Jump to content

Existing user? Sign In
Sign In

Remember me Not recommended on shared computers

Forgot your password?
Sign Up

General

A pirate captain's log

A blog by Elena in General

entries
43
comments
17
views
8,552

About this blog

Elena's Blog

Entries in this blog

Sort By

Staffing I don't care anymore

I DO care about my site. I love it, and I am glad that our interactive swashbuckling story is already eight years old, and counting, and that I can also count on a few people since six- eight years ago. This is an important achievement. BUT I DON'T CARE ANYMORE if some people think it's not active enough (it is, just way slower than it used to be). I don't care if those newer members decide suddenly a long time investment isn't worth and they leave. I had to accept the idea that the

August 18, 2018

2

Talking to the walls

I am desperate. I don't know what to do anymore. It feels like talking to the walls... and I wonder what I have done so wrong in my childhood in order to deserve this at mature age. I wish that, as so many parenting books exist, how to make a stubborn child obey, eat or take medicine, it should also exist books how to take care of old parents. How to make a stubborn 89 years old eat, or take the medicines according to the posted schedule (and to my phone calls, because I never let it only to the

November 27, 2018

4

What's the appeal of pirate women?

What can they do what pirate men can't? I honestly can't understand their appeal (and I have 2 pirate men). I am honestly exasperated. Pirate women existed, indeed. But they were damn rare, and not exactly in command position. Yes, you'll say Grace O'Malley, Sayida Al Hurra and Ching Shih But even they were more pirate ship owners than captains, and they had captains to actually command the ship. Pirate men were plenty. Some ships allowed no women aboard, others had 2-3 w

August 27, 2014

2

Longing for a real community

This was posted more in depth on my personal blog, where I can insert the photos how I want them to look (what here I can't manage. Probably it is possible, but I am too anti-technicus to figure out how. Last time I tried I got my whole gallery linked to a blog post.) Longing for a real community The struggle is real, and I am more and more convinced that what I am actually longing for does not exist. I wish for a dedicated community of writers – as many or a

January 25, 2017

2

Roleplay Write a novel instead!

One hears it so often from RPG partners - "If you don't like it, go write a novel (or fanfiction) instead!" But is this really the solution, instead of talking with the writing partners and finding by negotiation and compromise a solution matching everyone's writing needs, halfway? Writing a novel? Been there, done that (in my mother tongue) - several novel-length stories. (The list is somewhere here, in this blog, but given that it doesn't allow me to past links in words anymore, I give up sea

August 20, 2015

3

Feeling cheated

Sometimes I am feeling cheated of character development. Cheated in my writing, in the story we are writing together, not receiving the same thing I am offering, but only a tenth part. I have said before that Nothing happens if you don't write. Everybody knows it is true, still they don't write even if they all declare they love their characters and they want the plots they have suggested and we have planned for months, waiting for their free time to actually write the story. In some

January 30, 2017

0

Writing alone

I have been writing since I learnt to write. I remember being praised and having my compositions and poems featured on the wall gazette in second-third grade, and when I was about 13 I discovered at a general cleaning a notebook where I wrote a story in the first grade, about a witch who flew over a man and turned him into a rabbit. Two or three consistent paragraphs were a lot for a 7 years old... I started writing longer stories since 12. My first one, 2 notebooks long, was a Western one..

August 20, 2014

2

writing The world is functioning upside down

It is nothing new that the world is functioning upside down in various aspects of life. Why not in the writing realm too? 😢 As you know already, and as you can see from the blog image, I have published three novels up to now. Two others and a short stories anthology will follow soon, almost certainly all three to appear this year. I published with small indie presses, because this is what I have the possibility in the current book market conditions. Many writers more seasoned than me

May 17, 2018

0

Inactivity

I admit I am confronted with an activity problem on my nearly six years old site. Most of the sites have one, at a moment or another. I feel it is something wrong with the very slow pace we have progressed with this year, and with people posting, instead of each week, only 1-2 times a month. In one year of writing, we have covered only two story months. In other years, there were three to six story months for a year of writing. If a quicker pace was possible before, and it created mo

June 8, 2016

0

Involve your members

Don't write alone, they say. Involve your members, because RPG means interaction. Well, it means interaction between characters, and this could be achieved even if they are written by only one writer. What if the members CAN get involved, but they don't want to? I would have liked to involve them in all threads, to have characters of all kind (not only NPCs) shared, or at least to have discussions among writers even if I have to write some threads alone. They seem to simply not be interested.

September 15, 2016

0

Guilty of fangirling, still I hate it

I am annoyed with fangirling over playbys, especially when it happens in the c-box (or in the messengers where I want to discuss plot twists, not how cute/ hot/ etc is one or another actor). I thought I wasn't doing it... But it seems I am wrong, and maybe I am annoyed because I have different tastes. Still, I prefer fangirling over plots, characters and writing techniques, not over playbys. Over the action per se, the story twists and the character motivations, because these should

January 3, 2015

1

Roleplay Nothing happens if you don't write

You say you like your character. OK, then maybe you know that no character development can happen unless you post regularly and get involved with him in the story. That a character grows through interaction with other characters, while doing his duty, while partying or while fighting. There can be (and are recommended to be) individual plots too. But, again, just planning them and not actually writing them doesn't count. He has to be actively part of the story if you want exciting things to happ

August 27, 2015

0

Another one bites the dust

Another site I have been writing on, gone. Another time I have been among the most devoted members, left, together with a few others, to switch off the light. I feel hurt and sad because this happened... and at the same time, somehow relieved that it's a place where I don't owe posts anymore. But the petty relief is trumped by the sadness. I am sorry, Morrigan, if you are reading this, because the gif I asked was for this site, which during this week-end announced its closure. Man

March 23, 2015

1

I believe in negotiation

I think that in writing a story together with other people, negotiation and compromise are the key words. (Some see compromise as something bad, they give it a negative meaning. No, I don't mean that kind of compromise, but giving and taking mutually, and meeting the others half-way. And some people are really willing to do this, and I am thankful to them.) Why do I say negotiation? Because the objectives of each character must be met. Not only mine and not only yours. And this is wh

August 20, 2014

0

Mutiny III - Death of the accursed boatswain

Mutiny Part III - Death of the accursed boatswain Elouan had seen from the rigging the dog’s attempts to save the man he hated the most, and he silently prayed to God not to let it happen. Jacque Gasquet was trying his best to swim and remain alive, hoping that somebody would throw him a rope or something. He was tired and in pain, as the Breton had strong fists and the boatswain had always been accustomed to give deadly blows, not to receive them. Not to mention the way he fell from

July 15, 2014

0

Relationships

I think in a RPG, like in any story worth telling, the characters have friends, enemies, siblings, sometimes parents or children, workmates, sometimes a love interest/ fiancee/ spouse. And all these do flesh out the characters, allowing the reader to see different aspects of their personalities. Even the one who saves the world (depending on setting), can't do it alone, he still needs friends and workmates in order to accomplish it. (And enemies to attempt to hinder his endeavour). But

August 18, 2014

0

Frustrating missed opportunities

Those who are character-focused, say that the character is making the story; those who are story-focused, like me, say that the story can't go on without certain characters. And both of us are right in our way. The problem of missed opportunities has troubled me for a long time too. There are people who post only once in a blue moon, or who have problems and have to take time out. It happens. But their characters need no time out, by contrary. A story can't wait for those

August 27, 2014

0

Just bitching today

Yes, I would need some sweet bread to make my day sweeter. Not that I have anything particular to resent today as I do. I guess some days of this kind just happen, when everything already piled up starts hurting and mattering. I have an exam today and I haven't studied enough. No time. I have a hard day at work too... and I am just taking a little break from it now. It is rainy for several days and I feel it in my bones, in my head, in everything. And I have deadlines for my s

March 5, 2014

0

Wrong characters for the ongoing story

I guess each RPG - which is a collectively written story - gets sometimes the misfit. But while we encourage the misfit as a character in various ship crews, as a personality interesting to explore in the interaction with other characters, we don't encourage the lone wolf in a creative endeavour based on collectivities (ship crews). Yes, the odd one or two might happen, as secondary characters, forging their paths among the collectives - but they are rare sights. (Exactly how women sailors

June 27, 2014

0

Somebody has to do it

It seems that people have interest in writing only certain characters, or only certain aspects of the characters' lives, while a story implies writing several character types in several circumstances which make sense for their lives. E.g. a Navy officer has in the story not only the role to charm ladies at a party, but mainly to take part in battles or to lead work scenes as well... to show only a few aspects. He should interact also with his superiors, with allied officers, he can l

February 15, 2016

0

Religion

I understand that not all the characters are religious. However, if a religion is mentioned in a character's bio, one should use it at least a little - even if it means to highlight that he has evolved and doesn't believe anymore, and that his current beliefs aren't the same with the ones he was taught in childhood. Not to have it written in the bio, then act as if it was never mentioned. Why bother then to mention it in the first place? This is twice as valid when it is about somebo

May 13, 2015

0

A historical approach on childbirth and pregnancy

Somebody said, in a post on another site, about realistic pregnancy in historical context: "It would be pretty realistic for a pregnancy to end in a miscarriage, or for the child to die at birth or be stillborn - health care back in the early nineteenth century was pretty rudimentary, after all. To get pregnant and give birth carried HUGE risks for the woman and if the child was born safely, odds were good that it wouldn't live past the age of five..." While I do agree with her, this realis

August 18, 2014

0

Writing - related musings

I think my frustration with missed opportunities, to which my brain returns and returns, is based on the fact that people do write for different reasons. There are people like me, who write because they have a story to tell. The story is there, in their brain, it is turning its wheels and writing itself, bits and pieces, while waiting in the station or riding a bus/ subway to or from work, or in bed before going to sleep. Bits and pieces scribbled on a paper while in a boring meeting or wai

August 27, 2014

0

I don't care anymore

I DON'T CARE ANYMORE (Or so I say in this moment; tomorrow I might discover that I am actually caring, and just attempting to grow a shield around myself). I want to write with everybody, and I see lots of character opportunities which remain unused. No fault of mine; I have shown them to everybody, they have been invited into threads, for certain plots the NPCs and characters for adoption had been publicly advertised, together with their plot opportunities. If nobody is interes

October 15, 2015

0

Everything beautiful has an end

It just has to come sooner or later, in a painful or natural and serene way. Why now? Because the bells were tolling. Why now? Because the new moon in Sagittarius is the moon of unexpected changes. And I have to open to them, no matter what they would entail. To mourn my losses, to gather the remained pieces... and to go forward. I had moments of hesitation, when I thought I'd give up. But I can't. There is no turning back, ever.... just forward. "Caminante, no hay camino, se hace

November 25, 2014

0

×

×

Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use, Guidelines and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.