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Appreciations of the day

Started by thepanda, November 25, 2005, 11:45:21 AM

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Dracos

Hmm.

It struck me again what an incredible effort long running manga series are.  Claymore ended today at just a bit past 13 years of serialization.  I haven't even been working 13 years at this point.  The notion of being on the same exact project for over a decade is quite an impressive one to consider.

Now Hoji best be getting some more single player american DQ games.  O_O  30ish years is just the warm-up.
Well, Goodbye.

Arakawa

Quote from: Dracos on October 02, 2014, 04:29:00 PM
It struck me again what an incredible effort long running manga series are.

I wonder if they're planned that way, or if it ends up being due to Zeno's Mountain* style story creep. There's a similar problem with many people's fantasy series. e.g. the most infamous being what happened with Wheel of Time.

*http://bondwine.com/2013/01/25/zenos-mountains/
That the dead tree with its scattered fruit, a thousand times may live....

---

Man was made for Joy & Woe / And when this we rightly know / Thro the World we safely go / Joy & Woe are woven fine / A Clothing for the soul divine / Under every grief & pine / Runs a joy with silken twine
(from Wm. Blake)

Dracos

I am convinced Robert Jordan was simply writing until his death.  I can think of no other reason why 800-900 page books struggle to finish simple arcs.
Well, Goodbye.

Iron Dragoon

Quote from: Dracos on October 02, 2014, 11:38:09 PM
I am convinced Robert Jordan was simply writing until his death.  I can think of no other reason why 800-900 page books struggle to finish simple arcs.

The first few books weren't bad, but man, yeah they got there. The later books, like nothing happened in the entire book. The new guy is doing a lot better, though.
This is not the greatest post in the world, no... this is just a tribute.

Ranma_007

I have a drone!!! A UDI U818A quadcopter. I have gotten WELL more than $68 dollars of enjoyment out of it. :)

thepanda

Can you fly those in the city? What kind of camera does it use?

Rukatin

Created a Numenera character. A Hardy Glaive who Never says Die. Hardy lets me treat being impaired as nothing, and Debilitated as Impaired. It also Halves my recovery roll times. Normally this would be only just an okay descriptor because it also gives me a penalty to initiative and it costs one extra point whenever I use speed effort. While this would kinda suck for a tier 1 character, Hardy is mainly there to compound the effects of my Focus, Never Says Die. The focus replaces my ten minute recovery roll with another One action one. So this leads my recovery rolls being: 1 action, 1 action, Half hour, 5 Hours. Plus there's some pretty cool stuff down the line as I increase in tier. For my Glaive class, instead form the core book, I took my two first tier fighting moves from the extra character options. Them being Opportunist, and Surging Confidence. Opportunist offsets my penalty to initiative not by negating it, but by making it work in my favor by giving a bonus to hit enemies that have been attacked before my time. Surging Confidence works with my recovery rolls by giving me a choice of spending one might point to give me one action after a 1 action recovery roll. (of which I have two:D)

So I created a Glaive that's VERY hard to kill. But this is just the skeleton, He needs character! I wanted a cool sounding K name, and the best I could come up with is Korona. (first idea was Kyrrick, but that was just a name I remembered from a previous campaign.) I have a vague Idea on appearance, I'd like your ideas and input please!
I'm going to need your signature for the metric ton of whoop-ass you're about to receive.

"A 'Cult'? Such disrespect for other people's beliefs."
"You enslave minds!"
"And I believe that's okay."

Anastasia

My writer's block broke. Yay...except it happened at 2 AM, lying in bed. Go figure.
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Rukatin

Mine usually happen in the shower, or when I have something import to do.
I'm going to need your signature for the metric ton of whoop-ass you're about to receive.

"A 'Cult'? Such disrespect for other people's beliefs."
"You enslave minds!"
"And I believe that's okay."

Kaldrak

I subscribe to Brian's old method of defeating writer's block. It still works to this day.
"Do what you want to do. Do what you like doing. Write the stories you want to see written and give other people the same courtesy. That is all that is important."

Rukatin

Anybody catch the lunar eclipse this morning?
I'm going to need your signature for the metric ton of whoop-ass you're about to receive.

"A 'Cult'? Such disrespect for other people's beliefs."
"You enslave minds!"
"And I believe that's okay."

Anastasia

Quote from: Kaldrak on October 07, 2014, 09:24:25 PM
I subscribe to Brian's old method of defeating writer's block. It still works to this day.

What's that method, anyway?
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Anastasia

Quote from: Rukatin on October 08, 2014, 09:30:34 AM
Anybody catch the lunar eclipse this morning?

Nope! Was it any good?
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

thepanda

Quote from: Rukatin on October 08, 2014, 09:30:34 AM
Anybody catch the lunar eclipse this morning?

Sadly, no. Overcast sky.

Kaldrak

Quote from: Anastasia on October 08, 2014, 01:12:12 PMWhat's that method, anyway?

Years ago I was on shift with him and there wasn't much going on. I was complaining about how I was feeling uninspired and couldn't get any writing done. Basically just the whole 'blank page' thing where you can't get started.

Brian said he knew the secret to getting rid of writer's block and when I asked him what it was, he turned to me and said two words:

"Just write."

I didn't find it all that amusing. I mean, if I could write in the first place then I wouldn't have been having this problem. He explained that it didn't matter if you were feeling uninspired or uncreative, you could write through those feelings and still get work done.

I didn't really get what he was saying at the time, but I get it now. Basically, it doesn't matter what you write about or how good you think it is at the time of the writing. You may feel like you can't write, but that's almost never actually true. No matter how badly you do or how much willpower it takes to write through it, you can simply write through writer's block. There's only one person who decides whether you write or not and that's you. You have to have a commitment to your individual work that goes above and beyond how you feel about it when you sit down to work on it. It's the only way to finish large projects.

Even if you don't create a shred of usable material, it's still worth the effort of getting the words out of your head and if you really, REALLY feel like you can't get any work done, then there are a variety of other things you can write about other than the story itself. You can storyboard or work on background material. You can worldbuild or write character backstory. You can work on plot outlines and future drafts or even skip ahead to other chapters you have planned and write the thing out of order. Whatever it takes to get the work done. You just have to keep at it.

Some days are harder than others and I really love that creative rush you get when you're 'in the zone', but that almost never happens. Most of the time I just have to focus on what's going on and do things that foster my creative energy. I listen to music or I stop listening to it if it's distracting me. I drink large amounts of caffeine, but sometimes that throws my focus right out the window. Mostly I just ask myself, "What happens next?" and I try to get myself into the head of the characters I'm writing in that particular scene. What would this person do? Where would they go? What are they thinking? If I've done a good job of making a believably complex person, usually I can come up with an answer and then I write it down. If I haven't and no answer comes, then I might have to take a step back and figure out what I need to work on before I keep going.

Creativity comes and goes like a bolt of lightning, but you can write every day if you have the will. Odds are, if you keep at it you can push yourself into the creative state through the act of writing itself.

Rant over. Hope you found it somewhat enlightening at least. Man, I really love writing.
"Do what you want to do. Do what you like doing. Write the stories you want to see written and give other people the same courtesy. That is all that is important."