The Deathpost

Dalthid

20-12-2008 07:32:47

In the past, there has been much to-do about the ACC DeathPost (DP) - even to the name "deathpost". It is true at the platform's inception, battles almost required that someone die - but it hasn't been that way in the ACC for years. Unless a competition calls for it, neither combatant needs to die - if it doesn't fit the battle. Fit the battle?

Yes. Fit the battle. The most poignant point about a Deathpost is that it's the ending to a story - that fits! It is very easy to tell when a battle is running a particular course and then someone just pulls a DP out of their arse...subsequently losing because of it. The DP should flow to an end just as other posts flow together, the difference (of course) is the battle should end, definitively. Which brings up another point...

A definitive end to the battle is another thing of argumentative opinion, which really doesn't have to be. You can allude to a future encounter and still end the battle conclusively. You can have both fighters survive and still end the battle without question. It's a simple matter of tying up all the battle's loose ends. It's almost like the writing itself, where an individual

See? If your deathpost doesn't go anywhere, doesn't 'finish', doesn't 'complete the thought' then it can't be a definitive end. A good way to look at it, without getting too nutz, is; the end of a good DP shouldn't leave any room for the battle to continue 'realistically'. I note not to get too nutz about it because any good writer can resurrect a battle, from almost any point - but not without some crazy, literary finagling, if the DP is done right. There is a rule of thumb, in public speaking and instruction, which says; you should never have to end your speech with "thank you" or "I'm done" - by virtue of the speech itself, it's conclusion should be obvious - such is the case with the DP.

As for the name - yes. I agree that it can be misleading, but really - it's just a name; not worth fighting over. We can change it to Battle Conclusion Post or something, but that doesn't even come close to sounding as cool as DEATHPOST...kinda makes you wanna growl! LOL. That, and we like reading all of your crazy death scenarios - you're all a sick bunch! :)

Don't forget this lovely nugget - Your character CAN die in a battle, and you (as the writer) can still win the battle. If it's most fitting for your character to die, then that's the way it should go; lest you try and pull the underdog cliche DP.

A cliche DP is that which was clearly expected, one obviously robbed (and, hopefully edited) from a popular movie-perhaps the greatest trilogy ever (no, not LotR) or one which was so bereft of vision it actually bored the reader. A judge's note and usage of the word "cliche" might seem hurtful, and for that (and as a veteran of the staff) I apologize - but it's not meant to be. There's just not a lot of ways to say it - However, I will concede that it would benefit you (the combatant) a whole lot more if we made a note like "you took that from Die Hard..." or something; but that could be seen as equally argumentative. Worse still, of course, is the staff writing "your deathpost sucked eggs..." - yet, no matter how you slice it, it all goes back to 'opinion', doesn't it?

The DP is your chance to really make the rater say "holy crap! that was cool!" one last time. To get that, and avoid cliche, you really need to think out of the box. The battles which run the course of big-bad-jedi beating the hell out of little-weak-jedi and then end as such, without any flare, won't get any praise. Equally, those battles which end with that under-dog, one last chance, which happens to come out in your favor-because of sheer dumb luck-have been done to death; we have decades of movies, and the like, to thank for that.

In defense of you, the writer - you're at a disadvantage. The ACC staff goes through many, many battles - as staff and as combatants. The point being - they might've seen it all before. So, what you might feel is an ingenious DP, might be exactly what the judge read two days ago, written by someone else. So how do you get around that? You don't - don't worry about it because your opponent is in the same boat. Remember - an ACC battle, while clearly about the characters, is a competition between writers - all you have to do is be better than your opponent.

I've been involved in this platform for a very long time and I am still impressed by some writers and even by some DP's. Yes, it might be a twist on an old-stand by, but a good writer can make the old new - that's where your style of writing comes in.