FAKKU Writers' Lounge

Gah, exceptionally saddening news. Hopefully you stop by often, the lounge would be rather lonely without you here. Good luck with your interning! (No farewells for you! You better be back!)

Indeed. Half the posts in this topic are his.

Before leaving for work, I have done a few short parodies for the Mudslinging and a parody of Shark's farewell messages. Of course, I wouldn't dare make a thread in Incoherent Babbling or even the Random section for that matter.

Here is what I have been doing the past few hours:

https://www.fakku.net/forums/writing-and-fanfiction/winter-writing-contest-wrap-up-campaigning-and-mudslinging

Now, allow me to parody HumbugsAssociate farewell messages:

So I'm saying my goodbye's to W&F and the Writer's Lounge, for now...

@Xenon: I am leaving. Vote for me. Here is the thread: Winter Writing Contest 2013 Final Poll

@high: I am leaving. Vote for me. Here is the thread: Winter Writing Contest 2013 Final Poll

@xnine: I am leaving. Vote for me. Here is the thread: Winter Writing Contest 2013 Final Poll

@Assasin: I am leaving. Vote for me. Here is the thread: Winter Writing Contest 2013 Final Poll

@FGRaptor: I am leaving. Vote for me. Here is the thread: Winter Writing Contest 2013 Final Poll

@leo: YOU ARE LEAVING AND YOU ARE ME! GET READY FOR WORK, YOU IDIOT!

have a safe trip man.

Is the glitch resolved High? Perhaps I can drop by if time allows.

no

I think for now - yeah

go drop by from time to time.

Hey guys, on a completely different train of thought. I'm trying to do some world-building for a story, and I'm certain everyone's experienced/researched different things.

What's one "What-If" scenario that you've thought about in terms of world politics? Things like the Islamification of Europe, Pakistan/India, South/North Korea, etc. (Those are ones I've been thinking of)

I hate Gundam 00 and Code Geass for their attempt at explaining global geopolitics. Any scenario based on that I agree must be well researched of course. I recommend studying the history of the country you are parodying. I admit to be a bit of a historical determinist after paying attention how many times history repeats itself.

To answer your question, I would say what happens if United Arab Republic (separate from the United Arab Emirates) did not splinter and becomes the next incarnation of the Ottoman Empire? I don't know much about the history of the Ottomans and the Arab world though.

PS: Some declaration that I was leaving! For 24 hours! I am still working though.

Well, there's always the classic "What would have happened if the Axis won World War II." A fair amount of people have attempted that, so there should be examples lying about, unless you want to be more unique. In that case, any particular time period? I think that should be the first question you answer, because literally anything is possible and that's no help. What if the modern world was raised under Greek or Roman ideology? What if the Huns conquered Europe? What if ancient Egypt was the world's dominating force? What if someone went back in time and gave the Confederate Americans AK-47s?

Seriously, there are so many possibilities, which is a good thing because it gives you a lot to choose from.

In order to narrow it down, I meant more of a "what-if" as of today? The idea was using current day politics to fabricate a more tumultuous future.

I'm currently plotting a time line, but essentially, it all starts with one dark day at the stock markets. A worm is inserted that silently flips all buys and sells in the course of a week without detection and finally rips apart the NYSE causing the US economy to spiral out of control. During this period, an charismatic president is elected who claims that the entire problem was caused by foreign debt- the solution? Renege on all foreign debt.

China's economy falters as a result while the one pillar that remained was the military. A coup d'tat happens resulting in an ultranationalist/oligarchy party. The US manages to pull out of the slump by gearing up for a cold war. China calls upon its relatively long-lasting economic chains in Africa for support. Years of resource extraction and education results in an ultranationalist movement in Africa.

In Greece, Golden Dawn has taken the polls while the EU has seen a surge in anti-Islam/nationalist parties. Various anti-Islamification acts are passed resulting in an outbreak of riots in the Netherlands, Sweden/Norway, and France. France planned the elimination of Muslims far in advance and undergoes a gestapo-style deportation. In Sweden/Norway, Russia assists with policing efforts in exchange for resources while the Netherlands becomes a hotspot. All the deported Muslims begin filtering into the dreaded Sharia Triangle where a single incident- a police unit fires on a wave of protesters, causes riots to turn into a civil war.

All around the world, ultranationalism occurs. In India, the Indus River is poisoned (my old story) causing a war to break out between India and Pakistan. China pushes support into India. In order to stem help from NATO/US, China forces North Korea to begin a war once again. With US/Japan assets in South Korea, both wars begin a long and attrition-filled global war.

There's a bunch of bits like South Sudan becoming a regional power, the African Union, riots in Rio, and a new Mexico.

Behind all of this? A single man who wants to see the world burn.

I'm wondering if you guys have seen or experienced anything that made you think, "Wow, what if it actually happened...?"

It seems like you already have a pretty interesting premises to go off of, I think your difficulty will be starting and unleashing all this information in a logical manner. Would you go from a narrative or personal perspective? It will make an incredible difference how you unleash all that information. You could do a lot with this.

What I suggest you touch on is the decreasing water availability in the middle-east. I've heard a couple theories, though I don't know how valid they are, depicting a huge demand for water in the next fifty to a hundred years or so. Worth researching, I think. I never bothered, but seems like you could benefit from doing so for this.

The only question I ask in regards to modern day world politics is with all this advanced technology and communicative efforts, why can't we actually get our shit together and stop war for like twenty years, preferably longer? Inb4 humans are warring creatures, hostility is in our blood blah blah blah. The US banned Japan from having its own military post-WWII and they essentially became one of the world's technology leaders in that time.

Sorry, I can't be much more help than that, I'm a pacifist at heart and I hate politics. I know there are several users on these forums that love talking politics all day every day. You should go into Serious Discussion to find some. Fiery penguin of doom comes to mind, if he's still around. There are some others, but most are super-opinionated and can talk down to people they don't think have their level of understanding about the world. That's mainly the reason I don't go around there.

Well, best of luck. You have a good skeleton, just try to add some meat and start writing.

As I live right on the Gulf of Mexico (New Orleans to be exact!), the devastation of Hurricane Katrina has had plenty of large political and economic effects. There hasn't been a major hurricane for years, which makes me wonder what if another one hit?

While much of the Gulf has recovered from Katrina's damages, there is plenty of leftover mess (mostly people being lazy for literally years). If another hurricane of similar or stronger strength rolls by, then much of the Gulf would be wiped. Population would spread throughout the US, there would be paranoia of natural disasters, the infrastructure of the levee protection system would be called into question, and the government would have to respond by putting vast amounts of money into the problem.

Seeing a 1st world country lose a portion of it's land to a natural disaster, and well as seeing the economic backlash could possibly trigger movements around the globe. Maybe countries will respond by improving their coastal protection, others might pour aid to the US, and others might even take advantage of the situation and start a war.

I'm probably far off the mark from what you are looking for, especially since my scenario is triggered by a natural event, but this is about the only thing I'm exceptionally familiar with. Well, good luck! Like Xenon said, it looks like you've got something interesting brewing.

I still maintain that even if one were to predict or envision a dystopian future, one would have to do with learning the history of the country, contemporary and otherwise, especially for those countries with long histories.

The United Arab Republic existed 40 to 50 years ago I think? If you want something more contemporaneous, I was thinking about the US dissolving into separate states or at the very least each state gaining more autonomy from the Federal Government. I am not familiar with US history so this scenario might be nonsensical.

I haven't put much thought at all into what-if situations, but I do have an idea about how one could go about ferreting out all that information. Some books I've read have little bits and pieces of lore about the universe at the beginning of each chapter. For example, the first Mistborn book by Brandon Sanderson has excerpts from a journal. With a story based on a what-if situation, you could go with news article excerpts detailing the events that have led the world than the path it's on.

d, I am considering creating a signature linking users to the Mudslinging thread. I thought of using the signature you are using for the Winter Contest. Any pointers?

I think I would spend this weekend penning the parody of xnine's entry, doing readings and creating signatures. I am relatively free on the weekends. Keyword being relatively.

My knowledge of photoshop isn't exactly vast (limited to playing around with it, and one high school class). What do you mean by pointers? Is there anything specific you wanted to know/get help on?

Just how to obtain the picture (I think you used Snipping Tool didn't you) and how to change the text (I am seriously considering writing cancelling and replacing the text using freehand drawing on a computer!)

I truncated the original with the marquee tool. To get the text, I actually just kept trying out different fonts until I had one that matched what was used in the original. The font is Edwardian Script ITC if you're interested.

The Winners thread is up.

Thanks to all you guys for supporting it. It's always a nice event and I was pleased to see such good material from everyone. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I always do. Feel free to post in the thread and...Well, I hope my poetry and limericks are good enough for you all.

Here's to next year!