I wonder what the group thinks about the following character description:

He also thought his cadet uniform made him look more attractive to girls. In reality, he didn’t need it. He was slim and handsome, with his mother’s auburn hair and emerald-green eyes.

Generally, the advice I've received in the past is not to "tell" a person's looks, but to weave it into a story, possibly even separating the attributes as you go along so as to roll it out slowly. Personally, if I'm going to read about a character's looks, I'd rather it be done in one place, so I can picture it in my mind and then move on.

What about the above? I think I've set it up well with the first two sentences before a simple "tell". Yes?

Thanks
Dirk

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Yes, it's world building (or should I say worldbuilding? :-). "Personal AI" as the name for smartwatches sucked. I considered other names for smartwatches, such as wisething, wise thinker, and doohickey. However, I decided yesterday to add smart contacts to the book, so I need two names. I kind of like wisething (watch), in spite of (because of?) its sexual connotation, and wiseeyes (lenses). It would be a little weird for adults to use the term wisething, although my book is silly enough that I could get away with it.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

amy s wrote:

Wisewatch.

Try spelling it lenz. Makes it more brand name.

The list of names I gave are the generic ones. The brands are unlikely to be needed.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

I should note that intelli has three syllables, whereas wise has just one. There is something to be said for brevity. Also, i-watch and i-lenses are no longer options. Too close to Apple.

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(213 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Hence the reason I immortalized you as Lady Kay: mother of Caligula, the Mob's own Kim Kardashian (note the K's in the name), Imperial assassin, and author.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Tech naming party:

I'm thinking that anyone who's anyone wears wiselenses and a wisewatch. There is overlap in functionality, but only the watch can speak. The lenses can display textual responses visible to the wearer. A multi-party mode is also possible (e.g., connect me to your lenses).

Following are possible names (3 or 4 choices for each numbered list):
1. wisewatch, wise-watch, wise watch (same for lenses), often shortened to watch, lenses, also contacts.
2. intelliwatch, intelli-watch, or intelli watch (same for lenses), often shortened as above.
3. w-watch, e-watch, ewatch, or i-watch (no iwatch, same for lenses), shortened as above.

Examples:
I lost my wisewatch and my wise lenses.
Well, then, dumbass, use my intelli-watch and intellilenses to find them.
Why don't you shove your e-watch and elenses up your...?

Votes?

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(1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

A growing embolism.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Kdot wrote:

option c) go old school and have flickering Star Wars style holograms. Have people connect via protocol droids instead of hald-held technology (btw why oh why do Star Wars droids need to speak to each other? Don't they come equipeed with Wifi?)

You yourself pointed out that it doesn't exist since that would "break" the first six episodes.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

I'll think about using multiple types of devices (watch, lenses, wearables). Contact lenses for measuring blood sugar already exist, so smart contact lenses will exist all over the place 2000 years from now. Probably also embedded technology in the body, although I doubt I'll explore it.

Swatches is really intended as a generic term, like smartwatch, except I don't want to get into copyright argument with a big company. Nevertheless, Acme will be a major manufacturer.

I don't recall a holodeck in Voyager.

Earbuds alone won't be enough. Other characters need to hear what the AI is saying. Technically, the wearer could speak what the contact lens displays in front of him/her. Avoids the complexity of people having to link up their lenses.

Why flickering holos? My holos project steady high quality images.

I think I'll include at least some references to smart contact lenses and wearables for a little realism, but will probably stick to smart watches for most intelligent interactions.

I'm now leaning toward wise thinker or wisething as the generic for smartwatches. Wise thinker would mostly be referred to as thinker. Anyone have a preference? See the original list above for others. Thinker is blandish sci-fi. Wisething is a little cuter, like splat inhibitors. Others above border on silly, which could be good, too. Wise doohickey, anyone?

Thank you, K, I appreciate the detailed feedback.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Elisheva Free wrote:

I'm not completely up-to-date on your story, Norm, but maybe this'll help...
As far as I understand it, you're trying to create a communication device with camera capabilities, correct? If that's the case, why not do the ear-implant as Janet suggested, then add a little attachment or second device that links up with it wirelessly. Make it a little hovering disc or something that pairs with the implant and records video. I would imagine that they'd have some sort of hovering tech by then and we already have the tech to link devices together. There's no need to restrict yourself to just one device.

Thank you, Elisheva. I like the idea of a single device because of its simplicity. With smartcontacts I can do audio/video in and video out. I just can't do audio out unless I add the extra device or find some technobabble way of doing audio out from the lenses. Perhaps some way of constructing the lenses so that they briefly numb the eye while an audio out is happening.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Following are possible names for futuristic smartwatches: The word wise would be used sparingly. The smartwatches would generally be referred to by the second part of the names below:

wisewatch
wisechrono
wiseticker
wise timekeeper
wise doitall (or wise do-it-all for easy reading)
wise doohickey
wise doodad
wise gadget
wise thing (or wisething)
wise gizmo
wise thinker
wise thingamajig

I kind of like wisething and thingamajig because they're slightly tongue in cheek, which fits the nature of the book. I could also say silly stuff like: Joseph looked at his thing.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

One other possibility is awatch, which is short for Acme Watch (Acme is my major supplier of all kinds of tech, delivered by Mama's Little Shipping.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Double-checked swatches and ewatches. The companies use sWatch and eWatch, so I may be okay with swatch and ewatch for the wrist.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Amy, thanks for your input.

Nuts. Just when I thought I found a great name for personal AI (swatch), somebody holds the copyright. Ditto for ewatch.
I tried virtual typing in the air/on my desk and it's not too bad.
The video of self isn't a problem as long as someone else (Paul) is there to film him. Not being able to film oneself is a weakness of the contacts. It prevents Joseph from taking pictures of himself in prison. Perhaps he can film himself by taking the lens out and turning toward himself. Meh. He also needs to film himself while sliding toward the cremation furnace in prison. He uses the footage to claim he his the Messiah.
The implants shouldn't be a problem. Without the contact lenses, the implants are useless.
The cochlear implants I've seen in pictures are quite complicated, but I can reduce most of it to fit inside a contact lens.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Thanks, Janet. Behind the ears is better than glued to the head. Let me see what the rest of our little clique had to add.

There's only one love interest in the story, and she's a total doormat in v2. Next draft I plan to make her into a stronger character, plus a bit of a slut. She's the pursuer and Apollo is the pursued.

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(1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Amateurthesis

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Any thoughts about the contacts vs. swatches?

I'm leaning toward swatches, since they're an all-in-one device (video in/out and audio in/out). I could potentially add 3D video to the swatches. I used to have that, but thought it was silly because simple arm movements would throw off the image, but maybe that's not such a big deal, or I could claim software adjusts to hold the picture steady. Requires explaining.

Currently, I use 3D for a holo movie, dining table centerpieces, and the display table in the War Room. In each case, there is an underlying projector, so contacts struck me as unnecessary so far.

That said, the only real limitation to contact lenses is audio out because of the vibrations against the eyeball. Any ideas on how best to address that? I could have the contacts transmit audio out digitally to a wireless speaker mounted on the head. Meh.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

I'm getting ready for the 3rd draft of the book. I was wondering what people think about the smartwatches (swatches)? Should I convert them into contact lenses? If so, I'd also need an earpiece, a microphone, and a speaker. Not sure how bad the effect would be if a contact lense starts broadcasting from the eyeball. That's gotta feel very weird/uncomfortable.

Second question, should I introduce nanoids into the story? Can't recall all the places where I might be able to use them to replace simpler tech as currently written. A good one would be for medical purposes, as K does in his story. Terraforming? Automobile recycling plant (instead of genetically engineered bacteria)?

Thanks
Dirk

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(1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Spell Checker

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(1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Jump the Shark

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(1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Scott Baio

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(1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Bwowser (Google Chrome)

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(1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

The Rolling Scones

I don't write in first person, but the same problem arises in 3rd person. I use a short "tell" when I don't want to slow the scene by showing. The example I ran into was "The admiral bristled." I could have shown bristling, but it was a tense, high octane moment and flowery description wouldn't cut it.

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(1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Um, no. I finally remembered why the whole thing works (without pee):

According to the AI, they'll be unconscious in 3 minutes, dead in 5, and rescued in 10, which means 5 minutes in a vacuum. The AI is counting down from 10 minutes. When it gets down to 8 minutes, it dies completely. That means they will be unconscious in about 1 minute (3 - 2 minutes). If I'm awake long after 1 minute, I know we have an AI error (I assume any reasonably intelligent human can tell the difference between sitting for 1 minute vs. sitting for say 3 minutes without looking at a clock). No one onboard the raider questions that they were awake longer than 1 minute after the AI died, so the AI was essentially correct with its first estimate ("about" 3 minutes). Once they're unconscious, the other two variables don't matter. They died "whenever" and were rescued "whenever + ?". Apollo's heart had to be restarted, which is consistent with the AI's prediction that they would die before being rescued. Apollo also showed signs of decompression sickness, which is consistent with the AI's third prediction that they would be exposed to vacuum before being rescued. The doctor tells him you can only survive a vacuum for two minutes. NOW Apollo has reason to question how long he was dead/exposed to vacuum. God had told him that He would slow down time in the raider after everyone aboard was unconscious. Since the AI is dead, Apollo has no way to check the validity of the 2nd and 3rd estimates.

Based on all this, he either has a computer error or a miracle, and he'll never know for certain which it is. One important coincidence is that the AI died immediately before the supposed miracle.

Now go away.