CHATSUBO FAQ
Been outta the loop awhile kiddies, another provider switch and a system
upgrade that took me awhile to recover from, but here it is. Da FAQ.
Kane <kane49@mail.idt.net> AKA The Old Wolf Last edited 5-4-96 (still
some changes to make but I've been out of town (again))
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Kane's Komments: A story is a story is a story, whether it stem from a
fanciful critique of anothers art or just a raw tale ya gotta pound out.
Do it to it! Some of the most fun I had in this group (some time ago)
was with a short critique in the form of a story that several others
joined in on. Wasn't long, but it was a blast. Enough static, here's
the deal.....
* What is alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo?
It is a group for encouraging creativity along the lines of the cyberpunk
genre. It is a group where posting prose, song lyrics, poetry, and
interactive fiction is all appropriate and encouraged. The definition of
'cyberpunk' is still pretty much in the air, (and always will be, thats
it's nature) but most of it is based on near future, dark/bleak outlook,
and technology beyond what society and human emotions can sometimes deal
with (technoshock). It was also created to get all this off of the
purely fact and non-fiction oriented alt.cyberpunk, so that they don't
have to be bothered with this fiction/speculative stuff.
* Are there any rules?
Seems like the general consensus is as follows
1) Give feedback! If someone writes something you like, tell them so!
If you don't like it, tell them! Everyone writing here is writing to be
read, and we want to know what -YOU- think.
2) Participate! Write something yourself. Join in a conversation,
join in a storyline, start up something yourself. "It's good to be
involved..."
3) Be Considerate! If you decide to participate in a storyline, be
sure to be considerate of the efforts others have made. Don't go
whomping on continuity. If you make changes in a story, or use someone
else's character - get permission! Basically, use your brain.
One additional thing that I'd like to put here is that if someone is
inconsiderate, inform them of the mistake in email, first. Try not to
ascribe to malice what might simply be cluelessness. After that, there
is a playground sorta rule in that if someone's stomping on things right
and left, they can be very easily ignored into inexistance. Flaming
someone that is fishing for the negative response is exactly what they
are looking for, so let them wait for it. (Ed note, "Unless it's a SPAM
advertisement.. then let them have it!")
* What are these ADMIN postings?
As an exact opposite for most other groups, instead of marking story
pieces, all things which *aren't* story should be flagged with the string
ADMIN in the subject header. Discussion of how groups work for the
interactive fiction is encouraged.
* I'm completely new to this place. Where do I start?
A good place to start is with as much cyberpunk literature as you can get
your hands on. Some folks like using the Shadowrun (TM) or CyberPunk
(TM) games for a starting point, beginning characters are pretty well
limited and can be very interesting. Most, however, make their own
virtual cyberpunk reality up. There are, presently, about five or six
shade of VR on the Chat at the moment, and were mostly made up by the
people that wanted to play in them. So make up your own if you don't
particularly feel comfortable with what's there. The one thing that
isn't subject to do-it-yourself is the Chatsubo itself, as the bar is a
nexus for a number of stories and there is already some consensus on what
is there. The keyword is 'some'. If you want to get a feel for what's
happened in the bar, check out the archives listed at the end of this
article.
Here's the short list for reading.
Burning Chrome, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson
Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams
Islands in the Net, Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling
Lethal Interface, Stalker Analog by Mel Odom
Snow Crash by Neal Stephanson
Bolos by Keith Laumer (see into the mind of an A.I. war machine)
Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro (manga/comic)
Many more than I could list here.
Some Cyber-style Videos/Movies:
Bladerunner
Nemesis
Split Second
Lawnmower Man (for Virtual Reality)
The Robocop and Terminator movies
Freejack (There's an original cp storyline)
Hardware
Akira (anime)
Bubblegum Crisis (anime)
* Should I use the bar in my stories?
Most of the interactive fiction is centered around the bar, the Chatsubo,
as created by William Gibson and embellished by the folks of the group.
Ratz and Lonny Zone and his girls are all from the books. (The word
chatsubo == 'cha' = tea + 'tsubo' = pot/bowl). In _Neuromancer_ the
Chatsubo is in an English speaking section of the Sprawl around Chiba, in
Japan. But the location of the bar in this group is TBD by anyone that
wants to play in/around/with it. The stories have had it in Boston,
along the Eastern Seaboard, in Chiba, in Seattle, in Ohio, in Chicago,
and in unknown worlds. The year has been 2050, 2020,2029, 2035, 2033,
etc... usually in the next century plus some, depending on how far along
you think your technology is.
One reason to play with the Chatsubo as part of the story is that the
story will get more readership. People *like* being acknowledged in
someone else's posts and are flattered when they make a big enough
impression to be included in someone else's story, even as a cameo.
* As far as who else is at the Chatsubo, Someone else whose Address I
lost like a schmo is handling the databases now, post an ADMIN: request
for them and he'll probably spot it and bounce it for ya.
* Can I use magic in my stories?
Is it your story? ;)
* Should I copyright my stories? What do publishers think about Net
published stories?
Yes, it's a good idea to put a copyright notice on all your fiction if
you're thinking about getting published. The legal form is Copyright
<date> by <Name>. (c) and (C) do not count as copyright symbols. In the
U.S. and a number of other countries, there is actually an automatic
copyright for written material, wheither or not it has the notice. The
notice, however, can't hurt, and it may help someone remember to respect
your rights as an author. You're going to have to ask the publishers
you're interested in publishing with about their opinions on what Net
publication is. Some don't regard it as a publication, some do regard it
as a first time publication to a public access forum. From my paranoid
point of view, it's best to regard posting it to the Net as making the
story public domain.
As Tim Kuehn pointed out, it isn't really public domain, as you still
will have all the legal rights to the piece. The trick is in enforcing
those rights. A copyright notice informs the honest and uninformed. It
doesn't always work. I've had a friend who found one of his stories in a
magazine with someone else's name on the by-line. The original story had
a copyright notice on it. The only way to completely protect yourself
from that kind of fooey is to register the copyright as well at your
local copyright office. It's cheap and easy insurance if you really
think you have something hot, and it's something any aspiring author
ought to know about anyway.
* If you might lose your story, why the heck post it?
Because it's fun.
Because there is no other medium in the world where you can publish your
own stuff in whatever form it might happen to fall out of the keyboard
in. Because you can experiment and get instant feedback. Not only
feedback of the "I *loved* it."/"I hated it." kind, but feedback from
other writers as you see them take off with an idea that you only hinted
at. Because it's fun to create characters that other people take an
interest in and actually enjoy not only reading about but speculating
about and tell you what they think about them pretty much
instantaneously.
I've had stories and articles that I've worked with and on published in a
book and magazines, and all my friends tell me that they can't, for the
life of them, find either the book or the magazines. They can all find
the Net. I find that I'm not in it for the money, I'm in it because I
love to write and I love having an audience.
* Some story/character guidelines that may be thrown out if you like:
Parodies are *WONDERFUL* and are well accepted here, and they break every
guideline that follows. The biggest thing is to Have Fun Interesting
characters aren't ones that are all-powerful. This isn't a place for
'My-character-can-beat-up-your-character-dick-waving'. It's pointless
and uninteresting for most readers. If someone asks 'What is the most
interesting thing about your character?" and the only answer is something
like "the 90mm cannon mounted in her ----" then it's time to think the
character over again. The same holds for magic, as well. Unlimited
magic is wish fulfillment and makes for a bad basis for a story.
A good story has tension, suspence, emotional involvement by the reader.
If a character is obviously going to mow over everything in their path,
then there simply is no point to it.
This goes for groups as well as singles. If a 'group' can pull everyone
that it might ever need out of a hat, it gets boring. It's also a good
idea to have a designated 'bad guy' if a story is a polarization between
good and bad, because then the bad guys aren't just idiots that can be
steamrollered. Again... a playing for style as opposed to munchkinism.
One particular thing to be avoided is creating brainless cretins just so
that your character can disembowl, slice and dice, and generally make
soup out of simply to show how 'bad' your character can be. Again, it's
boring and pointless and should bring on the cops or whoever and whatever
gang, corp, or organization that poor shmuck belonged to. Without
consequences, any action is pointless.
* Where can I find archives of old stories and articles?
There is anoynmous FTP access from catalina.opt-sci.arizona.edu (IP
number 128.196.206.60) under pub/chatsubo. Articles there with nekoko.XX
are Nekoko's story, articles with chatsubo.XX are collected a.c.c.
articles, chatsubo.00 contains articles predating the formation of the
group. Some articles, stories, and administration stuff are not
archived. Please restrict FTP'ing to evening and weekends. Thanks.
You may also wish to visit Vektor's personal archive on the web at
http:///www.magi.com/~vektor/chatsubo/.
(Ed note: Several other archives were referenced, but they appear to
be gone now).
There are other archives of other material, usually if you really enjoy
a story line ask the author/authors for archives and they might best be
able to tell you.
Have a blast...
Kane
--
Kane <The Old Wolf> kane49@mail.idt.net
http://shell.idt.net/~kane49/
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, for in strange eons to come,
even death may die."
H.P.Lovecraft.
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