Topic: Reactor

[-<WillyP>-]

Reactor is a site I made for Descent fan-fiction. Several stories were posted but it never got the activity I had hoped for. Is there a general lack of interest in writing fan-fiction? Or have those who would write found reactor difficult to use? Is it a case of out of site, out of mind (pun intentional)?

I am wondering if there would be more activity if it was incorporated into the forum here, as a separate section but anyone who wanted to write could be given a child board and made moderator of it.

[Kaiaatzl]

I think it's more the case that fanfiction works by building off of the original story of whatever work, and Descent just doesn't have that much story to work with.

I think out-of-universe fanfics (like the one that my brother and I are working on that are about someone playing an incredibly messed up version of the game) are pretty rare, because they're just harder to come up with.  But that's probably most of what you can do with Descent (NumberZERO being an exception).
Oh, and just an FYI about our work -- we haven't given up on it, but we've put it on hold until we can come up with ways to modify the game itself because we've decided to do it as machinima with D2X-XL because it would be easier to tell the story in the best way.  But to do that we need to be able to act as the robots, and we also need several more people because we can't really "merge replays" the way we might do with a different engine, right now we only have three actors -- and we need a "cameraman" to actually shoot the video.  And voice actors.
So it might take a while for us to get started!

[Alieo]

Yeah, and that story I was about to do, I found I was building my own characters too much to just merge it with someone's existing work and make it a fan fiction. I've made it my own now and have cut all ties of PTMC origins, MD, Dravis, etc. The premise is still there that it takes place in the future and that the mines were established in the late 21st century, and then some converted into commercial venues in the early part of the 22nd century. Kind of like Star Trek, but remaining much more local.

Perhaps one day I will write MD and the PTMC back into the equation, but as of now, I want it to be my own work for the very simple fact that, "what-if" I come up with the next addictive story line like Harry Potter or the Twilight series? Sounds laughable, but if it becomes that popular, I'd be kicking myself if I just gave it all away for free. Ya know?

[TechPro]

I've had (and have) ideas I'd like to write, but 'life' is constantly getting in the way ... and I tend to let myself get distracted from it.

I think having Reactor in the form it was in appeared a bit ... overwhelming(?) ... to a person new to it, thus few actually decided to 'jump off' and try to use it.  A separate branch of forums like WillyP described may be to easiest and most practical method. 

A word of caution... We found on the Descent Fan Fiction site that many will start ideas, but very very few will actually get more than a couple posts actually done.  Lack of activity by all members of the site (except two) is the reason that site is now locked and will eventually 'die' (as far as the Internet is concerned).

[Alieo]

[Sidenote: Congrats to TechPro's 700th post!]

[VANGUARD]

yeah. I am one of many. I have so many ideas, I think good ones, but I can't write for the life of me.
It's not in me.

[Kaiaatzl]

Don't forget that there is lots of "fan fiction" already "written" for Descent itself -- thanks to level editors.

Right now I'm writing the briefing for a new mission I'm starting -- a sequel to the Apocalyptic Factor (already got permission from Sirius to use his characters).  It has a very interesting start -- maybe I'll spoiler the first few briefing pages for you.

[Scyphi]

I think it was a mixture of all three things in one degree or another. I think there is a general lack of interest for Descent-related fan fiction overall (Descent Fan Fiction was the only spot I ever saw that really contained more than one story), Reactor DID seem not terribly straightforward in terms of use (part of the reason why I haven't done much of it) and the fact that it IS out of site, out of mind, as you say.

There's also the fact that there truly IS only so much fanfiction you can write for the Descent universe. I have drabbled somewhat with it, more than others, probably, and sooner or later I'd struck a wall where it didn't seem...advantageous to continue, simply because I didn't know where to take it next. And what I DID write almost always added a new, foreign, element to it that wasn't actually Descent related, and pushed it AWAY from the Descent world, in fact.

So, in many ways, I've kind of given up on doing Descent fanfiction for all above reasons. If I had ever posted anything on Reactor, it probably would've just been repostings of things I posted on Descent Fan Fiction.

Although...I WILL admit that there's been ONE Descent fanfic I've been thinking off-and-on about writing that is essentially my take of a Descent IV...

But beyond that, I've got nothing.

[NUMBERZero]

The problem I had with it was the usability.

[Alieo]

yeah. I am one of many. I have so many ideas, I think good ones, but I can't write for the life of me.
It's not in me.

For people like you, you can team up with someone that is a good writer and basically tell them your ideas in abstract form and it's the writer's job to piece it together and make it a book. How do you think these dumb athletes come up with these 600 page biographies? lol

[Kaiaatzl]

If you can draw, that can be how graphic novels are made.

[VANGUARD]

but who will write my kind of stories? and what if they're great at writing and I just don't like the style?

[Alieo]

Then find a writer with a different style. You can be kind of the "director" of the story, and communicate with your writer: "No no no this is not what I want. Jake is a MAAAN! Not a pu--" You get the idea. If it doesn't work out, get another writer. Have them write a few prototype, or "pilot chapters" for you or read what they've previously written. If you like reading, familiarize yourself with different writers' styles. Say the writer has a good writing style but is creating a wimpy image of a character you revere, like Jake in the example above. Come up with character profiles, likes, dislikes, goals, fears, preferences, brief history of upbringing, etc; and let the writer put the jigsaw pieces together. This can be done! Great ideas should NOT go to waste. Also, if you just don't feel like writing the whole story, create a basic outline of what direction you want to take the story, then present that to the writer.

[Kaiaatzl]

Then find a writer with a different style. You can be kind of the "director" of the story, and communicate with your writer: "No no no this is not what I want. Jake is a MAAAN! Not a pu--"

A pupa?  That's kind of an interesting idea.  Maybe I'll write a short story about a race of intelligent butterflies who have to wake up a pupa that's gone into a coma, and his name is Jake (because this is a parallel universe to Earth and the butterflies are the parallel to humans).

[Scyphi]

For people like you, you can team up with someone that is a good writer and basically tell them your ideas in abstract form etc...

Assuming I like the idea too (because that would make things go smoother) I wouldn't be against being in arrangement like that, where somebody's giving me the basic material to write into a story.