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TSC Campfire: A place where we can talk.

Tags: #TSC 
  • Member
    July 20, 2017

    I find it works best when the quests are used as a guide. A mix of both imagination and game play. It keeps the readers in the familiar world of TES/Fallout while allowing room for fresh characters and ideas. 

    @Tenebrous, how far into your story do you plan out and do you allow your characters room to go off in new directions?

    @Legion, have you thought about a short series based around one or a few characters? Maybe the story telling of a play through or of one of your favourite quest chains?

  • Member
    July 20, 2017

    Sotek said:

    I find it works best when the quests are used as a guide. A mix of both imagination and game play. It keeps the readers in the familiar world of TES/Fallout while allowing room for fresh characters and ideas. 

    @Tenebrous, how far into your story do you plan out and do you allow your characters room to go off in new directions?

    @Legion, have you thought about a short series based around one or a few characters? Maybe the story telling of a play through or of one of your favourite quest chains?

     

    This is a difficult question for me to answer. I tend to plan a lot of details well in advance, but sometimes the story takes a life of its own, and I modify my plans accordingly. Other times, I curb the changes and stick to my original plan. So, it's variable, I guess. I also have to say I agree wholly with your explanation about the mix of imagination and gameplay; honestly, I was kind of trying to say that myself, but you put it way better than I could. :P

  • Member
    July 20, 2017

    @Sotek

    I have thought about it, but haven't really moved on it. The closest I've come is a Fallout story with two original characters going on what could be considered a quest, but I never finished it. Looking at it now, it's terrible. Just...awful. So I'm thinking I'll dig back into it and post my edits here if that's fine. Just to show the differences. 

  • Member
    July 20, 2017

     I'll dig back into it and post my edits here if that's fine. 

    What the howl do you mean if that's fine? Seeing TSC writer's develop their skills is one of the great things about being a member/host (Either, doesn't matter). When you look at someone's story, pick anyone...... ANYONE and compare their initial pieces to their current works and you can see a difference. 

    This comes back to why I feel Feedback is so important. it's fundamental in helping writers grow. It would be great to see some of your early works with comparisons. 

     

  • Member
    July 22, 2017

    So this unfinished story is pretty old at this point and it's pretty much ass. It's ostentatious and just plain purple. Dreadful word choices, no pacing, no context, flat characters, and a story that starts slow as frozen molasses. 

    The whole plot was that Piper's apprentice goes out on a job with this mercenary Roy to get a story, but Roy gets killed and she has to fight her way out of a really intense and unfamiliar situation. Problem is, that's not the story I should have been writing. She wanted a story, but that thread never gets resolved, so it's really a non-starter. The drug operation exposition never went anywhere either. I didn't edit anything like I said I would, as I would simply start a new story altogether. But if anyone has any thoughts on anything that looks salvageable, I'd love to hear them. 

    Edit: If things read poorly, it's because this was a first draft. 

    Elissa took a long drag of her cigarette and blew a plume of smoke out that caught the wind and wafted back into the face of Roy, her subject for the afternoon.

    Roy glared straight into Elissa’s eyes while keeping their pace on the road, making sure she saw him before he spoke.

    “Of all things to learn from Piper, it had to be smoking? Put that out. I can’t take the shot if I’m coughing, and if I can’t take the shot, then we’re both dead.”

    Elissa kissed her teeth at Roy’s remark and met his stare, dropping her hand to her side.

    “This is my last one.”

    “Is it really worth dying over?”

    “I thought you were the best - you mean to tell me a little smoke will stop you?”

    “No, but it will stop you from getting your interview. We do this my way, or not at all.”

    “Fine.” Elissa stopped to ground the end of her cigarette into the asphalt, covering her face from the heat of the melting black tar. Roy continued on and Elissa was forced to jog back to his side to make up the distance. She returned the beaten cigarette to her plaid breast pocket with her matchbook and pulled out her notebook and pencil from the small satchel she had slung across her torso. “So then, let’s continue. Where are we going?”

    “This place up northwest, just outside of the Commonwealth. Small piece of land that used to be a farm for a while.”

    “Used to be?”

    “Yeah, some guy killed the farmers, set up a drug operation, and let the food go to shit. One of the family wants the farm back and so they hired me to make sure it gets done.”

    Roy watched Elissa scratching notes out of the corner of his eye while he directed most of his attention to the tree lines and hills around them. A few moments down the road, while Elissa was still struggling to write her shorthand notes and keep up with Roy’s pace, Roy diverted off the road without a word and headed into the forested area he had been eying.

    “Hey!” Elissa called. “Are you leaving me behind?”

    Roy did not stop, but only swiveled his head and said, “The farm is this way.”

    Elissa closed the gap once more, panting as she continued her line of questioning, having to speak over the growing sounds of cicadas chorusing their summer songs from the theaters of their trees.

    “Farmers aren’t rich, yet I know for a fact that you don’t come cheap. How did you end up taking this job?”

    “This was a successful farm, mind you. They had a good amount saved, plus some valuables they threw in to cover the difference. Revenge…it knows no price.”

    “Do you extort your customers?”

    “Extort them? No, I tell them my rate and walk if they don’t accept. I don’t negotiate.”

    “Then how can you afford to stay in business?”

    “Well, since our police-state brethren of the sky are no more, peace is in high demand. People pay me to restore that. I cost a lot, but I get the job done. And I don’t even come with the holier-than-thou attitude.”

    Roy and Elissa continued their traipse through the torrid hills serenaded by waves of hums and scribbling, coming to a large stretch of flat land dotted with dilapidated buildings and forgotten trellises. Roy stopped, putting his arm out to also stop Elissa from moving up any further. He covered his eyes from the sun and squinted into the distance for a few moments until finally gesturing towards a crumbled brick wall a few minutes northwest of their position.

    “That looks like a good spot.”

    “You sure? There’s not much there.”

    “No, but the angle is right. Gives us a good field of view.”

    “Us? So you do like having me along.”

    Roy averted his gaze for a moment to hide the sly smile that had set upon his lips. He reached for the rifle slung on his back to refocus to the task at hand as they approached the concrete slab that sat underneath the ruined, north-facing brick walls that the decay of time had not yet claimed.

    Inside, the sun beat down on them both as they found their places, uncontested in the cloudless sky. Roy knelt at the left-most piece of wall home to a crooked window sill as Elissa took a seat on the cracked concrete floor a few paces to his right, resting her back against piece of brick wall barely taller than she was. Roy cast an occasional glance her way as he worked his worn hands across the rifle, producing an orchestra of clicks, snaps, and colliding metal parts, preparing it for its singular purpose. Roy lifted the rifle to the window sill and put his eye up to the scope, remaining Elissa let out a heavy sigh and rolled to her feet, already beaten down and exhausted from the hike and relentless heat of the day.

    “Can I ask you a few more questions now?”

    “No - now is when you’re quiet.”

    Roy's jaw tightened as he spoke, the muscles pulsating in his face. Elissa didn't respond, but only returned to her slab of brick upon which she slumped, defeated. Roy kept his eye trained into the scope, scouting the distant brown and decayed fields of crops neglected, and trees long dead. He could hear Elissa scratching notes in her journal, though with no certainty what she was chronicling. It remained steady for a time, fading into the hums that came from the trees until it was broken by the sound of a striking match.

    Roy's focus was severed and he snapped his head towards Elissa, his face stern and red.

    "I told you not to light that damn -"

    Elissa recoiled, covering her ears and shutting her eyes at the ear splitting crack that broke the still air and sent Roy to the concrete floor in a heap. Paralysis rooted its way into her body as the red river beneath Roy cElissat towards her. Her heart hammered against her chest and shook each labored breath that she fought to take. Minutes slowed to hours and

  • Member
    July 22, 2017

    Edit: If things read poorly, it's because this was a first draft. 

    That's my excuse.....

    I cannot help but feel you judge yourself too harshly. I know I have imagination but I can see these two characters having the talk while they move into position. That's it.......

    The feel I get from this is from the film True Grit. 

    As short stories go you could quite easily end it here..

    Elissa recoiled, covering her ears and shutting her eyes at the ear splitting crack that broke the still air and sent Roy to the concrete floor in a heap. Paralysis rooted its way into her body as the red river beneath Roy cElissat towards her. Her heart hammered against her chest and shook each labored breath that she fought to take.

    Not every story needs a perfect conclusion. Sometimes leaving the story where a character is in dire peril is enough. 

    I won't post an extract from mine yet. I want to see what others think of yoru piece. 

  • Member
    July 26, 2017

    Here you go Shy.

    Pic 01

    Picture 02

    Picture 03

    Picture 04

     

    Which one do you think I should use?

    It's for Chapter 76 Runaway

  • Member
    July 26, 2017

    Picture 4 looks great

  • Member
    July 26, 2017

    Picture 4 it is then

  • Member
    August 1, 2017
    Yeesh, I've been gone a LONG damn time. I just thought of coming back out of the blue and I'm trying to catch up by reading some of this discussion. Glad to see everything is still thriving! :)