Some general information regarding Conspiracy

This story was started on

Friday, August 19, 2005

This story was finished on

Sunday, June 25, 2006

    Early on, Conspiracy became far too convoluted to be an RP, thanks in part to unclear goals, controversial characters, and creative differences. Everyone is to blame for what happened to it. But it's fine. We learned. 
    Near the end, I just wanted to get the thing finished, as I have plans for another story, which I’ll be taking far more seriously. Like most of my readers I’m sure, I felt that the true ending was the 2nd to last post, while the very last post wrapped up some extra things and set up the potential of a sequel or two. 
    Thank you, Matthias for your help, and thanks to all my readers. It’s you guys who let me know my writing is worth the time.

    Trauma Advocate started Conspiracy; as such, he was the first person to join it. He wrote 63.07% of the story, doing so in fifty-three posts.

    Conspiracy was never the biggest RP...and that's why I rather liked it. We had a small cast, but things seemed to move quite well. I simply loved the characters and the situations they went through. Even when characters (say like Dioji) didn't have a huge load of personal development, they still added a unique perspective to the story. In the case of Dioji, he added a sense of raw instinct and emotion. Favorite scenes were Ulrich's dinner, the fights with Dzaal and Spartacus, and Terry's "I have a gun" scene. Also, being the first serious story for comic twins Jason and Xander will leave this story a special place with me.

    Matthias was the fourth person to join the RP, and he co-wrote it with Trauma Advocate when it became a fiction. He wrote 21.68% of the story, doing so in twenty-six posts.

    Conspiracy was okay for a while. However, I soon found I just couldn't write well for it, and I didn't enjoy the characters enough to even start caring about them, my own included. I passively left the RP pretty quick, but I am glad to see it finished, because despite my lack of enthusiasm for it, it was a really good concept. Trauma and Matthias did a pretty good job on this one.

    Thalzon was the third person to join Conspiracy. He wrote 10.23% of the story, doing so in seven posts. He now goes by the name Corey.

    One of the things I really regret about this amazing story is my lack of contribution. This, like most everything I do, was another example of an idea that I just didn't know what to do with after I started it. My character just didn't fit, and I didn't know what to do with it.
    However, once this was moved into fiction, I read it every day, hoping that another amazing installment was posted. I have to say, the ability to take a horrible character and turn it into something amazing is awe inspiring enough, but the fact that this story survived near death and became one of my favorite stories of all time will make this last in my mind for ages to come. Plot twists galore, a deep emotional story, and the final battle?! I nearly wept as I read the last few bits. And I don't cry. Ever. Bravo. I sincerely hope that the next fiction you write is as good as this. Heck, if it's even half as good, it will still be a good read.

    Zuntrios was the fifth, and last, person to join Conspiracy, and wrote 1.35% of the story, doing so in four posts.

Where and how did you come up with the idea for Conspiracy?

    Hmm...I think it originally started as a fairly generic cyber-punk future setting, so take your pick. Bladerunner, The Fifth Element, MST3K... any one of them could have influenced it.

Why did you make it an RP?
    I tried to keep every RP on the board from being a fantasy. I liked my ideas, and received support back when I originally made the topic with the idea, but it seemed once I started it, very few were interested anymore and I received a smaller turnout than I expected.

When the RP was showing signs of failing, what compelled you to turn it into a fiction instead of just letting it go the way of other failed RPs?
    Despite the issues backstage, Matthias and I still had a lot of interest, so we went on to write it together as a fiction. I’m glad we did, too, despite the headaches the story occasionally gave me. I kept wanting to go back and change things, and for the most part this was entirely impossible. Ironically, it was around the time the thing failed that I really started getting ideas.

Are any of the characters you created for Conspiracy based on or inspired by people you know in real life?
    None of my own characters were, unless you count the President, who was so cliché he didn't even need a name. Zed probably ended up reflecting myself to an extent though; I'm getting better at making my protagonists unique. Using other characters consistently throughout the story had its own difficulties, though: because the characters were not my own, their development became an issue, especially with Dioji who, as a dog, seemed incapable of change.

Did you learn anything while directing Conspiracy as an RP or while writing it as a fiction?
    Yes. I learned that everyone prefers different levels of control from their director. In this case, everyone except Thalzon seemed to want strong direction. I also realized the importance of writing ahead in fictions.

What was the hardest scene to write in Conspiracy?
    I had a lot of trouble with the fight in the factory. I thought Ray was a really cool character, and I thought I picked the perfect place to take advantage of his uniqueness, but it was still a big pain in the neck. I felt it might have been a missed opportunity.

What was your favorite scene to write in Conspiracy?
    The fight with Dzaal Terminos was absolutely kickin'. I was super-proud of that one and the atmosphere the music helped create.

If you were to go back and restart or rewrite Conspiracy, what would you do differently?
    Tons. I figure I will go back and rewrite a lot of it, because I rather like this little universe I've created. I intend to revisit it some day, after I clean up all the contradicting garbage in Conspiracy, like what planet we're on, etc.

Why did you join Conspiracy when it was an RP? 

    It seemed like a unique concept. I like sci-fi enough, and government conspiracies usually make for interesting plots.

When Trauma Advocate decided to make it a fiction, why did you want to co-write it with him? 
    Because I had become attached to the characters of the story, especially the central five (Zed, Terry, Ashley, Dioji, Jason). It became for me a situation like Legend of the Saints, where the RP was small, but I liked the story so much that I wanted to see it finish. Trauma Advocate had a good thing going here, I thought. 

Are any of the characters you created for Conspiracy based on or inspired by people you know in real life?
    Nope. Jason and Xander are my own creations. 
    Now, Ulrich the Undying (the name, not my character) is the name of a character from a Tales from the Crypt episode. Other than that, he's also a genuine creation.

Did you learn anything while participating in Conspiracy as an RP or co-writing it as a fiction?
    That even your most idiotic character can be given a serious story with some effort. Also, it's okay to step back and let somebody go ahead with their plans if they have a better idea of what to do than you do, as Trauma Advocate did quite a few times. (It was after all, his story first and foremost.)

What was the hardest scene to write in Conspiracy?
    I honestly believe Trauma Advocate got stuck with the harder scenes. Often, we'd already have a sequence of events, and we'd just run with it. The hardest thing was coming up with the damn sequences, and how we were going to incorporate all the characters into it. 

What is your favorite scene to write in Conspiracy? 
    Ulrich comes to dinner! The absurdity of that whole sequence makes me smile. And I got to write someone being beaned with a frying pan. Always fun to do. 

What was your favorite part to read in Conspiracy (that other people wrote)?
    I have three: 
    1) Jason's line "I feel like a thousand boulders were just shoved through my eye socket and then sucked out with a vacuum cleaner." Thalzon wrote it, then ended up deleting his post. I liked the line so much, I just had to keep it. 
    2) Zed's fight with Dzaal is the shiznite. 
    3) My actual favorite scene though, is a scene where Terry is wondering what he has left to live for. What do I have, he asks himself? His answer: I have a gun. In all my readings on the boards, I never had seen a character contemplate suicide before. The end of that scene, however, is sweet and warm-hearted. It's the complete affirmation of Terry and Ashley's father figure/daughter figure relationship, and it's nice to have a ray of hope in a generally dark-toned story.