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Okay, last one:
- psychiatrists will be brain-masters
- a psychiatric ward will be either a brainial ward or a brain-mastering ward; I lean toward the latter; makes the terminology more consistent

EDIT: Brain-mastering ward is way too long (I use it a lot), so brain-masters and brainial ward win.

My thanks to all.
Dirk

Kdot, how do you feel about shrinkers and master-shrink? I tried both (and brainial) but found they were too bland. Hence the reason I'm looking for something sexier. Unlike other sci-fi stories, mine is a demented space opera with no need to remain 100% serious. In fact, going against norms is a hallmark of this story.

Admittedly calling them tsantsas requires a little setup, but all of the setup I've done for other names I've toyed with was indirect: the shrinks are addressed as doctors, Joseph is at the hospital because his parents fear a mental health problem, he's taken to a "branial" unit and is asked whether he considers himself mentally ill, he's placed in a rubber room, his clothes are taken away because someone suicidal could commit suicide using just clothes, and he's at the hospital to evaluate whether he has Archangel Syndrome.

Now, Joseph is not suicidal, but the head shrink takes away the clothes of all new patients to pressure them to cooperate with whatever tests and treatments are deemed appropriate. Joseph has been promised that he'll be given something to wear "soon" as long as he continues to cooperate. Also, he'll be allowed to contact his parents "in a few days" if he continues to cooperate.

In theory, that could allow me to use any of the terms discussed in my previous post (I realized that after posting), but tsantsas are a cool Easter egg in that they are, literally, shrunken heads. Admittedly, it requires a few brain cells to connect the shrunken heads of head hunters with shrinks, but once you've got it, it becomes obvious why this crazy story would use such an odd term for its psychiatrists.

A bit of trivia: There were two real-life cases in the not too distant past where patients hung themselves with just their underwear.

Quick survey for anyone who cares to vote:
- psychiatric wards in the year 4017 are referred to as brainial units, and psychiatrists are referred to as Freudians, which is also the name of the above noted chapter
- the other option is to call the psychiatrists brainials
- brainials would be a reasonable choice if all of this were to be taken seriously; Freudians seems a little odd, so it may be a better choice in this case

Any preferences?

You mean live to the end of the book or to the end of this nonstop chapter ("The Freudians")? No one dies in the chapter as it's more of a character development chapter for Joseph. I also introduced a young nurse named Catherine in it who is now among my favorite characters. She becomes somewhat like an older sister to Joseph. I'm considering punting other characters, so I can make room for her in the rest of the book. She's much more real than either Princess Stephanie (doormat) or Eve (Joseph's ex-doormat). As written, though, the chapter belongs at the end of act one, not the beginning of act two.

I have a similar problem brewing with Apollo's first chapter in act two, although not with regard to length but rather the fact that it doesn't really belong in act two either. It's an assassination attempt against the Imperial Family, staged by Nero to rally the support of the ruling elite, who are beginning to sour on his rule. The assassination attempt is where Caligula loses half his face. That's a great chapter to close out Apollo's first act, not to open the second ("The Young Leaders' Conference").

I think if I choose a moment of maximum danger to both Apollo and Joseph in their respective chapters above, then I could end act one on a cliffhanger for each of them. At that point, it seems more reasonable to wrap up those two chapters as the first pair of act two.

I'm still wondering if "The Freudians" is too weird compared to the rest of the book, though. Joseph is pretty much naked the whole chapter, and it gets stranger from there, although I think it all makes sense given the circumstances, some of which you don't realize until near the end of the chapter, when a few secrets are revealed. Terry seemed to like it; he said he hopes Catherine and Joseph will eventually get together, although it won't be that simple since Joseph is supposed to be coming to terms with being gay, and there is Christian, his intended love interest, to deal with. I could shift it, though, and make him bisexual if need be.

Yikes. My first act's final chapter, which was "in excess of 30 pages", has mushroomed even further to 38 pages. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this bad boy. I'm not going to change it now, but I clearly have to do something with it eventually to hack it down to size (e.g., 20 pages or less is reasonable for this book's chapter lengths). That's a lot to cut!

I suppose I could treat it like a tie-in for the book, and use the tie-in to give a detailed version of the trimmed version in the book.

I learned how important it is to moderate feedback to new/newer members until you know if they have a thick enough skin. I scared off someone once with 100+ comments. My bad. For most new members these days, when I find a lot to comment on, my first comment is usually words to the effect that some/many/most comments are just suggestions. The other thing I've also done at times is to highlight the most important stuff and offer to do another review if they want even more detail.

Nice, although Linear is kind of boring, but for all I know, it could be important to include it in the name.

Copied from the Migrating to Booksie thread:

Copied from the Migrating to Booksie thread:

The final chapter(s) of act one are done. Technically it's one huge chapter, but I posted it in three parts. Now that I've cleaned it up, the dialogue and scenes are much more appropriate to the story of Joseph in a psych ward. Still has him naked, but the focus is on the relationship between him and the nurse. Terry liked their dynamic enough, he wants to see them get together as lovers at some point in the future. I feel the same way, but book one of this trilogy really has no good way way to slip her in given where the story is going. It also blows up the whole arc of Joseph coming to terms with his homosexuality, although I could have him conclude he's probably gay in book 1, then bring Catherine (the nurse) back in book 2, where he realizes he's actually bisexual.

The odds of finishing book 1? Slim.
The odds of writing book 2? Not a hope in hell if I want to finish the Connor trilogy.
Still, act 1 is now complete. I think I'll celebrate with a high fiber brownie.
On to Connor v2...