fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3522 ]

[ SECRET POST #3522 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3522 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Supernatural]

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[Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries]

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[Star Wars]

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[Great British Bake Off, series 5]

Notes:

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Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For fic needs.

(From the same anon who asked about tracing phones and GPS not that long ago.) If a call is made (to a questionable person) from a character's cell phone, how much can someone actually know about the call? If the cell phone is not actively being tapped (which it isn't) there's no way for anyone to hear the actual conversation, is there? And if the character's cell phone is traced in order to find their location, that's just a GPS ping, right? To actual get a record of calls made from the phone, you would need, what, a warrant? And once you had a call record, is it possible to trace the other phone's location just based on its number?

I wrote out a whole answer and then realized I've really just seen a bunch of police procedurals and don't know jackshit. FWIW, I *think* that 1) there's no way to get a recording of a cell call, 2) you need a warrant to get phone records and it would just be numbers and timestamps (but possibly locations too?), and 3) you can only trace a phone if it's on and you have the GPS tracking Equipment. But you *might* be able to do it from just a phone number? That's the one that I'm really not sure on.

They'll be able to see time, date stamps, length and the general ads the call was made by the phone tower

Might get foggy if call is made with cell data or wifi

How comfortable are you with making up your own minor OCs? Do you find it more challenging than using a pre-existing minor character?

I love making up minor OCs--either random gas station attendants/nurses/waitresses/bystanders/fellow passengers or characters we just don't see onscreen (people's parents, siblings, etc). It's just really fun!

Re: Original character questions

sparrow_lately - 2016-08-26 00:13 (UTC) - Expand

I've only done it a few times and I purposely don't give them much character or screen time, as it were. I use them either as a plot device or audience stand in.

I like OCs. I find that a lot of fic I end up reading feels a little claustrophobic. There's no one else in the world! I like to explore the world and to see the characters I love to their fullest. Which means that if it's a king, I want to see him ruling. If he's a soldier, I want to meet his fellow soldiers. I want to see their impact on him. I especially want to meet his family. It helps to flesh out who he is and what drives him.

I want to see the world having an impact on the character. Unless it's the kind of fic where the character is off in the woods all alone, I want to see him doing his job or being interrupted when trying to have a conversation or having responsibilities to attend to. It makes him feel more real to me.

Re: Original character questions

ketita - 2016-08-26 00:54 (UTC) - Expand

minor as in what, bartenders/shopkeepers/passersby? effortless, I don't even give it a thought. Bartender is a guy, doesn't even need a name, says a few lines to move the scene along. That easy.

Meaning in fanfic? Fairly comfortable, especially in case fic or adventure fic where you're gonna need a monster/villain/client of the week. I have had OCs get away from me a bit, ending up with a bigger role in stories than I planned, but it's mostly just a matter of keeping focused our main characters as well.

Very comfortable. I also think a lot of fics suffer if they don't include OCs. Like another user said, it feels claustrophobic.

It depends on what they're for. I do confess I'm partial to OCs because I tend to like handcrafting a character for a specific purpose to work off of a canon character in a certain way, that gets at very personal issues I had with the canon or things I like and want to highlight.

In one fic (in upcoming chapters) I use Rayne Lennox to work against the Soapbox Sadie Sam Manson to illustrate a dark side of that character type that comes from the immediate assumption that one is right and they just need to assert that through any means necessary. There weren't any characters quite like that in canon and since the setting allowed for it, I made up a foil in the form of a slightly younger (and less mature) classmate- one that represents a Sam at the earlier point in her development and went a very wrong way with it.

In the case of larger casts I find it easier to pick a minor character that's basically just a name and face.

Minor OCs I'm okay with. I like it better than trying to squeeze in pre-existing minor characters into every role, even if they don't fit.

If they weren't like, the uninvolved waiter or the school teacher in canon, people's expectation for these characters can be more of a hindrance anyway.

I love making OCs. I think it gives the story a little more personality. I like the challenge of making a completely new character, or even giving an existing character a personality. As long as it doesn't turn into a Sue, and they have something interesting about them, minor characters always pique my curiosity.

I personally hate them, however minor. Just a pet peeve of mine. Usually if there's no way around it, I just leave them nameless and faceless.

I'd much rather read about existing minor characters than made up ones.

Make them all the time. Using only characters from a show is sometimes very limiting, especially when you need one-off things like police, neighbors, service people, etc. that a show or movie doesn't really get into.

I think it's fun.

I love bystander fic, so yeah, minor OCs are always a thing. Nothing I enjoy more than writing/reading about pairings and characters I love from a mostly unrelated third party.

Minor canon characters tend to catch my interest a little too strongly -- I'd be tempted to start fleshing them out instead.

I have no experience with alcohol, so I really have no idea on this, lol. If I've got a female character who weighs about 110 lbs, who has a low alcohol tolerance, who might have a glass or two at a party but doesn't really drink beyond that--If she hasn't eaten since breakfast, and it's now 9 or 10 p.m. and she has a glass of wine along with a glass of water, will she feel any/some effects from that?

as an underweight female with a very low alcohol tolerance, yes she definitely will

She'll be a little bit loopy, I think.

Definitely, especially if she's not eating as she drinks

Speaking as someone who fits that description, I'd definitely be tipsy, and should I have a second glass, I'd be drunk.

Re: Alcohol tolerance

(Anonymous) - 2016-08-26 19:25 (UTC) - Expand

she'd be seriously tipsy but not "I'm gonna do stupid shit and pass out!" level of drunk

She will. She'll probably be giggly, more likely to stumble over words a bit, maybe a little bit red in her cheeks. Probably talk a little bit louder than normal and a teensy bit less embarrassed about stuff than normal. Not about to do anything she'd never do in her normal life, not about to throw up or pass out or anything, but noticeably.....BIGGER, looser, quicker to find stupid things funny.

[ SECRET POST #3522 ]

Writing questions!

Tracking phone question

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Original character questions

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Alcohol tolerance

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posting after a hiatus

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