Random Updates

[olivermoss]

* Like clockwork, as soon as I got the N95s for double masking, White Eagle dropped the requirement. Single are still needed and I might use the N95s just so I can change them if needed. I often carry one or two extra cloth ones because... Portland can be wet. Also, it's a tiny old venue and that sort of mask might help reduce my risk.

* I am slowly forcing my brain back into writing mode. I've scripted some GW2 comics that I am going to try to draw...? I never got my Phas stuff good enough to post, but these might be simpler? We'll see. Also, I shouldn't worry about posting *right now*. If I iterate on it a few times I can just post when done.

* Tom Scott literally put out a video that is story ideas he doesn't want to write, but if someone else does they need to option him for the ideas? (It's okay if you want to make a non-commercial project, but if anyone does something commercial he 'isn't going to leave that money on the table') Tom, my dude, what the hell? He does 14 ideas in under six minutes, some are a sentence or two. They aren't even full pitches. Why would I watch this video? Like, having watched the video would open up anyone who is serious at all about writing to legal liability. I'm influenced enough by his takes on new media that if I write Science Fiction that elements of his thinking would be there and I might come up with something similar to one of this Plot Bunnies(do not steal). Though the only new media fiction thing I am working on is about a Twitch auto-mod bot falling for a give-away farmer... so maybe not?

He's probably just trying to head off really out there scenarios like someone feeling they can use his name and be all 'based on Tom Scott', but seriously... his statement feeds some wrong ways of thinking about things.

* Anyway time for less rambling, more writing. I signed up for a bunch of writing check in comms, but that way time zones work I always seen the check ins well before I'd had time to write. I should just pretend that they all say 'yesterday' instead of today or something

Comments

[finch]

I'm with you on the "what the hell" there. I'm curious how he'd try to prove it, anyhow?

Check-in comms never seem to work for me for similar reasons: either I'm early and I haven't done anything yet or I'm late and no one will see it.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, it's such a bizarre thing for him to do.

I joined a bunch of check in comms because I just wanted to try a bunch of things. The people in them tend to be lovely, but I think most of them don't work for me due to my time zone.

[oracne]

I feel like an N95 can't hurt in most situations. Better too much than not enough.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, especially since we aren't have a gradual easing of masking. Whether masks are needed at all is 'per show' and apparently the one I am going to is going to have masking because the artist is requiring it, not the venue.

[oracne]

Good for the artist!

[mistressofmuses]

Same problem with the check-in comms... and really, that's my fault, because I write after I check DW, so that will *always* be a problem for me, but still!

But... wtf on that video? That is 1000% giving me flashbacks to "My Plot Bunnies(do not steal!)" stuff, lmao. Like... if you want to release the ideas into the world, specifically saying you don't intend to use them... what's the point in saying "BUT YOU CAN'T EITHER!" And especially when these ideas aren't terribly fleshed out, that just seems... ugh.
It does feed into the mentality that ideas and tropes in and of themselves can be "owned", and that anything utilizing a similar plot arc or character archetype must be "copying."

Glad you're getting back into writing mode!

[olivermoss]

Yeah, he's usually very savvy about what does and doesn't constitute copyright infringement/plagarism. He's feeding some messed up ideas about owning concepts or thinking 'hey I had that idea first!'

[mistressofmuses]

I hate the idea that concepts can be owned. It's in the execution of the idea, not the idea itself! I can see that you could be right about it being a way to head off people claiming affiliation with him because of the ideas - "based on" or even maybe trying something as bonkers as claiming he cowrote it or something - but... it SOUNDS more like "I'm not writing these ideas BUT I OWN THEM NO ONE ELSE CAN EITHER SO THERE."

[olivermoss]

I am assuming there is a reason why writers and showrunners are always venting about people being all "I've got a great idea, all you've got to do is write it!" And yeah, it's all in the execution. Two people could take the same idea and make stories so different you'd never know.

Since Tom made a lot of content about copyright and new media, it is kinda messed up for him to imply what he implied. He should have taken a minute and been a bit more careful in what he said.

[mistressofmuses]

There's a tumblr post that I particularly like that illustrates the whole "it's the execution!" thing:
"A protagonist in a story with magical creatures and fairy tale tropes has to deal with the fact that he's rejected by the people of the land. They view him as a monster, someone to fear, a boogeyman. In this same universe, fairy tale creatures are forced to settle in other lands after being pushed out of their native territory by human forces. The main female protagonist is trying to change how she looks through magic because she's considered hideous. The main protagonist's sidekick is an annoying jackass who can't stop singing. Lastly, when we first see the main protagonist, he's in a swamp.
Now, am I talking about the Witcher Netflix series or Shrek?"
(Thanks, tumblr user giveamadeuschohisownmovie)

Not that those two stories are in any way based on the same idea, beyond utilizing fantasy tropes, and they do have different general plot arcs, and are definitely wildly different subgenres within fantasy. But they can also be boiled down to a super similar description. But no one is going to get the works confused with each other, or claim one is copying the other. (Except in a joking way.) Because ideas can't be owned!

It is messed up for him to imply that. If he didn't intend it that way, he probably should have given some more thought to how it came across. Or if he DOES feel a sense of ownership over the ideas, he shouldn't have said anything.

[olivermoss]

I hadn't seen that example, but I have seen lots of others. Yeah, it just sucks he set the conversation back by not being a bit more thoughtful.