Young Writers Society

Mattster wrote:The only prerequisite to joining this storybook is that you've posted a fictional piece on YWS, and hence have a character to play as.

Never mind that, you can create a character and universe specially for this storybook. Or, if you want, you can still use a character and setting from your previous works. You can treat this storybook as a separate canon if you don’t want your novel contaminated by random crossovers.

Mattster wrote:It doesn't have to be your MC, it can be any character... well, you know. Any character that is featured often or majorly in your story. Not like "Man in Bar #2".

Hey, if Man in Bar #2 is an interesting guy, what the heck. Play as him!

Mattster wrote:nothing about the plot or lack thereof in the old Gathering
WELL DONE, DUMMY

This time, there is some semblance of a plot! Apparently these are quite important when creating stories.

Mattster wrote:No God characters. And no, you can't be God even if he features in your story.

Actually, yeah, this one stays in effect. Otherwise it’s just ridiculous.

This is open to anyone who's interested, although I'm looking at a possible maximum of about 15 people. If there's a significantly higher number of people who want in, I think I'll have a solution.

• When creating a universe, you can work with one or two other players and all have characters from that universe if you like. I'd say three to a universe should probably be the maximum, since it sort of defeats the purpose of the storybook if half the main characters already know each other.
• I'm looking at a maximum of 15 players/characters. I'm also considering a maximum of 10 worlds. Each player should only control one character each.
• If there are profiles already posted when you want to post yours, you may also request of another user if your character can be part of their universe. Bear in mind that the user who submitted that universe will have some control over the creation of your character as it will have to fit in their world, and indeed they will also have the right to refuse your request. Depending on the user, however, they may be willing to help you design your character to fit or even make changes to the universe to accommodate you; but this is entirely at their discretion.
• The universes, characters and everything else should be your own creations. This isn't an Academy for Heroes-in-Training storybook, people, we don't want fanfiction OCs here.

Code: Select all

[b]Name: [/b]
[b]Genre: [/b
[b]Backstory: [/b]
[b]Locale: [/b]
[b]Artifact: [/b]
[b]NPCs: [/b]

First of all, pretty much anything goes with what your world can be, we'll find a way to fit it in.

Name
What the "name" of the universe is. Doesn't have to be any sort of official name as it likely won't be referred to as such in the storybook itself, but just something we players can use to identify it. (If you're using your own novel or short story's world the universe name can be as simple as the title of that work.)

Genre
What genre does your universe fit into? If you're not sure, have a look at the list of genres here. If you like, you can also give examples of fiction that's similar to your world to help others better understand it.

Backstory
Give a brief description of the recent history of your world, at least in relation to your main character. If your universe is based on an existing work of yours you might want to decide when the storybook takes place in relation to your story - has your character already experienced all that you've written or planned for them, or have they yet to begin? Or is it sometime during their journey that they find themselves on Bellona?

Locale
When the worlds collide, they form the planet Bellona which is composed of several "chunks" of the parent worlds. Here is where you describe the part of your world that has appeared on its surface. It can be as large as a small country or as small as a city. Its geological location may not be the same as on its home world: an arctic island may land in the tropics of Bellona, or an inland city might become coastal, and any people that inhabit that locale will likely be in the process of trying to adapt to the change.

Artifact (you may also call it a MacGuffin)
This is the object stolen from your world by the thief. It can be nearly anything, as long as it's important, powerful or particularly useful; there needs to be a reason the thief went after it in the first place. It should be something that would help him take control or wreak havoc. It could also be something he could sell to a high bidder but let's try not to have too many of these, since it seems a bit extreme to break into a universe just to raise money (he is a thief, after all; he'd just steal the money directly).

NPCs
Here you can list some of the other major characters from your world that might appear on Bellona. They can be allies of your character, villains, random comic relief or whatever. They should be supporting characters but shouldn't share too much screentime with the main cast, otherwise they might as well be player characters too. If your character has some sort of familiar that stays with them (which isn't a problem, by the way) it's probably better to mention them in the character profile rather than here.

Code: Select all

[b]Name: [/b]
[b]Universe: [/b]
[b]Age: [/b]
[b]Appearance: [/b]
[b]Personality: [/b]
[b]Abilities: [/b]
[b]Other: [/b]

Name
You really need me to explain this one? WHAT DO WE CALL YOUR CHARACTER?

Universe
I suppose it goes without saying that your character would be associated with your universe, but just for completion's sake list it here.

Age
This can be anything. Seriously, I would love to see, like, some Master Roshi-like badass grandpa show up and just... be a badass.

Appearance
What do we see when we look at your character? I mean, what we actually see is a bunch of text but what will that text tell us?

Personality
How your character behaves on a normal day, how they act in groups, whether they're aggressive, passive, impressive, expressive, dismissive... or something else that ends in -ssive.

Abilities
What can your character do? This can be anything from "summons fire from her hands to melt her enemies" to "is a police officer who graduated from the academy with flying colours". Or whatever.

Other
Anything else that doesn't fit into any of the previous categories.

Artifact
A powerful item that belongs to a specific Universe. Each one was stolen by The Pilferer, presumably in a bid to gain power.

Bellona
The planet that was formed by the Great Collision. It is comprised of portions of planets from other Universes.

The Great Collision
The event that brought the planet Bellona into being. It was caused by the Pilferer's theft of numerous Artifacts, which resulted in multiversal instability and the merging of worlds.

Locale
A location from one of the individual Universes that now appears on Bellona.

NPC
A resident of a Universe, or of Bellona (all of whose residents originated from a Universe, in any case) that is not the main character of one of the writers. NPCs are supporting cast members who may join the main characters for brief encounters or journeys, but should not stay with them for too long since the focus ought to be on our heroes. The Pilferer is an NPC.

The Pilferer
An NPC and the antagonist that kicked the plot into motion. Little is known about him, including what he plans to do with the Artifacts he stole. Evidently he has to be very stealthy to have stolen the Artifacts in the first place; additionally, he can summon shadowy minions or wisps. These wisps can distract or mislead their targets, and in emergencies can fuse together into larger, fighting wisps.

Universe
One of the realities that converged during the Great Collision to create Bellona. (Technically the reality in which Bellona exists is also a Universe, but the term is usually used to refer to one of the original, individual ones that existed prior to the Great Collision.)