What have you learned today?

[Specter Von Baren]

As someone who once wanted to be a novelist: I feel this in a place I try not to go to anymore.

I know this really REALLY doesn't need to be said but the internet is a real double-edged sword. On the one hand, being able to research material for something has never been easier, but on the other hand, this also means you have very little excuse to NOT research something.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

this also means you have very little excuse to NOT research something.

And no matter what it is, after a dozen or so links, I'm looking at sharks. I'm caught in a never ending game of Six Degrees of Carcharodon Carcharias. I'd call it a curse if I didn't think sharks were pretty cool.

 

[Bedinsis]

The school way of learning, dedicating focus and research to a specific subject for a relatively narrow period of time only to drop most of the knowledge after test time did in fact, and boy do I hate saying this, prepare me for my adult life. Now that I'm trying to write in earnest, I have to use this method over and over again in my stories.
Tons of research on relatively small aspects of the story just to have a few paragraphs be at least moderately accurate about a subject only for it to never be used in the story after that.

Damnit!

I saw someone on twitter come with the advice that when writing a story it is A-OK to skip writing the parts one is not up for at the moment, to come around to later. Like if you were to write a novel about a heist you could skip directly to the heist with an outline in square brackets like
[introduction of characters]
[confrontation of the mark and our protagonist]
[planning the heist]
"It was an hour to midnight. The plan was set: once the guard had come to walk his round, we'd use the chloroform. He appeared to be late..."
and so on, only actually compelling.

If you get bogged down on details, maybe doing that for the minor stuff could be an idea?

 

[Dalisclock]

I saw someone on twitter come with the advice that when writing a story it is A-OK to skip writing the parts one is not up for at the moment, to come around to later. Like if you were to write a novel about a heist you could skip directly to the heist with an outline in square brackets like
[introduction of characters]
[confrontation of the mark and our protagonist]
[planning the heist]
"It was an hour to midnight. The plan was set: once the guard had come to walk his round, we'd use the chloroform. He appeared to be late..."
and so on, only actually compelling.

If you get bogged down on details, maybe doing that for the minor stuff could be an idea?

As someone who does write on occasion, I second this. It may not work for everyone but using placeholders is a method to consider to get stuff down on paper. The nice thing is that it gives you a lot of room to fill in details as you go without losing track of where you are.

Another method I've found helpful is write an outline to start.

-Beginning
-Character intro A
-Inciting Incident
-Character development A
-Character intro B
[Rest of the events here]
-Climax
-Ending

Clearly you want to be a bit more specific then this but just enough so you have a general flow of what's going on in what order. It also gives you plenty of room to work and change stuff around as needed as long as the narrative still works. It probably won't work for people who like to write by the seat of their pants, but having that basic roadmap of the story to build off of can be helpful.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

As someone who does write on occasion, I second this. It may not work for everyone but using placeholders is a method to consider to get stuff down on paper. The nice thing is that it gives you a lot of room to fill in details as you go without losing track of where you are.

Another method I've found helpful is write an outline to start.

-Beginning
-Character intro A
-Inciting Incident
-Character development A
-Character intro B
[Rest of the events here]
-Climax
-Ending

Clearly you want to be a bit more specific then this but just enough so you have a general flow of what's going on in what order. It also gives you plenty of room to work and change stuff around as needed as long as the narrative still works. It probably won't work for people who like to write by the seat of their pants, but having that basic roadmap of the story to build off of can be helpful.

I'm currently doing the most writing I've ever and it started from me deciding to try a monologue practice but it then morphed into me writing a story in medias res, as if there were chapters before where the story starts. My comment about schools was intended to be taken as a "damnit, the school system won!" rather than me griping about the process, though I certainly appreciate the advice from everyone. Hopefully I'll have what I'm currently working on touched up and readable by next week and I can share it with anyone interested.

Another thing that helped was me realizing just how important music is for my creative process. I decided to go through my substantial music library and make playlists of songs that made me think of the seven central characters of the story. Being able to listen to a long series of songs that keep my thoughts on specific characters has gone a long way for my process.

 

[Dalisclock]

I'm currently doing the most writing I've ever and it started from me deciding to try a monologue practice but it then morphed into me writing a story in medias res, as if there were chapters before where the story starts. My comment about schools was intended to be taken as a "damnit, the school system won!" rather than me griping about the process, though I certainly appreciate the advice from everyone. Hopefully I'll have what I'm currently working on touched up and readable by next week and I can share it with anyone interested.

I'm game for reading it. Do you have anything in particular you want feedback on?(I'm presuming you want constructive criticism of some sort) I ask because if you're interested in a specific level of criticism/feedback I can do my best to work with that. The scale being "Just tell me what you think" on one end and "I want you to report every single spelling and grammar error and narrative flaw with brutal honesty" on the other.

If that sounds weird, I apologize, when sharing my own stuff I've noticed I have make sure me and the reader are clear on stuff like that, especially when I'm working on spotting mistakes and such. Considering I'm starting work on a writing project I'm thinking about this shit again.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Apparently loudeners exist

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Apparently loudeners exist

I will bet ten dollars on there being a Harley Davidson-branded one of these somewhere.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

@Dalisclock @Bedinsis

Just as a small side thing, here's what just one of those playlists looks like. (Sorry for the crappy quality)

Spoiler: Playlist

 

[Thaluikhain]

Apparently loudeners exist

Eh, if it's directing the sound away from the shooter and towards the shootee, it makes sense.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Eh, if it's directing the sound away from the shooter and towards the shootee, it makes sense.

I wonder if we can make a gun that's just about making a really loud sound come out of the end to incapacitate people.

 

[Chimpzy]

I wonder if we can make a gun that's just about making a really loud sound come out of the end to incapacitate people.

That already exists. Sort of.

Long-range acoustic device - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Not very gun-like, I'll admit, tho China has reportedly developed a man portable version. They also don't so much incapacitate as produce a very loud high pitched noise that makes it very unbearably uncomfortable/painful to be near them, tho that might count depending on your definition of incapacitate. Mostly used in crowd control.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I wonder if we can make a gun that's just about making a really loud sound come out of the end to incapacitate people.

They've tried that for some crowd control rounds, not so much to incapacitate people as to make a loud bang to scare people away, similar to birdscare. Though, on the understanding that rubber bullets may follow, and that police forces the world over have stuck batteries or bolts or stuff down the muzzles of their rubber bullet guns to make more of an impression.

 

[Bedinsis]

In Somali mythology, there is an equivalent to the werewolf, called "Qori-ismaris", who transforms into a Hyena-man by rubbing himself with a stick.

Just as a small side thing, here's what just one of those playlists looks like. (Sorry for the crappy quality)

It's okay. We cannot all have good music taste.

(I am obviously kidding; I just saw a zinger I couldn't resist.)

 

[Catfood220]

Today is Black Cat Appreciation Day.

So appreciate the black cats in your life or something like this could happen.


You have been warned.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

 

[EvilRoy]

So this video is clearly at least ten thousand years old, and yet in spite of its dopeness, it was never shown in my highschool science class:


This one is a little newer and explains the setup you need to actually achieve the superfluid state in detail. Colour also really helps you actually see the juice. In the OG vid the doctor calls out that its really hard to show the superfluid because it reflects so little light - with the high quality cameras used in the second video you can actually make out the surface of the fluid fairly easily. That said, they don't really get into the full breadth of how bonkers the superfluid acts the way the first one does.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

In Somali mythology, there is an equivalent to the werewolf, called "Qori-ismaris", who transforms into a Hyena-man by rubbing himself with a stick.


It's okay. We cannot all have good music taste.

(I am obviously kidding; I just saw a zinger I couldn't resist.)

 

[Bedinsis]

I don't follow, but if you found my zinger upsetting I am sorry and willing to remove it; it was merely meant as a commentary on two possible interpretations for humorous effect and nothing more.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I don't follow, but if you found my zinger upsetting I am sorry and willing to remove it; it was merely meant as a commentary on two possible interpretations for humorous effect and nothing more.

No no, I was trying to be all "OOF! You wound me like a spear through the head!" in a jokey way.