The Experiment

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

wait wait can I do the prisoner then? @Halcyon The Only

If you do I just want to add this input; this is a military person. They have high tactical value, likely a commander or strategist, or maybe a powerful magic-user (depending on what the magic system is). Highly experienced. 

Other than that, go with whatever you want. That's just what's needed for the scenario.

[TwinStorm He/Him]

2 minutes ago, The Bookwyrm said:

If you do I just want to add this input; this is a military person. They have high tactical value, likely a commander or strategist, or maybe a powerful magic-user (depending on what the magic system is). Highly experienced. 

Other than that, go with whatever you want. That's just what's needed for the scenario.

cool cool

I have some ideas

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

10 minutes ago, The Bookwyrm said:

Let me figure out the worldbuilding first so you can use that to figure out the characters?

Perf

6 minutes ago, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

wait wait can I do the prisoner then? @Halcyon The Only

 

Just now, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

cool cool

I have some ideas

Prisoner guy and not prisoner girl?

[TwinStorm He/Him]

yah, prisoner guy

he used to know the prison breaker

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

yes

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

indeed

[Mags she/they]

9 hours ago, The Bookwyrm said:

If we want magic it can be more ambiguous. I don't want any worldbuilding beyond basic setting or what might be needed for the scene.

One idea I had, that would mix some action and some character interaction, would be someone in a fantasy setting sneaking into a prison to break out another character. Only except maybe once they succeed some kind of character drama happens, like a betrayal or an uncovered lie or something.

Yeah, I was thinking just typical dnd level stuff, spell based and powered by mana, that sort of thing.

9 hours ago, The Bookwyrm said:

If you want, at some point to day I can hammer out some basic worldbuilding for the setting, and then the people better at characters than me can work on the characters? And once we have general descriptions of setting and characters, we can outline the scene, then all go write it.

8 hours ago, The Bookwyrm said:

1. Not neccessarily, but if we want that to be the case we can do it.

2. Probably cosmere stuff for familiarity. (...Isn't fanfiction anything you write that has to do with a franchise you like?) (Regardless we aren't worrying about that right now)

I was thinking it would be a prisoner of war situation. So there are two nations at war, a vital prisoner from one side was captured by the other, and now the one side is sending an agent to rescue the prisoner. I'll hammer out the details soon and then let the people better at me than characters figure out what the relationship between the prisoner and rescuer is.

Ummm can I jump in here and say I'd really rather not do it based on the Cosmere? I'm not against fanfiction, I've written my fair share, but using a Cosmere magic system would mean I have to look it up to remember the details, and I've avoided the Coppermind because of WaT spoilers . . . . I'd rather do something vague then try and copy a Cosmere thing.

If you want help with the worldbuilding, let me know!

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

16 minutes ago, Magi said:

Yeah, I was thinking just typical dnd level stuff, spell based and powered by mana, that sort of thing.

Ummm can I jump in here and say I'd really rather not do it based on the Cosmere? I'm not against fanfiction, I've written my fair share, but using a Cosmere magic system would mean I have to look it up to remember the details, and I've avoided the Coppermind because of WaT spoilers . . . . I'd rather do something vague then try and copy a Cosmere thing.

If you want help with the worldbuilding, let me know!

I would personally agree with the Cosmere thing. 

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

I actually agree with JM! Not for the same reasons, but I think it'd be fun to do something more original.

Well, "original."

Y'all get what I'm saying.

[Through the Living Wrath he/him]

HEY HOW COME I WASNT PINGED!

This seems so interesting!

13 hours ago, Through The Living Glass said:

I actually agree with JM! Not for the same reasons, but I think it'd be fun to do something more original.

Well, "original."

Y'all get what I'm saying.

I agree here. The whole point of this thread is to highlight different styles of writing, so giving something concrete kinda defeats the purpose.

[TwinStorm He/Him]

13 minutes ago, SpiritOfWrath said:

HEY HOW COME I WASNT PINGED!

This seems so interesting!

I agree here. The whole point of this thread is to highlight different styles of writing, so giving something concrete kinda defeats the purpose.

we can do generic worlds that don't need much world building instead, like a generic sci fi

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

1 hour ago, SpiritOfWrath said:

HEY HOW COME I WASNT PINGED!

This seems so interesting!

I agree here. The whole point of this thread is to highlight different styles of writing, so giving something concrete kinda defeats the purpose.

Exactly!

58 minutes ago, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

we can do generic worlds that don't need much world building instead, like a generic sci fi

That's also true.

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

23 hours ago, Magi said:

Yeah, I was thinking just typical dnd level stuff, spell based and powered by mana, that sort of thing.

Ummm can I jump in here and say I'd really rather not do it based on the Cosmere? I'm not against fanfiction, I've written my fair share, but using a Cosmere magic system would mean I have to look it up to remember the details, and I've avoided the Coppermind because of WaT spoilers . . . . I'd rather do something vague then try and copy a Cosmere thing.

If you want help with the worldbuilding, let me know!

5 hours ago, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

we can do generic worlds that don't need much world building instead, like a generic sci fi

5 hours ago, SpiritOfWrath said:

HEY HOW COME I WASNT PINGED!

This seems so interesting!

I agree here. The whole point of this thread is to highlight different styles of writing, so giving something concrete kinda defeats the purpose.

19 hours ago, Through The Living Glass said:

I actually agree with JM! Not for the same reasons, but I think it'd be fun to do something more original.

Well, "original."

Y'all get what I'm saying.

23 hours ago, Halcyon The Only said:

I would personally agree with the Cosmere thing. 

Okay. That's fair; maybe I'm just biased because I'm super familiar with at least Allomancy and some of Surgebinding, so I'd be able to write it easily.

I guess my general idea for suggesting it is it would ideally be something we're already familiar with, so it would cut down on time developing a context and allow more focus for writing, and comparing styles in something we're all familiar with. But I'm totally on board with making original settings.

(Also there is Time Machine function on the Coppermind to turn it back to a version before WaT came out, Magi, if you didn't already know)

And I might take you up on your offer for worldbuilding help; I didn't have much time to do it today. 

My idea right now is that there's a generic medieval empire (super original) that is slowly waning in power. It's in conflict with another smaller nation, and that's the war that the scene is a backdrop of. I haven't decided if the smaller nation's a previously conquered nation that declared independence, or a conquered nation trying to declare independence, or a nation that's in the process of an attempted invasion, or a nation that struck against the empire for some reason, or if they're fighting for a resource, or something else entirely. I just know there's a war between two nations, one an empire, one a smaller country.

The scene in my mind takes place at night, at a fortress-tower-walled town/base thingy. The viewpoint character is a young woman, a special operative, who's tasked with rescuing a prisoner from her side of the war. (I've had her fighting for the smaller nation, but we could have her be on the empire's side too.) Her personality in my mind is like if you gave Spensa Vin's upbringing and job. Serious, a little snarky, not easy to get along with, very skilled. (Also a cliche. You guys can work on that. It's just the vibe I have in mind.)

Her magic involves solidifying and manipulating shadows. Not super complicated; she can use them to climb up walls, make sharp tentacles to attack with, hide herself, stuff like that. (Think Pride from FMAB if you know who that is.)

She uses her magic to sneak in and break the guy out, and then supposedly character drama erupts due to a situation she was unaware of.

What do we think of that?

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

1 minute ago, The Bookwyrm said:

Okay. That's fair; maybe I'm just biased because I'm super familiar with at least Allomancy and some of Surgebinding, so I'd be able to write it easily.

I guess my general idea for suggesting it is it would ideally be something we're already familiar with, so it would cut down on time developing a context and allow more focus for writing, and comparing styles in something we're all familiar with. But I'm totally on board with making original settings.

(Also there is Time Machine function on the Coppermind to turn it back to a version before WaT came out, Magi, if you didn't already know)

And I might take you up on your offer for worldbuilding help; I didn't have much time to do it today. 

My idea right now is that there's a generic medieval empire (super original) that is slowly waning in power. It's in conflict with another smaller nation, and that's the war that the scene is a backdrop of. I haven't decided if the smaller nation's a previously conquered nation that declared independence, or a conquered nation trying to declare independence, or a nation that's in the process of an attempted invasion, or a nation that struck against the empire for some reason, or if they're fighting for a resource, or something else entirely. I just know there's a war between two nations, one an empire, one a smaller country.

The scene in my mind takes place at night, at a fortress-tower-walled town/base thingy. The viewpoint character is a young woman, a special operative, who's tasked with rescuing a prisoner from her side of the war. (I've had her fighting for the smaller nation, but we could have her be on the empire's side too.) Her personality in my mind is like if you gave Spensa Vin's upbringing and job. Serious, a little snarky, not easy to get along with, very skilled. (Also a cliche. You guys can work on that. It's just the vibe I have in mind.)

Her magic involves solidifying and manipulating shadows. Not super complicated; she can use them to climb up walls, make sharp tentacles to attack with, hide herself, stuff like that. (Think Pride from FMAB if you know who that is.)

She uses her magic to sneak in and break the guy out, and then supposedly character drama erupts due to a situation she was unaware of.

What do we think of that?

OoOoO I like that

That'll be fun!

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

4 minutes ago, The Bookwyrm said:

Okay. That's fair; maybe I'm just biased because I'm super familiar with at least Allomancy and some of Surgebinding, so I'd be able to write it easily.

I guess my general idea for suggesting it is it would ideally be something we're already familiar with, so it would cut down on time developing a context and allow more focus for writing, and comparing styles in something we're all familiar with. But I'm totally on board with making original settings.

(Also there is Time Machine function on the Coppermind to turn it back to a version before WaT came out, Magi, if you didn't already know)

And I might take you up on your offer for worldbuilding help; I didn't have much time to do it today. 

My idea right now is that there's a generic medieval empire (super original) that is slowly waning in power. It's in conflict with another smaller nation, and that's the war that the scene is a backdrop of. I haven't decided if the smaller nation's a previously conquered nation that declared independence, or a conquered nation trying to declare independence, or a nation that's in the process of an attempted invasion, or a nation that struck against the empire for some reason, or if they're fighting for a resource, or something else entirely. I just know there's a war between two nations, one an empire, one a smaller country.

The scene in my mind takes place at night, at a fortress-tower-walled town/base thingy. The viewpoint character is a young woman, a special operative, who's tasked with rescuing a prisoner from her side of the war. (I've had her fighting for the smaller nation, but we could have her be on the empire's side too.) Her personality in my mind is like if you gave Spensa Vin's upbringing and job. Serious, a little snarky, not easy to get along with, very skilled. (Also a cliche. You guys can work on that. It's just the vibe I have in mind.)

Her magic involves solidifying and manipulating shadows. Not super complicated; she can use them to climb up walls, make sharp tentacles to attack with, hide herself, stuff like that. (Think Pride from FMAB if you know who that is.)

She uses her magic to sneak in and break the guy out, and then supposedly character drama erupts due to a situation she was unaware of.

What do we think of that?

Ey!

I was in charge of characters!

tbh that's really good though, I like it  

[Through the Living Wrath he/him]

Ooooooooohhhhhhh

I already have some ideas.

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

4 minutes ago, SpiritOfWrath said:

Ooooooooohhhhhhh

I already have some ideas.

SAME SAME SAME

ehehehe

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

Ok so is this enough information for us to write? And we can fill in the gaps individually? 

[TwinStorm He/Him]

1 hour ago, The Bookwyrm said:

Okay. That's fair; maybe I'm just biased because I'm super familiar with at least Allomancy and some of Surgebinding, so I'd be able to write it easily.

I guess my general idea for suggesting it is it would ideally be something we're already familiar with, so it would cut down on time developing a context and allow more focus for writing, and comparing styles in something we're all familiar with. But I'm totally on board with making original settings.

(Also there is Time Machine function on the Coppermind to turn it back to a version before WaT came out, Magi, if you didn't already know)

And I might take you up on your offer for worldbuilding help; I didn't have much time to do it today. 

My idea right now is that there's a generic medieval empire (super original) that is slowly waning in power. It's in conflict with another smaller nation, and that's the war that the scene is a backdrop of. I haven't decided if the smaller nation's a previously conquered nation that declared independence, or a conquered nation trying to declare independence, or a nation that's in the process of an attempted invasion, or a nation that struck against the empire for some reason, or if they're fighting for a resource, or something else entirely. I just know there's a war between two nations, one an empire, one a smaller country.

The scene in my mind takes place at night, at a fortress-tower-walled town/base thingy. The viewpoint character is a young woman, a special operative, who's tasked with rescuing a prisoner from her side of the war. (I've had her fighting for the smaller nation, but we could have her be on the empire's side too.) Her personality in my mind is like if you gave Spensa Vin's upbringing and job. Serious, a little snarky, not easy to get along with, very skilled. (Also a cliche. You guys can work on that. It's just the vibe I have in mind.)

Her magic involves solidifying and manipulating shadows. Not super complicated; she can use them to climb up walls, make sharp tentacles to attack with, hide herself, stuff like that. (Think Pride from FMAB if you know who that is.)

She uses her magic to sneak in and break the guy out, and then supposedly character drama erupts due to a situation she was unaware of.

What do we think of that?

good good good

for the other prisoner being rescued, he was born in the same village as the operative and was friends with her, but quietly climbed through the ranks as a tactical genius. He's honest, and caring, though has become exhausted with warfare, and has started to hate fighting.

good?

[Mags she/they]

57 minutes ago, The Bookwyrm said:

Okay. That's fair; maybe I'm just biased because I'm super familiar with at least Allomancy and some of Surgebinding, so I'd be able to write it easily.

I guess my general idea for suggesting it is it would ideally be something we're already familiar with, so it would cut down on time developing a context and allow more focus for writing, and comparing styles in something we're all familiar with. But I'm totally on board with making original settings.

(Also there is Time Machine function on the Coppermind to turn it back to a version before WaT came out, Magi, if you didn't already know)

Oh, I completely get that, but I read the books years ago and I'm pretty bad at remembering stuff like magic system details . . . I know about the time machine function, though it's confusing to me and I've never used it. I'll have to get around to learning how at some point, I suppose.

Even if spoilers weren't a concern, I'd still rather not do a Cosmere magic system simply because I will have to go reread wiki pages either way, which will bog down the writing process and make things go a lot slower. Just personally, I think if the idea is to quickly write a single scene then it's easier to just do something vauge.

Plus, if we leave our own magic system on the basic side, then we can see how each person chooses to use and describe it in their writing, which could be very very fun. Y'know whereas we've all already read and heard descriptions of stuff like Alomancy, so it would come out sounding similar to Brandon unintentionally.

Quote

And I might take you up on your offer for worldbuilding help; I didn't have much time to do it today. 

My idea right now is that there's a generic medieval empire (super original) that is slowly waning in power. It's in conflict with another smaller nation, and that's the war that the scene is a backdrop of. I haven't decided if the smaller nation's a previously conquered nation that declared independence, or a conquered nation trying to declare independence, or a nation that's in the process of an attempted invasion, or a nation that struck against the empire for some reason, or if they're fighting for a resource, or something else entirely. I just know there's a war between two nations, one an empire, one a smaller country.

The scene in my mind takes place at night, at a fortress-tower-walled town/base thingy. The viewpoint character is a young woman, a special operative, who's tasked with rescuing a prisoner from her side of the war. (I've had her fighting for the smaller nation, but we could have her be on the empire's side too.) Her personality in my mind is like if you gave Spensa Vin's upbringing and job. Serious, a little snarky, not easy to get along with, very skilled. (Also a cliche. You guys can work on that. It's just the vibe I have in mind.)

Her magic involves solidifying and manipulating shadows. Not super complicated; she can use them to climb up walls, make sharp tentacles to attack with, hide herself, stuff like that. (Think Pride from FMAB if you know who that is.)

She uses her magic to sneak in and break the guy out, and then supposedly character drama erupts due to a situation she was unaware of.

What do we think of that?

I like this! PM if you want to talk further.

18 minutes ago, Halcyon The Only said:

Ok so is this enough information for us to write? And we can fill in the gaps individually? 

I think Wyrm wants to hammer out the worldbuilding a bit more, so it'd hold off for a bit, but soon!

3 minutes ago, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

good good good

for the other prisoner being rescued, he was born in the same village as the operative and was friends with her, but quietly climbed through the ranks as a tactical genius. He's honest, and caring, though has become exhausted with warfare, and has started to hate fighting.

good?

@The Bookwyrm

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

36 minutes ago, Halcyon The Only said:

Ok so is this enough information for us to write? And we can fill in the gaps individually? 

I still need to do some worldbuilding. I want every detail to be the same version to version, only writing style different, as per the idea of the experiment. And in order to do that I want to make sure all the details are hammered out as much as possible.

21 minutes ago, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

good good good

for the other prisoner being rescued, he was born in the same village as the operative and was friends with her, but quietly climbed through the ranks as a tactical genius. He's honest, and caring, though has become exhausted with warfare, and has started to hate fighting.

good?

Sounds good. I'll go with whatever you decide on characters. I will say, maybe make it so it's been a while since they've seen each other.

Also, the rescuer is less of a soldier and more of like a special agent, in my mind. She doesn't do tactics or battlefield fighting; she does sneaky operations and assasinations and whatnot.

[Mags she/they]

Okay so

Wyrmie and I are hammering out worldbuilding and premise details, but we want everyone to contribute to developing the two main characters.

So far we have:

2 hours ago, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

good good good

for the other prisoner being rescued, he was born in the same village as the operative and was friends with her, but quietly climbed through the ranks as a tactical genius. He's honest, and caring, though has become exhausted with warfare, and has started to hate fighting.

good?

My thoughts this idea specifically:

I think that it'd be easier to have the characters conflict with each if they don't know each other well, and it'll fit into one scene easier. Giving them history requires more exposition, and I'd have to think of a new drama catalyst. I'm fine with it if we decide to go with it, I just think we should explore other options.

Other ideas of mine:

--Both prisoner and protag being aligned with the smaller nation seems the go-to idea. Some variations could be that protag has never met prisoner, but has heard about him. She's defecting from the evil nation, and on her way out is rescuing this supposed hero because she wants to make a difference. The prisoner might take issue with trusting her, leading to our emotional conflict

--I like the name Anna, for her, because it fits a lot of settings and is pretty simple, but it's also just the first thing I thought of.

--Having a stricter personality would fit well with the deserter idea, maybe she's being snarky because it's her way of trying to break free on a personality level or something

--Her being skilled is another given, though we should think of some key flaws. maybe she overestimates herself, or jumps headfirst into problems without thinking because she's used to being the best. Like, she decides to rescue prisoner but doesn't think the plan all the way through. 

--maybe the prisoner wanted to stay in the prison for some kind of personal mission, and felt that the decline of the empire would make it so he could complete this 'inside job' so got he got himself captured. This would cause emotional conflict when our little girly comes to rescue him--maybe not my best idea, but its something

What are you guys thinking for our characters?

[TwinStorm He/Him]

4 minutes ago, Magi said:

Okay so

Wyrmie and I are hammering out worldbuilding and premise details, but we want everyone to contribute to developing the two main characters.

So far we have:

My thoughts this idea specifically:

I think that it'd be easier to have the characters conflict with each if they don't know each other well, and it'll fit into one scene easier. Giving them history requires more exposition, and I'd have to think of a new drama catalyst. I'm fine with it if we decide to go with it, I just think we should explore other options.

Other ideas of mine:

--Both prisoner and protag being aligned with the smaller nation seems the go-to idea. Some variations could be that protag has never met prisoner, but has heard about him. She's defecting from the evil nation, and on her way out is rescuing this supposed hero because she wants to make a difference. The prisoner might take issue with trusting her, leading to our emotional conflict

--I like the name Anna, for her, because it fits a lot of settings and is pretty simple, but it's also just the first thing I thought of.

--Having a stricter personality would fit well with the deserter idea, maybe she's being snarky because it's her way of trying to break free on a personality level or something

--Her being skilled is another given, though we should think of some key flaws. maybe she overestimates herself, or jumps headfirst into problems without thinking because she's used to being the best. Like, she decides to rescue prisoner but doesn't think the plan all the way through. 

--maybe the prisoner wanted to stay in the prison for some kind of personal mission, and felt that the decline of the empire would make it so he could complete this 'inside job' so got he got himself captured. This would cause emotional conflict when our little girly comes to rescue him--maybe not my best idea, but its something

What are you guys thinking for our characters?

I like the idea for the prisoner. I'll just call him Ferran for rn. 

another idea, it would be cool for Anna and Ferren to have clashing ideals, him valuing laws and her freedom maybe?

[Mags she/they]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

I like the idea for the prisoner. I'll just call him Ferran for rn. 

another idea, it would be cool for Anna and Ferren to have clashing ideals, him valuing laws and her freedom maybe?

Ooo that sounds like a good idea, and I like the name!! We'd have to figure out how someone who values laws got thrown in prison, unless he really is just primarily a war prisoner.

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

Just now, Magi said:

Ooo that sounds like a good idea, and I like the name!! We'd have to figure out how someone who values laws got thrown in prison, unless he really is just primarily a war prisoner.

Yes, war prisoner from the smaller nation, who got captured by the Great and Powerful Unnamed Empire