Faire la Nouba.

[Circe]

Bonjour, tout le monde!

Don't worry, my English is far better than my French so you'll probably experience very little more French than I've already provided. That said, greetings to all. An acquaintance of mine mentioned the board a couple of days ago, and I thought I'd poke around and see what there was to see. I must say that in addition to being rather user friendly, the atmosphere is quite appealing. While every group of people will have their particular dynamics, and not everyone will enjoy everyone else universally, there seems to be a friendly and welcoming bunch here, which I find very encouraging.

I've been writing since I was but wee, and role playing since I was thirteen or so. The standards I had when I was thirteen, however, changed as I grew older, eventually becoming so high that casual RP couldn't hold my interest anymore. Between investing twelve years in the development of a fantasy world (and the interconnected stories therein), and growing as a writer in general, it became harder and harder to find people who took the craft as deeply to heart as did I, who also still enjoyed RP, be it live or paced through a forum. I'm sure it's a story familiar to many here -- that desire to find people who regard RP as a sort of interactive story more than a rapid-fire exchange of epileptic, incomplete sentences that look like they were written by someone in the middle of a stroke --, but even though I have moved on to a state of mind where I take my writing very seriously, I've always had my eye out for a place I could still just play around with character and story ideas, to learn more about myself and my writing, and maybe find new sources of inspiration. Lacking such an outlet, I turned inward, relying more on myself than on others, which has its benefits and inconveniences. One benefit would be that my stories become entirely mine, from concept to realization without feeling it necessary to get feedback every step of the way. One inconvenience, however, is the sometimes unreasonable attachment to any idea that could MAYBE be turned into a story, if only people didn't have the free will to get in the way and muck it all up with their concepts and reactions that I wouldn't have assigned them (then again, it's been quite a while since I've found a group, or even an individual, that thought things out to ANY degree that made character reactions interesting and believable, so I guess there's -that-, too).

But there you have it, and here I am, and I'm poking around and reading things up and lurking hither and yon and back again. I look forward to participating in many threads to come, and to meeting a community dedicated to the beautiful and cherished art that is writing.

Yours ever,

Circe von Briel

[Kalon Ordona II]

Welcome home, Circe. Welcome home.

I feel your story most deeply. FOG was created for serious writers who love their craft and need a haven of eliteracy. From the beginning Fayt maintained the distinction between elitism and true elite, the people who strive for excellence without snobbery.

The result is magnetism for like-minded people and a community of good writers who like to be around each other and like to have fun.

Great to meet you!
for Fantasy
for original work with multiple, interconnected stories.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of your work!
Do enjoy your exploration of the site, and if you have any questions along the way, do please ask, and we'll be most happy to answer! ^^ Right here in your intro thread is a good place, while we're getting to know you anyway.

I can tell you'll fit in marvelously.
Welcome again, and happy writing!

[Circe]

You're ebullience is heartwarming and gave me a little giggle. Thank you so much for the welcome, Kalon. In my exploration I've seen you post here and there, and just finished reading the thread about Flash Fiction. Your story about the sword was quite funny. Dialogue, I'm told, is one of my stronger points, and I love seeing someone tell a story with little more than dialogue and character interaction as well. In that vein, perhaps I should post the Flashy I wrote about a wizard (we'll say) and his grand(to the sixth power) grandson that is predominantly dialogue as well.

Spoiler:

Since it's not a scene I see being included (as written) in anything I plan on publishing I don't see why it shouldn't be shared! Away I go!

EDIT
I don't want anyone to panic, but I can't find the case containing twelve years of world development and story snippets . . . no big. No panic. Just. Don't. Panic.

EDIT the SECOND
I told you not to panic. It was out in the open all along. It was just a case of it having become part of the furniture. With a few other things sitting on top of it, it became easy to forget that it was my baby and not a surface for putting things on.

Now to post!

[Gadreille]

Welcome to FOG, Circe Kalon is much better at welcoming than I, so I'll keep this short. Happy role playing!

[Circe]

Thank you so much, Gadreille. ^__^ Your welcome is most . . . welcome. e_e

As a final update to my rambling about posting a dialogue driven Flash piece, it turns out that I had no idea how many words were actually involved. Since it nearly reaches 2000, it doesn't actually count as Flash. However, in its hastily scrawled form it doesn't actually count as a story, either, so in order to make it storyable, it made it up to 1814 words. You can read it in the Written Works & Journalism section, if you're curious what style my writing takes on when I'm forcing dialogue notes into a quick story.

Please enjoy The God-Touched Blade at your leisure.

[Guest]

12 years of world development... You've got me beat. I was on year 8 when I gave up on it and moved on to something else.

Anyway, welcome to FOG! I read your Flash story, and it was amusing. I would agree that dialogue certainly seems one of your strongpoints. I hope to see more of your writing in the future!

[Circe]

Part of what keeps me going with the world development and the stories therein is the same thing that says I have to finish reading the Wheel of Time series; I've invested this much effort, so I'm not going to let it go to waste. The majority of what keeps me going, though, is just how much I love it. It's not a constant project, in that I'm not working on it every moment of every day, but it is the one I always come back to. There are still so many questions that need answering, and devising the answers is almost like being a mental archaeologist; using the tools I've given myself, I uncover possibilities I hadn't realized were there. It's an engrossing past time, and someday I'm going to be all done with it and in need of something to keep me busy to pass the time till I die, since by the time I finally venture into publication it'll be a life's work kind of deal.

I'm glad you enjoyed the Flash bit. I had a couple other openings going, but they were both much more in the style that my writing takes when I'm looking to really flesh out a scene, and instead of being an example of lighthearted dialogue, it would have turned into a much more legitimate short story. So it's encouraging to have pieces less worked over still be enjoyed by the people who read them.

And thank you so much for the welcome, Ysopet. I appreciate it deeply. ^_^

[Fate Flyer]

Welcome, welcome! (Although you've heard this from me already now.)

It's wonderful to have you here, Circe, and I really do look forward to seeing more of you around the boards. We truly are blessed to have the writers that we do, and it's so nice too that the community here is also really as friendly and warm as it is. No doubt you will be finding that out for yourself as well!

You're likely to find that others here share that passion and outlook you have on writing and role-playing. One-liners, dialogue-only posts, and lack of story or character development aren't anything that you should have to experience here, or anything really close to those types of things that other places considering "RPing."

Whether you chose to start your own RP here based off your story concepts or something else entirely new, or to jump in on someone else's RP, I really do hope that you find what you're looking for here at FoG!

[Circe]

Once again you have made me feel right at home, Fate. And as I'm certain I've said before, I can't wait to participate in some RPs in the very near future, be they threads that I propose myself, or threads that others devise. Thank you so much, everyone. I feel like I've come home.

[Sy23]

You seem well named, Circe - you've bewitched the forum already... but haven't quite managed to turn us all into swine

[Circe]

Your admiration is noted, Sy23, however turning men into swine isn't the extent of my abilities. Just perhaps the most well known. You may recall there were all manner of beasts on Aeaea, and that they were all rather friendly. Perhaps instead of weaving a tapestry of cloth, though --another notable skill--, I'll weave one with words in the very near future.

[Sunwolf007]

Belated Welcome to FoG! And excellent Greek myth references. I was beginning to think I was in the minority here with my appreciation of Greek myths. I could count on one hand how many people on FoG who actually have read some mythology. Now I almost need two hands! Anyway it seems that you have adjusted quite well to how we do things here but if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask.

[Circe]

Greek/Roman myths have always been one of my favorite subjects, ever since I was but wee. I earned the name Circe not too long ago for having a tendency to steal souls via siren songs and it evolved from there, with a joke about turning men into pigs. Perhaps I'm just lucky to have mythically minded friends around me. I don't know that I'd say I have them in abundance, and certainly not surplus, but enough to keep me happy and comfortable knowing that when I make a reference at least one person will get it.

[Sy23]

You can add me to that list Sunwolf007 - I've been fascinated by the Graeco-Roman mythology since my mother's boss's son (yes really) told me the story of Perseus and Medusa, back when I was nine! And recently won a pub trivia contest by being the only person in the whole comp that knew the names of Medusa's sisters (mind you, if they'd asked me to spell the names, I'd have been gone, LOL!) - and I'm currently in a RP at another site playing a lare!

Oops sorry - this is Circe's thread. I'll shut up now...

[Silvan Arrow]

For shame, Sy, taking over Circe's thread like that *smacks back of hand*

Aaaaanyway, welcome to FoG, Circe! We're always glad to have experienced, literate writers join our ranks and find their online writing home with us! It sounds like the others have covered the basics of "Welcome Wagon 101," so I'll keep it short. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask me or any of the other lovely staff members. We're always happy to help! Enjoy your stay!

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