11 KiB
Working on a long rat!fic serial, wondering if anyone is interested in talking A LOT about superpowers
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Author: u/callmebrotherg now posting as /u/callmesalticidae*
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/4gmbwb/working_on_a_long_ratfic_serial_wondering_if/
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Score: 23
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Created: 2016-04-27T02:05:49
Post:
[I've set up an account on Slack to handle this, on the advice of a munchkineer. If you'd like to join, then let me know the email address that you'd like for me to send the invitation to.]
I'm currently working on a long web serial for /r/rational. The tl;dr is that it's about kids with superpowers. A longer pitch is below the line. Now that I've just about figured out the power sets for every last character, I'd like to go over them with someone from this subreddit to make sure that everything's sane, there aren't any unexpected overlaps, etc.
I should warn you, though: There are one hundred power sets to go over. We'll probably do them in sets of five or ten, but still.
(Once I have this step done, it should be a 4-6 weeks before I can start posting. My schedule is really flexible until September, so right now I can put several full days of work every week into finishing everything else and building a good backlog).
The Pitch
On 1 January 2014, one hundred thirteen-year-olds find themselves empowered with strange abilities. One can slow down time; another can see (and experience) your death in the future; a third can share thoughts with pigeons.
When the dead can be brought back to life, entropy violated, and shadows turned into tangible machinery, an extraordinary world is just around the corner. But before these kids can transform the world, they'll have to keep from destroying it--and stay safe from those who aren't willing to take the chance.
Comments:
u/gabbalis [+19] (an hour later)
another can see (and experience) your death in the future
P=NP solver. GG.
u/CaptainCrayfish [+18] (an hour later)
DO NOT MESS WITH TIME
u/callmebrotherg [+9] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (2 hours later)
But what if I really want to? >:]
u/Hollow_Soldier_Armor [+2] (3 hours later)
Oh well in that case...
u/aeschenkarnos [+5] (4 hours later)
I vill mess with time! I vill!
u/eaglejarl [+12] (9 minutes later)
Why not just post them here with a title like:
[SPOILERS][RT] Powerset for $STORY_NAME
Getting one person to commit that much time is a big ask, and won't get you as good an analysis as crowdsourcing it.
u/callmebrotherg [+8] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (18 minutes later)
What /u/PeridexisErrant said. I might already be on thin ice, which is why I made sure to mention that Posting Is (effectively) Imminent. Hopefully this will be enough to satisfy the dread mods.
u/PeridexisErrant [+10] put aside fear for courage, and death for life (30 minutes later)
Hopefully this will be enough to satisfy the dread mods.
The ice isn't that thin yet, and more importantly you've clearly read the rules and are trying to stay within them.
we will take our pound of flesh, thoughI'm looking forward to reading this story :)
u/callmebrotherg [+8] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (41 minutes later)
1 pound of flesh = 1 post, then?
(Say, could this also function as a "lose weight fast!" method? I mean, do the eldritch mods choose which pound of flesh is taken, or is it the poster's choice?)
u/PeridexisErrant [+5] put aside fear for courage, and death for life (50 minutes later)
I mean, do the eldritch mods choose which pound of flesh is taken, or is it the poster's choice?
That closest to the heart, or a finger from the writing hand. (Note: blood is of course covered by the arbitration clause in our EULA)
u/callmebrotherg [+2] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (53 minutes later)
This can at least remove fat around the heart, then. Good to know. >:]
u/eaglejarl [+3] (12 hours later)
Ah, true. I had forgotten that. Well, just create your own sub; a few people will join and that solves the problem neatly. Or, if you'd like; you can use /r/changestorms. Given as I'm not playing in the Change Storms universe right now it would be good if there were something to help keep that sub alive. If you want to let me know and I'll make a topic post saying that it's cool.
u/callmebrotherg [+2] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (14 hours later)
I've got a few people taking a look at things, but I've got some other powers (not intended for this serial) that I could post to help keep the sub alive, if you'd like.
u/PeridexisErrant [+12] put aside fear for courage, and death for life (14 minutes later)
Because /r/rational demands a fell sacrifice for such power: one chapter per brainstorming post.
u/eaglejarl [+2] (12 hours later)
Edit: You aren't OP. Content moved.
u/luminarium [+10] (17 minutes later)
A hundred power sets? Even if your story eventually gets to 300,000 words, that's only 1,000 words per power set, which is barely anything. You'll be spreading yourself too thin, and won't be able to fully develop these power sets. And then your readers will think you're just rambling all over the place. And then your readers will stop reading.
You can also run into a situation where readers get upset because any difficulty in the storyline is overcome by someone with a different power showing up (deus ex machina). I strongly recommend you start with just 1 or 2 power sets, that way it'd be easier for readers to understand all the limitations involved and thus understand your story better. And if you really want to make rational fic, it's imperative that the limitations are well known by the reader. Code Geass and Death Note do very well in this regard: well-developed, singular powers that drive multi-season story arcs.
u/alexanderwales [+16] Time flies like an arrow (31 minutes later)
The most likely way to structure a story like this is that you focus on two or three primary characters, who get the bulk of the word count, and then have another five or six antagonists, who also get more fleshed out. Then everyone else is relegated to the back burner, mentioned in passing or as part of a larger group, or killed because they're early cannon fodder.
u/callmebrotherg [+5] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (33 minutes later)
Not everyone is a point of view character, or even be on screen for very long. I could start talking about just a few power sets, I guess. I'm the sort to want to get everything figured out and polished before the curtains lift, but maybe that's going overboard on a project like this.
(Though, this is also going to be closer to the length of HPMOR)
u/Spychex [+2] (4 days later)
I should add that I think it's a fine idea to at least know what all the powers on for certain cases. For example Character A asks Knowledgable Person B who is the fastest or is there anyone who can do X? Especially where these make a difference to your setting whether they exist or not it can be important to know ahead of time.
u/callmebrotherg [+1] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (5 days later)
Yes. I can get pretty obsessed with having every detail figured out ahead of time, even though I'm not bad at improvisation. This is kind of a product of that obsession.
u/alexanderwales [+4] Time flies like an arrow (32 minutes later)
Sure, I'm up for it, especially since I don't think I'll ever write my own superhero series.
u/callmebrotherg [+3] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (2 hours later)
Thanks! I'll get the first batch to you tonight or tomorrow.
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+3] Roll the Dice on Fate (18 hours later)
Consider crossposting this to the relevant section of SpaceBattles and/or SufficientVelocity. If you want to get people to argue the toss about the details of powers and then skim the best bits off the top, they're a pretty good place to go.
u/mhd-hbd [+2] Writes 'The World is Your Oyster, The Universe is Your Namesake' (3 hours later)
/u/ArmokGoB is always interested.
(I am a close friend of his, know him well enough to speak for him.)
u/ArmokGoB [+1] (2 days later)
I am!
u/ketura [+2] Organizer (a day later)
PM sent. I'm not the world's greatest munchkiner, but I do like to think I'm alright at poking holes in things.
u/None [+1] (4 hours later)
I'm not an author but I'm a pretty serious munchkiner and this sounds super fun. I'm also going to have a lot of free time between now and the end of August.
u/callmebrotherg [+1] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (4 hours later)
Sent a PM!
u/2BR02B [+1] Marxist-Lurianism (11 hours later)
I'd be down. Real life is pretty quiet right now, so I have the time and inclination to munchkin.
u/CitrusJ [+1] (12 hours later)
I can help munchkin some powers as well, though like other commenters said crowd-sourcing will definitely get you the best results in terms of feedback
u/vakusdrake [+1] (18 hours later)
Well I spend most of my time thinking about how to exploit superpowers and magic systems anyway, so I'm definitely up for this.
u/callmebrotherg [+1] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (20 hours later)
At the request of someone else who's working on the powers, I've set up an account on Slack. If you want to join, then let me know what email address I should send an invitation to.
u/vakusdrake [+1] (20 hours later)
I can't figure out how to send pm's but my email is iamnotverycreative1@gmail.com
u/callmebrotherg [+1] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (20 hours later)
Sent!
In case you need to send a PM in the future, click on someone's username and then Ctrl+F "send a private message"
u/KnickersInAKnit [+1] (a day later)
What is Slack and how does it work, because I'm interested.
u/callmebrotherg [+2] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (a day later)
It's... some sort of IRC forum. That's how it looks and feels, anyway, but I only heard about it starting yesterday.
u/KnickersInAKnit [+2] (a day later)
I'm not sure how I feel about a writing project being discussed on a platform called Slack. That's like some kind of terrible self-fufilling prophecy.
u/callmebrotherg [+1] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (a day later)
Agreed.
u/rational_rob [+1] (6 days later)
I could help.
u/callmebrotherg [+1] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (6 days later)
Do you have an email address that I can use to send you an invitation to the Slack forum?