# Writing a story about internet drama



## DondreKhan (Sep 30, 2013)

Do you think that a story about events taking place on the internet could be good?  I started one, which is where Heinrich decides to start a website for the game Warhammer 40,000.  He convinces Alex (who knows how) to set it up, she makes fun of him for being a nerd, sets up the website, it starts to grow, they are discovered by a similar German website Enzyclopedium, they work together, people start to write stupid stuff, Alex has to go through a vote to begin purging it, Enzyclopedium gets racist and attacks, Alex counters them, and there ends up being a bunch of drama with Kevin and his weird fanfiction.


----------



## Tettsuo (Sep 30, 2013)

Inquisitor Ehrenstein said:


> Do you think that a story about events taking place on the internet could be good?


You could write it and see.


----------



## Outiboros (Sep 30, 2013)

Writing it is one thing, making it interesting is another. As with all things it depends on the execution, but I think you're making it rather hard for yourself with this one. It's a very narrow subject. For anyone who couldn't care less about WH40K it might never be interesting at all, no matter how hard you try.

I think a story about internet drama could be good, but not one on this subject, to be frank. Maybe a story about people with deep emotional problems, but not one about a guy wanting to make a website about his hobby.


----------



## Gamer_2k4 (Sep 30, 2013)

I wouldn't read that.


----------



## Theglasshouse (Sep 30, 2013)

I think criticism of creative arts, such as speculative literature, has been effective. It made us see classics, and there are no awards for such tales, but the writer has a good creative license (no one gives it to him or her). What I mean is even fanfiction is looked down (will end this here since I just wanted to show that this fiction needs some reception).


----------



## Morkonan (Sep 30, 2013)

Inquisitor Ehrenstein said:


> Do you think that a story about events taking place on the internet could be good?...



Here's the problem and, likely, one that pundits and commentators have been stressing for years : There's no interpersonal interaction in your story.

Consider your story taking place between people who are having phone conversations... How far would you get before the Reader demands that something happens? After all, typing and trolling forum threads is not really stuff "happening." It just sort of "is." And, what it is happens to be very boring.

Read the most excellent, well written and action-packed novel "ReamDe" by Neal Stephenson. (Science Fiction) The title of the book is a play on "Read Me", of course. The novel is about an online video game being used as a backdrop for such things as international terrorism, money laundering and a host of dastardly thing. BUT, what Stephenson does is incorporates this ephemeral world as a key element in the story. Within the MMORPG that is the backdrop for the novel, the characters involve login, run around doing standard, and not so standard, MMORPG fare and actually USE the game as a tool to accomplish their goal.

But, what makes the novel good is that it is about as action packed as any novel gets and it still manages to serve up plenty of geeklove with MMORPG themes. It's just plain awesome. If you haven't read it and you're a fan of science-fiction and/or gaming in general, you must read it.

That's the sort of thing you would need to do with your story. You can use the elements of people battling over webpages as a plot device, but it's not going to be very interesting if you confine the story to an online environment. You have to make it "real" and there have to be stakes that are sufficiently valuable to excite the reader. Whether or not some dude, somewhere, gets his webpage set up or whether or not a certain internet drama works out in a certain way is not going to be very interesting. /b raided Habo Hotel for years and nobody in the "Real World" paid them any attention until Anon started crusading around "IRL." Similarly, nobody is going to care if you shout "Pool's closed" unless there are some strong real-world consequences involved.


----------



## Jeko (Sep 30, 2013)

I find it curious that the internet is usually absent from what is termed 'modern' fiction; perhaps it suggests that mankind's greatest fantasy is to escape its virtual chains?

Anyway, I would read any story if it was written well.


----------



## WechtleinUns (Sep 30, 2013)

I've been trying to write about internet drama for years. The main issue I've found is this: Unless your willing to actually show the texts/posts/memes that the users actually post, via chatlog style, you'll have a really difficult time getting the reader to visualize the story. This happens with me when I'm writing about programming. I have to figure out a way to represent the computer screen, using the minimal amount of computer coding jargon necessary to let the reader understand. 

Computer screens can be dazzling. It's awesome to look at the glow of a computer screen. But it's not so awesome to be told about the glow, and then having to imagine it. Usually, I work around this by including elements from the real world. Nevertheless, it's a niche market for now, and will be until we can figure out how to represent the computer screen in a way that's entertaining. 

Hope that helps,
Wech.


----------



## The Tourist (Oct 1, 2013)

You might as well write it up, it would have a immediate audience.

My view of modern society is not flattering.  They like instant pudding, instant pizza rolls, instant "reality" shows, so why not a view of their own instant lives?

For example, my lifestyle--like many others--is being counterfeited and packaged.  We have guys who are about as milquetoast as any slacker-hacker.  They wear their grandfathers road-clothes, build toy bikes ala' Easy Rider, and then go weed their lawns when being a suburbanite is what their wives demand.

Same thing with stories about the 'net.  You have less than a dozen guys who are really the caliber of Wozniak, Jobs or Gates, but twenty million who think they are, too.  A story like yours would be an immediate stroke to so many egos that you'd be in negotiations for movie rights before you knew it.

It appears that Taylor Swift is dating again, so a new brooding, no talent actor is trending, and coupled with your projected script I smell an Oscar.

Don't sell the idea short.  A fictional story about nothing, written to and about guys who are doing nothing is easily going to be something.


----------



## Blade (Oct 1, 2013)

Outiboros said:


> Writing it is one thing, making it interesting is another. As with all things it depends on the execution, but I think you're making it rather hard for yourself with this one. It's a very narrow subject. For anyone who couldn't care less about WH40K it might never be interesting at all, no matter how hard you try.
> 
> I think a story about internet drama could be good, but not one on this subject, to be frank. Maybe a story about people with deep emotional problems, but not one about a guy wanting to make a website about his hobby.





Gamer_2k4 said:


> I wouldn't read that.





Cadence said:


> I find it curious that the internet is usually absent from what is termed 'modern' fiction; perhaps it suggests that mankind's greatest fantasy is to escape its virtual chains?





WechtleinUns said:


> I've been trying to write about internet drama for years. The main issue I've found is this: Unless your willing to actually show the texts/posts/memes that the users actually post, via chatlog style, you'll have a really difficult time getting the reader to visualize the story. This happens with me when I'm writing about programming. I have to figure out a way to represent the computer screen, using the minimal amount of computer coding jargon necessary to let the reader understand.
> 
> Computer screens can be dazzling. It's awesome to look at the glow of a computer screen. But it's not so awesome to be told about the glow, and then having to imagine it. Usually, I work around this by including elements from the real world. Nevertheless, it's a niche market for now, and will be until we can figure out how to represent the computer screen in a way that's entertaining.
> 
> ...



:boxing: All of the above. A very challenging arena, I think, due to the difficulties described in W's post. It is odd that the net, despite its widespread popularity, is not more prominent in literature in general. I think the problem is integration of real life action with 'net world' in a way which is both engaging and not ridiculously cumbersome.

This brings to my mind a 1966 film called _Blowup _where a fashion photographer accidentally takes shots of a murder in a park but does not realize this until he is at home in his darkroom. The whole film revolves around blown up pictures and their subsequent theft. If you could figure out how to 'place' on line into the plot like this effectively it could be quite attractive drama.

I would not think that gaming would be the best choice of topic really as it would really narrow the potential audience and appeal to people who are among the most devout of on line residents. They are more inclined to 'play' rather than read about it.


----------



## DondreKhan (Oct 1, 2013)

I'm not going to go into the details of what would be done at a Warhammer website.  It's just what the website is about.  The main focus would also be on the interactions and drama between the characters, and the internet would be one of the places where it plays out.  For example, Alex might deal with Kevin on Sturmkrieg or half a hundred other websites he does nonsense on, but it would be related to his IRL actions.  Kevin develops some weird German fetish, starts writing weird stuff on the internet, attracts the wrong attention, causes trouble for Alex and Heinrich.

I did a bad job explaining that.  It would be more focused on what characters are doing than just stuff on the internet.


----------



## popsprocket (Oct 1, 2013)

Cadence said:


> I find it curious that the internet is usually absent from what is termed 'modern' fiction; perhaps it suggests that mankind's greatest fantasy is to escape its virtual chains?
> 
> Anyway, I would read any story if it was written well.



I actually came across this in something I was writing. I was reluctant to even put a mobile phone in someone's hand more than I really needed to.

But the issue about the internet is probably something closer to the internet itself not being important information to the story. A character may be going to a movie, the session times for which they got off the internet, but that's entirely unimportant.


----------



## Charlaux (Oct 2, 2013)

I would definitely read such a story provided it was written well. I think there is huge potential for internet drama - its a modern truth that some people tell people on the internet things that they would never say in real life, and act in ways that they wouldn't. There is definitely drama on forums - a lot of ego sometimes and people can form very strong attachments to faceless friends. I used to play an online MMORPG ( & became rather addicted I'm afraid) and met a lot of very good friends that I miss to this day and can get very nostalgic about. The emotion for a good story is definitely there, and as Cadence mentioned, I'm also surprised I haven't seen a lot of stories written on this topic. 

If you do go ahead and write this story I'd be very interested to see it, and to see how you approach the challenge - particularly of setting. Best of luck Inquisitor.


----------



## The Tourist (Oct 2, 2013)

Charlaux said:


> I used to play an online MMORPG ( & became rather addicted I'm afraid) and met a lot of very good friends that I miss to this day and can get very nostalgic about.



I infer from this sentence that you never met these individuals.  If that is the case, it's a story I would like to read.  Why not fictionalize a story based on your years as a gamer?

Here's why.  I do not understand "cyber friends."  In my life I've had three real friends.  I am also in a segment of society that has "brothers" based on a now ancient concept of brotherhood.  One of them died over this way of life.  Died for me to live safely.

When a cyber guy says he has 1,000 friends and gets "poked often," my first impression is that he has no flesh and blood friends and he's most likely a virgin.  Is this true?  Yes or no, there's a story there.

I suggest you pick your brain for memories and scenarios and write it up.  Before you poo-poo the idea, remember that 'one man plays' are quite popular.  Hal Holbrook did a classic on Mark Twain.  The idea of the narrator, the protagonist, the entire cast and 100% of the action happening within arm's reach might be a challenge, but there was a movie out a few years back when the lead spent the entire tale inside a  phone booth.


----------



## DondreKhan (Oct 2, 2013)

I've studied psychology, and internet relationships are just as important as traditional relationships.  As for things that Kevin might do that he wouldn't normally do, I'm thinking of having him act out as his character Katrin, who is the girl from Germany, like Alex.  She thinks it's really weird.  I'm thinking that at some point Alex set up a VPN server on the server computer, which she gives Kevin access to as a way of tracking what he does.  I realize though she'd have to set it up to go trough another proxy server just to avoid the server IP address from being associated with his nonsense.  In doing this (or maybe some other way), she catches Kevin going onto rape support forums for "research" and freaks out.

I'm planning for her to out him eventually when they're 23, after Kevin has got better and then serious regressed.  Through coincidence, Alex woke up naked next to Kevin in a bed at a house where there was a party she was at.  He convinces her that they didn't have sex.  A few weeks later he begins telling people that they did after someone thought he was a virgin.  After that, one of Alex's friends tells her that Kevin is telling people that he had sex with her.  She believes that he did, and then spends the next week crying in her room.  Then she tells people he was Katrin and makes a fake suicide attempt.


----------



## Charlaux (Oct 2, 2013)

The Tourist said:


> I infer from this sentence that you never met these individuals.  If that is the case, it's a story I would like to read.  Why not fictionalize a story based on your years as a gamer?
> 
> Here's why.  I do not understand "cyber friends."  In my life I've had three real friends.  I am also in a segment of society that has "brothers" based on a now ancient concept of brotherhood.  One of them died over this way of life.  Died for me to live safely.
> 
> ...



You inferred correctly that I never met these individuals. The game I played was an adventure style game similar to WoW which allowed players to create character avatars and explore/fight together, set very much in the old world that you described. It allowed you to join a ‘clan’ with other players, and fight other players, so there was a very close sense of community, and the history of these communities piled up like a long soap opera as people fell out and switched teams, and declared vendettas. I think it’s difficult to fully understand unless you’ve experienced it, but there were real emotions that these games can trigger. Rivalry, and loyalty to the other people in your clan – especially when you are at a young age, which I was. It had an almost medieval value system – you’d get criticized and a bad reputation for dishonorable acts. Sort of like an online gang culture. No, unfortunately it wasn’t a real ancient society like the one you mentioned that you are part of, but the values were similar. I enjoyed those values, it made the game exciting. It wasn’t anything to do with Taylor Swift, modern culture or instant gratification (I played this game for two years).

When you criticise a modern ‘instant’ society, I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood the experience and friendships I’m describing – these were people I spoke to every day, sometimes for hours, and often with a shared purpose in mind - we were very much a team. Nerdy, perhaps, but I like to think I have some flesh and blood friends too. Yes I’ll give them a real poke next time I see them just to be sure… But as Inquisitor said, online relationships aren’t diminished by the fact that you may not see someone’s face – in fact I’d say that aspect of the interaction removed a lot of the pretension that you can get when meeting people in real life as they worry about the impression that they present and how they are judged. At the time, I was a young teenager and it was very easy to form close attachments with these people who, I thought similar ‘outcasts’ to myself, and certainly I considered some of them closer confidants than the friends I knew in real life. There were two ‘worlds’, is the best way I can describe it – the wider community of thousands, and the smaller, rival cliques that inevitably formed and stuck together. 

I’d fictionalise those years in a story, certainly, but I wouldn’t know how to approach such a challenge (and I already have far too many other projects on my plate at the moment ). Because the game was set in a fantasy world, describing the adventures would read much like a typical fantasy adventure which would miss a lot of the point. To get the online aspect in it’d be a sort of sci-fantasy I suppose, and as I said I’m very interested in seeing how Inquisitor goes about his project. 

Apologies if I have hijacked this thread, just wanted to explain.


----------



## The Tourist (Oct 2, 2013)

Charlaux said:


> Apologies if I have hijacked this thread, just wanted to explain.



I don't think you hijacked the thread, at all.  In fact, you expanded on the idea in an eloquent rendition of your life amid the 'net.  That's the kind of insight I'd like to read about.

Believe it or not, you and I are opposite sides of the same coin.  I understand your overall idea of loyalty and kinship.  I just knew the guys in person.  LOL, but when we pulled weapons there was no "re-set button"!

Did you ever think about writing up a short story based on your experiences, perhaps eclipsing one afternoon or a singular interactive game?  Get your feet wet, see if it draws a favorable interest?


----------



## Theglasshouse (Oct 2, 2013)

It's  rare to find fanfiction that gets that unanimous approval of art. That is why they are not known. If it could one day receive recognition. The arguments for now do not make an appealing case.  I wish a new IP made from fan-fiction could be innovative, and even fresh respecting laws. There may some out there, but it's not a conceived notion presently, nor are there any ideas to support the idea that this unique art form can survive the judgment of people who see it differently as if not everyone has the same standard. Since everyone has a different taste it can vary from each person.


----------

