General Writer's Block thread

In the interest of not cluttering the Random Questions Thread with a protracted discussion, I'm transplanting a question of mine from there, along with whatever responses it recieved so far.

Marq FJA: On a different note, what could possibly drive the evolutionary direction of an isolated human population to the point where females become the physically dominant sex with large and strong amazonian bodies, and males become the "fair sex" with physically weak and small bodies? (That qualifies as Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism from the POV of modern humans, right?)

Septimus Heap: Based on evolutionary theory: The point where males expend more energy and resources on the upkeep of the offspring. Generally, I would expect that to happen in a Mr. Seahorse scenario.

Marq FJA: But then a Mister Seahorse situation doesn't seem to have a possibility of naturally developing in the course of evolution from hominid stock, does it?

storyyeller: There's a lot of species where the females are bigger and stronger. It's not that implausible.

Marq FJA: I know. I'm just trying to think of ways where an ancient human population could naturally develop this way while still starting off from the same state as normal humans — males are bigger and stronger, females are smaller and weaker. And for the record, most cases that I know of animal species where females are the physically dominant sex also has them as the ones who do most if not all caring and nurturing of the offspring.

How about the following scenario: A natural form of limited gendercide — perhaps a combination of one disastrous war with a rival population and an outbreak of a lethal endemic that almost exclusively targets males — having afflicted the population at some point in that greatly diminishes the population's male membership, forcing the females to take up the slack. Over time, and due to the persistence of the aforementioned pathogen, the female majority more or less force the male minority to retire from all dangerously risky tasks like waging war or hunting dangerous animals, lest the population is driven to extinction. Does that seem like a plausible start for the evolution of this natural Amazon race?

PS: When I say "weak", I do not in fact preclude the possibility of having an aptitude for nimble speed and the like.

Demarquis: I would assume that it isnt completely impossible, since female dominance had to evolve at some point, probably from a male dominant species (since those are more common). The question is what set of circumstances might lead to this. To my knowledge, there is no commonly accepted theory in evolutionary biology that explains what those circumstances are. Presumably it would have something to do with overt competition between females of the same species (ie, for some reason females are forced to fight each other for scarce resources, but males aren't so much).

In a Mr. Seahorse scenario, newborns are handed over to the males, presumably so that the females can recover from childbirth more quickly (and return to confrontational activities). The only scenario I can think of where this makes sense is of food is so scarce that female relatives hoard it for themselves (sharing only with sisters and daughters) while the males have adapted to low caloric intake by becoming smaller and less aggressive. Non-related females would engage in aggressive activities, like raiding each other, to maximize their hoard of resources, thus they are selected for size and aggression.

Hope that helps.

Marq FJA: Yeah, that last scenario does help, especially if combined with my above scenario.

... Said above scenario does work, right?

Demarquis: Sounds ok, although you dont have to target the males, specifically. Starvation conditions will do that for you.

Marq FJA: Ah, I get it. It's because females — due to pregnancy and nursing of newborn offsprings — would be overall much more affected by such conditions than males, and thus would have to be prioritized over males when it comes to food rationing to avoid the population's extinction.

The only problem is that my current conception of this Amazon race has them retain the traditional female role of motherly caring for offspring — which, of course, left me puzzled as to what role would males play in this Amazonian society, aside from mobile sperm banks.

Like I said before, "most cases that I know of animal species where females are the physically dominant sex also has them as the ones who do most if not all caring and nurturing of the offspring."

... Now, I'm wondering if I should just create a dedicated thread for developing this race of Amazons.

If you've got a big ass question that requires a big ass answer it's usually nice to have it's own post.

In addition to keeping things cleaner here and such it also makes sure you get only answers to your question.

Honestly, I'd just screw with the birth rate. Normal human dimorphism doesn't carry much weight when you're outnumbered (say) four to one. A Brothers Price used this in the backstory: males are miscarried at an atrociously high rate, the medical science of the setting isn't advanced enough to figure out why, and it's never addressed out-of-universe. I had an idea to supplement that: male hormones in utero above a certain level trigger miscarriage. Thus, relatively few males come to term, and those that do are "feminized-" which is exactly the wrong word here, but you know what I mean. Secondary sex characteristics are relatively underdeveloped, lowering sex dimorphism as a whole across the population. So the males are few in number and have no appreciable gap in physical capabilities between them and the females, thus females rule by dint of superior numbers.

Sounds to me like your setting the human race up to become like certain species of fish, where the males really are just mobile sperm banks (at least as far as the females are concerned). If they dont contribute significantly to childcare or defense, then I dont see any reason the females would keep them around or have anything to do with them outside of mating. No reason for the males to even retain their intelligence. Maybe they become pets?

edited 1st Feb '14 7:42:27 AM by demarquis

I hope they don't turn into anglers. Having your body melt into an accessory organ is kinda gross.

No, nothing like anglers is in the intended plan. Otherwise I might as well make that an intermediary stage in the race's evolution that somehow leads to human hermaphroditism.

Can you elaborate on the "pets" suggestion? Because the only thing that makes me think of is "sexual pets".

edited 1st Feb '14 9:59:27 AM by MarqFJA

If males are overall less intelligent and less able to take care of themselves, then the females might have to keep them around and take care of them. They wouldnt be thought as actual people of course, just these cute little things that you mate with when the time comes, and who help out around the compound.

Umm. Can I say please don't go that route? Especially with an excuse like "they don't fight or raise children so they're basically useless"?

You don't have to say please. You can just say "don't do this you hacks or I'll kick your asses" because frankly that would be justified.

...I don't really default to threats. Especially empty ones. :P

Also, I don't want to present it as a challenge by accident.

Yeah, no going the "useless non-people whose only worth is being mobile sperm-banks and menial assistants" route.

So they're neither sub-human nor Mr. Seahorse? Then they probably form their own society somewhere, away from the female compounds. Most animals who do that, though (cats, for example), the males are larger than the females. Usually cooperation is what allows an animal to lose some size, the need to compete autonomously is what forces them to get bigger (that's just my own speculation, though). If I'm right about that, then for the females of a species to become larger than the males, yet still provide the bulk of the childcare, implies that they are raising their children on their own (like many whales do). That's why I had them separated into rival matrilinial groups (mothers and daughters). If the men are not divided into rival groups, but just out there in big enough mobs to scare off any predators, yet not big enough to over-run the female compounds, then they just might evolve to become smaller, yet equal in intelligence.

This is an interesting intellectual exercise.

edited 3rd Feb '14 9:15:10 AM by demarquis

I just remembered something my brother and I talked about years ago: have the humans lay eggs. This way, gestation is much shorter and sex dimorphism is greatly reduced. Depending on the behavior of the males, this can slot the females into the role of primary protector and provider, especially if lactation isn't a thing/ doesn't have the shelf life it does IRL, meaning that getting food very early on is a thing. Females would have a larger physique and more sedentary lifestyle, to provide for her and her child. (I'd dial down the pair-bonding as well. If males are smaller and more nomadic by nature, then they won't put down roots or be very aggressive- not having to defend offspring, they'd generally opt for flight as opposed to fighting.)

Of course, this is just assuming the species in it's primal state. As society started to develop, I'm sure you can fudge the conventions however you need once the biology's pinned down.

The problem with egg-laying is that the fetus can no longer obtain nourishment from the mother's body, everything is in the yolk, and when that is depleted, it's time to break out. To support the tremendous amount of physical development that human beings experience before birth, the egg might have to be so large as to be impractical. Unless you can think of a way to concentrate more energy in a yolk.

This article might interest you.

May I please get harsh, unfiltered feedback on my morbid comedy fanfiction? I heard that this was the thread to go to. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10056054/1/A-Scooby-Doo-PSA-Texting-While-Driving

It's not bad. I like how you more or less kept them in character. I would expand it a little. Maybe some reaction just before Fred hits the guy in the road, and again when he runs over him seven more times. Scooby's voice is perfect.

I've edited my post in the "Writer/Critic Dating Service" thread in order to (hopefully) make the summary a little more interesting. Since edits don't seem to be easily apparent without reading through the thread, I'm mentioning it here.

While I'm making a post on the subject, however, is there anything else that I should change or add in my posting? This is my first time using the "Writer/Critic Dating Service", and I'll confess to being a little nervous about seeking out a critic in that way, so I'm uncertain of whether my post has simply failed to gain interest or whether the thread simply moves that slowly... ^^;

edited 5th Feb '14 8:23:56 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

This isn't the right thread at all...

edited 9th Feb '14 7:50:30 PM by Thnikkafan

So, despite not being much of a fan of Professional Wrestling, I still found myself reading this wiki's page on Dwayne Johnson, when an idea struck me. How cool would it be to have a superhero with The Rock's personality? Or even a superheroine◊ (excuse the quality of the drawing, I'm a bit rusty)

I like this character, but I don't have a name or powerset for her. Or even a good costume. But I think I'm onto something with this personality.

@Ars Thaumaturgis: Looks like it has everything it needs to me. I wouldn't worry, from my own experience (I haven't gotten a response yet either, though that's probably due to length) I think that thread just naturally has a very slow pace and doesn't get looked at too often, though its kind of difficult to judge as critics respond to writers via PM.

Maybe you could offer to critique a short story of roughly equal length? I think we have more creators than critics here, so offering a reciprocal review might entice the otherwise uninterested.

edited 8th Feb '14 6:25:24 AM by LittleBillyHaggardy

Ah, fair enough, and thank you. ^_^

That might be a good idea, actually, thank you. That will likely end up waiting until (hopefully) I'm somewhat less sleep-deprived than I am at the moment, but I think that I might well do that.

I know this is going to sound like I'm forgetful, but which one? Are you talking about the source of my current signature, the Skrillex remix of La Roux's In for the Kill?

P.S. "La Roux" is fun to say.

It is, but I prefer the Skream Remix.

...that could just be because I loved Dredd, though.

Please forgive me, I must've posted something intended for the Troper Updates thread in here. OTL

To make up for this grievous error, I'm going to ask a couple of questions.

Just prior to the middle point of my science fiction story, a cold war ends up going hot because a protection force from one side fires upon the protection force from the other side - though this is because of reasons unrelated to said cold war (not that anyone else knows it). How can I ensure that this incident blossoms into a full on war (both protection forces are orbiting an ostensibly neutral civilisation's planet as part of their attempts to get said neutral civ on side)?

The problem is that I imagine both sides embroiled in said cold war probably have good communications between each other, so the Prime Minister of Side B is probably going to ring up the Premier of Side A and go "What the fuck, why are your guys attacking mine?" or otherwise attempt to figure out if it's an actual attack or not. And there are probably other safety valves in place to prevent war breaking out, much like the real Cold War.

Of course, I could always say that it's a time of heightened tensions (which would go a long way - NATO's Able Archer came very close to triggering a nuclear war), but mightn't that be a little lazy?

Hell, perhaps I should just have said incident result in the aforementioned heightened tensions (which will in turn lead to actual war for reasons to be decided in the second part)? It would allow me to focus more on said war, since it feels slightly silly having this galaxy spanning war affect very little for my protagonists.

My second question is much more simple.

My main protagonist is a normal bloke in his early twenties, all fine and dandy right? Well, my issue is that he feels a little... well... useless next to the other protagonists (one of whom is a 10' tall alien soldier and the other a military cyborg). I love the idea of a non-superhuman protagonist to bits, but I'm worried people will wonder "Why's this jackass the main character, out of all the people you could have chosen?". I know it must be doable, since plenty of novels involving adventures have unexceptional characters as the hero, but I'm coming up blank.

So, how can I make him worthy of main character status?

So, how can I make him worthy of main character status?

If you don't want him to feel useless, give him traits that the other characters don't have that are useful for solving problems. They don't have to be superpowers. It can be anything from creativity, to knowledge of the locals, to knowing when to run away. The possibilities are almost infinite.

It sounds like the supporting characters are both A) military and B) abnormal/not human. So anything involving that would be a logical place to draw traits from.

edited 27th Feb '14 9:44:04 PM by storyyeller