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Moratorium on Fanfic Updates
1 min read
I can't upload new chapters or stories until I figure out how to actually do it. I can't just upload my files anymore if they contain HTML tagging, and even when I Copy+Paste from another source that has already processed the formatting, this site seems to have given up on the idea of horizontal lines breaks.
So until a fix is implemented, or I figure out how to bend this garbage site to my will, I can't post my writing.
Go to https://www.fanfiction.net/~loopy777 or https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loopy instead. Sorry.
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To quote the founder:
"ASN’s forum went down a couple of weeks ago and I started to have message board withdraws so I created one @ atla.fans (Yes, I bought another domain (shut up!)) Loopy's helping me run the place.
I’ve also created a companion tumblr @ atlafans.tumblr.com where I will post fan art, meta posts, fanfiction and other ATLA / Korra related tidbits. My hope is to figure out a way to partially bridge the tumblr with the message board. (Not sure it can be done, though.)"
I'm a mod on this board, and I'm hoping to run some cool events. My first idea, waiting on a nice little member group to form, is to start a series of retrospectives on each ATLA episode. Instead of reviews, I’d point out interesting bits and invite discussion, and then everyone would tell me how wrong I am. (The idea can use some fine-tuning, yet.)
atla.fans/
"ASN’s forum went down a couple of weeks ago and I started to have message board withdraws so I created one @ atla.fans (Yes, I bought another domain (shut up!)) Loopy's helping me run the place.
I’ve also created a companion tumblr @ atlafans.tumblr.com where I will post fan art, meta posts, fanfiction and other ATLA / Korra related tidbits. My hope is to figure out a way to partially bridge the tumblr with the message board. (Not sure it can be done, though.)"I'm a mod on this board, and I'm hoping to run some cool events. My first idea, waiting on a nice little member group to form, is to start a series of retrospectives on each ATLA episode. Instead of reviews, I’d point out interesting bits and invite discussion, and then everyone would tell me how wrong I am. (The idea can use some fine-tuning, yet.)
atla.fans/
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Essay - The Two Ursas
1 min read
So, I perhaps flatter myself that some of you might have been wondering when I'll finally review the last two parts of the "Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search" comics. Well, I decided I didn't want to. The story itself became nothing more than a showcase for two things- Gene Yang's new spirits, and Ursa's whole deal. The rest is barely worth commenting on. (Azula? Well, she got a *start* of a story.)
The Spirits were cool, although I'm not personally fond of Koh's supposed motivation. Still, I guess the parallel with Kuruk is interesting. We'll have to see where it's going. If it goes.
As for Ursa, I actually wrote an essay detailing why I think it's so much garbage. I'd post it here, but it has pictures in it, and I don't have a premium account. XD So, find it on my livejournal or tumblr:
LiveJournal: loopy777.livejournal.com/15207…
Tumblr: loopy777.tumblr.com/post/75099…
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'Retroactive' on TVTropes!
2 min read
Remember when I was called out on TVTropes as one of the greatest ATLA fanfic'ers? Well, my troper fan (Agogobell) has been active again. Now, Retroactive has a page on TVTropes. Granted, it's not much more than a placeholder, but I'm not about to let a whole page devoted to a work of mine languish in obscurity. By the time you read this, I'll probably have added it to the Fanfic index page, and maybe even completed a larger description of the story. I'm going to add as many tropes as I can, but I'm not all that experienced with troping, so hopefully some other people will make their own additions.
This leaves me with a question, though. How much of Retroactive's story is a spoiler? Should I consider anything after the first big twist on Kyoshi Island a spoiler? Or only answers to the mysteries set up by that twist, and subsequent major twists? I'm leaning towards the latter, putting a warning up in the description that going into the story completely cold is the intended method of reading, and the descriptions of the tropes that follow are going to assume that the reader is already familiar with the basic premise as established by the "Faces, Old and New" chapter.
I'd protest that Retroactive probably isn't good or notable enough to get a TVTropes page, but it's definitely a fairly unique effort in ATLA fanfic, and 'How I Became Yours' has a page on that site, so as long as we're promoting the worst the fandom has to offer, why not also acknowledge when one of our own displays a little ambition, eh?
Now I've set myself up to earn a TVTropes page for every single multi-chapter story into which I actually put planning effort. (Note: I create the Mai's Ramblings page myself for fun.) Hopefully I won't screw up my clean sweep at some point in the future. On that note, I should probably bury the idea for that "Sokka and Azula fight Vampire Kyoshi Warriors during a Zombie Apocalypse" story before I embarrass myself.
This leaves me with a question, though. How much of Retroactive's story is a spoiler? Should I consider anything after the first big twist on Kyoshi Island a spoiler? Or only answers to the mysteries set up by that twist, and subsequent major twists? I'm leaning towards the latter, putting a warning up in the description that going into the story completely cold is the intended method of reading, and the descriptions of the tropes that follow are going to assume that the reader is already familiar with the basic premise as established by the "Faces, Old and New" chapter.
I'd protest that Retroactive probably isn't good or notable enough to get a TVTropes page, but it's definitely a fairly unique effort in ATLA fanfic, and 'How I Became Yours' has a page on that site, so as long as we're promoting the worst the fandom has to offer, why not also acknowledge when one of our own displays a little ambition, eh?
Now I've set myself up to earn a TVTropes page for every single multi-chapter story into which I actually put planning effort. (Note: I create the Mai's Ramblings page myself for fun.) Hopefully I won't screw up my clean sweep at some point in the future. On that note, I should probably bury the idea for that "Sokka and Azula fight Vampire Kyoshi Warriors during a Zombie Apocalypse" story before I embarrass myself.
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Comic-Making Software Design
4 min read
So I've been fooling around with making a digital comic. It's nothing I expect to share, I'm just exploring the process using free software tools. I'm using Gimp and/or Paint.Net. A few years ago, I also gave Comic Life a try by way of a free trial.
I can't say I like any of this software.
Comic Life was the easiest to use, but it was a little too streamlined. I didn't like having to pick a pre-loaded panel layout, and I wanted more options for moving and cropping and adding images. Gimp and Paint.Net offer, as expected, a lot more options since they aren't actually comic-making software but rather powerful image-editing tools. In both of those, I like being able to make every panel its own layer and how easy it is to simply open another image file as a layer to the existing project. I also like the ability to place and re-size those layers at will, but what I find it bafflingly obtuse is that "Move" and "Re-size" are two different tools, and you have to switch between them by going back to the Tool menu and clicking each one. Wouldn't it make sense to- like in Microsoft Paint- make clicking the center of an image the way you move it, and then clicking the corners are how you re-size it? Also, neither Gimp or Paint.Net offers an easy way to add a border to a layer, which is really necessary to make it look like an actual panel and not an image just sitting there in space.
In terms of dialogue bubbles, Comic Life of course is the easiest tool. I also found a plug-in for Paint.Net that similarly streamlines the process, and it also has a bunch of nice options for controlling the fine details of text-placement and so on. However, the actual shapes of those bubbles are highly limited (no squares?!), and no software I've found offers the ability to place a balloon where you want and then drag the "attribution pointer" to wherever you need it. Gimp doesn't have anything for dialogue bubbles at all, even as a separate plug-in (at least, not that I've been able to find).
Now, I'm not so into making comics that I'd spend money on software for it, not unless the price was cheap enough that I could consider it a fairly priced toy. For a hundred dollars- or even fifty- I could get much nicer and more enjoyable toys. However, regardless of the price, here's the minimum features I'd like my ideal comic-making software to have:
- Layout Freedom: I want to be able to create new floating panels using imported pictures, that I could re-size and move at will without selecting specialized tools, and even do limited editing of the image within the panel (such as cropping or zooming) independent of the panel shape. (For example, I'd import a picture as a new panel, cut the panel in half to show only half the picture I'd just brought in, and then zoom in on a portion of the remaining picture.) Ideally, I could specify a "buffer" for the whole comic, such as mandating that panels can be no closer to each other or the edge of the whole comic than X number of pixels.
- Panel Borders: I could define a border for each panel with just a few clicks. Thickness, color, and basic shape are all I'd need.
- Templates: I could define my own settings templates, such as pre-selecting my borders, panel heights, title bar, background, and dialogue font. Then I could just tell the program "Make me a new 'Spider-Loopy' comic," and it'd pre-load all my settings for me.
- Dialogue bubbles: Dialogue can be defined as either speech bubbles, thought bubbles, or boxy narration blocks. (Multiple options and shapes for each of those would be nice, but aren't necessary.) Text, border, and background colors can all be defined separately. Text is always editable, and can be done with any font or text effect installed through my Windows OS. I'd like to ability to specify the alignment of the text, along with the ability to add X and Y-axis offsets. I'd need the ability to drag and drop the position of the bubble, as well as the attribution pointer. Being able to curve the attribution pointer would be a great luxury, but isn't necessary.
So yeah, that's my ideal comic-making software. I'm not expecting anyone to have any suggestions about existing stuff I could try, I was just designing a tool in my head, since I'm much more inclined towards designing software than actually making comics. If I were more into Windows Programming and the nitty-gritty of image manipulation, I'd make it myself and maybe try selling it.
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