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[META] Proposal to Freeze Fenspace's "Now"
10-22-2010, 01:06 AM
I've been thinking (oh no!) on and off for a while about how we love advancing the "now" in Fenspace at the expense of actually finishing any of our stories. Yes, I'm just as guilty of that as the rest of the Collective... but I'd like to change things a bit.
We've got more than a few unfinished and untold stories - the first landings on Mars and Ganymede, the "launches" of Starbase 1, New Yavin, Stellvia, Prometheus Forge, ... heck, every space station out there, the building of the Lunar cities and Crystal Cities, the Boskone War, the SOS-Con that started off the Boskone War, the attack on Serenity-Con, Legend of Galactic Girls - heck, there are still a few major characters that don't have their origin stories completed yet. (looks at self, Bob, Cobalt, KJ, and RL-Mal) Sure, we know from FenWiki articles what happened with many of these, but we haven't actually sat down and written the stories. I can, should, and eventually will do something about Noah's, Leda's, and Noah's angels' origin stories, the launch of Stellvia, and Legend of Galactic Girls (the latter first), but that doesn't take very much out of the "unwritten" pile.
Thus, to encourage going back and filling in some of the holes we've ignored so far, I propose freezing the "now" of Fenspace at October 10, 2014 - the day (a) StellviaCorp declares independence from Earth and (b) Helen Scott is born. (These are two easy-to-identify events that make it relatively easy to indicate in-story whether a work is canon or Infinities.) I do not propose abandoning The South Is Rising, Someone Get A Hammer, but I'd like to see that as the only Infinities story we work on for a while.
This would not be a permanent freeze - just a measure for a few months until we get some of the backlog cleared.
If we do this, it'll encourage people to go back and tell some of the stories that we only allude to in the FenWiki. It'd also make it a bit easier for some of the wayward members of the Collective to return if they don't need to learn a decade's worth of in-story history that happened while they were away. However, it would also put a crimp in some folks' creativity if we say "please don't write a story set after September 2014," and that's a very important consideration. So...
Thoughts, everyone?
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While I'm not actively involved as a writer in this community on any level, perhaps I can offer a bit of perspective as a reader and, let's be honest, fan of your works here.
I'd love to see holes filled in. There's a really BIG HUGE GAPING one that constantly gets referenced - the Fall of Serenity/Serenitycon. SORRY! The Fall of Crystal Osaka is what I meant!
Talk about something HUGE and dramatic that would be the potential for one hell of a story! And it doesn't have to be all gloom and people dying, either. There can be moments of sheer, gutsy big damn heroes moments as people get rescued or rescue others from the falling city or fight back against the attackers (assuming it's an attack rather than some remote terrorist bombing thing).
But yes, Serenity Osaka will fall. Even if the attackers are caught/defeated personally/killed. So that lends some poignancy even in the most optimistic stories. Maybe your characters did all they could and felt good about their search and rescue operations, and then the numbers start to come in, and they realize how much was actually lost. Or someone close to them didn't make it, and now it's personal against the Boskones.
As we used to say back in the old days of Star Blazers fandom, "There is NOTHING more dangerous to the enemy than a smoking Yamato!"
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Agreed. This needs doing.
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The reason I set my 'now' in the 2019/2020 era was because I got the impression that people've already planned out most of these events somehow... and were just not doing it because it's such a big story to do, and hard to get everyone together to do it (well, TSIR is bloody huge for a collaborative one). It's like moving forward into fresh pastures, if you know what I mean.
I was staying out of them so I didn't muck them up, or crunch on other people's carefully laid plans. I specifically planned Ciara's Crew's story to keep them out of the way... just escorting convoy's coming in from the Ceres/Main Belt area into Port Phobos, while answering the odd distress call. And Jet was a sensitive data courier for the vast majority of the war(-> Nov 2013), with most combat action for her happening in 2014-2017 when Jet worked as a troubleshooter.
Though, SerenityCon does need to be written... if only because it'd be a hell of an awesome battle.
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Mm, I'm not as gung-ho about it, but I can see the logic. At the very least we should work towards wrapping up the two major setpieces from the Boskone War, Serenitycon and the end of the war. IMO these should be priority. Why? Well, this:
Quote:I'd love to see holes filled in. There's a really BIG HUGE GAPING one that constantly gets referenced - the Fall of Serenity/Serenitycon.
Serenity Valley. Does. Not. Fall. Period, it does not fall, it was never going to fall. And if people from outside the group are thinking that Serenity Valley is some sort of huge defeat for Fenspace, then we need to write it at least in order to turn away misconceptions.
Other stuff that needs doing: I need to actually finish Into The Great Wide Open, and at this point I'm just going to write as much of the bastard as I can since the RP bits have fallen by the wayside. I don't know if it's possible since we're already a man down, but I'd like to see Serenitycon and GWO finished or largely filled out by Christmas.
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Thought something involving Serenity/Venus fell. Maybe I have my wires crossed with something else (Checks Wiki)
Gaaah... ( FACEPALM) Ok. OOPS!!! I confused it with the Fall of Crystal Osaka!
From the Fenspace Wiki:
Quote:One of the most publicized tragedies of the Boskone War, well-known even among the 'Danes, is the Fall of Crystal Osaka. By January 2013, various attempts to track thionite production and shipments pointed to Crystal Osaka as a major source of broadleaf, and evidence existed that the Venus Terraforming Project and the Senshi had been infiltrated and compromised.
Sorry guys! My bad!! (And edited corrections into my post above.)
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Dartz Wrote:The reason I set my 'now' in the 2019/2020 era was because I got the impression that people've already planned out most of these events somehow... and were just not doing it because it's such a big story to do, and hard to get everyone together to do it (well, TSIR is bloody huge for a collaborative one). It's like moving forward into fresh pastures, if you know what I mean.
I was staying out of them so I didn't muck them up, or crunch on other people's carefully laid plans. I specifically planned Ciara's Crew's story to keep them out of the way... just escorting convoy's coming in from the Ceres/Main Belt area into Port Phobos, while answering the odd distress call. And Jet was a sensitive data courier for the vast majority of the war(-> Nov 2013), with most combat action for her happening in 2014-2017 when Jet worked as a troubleshooter.
Though, SerenityCon does need to be written... if only because it'd be a hell of an awesome battle.
Ah. So far, most of the Collective has done practically nothing with the Main Belt or Mars aside from setting up the geography and the Mars Terraforming Project, and putting A.C. and The Jason in the Belt and an AI in charge of the Helium Police Department. We've only set up the canvas and doodled in one corner - there's plenty of room for some real brush-strokes.
Nothing you're doing with Ciara's Crew could be seen as stepping on anyone's toes if you were to forklift-move it from 2019 to 2011, and making that move would give you an excuse to take part in all the "fun" parts of the Boskone War. If, OTOH, you'd rather stay out of the Boskone War, you can keep Ciara's Crew in 2019. You were there before I proposed the blackout; I don't mind if you stay...
Logan Darklighter Wrote:Thought something involving Serenity/Venus fell. Maybe I have my wires crossed with something else (Checks Wiki)
Gaaah... (FACEPALM) Ok. OOPS!!! I confused it with the Fall of Crystal Osaka!
'Sallright. As Mal said, it's a good reason to at least outline the SerenityCon story... and do the same with the Fall of Crystal Osaka, for that matter.
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M Fnord Wrote:Mm, I'm not as gung-ho about it, but I can see the logic. At the very least we should work towards wrapping up the two major setpieces from the Boskone War, Serenitycon and the end of the war. A temporary freeze until New Year's, then?
I can't promise to actually write much before December - I have a couple of courses coming up at work - but I can at least outline some things for other people to include in their stories...
--
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Ciara's crew are at the edge of the belt during the war... that's pretty much exactly why they're there. Nobody else is. They meet big bulk ore carriers coming in from the Belt, and escort fuel/food carriers on the way out. They're also the ones who first brought Haruhi into orbit.... they brought her to Stellvia, kicked her out the airlock, and were glad they'd probably never hear from her ever again.
It's Jet who I've set in 2019... mostly because of Jet's long and rather rambling origin story, which was supposedly written by Jet on her first mission for the Roughriders. Jet does have a story set in 2013, and was at SerenityCon, but most of her stuff happens post-war.
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Quote:A temporary freeze until New Year's, then?
To New Year's and then reevaluate based on the content produced, I think. If we've gotten enough stuff done, we can reopen the floating now. If not, then we keep the hold until the content's finished.
The things I want to see at least fully outlined and sizable sections of story done on are:
* Crystal Osaka
* Serenitycon
* Into the Great Wide Open (mostly on me)
* The final attack on Boskone Prime
* Mr. Fnord Goes To Washington (all on me, but there's not that much that needs doing to make it a coherent story)
...also at some point during this time period I'd like to get the first section or two of South Is Rising out the door & posted to !here places to drum up some interest.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
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I'd love to see "Land Rising Into The Sky" finished, too...
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Hell, "Convention Thread GO!" *Twiddles own thumbs about "Whys and Wherefores"*
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At some point in time I oughta see if I can write "To Meet The Queen" myself. It'd make a good home for that idea about a Blues Bros. reference Rob came up with:
"It's 106 AUs to Crystal Tokyo, we've got a full tank of handwavium, half a pack of Pocky, it's dark, and we're wearing fukus."
"Hit it."
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Quote:"It's 106 AUs to Crystal Tokyo, we've got a full tank of handwavium, half a pack of Pocky, it's dark, and we're wearing fukus."
"Hit it."
THAT sir, is a .SIG quote! *YOINK* ^_^
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And, while I've got LoGG outlined completely and parts of Chapter 4 written, I still need to put those pieces together... (With all these individual projects being brought off the back-burner, will we have time to write the SerenityCon battle?)
Logan Darklighter Wrote:Quote:"It's 106 AUs to Crystal Tokyo, we've got a full tank of handwavium, half a pack of Pocky, it's dark, and we're wearing fukus."
"Hit it."
THAT sir, is a .SIG quote! *YOINK* ^_^ You're welcome.
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After a quick skim of the archives, I've found a few useful threads for the "content factory". There are no doubt threads for other stories, but I don't have time to look for them right now...
Edit: I'll take a look at the Crystal Osaka stuff today, and see whether I can put together a GoogleDoc for it. (Never done that before, so I might need some help...)
Re-edit: It's up. See the post(s) below for details.
--
Rob Kelk
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Quote:(Never done that before, so I might need some help...)
It's very simple. You just need a Google login first if you don't have one already.
-- Bob
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Chiming in a little belatedly, I've got no problem with the freeze. I've got at least 3 story ideas set in seasons 0 and 1 that I've barely touched on, and only one vaguely defined idea for something set farther forward.
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The Fall of Crystal Osaka GoogleDoc is up and shared with Mal, Cobalt, BA, and Dartz (the only current writers for whom I have gmail addresses). I hope they can share it with the rest of the usual suspects...
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Rob Kelk
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Rob, it doesn't have to be gmail. Use my regular email and you can give me access as well. (As an example; I probably don't have anything to really contribute to that plotline.)
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Okay, you're on the access list for The Fall of Crystal Osaka, as is Ebony. (Gotta have the Blue Blazers involved in a rescue mission...) Who have I missed?
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I'm still trying to finish Terror in the Dark, and that's actually supposed to be set next month. (I was actually thinking about pointing out that Blackstone turned 40 just before the murders, but I haven't been able to work it in yet.) I have a slight timeline of Blue Blazer stories up to OBJ, but nothing completed. I'm all for a temporary freeze, especially since I'm back into writing Terror in the Dark, pushing past my writer's block.
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I'm fine with the freeze. Technically I'm way behind on my planned projects.
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Does anyone who doesn't have edit access to The Fall of Crystal Osaka want edit access to that document? (There are at least four people who have edit rights to the docs Mal posted who don't have edit access to my doc, because I don't know your email addresses...)
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Rob Kelk
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I don't actually have a gmail address, kclind3 (at) verizon.net should work since it's the email on my google account.
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