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Transposition, or: Ship Happens [Worm/Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio | Arpeggio of Blue Steel]

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ensou said:
So for the next chapter (which is currently at 4.7k and growing) I'm going to include a PHO segment. And... it's an absolute pain in the ass. The tendency I have to flesh out characters and know their backgrounds and everything is sort of killing me, because there's too many people to do that with. So um, would you guys like to help out? (Also where the hell would such a thread even go? Should it just be in here? In a separate forum, like the RP one?)
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On the one hand, I get the issue and why it'd be such a pain, but on the other hand outsourcing a PHO segment... I don't see that ending well. I mean, you'd have a big stack of ignorant louts shitposting and it'd very authentic to real internet discussions, but it'd also be utterly miserable to read. I don't trust a single person in the audience here -- me included -- to group-build anything resembling a readable PHO segment.

My advice would be, if you don't want to do it yourself, to take a select group of people you trust (betas, editors etc.) who are not us and ask them for assistance. Divvy up the key points you want discussed and let them build some quick aliases to talk about it or something.
 
Mal-3 said:
On the one hand, I get the issue and why it'd be such a pain, but on the other hand outsourcing a PHO segment... I don't see that ending well. I mean, you'd have a big stack of ignorant louts shitposting and it'd very authentic to real internet discussions, but it'd also be utterly miserable to read. I don't trust a single person in the audience here -- me included -- to group-build anything resembling a readable PHO segment.
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That's... a very good point, actually. Hrghm. Another option is just skipping seeing the segment itself and just summarizing, like I've done before in here.
 
Twei said:
There are so many PHO interludes that are kinda pointless in this fandom. :V
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And that's another good point. I might end up just summarizing this thing, because I don't think there's anything really important in it. It's just reactions, and while that may be amusing, it's not anything that adds to the story itself.
 
Yes, there is: Myrrdin.

But it's good only for the PHO format. You still need to provide for the characterization of the different participants.
 
ensou said:
And that's another good point. I might end up just summarizing this thing, because I don't think there's anything really important in it. It's just reactions, and while that may be amusing, it's not anything that adds to the story itself.
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Well, if it's just reactions (I'm guessing this is part of the whole "Who stole all the fucking boats?" scene.) and there isn't some sort of actual point of exposition or discussion you want to make in the thread, a summary works just as well. If you come up with any particular bon mots you can just quote 'em, no need to write an entire thread to justify one good quip. ;)
 
<smug Sith Lord is smug>

Do not underestimate Dark Side-powered google-fu.

If said PHO interlude makes reference to events that you have already written and posted, you can check and peruse reaction posts from this thread, using either the real forum names or easily relatable aliases.

Alternatively, you can setup a Discord channel to hold a mock conference mimicking a PHO thread. Invite people to participate at your discretion, but also take into account their interest or lack of it in getting spoilered.

For example, I prefer not to know prior to something being posted, because not knowing leads to speculations, which may be right, in which case [smugness intensifies], or most usually be wildly and hilariously wrong.
 
Typically, when I've seen it done, it's done in a separate thread, and then the author picks and chooses the faux PHO posts that best suit the narrative and feel he wants for his in-story threads. Adding his own as needed.

Create the thread, either in RP or in this subforum (ask a mod if you're worried), and link it here.

You can also run it in here, but it will be more chaotic to parse through for you.
 
Personally, I think PHO segments are overrated, cringy and a complete waste of time. Having a summary or having two characters having a conversation about the contents of the thread before moving on to something else is much better.

We can always make some dank MS Paint memes if you want to, though.
 
ensou said:
So for the next chapter (which is currently at 4.7k and growing) I'm going to include a PHO segment. And... it's an absolute pain in the ass. The tendency I have to flesh out characters and know their backgrounds and everything is sort of killing me, because there's too many people to do that with. So um, would you guys like to help out? (Also where the hell would such a thread even go? Should it just be in here? In a separate forum, like the RP one?)
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Yes, go over to SB and check out what has happened with Howl the Wolves. They did so well the PHO thread took on a life of its own, integral to the story
 
For one I don't want to read psuedo meta-forum bullshit

It looks ugly and it's a pain to look at.

Stuff like that usually comes off as pretentious an eyesore and just wasting my time as a reader

It's honestly one of three worst things worm lead to "normalizing" (home struck had a hand in it too but at least with worm it's readable without giving me a migraine!)
 
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I would have gone with the 'Vreem' sound myself. But then, I'm partial to Studio Ghibli's God Warrior.

(5min in exactly)

View: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzbpwg

Although she could have gone for the ultimate 'oh we are so fucked' beam SFX:



EDIT:
Okay, now why the hell did it suddenly SKIP whole pages when I posted??? When I got on here, on my cell, it showed that the last post was today, and was about the SFX debate still. I post, and suddenly 3 new pages appear. No 'new replies have been posted since you last refreshed' warning or anything.
 
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I don't mind PHO stuff, honestly. I think doing it in another thread is generally pretty alright, but disocrd'd work too.
 
I actually like PHO sections as long as it has a character's thoughts after wards. If it was going to be just a PHO thread and nothing else I'd say no, but sometimes it helps us judge how the author thinks the actual world is reacting to the events. A summary does that but feels less to me. But it's a prefrence thing and if you are getting stuck on it or it's stopping you you don't have to do it.
 
PHO threads work if they introduce new plot elements or interactions between characters, imo. If they're nothing but reactions to previous story events they're kinda pointless? Don't think Wildbow ever did it that way, either.
 
Even a 'standard' style PHO thread inclusion can work, provided it's a small part of a larger chapter.

Just because it's a clichéd "OP = holy shit look at this, replies = reactions" doesn't automatically make it a bad thing provided that's just included to show what the browsing character/group thinks of things.

It's understandable to show a small handful of posts which might end with something like someone asking "What are the gangs going to do about this?" followed by Coil or Lung or Piggot reflecting over just that question. It's not unrealistic to have Taylor looking at posts arguing whether or not she's a hero and then thinking about what she intends to do and how she can change what she's going to do in order to influence how people view it.

As a minor part of a chapter, boring reaction shots can work if used right. Just not on their own.
 
Personally, I enjoy PHO threads as long as they introduce angles we couldn't normally see in an amusing fashion.

OMG look-how-awesome-the-OC-is can work, though is risky. I prefer PHO threads to introduce something the reader didn't already know. They're also a chance for subtle foreshadowing. Or not-so-subtle. By using posters whose identities are obscured by screen names that readers can pick up on if they try (or can realize later if you're genuinely subtle about it), plot threads can be introduced that look like just random forum chatter. (I wasn't all that subtle with the one I did, but I was pleased by those who picked up on who Judge Advocate General was and what he was doing before he got obviously problematic.)

Now, getting filler help from the audience will tend towards "OMG" reactions and towards reader-participation as they introduce their own pseudo-plot and hooks, hoping the author bites. Whether that's good or bad is up to the author to determine.
 
ensou said:
So for the next chapter (which is currently at 4.7k and growing) I'm going to include a PHO segment. And... it's an absolute pain in the ass. The tendency I have to flesh out characters and know their backgrounds and everything is sort of killing me, because there's too many people to do that with. So um, would you guys like to help out? (Also where the hell would such a thread even go? Should it just be in here? In a separate forum, like the RP one?)
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It all depends on how you show it. PHO post are great for letting us know what exactly the broader public knows compared to what we know from Taylor's point of view. You can drop some background info in two or three post while having the rest of the ten post PHO page giving funny reactions. So say Kaiser wakes up and dicks around on the PHO while waiting on his coffee. Surprisingly good source of info and gives him some ideas for what's going on before the shit heads who work for him report in. First one is a rumor that the Merchants may have a new cape, note to have someone check this out to see if they're worth poaching for E88. Second up is a notice on the Oni Lee tracking thread. For some reason he was seen hopping around near downtown. Send Kraig to see whats going on with that. One of the post ask if this may have to do with the Ship Graveyard going missing. The Ship Graveyard is missing? The hell are they talking about? Follows a link to the thread and reads what the public has so far, ships are gone, nobody knows where or has taken credit yet, photo of Relentless heading near the area before it went poof. Have a few reactions, somebody doing some rough math on how much material that is a what could possibly be done with it, a late night fisherman talking about how his fish sonar when weird at that time and so on. Next he flips on the news with this as the top story and calls up Kraig to demand what they have so far and issue orders. News mentions the PRT with have a Press Conference at 2PM about this.
 
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I find that PHO interludes are quite enjoyable to do if done right, but pretty hard to pull off. I suggest just making the RP thread and see what comes from it. Even if worse comes to worse and none of it is good enough to actually make it into the story, we should still be able to have a blast participating in it.
 
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