- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Posted by: soulguard
Posted by: Mr_Clark
The Master Chief is a loser.
Either it be from frustration, or a joke, I would seem to agree with you Mr_Clark. The Master Chief, while the hero of the Haloverse, is a very one dimensional character and incredibly hard to write about. Nylund and Ditz found this equally torturous, and had to give deeper emotions to the side characters. Cortana, though an AI, is by far the more interesting of the two. Her emotions (if you can call it that) give her a sense of depth that the Master Chief lacks. He is a soldier, in the truest form.
Yet everyone still hopes that he will save the day. So don't let anything anyone says change the path you have taken. The Chief you've created, is changing into something that would create a very good lead character. His "split" personality makes him interesting and ... well... nuts. And that, my friends, makes for entertainment.
Can't wait to get more of your amazing storytelling talents.
~soulguard
PS: Please, refrain from double-triple-posting, and try to stay on topic. The forum mods are watching and we'd hate for Clarks thread to be locked.
And also, Mr_C, the links were greatly appreciated. Imagine my shock when I went to read your latest chap and saw them on FF.net. Thank you. I don't know what more to say.
Weird, somehow I missed your post soulguard. Usually I hone in on them like a tracking beam.
I did indeed not post that statement in jest, though I phrased it as such. I much prefer someone like Cyriacus, who will pop up in the next Forerunner Chronicle chapter, over someone like the Master Chief. Its like writing about a block of unfinished wood, you can only describe it in so many ways before you have to make the frank admission that it is, undoubtedly, just a block of wood.
That said, the fervid desire most Halo fanfic dwellers have for the Master Chief is so powerful, that not having him in every chapter is seen as blasphemy. One of the areas I draw pleasure from when reading your stories, is from the near complete removal of the Master Chief, and from the very strong cast you've sculpted for yourself. As for myself, I think I'm basically walking a very thin line in regards to my continued omission, and frank evasion of the Master Chief. It has been about four chapters now without any sign of the Spartan, soon to be five chapters. Any longer and I suspect I shall find the typical amount of death threats increasing exponentially.
I've heard it said that stories based in the science-fiction genre are typically geared towards the overarching story, and things like character development are often pushed aside to simply further the plot. I'm sure I've been guilty of that at specific portions of this story, but for the most part I'd like to think that the characters I've fleshed out appear to at least have grown somewhat, instead of being seen as just, Character A, Character B, etc....
That is where writers like yourself come in who, while creating elaborate backstories to nearly every element of the story, also focus on the characters, and the growth that they show to actually gather some fair amount of emotion from the reader. Obviously it alienates many readers, especially in this kind of environment, but overall, readers that simply scroll through a chapter and merely skim any paragraph longer than four sentences, are not the type of readers whose feedback you'd necessarily want to hear.
While the Chief may inevitably save the day, I should hope that more readers walk away with thoughts regarding the secondary characters inside the Halo universe. They will likely prove the more complex, and undoubtedly, the most entertaining.
Posted by: The An7i Flag
Clark; there will always be somebody reading as longt as your writing...... so just keep writting....
I shall do just that good sir.
[Edited on 7/22/2006]