Young Writers Society

Here is the discussion thread. The deal that I didn't list in the overhead post was that it is mainly up to all of you to make your plots. This isn't for my convenience as much as the bettering of writing and plot devices. In a general sense, I will be playing God... Not god-modding, but I'll be in control of the main plot points.

The storybook begins when I post the first disaster in the storybook. Now, discuss.

[Name:]
Dahlia Morgan

[Gender:]
Female

[Species Name:]
-Dominant Species: Human
-Subordinate Species: Hyena

[Advantages:]
Dahlia's hyena transmorgification was developed for the purpose of allowing her to feed on any living being without fear or remorse. The hyena DNA within her also has extraordinarily heightened her senses of smell and sight. Her finger nails are curved and sharp to rend through flesh, and her frightening canine fangs aid in the task.

[Disadvantages:]
Due to having primal instincts and urges of a hyena, Dahlia is almost constantly hungry. If kept from feeding on others, she will likely start to gnaw on her own arm. She also has frequent bouts of uncontrollable giggling.

[Conviction:]
Murderer/Scavenger

[Faction:]
None (Nomad)

[History (Full):]
Dahlia Morgan was once a very happy girl, excited to be starting her career in genetic research. Because she graduated with such outstanding grades in college, she was accepted to work in a lab in a remote area in Florida developing advanced medicine alongside her father, Nikolai Morgan, whom was a geneticist famous for developing many groundbreaking medicines and vaccines.

As the world joined into a grand alliance, the revolutionary medicines of the father/daughter team became more popular throughout the world, and thus rid the world of many widespread, previously-incurable diseases and sicknesses. Soon enough, the world fell into turmoil as it's climate suddenly became comparable to that of Hell itself. In a period of just a few years, millions of people died from various ailments brought about by the heat and pressure of the earth, the world was becoming a dessicated red wasteland, and the necessities of life such as food and water were becoming scarce.

Prof. Nikolai worked tirelessly to discover an answer to the survival of mankind, isolating himself from everyone, including his daughter. Dahlia watched helplessly as everyone around her began to die. Nobody could survive in this remote town, away from civilization as it is. After eight months, Prof. Nikolai died from exhaustion while doing vigorous, nonstop research. Dahlia started to feel the effects of the drought and famine. Desperate for a solution, she studied her father's research notes and materials, finding them to be research about the splicing of animal DNA to humans' for the purpose of humans developing survival traits of an animal. There were even vials of various animal blood on a desk. She thought it was crazy at first, but as she grew more tired and hungry, she began to study more into the theory of DNA transmorgification.

At the peak of her suffering, she knew she had to do something to keep herself alive. She decided she would have to alter her DNA quickly. Too exhausted to travel miles away to civilization, she began to observe what possible food sources were left in the settlement. Nothing. Nothing left but sickly people. That, she reluctantly decided, would have to be her means of survival. She used the DNA of an animal that she knew would be completely fine with eating any living thing, sick or otherwise: a hyena. Following the plans designed by her father, she created a formula that would instantly fuse her DNA with that of a hyena. Since the day she injected herself with the formula, she has murdered and fed upon the few other survivors in that town, along with a few others along the way as she traveled back towards the city. With her strength restored, she doesn't have as intense an urge to feed, but she has developed other noticable traits of a hyena.

[Personality:]
After the first week of having transmorgified DNA, Dahlia's senseless, impulsive hunger has subsided, allowing her to almost function normally. Dahlia is highly intelligent and clever. She is very childish with a strange sense of humor that became much more twisted after the incident. Sometimes, if she's being unusually nice to someone, she is "playing with her food." Also, she has become a very paranoid individual.

[Etc.:]
This is my first profile, and soon my first storybook, on this website. I know the History is long, but I wanted to know what everyone thought before I put the shorter version on the main thread. Does this work with the plot you had planned out? Also, I can start off at a certain spot in the History and roleplay the last segments of it (as in, it hasn't happened yet), if you think that might be better. With this being my first, I'm not sure if I should post first or not... I'm kinda afraid I might mess it up.

This looks really solid to me. I love the idea of actually having a cannibal in the group. Nice and dramatic and... well, cannibalistic.

So, are we just waiting for more people now?

Basically. Though, that's only for my delivering plot points. If you want to start interacting with others, then feel free.

Should I post my character profile on the story thread like Lauren did? And, should I make a shorter version of it there? Also, is there going to be a general area most events take place in, or are you planning to have different things occuring in different areas at the same time? I need to have a name of a city or populated area that Dahlia is walking towards, and information about it.

On another note, I was a bit confused... I looked at one other thread to see the format these are written on this site, and I saw that everyone made their posts in first-person. I thought it might just be that one story, but I looked at about six more and they are all the same way, so I'm guessing that all storybooks here are written from a first-person perspective of the played character... which is yet another thing I have to get used to. Not that I can't do it, but it's going to be different from what I usually do.

Mostly it doesn't make any difference, people just write how they feel more comfortable. Quite a few SBs are a mixture of third and first person, so it's up to your personal preference.

I just looked again and saw storybook threads in which everyone wrote in third-person, so I guess I'll be doing third-person. When I write roleplay first-person, it feels very limited. Also, I may start some independent "character introduction" posts, as in I'll be posting RP that will explain Dahlia in what happens before the first major plot point starts. This will also help me get used to the character and the story. I think it'll be cool if other people do it too, until Lumierre posts the first major plot point.

I posted my first segment... Is it okay?

That's a good idea! You wrote quite a detailed history - I always struggle with that >.<

Here's my profile so far - Will you help me with the history section? This way there could be some easier links between the characters for plottage reasons.


Character Profile
Name: Coryn
Gender: Male

Species Name:
-Dominant Species: Human
-Subordinate Species: Panther

Advantages: Able to see well in the dark, increased strength, quite agile.

Disadvantages: Likes to sleep alot, is quite inactive during the day. Often it hurts his eyes to go out in bright sunlight due to the increased sensitivity of his eyesight. [I feel like these are pretty weedy disadvantages - any suggestions?]

Conviction: Vigilante

World: Primal Earth

Faction: Lisbon

History: ...? Perhaps some kind of reason for his lack of any interpersonal skills?

Personality: Objective and level-headed, Coryn tends to view the needs of society above that of the individual. He believes strongly in the potential of the human race and is therefore willing to make sacrifices for the 'gretaer good'. He often sees things in only in black and white - he is not very good at compromising. These qualities generally lead to an inability to communicate well with others, as he lacks the understanding required for a friendship. However when he does become attached to something he finds it difficult to be as objective, and often becomes very withdrawn as a result of his confusion.

Is there usually this long a period between posts in Storybooks...? Not to be rude... But, I think I've kept checking the thread a whole week or more and didn't see anyone else post for it.

Not usually... There tends to be a few days max. I haven't posted yet as I wasn't sure if the SB had started or if you were just posting backgrounds to get a feel for the characters
If we've started then I'll post, but we might need more characters?

If you want to post more often it's best to join multiple SBs so that there's always one to post for

Okay, I'll try to find another later. I didn't want to do multiple in the beginning, because i didn't know if I'd be able to keep up with them.

Generally if you post on each SB every few days you'll be okay. Depends largely on time zones; sometimes I struggle to keep up cause there are loads of posts while I sleep!

Sorry about all of this... It's been a really strenuous time for me, which is no excuse for abandoning a storybook, but...

Keep ringing in the profiles. We do need more characters and I'm going to finish outlining future plots.

Sorry again, guys.