story mapping program

[Ryan_DuBois]

And, just to let everyone know, I've given our most recent lurker (KingMalice) my "The_Writer" account, at least until his current one gets granted posting access.

[The_Writer]

And, just to let everyone know, I've given our most recent lurker (KingMalice) my "The_Writer" account, at least until his current one gets granted posting access.

Hi everyone. I'm glad to finally be posting instead of just reading. Special thanks to Ryan Dubois for letting me use his account. As soon as Sev comes back and decides if I'm a bot or not, it's all yours again. I'd love for everybody to check out some of the stuff I've been working on (under KingMalice). I really respect everbody's opinions. I've read most the threads so I feel like I already know everyone. EndMaster is probably my favorite writer on here because he wrote my favorite story "Geek". Also I'm addicted to the HOID. I even opened a Subway in it towards the current end. I look forward to posting in the future

[Sven Smokevich]

Ho ho ho! Welcome aboard from another illegal member - this is Crunchyfrog inhabiting Locke's other account.

He let me borrow it to give Ryan a break from getting possessed.

Looking forward to Sev's return so that we can both come out of hiding. Haha!

My WIP hasn't broken the 20 room boundary yet, but I've also been looking at the HOID and learning a lot from some of the great writers here.

[Sven Smokevich]

KingMalice mentioned getting some opinions on writing... and I just wondered, where's the most appropriate place to give feedback? (sorry for double posting, but for some reason when I try to edit it logs me out of the forum)

[The_Writer]

Rate the story or leave comment

[Ryan_DuBois]

It used to be in the story ratings section, Crunchy, but nowadays it seems like the only way get worthwhile feedback is to enter the IWT. Once in a while I'll still read a story, rate it, and leave a remark, though.

The only thing that's certain is that the "comments" section for stories isn't the best way to do it. I don't know why, but no one's ever done it that way.

I'll get around to leaving you some feedback soon, KingMalice.

[EDIT]

Okay, so I don't want to rate it until there's more story, but "If I was a Super Hero" has potential. There might be too many starting variables, but you could always do what Apoth did with "HOID" and try to get an army of people working on it.

[End Master]

Well King Malice has been added to the "These people are not spambots" thread.

[The_Writer]

Yeah I agree I started it way to vast. I was thinking of maybe using it to see which powers and origins are most popular then writing a more narrow and in depth version.

[Ryan_DuBois]

That could work; if you've got a few paths that people like, incoming writers might be motived to branch off and write their own storylines, too.

By the way, if you didn't already know, my account on the main site is "YazZMaN".

[mizal]

I browse through random stories sometimes when I'm bored, but I admit don't usually leave feedback, because A.) Most of the stories are terrible, or B.) The author was last active in 2006 so what's the point.

Anyway, KingMalice, I like HOID thing you've got going on with the superhero story, but my advice would be to take a couple of the choices on the first page and develop them yourself while you wait for the rest to catch on...and if you're serious about this you might consider taking another idea from HOID and using some kind of marking system so people know which choices have stories behind them. Right now there are so many that are empty (or nearly empty...things like 'How did you first discover your powers' and 'What was your family's reaction?' don't really count...) that there's an awful lot of clicking required, and then after all that it's frustrating just to run into a dead end.

In fact, if you're open to suggestions, (and from your last post it sounds like you've already thought of this anyway) I would recommend just listing the powers and then jumping into a story from there, I don't think all the 'How did you discover your powers' and 'How did you/whoever react?' etc. are really necessary, and they'll just lead to needless clutter and more dead ends. Ideally a reader would be able to just jump right into a story without having to navigate a maze of links first.

Anyway, it just so happens that I looooove superheroes and I'd be happy to add to it sometime, but right now the site won't let me log in because it hates me.

[JJJ-thebanisher]

Wow, I'm not gonna lie, that's fucking crazy. I totally did not see that coming whatsoever.

[The_Writer]

Thank you everbody for your feedback. This is the whole reason I wanted to get on the forum. I think "If I Was a SuperHero" is going to the shredder and I'm going to start writing a better version. Maybe only five characters with set powers. I'll be pulling out the notebook and jotting some ideas, but I'm definitely open to suggestions.

[End Master]

Do we have a super hero story on this site? Seems like we should have one.

There are several classic super hero origin stuff you could use.

Toxic Waste/Gamma Rays/Chemical X etc.: Something external gave you super powers. The type of abilities gained are sometimes combined with whatever the person was near at the time. Like if the guy was bitten by a radioactive roach he gains all the same abilities or something.

Alien: The character isn't from earth and has abilities normal to his species, but obviously superior to that of most humans.

Natural Talent: This could fall under the two above, like your mother was hit by gamma rays while you were in the womb or perhaps you're an alien that was dumped here for whatever reason. The difference though is the powers aren't suddenly thrust upon you and you've had more time to learn about them. Or in the case of being an alien you're probably also wondering why the hell your real parents dumped you on this backwater planet in the first place.

Inventor: Your character doesn't have any proper super powers but he's intelligent enough to build things that can help him fight crime like suits, vehicles, etc. He probably keeps himself in good physical condition as well.

There's also the anti-hero route. (But NOT the "An Hero" route, otherwise it would be a very short story) This is usually better suited for characters that have a more tortured background (usually the loss of some loved one). Killing villians is an option in this case since regular superheroes aren't supposed to be killing anyone if they can help it.

Other things to consider

Usually heroes pick one city to defend, but you could have a global hero that travels all over the place wherever people need him the most.

If there are other heroes, they might not necessarily be friendly. They could range from cooperative, to "friendly rivalry" or even outright hostile towards you if you encroach on their "turf".

Of course any worthwhile hero needs to have an archvillian and several minor ones. After-all if your villains are lame, then the hero isn't that impressive.

[Ryan_DuBois]

Wow, I'm not gonna lie, that's fucking crazy. I totally did not see that coming whatsoever.

I know, right?

I guess it's handy to have someone around who's slightly paranoid about people creating extra accounts so that their url can end in a 69.

[mizal]

Thank you everbody for your feedback. This is the whole reason I wanted to get on the forum. I think "If I Was a SuperHero" is going to the shredder and I'm going to start writing a better version. Maybe only five characters with set powers. I'll be pulling out the notebook and jotting some ideas, but I'm definitely open to suggestions.

Actually I see no problem with going crazy with the lists of powers if you're wanting to encourage other people to 'adopt' some of them, I would just make sure that at least the ones on say, the first page, all have good content behind them to set an example and hook a few readers right away while you're waiting for the idea to take off. And as I said, I would suggest avoiding the '20 Questions' format and just have the stories start right after the power is selected.