# Story: Providence (need character ideas)



## Blue2k (Aug 2, 2009)

Lust lookin' for some character ideas. Maybe you guys could put your fursona. I will not change the personality of your character. And if I decide to pull though (and post) on the whole story, you will be notified. Looking for any personality in general.

Intro:Ever feel left alone as if you had your own providence? Just one step away from pushing the boundaries between proper society and your reality?

Welcome to providence!


~Blue


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## AshleyAshes (Aug 2, 2009)

Not this agian...


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## M. LeRenard (Aug 3, 2009)

Guys.. just, learn how to ignore things that bother you.  Seriously.  It will save everybody a lot of grief.  Especially because so many of you have proven that you are incapable of being gracious or tactful when it comes to criticism.
If you have no character ideas to give, or if you think it's wrong to ask for them, great.  I'm sure you can come up with some ingenious and exceptionally witty way to tell this person off, and after the six people who are going to laugh at it laugh, you can feel .01% better about yourself.  Now shut up and go do something productive instead.
That said, now is the time to let this thread run its natural course.  Believe it or not, sometimes people actually offer their characters for things like this.


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## Blue2k (Aug 3, 2009)

panzergulo said:


> OP, I don't know you, I don't know your writings, I don't know if you're just a beginner or an experienced writer, but for humanity's sake, lock this thread ASAP. Asking after other people's characters/fursonas/character ideas leads to nothing but grief and angst. Just look the threads of the previous month or so and you can find at least one grand example what is going to happen. Eventually, you get serious drama. There is so many serious writers here, you get chewed into pieces. "Need character ideas" translates into "I want to steal your intellectual property" in the minds of serious writers. Please. Stop this madness. At least in this sub-forum, the OP has the power to lock or delete the thread. Please. Before its too late.
> 
> Also, my opinion: Invent your own damn characters!



I already have my fursona. And when I was in 11th grade I won a writing contest for the entire boarding school (about 2k people).


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## Blue2k (Aug 3, 2009)

Ya know...screw it..it was stupid to try and write a story.


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## Internet Police Chief (Aug 3, 2009)

panzergulo said:
			
		

> Asking after other people's characters/fursonas/character ideas leads to nothing but grief and angst



A whole 55 minutes later...



Blue2k said:


> Ya know...screw it..it was stupid to try and write a story.





Anyway, nobody said to not write a story. Go write whatever you want. But use your own characters.


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## Tiarhlu (Aug 3, 2009)

I just noticed how many Florida furs we have in this forum.

It might be better if you come up with a few ideas, and then ask for opinions of those. In the end it should be what your heart's on, but some things work better than others and your peers can help you see that before you get in trouble.


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## M. LeRenard (Aug 3, 2009)

Jesus, why do I even bother.  We've got a community here that can't grow because every newbie ends up running away screaming for some reason.  Does anyone else see this as a problem?  Not even the highly elitist and self-righteous anti-shurtugal.com forum was this bad, honestly.


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## Internet Police Chief (Aug 3, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> Jesus, why do I even bother.  We've got a community here that can't grow because every newbie ends up running away screaming for some reason.  Does anyone else see this as a problem?



Not really. They just don't have thick skin. They think that because we're all furries, that we're all friends, and so when anyone lobs any kind of criticism, the run scared.


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## Bladespark (Aug 3, 2009)

Encouraging newbies is all well and good, but do we really want to build a community full of people who are so thin skinned they can't take even the tiniest disagreement with them?  Where nothing at all can be said that's not "Wonderful, that's so great!  You do that! Hearts and kittens and puppies and flowers and love, omg!"

Nobody has called names, nobody has brought out the mocking cat macros, nobody has said anything worse than "this is a bad idea, come up with your own characters."

If you can't take that, what the flip are you even doing on the internet?!

And honestly... newbies come in here not knowing that it's poor story telling to use other people's fursonas and not invent their own characters.  They don't know any better, somebody needs to tell them.  You educate newbies.  That's the point.  If you can't offer an opinion about why you think what someone is doing is wrong... WHY even have a forum, you might as well just stay home.


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## M. LeRenard (Aug 3, 2009)

> Where nothing at all can be said that's not "Wonderful, that's so great! You do that! Hearts and kittens and puppies and flowers and love, omg!"


That's reductionist bullcrap and you know it.  I never recommended anything of the sort.
I'm asking people not to be jerks.  No melodrama, no personal insults, no offensive language.  If you want to point out that it's better to do something one way, you do it like Tiarhlu did in his post up there.  T-A-C-T-F-U-L-L-Y.
Otherwise, I'm recommending you shut the hell up and quit scaring people away.

Besides... for new writers, I see nothing wrong with borrowing characters.  If new artists are allowed to copy existing artwork in order to learn, why can't new writers copy existing writing?  It's a method, plain and simple.  You see someone whose whole gallery is uncreative fanfiction who writes journals on how come he doesn't understand why he hasn't been able to get published for sixteen years, that's when you flip your lid.  Otherwise, jeez: back off.
Usually people who borrow characters end up turning them into their own characters anyway.  It's practically inevitable, especially when they just randomly ask for them on a board like this, where all they end up having to go on is a page-length description of traits.  So it's not a sin.
And even if it was?  There's no reason for anyone to flip out about it like people are so fond of doing here.  This isn't about thick-skinned versus thin-skinned people.  It's about impressions.  If you make your first post on a forum, and the first reaction everybody has to your post is to rip you a new one, would you be willing to stay?  You could have the skin of a bloody ent, for all I care: if your first impression is that this forum is full of a bunch of uppity screaming asshats, you get the hell out of there.

In conclusion, as long as people on this forum stop treating what they perceive as bad writing or bad writing habits like it's the motherfucking end of the goddamn world, we can all be happy.
Understand?  Good.


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## Tiarhlu (Aug 3, 2009)

And I'll add that I began writing by doing fanfiction. Seeing a character I really liked got my inspired in the first place, and then the stories would always take on their own life with my own characters. I'm just recently starting to do completely original works. I'm not sure why I never did it before. It's honestly a lot more fun and rewarding.

So anyway, I don't see a harm in someone writing other people's characters if that's what they're really into, but I do have a problem if the writer doesn't want to do any of the creative work themselves. That's like the guy that wants to collab with an artist, saying they can draw something the person wants to see, and then he'll color it. That's not fair at all.

I don't think the original poster meant that. I could be wrong.

So to you, OP, get permission to use someone's character, come up with some ideas, and then we can try to help you develop your story into something worthwhile.


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## TakeWalker (Aug 3, 2009)

MLR4Prez


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## Xadera (Aug 4, 2009)

I don't know about you, but I've definitely attracted more flies with honey ;P And asking to use other people's characters is a great way to make friends in this community ^^ The more friends you make, the more views you get, the more comments you receive, and eventually the better a writer you become. 

MLR pretty much has things pretty much covered. I'm starting to think that the reason most writers here find that so few people are reading their stories isn't so much because they aren't writing porn/nobody on FA reads, but rather that they're stagnating in these anti-social, self-defeating circles... o.o


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## Bladespark (Aug 4, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> That's reductionist bullcrap and you know it.  I never recommended anything of the sort.
> I'm asking people not to be jerks.  No melodrama, no personal insults, no offensive language.



Point me at the jerks, melodrama, personal insults, or offensive language in this thread?  The only thing like that I see is some melodrama from the OP.


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## Aurali (Aug 4, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> Jesus, why do I even bother.  We've got a community here that can't grow because every newbie ends up running away screaming for some reason.  Does anyone else see this as a problem?  Not even the highly elitist and self-righteous anti-shurtugal.com forum was this bad, honestly.



I do... I really do. No wonder why FA's stories are full of crap.

*OP LISTEN*
I'm not gonna give you ideas on characters or stories, but what I will do is tell you a great way on how to think of them. *STOP*. If you are forcing yourself to write, you won't find any ideas flowing. *LOOK* A great story always ties into something in life, even if it is pure fiction. Look around you, pick out things that seem interesting and incorporate them into your characters *LISTEN*. One of the greatest ways to get story ideas is to bounce off something in real life. One of my best known works was actually a game me and my brother played with stuffed animals when we were younger, characters included. Originality be damned. A good story is good even if it isn't the first to do it.


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## M. LeRenard (Aug 4, 2009)

> Point me at the jerks, melodrama, personal insults, or offensive language in this thread?


http://forums.furaffinity.net/showpost.php?p=1118298&postcount=3
We've got 2/4 right there.
Panzer, the fact that you feel like you have to be a dick to get attention only tells me that some force here is trying to make this forum into Rants and Raves for Writers.  I've always wanted to avoid that.
And I think you've got it wrong: it's not the 'old and bitter' part of the community that's doing it.  It's the young and smug part.  I think this is mainly attributed to a touch too much arrogance.
We're all obviously very arrogant here on this board, but some people take it too far.  They feel like they have to be the forum's watchdogs, chasing out everything that doesn't immediately meet their high standards.  Fact is, this is a completely open forum.  You want something more elite, you start it yourself.  Otherwise, you're fighting a losing battle with a lot of casualties.
We don't need a hugbox, but we also don't need a boxing ring.  That's just as destructive.


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## Aurali (Aug 4, 2009)

panzergulo said:


> Jerks, asses, double meanings, swear words, strong language, irony, sarcasm, even outright hostility... No offense, MLR, but this "good guy" act of yours seems pretty new and random to me. Nice that you carry the role now that you have one jerk in an easily workable portion.
> 
> The forums don't care for me. Most of the time I have been ignored. Trying to be helpful doesn't really reward me, either I'm ignored again, or severely misunderstood. I haven't got a single new reader through the forums. I have read all the old threads that might have some help for my writing. I have to bear with poor spelling, chat-speak, immaturity and somewhat lost people here. The forums have nothing to give to me. The forums don't care for me. Thus, I don't care for the forums. I act on my whim, randomly. If somebody's ego gets hurt while I'm being random... well, what can I do?



People change, I used to be a total bitch in the forums... though that was a completely different time. If M has seen something that wants him to be different, let him be different... We need less mean people around here. If people ignore you, so what? Don't become a jerk because you don't get attention otherwise. Do you REALLY need that kind of attention?


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## Tiarhlu (Aug 4, 2009)

It's starting to sound like we all just need one big supportive group hug. 

Seriously though, everyone here that I've read has been capable of turning out well written, enjoyable stories. It's something we like to do and I'd think something we all strive to be better at for one reason or another. It only helps the collective good of the group and in turn the whole furry community to help out and encourage each other.

After all, no one would even be here if we wanted to write in a vacuum.


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## M. LeRenard (Aug 4, 2009)

Maybe you failed to notice that in a number of those threads you posted, I actually was pretty much the only one being supportive (scroll down a little farther and you'll see my lovely colorful avatar).  As for when I decided to be sarcastic, I'm noticing that these were only occurrences when I felt a need to defend myself.
I admit that I can be a jerk, too (though maybe you could have found some better examples of it).  I'm very judgmental.  So it's hard work for me to be a nice guy most of the time.  But I do try, and I always have tried.  There's just only so much I can do.
As for the times when you were ignored, I apologize profusely on behalf of the whole community.  But you've obviously shown by now that you can make an interesting and useful thread that gets peoples' attention without resorting to cheap tricks, so I don't believe that's a viable excuse any more.

I'm done with this conversation now.  I'll bet you guys just can't wait until I apply to become a moderator.


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## M. LeRenard (Aug 5, 2009)

panzergulo said:
			
		

> Is anybody else wondering where is the OP?


Oh no.  I can't imagine any reason the OP would want anything to do with this thread at this point.  I think he's very wise for having abandoned it.


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## AshleyAshes (Aug 5, 2009)

panzergulo said:


> Is anybody else wondering where is the OP?


 
He decided to quit writing furry forever because people thought he should create his own characters.

So I don't think he'd stand up well to any criticism.


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## GraemeLion (Aug 5, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> Oh no.  I can't imagine any reason the OP would want anything to do with this thread at this point.  I think he's very wise for having abandoned it.



He didn't abandon it.  He abandoned writing completely.


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## Tiarhlu (Aug 5, 2009)

He's sporadically on AIM. He messaged me, but then logged off and never said anything again.


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## Murphy Z (Aug 5, 2009)

Would it help if there were a sticky thread that would be a catch all for threads like: "Can I have a character?," "Anybody got any ideas?," and maybe even "what can you do for writer's block?" Maybe have it "Ideas wanted: place all requests for ideas, characters are cures for mental blocks here" or something. I'd rather have one more sticky than what's going on now. 

Also shame and more shame on all of you who are making separate threads for "could you criticize my work" when there's a sticky on top. The first page is starting to get clogged with them and it's unfair for the people who actually use the stickied thread.


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## GraemeLion (Aug 5, 2009)

We have had sticky threads.  

We abused them and ended up with people complaining.  Now we want more again.

As for everything else, I guess I have to wonder what the point of this forum is.   I don't mind the individual "criticize my work" threads, since in the "Criticize my work main thread" , it was suggested we not post the crits publicly.  Well, then how do people learn from seeing things?  

I'm FOR individual threads for different pieces of work, and closing and locking threads when the critting is done.  

It's not like we are putting up thousands of posts a day here.


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## M. LeRenard (Aug 5, 2009)

Any and all suggestions on what to do with this forum are great, but honestly, until we get a dedicated moderator of some kind, they'll be pretty much impossible to implement.
As for reading critiques of works, most of the stories posted in the critique thread are also on FA.  I don't know about others, but I post my critiques in a comment on the story page, in public view, unless requested otherwise.  That way, anyone interested can read them, and it avoids cluttering up the forum with a bajillion copies of the same kind of thread.
I think it's better to reserve the non-stickied forum for interesting threads anyway, and leave all the redundant crap to single threads that are stickied.  In which case... I dunno', maybe we need an idea request thread.
But I'd say hold off on it until we get someone who can properly implement it, i.e. a moderator.


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