Larian Studios Forums General Chat @ Rhianna

I'm just as bemused as you are, so... (i.e., why was Frank Herbert brought up at all?)

Absolutely. Stop the characters from what they really want to do, and they go on strike. *g*

LOL Too true! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Lol. Tonight I was telling my Mum of my plans on books to get to read over the summer and I mentioned Dune.

"Hmm? Dune? Go look in the library Dear, under Herbert"
"ok"

I walk into our library ( My Dad used to be a Junior High Lit teacher and my Mom has a PhD in Philosphy on books. She also used to teach Lit in college, figures, so we have a TON of books at home).

I find the H section. errg. Its huge! I find the G section, and the E. Wait. Where was the H? I go back and find 2 books of his Dune. and Dune something or other, can't remember.
Oh well, I got 1 of the 10.

Ever woke up at 3am with either the greatest idea ever, or the solution to that frustrating sentence that just won't hang together, determined not to forget it, if only you could force yourself to get up and write it down? Do you ever write it down, or do you ever remember it all when you next wake up? I once, blindly, wrote something down, but for the life of me, it didn't make any sense when I tried to read it later. That's another joy of writing.

Lews: the complete original Dune series consists of five books -- I haven't read any of the prequel by his son, due to being told that they aren't worth the read. Anyway, the five books are (in this order) Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse of Dune.



I can be quite extreme when inspiration strikes me. (Even if, yes, it's just a single sentence to replace that awkward sentence I was brodding over.) I'd actually get up, grab a pen and write it down. (Middle of night, mid-meal, whatever -- it doesn't matter; nothing short of a divine intervention will stop me from jotting something down. *g*) I can usually make sense of it after, though.

For clarification, and because I don’t want to do down Bronthion's work, I worked on the dialogues in the game, I didn’t 100% write them. It was an editing and rewriting process really, and even then I didn’t see everything alas, especially the battlefield stuff. Some are more my work than others, like the mad prisoner, the skull, the skeletons and the DK obsessed medical officer.

However, there are about 3000 words of book/letter/scroll texts dotted around the game that I wrote from scratch. If you’ve read the novella you might be able to tell from the stuff which ones are mine <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I get up and write it. Even if I can barely think coherently, and I'm nearly asleep. A story idea is a precious thing - and dreams are great for inspiration, sometimes <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

My own thoughts about Frank Herbert (common German name; at first I thought he *was* a German <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" /> ) :

- I read it (the first book) as a teenager. While I found the general concept very creative, I didn't find the whole outcome very appealing - no tension, no other things I like to read ... I thought the book lacked several things I like to read. It was not a "living" story, but a weird Science-Fiction story to me. I couldn't imagine the protagonists as breathing people, but rather the book seemed to me as an expression of his whole (creative) concepts.

- As you might have already read between the ines, I didn't like the overall tone of the book. I didn't have the feeling as if it was written with the heart, but rather with tools.

- I haven't read the book since (and that's more than 10 years ago, although I once took a brief look into it).

- I wish I could be as productive as him. I really wish I could produce ten books a year or so. But I'm not.

Alrik.


P.S. :


So precious that you should never let it out. There are people out there terying to steal this one from you, trying to sell it as their own idea, and even later try to evoke a lawsuit on that on you if you publish your own initial idea / story.
There has been a very nasty report on boards.theforce.net : One there wrote about someone giving in a story idea to a Star Trek Seruies (DS9 ?) , he was asked *everything* about his idea, even invited to show how the thought it, but was rejected, and the story later appeared in the series, with the Invitor as credity. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/suspicion.gif" alt="" /> Weird.

Just as an aside - and in the unlikely event that anyone actually cares - I am currently writing a lot of fanfic set in the world of American comics company Marvel. The curious (Or those seeking ammunition <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />) can find links to most of my work here

This is something of a training excercise for me, and I like to think I am improving. It's a good theory <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Alrik...

I publicly post a lot of my stories - which also gives me a fair few witnesses if some rat tries to snaffle them <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I also write a little bit Fan Fiction - Star Wars related. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Look out for the Adorant; I have posted links in that thread. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

By the way : What about a whole new thread about Writing in General in the Chat area ? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Sounds like a good idea, Alrik <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I am definitely getting the impression we have a lot of writers here <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Your idea, so up to you to start, I think <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'd love to read it, but unfortunately, I know precisely jack squat about the Marvel fandoms. Currently, I'm writing a KotOR fanfic -- linked in my signature -- and otherwise I haunt the LOTR and Forgotten Realms fandoms.

You might find the Elsa Bloodstone stories readable anyway. She's a character so obscure most of my readers thought I invented her - so absolutely no prior knowledge is needed there <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The same cannot reasonably be said of X-Force, which is definitely continuity heavy. I'm writing that in collaboration with someone else, and while we have tried to make it accesible to new readers, I am not sure we have entirely succeeded. Reader opinion is somewhat divided on that score...

I am always like that where there are no fools to citisise.



That's a question of being a perfectionist.

Watch out, Elliot_Kane: Marvel becomes jealous when their fans make something with their heroes. I still can't and won't forgive Marvel for forbidding all Marvel-related mods for Freedom Force. They almost sued the fansite!

Erm... guilty as charged?

Seriously, though, I know that if I do that all the time, nothing'd ever get written. Sadly, since I'm not half as good an author as I'd like to be, moments like that still occur every now and then.

Thanks for the warning, DATD <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

If Marvel go after fanfic writers though, they will piss off huge amounts of their fanbase for no good reason, as there are a LOT of fic writers out there - none of whom make any money out of it.

Marvel might conceivably have viewed the FF mods as a way of encouraging players to buy the game through the use of Marvel characters - no such reason exists to go after fic writers.

They certainly have the right to request all fics be removed from the web, but by doing so they would remove a form of free publicity that might actually encourage more readers to try their comics - so they tend to turn a blind eye <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yes but it was almost 2 years after the game release...

True, DATD, true...