A directory for Monbvol's Madness(story index)-also rate review discuss

[monbvol]

Yeesh.  Yeah I wanted to come back and expand on this much sooner but my office chair is getting bad and laptop is bad for writing anything of any length.

So the themes I wanted to go for in the Weapons of War saga:

I'll start with the one I think I pulled off the best.  Vicky was a cut above the other Caspar AIs and was learning and growing.  I still think I didn't get enough disciplinarian/harsh military pragmatism to come through but overall how her and Helena were rubbing off on each other I am largely happy with.

Then there was my bad idea of wanting a Cameron to be the ultimate hero with a truly epic confrontation with what I view as the ultimate expression of human hubris, corruption, and entitlement otherwise known as Alaric Ward.

Which is not a bad idea in of itself but where I let myself get trapped was that I decided that meant that things needed to play out much as they did in canon.  Without a lot of good ideas for how to handle that I really had to do some hard handwaving and as mentioned actually go against a lot of the character development I had done for Helena.  At least it felt like it to me.

I will admit I'm waffling on if I should do as I said and re-write or just go with it as is.

[Daryk]

Helena Cameron's daughter spanking Alaric is just so... PERFECT... get on that!  :thumbsup:

[monbvol]

I am thinking about how to pull that off and is a large part of why I'm waffling between re-write and just pressing forward.  Because I do have technically two ideas but they are more of two variations of the same central concept.  One is a bit wacky and the other feels a little bit like a cheap hamfisted shortcut.

[Daryk]

Personally, I'd go wacky over ham-fisted...  :D

[monbvol]

Well even the wacky one isn't without some measure of hamfisting and I am having a lot of debates of exactly what it should entail.  Especially at this stage it is still up for debate if it is a bad idea or a Bad Idea^tm.

[Cannonshop]

Yeesh.  Yeah I wanted to come back and expand on this much sooner but my office chair is getting bad and laptop is bad for writing anything of any length.

So the themes I wanted to go for in the Weapons of War saga:

I'll start with the one I think I pulled off the best.  Vicky was a cut above the other Caspar AIs and was learning and growing.  I still think I didn't get enough disciplinarian/harsh military pragmatism to come through but overall how her and Helena were rubbing off on each other I am largely happy with.

Then there was my bad idea of wanting a Cameron to be the ultimate hero with a truly epic confrontation with what I view as the ultimate expression of human hubris, corruption, and entitlement otherwise known as Alaric Ward.

Which is not a bad idea in of itself but where I let myself get trapped was that I decided that meant that things needed to play out much as they did in canon.  Without a lot of good ideas for how to handle that I really had to do some hard handwaving and as mentioned actually go against a lot of the character development I had done for Helena.  At least it felt like it to me.

I will admit I'm waffling on if I should do as I said and re-write or just go with it as is.

I can see a couple of directions you might go to get your "alaric gets a spankin' storyline going off the base metal.

1. after that last fight there's an accident and Helena has to start over again...centuries after.  This can be a freezer accident, misjump (Not like those aren't historical), swing-too-close to a wandering hypermass...

something that lets you slide her past the events in canon without meaning to.

2. retreading in the deepest end of the deep periphery.  This presents the problem of shifting  priorities if you plant her in a Foundation scenario.

[monbvol]

That is where the heart of my internal debate lies at the moment.

I do have solutions but most of them feel like I'd need to do some sort of re-write rather than move on from where I left things.

Kind of leaning toward the idea that I need to retcon out the refugees, Niopsians, and Sol Belters from the Lazarus system so I can make the time skip work best.

[Kyryst]

That… kind of feels like a cop out. You have created your own, new and interesting take on battletech, your own AU. And now you want to snuff it out in favor of trash canon? That sucks. I want to see the butterflies created and how that changes the Inner sphere.

[monbvol]

That… kind of feels like a cop out. You have created your own, new and interesting take on battletech, your own AU. And now you want to snuff it out in favor of trash canon? That sucks. I want to see the butterflies created and how that changes the Inner sphere.

Which is the counter argument I am already having with myself and why I'm waffling so badly on how to proceed with this project and also why I self rated it so poorly.

I trapped myself good here.

But this discussion is giving me some food for thought and while it might be a bit before I come up with a solution, largely thanks to my writing windows being at work right now thanks to my home setup being no good for writing until sometime after next payday.

[Cannonshop]

That is where the heart of my internal debate lies at the moment.

I do have solutions but most of them feel like I'd need to do some sort of re-write rather than move on from where I left things.

Kind of leaning toward the idea that I need to retcon out the refugees, Niopsians, and Sol Belters from the Lazarus system so I can make the time skip work best.

she needs ot have infrastructure or it isn't going to work.

Lemme repeat that: if you want her to be more than Alaric's sex-toy, she needs to have infrastructure to put up a fight, so you need the Lazarus system, but that doesn't mean you can't tweak it.

[monbvol]

she needs ot have infrastructure or it isn't going to work.

Lemme repeat that: if you want her to be more than Alaric's sex-toy, she needs to have infrastructure to put up a fight, so you need the Lazarus system, but that doesn't mean you can't tweak it.

Yeah.  I have so many thoughts going on about how to address this project at the same time I'm having trouble articulating them all and am waffling on which ones to settle on almost by the minute.

Which is good news for my readers.  It means I'm actually quite obsessed with getting this one right.

[monbvol]

Blame Liam's Ghost for this.

He found a website that I will not be linking directly because it has a tendency to be a bit naughty but has an A.I. art generation bot geared towards generating waifus.  That should be enough to get you close with a google search.

So I fed in a few things and got this:



Which I think works entirely too well for Vicky's gestalt remote.

[Daryk]

That's definitely waifu!  :D

[Daemion]

Tagged.  Looks like a lot of neat stuff.  I kinda wish I could bring myself to be as prolific. 

[mikecj]

TAG'd.  I'm really enjoying this, thanks for sharing!

[monbvol]

I am glad you all are enjoying.

The good news is I should be able to get more focused and have more reliable writing windows to go with by the 19th of this month at the latest.

[Wrangler]

Is Saga continuing or your going on with different story?

[monbvol]

I am still kind of waffling on that.

Still obsessed with getting it right but the trouble is deciding on what that really means.

The terrible part is I have ideas already floating around my head but they don't mean a lot until I figure out what goals and themes I really want/need to keep and how much re-writing I'll have to do to make the narrative make sense.

[Daryk]

Take your time... we'll probably be happy with whatever you're happy with...  :)

[monbvol]

Yeah remember how I promised I'd get back to writing by the 19th.  Obviously that didn't happen.  I still really need to fix my office chair before I can really write from home and work is not looking like it is going to slow down anytime soon on my current project.

[Wrangler]

Yeah remember how I promised I'd get back to writing by the 19th.  Obviously that didn't happen.  I still really need to fix my office chair before I can really write from home and work is not looking like it is going to slow down anytime soon on my current project.

May I thought some advice at you?  Plan out the story, your goals, where you want take it before you put pen to paper.  Where character should be if your writing will take it there.  It may help you out.

[monbvol]

Realistically I probably am going to write something else before I get back to my Weapons of War saga because yes I do want to get that right and that is going to take a lot of thought and to be honest I'm just not in a good position to do that until work slows down and I fix my office chair at home.

[Daryk]

No worries on this end... I'll be here whenever you're writing again!  :thumbsup:

[monbvol]

Oy my home office chair is really uncomfortable to spend as much time in as I have this evening but it was largely unavoidable and worth it in a way.

First up corrected a duplicate entry in my index and changed the thread title again because I do like the discussions we've been having.  They have been proving helpful.

Second is I think I have finally decided on how to handle my Weapons of War saga.  It'll require a rather extensive re-write of Book 1.  But I think it will handle/setup certain things better.  Because I have to be honest I'm way too invested in the Ultimate Show Down of Ultimate Destiny of a Cameron versus Alaric Ward.

[Daryk]

I daresay at least some of us are here to see that exact showdown...  :D

[monbvol]

So work was finally slow enough I could slack off for a bit today.  So I started making an outline for my Weapons of War saga.  Let's just say I did intend to leave a few windows open for possible what ifs/side stories and well now thanks to a random stray thought, well I've got a lot to write up to now but if I can do it...  Best way to put it is my own mind is in danger of being mortally blown and I helped form this.

I do honestly feel like this is something that has been a long time in coming.  So I better not screw it up.

[Daryk]

I'll try to get over there before you and Cannonshop level the place...  8)

[monbvol]

Okay finally got off my duff and updated the Weapons of War entry since I do like this current re-write much better.

Also my chair is finally sorted out so I should be able to start writing from home instead of work more reliably.  Of course the down side is I am more likely to get distracted doing something else.  :P

Currently re-working a battle scene I am not happy with before I can get the next post in.  Which I think I am closing in on Book 1 wrapping up here soon.  This time there really is going to be a Book 2.

I am at a bit over 33k words on it.  That is kind of surreal to me.  I am rather certain I have never written anything of this length before, with this many characters, and in such a short span of time.

[Daryk]

There's a first time for everything!  :)

[Wrangler]

I'm going wait to post WoWS on wiki until it's done this time.  What is to be done with the old one?  Would be be renamed or the new one should be called Revised/ReMastered/Wars of Ages