The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (Page 36 of 49)

Technically, noise could always be a problem. You never know where you might run into explosions and fire fights.

That would be option 1 (more or less). Secret Service agents can speak quietly into their mics in most settings, although they'd have to speak loudly in some settings (e.g., loud political rallies) to be heard over the background noise.

I'm not sure it makes a difference as long as its consistent and matches surrounding technology. If Joseph wears a wisewatch, it's best if the guards do too, even if they typically choose to use their private channels / ear piece.

Re consistency: Consider Star Wars (Clone wars?) where the droids can't hear each other over sounds of battle. It would have been awkward for the droids to switch to internal radio because viewers would ask why R2 and 3PO didn't have internal radio. As painful as it was, they toughed it out with consistency over logic (Not 100% sure they won, but they sure have less explaining to do - as a writer, I'd just have not written my cast into such a predicament).

Hope this helps

-K

My next chapter, The Christian Heresy Begins, is up. It includes numerous minor changes compared to v2. This is the chapter where Joseph rewrites the Ten Commandments and first meets Apollo. There's a lot of description of setting in this chapter. Please let me know if you can picture it.

Quick, go read!

Thanks
Dirk

My next chapter, Why Prophets Shouldn't Drink, is up. Lots of minor edits compared to v2.

Three chapters in one week! Woohoo! One more quick one, then I have to rewrite the starfighter battle. Ugh.

Quick, go read!

Thanks.
Dirk

I however, am not. Time to write and read Norm's progress.

Give me a few days to update all of the latest chapters with Seabrass's v3 edits.

Help please. I'm in the process of rewriting my mock Starfighter Battle chapter, and there are lots of issues:

1. All eight delegates from Joseph's table are currently involved in this chapter. Don said he couldn't separate so many pilots. Problem is, I need at least five for the chapter to work (plus one to even the initial odds, yielding three per team). That being said, I figured there wasn't much difference between six and eight pilots, as long as I knock out three right away, leaving the required five. All eight contribute to the chapter, even those I kill off quickly.
2. I have no good way to help the reader keep track of which of the eight delegates are on which of the two teams. The v2 draft references them all by name, but there are too many of them. I could use call signs for the two teams (e.g., Robo One for Caligula, Homo One for Joseph, etc.), but, as K noted, that doubles the number of names from eight to sixteen. What if I always combine the call sign with the character name (e.g., "This is Homo Four," Stephanie said over the intercom)? The advantage of this approach is that I always remind the reader which team (Robo or Homo) each delegate is on as they read through the battle. Robo team is led by the Caligula, who has the cyborg face, and Homo team is led by Joseph, who gave another male delegate a very public kiss the night before, so it should be easy to remember who the team leaders are on.
3. Can I get rid of the explanation of how it's possible for starfighters to engage in dogfights in space even though there is no atmosphere? I had an explanation, but it's total crap, and Amy says it brings the chapter to a screeching halt. Star Wars never explained why dogfights work, unless they came up with some bogus physics in one of the later books.
4. Since this is meant to be mock combat, shields are always at maximum and novas (lasers) at minimum in each ship. This requires an explanation that the builtin combat simulator gives false readings (e.g., shields are down to 50% even though they're not). Technically, this works since the simulator can decide that a ship with 50% simulated shields can sustain more simulated damage (e.g., thrusters go dead) from additional nova blasts than if the ship had 100% simulated shields. Explaining this and picturing adds complexity, though, to the chapter. Not sure how to get around this.

Thanks
Dirk

Thanks. I think I'm already applying the wrestling-style approach. The three ships I kill off (disable) all happen right at the beginning (they knock each other out), leaving the required five.

I assume you're still not a fan of combining the call sign with the character name as a means of identifying which team someone is on (e.g., "This is Homo Four," Stephanie said over the intercom.)? It worked for Star Wars IV (e.g., "This is Red Five," Luke said, "I'm going in."), although there were fewer call signs (about six).

Regarding when to publish, for a first ever book, I highly recommend waiting until at least the 2nd is written. There'll be things in the first you'll decide to change by the time you've written the second. Little plot-related things in a book 2 will undo a book 1.

Also having smaller gaps in series is good for bridging readers. It's often I see a copy of book 1 sell, then shortly after, sales on books 2 & 3. This is good because books 1, 2, 3 centre around the same half dozen characters ([J e n n a] doesn't even get a mention in them. Books 4, 5, 6 revolve around another half dozen characters, culminating in Victorious, so I'll release those relatively close to each other. Lorraine takes over in Books 7 and 8, so I'll release up to 9 together and advance her supporting cast to that culminating plot.

I'll always be fresh on a reader's mind... if he liked 1-3 then a few years go by and he sees 4, he won't have to wait long before 5 comes out then 6=satisfaction/conclusion.

Unlike Frederick Pohl, one of whose series I'm still waiting on the conclusion of. (He dies 23 years after writing it but even if he did write it with a 10 year gap, I know I'd have read the last page i na bookstore looking for the words "The End". If I saw "To be continued" I'd gently put the book down and walk away).

Hungry readers gotta be fed!

Is the following enough of an explanation to explain starfighter motion? I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible without being total crap. I assume the thrusters at the back of the ship are not in a fixed position, pointing straight out the back of the ship, but can be directed by the ship's AI across a wide range of degrees.

"Dogfights is a bit of a misnomer. We can’t bank in space, but the AI uses flight control stick inputs to activate maneuvering jets to spin the ship around on its axes, then applies thrusters as needed to get the ship moving in the right direction. It requires overcoming the ship’s previous momentum, so the thrusters don’t necessarily align with where you’re pointing the nose of the ship."

Thanks
Dirk

Help needed again.

I seem to have written myself into a corner. I have starfighters with thrusters that give off visible exhaust. One way Joseph can tell if the fighters in his squadron are functioning optimally or have been damaged is by noticing the amount of visible exhaust coming from the fighters. For example, if a fighter is hit by weapons fire and its exhaust drops off considerably, then it's sustained significant damage. Doing this avoids all of the fighter pilots having to constantly give their operational status in the middle of the battle. Now, if there is visible exhaust, then there has to be a propellant being burned. So far so good.

The problem arises when Joseph wants to speed up his fighter beyond ordinary limits by diverting power from his shields to increase thrust, leaving his ship unshielded and exposed to serious damage, which is a must for the scene to work. Thing is, as far as I understand this, he doesn't really need more power, but more thrust, which means burning more propellant. I don't really see a need for a great deal of diverted power just to burn more propellant.

Thoughts?

Thanks
Dirk

Q: Why don't their systems handle that for them? When I play an online game my computer tells me my party members health bars and spell statuses including effects and duration in addition to enemy spells and effects - no need for them to take the time to inform me.