The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy

http://avaxhome.ws/ebooks/history_military/greatpower11.html

Funfact: FF7 was intended to be a deconstruction of RPGs. Everything from Aeris dying in ways that pissed off all of the fans that tried to find a classic RPG storytelling reason she had to, to Cloud's fugue-state amnesia was a subversion of some form of RPG storytelling. You can look up the writer's interviews on the subject. Somewhere. I read them in an oooold issue of EGM.

Problem: Nobody took it as a deconstruction and 2000 grimdark jRPGs became the norm. (Which is totally not what happens with deconstructions all the damn time: Watchmen)

I think The Incredibles is a deconstruction that reconstructs itself.

>>4184
If this is true. Mind blown. I can't find anything though. The Google does nothing!

Writing classes are there to teach you, not for you to give them things in exchange for a grade (CYNICISM ASIDE).

Take the class.

You can make characters?

Awesome stick them in a room and give one a reason to kill the other

If you take the class I guarantee you you will be supplied with exercises. Took a intro creative writing class years ago and the book I had had pictures and they'd ask you to write something about it. Or they'd talk about some aspect of childhood and write about if you had a similar experience. And my teacher who was a writer who had worked in Hollywood always started the class with a quote from someone and we'd discuss things about it.

In other words the class was very nurturing to the creative experience. In fact I wish I could go back and take it again with everything I know now.

Take the class!

Also look up writing prompt sites. They'll give you stuff like 2 old friends randomly bump into each other at a restaurant one of them seems anxious

or the classic 3 noun setup where you just list 3 nouns and try and build something from there. Ex: Sisters. House. Old Chair. or Athlete. Mother. Car.

>>4124>>4125
So what do you guys consider the line between "Aggressive tension" and "lolrape"? What are common red flags for the average reader?

Also, trying script writing.
Monday, The Bus Stop

Open to a crisp fall day; Hank is at the bus stop, enjoying a rare, peaceful moment in his life. The scene is almost bucolic, until Jenny shivers by, rubbing her arms for heat and glaring at anything so uncouth as not to be as miserable as her.

Jenny: Shut up.

Hank: Didn't say a word.

Jenny: Your face speaks volumes.

Hank just smiles(a touch smugly) as the bus approaches; karma makes an early payback as Hank's mother, one Natalie Dubois, a small, lively woman, runs out to the stop. Hank is shocked, Jenny is some odd combination of uncomfortable and amused.

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>>4124
>>4125
>>4130
That was Romantic Tension, this is Rape.

The difference is in the reaction, Hotpants and Johnny in the earlier pages were both clearly interested in each other, but were unable to break the built up tension because they have goal.

THIS is Rape, Lucy Steel clearly resisting and struggling while President Valentine forces himself on her.

>>4130
It's not that difficult. Replace "enjoys it mentally" with "wants it" for more accuracy.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NS36UXMP

All of the dolls with their stories.

If you can actually find any of the fics I missed or some sort of description of a character I missed, I'll add it to the pack.

I don't get it, what's the point of the dolls, isn't it much simpler to just archive the fics?

>>4183
The point is that they look fucking ridiculous and make you laugh and weep for humanity.

Sounds curious. I may very well be interested.

I live in the GMT+2 timezone, which may be a problem, depending of course on your timezones.

Pacific time here. Not home until after 8:30 most days.

Hey, that could be cool.

I think I'm available most evenings, except for Wednesday evening, Monday evening, Saturday evening, and Sunday evening.

I think you already have my Skype name.

I think you sort of have to get a feel what is "too much" by the way of description. Reread your work after 24 hours and see if it's still quality. If the point you were making becomes obfuscated by too many adjectives or the narration becomes bogged down by inappropriate, unsuitable descriptors then cut it so it's readable.

Remember: purple prose isn't inherently bad, its just perceived as a terrible thing because novice writers tend to think that more/bigger words=more talent. Be verbose, but have a point.

Read your text out loud.
Reading well-written books might help as well. You are always influenced by what you read and watch and listen to.

Go through something you've written with a highlighter, marking only the passages where something happens. Leave descriptions, metaphors, similes, and ruminations unmarked. Then cut whatever you would skip if you weren't the author but were reading the book or story for enjoyment.

http://plus4chan.org/boards/coc/res/21169.html

I may as well cross-post this here.

  I like this guy.

I apologise for asking this in advance but, has Frankenstein's monster got the Twilight/Anita Blake treatment yet? If not then by god I think I know how to make some money this summer.

Good example of logical fallicies being applied.

Catch-22
Maybe Slaughterhouse-5?
Steve Martin's book The Pleasure Of My Company may also fit this description, in a mroe personal/humanistic way.

Pretty interesting book, I must say.

Full title is "Who Controls the Internet: Illusions of a Borderless World."

F-fuck you, Cormac McCarthy. ;_;

>>4156

Fuck yeah, Cormac McCarthy!

>>4085
Kind of, except it happens in the real physical world where people happen to have digital brains, not in a virtual world where there entire existence is digital.

>>4086

So Ghost in the Shell?

>>4084
A chanologist was a frontline-infAnon who participated during the internet's war against Scientology in '06-'08. GenAnon (General Anonymous) waged the "war" over the internet, google bombing, DDOSing, GaySpacing; Chanologists fought Scientology in real life, using the standard office-terror attacks, such as black-faxing, phone harrassment, and even a fake bomb threat, later staging more peaceful protests in front of churches after cerain ringleaders were arrested.

Go read the ED article. It'll tell you more.

I don't recommend it.

>>4161

Protip: Video game and movie novels are written by hacks for idiots.

>>4118
idk. The main thing about nukes aside from the wonderfully large hole they leave is the fallout after the fact. The fallout is basically radiation, which is why a full blown nuke attack is a bad idea; whatever the nukes don't get, if there were enough detonations, the radiation will get the rest.

In a vacuum, I couldn't say how it would go, but I would imagine it would be no less of a general biohazard.

>>4118
>What about nuclear warfare in space?
I haven't read the book you mentioned, but I would guess that the only efficient use of nuclear weapons in space would be the generation of EM bursts.

>in an accurately speculative way

>rogue actors with stolen nukes from Russia

C for the first one, but as a suggestion, maybe it would be cool if it was like a flash forward looking on the results of the action of the main character briefly and then going back to where it began or something like that.
I guess for the second one D, though maybe Roland Tallman?
If you don't understand my suggestion, I put pirate in the name as a hint, you should be able to figure it out

Here we go, our first chapter!
Sorry for the delay. This ended up being a bit longer than I thought.

Chapter 1: Shadow of the Woods
His breathing was heavy as his legs pumped forward. Urgency was in his step, but the task at hand did not require it. What then, was he running from? Or maybe he was running to something.
Henry Roland Tallman leaped from a thick root and landed, nearly tumbling over. His palms were dirtied as they pressed into the soft soil. With a jerk, he pulled himself backwards and set his back against the sharp incline in the ground, made by the root.
“You’re sure early.”
Henry’s soul nearly jumped out of his mouth. “Aick! What the hell!”
It was Alastair Danforth. The scoundrel had a way of sneaking into important events, secret meetings and mischievous escapades. “You’re usually late. Odd that you would show up this early for this kind of business…”
Alastair was trying his best to be condescending, but Henry knew that it would not be taken seriously. Might as well strike back. “Well, Al, I personally was wondering why you decided to put yourself so far ahead of everyone else. There is no leader here, you know.”
As Henry’s eyes adjusted more to the darkness, he could see Alastair’s smug grin. “Oh of course, but I just don’t want this operation to fail, you know. But,” he turned, moved a lock of long, black hair out of his eyes and faced Henry head on. “Why are you really here?”
Was it a trick question? Henry was here for the same reason they all were. What was Alastair trying to pull? “Uh, Al, what do you mean?”
“I know you haven’t been acting like your normal self, Henry…” Alastair turned away from him. “Something’s been bothering you, hasn’t it?”
Henry tightened his fists. Why did Alastair think this was any of his business? “I’m fine, Al.” He whispered. “You can stop with the funny business.”
“Whatever. I mean, I just thought…” He turned his head toward Henry, then back again, “oh, nevermind.”

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I plug in for choices A and B!

>>4134

Google docs, DevART, LJ, etc.

Post links.

>>4135
ok..well, all my stuff is on this site, I suppose one could just read the stuff with the most reviews, as that's the stuff generally well-liked/appreciated:
www.fictionpress.com/~nestitch

>>4128
Ditto