Suggestion for Writer's Base Daily Conversations!

[Michael92]

This is an awesome idea, though, I'd like to know, is this just that, an idea, or is someone gonna make this happen, and if so, when?

I originally though for this thread to be exact that, but with Escorpiius posts and his fair points, it's more of a "test/suggestion" version as off now. If it happens, it will either be a thread like this or a new sub-forum will most likely be made, as part of an update to the Creative Writing Forum. How it will happen depends on how we decided to establish it by having certain rules and a good enough setup on how it will work. When it happens depends on us (what we're able to decide/come up with) and whether or not the Staff (Escorpiius most likely) decides to apply/accept the idea and form/make something out of it.

 

[BazzBee]

Well this ought a be interesting.

 

[Germanicus]

So yeah, I have a sort of philosophical question for you guys. I'm all for empowering female and have them treated equally in fanfiction/novels/movies as man. And a question that I really hate is the matter of violation/rape. Basically, after a fight, a woman is raped, a man is imprisoned or killed. It's always like that. I wanted to empower a victim of a rape in my next ff, but it might be just too cliché, or even work against what I wanted to do in the first place. I can have someone avoid a rape by saving herself, or I can have someone avenge a rape. Maybe have someone do to man what man typically do to women in these fight/war/medieval genres. Or maybe rape is too strong of a subject to post in the base. What do you guys think?

I would call that a bit too extreme for the base, cause there are kids, but then again, they watch naruto, so how innocent are they really? Mods might not like it, would be the.main problem i would foresee.

Now, have you ever thought, since you want to defy normal roles of gender in the fantasy genre, about a woman saving a man from rape? It would save you from having to directly talk about rape and yet imply it at the same time, as well as reversing the stereotype. A woman plays hero and saves the dude.

 

[Lili-Chwan]

I would call that a bit too extreme for the base, cause there are kids, but then again, they watch naruto, so how innocent are they really? Mods might not like it, would be the.main problem i would foresee.

Now, have you ever thought, since you want to defy normal roles of gender in the fantasy genre, about a woman saving a man from rape? It would save you from having to directly talk about rape and yet imply it at the same time, as well as reversing the stereotype. A woman plays hero and saves the dude.

Yes, I like that idea! I have a clouded plot in my head now, just need to shape it now xD. Thanks for your help.

Seems like most people are for this idea ^_^



Well it's an interesting subject, and like you said it is indeed a subject to tread carefully with at the base. I've seen FFs evolving around foul language (lots of swearing including vile *** related words), and even being close to the term of rape (well the "final" chapter of one of them actually displayed a rape scene), and both of them were written by the (un)famous John Constantine and both were banned/discussed heavily.

I don't really know what to say to aid you in your question, but I'm sure someone more qualified (Escorpiius, ThatOneChick, Germanicus, etc) can help you out when and if they check out this thread again.

I think it indeed is a matter of playing with the words to soften the issue. I won't have explicit ***, or anything of the sort, but enough to deal with the subject

 

[Michael92]

Well this ought a be interesting.

Even more people to the cause ^_^

I would call that a bit too extreme for the base, cause there are kids, but then again, they watch Naruto, so how innocent are they really? Mods might not like it, would be the main problem i would foresee.

Now, have you ever thought, since you want to defy normal roles of gender in the fantasy genre, about a woman saving a man from rape? It would save you from having to directly talk about rape and yet imply it at the same time, as well as reversing the stereotype. A woman plays hero and saves the dude.

Yeah good idea, I agree, and I was right when I listed you as a capable person top give a proper answer =p

Yes, I like that idea! I have a clouded plot in my head now, just need to shape it now xD. Thanks for your help.

I think it indeed is a matter of playing with the words to soften the issue. I won't have explicit ***, or anything of the sort, but enough to deal with the subject

Indeed, you might want to talk to Sara (Lawliet) about it as well, as John had to go through her first to be "allowed" to post his chapters (as in asking her about each of his releases, showing her his chapters beforehand), although he often ignored her help and her suggestions, bypassing the bulletin board and getting most of his chapters banned and trashed in the end. His FF; "The Past creates the Future" is a prime example on this, and perhaps an example on what you shouldn't do. It was his 4th chapter that got trashed due to it containing a vile and highly explicit rape scene.

Although knowing you, I highly doubt you will be anywhere near what he wrote, and the way you state your idea seems pretty harmless too.

 

[Seffy]

I'm all for making the Writers' base better and I admit that you guys lack platform compared to GFX Base/Art Base and that's a bit why Fanfiction was only recently updated to Writers' Base. Thereby, we are yet to make it, more perfectible.

Here are some points I wanna state:

1. Perhaps you should choose a more fanfiction-related title for this thread. By having Writers' Base, I may move this thread into

You must be registered for see links

to include our Poetry friends to discuss too. Whether you wish that or not, that depends on you.

2. I want rules written for a thread like this. That is; following Global Rules, keep it clean and keep it fanfiction-related. This is not to be transformed into a chat platform like every Fanfic Voting threads.

Decide yourselves on these, and I shall see what I can do. For now, I'd edit this thread into a suggestion mode and I'll sticky it. Suggest carefully and precisely the type of platform that you need here. We shall make something more 'Official' once you made up your minds.

We will try to behave! XD

So yeah, I have a sort of philosophical question for you guys. I'm all for empowering female and have them treated equally in fanfiction/novels/movies as man. And a question that I really hate is the matter of violation/rape. Basically, after a fight, a woman is raped, a man is imprisoned or killed. It's always like that. I wanted to empower a victim of a rape in my next ff, but it might be just too cliché, or even work against what I wanted to do in the first place. I can have someone avoid a rape by saving herself, or I can have someone avenge a rape. Maybe have someone do to man what man typically do to women in these fight/war/medieval genres. Or maybe rape is too strong of a subject to post in the base. What do you guys think?

An interesting plot and there's nothing wrong with empowering a woman.

Seems like most people are for this idea ^_^

Well it's an interesting subject, and like you said it is indeed a subject to tread carefully with at the base. I've seen FFs evolving around foul language (lots of swearing including vile *** related words), and even being close to the term of rape (well the "final" chapter of one of them actually displayed a rape scene), and both of them were written by the (un)famous John Constantine and both were banned/discussed heavily.

I don't really know what to say to aid you in your question, but I'm sure someone more qualified (Escorpiius, ThatOneChick, Germanicus, etc) can help you out when and if they check out this thread again.

Seems to be a good idea and I don't see how I qualified for that. >.>

I would call that a bit too extreme for the base, cause there are kids, but then again, they watch naruto, so how innocent are they really? Mods might not like it, would be the.main problem i would foresee.

Now, have you ever thought, since you want to defy normal roles of gender in the fantasy genre, about a woman saving a man from rape? It would save you from having to directly talk about rape and yet imply it at the same time, as well as reversing the stereotype. A woman plays hero and saves the dude.

I agree but a woman saving a man from rape, seems unrealistic to be honest. However if she does go with this idea she will need to develop her characters well enough so that this situation can seem realistic to a reader as they want something that they can see/believe. XD

Yes, I like that idea! I have a clouded plot in my head now, just need to shape it now xD. Thanks for your help.
I think it indeed is a matter of playing with the words to soften the issue. I won't have explicit ***, or anything of the sort, but enough to deal with the subject

Not the words pure say (stating bluntly a rape, ect.) but the actions (the means you take in showing the audience what is going on) you want to take in your story.

Even more people to the cause ^_^



Yeah good idea, I agree, and I was right when I listed you as a capable person top give a proper answer =p



Indeed, you might want to talk to Sara (Lawliet) about it as well, as John had to go through her first to be "allowed" to post his chapters (as in asking her about each of his releases, showing her his chapters beforehand), although he often ignored her help and her suggestions, bypassing the bulletin board and getting most of his chapters banned and trashed in the end. His FF; "The Past creates the Future" is a prime example on this, and perhaps an example on what you shouldn't do. It was his 4th chapter that got trashed due to it containing a vile and highly explicit rape scene.

Although knowing you, I highly doubt you will be anywhere near what he wrote, and the way you state your idea seems pretty harmless too.

All in all I agree, ask Lawliet first like Michael said. Better safe than sorry.

However I must say that it's easy to show a rape without being blunt around the actual topic. Play heavily on subtle hints and correct conversations to lead the reader into seeing what was going on without showing it in depth. If you tried to do it this way, then you could by pass the rules since none would be broken.

 

[Michael92]

We will try to behave! XD

An interesting plot and there's nothing wrong with empowering a woman.

Seems to be a good idea and I don't see how I qualified for that. >.>

I agree but a woman saving a man from rape, seems unrealistic to be honest. However if she does go with this idea she will need to develop her characters well enough so that this situation can seem realistic to a reader as they want something that they can see/believe. XD

Not the words pure say (stating bluntly a rape, ect.) but the actions (the means you take in showing the audience what is going on) you want to take in your story.


All in all I agree, ask Lawliet first like Michael said. Better safe than sorry.

However I must say that it's easy to show a rape without being blunt around the actual topic. Play heavily on subtle hints and correct conversations to lead the reader into seeing what was going on without showing it in depth. If you tried to do it this way, then you could by pass the rules since none would be broken.

In other words, you're with us on this idea ^_^ I told Reborn I would use you as my secret weapon to turn him over yesterday, as he was really pessimistic about the whole idea xD

 

[Seffy]

In other words, you're with us on this idea ^_^ I told Reborn I would use you as my secret weapon to turn him over yesterday, as he was really pessimistic about the whole idea xD

I do see his way also. The whole contest thread is for this particular topic as well. Lawliet allows everyone to talk about whatever they want and so on as long as they are following the rules. Truth be told, it's not needed to have another thread like that. Also there is a chatterbox section as well that you can make up threads to stir up conversations and such. I'm on the fence with this idea really, since either could be seen as people spamming and wanting to improve their post count.

 

[Michael92]

I do see his way also. The whole contest thread is for this particular topic as well. Lawliet allows everyone to talk about whatever they want and so on as long as they are following the rules. Truth be told, it's not needed to have another thread like that. Also there is a chatterbox section as well that you can make up threads to stir up conversations and such. I'm on the fence with this idea really, since either could be seen as people spamming and wanting to improve their post count.

Yep, that's not what we want at all really, it would and should be like Escorpiius suggested if at all. That's why I lined out some "possible rules and key points" on how we should "act" on such a thread, and what would be the purpose of it, on the last page of this thread. Things like Vilvake posted in the winner's thread, and what Lili posted here, are prime examples on "preferred" topics in such a thread/section.

 

[Seffy]

Yep, that's not what we want at all really, it would and should be like Escorpiius suggested if at all. That's why I lined out some "possible rules and key points" on how we should "act" on such a thread, and what would be the purpose of it, on the last page of this thread. Things like Vilvake posted in the winner's thread, and what Lili posted here, are prime examples on "preferred" topics in such a thread/section.

Still it's not needed to have a section where other parts of the forum qualify for what ever topics are brought up seems pointless. >.>

 

[Michael92]

Still it's not needed to have a section where other parts of the forum qualify for what ever topics are brought up seems pointless. >.>

I think my previous posts to Reborn applies here too;

Yeah, but there is always a wait between each month, and there's always bound to be interesting topics/regular discussions aborted, just because the contest ends. Here, we won't have to worry about that, and we could also limit the "none contest related topics" in the FF contests too by having this thread on the side.
And the Social Group is pretty dead these days, to be frank few people uses "discussions" in social groups anymore as they also limits what we can do with our posts.

Yeah, and there is that too! Being as it's a social group, people will have to find it and join it to participate, this is a much more visible and easier way for them to do so.

The purpose is to talk about things, being social. Let's say you have an idea for a FF and want to talk about it or discuss it with your fellow writers? Not too many places you can do that fast and efficient, or let's say you want to talk about different subjects like becoming an author, etc? The reason it occurs every month in the FF contests, is because there isn't any other place like it to do exactly that, until now.

 

[Seffy]

I think my previous posts to Reborn applies here too;

There is a chatterbox section for people to talk about whatever they want. This would be included in that section.

 

[Michael92]

There is a chatterbox section for people to talk about whatever they want. This would be included in that section.

I give up trying to persuade you xD

 

[Vilvake]

I do see his way also. The whole contest thread is for this particular topic as well. Lawliet allows everyone to talk about whatever they want and so on as long as they are following the rules. Truth be told, it's not needed to have another thread like that. Also there is a chatterbox section as well that you can make up threads to stir up conversations and such. I'm on the fence with this idea really, since either could be seen as people spamming and wanting to improve their post count.

There is a chatterbox section for people to talk about whatever they want. *This would be included in that section.

I think we should stop considering what's in other parts of NB. Why shouldn't there be a discussion thread in the relevant forum? Do we discuss the manga in chatterbox? Or sports in chatterbox? Or even video games or books or other anime? No, you do it in their specific forums. Why should Writer's Base be left out? And I don't think off-topic talk in the contest thread is a better medium. To be honest, I feel that you and reborn are looking at this backwards.

Also, if having a discussion could be seen as people spamming, then I guess all of NB is one massive spam-fest.

~~~~~~~~~~

What could be discussed on this thread:

- Inspiration behind story

- How to create a strong beginning that hooks your reader

- Plot and how to make it engaging

- Story Structure

- Genres and the differences in writing them

- How to use description effectively

- Tips on making your prose flow

- Developing a voice

- Proper grammar

- Literary devices

- Themes to give your writing deeper meaning

- Creating interesting, unique characters

- Writing natural sounding dialogue

- Setting and how it should be introduced, described, etc.

- Using imagery to engage a reader's imagination and interest

- Tips on revising your work

- Posting snippets of your story and getting advice

- If members of NB would be interested in an idea you have

- Describing your current chapter's progress or announcing a release date

- General discussion on NB writers and stories from the past, present and future

The list is endless.

 

[Seffy]

I think we should stop considering what's in other parts of NB. Why shouldn't there be a discussion thread in the relevant forum? Do we discuss the manga in chatterbox? Or sports in chatterbox? Or even video games or books or other anime? No, you do it in their specific forums. Why should Writer's Base be left out? And I don't think off-topic talk in the contest thread is a better medium. To be honest, I feel that you and reborn are looking at this backwards.

Also, if having a discussion could be seen as people spamming, then I guess all of NB is one massive spam-fest.

~~~~~~~~~~

What could be discussed on this thread:

- Inspiration behind story

- How to create a strong beginning that hooks your reader

- Plot and how to make it engaging

- Story Structure

- Genres and the differences in writing them

- How to use description effectively

- Tips on making your prose flow

- Developing a voice

- Proper grammar

- Literary devices

- Themes to give your writing deeper meaning

- Creating interesting, unique characters

- Writing natural sounding dialogue

- Setting and how it should be introduced, described, etc.

- Using imagery to engage a reader's imagination and interest

- Tips on revising your work

- Posting snippets of your story and getting advice

- If members of NB would be interested in an idea you have

- Describing your current chapter's progress or announcing a release date

- General discussion on NB writers and stories from the past, present and future

The list is endless.

If it were that important, then use social groups. That's what they are there for! I didn't say I was against the idea either as I see it would be easier and blah blah blah. However would another mod (other than Escorpiius) even see it being necessary to have it? You're basically giving them another thing to monitor and having being present for these conversations you guys are referring to, it ALWAYS turns into spam. -_-

 

[Michael92]

I think we should stop considering what's in other parts of NB. Why shouldn't there be a discussion thread in the relevant forum? Do we discuss the manga in chatterbox? Or sports in chatterbox? Or even video games or books or other anime? No, you do it in their specific forums. Why should Writer's Base be left out? And I don't think off-topic talk in the contest thread is a better medium. To be honest, I feel that you and reborn are looking at this backwards.

Also, if having a discussion could be seen as people spamming, then I guess all of NB is one massive spam-fest.

~~~~~~~~~~

What could be discussed on this thread:

- Inspiration behind story

- How to create a strong beginning that hooks your reader

- Plot and how to make it engaging

- Story Structure

- Genres and the differences in writing them

- How to use description effectively

- Tips on making your prose flow

- Developing a voice

- Proper grammar

- Literary devices

- Themes to give your writing deeper meaning

- Creating interesting, unique characters

- Writing natural sounding dialogue

- Setting and how it should be introduced, described, etc.

- Using imagery to engage a reader's imagination and interest

- Tips on revising your work

- Posting snippets of your story and getting advice

- If members of NB would be interested in an idea you have

- Describing your current chapter's progress or announcing a release date

- General discussion on NB writers and stories from the past, present and future

The list is endless.

I could not agree more to this, great post.

If it were that important, then use social groups. That's what they are there for! I didn't say I was against the idea either as I see it would be easier and blah blah blah. However would another mod (other than Escorpiius) even see it being necessary to have it? You're basically giving them another thing to monitor and having being present for these conversations you guys are referring to, it ALWAYS turns into spam. -_-

I don't know if you've noticed, but we (yes, me and you) are like the only two person that uses the Writer's Block these days, Social Groups was a thing back in 10-11 but has died since. Trust me on this I know, as I even have my own Social group with way over 100 members and it couldn't be more dead no matter what I try. Writing something in a Social Group... You might as well write something down on a piece a paper and flush it down the toilet, hoping for someone to get it, read it and reply to you xD

So the Social Group(s) doesn't count as a medium no more. There's a reason why I hesitated like crazy before I joined the Writer's Block, because I knew it would die sooner or later. Then we have the Contest threads... It's the only place we writers actually can talk and reach out to each other, so that's why people turn there, like Vilvake previously stated. Some spam and off topic posts are bound to happen there, but that happened before people started talking for real about FFs too. If we have an own place like Vivake (and Escorpiius) suggested, then that would help take off a lot of "heat" from the FF contest's "spamming" (if that's what you like to call it), and it would leave more room for people to talk about the actual contest (who they are voting for and all that), and it would be easier for people to find exactly those posts, instead of scrolling through 10 pages of someone talking about Tolkien and TLOTR before finding them.
Conversations about what Sam ate for dinner are bound to happen in the contests regardless, as long as Lawliet allow it to be, so that shouldn't be the same concern here, as with this platform, we will have some ground rules (much like the forum games and the chatterbox have) of what you can and can't do. Here's the thread I was referring to in my first post;

You must be registered for see links

It's a perfect example how the sport section has an own thread dedicated to football, and all talk happening there is about football (and it's reached over 46 pages since it was made by Escorpiius), so why shouldn't the FF section also have such a thread or a platform, I mean, the Art & GFX section have one like Escorpiius stated, and since the FF section is up for an update, then why not. This is the last thing I'm going to say in the matter though, time to let someone else do the talking for a change or this will never happen xD =p

 

[Seffy]

I could not agree more to this, great post.



I don't know if you've noticed, but we (yes, me and you) are like the only two person that uses the Writer's Block these days, Social Groups was a thing back in 10-11 but has died since. Trust me on this I know, as I even have my own Social group with way over 100 members and it couldn't be more dead no matter what I try. Writing something in a Social Group... You might as well write something down on a piece a paper and flush it down the toilet, hoping for someone to get it, read it and reply to you xD

So the Social Group(s) doesn't count as a medium no more. There's a reason why I hesitated like crazy before I joined the Writer's Block, because I knew it would die sooner or later. Then we have the Contest threads... It's the only place we writers actually can talk and reach out to each other, so that's why people turn there, like Vilvake previously stated. Some spam and off topic posts are bound to happen there, but that happened before people started talking for real about FFs too. If we have an own place like Vivake (and Escorpiius) suggested, then that would help take off a lot of "heat" from the FF contest's "spamming" (if that's what you like to call it), and it would leave more room for people to talk about the actual contest (who they are voting for and all that), and it would be easier for people to find exactly those posts, instead of scrolling through 10 pages of someone talking about Tolkien and TLOTR before finding them.
Conversations about what Sam ate for dinner are bound to happen in the contests regardless, as long as Lawliet allow it to be, so that shouldn't be the same concern here, as with this platform, we will have some ground rules (much like the forum games and the chatterbox have) of what you can and can't do. Here's the thread I was referring to in my first post;

You must be registered for see links

It's a perfect example how the sport section has an own thread dedicated to football, and all talk happening there is about football (and it's reached over 46 pages since it was made by Escorpiius), so why shouldn't the FF section also have such a thread or a platform, I mean, the Art & GFX section have one like Escorpiius stated, and since the FF section is up for an update, then why not. This is the last thing I'm going to say in the matter though, time to let someone else do the talking for a change or this will never happen xD =p

I agree but let me throw this back at you.... You said that people stopped using the social groups and only communicate in the contest threads now, correct? So what's stopping people from acting the same towards another thread? It's just as likely to happen as it would have been if the social groups remained allowed to post their own threads, just saying. Point is the contest thread ALWAYS gets the attention and will continue to maintain our attention for conversations. So knowing that, what is truly the point of having a sticky thread as we always revert back to the contest threads and discuss all of the above topics mentioned ANYWAYS?

Edit: If Lawliet truly felt like we were spamming in HER thread, she would have nipped it in the bud when we first started doing it instead of encouraging it.

 

[Vilvake]

I agree but let me throw this back at you.... You said that people stopped using the social groups and only communicate in the contest threads now, correct? So what's stopping people from acting the same towards another thread? It's just as likely to happen as it would have been if the social groups remained allowed to post their own threads, just saying. Point is the contest thread ALWAYS gets the attention and will continue to maintain our attention for conversations. So knowing that, what is truly the point of having a sticky thread as we always revert back to the contest threads and discuss all of the above topics mentioned ANYWAYS?

Edit: If Lawliet truly felt like we were spamming in HER thread, she would have nipped it in the bud when we first started doing it instead of encouraging it.

What restaraunt would very likely get more business - the one located in a nondescript alley, or the one in a busy shopping center? Don't compare a thread in the relevant section to a social group.

And the contest thread gets off-topic discussions because there's no good alternative, it's as simple as that. Also, there hasn't even been one available to post in for days... that should be reason enough for an official discussion thread

 

[Michael92]

I agree but let me throw this back at you.... You said that people stopped using the social groups and only communicate in the contest threads now, correct? So what's stopping people from acting the same towards another thread? It's just as likely to happen as it would have been if the social groups remained allowed to post their own threads, just saying. Point is the contest thread ALWAYS gets the attention and will continue to maintain our attention for conversations. So knowing that, what is truly the point of having a sticky thread as we always revert back to the contest threads and discuss all of the above topics mentioned ANYWAYS?

Edit: If Lawliet truly felt like we were spamming in HER thread, she would have nipped it in the bud when we first started doing it instead of encouraging it.

But then again, the Social Groups always were another matter, they always were a smaller part of the forum. In fact, I didn't even know they existed before 2011. two years after I joined. There's just something about the formula that people don't "buy," so they die...

Actually, yes, because of the fact that you know there's a lot of "BS" conversation/spamming in the Contests, so you often avoid scrolling through the pages, because you know you have a slim chance of finding anything related to actual writing. There are times where I don't bother posting at all in the Contests threads because of how it is these days, and when I do, it's often because I'm bored, and just feel like posting for the sake of it. With a real platform, you'll know what you get and it will be organized. We still don't know if this will go through or not, and quite frankly, it's not really that important to me personally, but I do believe it would be a nice add to the writing community, and that's why I feel that this idea is genuine (and probably why other people feel the same).

Edit: Have you thought that we having daily conversations in the FF Contest threads, have helped bring more attention to the Contests, upping its popularity and even getting more voters (on good and bad)? If it wasn't because of this, I'm sure she would have set her foot down a long time ago.

What restaraunt would very likely get more business - the one located in a nondescript alley, or the one in a busy shopping center? Don't compare a thread in the relevant section to a social group.

And the contest thread gets off-topic discussions because there's no good alternative, it's as simple as that. Also, there hasn't even been one available to post in for days... that should be reason enough for an official discussion thread

Mhm.

 

[Rei]

So yeah, I have a sort of philosophical question for you guys. I'm all for empowering female and have them treated equally in fanfiction/novels/movies as man. And a question that I really hate is the matter of violation/rape. Basically, after a fight, a woman is raped, a man is imprisoned or killed. It's always like that. I wanted to empower a victim of a rape in my next ff, but it might be just too cliché, or even work against what I wanted to do in the first place. I can have someone avoid a rape by saving herself, or I can have someone avenge a rape. Maybe have someone do to man what man typically do to women in these fight/war/medieval genres. Or maybe rape is too strong of a subject to post in the base. What do you guys think?

I would rather keep this subject outside of NB. I understand that there should be no limits in art, but NB is a family forum and sometimes we get reports from members' parents over the content here.
You can imply it, put it as an underlying message, but don't write any explicit details or descriptions. This goes for both genders, there's no difference to me.