I just want to say something, and it's probably something I should have said a LONG time ago.
Thanks Database, for everything, but also for helping my writing capacity grow incredibly.
When I started, all I really had to go off was the narrative styles of books I had before. Not a bad place to start, but simply reading books wasn't going to cut it. I had DO it, or WRITE it in this case. From my humble beginnings from WAY back when the thread was created, to now I see MASSIVE improvement.
I recall back when the thread began, I was so unsure about how to go about creating a character that I simply had to base my Spartan off me and my gaming style on Halo Reach. That's all I really had to go off, since I'd never created a fleshed out character from scratch.
Now? I can create a character, give them a name, a basic appearance, and when I hit their personality... they become their own person. I'm not sure how to describe it, but when I think about how said character would react in a certain situation... the response comes to me as if I knew this character as a person. Beforehand, the character would have behaved much like myself.
I think Manuel, the Spartan, is an example of the incredible change. At first he WAS me, if I was in that situation. But I began to think, I began to create a story for HIM, and then I realized... that HIS life would shape him drastically different from how mine had shaped me. That's when we see Manuel join War, and really become his own man. From then on, I can create characters that in no way have to be connected to me in any way, and I can STILL perfectly understand the characters. What I'm trying to say is that my level of character creation has gone from simply being me, to forging an entirely new person with their own personality, dreams, goals, etc. For example, Luis doesn't really have anything to do with me. I like money (who doesn't), but I'd never murder for it. Luis, I can safely say, is his own man... which wasn't the case with Manuel when I started out.
My writing hasn't only grown in terms of character creation though. Before hand, I never realized the importance of details. I typed, and since it made sense in MY head I didn't add those in. While I still have issues with this here and there, I can say I've improved a bit.
I remember just wanting to get the plot out, my chapters being a couple of paragraphs at best. If you compare the earlier chapters of my stories with the later chapters, now you see a LARGE difference in length between the two. And you know what? It's not a forced change. Over time, as I added in more thing rather than just plot (i.e. emotions, thoughts, descriptions, etc) the size of the chapters just grew naturally. The content did as well, and these days I can't really find a way to split larger chapters into two without making it feel... artificial. It's like it's MEANT to be that length.
And that's just basic storytelling stuff. I remember, way back in English class, that things like "theme", "symbols", and such were really huge wastes of my time. While I still don't agree with tests question asking about the symbolism of a blue sky (I mean, REALLY?), I do see the power these literacy devices have when used in a suitable manner.
For example, let's take the Legion's flag. It has a skull, and two swords. Like the pirate flag, the skull is the first thing noticeable and like the pirate flag it is supposed to instill fear, or a sense of "oh shit", whenever you see a ship flying that flag. The skull is that of a lion, to show that not even the KING of beasts can stand up to Humanity. And the swords? They're there to look cool (not everything is a symbol
).
Now, to keep this fairly short, there a lot of other things that have gotten better... but I think I've hit the main three for storytelling. Basic narrative skills, characters, and literacy devices to enrich the experience.
The reason I decided to say all this is because, now that I split my time between here and NationStates I can see how I'm moving on as a writer. I went from not even being sure how create a character, to (now) designing an entire space faring nation.
This project REALLY takes what I like merges it all together. The hypothetical, and real science, of future technologies for use in civilian life or military battlefields is where my science background comes in. Looking at past systems of government, and mixing aspects of them to create the Legion's government is where my passion for history and curiosity of political systems comes into play. Despite all this, THE single most important thing over there is writing.
The whole point of developing a nation is to eventually have it interact with others. This is usually done through RPs, so there is an incredible emphasizes on storytelling. I find taking my project, which already combined so many of my interests, and then WRITING about it to be incredibly satisfying.
Although there are difference to writing about a nation rather than an individual, there are also similarities. There is a "national character" per say, which is a Xenophobic stance. The levels of Xenophobia vary in individuals, but it ranges from well placed mistrust to blind hatred. Then there is the history of the nation which affects how it acts, much like how a person's history affects them. The nature of Spartans, under an even more brutal training regime, is explored. Memorials of the Great War, and how War has turned them into a rallying call against the alien menace, is also a fun aspect of the Legion's Empire to write about. Things that are used for characters, I find I can apply them in a broader sense to the government and the nation as a generalized whole (but never to EVERY individual within it).
Of course, be it here or there, I've had help along the ways while I learn the ropes. However, I don't think I'd have been anywhere CLOSE enough, in terms of writing ability, to undertake such a project if it wasn't for Halo Database. So I just felt I just needed to say... thanks Database, for helping me do something I really thought I'd never be anywhere remotely decent at.
NOTE: I'm tired, so there may be some spelling/grammatical errors. Ironic, considering the message of my rant.