Awww my post makes no sense without Officer 1BDI'a post right above it. Damn totp!

I know how you feel, 1bdI. I have two or three fics in various stages of completion (or incompletion if such a thing exists) that I realize I won't ever finish but at the same time I can't can't quite give up on. It's a feeling that really sucks.

For anybody who's interested, I've finished the first draft of my upcoming one-off comedy fic "NNYPD Blue" and wouldn't mind a couple of beta readers. If anybody is interested, either post here or send me an email about it.

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Originally posted by Spacedal11:
Kif: I'd be interested I've never done a beta reading before however so I might not be excellent at it.

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Well... you'll never know until you try. I'll send it to you

My general rule is present tense with script format, past tense with prose.

Okay, it doesn't look like TLZ's gonna have the fanfic scripts sorted out for a while, and since Kif White's posted "NNYPD Blue" on PEEL first, I might as well follow suit.

I've nearly finished the 4th part of "Futurama: The Fifth Season", and once it's done, I'll post it on PEEL.

And just to show truth is stranger than fiction, here's a story idea I came up with round about last June...

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Episode Twenty-Four – "NNYPD Blue"
With unemployment staring them in the faces after five years, the PX crew scramble to find jobs. Bender joins the New New York Police Department, and soon finds himself up against old adversaries like Roberto and the Robot Mafia.

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Originally posted by PCC Fred:
And just to show truth is stranger than fiction, here's a story idea I came up with round about last June...

D'oh!

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Aaaah, those hackers pay for themselves

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Originally posted by Venus concerning Mary Sues:
An original character who is perfect. Usually a woman, she's gorgeous, freakishly smart, perfect body, she always saves the day, cries single tears, has a tortured past, everyone she meets loves her, even her enemies sympathize with her, and she usually dies a martyr. There's not a flaw on her anywhere. Hand her a stick and some chewing gum and she will save a spaceship from exploding. Sometimes she's an enhanced author insertion, but not always. Think Wesley Crusher from startrek.

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As for Lucy, well i rather like her. I'm not sure why.

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Originally posted by Venus:
Plus, Leela in an assassin suit with a large blood dripping gun would be just as out of character as a pathetic Leela.

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The main problem I have is Leela. I am sooooo tired of reading stories about Leela doing NOTHING cept sitting in a bed or a room.

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Then you're in luck. Episode Five calls for Leela to walk around and carry objects.

Joking aside, Leela does have more to do in the next installment. She's still only in the subplot, but she is involved in more than just sitting around in her parents' house.

Right now the character I'm worried about underusing is Bender. Although he's been in all four parts, he hasn't had much to do beside spout one-liners. And while I have several future plot ideas that heavily involve Leela, the only thing I've been able to think of for Bender was that NNYPD Blue idea.

Once more, thanks for the feedback.

I'm hoping to have Episode Five (working title - "Zapp Brannigan and the Raiders of the Plot Arc" ) finished by the end of March. However I've been working on it since August, so don't hold your breath. The main plot carries on the raider storyline, with Zapp being sent to investiagte who's behind the attacks. Then there's a stand-alone subplot concerning the mutant society.

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Originally posted by PCC Fred:
Then you're in luck. Episode Five calls for Leela to walk around and carry objects.

Joking aside, Leela does have more to do in the next installment. She's still only in the subplot, but she is involved in more than just sitting around in her parents' house.

Right now the character I'm worried about underusing is Bender. Although he's been in all four parts, he hasn't had much to do beside spout one-liners. And while I have several future plot ideas that heavily involve Leela, the only thing I've been able to think of for Bender was that NNYPD Blue idea.

Once more, thanks for the feedback.

I'm hoping to have Episode Five (working title - "Zapp Brannigan and the Raiders of the Plot Arc" ) finished by the end of March. However I've been working on it since August, so don't hold your breath. The main plot carries on the raider storyline, with Zapp being sent to investiagte who's behind the attacks. Then there's a stand-alone subplot concerning the mutant society.

Over the weekend I also dreamt up an Anthology of Interest type installment. I won't give too much away, save that the first tale involves Fry and Lucy, the second Leela, and the third Amy and Angie.

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Hardie har my little laugh for the day. Oh and the NNYPD Blue fan fic, I'm sorry I never replied on the updated version I got busy. But I'm glad to have helped anyway .

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Oh and the NNYPD Blue fan fic, I'm sorry I never replied on the updated version I got busy. But I'm glad to have helped anyway

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Er, Spacedal... *points further up the page at the exchange I had with Kif White last month*.

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Anyway I understand your deliema. Bender is a hard character to write parts for. Probably as hard as Zoidberg and Hermes.

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Ah, now Hermes and Zoidberg I DO have ideas for.

Actually I have to correct myself. I do have one other idea for Bender, and it's something I came up with early on. Which is that Leela hasn't forgiven Bender for deafening her, and doesn't want to see him. I mentioned it in the first two installments, but since then it's gone by the wayside. However if and when Leela rejoins the PE crew, it's something that I wouldn't mind picking up on.

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I love your story it's really good and it's different which I am intrigued by. Don't get the feeling that it sucks cause it certainly does not.

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I don't think it sucks (except for Part Three), but I do think it's struggling for direction, and that's mainly due to my own indecisiveness as to how the story should progress.

When I started planning the story, I was thinking in terms of a huge, UoM style epic. Hence the raiders, Wiseman, all the anti-alien rhetoric, along with a few other things you don't know about yet. The trouble is, as I get further into the story, I'm becoming more and more interested in developing the characters rather than huge story arcs. So right now I'm not 100% sure whether to go ahead with all the potential story arcs I've thought up, or whether to tie up the raiders/Wiseman business in the next few installments, and carry on with stand-alone stories that concentrate on the characters more. Personally I'm leaning towards the latter. Maybe you disgaree. Maybe you think the raiders stuff is the best part of the fic. If so, now's the best time to let me know.

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You can solve the Angie problem easy just by having her fuck up every once in a while. Have her react selfishly in a situation or take the easy way instead of the right way.

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Originally posted by PCC Fred:
Er, Spacedal... *points further up the page at the exchange I had with Kif White last month*.

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I think Spacedal may be getting confused between my NNYPD Blue and yours, since she was actually a beta reader for mine, and didn't respond to the second draft version I sent her back (which I said was an optional response anyway, so I figured she had to problems with the second draft version and so just released it.)

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When I started planning the story, I was thinking in terms of a huge, UoM style epic. Hence the raiders, Wiseman, all the anti-alien rhetoric, along with a few other things you don't know about yet. The trouble is, as I get further into the story, I'm becoming more and more interested in developing the characters rather than huge story arcs. So right now I'm not 100% sure whether to go ahead with all the potential story arcs I've thought up, or whether to tie up the raiders/Wiseman business in the next few installments, and carry on with stand-alone stories that concentrate on the characters more. Personally I'm leaning towards the latter. Maybe you disgaree. Maybe you think the raiders stuff is the best part of the fic. If so, now's the best time to let me know.

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Well, I've personally found that if you can do both (i.e. good character development within these outlandish, story arcs and subplots within the epic storyline) it can work wonders and be both really fun, as well as testing of you as a writer.

This, of course, depends purely on how you've planned and structured your story so far, as well as where you plan it to go of course, but if you can put these characters into dangerous and/or immense situations of a grand scale... ones that really test their ablities, strengths, weaknesses and on a psychological level... then you can not only really get these characters to shine, but you can really prove yourself as a writer if you can pull it off.

And this not only goes for the original cast, this can also be an important factor regarding your original characters. It's these type of things that can really nail and solidify any original characters of yours, especially any you feel have perhaps lacked major development so far, and it can help you make them not only believale as individual characters, but also as creations of yours that can blend in with the original cast and fit.

I've always thought than when writing any fan fiction, the most important thing to get right is characterisation. It doesn't matter how funny the story is, or how grand or well-written, if you can't get the characters right, you're wasting your time. So, I feel that the true test of a good writer is keeping the characters in-character, and I've found a good way to test this is if you can put any character into any situation and automatically know exactly how they're going to react to the circumstances. Of course, you can do this in metaphorical situations and/or ones that you will never actually use in the end too, but I've found that putting them in stressful locales or happenances can be really effective.

Anyway, I'm rambling, and this may not help you at all. In the end, I guess what I'm saying is, perhaps you can pull both off somehow and make it work. Again, this depends purely on your structure and planning, but it can usually be done. Plots can meld and become one, or crossover, or parallel, etc. Sometimes it takes some thinking, and sometimes it can even be frustrating, but sometimes the solution will just come and instantly click into place.

Don't know if any of that has helped at all, I could even have missed the point entirely, but... I hope it has in some way.

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- Kenneth White

"Television is filled with wacky people, and wacky was invented by people who aren't funny ." -- Billy West

Leela and Bender are in a pot being boiled.

Bender: (sighs) I don't believe these Fanziparians want to eat us! Look at this nice bath they're giving! I think those are just rumors! Maybe they really want to make me their new leader!

Leela: Yeah, right, Bender! We're being cooked! If we don't do something, we'll be eaten!

Bender: Is it any wonder why no matter where I go I'm always so popular?

Some Fanziparians come by and chop carrots and celery into the pot.

Leela: Did you see that, Bender! They're going to eat us! Let's get out of here!

Bender: Poor, little orphan Leela! Is denial is common side effect with you orphans?

Leela: You're the one who's in denial! Don't you have any smell senses? Turn them on!

Bender (turning on his sense of smell): Mmmm! Mmmm! Mmmm! Something sure smells good!

Leela: Take a closer look!

Bender: Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! IT'S ME!!! (screams) We gotta get out of here! (screams) We're buring up!

Leela: Now he gets it!

Meanwhile Fry is taken to the castle in a basket via a carriage to see the Fanziparian King. Two guards take him out of the basket and drag him.

Guard #1: Here he is, sire!

Fanzipar King: Excellent!

Fry: So, I hear you guys eat people here. Am I going to be dinner soon? Where are my friends?

Fanzipar King: We are having your friends for dinner! However, I decided to let you live!

Fry: Really? Does this mean you're going to let me save my friends and escape this forsaken jungle planet?

Fanzipar King: You fool! We're letting you live so you could be our slave!

Fry: NOOO!!!! That's why you carried me in that basket?

Fanzipar King: Exactly! Guards! Seize him! And prepare him for slave auction!

The Guards grabbed Fry and tied him up and chained him to a chair and put a gag over his mouth and a bag over his head.

Meanwhile a mysterious man is looking at Fry, Leela, and Bender at a distance through binoculars.

Mystery Man: There is hope for us yet!

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Originally posted by Spacedal11:But seeing as that isn't going to go anywhere for a long while I'm not gonna do anymore fan-fics and I'm gonna have mine removed from TLZ. Mainly cause I'm disappointing in all of them and I know that all of them need a total rehaul.

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Sorry to hear that. I've liked what I've read of your fics, though they could have used some more editing time. If you do give them a rehaul let me know and I'd be happy to read them.

P.S. Apologies for not replying sooner; I've been away for several weeks.

P.P.S. And now for your amusement, a couple of comments I made about fanfics back in 2003.

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But with very few exceptions, I hate fanfiction.

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How deliciously ironic!

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In Futurama fan fiction, the vast majority of writers try to write the next "Parasites Lost", throwing in every major character revelation, life changing event and extreme situation they can lay their hands on. F&L shipper stories are the best example. Nearly every F&L fanfic ends with either F&L together, or one or both of them dead.

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If I ever turn up at an AGI I'm gonna get happy-slapped...

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Originally posted by *author*:
*text-to-quote*

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Oh yes, my first fanfic will be finished and released any day now...

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You know I actually posted a little bit of that infamous thing on the "Where you Began" thread.
Nobody payed any fecking attention...

If those who still care who aren't called Craig, or dead are interested, I have unfortunately discovered Knights of the old Republic fanfiction writing. So before I write much more Futurama stories that last 300 pages, I'll need to finish my KOTOR one that lasts 300 pages. Or, like I have recently, I'll suddenly flip interests again and feel like writing some more Futurama, then flick again and write more KOTOR, which means in simple terms - I'll probably never finish either of them!