Tools for Captain Scarlet fan fiction writers

[chrisbishop]

When you are a writer, or a would-be writer eager to write your first story, it is imperative to make a few researches, in the course of your writing. The amount of research depends of what you will write, obviously, but a minimum of knowledge of your subject is necessary. I often say that there is two rules to writing, and they're quite easy.

1) Write about what you know. (Through knowledge acquired with experience, researches, etc.)

2) Make believe the rest. (Through speculations, theories, still some researches - and a large dose of imagination).

It is true also for writing fan fiction. You need to know the background and basic characterisation of your characters - those who are already established and those you'll created; info on the technologies you'll use (in the case of Captain Scarlet, craft, vehicles and equipments, and futuristic technologies you'll dream up); series background; settings (either Cloudbase, any city in the world, the Moon, even Mars...); sciences (real, theoric or fictionous); etc. In short, every little details that will help make your story at the same time entertaining and clever - and even, at some point, believable (taking into account that we're talking about a science-fiction series, set in the future, pitting the human race against a race of powerful alien opponents.

A ton of information is available for writers to write Captain Scarlet fan fiction (the TV series itself, references book, fiction books, mags, comics strips, audio-adventures, the net, etc.) and can be used as reference for any writers. The Spectrum Headquarters site (http://www.spectrum-headquarters.com being the home page) itself is a huge bank of knowledge and info that I invite you to check whenever you need an information. You'll find official characters biographies, background info on the Spectrum organisation and the Mysterons, craft and vehicles details and cutaways, list and illustrations of various equipments, a chronology, all this is accessible to you whenever you want. If you're looking for something and can't find it, contact the webmaster (me) and I'll help you find what you're looking for.

In addition to that, me and some fellow writers (who happen to be my assistants on this forum), came up with a series of additional tools that you might find useful for your writing. Now, be aware that you are, in no circumstances, obligated to use any of those tools. They exist for those who MIGHT WANT to use them, freely, and without any strings attached to them (no pun intended). You take whatever you need from them, without having to agree with the whole of the work in general.

The tools are filed on the previous Spectrum HQ forum site (http://groups.msn.com/SpectrumHeadquartersForum/). Members who had signed in to this forum are able to access them in the documents folders, where they can consult them. For those who had not signed in to the old MSN forum (members of this forum or not) either sign in or contact me, or to anyone who would want them - you just have to either sign in as a member or contact me, and I'll make it available to you.

[Hazel K]

UK/US English Lexicon for fan-fic writers

This is a little something that Captain Ruddy, Chris, Cerise, Marion and I have been putting together for a while now. The Lexicon came about when we kept asking each other, "Would an American/Englishman say [some word or phrase]?" We've now decided it would be a Good Thing to make this available to everyone.
Look in the Documents folder for Lexicon.htm
The words or phrases are listed in alphabetical order, with a note of their country of origin, and the equivalent phrase.
Hope you all find it useful, and if you have any suggestions for additions, please let me know by email.
Hazel K

[chrisbishop]

Colours chart

Every Scarlet fanfic writer will eventually find himself facing the challenge of creating at least one character, who will be a Spectrum agent, and who will bear a new and original colour-coded name... All of those who had been there before know that sometimes, it's not as EASY as it might appear... So, following numerous group chats and consultation, some of the administrators of this forum had come up with a list or colours that you may find helpful when needed.

The colours are listed alphabetically, with a short description (when needed), and the illustrated colour added to each name. Be aware, however, that the colours MAY NOT APPEAR THE SAME ON DIFFERENT PC MONITORS. They were only added as a guide to what the colour may look like.

Following a request, a list of all the colour codenames which had already been 'used' in previous fiction on the Spectrum Headquarters fanfic collection has been added, with the rank of the character, his/her real name when available, who created him/her and in which story(ies) that character appears.

There is no ban in re-using any colour, maybe except the ones used for the main characters... But that may well depend on what kind of story is written, naturally - A Multiverse one may use a new Colonel White and a futuristic one may present the son of a main character using the colour-code of his deceased or ageing father - who knows?

As said above, there is no ban on any colour. Nobody can claim ownership to the colour - but the character is another thing, though. If ever you're interested in using a character created by another writer, I think this writer would appreciate if you contact him/her and ask for her permission.

If ever you find errors or omissions in the chart, please contact one of the managers through e-mail or post a message here.

However, if it is to mention that a colour name has been created and used by someone, as only an ID - for a MSN Group for example - it is not sufficient to be added to the list. It must be a character also used in a fanfic. Forum fanfic don't count. For example, the name 'Captain Sapphire' that I created a little while back just for the fun of participating in a forum fanfic would not have appeared in the list if someone else had not used it in a fanfic of her own - after asking my permission to do so.

I'm quite sure that a few names were forgotten here, so with your help, we'll be able to find them and update the chart.

On a last note concerning the chart: you may find some colour names - strange, to say the least, or even comical. They were listed nevertheless - for who knows if someone would not need them after all, say, for a spoof story?

"Lieutenant Bittersweet, Lieutenant Gamboge... Please report to the Control Room for briefing!"

[chrisbishop]

Spectrum Organisation Chart

As a new tool for Captain Scarlet fan fiction writers - a 'Spectrum organisation chart'has been added to the Archves folder. This chart is a rather detailed and comprehensive diagram of Spectrum 's chain of commands and numerous facilities. This was a team effort from the managers of this forum to come up with this chart, after watching, analysing, and discussing lengthly about the series episodes - but also taking into account numerous comic strips and some chosen fanfic stories. We did not add all the facilities that were created in all the fanfic written on the Spectrum Headquarters site or elsewhere. We included only those that seemed plausible enough to be a part or an extension of what is already known of the Spectrum organisation. We should also add to our credits that we didn't want to add everything for the sakes of clarity - listing all of 'Spectrum offices' created in EVERY STORY in existence would seem like a tedious work.

We think this chart might be accurate enough in view of how such an organisation as Spectrum might work. Of course, you might not agree with some of it - the 'fanfic facilities' are not canon, and maybe you would consider that neither are the comics strips facilities (many aspects of the strips weren't canon to the series, most of the time). That's why we put a colour key to separate each category of facilities.

But you are welcomed to use this chart as a guide for your stories - take what you want, need or accept of it. We just thought it might be a useful tool to use.

[hazel]

Stuck for a name for your original character? Try looking at your email inbox. If yours is anything like mine, it'll have dozens of spams in it. Some of the names of the senders come in handy. And it's not as if they're going to complain...

[Mary]

Here's a Random Name Generator which uses data from the US Census to generate random male and female names as well as surnames...

http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm

[Marion]

Mary that's wonderful - the first five I tried were fascinating I would never have come up with them in a million years!
I am afraid when I need a foreign name I use Whitaker's Almanac (from a decade or so ago) and mix and match minor government officials from the country I'm writing about.... for English ones I tend to mix and match christian and surnames from the authors of the books on my shelves. Sooner or later there will have to be an character called somebody Pratchett.....

[Scarlet Lady]

Some day you'll have to use the name 'Pratchett', eh? Not if Tourmaline gets there first! I can assure you, Pete's rather fond of the author - not to mention the name...

[hazel]

Sorry - wrong fandom, but couldn't resist that as a title!

I've just uploaded a document detailing the use of that most abused piece of punctuation - the apostrophe. Look in the Archive, under Documents, then Writers Tools.

Coming soon - "We all have to breathe occasionally- a guide to the Common Comma".

Thank you.

[Marion]

Hazel, I am off to download, read and inwardly digest the document straight away.
I only hope I remember to refer to it when in doubt.
I await the guide to occasional breathing with... bated breath (?)

[Carrie]

Just looked at Hazel's punctuation guide to: Unravelling the Mysteries of the Apostrophe....
Excellent!
Superbly easy to understand..the use of examples is a definite bonus...
I'm taking a hard copy and keeping it close...
Nice one Hazel!

[shaqui]

From my own experiences of fan fiction - as reader, writer and ilustrator - I'd say one of the first and often forgotten rules is - make sure everyone else knows what the f*ck you're talking about!

I've encountered one too many fan writers who assume everyone else reading knows the minute of every single series as well. They don't! Even I (as a long-standing fan of the GA series) got lost by one plot where the writer threw in random references without a/ explaining what they were doing there and b/ their relevance to the plot.

I always assume a story has to make sense to a non-fan too. In fact, theyre usually better written that way, and any other references are an icing on the cake, rather than replacing the substance of a good story, told well.

[hazel]

Shaqui - I could not agree more! I'm aware that I've committed the crime of "oh, everyone knows THAT" myself, with no real justification for believing that EVERYBODY does know.

What I always try to bear is mind is: does knowledge of this, that or the other piece of minutae affect the non-rabid-fan's enjoyment/comprehension of the story? Something I can't bear is to be reading a piece of fan-fic in a fandom of which I have limited knowledge, and suddenly run up against a mention of something which, to me, is totally devoid of significance, but which has a position of some prominence in the story.

Huge wads of exposition can drop a girder across the tracks of onjoyment, but at the same time, some exposition is required so that, as you say, we all know what the f*** the story is about. It's a fine line to tread, and you have to know your audience.

[Marion]

As you say, Hazel, it can be difficult to weigh up how much explanation to put in every story. I started my first stories with a few scene-setting paragraphs, but it gets hard to say the same thing a different way - so now I try to include an explanation where necessary in a story - although I am probably guilty of assuming most people understand already...
I agree it can be off-putting when you are reading something and don't understand the significence of an incident though...

[Clya Brown]

This one can be very difficult, can't it. Personally I find it extremely irritating to read something like "Forty thousand feet above the Earth, in the luxurious rest lounge of Cloudbase, headquarters of the world security organisation known as Spectrum, all of whose personnel had colour code names..." (which I've lifted from "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" by John Theydon), though I understand perfectly the need for something like it in a book purchasable by anybody at all, including people who have never heard of Captain Scarlet, Spectrum or Cloudbase. And though I disregard it for exactly that reason under such circumstances, I tend to be far less forgiving if I read it in a piece of fan-fic, which I take it for granted won't be read by anyone who isn't familiar with such basic facts. I'll cheerfully acknowledge that I could be being completely unreasonable, but that's how I feel about it, and I recognise that it adversely affects my perception of the story in general - not least because it breaks my concentration in exactly the same way I'd feel if I found a line that says "Important note: 7 + 16 = 23" in the middle of a mathematical theorem.

But how much basic familiarity DO you assume? I'd guess you could probably assume that everyone knows that Scarlet is indestructible, that there are a group of delectable female fighter pilots called the Angels, one of whom is called Symphony, and that there's a guy called Captain Blue who fancies her a treat. On the other hand, whether you could assume that everybody knows Symphony's real name is probably questionable, and you'd probably be being less than reasonable to assume that everybody remembers who was manning the roadblock that Symphony crashed an SPV through in "Manhunt". A good author will judge his/her readership's likely knowledge base and write accordingly, finding ways to slip in little snippets of critical information that can't be assumed in such a way that they don't LOOK as if they're being forcibly implanted on the reader's consciousness.

Trouble is, with the arrival of a completely new series with a completely different set of prior assumptions, it could become rather important to establish such things explicitly - if only to ensure that the reader is in the correct mindset. How long will it be before somebody makes the mistake of assuming when writing for Classic Scarlet that everyone knows Captain Black had a thing with Destiny prior to his ill-fated trip to Mars? I suspect this sort of thing is going to make life increasingly difficult for authors as the new series gathers momentum - and I can think of at least one author who is going to be very upset if Captain Blue and Symphony aren't at least the very bestest of friends this time around!