Search options (Page 14 of 47)

Q: Do you /have/ to kill 3 cardinals?

I mean, could it be one cardinal, then a high-speed chase complete with Fast-and-Furious vehicular stunts, then a 2nd cardinal? Why specifically cardinals?

I mean, if it  were say 1 bishop, 5 lay-betheren, 1 poor altar boy and a cheerleader, maybe all of Rome doesn't have to know because there's a holy day coming up and the church is fighting media speculation that the Vatican is unsafe. By choosing so high up the ladder, have you built yourself a bed of nail to sleep on?

Reminds me that it's been so long since I last read it cover-to-cover that I don't remember why the Emperor even brought Irulan with him (allowing her to get claimed as spoil)

What Mlle Gacèlle said above. Narrator must establish himself as subjective. The earlier the better.

Adding. CJ's story can get away with this easier than yours because your genre requires your narrator to stay objective. Imagine a CSI: NY story:

Right here, even if Mary is not guilty of the crime at hand, she is assuredly guilty of something because the narrator asserts certainity. This is extremely important because if we find out Mary is not guilty (not even of cheating on her taxes or double-dipping at last night's work party), the writer has cheated us. I dare say, it is required of the writer to reveal at some point "Mary is innocent of the crime at hand, but here's why she was acting guilty" -OR- work really hard on a judgemental-subjective narrator who the reader is convinced may be wrong on several points. In so doing, Mary's innocence causes the reader to go "aha, I knew the narrator was wrong"

Again, my example with Mary is significant in a crime story where tiny clues are meant to help the reader ascertain fact. In another genre, it would probably matter less.

Absolutely can be made to work, but not every narrator can pull it off. You'll want to use a highly subjective one to achieve this without getting called on for animate/conscious smiles.

Height difference doesn't rule it out (Connor from the future grew 10cm). Gender difference doesn't rule it out (Campanella's real form is a male). Being dead (run over while fleeing an ex-lover) doesn't rule it out. There is no proof of anything yet.

Means your computer is a Mac

"Brian Herbert has completely misunderstood his fathers work- I have to assume that he's actually read it. Unfortunately , as there are several prequels and side stories of equal incompetence" yowza

I own hunters in hard cover. They were on sale for $4 in a bin in Coles. Haven't read ... was lost by chapter 3 not enjoyable at all

Plus many of the characters in Hunters I was emotionally done with. Actually not "many"... "all".

The prequels were abit rough, but I did like Butlerian Jihad. The book 3 "twist that everyone saw coming because otherwise the later books would never have occurred" was kinda contrived/forced but there's only so much material a prequel can invent. I felt Darth Vader's crossover was equally forced in the SW prequels.

Eh... you're ok as is IMO. I was just commenting "should you change/add more common terms"

Here's a complicated answer.

a:

Your book strikes closer to Star Trek in tech and terminology (eg tractor beams, shields, beaming (which you renamed but follow the same rules), food dispensers (which you also renamed but are similarly infinite)). Do i recall correctly that Tlaan even has a positronic brain?. As such, you can benefit from renaming to help you escape established principles. The more "Common" your terms, the closer you will land to Star Trek, and once you land there, you won't be able to escape.

b:

In Rachel's stories I would suggest the opposite. She has so much meta-data within her stories (eg Goblin Fire) that maybe a tractor beam really is just a tractor beam so that there's more room for other terms to shine. In my own stories, I'm careful to avoid common terms like "mind trick" or "lightsword" for the same reasons I suggest to Bobbie.

c:

I'm halfway through book 2 and can confidently say you 100% do not need tractor beams. You could just have the aggressor ship disable the weaker ship and space-dock it for a boarding party. Remember Star Wars I (or IV or whatever number it is now) when Vader does this and capture Leia? This scene is just as cool as a tractor beam and a lot of fun

@Mlle Gacelle: "Fan service" is a (frowned upon) activity where the author adjusts the story to please the fans rather than be faithful to the original artistic vision.

We see Lucas do so in toning down Jar Jar. In anime it's usually related to sexualization of female characters. Sonic the Hedgehog movie fan serviced the character design.

Personally, I don't mind it (If Lucas was fully on board, Darth Maul would have found a way to survive). I do it all the time within the limits of the greater plot. For example, my world originally had no trains, but readers found that unrealistic, so I added them (Personally, I don't see how such a place of tyrants and greedy powered people would be able to support rail between their regions, but whatever)

Same model, same character