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Subj: PV writing is hard to predict *edited now* Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 at 11:05:46 am EST (Viewed 372 times) | Reply Subj: On Caphans Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 at 04:50:36 am EST (Viewed 5 times) | ||||||
Quote: He does try to get hold of Vizh's friends and family though. I wonder now if he wants Mags and Griffin as his children? They could grow to be powerful heirs to his eternal empire.I imagine it would be a very bad thing to let the Apostate anywhere near Vizh's kids, regardless of his motives. I am impressed at the guy's seemingly lasting appeal, though... He had one major story from me (and I believe Nats used him as well) but otherwise he's only been mentioned on rare occasions and yet people do wonder when he'll come back. If only all characters could be popular without actually having to have anything written about them. Quote: Well the pleasure slaves thing is a tricky one, isn't it? You'll recall that the Caphans started as a one-line joke in the response thread to early Transworlds Challenge episodes of Untold Tales. I threw some in there as part of my responding-to-replies-for-fun interaction. I sent them to Vizh because he was the funniest one to drop them on. Then you decided to adopt them and take them home. And a colony of them are still here, with a whole fairly-fleshed out (pun intended) planet behind them and at least fifteen well-developed (pun intended) cast members. It's an experience writing for the PV isn't it? I'm always aware of the fact that you're much more organized in your plotlines than I am, and so I always feel like I'm derailing things when we (intentionally or unintentionally) collaborate . Of course we've both written with Dancer and lord knows I'm always baffled as to where any plotline will end up once some yellow text appears within it... Which, of course, is a substantial part of the fun. There are probably a lot of stories I'd take back with the benefit of hindsight... But luckily I think the PV is fluid enough to adapt when someone decides they've gone down the wrong narrative path, and so I try to focus on where I'd like my characters to be rather than focus too much on what they've come through. There's an unholy mess of tangled continuity behind Vizh at this point, but I like him and his family. So I'd say I'm glad that the Caphans spun out of control, since at the time they were introduced I had no plans for kids, but now am quite fond of Maggie and Griff. And yes, the subject matter is a minefield which I trampled straight on through... Hopefully any blasts from missteps were relatively contained. For me, PV writing is like running down a sand dune... Sure, you're going to face-plant a few times due to the shifting footing, but as long as you can keep getting up and moving forward, you're not doing too badly regardless of the erratic path you leave behind. In any event, I'm certainly not going to be the one to complain about your handling of the subject matter... Of course, I only made the comment about giving Lee a buxom pleasure slave instead of torturous loyalty dilemmas as a throw-away joke too, and look how much commentary that sprouted. It may just be that Caphan writing grows like weeds. Quote: I tend to shy away from Hood spotlight stories for fear of hogging the limelight too much. Since the Hood is a villain there's a risk that stories that feature him could "put down" other poster characters who are his adversaries. Since I tend to write stories about whole poster casts I'm reluctant to push my own characters to the fore. ut this means that sometimes I let the Hood become a cypher or cliche (not that he wasn't created to be a cliche, but eleven years on he should really be something more than just that). I think I need to go back to basics with the Hood sometime and establish him from the ground up - show not tell why he's an archvillain and why he's a threat to the Lair Legion. Fair enough. Personally, I think his time on the sidelines has left him well-primed for a return to full blown menace. And I'm glad that he was still about on the edges of things during that time, rather than completely missing from the PV. Quote: I generally like to introduce the next "big bad" as soon as I've taken the last one off the board. Who should I establish as a serious developing and ongoing threat after the Carnifex, I wonder? Who could possibly be more dangerous (without being even more all-powerful) than the Parody Master or the Carnifex? Hmm, let's see... Roni Y. Avis? Seriously though... you just gave Thugos a dead empire of billions... are you suggesting that's just a minor warm up compared to what the Hood's going to unleash? It's a good thing Donar's in that latest LL preview image, 'cause I'm going to need something big to stand behind. | |||||||
