[22:05:22]  <DarianC>	 Heya.
[22:05:27]  <DarianC>	 Got time now for the 411?
[22:05:31]  <Emily>	 Yeah, sure :)
[22:06:06]  <DarianC>	 The original purpose for fiction sims was to have a platform specifically designed for development of fleet and/or TF canon.
[22:06:36]  <DarianC>	 Since I took over as BFCO, I've expanded that (unofficially) to allow for more practical uses.
[22:06:57]  <DarianC>	 For example, strictly following the by-law for fictions, only 3 people could be involved in the TF fiction.
[22:07:18]  <DarianC>	 I don't enforce that rule for the TF fictions, so as many people as who wish to get involved, can get involved in the TF fiction.
[22:08:06] Emily	 nods
[22:08:20]  <DarianC>	 Additionally, instead of having several independent fictions masquerading as regular sims, I have decided to have every additional fiction post into the same place on the RSB, although they can have a subforum in the RSB under it for their own posts.
[22:08:43]  <DarianC>	 That way the TFCO and anyone else interested can find all the posts for the fictions all in one place.
[22:09:06]  <DarianC>	 It is my desire to give those addons recognition, meaning they can have a ship banner listed on the TF site.
[22:09:22]  <Emily>	 Okay
[22:09:30]  <DarianC>	 If we get enough of them in a TF, we could even break them off as a listed Task Group in TFMS for management purposes.
[22:10:27]  <DarianC>	 There are practical reasons for letting a fiction sim also maintain a website.  The most notable of which would be the obvious one... to maintain a proper roster of all the characters, including all the side NPCs.
[22:10:53] Emily	 nods
[22:11:16]  <DarianC>	 Even without having a fiction designation, there's absolutely no reason why any regular sim couldn't PLAY like a fiction, meaning abandoning tag and respond style of play.
[22:11:43]  <DarianC>	 And instead, having each person focus on an entire department or other major function, writing for the entire cast for that area of their writing.
[22:12:30]  <DarianC>	 By having you post to the TF fiction area on the RSB, I can overlook the 3 player maximum, because you'd all be considered writers contributing to the TF fiction.
[22:13:02]  <Emily>	 Can we write it on nova then copy/paste it onto the RSB?
[22:13:14]  <DarianC>	 Of course.
[22:13:34]  <DarianC>	 Although, it would be a bit weird.  That's kind of got the feel of tag and respond.
[22:13:57] Emily	 shrugs
[22:14:23]  <DarianC>	 Fiction simming is supposed to be there to break the mold in writing for games.
[22:14:34]  <DarianC>	 We are supposed to be writing in the novel style.
[22:14:54]  <DarianC>	 Very long posts, written by a single writer, covering the actions of a large portion of a crew.
[22:15:15]  <DarianC>	 For example, when I'm writing Chadwick, I typically also include writing for EVERY member of the USS Farragut crew.
[22:15:24]  <DarianC>	 I do the same for Saratoga when I'm writing for Tidwell.
[22:15:48]  <Emily>	 Ahhh
[22:15:55]  <Emily>	 But what if I want to have other members of the crew?
[22:16:15]  <Emily>	 Like if I have 3 people we each cover like say 3 main characters and several NPCs each?
[22:16:24]  <DarianC>	 This is a complete break in the mold of gaming here, because we don't wait for other people to respond to us to include stuff for their individual characters.  That's not an issue, because you only write for your specific portion of the crew.
[22:16:53]  <DarianC>	 You know who Sean is?
[22:17:02]  <Emily>	 ex TF47 CO?
[22:17:04]  <DarianC>	 Yes.
[22:17:12]  <Emily>	 Yeah
[22:17:21]  <DarianC>	 He and I have been toying with the idea of doing a 2 man fiction based on a Cern Class ship.
[22:17:50]  <Emily>	 Cool :)
[22:17:53]  <DarianC>	 He would write for the CO and Engineering, and I would write for the XO and almost all of Medical.  We'd share Science.
[22:18:07]  <Emily>	 Yeah, thats what I was thinking of doing
[22:18:27]  <Emily>	 But I'd write for the Starfleet he'd write for marines and maybe another Dept
[22:18:34]  <Emily>	 Maybe have someone write civilian
[22:18:40]  <DarianC>	 Right.
[22:19:01]  <DarianC>	 It's just important to shed yourself of the tag and respond style of writing for it.
[22:19:38]  <DarianC>	 You can brainstorm live as to how you may want your characters to interact as needed, but the idea of writing a bit, then tagging someone to add to it, like with a joint post, just goes out the window as irrelevant.
[22:20:20]  <Emily>	 Why?
[22:20:23]  <DarianC>	 Because fiction writing in a novel fashion means very long posts written by a single writer.
[22:20:38]  <Emily>	 Ah
[22:20:42]  <DarianC>	 It's novel style writing.  We don't do joint posts.
[22:20:54]  <Emily>	 Hmm
[22:21:08]  <DarianC>	 You don't interact with others the same you would in regular gaming.
[22:21:17]  <Emily>	 Okay, i think i can figure out a way to do that. Line one very long post, and then another long respond post?
[22:21:34]  <DarianC>	 No.
[22:21:38]  <DarianC>	 That's still tag and respond.
[22:22:16]  <DarianC>	 You would work with your other writers ahead of time as to where you want the boat to go, and then off screen you collaborate on course corrections as you go along.
[22:22:27]  <Emily>	 Ahhh
[22:22:27]  <DarianC>	 Each writer only writes about their specific areas of operation.
[22:22:28]  <Emily>	 Okay
[22:22:55]  <DarianC>	 Any cross work can be collaborated on off camera, but it's up to each of you to agree what parts its okay for the others to just write for.
[22:23:25] Emily	 nods
[22:23:36]  <DarianC>	 For example, if it was me an Jon writing a piece, we'd arrange ahead of time for him to write for some of my characters for brief interactions, instead of him writing something, them me either contributing to or adding to later via a different post.
[22:23:52]  <Emily>	 Okay, I understand.
[22:24:01]  <DarianC>	 That's why I said, this totally breaks the mold.
[22:24:28]  <DarianC>	 Most people don't understand the concept at first, because they just don't quite understand what it means to toss out the tag and play setup.
[22:26:10]  <Emily>	 I think I get it. So I would just tell the other person where I would like the post to end up and then he writes out that part if it involves any of the characters that I would play.
[22:27:30]  <DarianC>	 That's correct.  That's not the same thing as them picking it up from where you left off, because they would only be writing for the people he would normally control.  For example, the CMO may have to interact with the CO character, but if you are the CO and I'm the CMO, I'd only write for the brief interaction I had with you, then I would write for my departments duties during that specific period of play.
[22:27:42]  <DarianC>	 And you would be writing for your area of play.
[22:27:55]  <DarianC>	 All of them combine to make the actual story line.
[22:28:19]  <Emily>	 Yeah, i think i'm getting it. So if his character comes to my area, I would write it out for him and he would just give me some notes of what he'd like done.
[22:28:20]  <Emily>	 Right?
[22:28:45]  <DarianC>	 Yes.