Creating Stories, Opera and other notable fiction

Greetings all. I made this thread to both ask a question and start a discussion.

I intend in this great city to become one of the greatest literary minds who ever lived, or at worst a entertaining writer of schlock fondly thought of by those who read it. I have made a Epic Poem Cycle and a few short stories.

However, I would like one’s opinion and advice on taking this path. Is becoming a Author as a profession something worthwhile and profitable and how would one go ab out doing it? Do options like carving out a reputation at court do anything interesting? What advice can you give me for acting out this path, like for writing classic short stories?

Also, as for the discussion, I would like to ask those of literary ambition what tales they have created in their time. Mine Include:

A Exceptional Short Horror Story Made recently called The Monster Of The Marsh, a tale of a Shroom hopping Race in the marshes gone horribly wrong, when a creature unknown to science starts killing off the contestants.

A Epic Cycle Poem called &quotThe Flame Of Destiny&quot, in which a man meets with a strange cloaked creature that ruins his life after a deal gone wrong and he swears to hunt down and slay the beast. (And despite what Mr Pages may say The Cloaked Thing is not based on The Masters and it would be appreciated if they would stop classifying it as Proscribed Material. I only got a mere 6000 Moon Pearls for it, which I sold for a mere 60 Echoes. )

Author is nice, because it gives you some hard-to-get payments, and it boost your arguably most useful stats. But in terms of payments, The Enforcer is probably better (just don’t sell the use of villains at bazaar).

If you keep carving out a reputation at court, you’ll eventually face a commission that will kick you out of the court, forever. You don’t have to accept it; it opens up new area later, though.

Also, a true author need real life experiences. A lot. So if you want to write a classical story, you should not wholly neglect other stuff. Some of them will come handy.

Carving out a reputation in court is unrelated to the profession; it advances you in the persuasive storyline (you can decline to advance if you want to finish writing all the poems and books though)

Author has probably the most useful set of payments for any profession, and is the only tier 3 profession you can get before you’re a person of some importance. You need a classic short story and to be a journalist already (which you also get from the Bohemians card)

Strange, I read the description of the profession the last time I got the Bohemiens card, and it said a Exceptional Short Story to me.

And I am curious: can someone tell me if it is worth sicking around the court to write things, or should I go a step too far and finally write that Lewd poem about how the Traitor Empress slept with the Masters of The Bazzar as part of The Deal and thus anger everybody and finally win that 10 echo bet I picked up at Veilgarden?

Also, what other ways can I use my writing profession? Is there much point in writing short tales aside from to gain the profession? I would love to keep this job, maybe expire some of the more esoteric tales of the neath in my work?

And feel free to share you tales that you have created too. (Seriously, I’m curious to hear what you would have writtien as your short story/epic poem/whatever. ;) )
edited by Kylestien on 10/15/2014

Right, exceptional, I got confused about the labels.

It has to be exactly that level, though, so like a classic short story like I mis-said wouldn’t work xP

Getting kicked out of court locks you out of court, so, that’s the downside, if you use any of the options there (there’s a couple useful ones, plus you can’t get those novels/poems elsewhere)

It’ll let you move on to the Foreign Office storyline once you get kicked out of court.

Would you say that gaining access to the Foreign Office is woirth losing access to the court? And if there anything of particular note in the court and the palace I should do before locking off entry to there?

If you’re not a POSI, then there’s really not a point in moving on from the Court yet. You’ll definitely want to conclude the romance storyline there first as well as gain all the books (A high hedonist quirk comes in handy here; you can gain this in the Tomb-colonies).

While I haven’t been banished from Court yet myself, there are too many useful options at Court for me to consider leaving just yet.

Among them: repeatable actions for making waves that also net you proscribed material and prisoner’s honey or stolen correspondence. (Very handy for gaining lower levels of Notability without having to rely on opportunity cards or social actions.)

Repeatable access to large amounts (3-5k) of moon pearls, or foxfire candles stubs.

A chance to play with a very cute puppy who simultaneously induces nightmares.

Really, what could the Foreign Office possibly offer to top that?

I personally found the Foreign Office to be interesting (mostly because of who I was Closest To, but I won’t spoil that). As far as resources go, it has a decent option for proscribed material and Compromising documents, though there are probably more efficient sources of Extraordinary Implications.

[quote=Kylestien]…

And I am curious: can someone tell me if it is worth sicking around the court to write things, or should I go a step too far and finally write that Lewd poem about how the Traitor Empress slept with the Masters of The Bazzar as part of The Deal and thus anger everybody and finally win that 10 echo bet I picked up at Veilgarden?

Also, what other ways can I use my writing profession? …

And feel free to share you tales that you have created too. (Seriously, I’m curious to hear what you would have writtien as your short story/epic poem/whatever. ;) )
edited by Kylestien on 10/15/2014[/quote]

the sci-fi novel is useful if you want to create a zubmarine later. other than that, everything else already mentioned above. you don’t want to get kicked out until you’re POSI, and only if you want to check out the foreign office.

as for my personal glorious works of non-existent fictional fiction, here is a short list off the top of my head:

  • several short stories that didn’t go down to well with the public. i was ahead of my time i tell you! they weren’t ready for quirky fun fun fun tales of the rubbery love lives of great Detective C’tshothatu and his pet Ndal-nac! suitable for all ages.

-first of a series of novels of epic romantic degeneracy titled &quotFarewell, My Fair Sallow-Skinned Succubus (The Twillight Of Doom Arc)&quot. i must admit, i wrote this for purely selfish and capitalist reasons. the court seem to love it, though my publisher was as disappointed as me with the sales numbers. i did however gain a fine collection of surface-silk knickers from my adoring but anonymous fans. strangely those knickers all came with pages torn out from banned religious texts. most curious.

  • &quotPhysics Of The Shadow Of The Steel Cerebus&quot, my futurological meta-fictional thought-experiment detailing the intricacies of how mankind can rise above known neathy limits and technologically ascend beyond our wildest imagination to become lords of a new society of spatial-atomic supermen. i fear this flew right over the heads of my readers. it’s a miracle that buggering YOU KNOW WHAT ministry even allowed its publication! still i am proud of this work, and hope that future technologists and adventurers would gain inspiration from this.

  • my most recent work, &quotSir Farqunoir: The Saint Of Paris Who Wasn’t &quot, wasn’t quite how i envisioned it to be. my publisher was pushing me to write something well… more pedestrain. quite shameful, yes. well, it did its job. the 3rd edition is still selling fast, i heard. i sure hope my fans don’t convince my publisher that it needs a condemnable sequel. lick-spittle strumpets!

Quoted from Slowcake’s Exceptionally Diverting Literature (Supplement Volume A to Slowcake’s Exceptionals):

&quotMr Schartenhauer has built quite a reputation (or notoriety, depending whether one sees him as a genius or a madman) by the philosophical volumes he has published. However, some of these are so very obscure and eccentric in nature that one can hardly be sure whether his observations always stay in the realm of exact science.
&quotExplorations in the Lands of No-Time and No-Space&quot, for example, has garnered a devoted cult-following among the more esoterically inclined gentlebeings of London: written in the style of a travelogue, the narrator tells us from travels through worlds which are so different from ours that, in some cases, our language lacks sufficient words to describe them. Therefore he describes them in the tongues native to these worlds which, of course, means that whole chapters are written in languages and alphabets nobody actually understands (though there are those who claim that by looking at the symbols on these pages long enough you will eventually be able to understand them – or go mad; or both).
Eventually the narrator concludes that nothing really exists, nothing has ever really existed, and nothing will ever really exist; and therefore the strict borders between the &quotimaginable&quot and &quotunimaginable&quot, &quotreality&quot and &quotfantasy&quot, &quotfiction&quot and &quotnon-fiction&quot become irrelevant.
In the last chapter, he confusingly states that &quotTo say that nothing exists only means that everything a mind can imagine exists while a mind imagines it. Therefore, every mind is the almighty God of a private world which does not exist. Therefore, every mind is omniscient, all-powerful, all-encompassing, but terribly alone.&quot
All this, of course, has lead to some unfortunate consequences among his readers: many abandoned all pretense of abiding by the law, social conventions, common sense or even the laws of nature. Some committed heinous crimes. Some kill themselves every morning. Some have written sequels in which they describe their own travels through No-Time and No-Space.
&quotExplorations in the Lands of No-Time and No-Space&quot has now been forbidden for many years, but the Ministry of Public Decency still regularly picks up volumes here and there… (it’s rumored to be freely available to guests of the Royal Bethlehem Hotel)&quot

Well, my main account currently has Author as their profession, so I can say with some authority that it’s a pretty decent gig. The steady supply of Blackmail Material, Cellars of Wine, and delicious secrets is nothing to balk at, and the Appreciation Society is in the upper echelons as far as both Watchful and Persuasive companions go. In fact, I like it so much that I’m entirely unsure about whether or not I actually want to progress Soran to a Correspondent. I mean, sure, the Pot of Violant Ink would provide a further boost to Watchful and Persuasive, and the weekly reward seems pretty decent, but at what cost? The thought of disappointing all those fictional fans and losing the Appreciation Society just makes me kind of sad.

Anyway, both of my characters have a decent number of literary works under their belts, with Soran’s work edging more towards the heavy, cerebral, or beautiful, while Zero prefers pulpy schlock, satire, and comedy. For example, they’ve both gone through the storyline for writing a penny dreadful about Jack-of-Smiles (both even going the extra mile to make their story especially bloody), but I imagine the overall tones their individual stories being quite different; Soran’s being straight horror, while Zero’s is more joyfully demented. As for their other notable works, well, allow me to list them for you:

Soran:

-A Tale of the Future: Entitled &quotBrass Bat Rising,&quot in which a team of eccentric sciencey-types (&quotnerds,&quot as we in the 21st century would call them) build a swarm of robotic bats to raise London back to the surface. The ultimate marriage of Soran’s intellectual and artistic talents with an inordinate love of bats.

-A Gothic Romance: Entitled &quotWings Above Hathaway Castle,&quot in which a man visiting a remote village finds himself embroiled in the intrigues of the local noble family and discovers its connection to the mysterious winged creature that’s been terrorizing the countryside (spoilers: the monster is actually the family’s young daughter, who’s been cursed to transform into a giant bat monster each night).

-An Epic Poetic Cycle: I haven’t put much thought into plot or title for this one, but I’m sure there are bats involved somewhere. Maybe a great hero and his magical bat companion have to save a kingdom from an evil dragon or something.

-A Tragedy of Romance: No title again, but here we have a darkly beautiful epic poem of self-destructive love. And bats, somehow.

-In addition, Soran has written a tragic play, two ballets (the two that don’t get you immediately shipped off to the Tomb Colonies), and enough short stories that I’ve lost count of exactly how many.

[b]Zero Hunt:

[/b]-A Patriotic Adventure: Entitled &quotJohn Fox and the Mountain of Youth,&quot in which an irrepressible zee-adventurer learns of the fabled mountain and embarks on a quest to find immortality and riches. This is an utterly ridiculous novel, bordering on self-parody. Also, Zero hates water and sailing, so I’m sure it’s chock-full of technical inaccuracies where it comes to all things nautical. He probably could have asked his zailor friends for help, but I doubt he even cared.

-An Allegorical Satire: The poem that unintentionally gained Zero most of his goodwill with the Revolutionaries; a small price to pay for the chance to publicly and mercilessly mock all the socialite leeches at Court. I’m sure he was giggling all through the writing of this thing.

-He’s also written two plays; a Slapstick Farce and a Wry Satirical Comedy. Don’t entirely know what they’re about, but they’re probably quite stupid.

-And outside of Court, Zero has written a single low-tier short story, which I’ve just now decided was a prequel to his adventure novel, detailing one of John Fox’s lesser adventures before his journey to find the Mountain of Youth.

Midnight’s opus was the opera that got her thrown out of court. Honestly, she doesn’t see what the big deal was. If they let it get past the first few lines of the second bloody song, they might have understood where she was going with it.

Perhaps even Neathy Victorian London isn’t ready for a loving parody of the state of religion in the Neath in the style of the Life of Brian. Jesus was to come back to life in the Neath and gather together a motley team of disciples including a tiger. One scene had Jesus meeting God’s Editors and quoting scripture. However, Neathy scripture has changed so much that none of them recognize his words.

In her favorite scene, Jesus would ride the tiger through a meeting of clergymen, driving out the spirifiers among them in a variation on the Cleansing of the Temple.

She hasn’t written anything seriously since, and she hadn’t written much of substance beforehand. Decided maybe that wasn’t her thing after that disaster. It did gain her a group of avid fans among the Bohemians, though! Which is terribly awkward now that she’s working for the Bishop of Southwark.
edited by MidnightVoyager on 10/16/2014

If I may ask, what are all the purposes of the Writer items, like a Classic Short Story or the stuff you get a Court ( While we are on the subject, is it worth making classic short or lower stories to sell if they do nothing?) Also, I may moonlight as a journalist/newspaper writer if possible, but have no idea how to go about this.

Also, i am now a author!
edited by Kylestien on 10/16/2014

[quote=Kylestien]If I may ask, what are all the purposes of the Writer items, like a Classic Short Story or the stuff you get a Court ( While we are on the subject, is it worth making classic short or lower stories to sell if they do nothing?) Also, I may moonlight as a journalist/newspaper writer if possible, but have no idea how to go about this.

Also, i am now a author!
edited by Kylestien on 10/16/2014[/quote]

the short stories aren’t very profitable in terms of echos/action. it’s all about &quotthe process&quot. in a way ,2 of the training jobs are like part-time journalist work. and the gold-bordered storylets in spite about digging up dirt.

[quote=Kylestien]If I may ask, what are all the purposes of the Writer items, like a Classic Short Story or the stuff you get a Court ( While we are on the subject, is it worth making classic short or lower stories to sell if they do nothing?) Also, I may moonlight as a journalist/newspaper writer if possible, but have no idea how to go about this.

Also, i am now a author!
edited by Kylestien on 10/16/2014[/quote]

The short stories you can sell. The ones from court are mostly just souvenirs, but most of them can get you past the first step of the Gods Editors application process, and the sci fi story can get you past the planning stage of getting a Zubmarine.

[li]I’ve been looking for a place to ask about these things and, while I don’t know if this is still live, I figured I would try. I keep getting the card for joining god’s editors. To do so I need some specific works–many of which are discussed here. But I cannot figure out where/how I get those works. Things like The Gothic Romance and the Epic Poetic Cycle. Do I work on those in the Court? Does my profession need to be writer.
[li]

[li]And while I am asking, do I WANT to be one of God’s Editors? I’m a bit of a dilettante, I’m afraid, so perhaps not suited to the task. Then again, I fancy the literary life.
[li]

[li]Any advices or opinions would be most helpful.
[li]With Gratitude,
[li]

[li]Hepzibah
[li]http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Hepzibah~Gordon~
[li]

All these items are created at the Empress’ Court, available after you have successfully romanced one of the two clowns (The Barbed Beauty and the Acclaimed Wit) there - you will be approached by someone about becoming the Imperial Artist-in-Residence. Pick Poetry or Novels, raise your inspired to 34 through various actions there.

Tales of the Future cannot be used for said card - you just get a penalty for presenting it. So write other books and poetry.

You do not need to be an Author, nor do you work on it in Veilgarden. In fact, you will have to wrap up or abandon your Short Story if you are writing one in Veilgarden in order to work on something at Court.

God’s Editor is pretty much something everyone and their mother have in their inventory, so unless you are super serious about roleplaying most people get it anyway. Most people get it for the cheap +4 Respectable it provides, and beyond that it doesn’t have much impact either way.

[quote=Estelle Knoht]All these items are created at the Empress’ Court, available after you have successfully romanced one of the two clowns (The Barbed Beauty and the Acclaimed Wit) there - you will be approached by someone about becoming the Imperial Artist-in-Residence. Pick Poetry or Novels, raise your inspired to 34 through various actions there.

Tales of the Future cannot be used for said card - you just get a penalty for presenting it. So write other books and poetry.

You do not need to be an Author, nor do you work on it in Veilgarden. In fact, you will have to wrap up or abandon your Short Story if you are writing one in Veilgarden in order to work on something at Court.

God’s Editor is pretty much something everyone and their mother have in their inventory, so unless you are super serious about roleplaying most people get it anyway. Most people get it for the cheap +4 Respectable it provides, and beyond that it doesn’t have much impact either way.[/quote]

Ah yes–I see it. I had romanced the barbed wit so was really ready to go. I am on my way. Many thanks for the direction.

H.

http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Hepzibah~Gordon~

[li]