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Post by Nester the Lark on Dec 16, 2013 22:26:50 GMT -5
Well, it's been forever since I've tried to do any real creative writing, but lately I've had a sudden inspiration to take another crack at it. I was thinking back to our attempts at collaborative fan fiction from some years back, and I think those didn't really work out. With the story constantly passing from one person to the next, it wasn't able to achieve a focus or consistency. However, I still like the idea of doing something collaborative.
So, I've come up with a different idea: interactive fan fiction. The way it works is that I'll be writing the whole story myself, but you guys will help by creating characters and other things that I will put into it. You'll also be able to affect the story in a "choose your own adventure" style as I'm writing it.
Additionally, I'll let you guys pick what the fan fic is based on. Your choices are Super Mario, Donkey Kong Country, Star Tropics and Nester's Adventures (the Nintendo Power comic, not me). I chose these for two reasons: 1) I've been wanting to try writing comedy again, and 2) these are series I'm familiar enough with that I feel comfortable writing fan fiction for. (Sorry Kirby and Pokemon fans.)
Let me know what you guys think and if you're interested in contributing. I'll keep the poll open for a week so you have plenty of time.
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Post by Manspeed on Dec 17, 2013 9:53:59 GMT -5
My patriotism says Donkey Kong Country but my fan of obscurity says Star Tropics.....DECISIONS.
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Post by nocturnal YL on Dec 17, 2013 15:20:29 GMT -5
Nester (the NinDB member)'s Adventures!
...Well, to be more serious, I'm not familiar with Nintendo Power (I'm from the eastern side of the world) or StarTropics (really should start trying that someday), and I don't think Donkey Kong is that much fiction-worthy. Mario has all the potential to become a complete mess when it comes to making fan fiction in the wrong hands ("Oh why Nintendo why do we never see Waluigi outside of spinoffs oh never mind I'll make my own fanfiction of Waluigi and Insert_fan_char_here!!!!"). I'll pick none out of these four.
I'm never a fan of the whole create-your-character thing, or having a weird mixture of new and old personalities of existing characters (by that standard, Smash Bros. is a series of pretty awful official "fan"fics), although I do want to see the opportunity to write stories based on what are already there. I once wrote something based on FE10 in a different forum. That's just a retelling of the story from a character's perspective, but it was fun.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Dec 17, 2013 17:39:45 GMT -5
Actually, I'm kinda glad you brought this up. There's a stigma attached to fan fiction that doesn't exist for fan art. I think it's easier to look at a fan art and accept it as an interpretation or tribute to a particular character or franchise. Fan fiction, on the other hand, is kind of a different beast. It's not just about depicting characters or a world, but telling a story with it. And that might involve developing things in a way that makes them harder to accept because it doesn't quite fit the source material. Or maybe it just seems more pretentious. I don't know. (And I'm not even going to get into the fetishistic side of things.) Even with official storylines in games, when people don't like it, they say it's like fan fiction. As far as this project is concerned, I can't say I have any definitive plans for anything until I know exactly which game/property I'll be writing about. But personally, I think it's important to maintain the tone and spirit of the source material. I also prefer character-driven stories, so there will probably be at least some light development in that regard. Here are some thoughts on each case: Super Mario - I'm not super familiar with a lot of the "side" stuff. I've never played any of the Paper Mario or Mario & Luigi games, so I'll be keeping it firmly in "Adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom" territory. It'll probably be similar to the early '90s Super Mario Adventures comic from Nintendo Power. Donkey Kong Country - I actually think this one might be easier to write for, as there are quite a lot of characters to play with. (The series almost got a case of Sonic-syndrome in that regard.) My biggest decision here is whether or not I should give DK a voice. StarTropics - This one might be less about characters and more about the world it's set in. That might give me a little more flexibility in terms of storytelling. Nester's Adventures - There's a couple of different directions I could go with this. The comics depicted Nester as both living in the real world, and hopping through video game worlds. Not sure which one I would go with, but I would keep Nester as a kid rather than the adult he became later on. It'll be tricky to translate him from a visual character to a strictly literary character, though. As for original characters, I understand where you're coming from. But for an "interactive" fan fic, there needs to be something that other people can contribute to the story, and characters are probably the best way to do that. I would prefer it if they fit within the given world, however. I'll have some minor guidelines for that when I dish out assignments (if anyone signs up). |
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Post by Leon on Dec 17, 2013 19:10:30 GMT -5
I voted for Star Tropics because it has the greatest potential. Literally anything can happen in Star Tropics.
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Post by Shrikeswind on Dec 17, 2013 20:01:34 GMT -5
Star Tropics. I've been around the fan-fic community and I can say from experience that Mario and Donkey Kong don't lend well to fan-fic. They're too goofy for really deep character arcs, and a lot of the time, they're so gamey that the translation to text is really awkward.
Plus, kindling some interest in an obscure franchise? Always a good thing.
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Post by Wildcat on Dec 18, 2013 9:59:10 GMT -5
I'm going to also vote for Star Tropics.  |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Dec 18, 2013 15:03:34 GMT -5
Honestly, I'm a little surprised as the Star Tropics love. I thought most of you guys would pick Mario. I mean, I know this is NinDB and you guys love the obscure, but I thought that might be more about obscure games that were only released in Japan, not obscure games that were never released in Japan. But no matter. I'm getting psyched about writing a Star Tropics fan fic now! I'm totally going to fill it with late '80s/early '90s slang!  |
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Post by Shrikeswind on Dec 18, 2013 19:48:03 GMT -5
Honestly, I'm a little surprised as the Star Tropics love. I thought most of you guys would pick Mario. I mean, I know this is NinDB and you guys love the obscure, but I thought that might be more about obscure games that were only released in Japan, not obscure games that were never released in Japan. But no matter. I'm getting psyched about writing a Star Tropics fan fic now! I'm totally going to fill it with late '80s/early '90s slang! Well, as I said, it's a hard road to hoe. You pretty much have to be Lewis-freakin'-Carroll to successfully write Mario. And while I'm not saying you couldn't, sifting through the dross of "Mario's pulsating, mushroom-enhanced" anything would likely render it somewhat obscure, if enjoyed by those who love it. If you think you can pull Mario, by all means do so, but with Star Tropics, you aren't changing the game, you're inventing it, which, as a writer, I can say is a much more thrilling notion. (In any case, you didn't give us any obscure Japan-only games. =P Likely would still have said Star Tropics though.) So in the end? Make this totally radical, dude. I know you can do it. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Dec 18, 2013 22:20:02 GMT -5
Heh. Thanks, Shrikes!
To be honest, Mario was the option I was personally least interested in, mainly because that world is just kinda dull. I mean, the games, themselves, don't even try to have much of a story. But at the same time, it was the challenge of trying to write a fan fic for it and make it good that intrigued me. Trying to find a solution to that problem was the exciting part.
Star Tropics, on the other hand, is already story-driven, so the creative process becomes more mechanical, and that's a little less engaging. Still, I think I've got a good idea for it.
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Post by Manspeed on Dec 19, 2013 17:07:35 GMT -5
mainly because that world is just kinda dull. Well, you didn't play any of the Mario RPGs, so... |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Dec 19, 2013 18:38:07 GMT -5
I've played Legend of the Seven Stars, but that's it.
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Post by Manspeed on Dec 20, 2013 10:58:42 GMT -5
Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi beat it by a country mile.
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Post by TV Eye on Dec 20, 2013 14:44:52 GMT -5
Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi beat it by a country mile. So much this. Seven Stars aged pretty badly in my opinion. I think the people who claim it's better than even the second Mario and Luigi have some serious nostalgia goggles. Granted, it was longer but the story and characters were just so...meh. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Dec 20, 2013 14:57:09 GMT -5
Well, back on topic, it doesn't look like StarTropics will be overtaken in the poll, so I'll just lock it in. StarTropics it is!
Also, no one has signed on to to be a contributor, so I guess I'll be doing all the creative work myself. No problem with that, but I thought it would be fun to make it a collaborative project. I guess I'll still do the "choose your own adventure" thing, unless you guys would rather just read a regular ol' fan fic.
So, give me some time to develop my ideas, and then I'll get to writing!
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