Forums :: Authors and Artists :: ReWriting Savior (Here we go again!)

MintMan Posts: 4061 Member #1 Nov 27, 2007 12:36	I'm in a mad-rush right now to try and get out the variously named ReWriting Savior/Splinter/whatever I choose to call it in order to spare this feature from yet another abbreviation change!      The long hinted-at final chapter in IAS is being written, and yet again, it is a feature which would have really helped to have at the start. Loverly part this time is that it doesn't matter! Sure, it is, like, three years after the fact. That doesn't stop the fact that the ReWriting Savior allows old stories to have multiple paths! Utter crap need not be reported anymore; it can simply be entirely skipped over as though it never existed!      This is especially great for authors who were afraid their stories were going to be "ruined". If they don't like what goes down, they can just write a different path. The original content won't be deleted; it will just exist side-by-side with the new path (or paths!) as a sort of alternate reality!   I'll also stop stressing out whenever somebody sets us up the bomb. Try and kill a story now, little emo girls!         I'm wondering if any old stories are gonna be resurrected and just how early on said splintering will occur. Technically, someone could write a new second post for the longest story, causing an entirely different history to result More likely, tho', the sucky ending posts which caused a story to screech to a halt shall be redone. Hey, technically, an author can make an alternate version to their very own post if they realized something was really bad with it!         And with the last scraps of competition dead (and quite the rotting corpse to begin with), REWS'll be the king of the mountain once again, even if it is just a mole-hill... (12:00:50 AM) VinnyD: nothing flies on rews, only crashes and burns and sometimes the gastanks explode   (12:01:02 AM) Kero Kato: I am so quoting that.   (12:01:09 AM) VinnyD: woot   (12:01:17 AM) Kero Kato: That part, too.
Battalon127 Posts: 753 Member #25 Nov 28, 2007 12:32	Molehill might be a bit ambitious for REWS. If moles wrote stories instead of building hills, they'd probably do something that puts anything in REWS to shame.      On a more sensical note, I really like the idea of multiple-path stories. It's like Choose-Your-Own-Adventure for writers. If this were any other group, I'd say it could really help stories stay active, but this is RE, so they're still more doomed than a time-duplicate. I know I won't be getting back to it until break, when I can spare brainpower for writing (there's a first time fore everything, after all). Ooh, maybe we could even create an actual Choose-Your-Own-Adventure type story (well, the generic, non-branded type, anyway). Or am I the only one here who liked those?    I profusely apologize for the above posting and accept full responsibility for any and all resultant damages. If, for some reason, you liked what you read, I retract my prior statement and copies will be available on cassette for $9.95 plus shipping.
MintMan Posts: 4061 Member #1 Nov 28, 2007 14:02	I liked choose-your-own-adventure stories, although I would quickly determine the optimal paths for some of the simpler versions. It really sucked when you saw something like "Do this, turn to page XX" and you recognized that page XX resulted in bloody death!      Anyway, all of REWS is supposed to be a sort of choose-your-own-adventure situation anyway -- the ultimate sort, as a matter of fact. That really hasn't helped yet.      Primarily, tho', the splintering is supposed to be used to undo garbage rather than maintain multiple true paths of a story. One branch is supposed to dominate, and thus be declared "the best".   As you already alluded to, RE doesn't have the authoring power to keep multiple storylines alive let alone one, apparently.    "She's great, except for the whole bitch part." ~ A friend on his fiancée
Blade Posts: 366 Member #99 Dec 2, 2007 4:59	Could a post be made forcing users to choose a path that could be alternated,eg:      Mr Kent was driving down the road, his eyes sliding towards the inviting glow from the pub's windows. Should he go in? Or should he continue to the hospital where his brother's life hangs in the balance?      Obviously not exactly like this but more the character's thoughts written. Aka writing to force a choose-your-own-adventure style..      Or was this not how it was intended to be used? Is it more blam-that-piece-of-crap-post with new-better-one in a new story line..    Hi Super Nintendo Chalmers!
MadGoblin Posts: 1515 Member #2 Dec 2, 2007 6:46	Well, the entire IAS fundamental is based on the next author "choosing the path of the story". The options are always there in story context of what is to/could be done. The Savior System just allows multiple of those paths to be fleshed out.      Not that I think that you meant it, but, just so it's clear, there should never be a REWS story that actually says, "Should he do this or this?" in the body of the story as that is just dry, bad, and just plain terrible writing. The read should still flow like a real story (which Choose your owns kinda nick on), and Spots could be used to present an open ended situation.      Something like, "Mr. Kent needs to make a decision; Immediate." Technically, Ol' Kenty could pull out a shot gun from his trunk and go on a murder spree if the next author choosed. Now, that would probably be hard-core diverted of a path, but you get my point.         But back to your actual question (I think!), the Splinter was made to explore other paths of the story, be they better or worse. The fact that it can be used to erase utter crap posts is really more like an added bonus/safety measure that came bundled along with it. I'm not complaining      So, de-crapping doesn't have to be the primary use but it shouldn't be used to railroad writing creativity. Things should be laid out linearly and clear-pathed. I could, say, not like what Mr. Kent did regarding his brother and make a path where he goes to the story to get a "get well soon" card. The gun-toting direction, though, could be the one continued. Primary, storyline affecting decisions can be changed to alter the entire path of a story. Just to pull an example of possible twists to KoA:    Grackle never betrays Z & G.    Galatea never dies.    Karl was never recruited.    The Map of the Key of Ages lead them on a quest around the world    That whole "triad" business never happened.      A black-and-white decision isn't the only ones that can be erased. Anything can be done differently. Hell, as I showed in AR, the second post could be a branch leading to a whole new world of possibilities, like if someone split KoA to have Geirrek have his whole "Key Team" already hiding out in the bar for when he went to meet the contact, meaning no Grackle, no Zedd, and really no anyone who appeared in the story outside of the summoner.         So, in closing, I think I might have touched base on your question. Maybe. A lot of that was probably just for other people's benefit/CYOB. Regardless, I'm sure I'll be getting an earthern smite against me soon enough.      ... Hmm... * sets a secret BaningCircle juuuust to be safe *    "... or a big chesticled woman."   - Blade Braxton, WrestleCrap.com MadGoblin uses BaningCircle
MintMan Posts: 4061 Member #1 Dec 2, 2007 9:38	Think Gobbs hit up the big points. I'll just try to make some clarifications to the Splinter System:      1) Choose Your Owns are really more for when the reader is supposed to be like the protagonist. Well, they aren't; they are the omniscient third-person who can control the story a whole lot more than just choosing from a limited set of possibilities -- they can choose any.      2) In addition to "Should he do this or that?" being bad writing, it isn't story writing! It is also limiting what course of action the character can take. Now, you could work it into the story with, like, a hostage situation and a cop having to choose whether he's going to shoot or let the baddie escape. There are more possibilities than that, of course, but those would be the ones presented, possibly as an Immediate spot to be hit by the next author.      Another example for Prime Splinter Time™ is multiple finishes for a traditional "..." ending. Way back when, many posts ended mid-sentence to be completed by the next author. Pitiful Incantation comes to mind as a story on this site. "'They stole him. They took...'" and "his head was a..."      3) Writing to force splinters is actually a good idea -- for anywhere other than RE in the middle of a writing draught. It would be fun to have that much writing flyin' about, tho'.      4) Sometimes, posts aren't written poorly, but they can be "not good" for several other reasons. Nexus comes to mind as such a story; I really want to write a splinter from its most recent post because of all of the new characters (read: names) and political situations it adds without any sort of build-up -- I can't think of any plots that use that! I'll just side-step it entirely and write what I write best: stuff dyin', things flyin', and readers "Why?"in'!