Agree with all that are already up, but here's mine.
Boring, Predictable Stories
Give me a hook. Push the envelope. Think of something new. I don't want to see all of the characters automatically following all of the game stereotypes. I want to see them expanded. I don't want a simplistic vision of Good and Evil in the galaxy...if I did, I'd actually like the Star Wars movies, now, wouldn't I? One of the worst kinds of boring story is the endless post-Star Forge or post-Malachor romance genres...where everyone rests on their laurels and hooks up, fighting off a few poorly-sketched out Sith, maybe giving the Jedi Council a bitchy lecture, and talking about their feelings. Some of these are really well-written, and really well done, in terms of keeping the characters true to their nature...but they're all the same. They blur together. I never finish them.
The easiest way around this trap? Think of a plot. And think it through. Create a real villian to be your foil and flesh them out. Create a real scenario that your characters have to deal with that involves more than marriage proposals, receptions, and wangsting about the past. Give everyone bigger problems to deal with.
Good examples of the traditional with a twist, and with a hook are Athena's After the Fall or your own Chasing Redmption, Pris. Those anti-Force villians are cool. So is the Fleet's love/hate relationship with their former adversary. So is everything. You need to update more.
Dustil's biggest trauma being his Dad loving someone other than Morgana
(Oh yeah, and she was a former dark lord too.) Frankly, I'd think Dustil has his own issues, what with the whole, being ex-Sith thing to live with. And any objection to Revan should be based on who she is, not that she's "replacing" a dead person. Coupled with this are ficts where Revan is the only one that can "save" Dustil. Sure, there are examples where Revan saves Dustil that work...(rose :)) really damn well, but that's because some facts about the two of them aren't pushed under the rug. Dustil and Revan don't have to be friends. Ever. And if they end up being so, there'd better be a danm long arc explaining it.
Stupid Malak
Okay sure, he seems dumb in the game...but how dumb can you be and successfully outwit Revan and the Republic? Give Malak some credit. You may have to make up motivations to do so, but that is worthwhile.
Juhani has trauma because she's gay
There's nothing in the KoToR universe that suggests anyone has problems with people being gay, or not gay. Personal relationships, sure, are frowned upon...but there's much evidence that says they happen all the time. Actually, right up there with this as a peeve is the assumption that Juhani and Quatra were some kind of couple, or that Juhani had unrequited feelings for her Master in that special way. Juhani says she admires Quatra...but it's Belaya who used to sit out under the stars with Juhani. And its Dak that Juhani rejected. Isn't it more interesting if Juhani has issues because of her tragic past? Her warlike Cathar tendencies? The fact that Mandalorians killed off most of her kind, making her feel like an outsider everywhere?
Right up there with this one is...
Bastila has issues because she's gay
There is a really well-written fiction out there that I've never been able to finish because I got to this part of the story where it was explained (and used as part of her ds-conversion) and I just went...ugh.
DS stories that are boring.
Think of something interesting for Revan to do with an infinite fleet and an exmpire. And please don't add insult to injury by rationalizing later like TSL tries to with the "greater threat" and "Ancient Sith."
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My list
Date: 2005-07-01 04:55 pm (UTC)Boring, Predictable Stories
Give me a hook. Push the envelope. Think of something new. I don't want to see all of the characters automatically following all of the game stereotypes. I want to see them expanded. I don't want a simplistic vision of Good and Evil in the galaxy...if I did, I'd actually like the Star Wars movies, now, wouldn't I? One of the worst kinds of boring story is the endless post-Star Forge or post-Malachor romance genres...where everyone rests on their laurels and hooks up, fighting off a few poorly-sketched out Sith, maybe giving the Jedi Council a bitchy lecture, and talking about their feelings. Some of these are really well-written, and really well done, in terms of keeping the characters true to their nature...but they're all the same. They blur together. I never finish them.
The easiest way around this trap? Think of a plot. And think it through. Create a real villian to be your foil and flesh them out. Create a real scenario that your characters have to deal with that involves more than marriage proposals, receptions, and wangsting about the past. Give everyone bigger problems to deal with.
Good examples of the traditional with a twist, and with a hook are Athena's After the Fall or your own Chasing Redmption, Pris. Those anti-Force villians are cool. So is the Fleet's love/hate relationship with their former adversary. So is everything. You need to update more.
Dustil's biggest trauma being his Dad loving someone other than Morgana
(Oh yeah, and she was a former dark lord too.) Frankly, I'd think Dustil has his own issues, what with the whole, being ex-Sith thing to live with. And any objection to Revan should be based on who she is, not that she's "replacing" a dead person. Coupled with this are ficts where Revan is the only one that can "save" Dustil. Sure, there are examples where Revan saves Dustil that work...(rose :)) really damn well, but that's because some facts about the two of them aren't pushed under the rug. Dustil and Revan don't have to be friends. Ever. And if they end up being so, there'd better be a danm long arc explaining it.
Stupid Malak
Okay sure, he seems dumb in the game...but how dumb can you be and successfully outwit Revan and the Republic? Give Malak some credit. You may have to make up motivations to do so, but that is worthwhile.
Juhani has trauma because she's gay
There's nothing in the KoToR universe that suggests anyone has problems with people being gay, or not gay. Personal relationships, sure, are frowned upon...but there's much evidence that says they happen all the time. Actually, right up there with this as a peeve is the assumption that Juhani and Quatra were some kind of couple, or that Juhani had unrequited feelings for her Master in that special way. Juhani says she admires Quatra...but it's Belaya who used to sit out under the stars with Juhani. And its Dak that Juhani rejected. Isn't it more interesting if Juhani has issues because of her tragic past? Her warlike Cathar tendencies? The fact that Mandalorians killed off most of her kind, making her feel like an outsider everywhere?
Right up there with this one is...
Bastila has issues because she's gay
There is a really well-written fiction out there that I've never been able to finish because I got to this part of the story where it was explained (and used as part of her ds-conversion) and I just went...ugh.
DS stories that are boring.
Think of something interesting for Revan to do with an infinite fleet and an exmpire. And please don't add insult to injury by rationalizing later like TSL tries to with the "greater threat" and "Ancient Sith."