Melrick

9611

Turn Me Loose ~ Loverboy

9608

9606

Yeah well some people see Mary Sue's when there simply aren't any to see. You can safely ignore people who say it's a Mary Sue.

Ah I see, thanks.

On my profile thingy, to the left, under the blue "Member" button, I have 5 little black (or possibly dark grey) squares. Erm... is that a good thing or a bad thing?

9603

Well to truly know if it's a Mary Sue or not, I'd have to know you much better than I do - which is not at all - but unless you weigh 475 pounds and have detachable legs, I'd have to say it doesn't sound terribly Mary Sue-ish to me.

9601

9684

Okie dokie, I'll give that a try, thanks.

Is it normal to have to log in sometimes several times a day, even though I have it selected to remember me? I didn't have this problem with the old forum, so I'm wondering if settings have been changed regarding that or if it's just me for some odd reason.

9545

9543

I have a whole range of name generating websites bookmarked to help out. I even have a couple of suburb name generators, which have come in handy.

I agree with the previous two people. I don't mind editing at all, and I find it an integral part of the writing process itself, and is really no different at all. No matter how carefully I write, I always find errors when I proofread my story. And it's not just errors, I ALWAYS find better words and phrases to use, and even whole paragraphs, things that only make my story better. One technique many writers use is to just get the story down, and then refine it in proofreading. Professional authors will proofread their entire novel multiple times, from start to finish, before it's submitted to the publisher, even highly successful authors. So proofreading shouldn't be seen as a chore, but as a great chance to improve on your story.

There’s perhaps one thing you could expand on a little more with the Mary Sue explanation, and that’s about how almost all Mary Sue’s are basically the perfect version of the person themselves, so they tend to think and act how they themselves do, just more… perfectly. Characters that are flawed are always much more interesting to read, and to write, than those that are perfect. They allow you to explore new areas and interests, perhaps forcing you to do some research on new areas for your character, which will only expand your own personal knowledge. And if you’re writing about something you’re unfamiliar with, research really is necessary. Characters that are different from yourself certainly take more effort to write, that’s true. For instance, perhaps you’ve always been a very happy go lucky person that’s always positive, but your character is moody and gloomy, with a negative view on everything. Obviously that type of character would require the person to really delve into areas that they’re not familiar with, but the pleasure and satisfaction they would get from the end result is great. Your character WON’T know what other people are thinking. Far too often I’ve seen characters that amazingly know what someone else had only THOUGHT rather than said aloud. Read other people’s posts carefully, so you don’t misunderstand things. If you don’t understand something about the post, email that person your question. Explain that there are different types of simming. Simming is a word I’m personally more familiar with when it comes to role playing with a group. “Sim” is short for “simulation”. There’s live simming, where people gather somewhere, such as a private chat room or on IRC, and things happen pretty much in real time. And there’s email simming, where the people sign up on a email list server and when people write a post, they email it to the listserv and it automatically gets redistributed to everyone on the list. The different sims require very different styles of role play. When it comes to email simming, joint posts are a possibility. That’s where you approach another person on the sim to jointly write a post. You write a bit, email that to the person, they write a bit, send it back to you, etc, until you’re both satisfied with the post and then email that to the listserv. They’re a fun way to write, but don’t automatically assume a person wants to joint post with you, and don’t get offended if they choose not to. Role playing simulations are often headed by a game master of some kind. It’s usually this person’s job to push stories in certain directions, involve plot twists, adjudicate over conflicting posts or arguments, and generally keep things running smoothly. This is the person you really need to listen to and follow what they say. If you don’t like how they run the sim, find another one or start your own. Each sim is run differently, so it’s important to know the rules of that sim BEFORE you join up. Most sims don’t allow – or at the very least, hate it – when a person suddenly introduces a huge and unexpected plot twist that drastically changes the direction of the sim. Do NOT do that unless you’ve had permission of the game master first! Also, if people don’t have, and can’t afford, a word processing software then they can get a very good free word processor from www.openoffice.org. Their program is called “Writer”.

I do think it's very important that you find some gentle way to tell her that her role playing sucks donkey dick. Otherwise she's only going to do it over and over again, and nothing will ever change. She obviously gets some enjoyment out of role playing, but she needs to try and understand that if she plays it the right way then she'll get even more enjoyment out of it, and so will others role playing with her. Role playing really isn't something you can do for any length of time without rules. I've seen role playing groups (sim's) descend into chaos because too many people decided to just do their own thing, regardless of what others in the sim were doing, and the inevitable result is always for the sim to come to an ignominious end sooner rather than later. When I ran my own sim, I was strict in applying the rules, but not in an overbearing way, and the result was that the sim ran a lot smoother with most people being happy. But as far as your friend is concerned, I feel it's vital that she's made to understand that her style of role playing is basically wrong, and is not conducive to good role playing. And a little lesson would be good on why Mary Sue's are okay to start with when you're a beginning writer, but is something she really needs to move away from as soon as she can!

I'm 35, although I had to do some quick calculation to work that out.

I think the only way to go is with honesty. Try to do it with lies and they'll end up coming back to bite you on the arse. And assuming you still want to be friends with the person, that's not the way to go. I think the best thing you can do is to tell them in an honest, but friendly and diplomatic way, that you feel there's no real point in going on with it because she seems unable to fully understand the concepts of role playing. The only way an RP can successfully go for any length of time is when both (or all) people involved can fully understand and cooperate with things, to give and take, otherwise it's going to end in a shambles, or with people arguing, or usually both. And since you're clearly the more experienced role player out of the two, she should understand that the advice you've been giving her is out of experience, because you've been there and done that and know what should and shouldn't happen in RP's. Tell her gently that the role play you're doing now has effectively ground to a halt and there's very little point in continuing with it. Tell her that she really needs more experience, and to listen to the advice of experienced people, before you'll be able role play with her again, but you're looking forward to doing it again as soon as that happens. Some people will take offence whatever you do or say, so she may still be offended. If that's the case, and you know you haven't done or said anything out of spite or nastiness, then all you can do is shrug your shoulders. If she's sensible and mature then she'll understand and take your point. If not, then... It's sad that she seems unable or unwilling to listen to what you're saying, but maybe this will be the push she needs to understand that she really is going about it the wrong way and to change. Good luck.

If you don't have Microsoft Word and can't afford it then there's an excellent free alternative available. It's a part of the OpenOffice suite. They have various programs like in the Microsoft Office suite. Writer is a part of their suite and has most of the stuff that Word has, including spell checking. It might be worth checking out.

*Chuckles quietly to myself*

I’ve been reading accusations, foot stamping and finger pointing, as well as “my dad could beat your dad” style of arguments. I honestly couldn’t care less who stole what website from whom. Hamburglar could have stolen it from Ronald McDonald for all I care. What I do know is that for a long, long time the site seemed stagnant, nothing was really being done with it, no changes being implemented, no improvements being made. I’m talking from the perspective of an outsider, by the way, not as someone who had the faintest idea of what was going on behind the scenes. I didn’t know – or cared – who owned the site before, and I didn’t know that someone else now apparently owned it. What I did see was that the site was finally moving forwards, things were being done, improvements were being made. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to work with the antiquated system the website is based on, so any improvements were a great thing and a credit to the person/people fiddling with the code. So is the website now going to move back into stagnation? As far as missing money is concerned, I haven’t the faintest clue if there’s money missing or not, and to be honest, neither really does anyone else, it seems. Embezzlement is a very serious accusation, so the very first step should be to prove that there is definitely money missing, and then things can go from there. But what is absolutely crystal clear to me is that not one single solitary cent should be donated to this site by ANYONE until a proper, trustworthy system is in place for handling the incoming money. Because even if no one did steal money this time, clearly it’s rather easy for someone to do just that in the future. I realise there’s no such thing as a guarantee in life anymore, and that when someone donates to a site like this, it’s done so based on trust, but the system in place at the moment seems rather a shambles and certainly inspires absolutely no trust at all in me. Now I can go back to keeping my thoughts to myself.

Refdesk * Refdesk is great one-stop source for references and facts. Bartleby * Another good reference site. HowStuffWorks * A very good site to find out how a wide range of stuff works. Want to know exactly how Viagra works, for example? This site will tell you much more than you ever cared to know. WebMD * If your story involves anything medical, or if your character suffers from a certain ailment/desease then this site will describe to you everything you need to know about it. Writers Free Reference * This site provides external links to a huge range of different information. Law Enforcement Jargon * Excellent if one of your characters is a cop. Character Jobs * Not sure what job to give your charater? This site provides a list of them! This url takes you to the contemporary jobs, but the site also has fantasy/medieval and science ficture/future job lists. Erotic Quills * Lots of good advice on writing erotica. Serendipity * Various name generators, using the Seventh Sanctum generator codes. Suburban Name Generator * Want to create a name for your town/suburb? This might help. Squid.org * Some rather good fantasy-type name geneators. Namator * A contemporary name generator.