This is Torture.

[SirJill]

What about a table top RPG? Like Dungeons and Dragons or Vampire: the Masquerade? I'm not sure if you considered it, and I confess I know diddly-squat about the kind of RPGs you described, but I figured it couldn't hurt to suggest it.

Jill

[Spiderkeg]

Well, with the magic system I have developed, me and my friend think that a good card based game might be possible. So that's an option that I have begun to look hard at.

[Forever Zero]

Well, its more about the story than the RPG element. I just chose an RPG because the ones I'm used to (Final Fantasy, Xenogears, Legend fo Dragoon, etc.) shine like gold when you come to the subject of storyline. And my story just seems suited to be an RPG.

I've considered a comic book, but I'm not sure how well that would go. It would take a LONG time just to draw out one page, and on top of that it would take a LONG time trying to decide what all would happen in an issue, and how many pages we should spend dealing with each particular scene.

[Spiderkeg]

Naa, don't think of it like that. comics have seasons just like TV shows do. If a comic comes out once a month, you have 12 comics to tell the story for that season. So think, what would you want to happen in year 1? What needs to take place? Then from there, divvy up the events to take place in just 12 issues.

I think the average comic book has about 12-24 pages, front and back.

[Darukin]

Hi there, I know this is quite late to be posting here, but anyway... I find that I am very similar to you Forever Zero in the way that you find your character appearances, character designs/weapons etc so important. Unfortunately it is very difficult, if not impossible, to express these appearances through writing or in a novel and making the reader visualize your characters as you want them to and how you imagine them with every detail.
I too find my characters and their appearances and expressions extremely important to me, and for example, say, were any film to be made of my story/characters I would refuse for it to be a real-life type movie with actors as I feel this would rule out the essence of the world, and I would prefer it in CG with the way I visualize them. But unfortunately these things are difficult to achieve.

[shurikin]

Hi, I totally agree with you Daru and FZ, because same goes for me. Like u FZ, I also feel that putting my characters on paper, even with all the description and details on their looks, expressions and weapons, is still not enough, and i feel the readers would imagine them very differently, destroying their true essense (to me at least) even though character designing/weapons is my strong point. But anyway, i guess we must live with that, and let them think of our characters their own ways, which still annoys me in a way

[omnituton]

I'm a little at a loss...I have to agree with something Sara said back in August...

But they'll see him in their own way, and that makes them a part of your story, which is what you want as a writer.

Now every writer worth their salt, who has put heart and soul into their work, is a little possessive of their creations. If they weren't they're would be something wrong. But on the otherhand I think there's something terribly wrong with being overly territorial about ones creations. When I read a great book, what makes it great is its capacity to loosen my preconceptions, set my imagination free and allow me to interact with it. A book which just "tells" me how things are (no matter how well written) is just dull. Interpretation is the readers privilege and the really good authors aim only to give us a little poke in the right direction.

[omnituton]

sorry to sara...only the first sentence of that last post is directly attributable to sara, the rest is me...

[aldan]

One thing that I think would be wise of you as an author who wants the image of the character to be "just this way" is for you to include WITH the manuscript some artwork, showing the way YOU want the character to be seen. By doing that, the publisher will see that, and when they go to an artist to have a cover done for the book, they will most likely show that to the artist so that he/she will know what image to use, and then that way, when your readers look at the cover, that image will be the first one that comes to mind when they read the book.

By doing it that way, you can avoid needing to go into needless detail that would only slow things down in the story, and instead you can concentrate on the STORY and the CHARACTERS.

[Darukin]

Yeah, that's an idea, and I agree with you Omnitution. As far as books are concerned the descriptions shouldn't be dull and "just this way" but allow the reader to take part in interpretation, that's fine, but it would annoy me were characters shown in an unwanted way were it, say, in a movie and then all would start imagining them like that. For example, the Harry Potter movies, I used to have a different interpretation but now I only imagine all the characters and world as the movie shows it, and some characters looked less cool than I'd imagined them, that's just an example. Still, those appearances are now stuck in my mind.

[omnituton]

Fair comment, Darukin...and point well taken. Commercialization of original works is more often than not a destructive process. Mind you, I wouldn't mind being successful enough an author to have to worry about this...lol...come on hollywood...I dare you...desecrate my art!

[Neurolanis]

Like the old saying goes, take the money and run!