[Dangermond]

Let me start out by saying I have not read Malazan - but intend to. I create what I call Fictionaries. (http://theFictionary.net) Free, Custom - lookup capable - Kindle dictionaries made up of book/series specific fictional terms (person, places, things) . I have been BOMBARDED with requests for Malazan. I create my Fictionaries using content from open source wikis and I plan on using http://malazan.wikia.com to create this specific Fictionary, the problem is it will be IMPOSSIBLE to make a spoiler free version with this content - my normal approach is to use the revisions to go "back in time" on the wiki which works OK as long as some of the books were created AFTER the wiki. Malazan is simply too old for this approach.
All is not lost - I found this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen_Characters. That is where you come in. On this list is a column called "Appears In" I need to know if the definition for these characters contains spoilers for the book listed under "Appears In", all of the series, or not at all (or a mixture I guess). If it does not contain spoilers, or only contains spoilers for the book listed I can make a character based Fictionary that is spoiler free for each book. So can someone take a look? Thanks! Check out the site while your at : TheFictionary.net

[Kanubis]

There are times when the status of a character (living or dead) is intentionally left unknown at the end of a book, and the list of characters does technically spoil that, yes.

[Dangermond]

I was afraid of that. So I make a new Fictionary for each book. If I made a Fictionary with all the characters listed as "appears in" Toll the Hounds and before. You are saying there may be potential spoilers for Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God? For example...

[D'rek]

Dangermond, on 13 August 2014 - 12:32 AM, said:

I was afraid of that. So I make a new Fictionary for each book. If I made a Fictionary with all the characters listed as "appears in" Toll the Hounds and before. You are saying there may be potential spoilers for Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God? For example...

Do you have a strong preference for doing it as "appears in" or "first appears in" ? The latter would avoid pretty much all spoilers, I think.

[Dangermond]

Maybe I didn't explain well enough.. I would only be keying off the earliest book in that column - so yes a "First Appears in", but I don't define them that way in the Fictionary. My question was that if I took the earliest book listed under "Appears In" for a character could I use the definition listed there and say "This Definition is spoiler free for "X" book and forward" Or are they pretty much filled with spoilers for the entire series? I am not indicating that the person appears in all those books - just using it as an indicator that the person has been introduced to the series. Ugh...this is hard to explain without having read them. I guess bottom line is - do these definitions of characters JUST the definitions - contain spoilers. If so does it look like those spoilers are only for there first appearance or for events throughout the series. Inclusion in the Fictionary for that book does not mean they appear in that book - just that if they do appear or are referenced, I can safely define them.

[Gorefest]

I'm afraid a one-to-one adaption of those descriptions may still cause spoilers. Just as an example:

Gruntle: Caravan guard on Genabackis; later Mortal Sword of Treach. The first bit would be fine to new users, the second bit however could be considered a spoiler.

However, each book does start of with a list of 'dramatis personae', i.e. the main characters (although not all of them) appearing in that book. So you could copy those lists for each book, then cross out the duplicates in later books, and you should have fairly safe spoilerless descriptions of each character.

[Dangermond]

I don't think I can legally extract portions of the book though - even the 'dramatis persona' and redistribute it. Hmm..I saw a couple "Later" sentences - do you see any other spoilers that are not preceded by the word "Later"?

[Gorefest]

Haven't read through all of them, but from what I can see I would say that the descriptions are spoiler-free as long as you leave any bits after the semicolon off. So anywhere where it says 'later' or 'AKA' (also a dangerous one, e.g. with Bugg) you can get a spoiler, but the bits before that seem pretty innocuous.

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 13 August 2014 - 11:10 AM

[Dangermond]

Looks like "briefly" may also be a problem word. Interesting challenge. If I put some of these together - is someone willing to help look it over?

[D'rek]

If you want, put a draft together and then PM it to me (or PM me a link to a table-formatted document might be better) and I will go through it all on the weekend.

[Dangermond]

D, on 13 August 2014 - 02:29 PM, said:

If you want, put a draft together and then PM it to me (or PM me a link to a table-formatted document might be better) and I will go through it all on the weekend.

That'd be great!