They say a picture’s worth a thousand words. In a lot of cases that’s true, but drawings do a piss poor job of conveying dialogue. And I often like to make my characters talk. There’s a lot of times over the course of New Eden where conversations need to be had. Traditional graphic novel tactics are to either fill pages with word balloons or have a new page for every few lines spoken. Neither option works for me. The first, because that’s just not visually appealing and it’s really wasting a lot of the medium’s potential, and the second, because I’ll be damned if I’m going to draw several pages where everything is pretty much the same. Luckily, I’m not working entirely in print here. So generally, when conversations need to be had, we’ll get pages like this, some sort of relatively simple visuals, with the dialogue written out in a single, long, document. Not entirely sure if it’s easier to consume like this, but it’s a lot easier on the author and I hadn’t intended this work to be read when I was creating it.
Also, writing teenage chatspeak is a lot harder than I thought it’d be.
18:41 *** exodust joined #fullmoonmidknights
18:41 <Lorelei>and i don’t know what i can do for it
18:42 <exodust> heyyyy there are actually peepl here!
18:42 <exodust> u hav no idea how long i’ve been trying 2 get at least som of you talking =)
18:42 <@BigRed> I know.
18:43 <@BigRed> We’ve all been getting your e-mails.
18:43 <exodust> yay! sooooooooo….
18:43 <exodust> wat r we goin 2 play?
18:43 <@BigRed> …And you haven’t been reading ours apparently.
18:44 <exodust> or wen r we goin 2 play, mor like =)
18:44 <exodust> i ben reading em
18:44 <exodust> but not evry1 is 2 busy
18:44 <exodust> we cn start and te other peepl will catch up wen they cn play agn!!!
18:45 <Lorelei> i don’t think now’s the best time
18:45 <exodust> we hav 11 midknights
18:45 <exodust> some peepl hav 2 b availble
18:45 <exodust> like u guys!!! =)
18:46 <@BigRed> I don’t know that now’s the best time to get the group together again.
18:46 <exodust> come on!!!!! =(
18:46 <exodust> we havnt takn a game on n 4evr!!!
18:46 <exodust> wats da point f havng a clan for domn8ing games f we dont domn8 games!!!
18:46 <@BigRed> Hate, you know most of the group has better things to do right now.
18:47 <@BigRed> The Midknights will rise again, I promise, but now’s really not the best time.
18:47 <exodust> so!!! jus bcause som cant make it dosnt mean the rest of us cant play!!!!
18:47 <exodust> deres the 3 f us
18:47 <exodust> n i bet tsukami will play!! he alwys has time
18:48 <Lorelei> not me sorry
18:48 <exodust> so 4 of us
18:48 <exodust> wat!! y not!! =(
18:48 <Lorelei> i’ve got a campaign this week
18:48 <exodust> that only takes a cple days rite?!
18:48 <@BigRed> Isn’t Shaun starting college soon?
18:48 <exodust> we start now
18:48 <exodust> you start ltr wen ur dun
18:48 <exodust> we’ll powerlvl u so u cn catch up!!!
18:49 <exodust> and yah tsukamis goin 2 college
18:49 <Lorelei> … we’ll see
18:49 <exodust> n a couple months!!!! he can game now =)
18:50 <exodust> n mikey!! he’ll play 2
18:50 <@BigRed> His wife was just deployed again. I really don’t think he’s up to it.
18:50 <exodust> that jus means hes lonly and needs stuf 2 do
18:50 <exodust> itll be perfect 4 him!!
18:51 <exodust> hammer wont stay l8 @ work 4evr
18:51 <exodust> n wat abou r 2 mystery men
18:51 <exodust> angiel and silver
18:52 <exodust> nobody nos wats up wit them
18:52 <exodust> well cept u wit silv annie
18:52 <exodust> mebbe theyd be gud 2 game
18:53 <Lorelei> silver is really not available right now
18:53 <@BigRed> And Angiel hasn’t talked to us in months. I wouldn’t count on either of them.
18:53 <exodust> still!!! dats enuf peepl
18:53 <exodust> n we havn’t dun ne games in 4eeeeeeeeever!!!!!
18:54 <@BigRed> Yeah. Fine. Hate, I’ll get into a game with you. And we can put it to the rest of the group. We’re not going to get the full group here, but whoever wants to can pick it up with us.
18:54 <exodust> yay!!!!!!!!!!!!! =)
18:54 *exodust gives redman a big hug!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =)
18:55 <@BigRed> Did you have a game in mind?
18:55 <exodust> yes!!!!!!!
18:55 <exodust> new life!!!!
18:55 <Lorelei> …
18:55 <@BigRed> I don’t think I’m up for that.
18:55 <exodust> come on!!!!!!!!! =(
18:56 <@BigRed> You know there’s talk about banning that game here in the states.
18:56 <@BigRed> There’s all those missing person cases associated with the game, and nobody seems to know exactly how it works.
18:56 <exodust> u shud no how it wrks!!! u made the game didnt u?
18:56 <@BigRed> I don’t want to be the next person to get distracted by the holograms, or whatever it uses, and chase them into traffic.
18:56 <@BigRed> No, my team never worked on that game. It was some Japanese company, wasn’t it?
18:57 <exodust> but it has rdman n there! u put hm n all ur games rite?
18:57 <@BigRed> The Redman is just a basic test character. Lots of games put something like him in there to test out their programs before they develop their characters.
18:57 <exodust> oh!!
18:57 <exodust> well te gov is alwys talking down on vidgames n ur always talking down on them 4 that!!
18:57 <exodust> we jus gotta play before t gets banned!! cuz fter we wont get a chance!!
18:58 <@BigRed> I really don’t think it’s safe. Besides, I don’t have New Life.
18:58 <@BigRed> You should really stay away from it too. We’ll play some other game.
18:58 <exodust> but!!!!!! =(
18:58 <exodust> new life s supposed to hv <3exodus<3 n it!!
18:58 <Lorelei> exodus?
18:59 <exodust> yah!!! from neon dreams!!! they’r the best!!
18:59 <exodust> n the singer s sooooo smexy ❤
18:59 <Lorelei> why would exodus be in a video game?
18:59 <@BigRed> Probably some product placement agreement. Those are popping up more and more in games these days.
18:59 <exodust> “thes days” hehe old man
19:00 <@BigRed> Smexiness of some metal band’s product placement aside, we really can’t use that game, Hate. I’m not playing it, and I wouldn’t imagine any of the other knights would be up for it either.
19:00 <exodust> y?!!! =(
19:00 <exodust> its new tech its cool n its cheap!!!
19:01 <Lorelei> is the new life tech really so bad, red?
19:01 <@BigRed> I don’t know, and that’s the problem. Nobody knows how it works.
19:01 <@BigRed> The company that makes it claims it reads brainwaves and sets holograms in front of your eyes, but nobody I know in the industry who’s tried it has any idea how it works.
19:01 <@BigRed> On top of that, there’s been a lot of disappearances after people have started playing that game.
19:01 <exodust> dats jus an rban legen!!!
19:02 <@BigRed> Police don’t get involved in urban legends. It’s dangerous. We’re not playing this game.
19:02 <exodust> ur not fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
19:02 <@BigRed> We’ll play something else. Don’t worry. It’s just a game.
19:02 <Lorelei> changing the subject……
19:03 <Lorelei> before hate gets really ticked off.
19:03 <Lorelei> did either of you get a package from agla?
19:03 <exodust> agla sent you a package??!!!
19:03 <exodust> hes got a crush!!!!
19:03 <@BigRed> No, I haven’t gotten a package.
19:03 <exodust> silv is gon 2 b jelous!!
19:04 <exodust> wat was n it?!
19:04 <Lorelei> silver and i aren’t together.
19:04 <Lorelei> and it doesn’t really matter what was in it. i was just wondering if you guys got one too.
19:04 <Lorelei> it came with this weird letter, seemed like he thought it was really important for all of us to get one of his packages.
19:04 <Lorelei> it was weird.
19:04 <exodust> he hsnt ben roun n 4ever!!!!!
19:05 <exodust> dat s werd!!
19:05 <exodust> mebb i get a pack 2!!!
19:05 <exodust> dats xcitin
19:05 <exodust> y did u get it 1st, tho?
19:05 <exodust> meb ur closer 2 him?
19:05 <exodust> meb he livs in nedderlans 2!!!
19:05 <Lorelei> i don’t know. it doesn’t have a return address. the stamp is japanese, though.
19:05 <exodust> agla s japnees?!!
19:06 <exodust> i wudn hav gessd
19:06 <@BigRed> How did he get your address?
19:06 <Lorelei> i don’t know.
19:06 <Lorelei> silver had my address, but he wouldn’t have given it out.
19:06 <Lorelei> none of the other knights have it.
19:07 <@BigRed> That’s odd.
19:07 <Lorelei> guys, i have to go.
19:07 <Lorelei> it’s getting late, and i have a shoot tomorrow.
19:07 <exodust> bye annie! gud luck!!! play sum games wit me sometim!!!
19:07 <@BigRed> Goodknight, Anke.
19:07 *** Lorelei left #fullmoonmidknights
Lost to the Aether 
I like this, I thought it was really clever! And yeah, chat speak is just urgh! 😀
I have to tell you, it was a bit of a relief later on when I could have her just talk. Of course, I’m going to have to write some of her online discussions again eventually. Urgh. Time to reach to my inner teenage girl.
Ok I’ll say it – I hate exodust already but I’m intrigued by the hook
I’m in for the long haul
I didn’t mean to make her so hateable. Just, you know, a teenager. She surely came out that way, though. I can’t bear to read through all that myself, though. I need to work on toning the chatspeak down, I think. Find a good level that’s not so hard to read as what I got above. I was just trying to channel the teenagers on the message board I used to be a part of and… yeah.
she’s just so damn chirpy – makes me wanna throttle her lol – you did a good job with the chatspeak, but yeah it might be slightly too much
Her next appearance, she’s actually talking. Well, sorta. So we avoid the chatspeak then. She still going to be chirpy for a good while, though.