Ok, now I'm really under the gun. Some other site has a deadline of Aug17 for posting full story. That's a mere 18 days, so I gotta stop foolin' around
127 2024-07-31 16:06:15
Re: Potential Membership Change (12 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Apparently the older model worked well enough, so I see no issue going back to it
128 2024-07-26 16:45:32
Re: Proposed Ideas for Contests Moving Forward (16 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Mirror this outside of TNBW:
You join an Amazon contest for a gift card, but to earn the GiftCard you have to leave a review on (this list of) kindle stories
129 2024-07-23 01:30:12
Re: The Archangel Syndrome (309 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
What are your posting plans for this vs Connor?
I've been kinda following in the background but haven't reviewed as yet. Curious which one is higher on your radar for completion.
130 2024-07-18 02:18:02
Re: The Archangel Syndrome (309 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Unit is closer to "thing"... fighting unit, computational unit, operational unit, units of measure, scaling unit, and so on. As a word it conveys little other than the concept of modularity. Wheras for the same number of letters, ward conveys health-care
131 2024-07-17 13:46:03
Re: The Archangel Syndrome (309 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
shrinkers and master-shrink <--- I can read these with having to pause and think
tsantsas <--- couldn't parse this one (not without a google or your explanation) As you say, it'd take some setup.
132 2024-07-17 12:03:07
Re: The Archangel Syndrome (309 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I also found Stargate very clean with its terms.
AIs: the Replicators. [Replicator is easy for the reader to parse - presumably, it replicates lol]
Hybrid: "Human-form Replicator"
Weapon: "Replicator disruptor cannon" and "Anti-replicator gun"
Specific Hybrid: Bob -> Replicator Bob
Compare to Battlestar:
AIs: Cylons
Hybrid: Skinjob or toaster
Weapon: (I checked the wiki and went cross-eyed)
Specific Hybrid: One of (15?) models eg groups of clones
Both are fine. I'm not knocking Battlestar. But Battlestar doesn't also have an Imperium to manage. It can devote all the page space it needs into one milieu.
133 2024-07-17 11:32:31
Re: The Archangel Syndrome (309 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
He's worse than the head shrink of the Brainial Unit where Joseph is trapped.
I'd suggest Brainial Ward or Department instead of Unit.
Don't laugh, but for the staff, I'm partial to psychiatrist and shrink (as opposed to Freudians and Pinels) only because of term-occlusion.
(eg in VQ I could have called androids "Bills" or "Gates" or "Jobs"... maybe even "Babbages" but to do so, I'd need to do a lift to ensure the terms fit well and the world-history supports it. This would naturally put pressure on the competing terms that show up after she "dies" thereby crowding the story)
134 2024-07-16 05:05:48
Re: The Archangel Syndrome (309 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
If it's a bother, you might review how many characters live to the end.
Killing a few off nicely reduces the number of threads that need to be resolved. They should be driving in their exits (Cersei, that's not you) so we feel heightened tension going in. Each should try to divert their threads from reaching the final chapter by attaining sufficient closure. Preferably by unifying with the surviving characters. This will bind things nicely
135 2024-07-12 04:05:11
Re: VQF (46 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
"Linear" meaning closely mimicking human learning. No one reads two books at the same time. Or a movie and a radio program. Or drive a car while threading a needle. In theory a modern computer can do all of this without breaking a sweat. So our computers are not a linear learning model but logarithmic (accounting for heat & power)
Our consciousness tends to drift from one to the other. Even people who claim to be multitaskers, it's been proven that they simply switch back & forth at opportune times.
Eg, biological creatures are sequential learners. So linear seems appropriate.
But I'm years from publishing this, so I have time to re-invent the acronyms
136 2024-07-12 00:28:43
Re: VQF (46 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Quantum (No meaning. Buzzword for magic)
Independent (Acts on its own - not sitting around waiting for human input)
Linear (learning model - each learning moment chains to previous, as opposed to a giant algorithm you can pour content into in parallel)
I (Intelligence)
N (I can't think of anything for this letter)
137 2024-07-11 23:52:20
Re: VQF (46 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I may after many years part company with the term "Android" reverting to the more classic concept that an android is simply a (dumb) robot that looks like a human. Dumb here meaning it could be ChatGPT V 200 smart but you'll never find one chasing a butterfly because it wanted to.
For the more advanced machines maybe Quantum Independant Linear Intelligence ( " Kirin" ) after the Japanese mythos.
138 2024-07-06 20:43:54
Re: Migrating from TNBW to Booksie - closed for now; see inside (50 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I don't mind staying here until the end... main areas:
a. I prefer points for posting
b. I don't want my work publicly available or harvested by plagiarizers
Thinking also, I have about 20 books here each 10-20 chapters, so that's 400 posts, but I have ways around that as per other thread.
I think (b) might be easily solved as well. The first one might be the biggest pain-point
139 2024-07-05 16:24:32
Re: Migrating from TNBW to Booksie - closed for now; see inside (50 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Yes, I was able to circumvent the copy-block, but I feel spammers won't take the time to do so
140 2024-07-05 12:56:25
Re: Migrating from TNBW to Booksie - closed for now; see inside (50 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Terry, where did you see that stories are exposed to the internet? I couldn't find it under the member agreement or copyright policy. In fact, the member agreement seems to suggest the exact opposite. Book title and other high level details, yes, but not content from the parts of the member agreement I read.
Thanks
Dirk
I can confirm. Opening Firefox as private window, I can browse and read Booksie stories without logging in. These stories are exposed to the internet and surely farmed by AI companies.
I hope that's because those writers have enabled a setting to make their writing open to the public.
141 2024-06-26 01:31:35
Re: The Archangel Syndrome (309 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
In Canada, at least, when you're on suicide watch, they'll issue you paper clothes
142 2024-06-19 15:43:00
Re: Savior of the Damned (the Connor series) by Dirk B. (1,461 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Telekinesis makes your job more headachey. If you can live without it, I recommend. He drinks the wine and he simply "jumps" and mov on with story.
Example problem: If Connor can generate enough force to lift himself, why can't he apply that same thrust to a needle or a bullet. That much force on a bullet is more than a gun can impart because ultimately a gun is attached to a hand and Newton's 3rd law etc. He's effectively now armed at all times.
A: The telekinesis is only up/down
Q: Can he toss ball bearings under his opponent's feet then shoot one up with his mass behind it?
A: Oh, well it only works on him
Q: Can he lift himself while carrying something like a book?
A: Certainly. Anything he could lift manually.
Q: Such as a large paving stone...
A: But he couldn't drop it on an opponent's head.
Q: But he could generate thrust using a simple can of hair spray
143 2024-06-18 11:40:18
Re: VQF (46 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
The ship's axe-murderer is 10x better now too.
I've added hints of him in two spots (ex: mysterious hulking shadow from odd direction when all characters are accounted for) and given MC plenty of time to wonder who that is.
Going to do one more sighting, this one a blurry / grainy camera snap as he runs past behind her... enough for her to see it's a crew uniform. Then can have her go the captain but he'll be like "No one matching that description on duty" or something. When he finally shows up for the first chase scene, it's going to be such an ah-ha moment.
I feel so evil
144 2024-06-07 13:41:45
Re: VQF (46 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
As for feeling like padding, that's the interesting challenge. The stuff with Alice (culminating in the elevator crash) so far doesn't feel like it from my admittedly biased position. I've allowed Alice to grow naturally, driving her own agenda. Will be sorry to splatter her, but of course, the show must go on. Her disappearance was certainly the original version's reason that Laurie starts to investigate discrepancies, the act of which which unravels everything. So adding the person behind the disappearance feels natural.
Stealing the central villain from the second half and placing him on the ship allows Laurie's character arc to proceed.
145 2024-06-07 13:07:45
Re: VQF (46 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I wouldn't call it normal, but a few of them need it, evidently.
My romance stuff has largely been accepted on some other site with reviews suggesting minor tweaks etc. But the angel stuff has been hit by every review as not having enough padding. So I'm carving it up, pruning out some of the curve-balls and replacing it with filler.
Not filler per se, but more points for the protag to breathe and point at the horizon.
Reapplying that to VQF, I can predict what they would say: Make the most memorable moment the climax. That means finding a way to make the explosion part of the ending.
Note also in the current form, I didn't really have room to fully explore the second half, vis-à-vis what it means to have become effectively immortal. What it means to now be prone to a mundane computer virus. I never had time to circle back to Speeder's cryptic comment "You won't know the difference until you try to have sex"
So splitting it in two means the new-body part has room to fully develop. It's just a bit pf pain for the first half.
146 2024-06-07 01:19:40
Re: VQF (46 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
OK so far,
Starting-point: 36k
Alice and her capers are trending to 12 chapters ~ 15k
Added main villain from second half ~3k
Added the hidden villain who was auctioning the MC ~3k
Added a fifth woman, an android pretending to be a robot ~2k
Preacher (for the New Revised Enduring Bible? lol) ~1k
I'm at 60k not counting all the new interactions provoked by the new faces. Could hit 70 on just the miscellany.
Quite happy with this
147 2024-05-29 17:39:24
Re: etc (68 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I fear E. Free's message bounced back. It had kind of vanished into the cosmos for a few days and I thought it actually was delivered. But it showed back up last night. Troll Email had me fooled. I thought njc's wasn't working but it turns out I simply cannot spell.
So far most votes are for the 2nd option for the sidebar.
148 2024-05-27 22:15:49
Re: etc (68 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I've managed to mail a bunch of you about the re-birth of the backup site.
This one is gonna have automation. The old, I had to log in and click "backup" which made it kind of poor at backing things up. The old one is also quietly dead. I will at one point go in there and export the forum stuff into the new... but ya, it was pretty ancient.
149 2024-05-17 05:13:06
Re: The Archangel Syndrome (309 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Golden Arches*
Collective Soul**
Soul Bank
Blessings of Shylock
Reluctant Jonases
* or gates or roads or anything conveying transition
**Well this one is trademarked, but nice to brainstorm on. Collective Gold. Silver Soul. Loaded With Blessings.
150 2024-05-08 21:17:47
Re: The Archangel Syndrome (309 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Darn, still have a stripping. Think... Think... Think
I wouldn't over worry about the existence of too many -ing's.
Excessive removal can cause unnatural formations in the prose.