

Your idea sounds good to me, and even better since you have a managing outlook on it from the start before things get out of hand. If you had moderator powers here to delete chapters that mess up the storyline, it would be even better.

Unless this collaboration is done off this site and completed to your approval before it's posted though, you can be sure somebody will come in to throw the story off course. That's just the way public works work.

[CupOfCoffee]

Hmm, yes. But just FYI, Dre, you don't have to lay out every single aspect of the story beforehand. Even if you're designing the story, all you have to do is come up with a basic framework for you and the other writers to build around.

Basically the reason the summer fic failed was because the original plot was more or less, "All the PSO characters are at the beach having a summer party." There was no real direction for everyone to follow, and since no one seemed to want to make their own path for fear of "hijacking the plot," it just kind of fizzled out and died.

A somewhat decent starting idea would be something like, "Strange happenings are occuring around Pioneer 2. Could this have something to do with _________?" and then the writers can take it from there. It provides a basic concept to base the story on, as well as enough open-endedness for people to make up a little bit of it as they go along. It keeps people motivated to keep writing.

Basically what I said is explained more thoroughly in the link I posted to the group fic guide, so check that out if you're still feeling fuzzy.

[Dre_o]

Heh, yea Cup, you're right. I was going too commander like, my bad.

I'm just so used to having to push things forward in places like school, I just got carried away. I'll adjust my thinking to something people can work on.

[trypticon]

On 2005-10-16 17:15, Dre_o wrote:
Heh, yea Cup, you're right. I was going too commander like, my bad.

I'm just so used to having to push things forward in places like school, I just got carried away. I'll adjust my thinking to something people can work on.



Please don't. This is your idea, and you are looking for other takes on it. Putting up a bare bones story like Cup of The Stuff suggested is allowing for another waste of time like the Summer Fan Fic of Doom turned out to be. Give people too much room to stray, and you can bet that they will. What you are doing is putting forward a storyline for others to feed off of, and you are acting as manager of that storyline. Again, start, work on, and complete this offsite so that you can make sure the story progresses in an orderly, easy to follow fashion so that the final product doesn't have readers floundering about wondering what the hell is going on in it. After the work is sufficiant enough to follow, THEN post it, with the proper credits given out to those who helped develop the project.

Really, management is not being hitler-like, commander-esque, or anything of the sort. Management is about managing, and that is exactly what you need in a group collaboration.

[CupOfCoffee]

I see what you're saying, Adam, but to leave hardly any room for deviation from the main plot is also to doom it. It stops being a real group fic and just becomes one person's vision being written by many.

I guess it all depends on what type of community you have, but you're probably right in that PSOW wouldn't go anywhere with a really open-ended story.

We'll see how it turns out.

[Solstis]

I'm not promising anything, but I may consider participating.

[Badger-sama]

I already do something that's the bastard child of role-play and group fiction. It's group fiction with our own characters, featuring character "profiles" and a battle system. We really try to not do any sort of "fan-fiction" in that it's OUR universe and OUR characters... however, video game characters do occasionally get snuck in.

[WraithVerge]

On 2005-10-16 18:03, Solstis wrote:
I'm not promising anything, but I may consider participating.




Same for me.


Also, please read http://www.pso-world.com/viewtopic.php?topic=76511&forum=12&21

It has helpful information on how to participate in a Group-Fic, and it'll answer some questions you might have as well as enlighten you along the way.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: WraithVerge on 2005-10-16 22:10 ]</font>

[White_Knight]

I have a couple of people I could add to the story and would be more than happy to write some chapters once this is all "Set in Stone" as to what your managing type will be like.

[Dre_o]

I believe I may have established the managment aspect of this piece so I guess I'll try and sum it up in a euphemism:

The project will be like a bowling ally, as long as the writer stays in the lane, it'll be cool. Now, it's better if you stay in the center of the lane but not too close to the center because then you may end up with a 7-10 split, and that sucks.

In the end, as long as the ball doesn't hit the gutter, everything is ok. If it does hit the gutter, we may have a problem.

There, that is what I think would be most effective.

Just in case, here's a reference guide for that euphemism:
Bowler= Writer
Ball= Idea/Chapter
Pins= A good idea and story
Center of lane= A boring and incredibly linear story
Stupid euphemism= a bad idea on my part. ^_^;

[Xaeris]

All righty, methinks that post wins the prize for most elaborate analogy of the week. That said, it illustrates your plan quite well and I like it.

[Dre_o]

Tonight I will (hopefully) be posting my best idea, at the moment, for the group fic.

Why don't I do it now? My f&^%*)* homework....

[Dre_o]

Please keep in mind this is a draft in polishing and as long as it makes sense( ie the bowling euphemism above) , changes or twists to better suit your character are welcome (as long as we know of them before hand and have at least a small discussion):

Imagine this in the PSO Blue Burst,

After much team competition and combat, two major factions have emerged, (not sure of the names yet). Soon the fighting for superiority becomes all encompesing and lethal. Our characters find themselves stuck between two warring bodies with evil influences behind each.

[ColonD]

A. I haven't played Blue Burst, but I assume your talking about the group/team thing they set up.

B. Your double posted. Heh.

C. Are you making us assume names for the two groups?

[Dre_o]

On 2005-10-18 16:02, ColonD wrote:
A. I haven't played Blue Burst, but I assume your talking about the group/team thing they set up.

B. Your double posted. Heh.

C. Are you making us assume names for the two groups?



A. Yea, that's the jest of it.

B. This sig was made by my friend, I just like it because of the jump kicking. It's views are not necesarely my own. Hee

C. I'm not sure, I couldn't think of anything creative so any help will do.

[Dre_o]

I believe I might have some of the final preperations done for the group fic. There are only a few things missing:

1. Everyone's confirmation on the storyline I thought up or suggestions for a better one.

2. If we do go with the existing storyline, the names of the waring factions are still needed. (I have no good ideas.)

3. A few more characters and writers, or confirmation or at least some kind of assurance from the parties tha t have not completely signed up yet.(more or less)

4. Giving the work a title would also help. http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

With that said and done, I bid you tonakala.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dre_o on 2005-10-19 16:53 ]</font>

[Deathscythealpha]

On 2005-10-16 16:12, trypticon wrote:
Actually, it hasn't been a while since we've had a group fan fic. We had one this summer, and it flopped. Seemed to me that more people were interested in just having their character sit at the bar or go into their room and search their closet than push any storyline in any direction. That is the unfortunate part of having a group collaberation. Without a slated direction for the project to go, you end up having it go all over the place, and it just ends up looking sloppily pieced together.



The failure of the Summer Group Fic has been one of the reasons I havent shown my face in this section of the board for a long time. The SGF became the proverbial horse that we all flogged into a fine red paste. People were becoming to complacent with some things, to scared to take things off in another direction with others. We had re-occuring characters from the other group fics who did...the same thing they did in other group fics. This was nobodies fault in particuler, we just became so used to writing the story to go in that kind of direction that we couldnt get out of it. And in some respects I fear this 'Set in Our Ways' attitude didnt help bring in the new crowd who were all to willing just to copy the older posters then to experiment. This became blatently obvious when the 'Narrator' gag was used so often that it no longer became a gag.

So to see a new group fic turn up with someone new behind the reigns is quite refreshing. Hopefully with newer people behind it, fresher faces who havent become too used to everything, we will get something new, exciting and, most importantly, fun to read. I doubt I myself will take part in this sort of thing for awhile (If ever again), but I will try to pop in and see how everything is going and give some encouraging remarks. Good luck everyone.

*Scuttles back to Word to continue writing up his University Major Project Proposal*

[Dre_o]

Personally, I am almost ready to start writing and I would like to begin, HOPEFULLY, on Friday. Now, I'm STIL not sure about a title but that can be left for some other time.

I only hope that at least one person will take off where I leave off.....Either way, this will prove to be interesting. http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif

[Sharkyland]

Aside from my comic... besides having an Ep I II IV III. I have this side story called 'gaiden' which basically means that in Japanese. Still involves characters beasts weapons from Phantasy Star Online except... by some freak accidently everyone is teleported to another dimension.

But of course that's a silly thing I just came up with.

[Dre_o]

I got the first part posted, now it's your guys' turns.