Koi into Dragon

[roninnuren]

in three weeks, I will publish a muscle growth story, that will be called year of the water dragon,

might need a lot help, (I know)

the story so far involves my character from my first story, (kinda a mary sue, sorry but, I hope will be better a character this time) where he/she, has thrown out paper-fliers, on the night of this Chinese new year, that in hopes that they will reach others(I guess males) born the year of other dragons,

so, the plot will basically be at a compound that has a large waterfall, &this could very mirror the story of the koi turning into the dragon, (so that should be the spoiler alert).

mainly as my mary sue character will be using either Wu Xing or Inari for a name, dares them to climb up the waterfall, &become dragons (not literary of course, as they aren't even literary koi fish).

in short I hope this works out, in a matter that people won't hate it.

[Rarity]

The idea made me giggle a little just because it involves fish. But dragons are traditionally (at least in Eastern Cultures) center around a water affinity. So it works. A Mary Sue character is fine if all makes sense. For instance, an ageless dragon who is 1,000 years old will probably be skilled at all he knows/does. Especially if he were a magical one.

At any rate, you might wanna think about the whole plot a bit more. Sending out fliers sounds a bit convenient and lacking. If it's in China (which I assume it is due to the names), why not have a strange, creepy store open randomly? No one bothers to go in because of its looks except for brave guys, which is what the dragon is looking for. I'm sure if the dragon can magically change guys, it can magically toss up an illusion too. Then after that, the creepy store owner tells them about a waterfall off in a forest somewhere and chides them into going there. As in "Heh, you're brave enough to enter my store, but I doubt you'd be brave enough to scale the *insert structure the waterfall comes down from*."

In the end it's up to you, but fleshing out the small details actually helps you build up on a character's personality. After all, having buff guys is fine and all, but its even better if its a guy that's likable personality wise. (Yes, I am aware that this is fiction, but that's no excuse to skimp out on personalities).

G'luck!

[Ender]

If you mix and match eastern and western Astrology a bit, I happen to be a "Water Dragon" (ie a Pisces born in the year of the Dragon)

I'm not sure what you mean by a "Mary Sue" and I don't think I really want to know.

But the idea of a quiet, shy, retiring sort of nerdy character discovering that he is destined for greatness to follow him on that journey from wimpy loser into a courageous muscular hero and benevolent master of the universe is always a great premise for a story. And to have him start short, soft and a little bit pudgy is nice and rather Koi like.

Ender

[Terramaster]

Originally Posted by Ender

If you mix and match eastern and western Astrology a bit, I happen to be a "Water Dragon" (ie a Pisces born in the year of the Dragon)

You don't have to mix. Each year is also given an element (one of 5) in a rotating cycle.

That's why your 60th year is all the more special, because the cycle of element and that of your animal, align.

[Rarity]

Originally Posted by Ender

1) If you mix and match eastern and western Astrology a bit, I happen to be a "Water Dragon" (ie a Pisces born in the year of the Dragon)

2) I'm not sure what you mean by a "Mary Sue" and I don't think I really want to know.

3) But the idea of a quiet, shy, retiring sort of nerdy character discovering that he is destined for greatness to follow him on that journey from wimpy loser into a courageous muscular hero and benevolent master of the universe is always a great premise for a story. And to have him start short, soft and a little bit pudgy is nice and rather Koi like.

Ender

1) That's a clever way of putting it, lol

2) Mary Sue is the term used to describe a "over endowed" character. Like, a character who is smart, pretty, kind, brave, strong, has crazy ultimate magic powers, never ages, and is made up of many cliches. A parody of a "Mary Sue" is Haruhi Suzumiya. She has the power to reshape the world whenever she wants, is smart, purdie, brave, and good at everything she does.

3) That is very cliche. But in this case it could be forgiven since kois are fat and short, so making a fat/short nerd super uber buff is a-okay I suppose. In fact, it could boarder on the line of "symbolism" or "personification" which is pretty cool in itself.

[roninnuren]

if it's any consolation; my mary sue, maybe will, is a earth(or Earth's) dragon, firstly if I do go with the shop angle, his/her choices would pretty much be either seamstress, antiques dealer, or even fortune teller,

secondly I've always like how this character is somehow ambiguous, but I doubt anyone here would even tolerate that can kind of character.

[tekuno]

Originally Posted by Click_Flash

2) Mary Sue is the term used to describe a "over endowed" character.

Close, but no cigar. A "Mary Sue" (also "Marty Stu") is a character who is a stand-in for the author. The implication is that the author is writing the fiction as an ego trip, maybe without even realizing it, so their make their stand-in character overwhelmingly deserving/sympathetic/friendly and superhumanly (or super-whatever-ly) strong/brave/handsome/charismatic/wise/powerful/whatever, with a tendency (as already mentioned) towards becoming a deus ex machina and acquiring everything of value within the story. Mary Sues are usually associated either with fan fiction (usually as the love interest of a main character -- "Mary Sue is a female time lord who is younger and smarter than any of the other time lords, and after she rescues The Doctor from the Daleks' ultimate plot and then saves the universe she takes over the Tardis and they live happily ever after") or with direct knockoffs of existing fictional worlds ("Marty Stu is a high school boy who falls in mutual love with a sparkly handsome vampire named Nedward, but there's also a werewolf named Bacob who wants him and after they fight it out, Nedward marries Marty and turns him into a vampire. Only Marty is even sparklier and more handsome than Nedward and all the vampires and werewolves want him forever."). An awful lot of "original characters" on Deviantart are basically Mary Sues of anime series.

The main objection to Mary Sues is that they tend to be really, really boring. There is a tendency to make them social outcasts and victims of unfair bullies who are actually inferior, because the sort of person who writes a Mary Sue is usually convinced that Nobody Understands Me and that If Everyone Only Knew Me Then I Would Be Popular Too. But since a Mary Sue is the author's perfect alter ego, nothing permanently disabling can happen to them,so the plot of a story with a Mary Sue is usually fairly predictable. (Harry Potter is basically a very well-written Mary Sue. Whats-her-name from Twilight is also a Mary Sue, although not so well-written.)

In any case, it's not a compliment to tell someone they're writing a Mary Sue. It suggests they're not a good writer and that they're trying out a transparent ego trip.

(To be fair, though, Mary Sues are so common that they are almost an expected thing from anyone starting out writing fiction. "What you have to bear in mind... is that everybody's first novel invariably has the author as its hero", as Tom Holt once wrote. For that matter, if it wasn't a common thing, the phenomenon wouldn't have a name.)

[Rarity]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue

Technically I'm right. Technically you're right.

Still, a Mary Sue is fine if it makes sense. . . But. . . I am having a hard time thinking of a Non-4th-Wall-Breaking-Character who needs to be a "Mary Sue". I'm beginning to think Mary Sues are just for comedy's sake. Or perhaps hatred's sake. IDKMYBFFJILL

[roninnuren]

Originally Posted by Terramaster

You don't have to mix. Each year is also given an element (one of 5) in a rotating cycle.

That's why your 60th year is all the more special, because the cycle of element and that of your animal, align.

FYI No Western sign is an exact replica of any Chinese sign. We all know that, however each of the two astrological, views its twelve signs in its own way. A Western sign, when it is combined with a Chinese sign, can therefore see its characteristics reinforced, diversified, or on the contrary, weakened, simplified and this in a good or bad way. All depends on the combination in play. Whence the interest of studying combined Chinese and Western signs.

allot of people, love seeing what their year sign(Eastern zodiac)& month sign(Western zodiac) might say about them.

[roninnuren]

fortune teller, mainly for the use of tarot cards, plus could work well with the fliers, free fortune tell, when you bring a flier.

secondly I feel rather then a shop that comes out of nowhere, it'd be funnier &more believable to just have it be in a bad neighborhood.

[Ender]

Originally Posted by tekuno

Close, but no cigar. A "Mary Sue" (also "Marty Stu") is a character who is a stand-in for the author. The implication is that the author is writing the fiction as an ego trip, maybe without even realizing it, so their make their stand-in character overwhelmingly

Snip

In any case, it's not a compliment to tell someone they're writing a Mary Sue. It suggests they're not a good writer and that they're trying out a transparent ego trip.

(To be fair, though, Mary Sues are so common that they are almost an expected thing from anyone starting out writing fiction. "What you have to bear in mind... is that everybody's first novel invariably has the author as its hero", as Tom Holt once wrote. For that matter, if it wasn't a common thing, the phenomenon wouldn't have a name.)

Hmmm... I have to admit all my main characters are my alter ego... but really all the characters in my stories are me, way down deep. They all have different memories, agenda's, likes/dislikes, morals, motivations, etc but they all run in the same personality "matrix" that "I" (the "real" me that is writing this) runs in... sort of like if you try to play chess against yourself (it can be done). True my main characters never really lose totally but they don't always win or get exactly what they want either... and a lot of times they don't want what I want them to want.

It's really a bit annoying when the characters won't do what I plan for them to do. What is really annoying that if I let them do what they want they are generally right in the end.

But if characters aren't Avatars for the writer what is their relationship???

Ender

[roninnuren]

I have no idea how many koi characters should swim up the waterfall then, as the year of... dragons would be somewhere around ages 0, 12, 24, 36, 48,& 60

kinda wanna go with ages 24-36. then of course they might be between ages 23-25, &35-37,

looking up zodiacs is something I like, ok.

[roninnuren]

after using my tarot cards for 8 separate fortunes, I'd still like to know if I can go with the fortune teller angle.

FYI, the fortunes could indicate how many koi characters there might be, coinciding I can go with 8 or less,