I considered having an angry mob tear the emperor limb from limb when I killed him off, but felt it was more fun to melt him with acid.
Lady Kay needs an equally ludicrous death. After all, she's a special character. :-)
By the way, was it obvious that Bunny did her laughing fit on purpose to get the senior anchor role? I want to make sure that comes across.
Thanks
Dirk
Capitalization in my book is driving me nuts. Following is the latest example. This is a space opera set in Earth's distant future, where the Roman Empire has been resurrected. There are two major galactic powers: the Imperium Romanum and the Realm of Stars.
For consistency, I always capitalize the word Imperial as it's synonymous with Imperium. (Think of it as saying Canadian instead of Canada - both are capitalized.)
I have a large force of Imperial guards that protect the emperor, the Imperial palace, and the city of Rome (capital of the Imperium). This force is known as the Praetorian Guard, which existed in the actual Roman Empire. I also have an elite squad of those guards that protect the emperor personally, around-the-clock. I can't find a name for them from history, so I've been calling them the elite guard. I'm toying with calling them the Elite Guard (in caps). Star Wars refers to the emperor's guards as the Red Guards.
Fleets of starships in the Imperium are divided into two types: home fleets that defend individual planets, and the Praetorian fleet, which is under the direct command of the emperor at all times. Home fleets are commanded by Imperial governors, in the emperor's name.
First problem, if the "guard" is called the "Praetorian Guard", then shouldn't the emperor's fleet be called the "Praetorian Fleet" (caps on Fleet)? I'm leaning that way.
If I call it the Praetorian Fleet, then what happens when I divide up that fleet to attack several different planets, which happens? Is each part of the Praetorian Fleet also to be called Praetorian Fleet, or should those smaller armadas be called Praetorian fleet (no caps on fleet)? I'm leaning toward the latter.
Also, if I go with Praetorian Fleet, then what about the Imperium and the Realm? Should Imperial Fleet be caps when I refer to the whole thing (home fleets + Praetorian Fleet)? It seems odd to write "Imperial fleet" when the emperor's part of that fleet is the "Praetorian Fleet".
That then brings me to the Realm. Should I use Realm Fleet to refer to the whole entity, and Realm fleet to refer to individual armadas?
One of the Realm planets featured in the story is New Bethlehem. Should its fleet be called the New Bethlehem Fleet or the New Bethlehem fleet?
Finally, what do I name the two fleets in the final battle that represent most (but not all!) of the two fleets? Imperial Fleet and Realm Fleet, or Imperial fleet and Realm fleet?
My head hurts.
Thanks.
Dirk
What's a typewriter?
Yeah, I do that in a few places, such as when he's talking to the doctor or discussing the commando raid with the head of the Praetorian Guard.
I'll just clothe them all in red shirts. :-)
Dirk
I find myself frequently mentioning that Apollo's guards are nearby or with him. For example: Apollo, his generals, and the elite guard entered the war room. I'm wondering if it's necessary. I'm thinking of finding a place or two to say they're always with him and be done with it. However, that would change the above example to: Apollo and his generals entered the war room. Is that likely to cause confusion?
Thanks
Dirk
Just to play devil's advocate, these words are part of the English language, so I have little concern about using them. The only people who might care are editors and fellow authors, neither of whom is likely to be a significant part of my target audience. I prefer to write stories the way I would tell them.
I'm in the middle of a Star Wars novel. They break all kinds of rules about good writing. Yet, the story reads well throughout, except it has too mansy names of places, technology, and charactes.
End of rant.
Dirk
OK, I've posted my first draft of Katerin's short story for the Cop Shop contest. Does anyone have any time for a review? Figure if I'm going to write for the contest, I should have something that I can use in my storyline.
More Katerin, NJC…How did I do?
Amy, what's the name of the story. I can't it.
Dirk
I'll go through my writer life (however long or short that may be) cursing that Italian guy credited with the invention of the modern day comma, semi-colon, and colon.
Personally, I prefer to curse the book publisher who decided semi-colons and colons don't belong in a work of fiction. It's probably a fictitious rule, but I fell for it, using only periods and dashes, until I read other people's work. Besides, I figure if Lucasfilm can release a book with semi-colons, so can I.
My roommate is an actor and constantly watches action movies, many of them sci-fi. Of those I've watched with him, I never rated any of them higher than 3 out of 5. I grew up on Star Trek and Star Wars. The Empire Strikes Back is widely regarded as being the best SW film, and I agree. It had the most character development of any of them, while still loaded with action and tension to keep the pulse racing. George Lucas was seriously concerned it might be a financial disaster if people thought they were watching a Star Wars film with Kermit the Frog in it.
I've seen Pride & Prejudice with Keira Knightley more times than any other film. I'm usually not much for romance, but it's historical fiction, and I find it very relaxing when I'm stressed out. The characters have become old friends to me. Having seen it so often, I now look at all of the small details about the set or background characters that you normally don't notice. The movie was very much like Downton Abbey on steroids.
One of my book characters in the year 4017 has to name a new fundamental force of nature. He briefly considers calling it the Force, but decides that's not a good idea because there's already a 2000-year-old cult religion that worships something by the same name. :-) I also give Pride & Prejudice an equally tongue-in-cheek nod.
Just to play devil's advocate, why not use a water-based solution of nutrients, rather than soil, to grow food in? The solution would be easy to drain and replace, making it less effort-intensive than soil. Are there any major food crops that wouldn't grow in water?
No problem, Sol.
I would have suggested no public visibility as to who received extra points. It could upset an author's other reviewers who may not get extra points, either because the author doesn't have them to give, or because their reviews don't merit extra points. I have on multiple occasions received a very large number of thoughtful and detailed reviews from more experienced authors, all in one day. It would be nice to be able to reward that extra effort. (Looks sideways at K)
I may be one of just a few people accumulating an obscene number of points, so this may not be worth the implementation effort.
Would it be possible to change the default for the little checkbox on new posts so that the author of the post doesn't accidentally forget to subscribe? I wouldn't be surprised if I've forgotten to check the box on at least some posts. I would imagine most people want to be notified if someone responds to a topic they posted. Those who don't want to receive an email can always uncheck the box.
Also, what is the default subscription behavior for the quick reply? If I'm not already subscribed, will it default to making me subscribed? It probably should.
Thanks as always.
Dirk
Sol, do you have plans to implement a mechanism that would allow authors to give points to others? I have a bazillion points, and it would be great if I could give some of my best reviewers points beyond what they earn by default. It might encourage even better reviews.
Dirk
Which poem is it? I can check if I see it too.
I suggest terraponics. Simple and easier to pronounce (and read) than if it has the extra y in the middle. Few people know what sero is (me among them). I wrote it lowercase as if it had already become a common term by the 24th century, like hydroponics or terrain.
I know I wrote something about topsoil today, but I can't remember if I posted it. Based on current topsoil erosion, we have only about 60 years worth left. Mother nature creates about one inch of the stuff every one thousand years. From some preliminary research I did, I found a scientist in Alberta who is trying to speed up the creation process. If I remember correctly, they hope to speed up the process to get it down to 5-10 years, so it can be created in the timespan necessary to support ongoing feeding of humans. I'm sure the process will just get easier with time, so you should have all the topsoil you need for your farms. In addition to crop rotation, farmers sometimes will grow something on an otherwise empty field, and then plow it under solely to serve as nutrients for the next year's crops. Same concept.
I cheated in my book. I was using topsoil from Earth to "seed" new colonies, then assumed that soil formation would spread naturally after that. Don convinced me to use nanobiology, so I combined the two. Seed topsoil from Earth, followed by nanobiology to replicate the original organic matter across a planet's sand, silt, and clay.
That Como Zoo Conservatory is spectacular. Now how to put something that breathtaking into words. :-)
G'night.
Understood. The Mayans and Romans both used crop rotation for that reason. However, are you using soil in these farms, or just a nutrient bath? If crop rotation works to put nutrients into the bath that you want to reuse, then great. I think it might easier though to change out the nutrient bath from one floor to another, rather than changing what's grown on each floor each "season". I envision automated machines on each floor specialized for whatever is growing on that floor. Regardless, the nutrient baths will probably still need additional outside nutrients.
I don't see crop rotation as necessary as long as you have the right nutrients in the water needed for the plants to grow. The question then is, what nutrients are needed and where will they come from.
Also, frequent cloud cover from snowstorms would limit the effectiveness of solar panels, althoiugh Tesla has just started marketing home-scale batteries to power a home if the power goes out. Presumably, energy storage would be very efficient in the future so as not to waste any available solar energy.
I hadn't thought of putting solar arrays around the sides of the buildings, but it's a great idea.
I was thinking of covering the whole roof with panels, with sufficient access for workers to keep them free of snow. If you eliminate glass on the rooftop, you have room for more solar arrays to power the building, without the risk of the roof collapsing from snow, although that does happen in some poorly reinforced buildings. I think they would design their buildings to handle the weight.
Cracking solar panels from freezing probably isn't an issue. I've seen plenty of homes powered by solar panels. I assume they're either in a warmer climate, or the panels don't crack from cold. Even modern windows don't crack in -40 degree whether, so panels would be encased in glass.
Wet snow could stick to the side panels, so even those aren't foolproof. Lots of good reasons this is challenging, which is what you want.
Would hydroponic farms use direct sunlight? You can already get grow lights in our era. I would think the farms would be entirely inside well-constructed buildings, with a farm on each floor. What I would see as a limitation is the amount of available space for solar panels to power large farms. The solar panels could easily be covered in snow on a regular basis, requiring constant maintenance. Also, I'm not sure if such panels can crack in freezing cold weather.
I like your idea of it snowing for the first time at the Panama Canal. It's more interesting when the reader experiences something new along with the MC. Better than flashbacks or telling.
Your reference to hydroponic farms reminded me of a thought I had earlier. It should be possible to stack these farms as high as you want to go, with the only limiting factors being how much solar energy is needed to power the farms and the source of the nutrients. That would make food production a "manageable" problem. It comes down to humans deciding to dedicate the right number of resources to the problem. In fact, I think it would be easier to feed the world under those conditions than it is today. The source of the nutrients is the part I'm unclear about. Perhaps one of you can blow a hole in my logic to keep mankind from solving this problem too easily in the 24th century. :-)
Wow! I read six chapters and thought I had only read three. You'll have to get used to my memory gaps, I'm afraid. I also tend to repeat myself at times. Same reason.
I look at the end of chapter 3 and at chapter 4, where father and daughter are together. The argument starts late in chapter 3 and continues through chapter 4. That's plenty of time to establish her anger. Turn up the heat in chapter 4 and you can relate her anger through dialogue. It'll also help increase the tension I thought was missing from chapter 4.
Dirk
Think about the Little Ice Age that began in the early 1800's and ended when we finally started warming out of it in the 1900's, it correlates to a very low ebb of the sun spot cycle. We in fact had another period before the recent cycle we are in right now where it is starting to show we could be entering another period where we could experience another period where there won't be any sunspots for a long period of time. So I extrapolated on that.
Thank you. Now, I've got it. Did I miss this explanation in the book so far? Sometimes I can't see the forest for trees with all of my nitting. If it's not there yet, I highly recommend putting in the first chapter. As I mentioned, the sea storm would be a great place for such reflection. It wouldn't take more than a few paragraphs (pretty much what you just posted for me) and would help ground the story.
Your call.
Dirk
