The Worst Part Is, I Can't Even Blame Someone Else · 9:53pm Jun 5th, 2013
I've been working on two stories lately, and one of them has been incredibly frustrating. It's a sequel to Mortal set about six hundred years afterwards, and while the general shape of the story has been coming together as well as can be expected, a big chunk is refusing to be non-terrible no matter what I do. I have probably spent a couple of weeks trying to figure this out.
Well, it turns out the problem is embarrassingly simple! I forgot to put conflicts in those scenes. This is literally the most basic structural issue that can exist. It's the first thing I check for when I try to figure out why someone else's story is boring. (I'd say "you would be shocked how many authors don't have a conflict until eight hundred words in," except you're already on fimfiction, so you probably know exactly how common that is.) I have an actual checklist* to make sure every scene avoids this pitfall because it is that important. And yet somehow I still missed this.
For weeks.
Now that I figured it out, I can move forward again, so this story has a happy ending. There's probably a moral in here, somewhere. Perhaps "never lose sight of the basics," or "checklists are useless if you don't use them," or maybe just "writing is hard."
* (1) Who do we care about? (2) What does she want? (3) Why can't she have it?
I am going to try using that checklist.
> (1) Who do we care about? (2) What does she want? (3) Why can't she have it?
Is that list taken from some famous author's writing advice? #1 sounds like Vonnegut (wasn't one of his nine "Give the reader someone to root for" or some such?) and the other two sound vaguely familiar.
Either way, good stuff.
But what if the character is male?!
What checklist would you use then? Huh?!
But seriously, I hope that you're able to boot the rest of your story into shape now! Hooorah~
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If memory serves, I lifted that from The Fiasco Companion. You've played Fiasco, right? If not, do.
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Have, once. Want to, more. Going through a bit of a roleplaying drought 'round here.
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On further reflection, I think the quote had something to do with Leverage, so it's probably from Rob Donoghue's blog? I don't even know anymore.
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You're not going to be at Bronycon, are you? You'd have to cross a lot of amber waves of grain and all that, but if so, I can try to whip up a Ponyville playset to go with the softer aftermath table and see if that lets us tell a story in the style of Ticket Master or Suited for Success.
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The odds of me ever showing up at any convention east of the Rockies are astronomically small, alas, though I will be at Everfree Northwest in a month's time.
But: Ponyville playset? Please? This is a thing that needs to happen!
(If I take it NW with me, I can most likely roust up a game with Silver Quill, Gemini Star and some of their friends/roommates.)
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This does need to exist, but a month's time? Hm. I'm going to be busier than usual until mid-July because of reasons. Left to my own devices, I probably won't get to this until late July or early August. Still, we may be able to work something out.
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Considering that a Fiasco playset would only be about 100 words (a paragraph of flavor text and the 36 entries in the d6 generation tables), maybe I ought to just take my tongue out of my cheek and make that my prompt for the birthday thing. This would mean torturing you less, but on the other claw I'd get to take partial credit for unleashing something genuinely cool on the world. Hmm.
Or, yes, I could throw money at your good causes. Is the $10 rate a floor, or does it scale down? $1 to commit you to it would be a ludicrous value.
… or I could tear myself away from Oblivion and do it myself, I suppose.
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You've underestimated the work by a factor of four. There are tables for Relationships, Needs, Objects, and Locations. And of course that wouldn't be enough; you'd also need to completely rework the tilt and aftermath tables. (I looked up the soft version. "Is your life—and the lives of those you care most about—completely ruined? Definitely." That's not even the worst outcome. Gonna need a tiny bit more softening to fit MLP.)
So yeah. Ten moneys, if we're doing the "throw money at GiveWell" approach. As you've pointed out, there are other approaches that also lead to a Ponyville playset this month. I'll declare that this is in bounds for the giveaway, if you feel like dropping one of your other prompts.