Fan Fiction

[CowInvader]

When this forum was first opened there were a few fan fiction stories going on, my favorite at the time being about an assassin in Act II where if IIRC they had a rather nasty encounter with a necromancer. Anyways, what became of these stories? DId you all stop writing? Were they moved? I want answers!

[Bolty]

I blame Occhi!

We want more content! ;)

-Bolty

[WarBlade]

Stick a fan fiction section in the front of the site and . . . duck?

[Bolty]

I've always avoided that because I don't want to be the arbiter of what's "good" fan fiction and what's "bad." I have enough of that with the strategy guides. How do you diplomatically tell some people that they, well, suck at writing? Remember that the vast majority of fan fiction writers suck major you-know-what at it.

Also, because what will wind up happening is that the ratio of fan fiction compared to strategy would, in my opinion, become high...a lot of work for a "strategy" site. If people want fan fiction hosted, I recommend Diabloii.net.

-Bolty

[Dozer]

They are having a contest right now, too - what a coencidence! :lol:

[WarBlade]

I've always avoided that because I don't want to be the arbiter of what's "good" fan fiction and what's "bad."  I have enough of that with the strategy guides.  How do you diplomatically tell some people that they, well, suck at writing?

Oh I specialize in that. Put downs are a very Kiwi trait, and my Danish half managed to adopt the ideology in spades. B) But anyway I can think of other more pressing reasons why not to create a fan fiction subsection. ;)

Remember that the vast majority of fan fiction writers suck major you-know-what at it.

Posterior, yes.

Also, because what will wind up happening is that the ratio of fan fiction compared to strategy would, in my opinion, become high...a lot of work for a "strategy" site.  If people want fan fiction hosted, I recommend Diabloii.net.

Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that. :unsure: I've been going through the front end of the site over the last couple of days and it's looking a little . . . shall we say . . . dated. The kind of dated that equates to being predominantly pre-LoD in a 1.05 kind of way. :blink:

I'm edging towards the opinion that even that early archived material is largely redundant now and would really like to see the Lounge return to the status of "strategy site" that it claims to be . . . As of now it seems the forum is the strategy site and the front end is the museum of past antiquities. :(

[Griselda]

As of now it seems the forum is the strategy site and the front end is the museum of past antiquities.

The site closed so shortly after LOD, and when it reopened 1.10 seemed imminent. Hosting soon-to-be-outdated strategy didn't seem like a step forward, so we waited. 1.10 is still imminent a year later (hehe), so we wait.

You know that if we update the strategy section, the patch will come the next day. Hmm, maybe we should try that out! :lol:

-Griselda

[FenrisWulf]

I would agree with Bolty concerning the Diabloii.net Fan Fiction forum. Regardless of what you may think of the quality of strategy posters over there, they have some damn good writers, who can probably help any prospective fanfic author improve immensely. I'll just link to a few of the examples that I particularly liked:

Tea with Mephisto: neoplatonic
Two Games: neoplatonic (again! He's quite good)
La gemme et la résistance: PatientKiller (a bit of lighter fare :))

[WarBlade]

I'll just link to a few of the examples that I particularly liked:

Tea with Mephisto: neoplatonic
Two Games: neoplatonic (again! He's quite good)
La gemme et la résistance: PatientKiller (a bit of lighter fare :))

:huh: Well I'll confess to being a tad bewildered here. Can you explain what made those stories appealing to you? :unsure:

[WarBlade]

You know that if we update the strategy section, the patch will come the next day.  Hmm, maybe we should try that out! :lol:

Ahh very true.
On both points.

Still. I feel it's high time (for me at least) to get some pages ready for "1.10 Day", when the trumpets will blast their clarion call, when all the birds and beast will bow in respect, when the sky's will open bathing us in shafts of golden light, when the angels will sing of our heroic deeds and when Elric will still be a pervvy elf fancier.

Ahh 1.10.
All hail the majesty of the great patch!

[FenrisWulf]

@WarBlade:
I suppose I can't really say what made the first two appealing to me; I just didn't want to stop reading them once I started. :P Perhaps I'm just shallow. Anything that you particularly disliked?

The third, eh, I just found it funny. :)

[WarBlade]

Anything that you particularly disliked?

Damn, I wish that question had been, "Anything you actually liked?" It would have saved me a lot of time in writing a comprehensive answer. :lol:

I don't mean to discredit these authors actually - points for giving it a go. I just find that a consistant aspect of creative writing is that very few people have got the gift and the other 99% of potential writers think they have got the gift.

Good story writing takes both talent and patience. From the small number of the stories at d2.net that I've actually read, I'd say a few of those authors have done well in mustering the patience. ;)

[Mirajj]

...I know that from my perspective at least, writing takes a lot of motivation. Especially writing fan fiction. So when there is no motivation, there is no story. I'd like to write more, but every time I get in something close to approaching the mood to write, something happens to shut it down. It's why I'll never make it as a "professional" writer. I'm way too moody to produce for a deadline. ;) But, if you are interested, my page with what I've written so far is still up.

http://www.geocities.com/mirajj.geo/stories.html

Check it out, if you like.

[--Pete]

Hi,

You know that if we update the strategy section, the patch will come the next day. Hmm, maybe we should try that out!

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I'm sure it'll work. Does it have to be a good strategy piece or could I contribute it? ;)

--Pete

[FenrisWulf]

By George, then, I will continue posting links until I find one that you approve of! :D

Untitled, by ChaosAvatar (hm, what about this one?)

Just, you know, trying to gauge what you see as "good" fan fiction. I personally like stories that I...well, like; I've had quite enough of critical analyses, which is perhaps where we differ.

[Rhydderch Hael]

I was considering writing a fan fiction thatspanned through the campaign, but could not reconcile the fact that I had nothing to work on concerning the Assassin, Druid, or Act V. Now that I'm actually going to play through LoD, I can kick-start the whole thing back up again.

Don't know just where to start off, though: a limited third-person perspective on the beggar-thief Marius as he sits in the Monastery's jail, next to the cell of this cloaked and infirm Wanderer. Marius gets a first-hand look as his cloaked cell-mate beckons the Rogue who guards their cell to come closer...

Or, start high up at the Rogue Citadel in the mountains (the one that'll get torched in "The Beckoning") as a young lackey gets hired to carry the boxes of this mysterious old man who is, as his father says, "Far from being right, if he's talkin' to the dead like that." From the lackey's eyes, we make passage down the mountain pass, through the Monastery as friendly as y'all please, and then a commotion erupts just as the pair passes through the westernmost gates, moments before they close upon them and are sealed.

Or, start out on a far more bloodier gambit: the legions of Westmarch, outermost province of the Zakarum Empire, have set out on a campaign to bring "salvation" to the wayward nations of the West. Khanduras has already fallen, and Einsteig stands next. As three legions march to the capital, the King of Einsteig's pleas for help are answered by the tribe-cities of the Three Islands, who dispatch by ship an army of their finest warriors—supported by a brigade of their magic-endowed female fighters: Amazons, the "wood witches" as they are derisively called by the technologically adept (but magically bereft) soldiers of Westmarch. As the three Prime Evils of Hell gather and prepare for the coming Dark Days, the two greatest armies capable of defeating them are themselves foolishly set on destroying each other in the Oroton Mire of Einsteig. In the cataclysmic aftermath of the battle, two of our wayward heroes—a Paladin and an Amazon—find their way to the lonely Rogue camp near the Monastery of the Eastern Pass through the Tamoe Mountains. There, they will find a silent, hulking warrior of strength and hidden ferocity; an amnesiac sorceress who barely escaped with her mind and soul the corrupted fate of her sister witches when the Monastery fell to evil; and a sardonic old blind man who gets around with a nervous young lackey and the subtle voices of the dead to guide him on his way.

[Bolty]

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.  I'm sure it'll work.  Does it have to be a good strategy piece or could I contribute it? ;)

I can remember replying to people LAST AUGUST who had some great strategy guides that there would be "little point in hosting a 1.09 guide since 1.10 is right around the corner."

Ah, fudge.

So yes, WarBlade, responding to your earlier post on the thread - there is much on this site that is dated to the extreme. I want to pack this thing to the limit with 1.10 strategy guides. The first step will be in putting up the current best guides after their authors do updates for 1.10 - then after that will come the new guides that people make for the undoubtedly all-new strategies discovered with the mass changes...

Pete - here's my D2 guide: move the mouse pointer over a monster. Hold down the left mouse button. Watch monster die. Now THAT'S tactics! I've tested it out in the Blood Moor in Act 1 normal, so it should hold for the rest of the game, I figure. Now I'll email bolty@lurkerlounge.com and he'll be sure to host it on his site; surely he can see such genius for himself!*

-Bolty

* note: sometimes I believe this thought process actually occurs. It has to, judging by some emails I get.**

** note: I am not imitating Van here. ***

*** note: ok, maybe I am.

[Occhidiangela]

Angeleyes is indeed still under that pile of rags in Fara's tent/smithie, with her nephew Mikal snuggled in her arms.

Spoiler: Aliza is still alive and will get back into the story.

Double Spoiler: Shadow will Return

Triple Spoiler: You have not heard the last of Orthas, the Evil Necromancer

*scratches head: how the hell am I gonna fit all of that into the next episode . . . and what will happen when Sergeant Sarissa shows up with a case of the attitude at Fara's, the body of a Legionaire in her hands, not to mention that poor cook still shackled up in the dungeon/basement below Greiz Guard Shack . . .*

*Wanders back to ink pot, stares at quill, notes that the quill stares back because it is still attached to a

Quill Rat!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! I am being attacked by a Quill Rat!

*Kicks Quill Rat. Gains one EXP.*

*Quickly hides corpse so that Lut Gholein chapter of SSPCAS (Sanctuary Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) does not notice. *

I mean, darnit, we gotta stop this Monkeypox thing before it gets out of hand, those darned prarie dogs have been biting all of the Quill Rats that they can find!!

Hey wait a minute, that was a Quill Rat in ACT II! Could it be that the patch showed up?

Nope, just the caffeine hitting full blast. Sorry.

*Back to staring at the quill plucked from the Quill Rat, and back to staring at the ink pot.

[Wapptor]

So, if I wanted to submit a fanfic of my own (people tell me I'm quite good) would that be ok? I think it would be receieved a lot better here rather at dii.net. Oh and if you read my little zon thing about the lurkerlounge account, don't worry its definitely not my best. So would that be ok?

-Wapptor

[Bolty]

Wapptor, no, sorry: I'm not going to be hosting fan fiction here at the Lounge. I can't make this site "everything to everybody" because I don't want to, but also because we don't have the time and resources. Everyone is completely free to post it here in the forum, though! I've enjoyed reading many of the fanfics posted here.

-Bolty