Random Questions Thread

I've got a question I originally asked somewhere else, but I'm asking again here:

In writing an Alternate Universe story, how do you deal with transplanting pre-existing characters into a time/place where their original names cannot be used without breaking Willing Suspension of Disbelief?^note When I say "transplant", I don't mean it in the sense of "the character was transported into another world", but rather "the character was born as a native to this other world".

Below are some hypothetical examples to illustrate the kinds of scenarios that would have this problem. Please note that none of them allow for Rule of Funny-dependent solutions such as keeping the names as they are, or "nativizing" said names without actually translating them.

• A manga/anime character with a Japanese name, transplanted into either a historical version of Ancient Greece or a mythological one.
• A crossover with James Cameron's Avatar, were human characters from other works are reimagined as native Na'vi (as opposed to humans using technology to remote-control artificial Na'vi bodies, like the movie's protagonist does).
• Modern-day characters are reimagined as natives of a Stone Age-style setting, whether it's actual Paleolithic Earth, a distant post-apocalyptic era where human civilization has long been wiped out and the descendants of modern humans have reverted to a Paleolithic state, or an alternate world taking place on a maybe-Earth-maybe-not that is in the local equivalent of our world's Paleolithic era.
• Human characters reimagined as members of a made-up nonhuman race (which may or may not be some degree of humanoid) on an alien world, living lives devoid of anything resembling civilization, and the plot will have them eventually come into contact with spacefaring humans, with the time frame being a future close enough to the modern era that I could have humanity still using the same languages of modern times.

I'd say don't go for a visual show like animation does; I've tried, and it doesn't translate all that well into written form Maybe describe what the character feels, or what other characters can see on the outside; stuff like a flash of light, whiz of wind, that kind of stuff. And don't make it too long, because then it's just padding. Save the description of magical girl's/boy's outfit for after the transformation.

I have seen "xe/xir" and "zhe/zhir" used to denote a non-binary person.

freaking hate those. i use singular they most of the time.

I don't find them very handsome either, but Victin had a problem with having two non-binary characters in one scene, and using zhe/xe when talking about one of them and they when talking about both would help avoid the confusion.

If I were to use made-up pronouns I would use Futurama's first

How do freeware apps and games make money, aside from microtransactions and ads?

You can also solicit donations in various ways, and leverage the app to sell tie in merchandise. You can also sell bonus content, which is separate from a microtransaction.

You can also use them as an infection vector for spyware, or as a phishing tool.

edited 21st Aug '16 10:56:37 PM by war877

1. What is another way of saying casting call in Latin? I am referring to how they introduce the characters on the script?

2. What do they call the sequence where you show gameplay in addition to introducing characters after the title screen?

edited 21st Aug '16 11:32:06 PM by GAP

2, rolling demo perhaps? Attract Mode.

Within a large building, such as an office building, is it possible to selectively shut off power and water to certain rooms or sections of the building?

Depends on how the system is wired up.

Generally speaking yes.

Water, maybe, maybe not; electricity, yes, if you can find the fusebox.

And know which switch controls the power supply to which area(s) of the building/floor. And yes, if the building's internal layout is sufficiently complex, you can have separate fuseboxes for each floor, and a master fusebox that controls power to each floor as a whole (but not to specific areas within said floor).

And it need not necessarily be by floor idea; especially if the building is particularly old and built in phases.

I have a character who is a magical Walking Techbane whose powers tend to make nearby electronics unreliable and vice versa. With that in mind, what car would he likely opt for? For context, the story takes place in the present day in the British countryside and is trying to keep a low profile/be indistinguishable from the general populace.

At the moment, I'm thinking of an old Land Rover Defender; especially since the character isn't meant to be particularly well of.

Sooo.. is it weird for me to write story that's about 30 pages for a outline?

If you're asking if it's weird to have a story outline that is 30 pages in length, who cares? Some people like to keep really comprehensive outlines, some keep no outlines. If making a 30-page outline for a story is what you need to get that story off the ground, there's no problem.

Not weird at all. In fact it's a one of two very common writing approaches. Some people like planning to great degrees, to the point that their actual writing is more or less filling in the blanks between points in their outline and fleshing it out. Others prefer not planning anything and just going wherever feels right. Almost everyone picks some mixture of the two, so just do what feels comfortable.

I personally planned out everything beforehand, but changed or elaborated on details as I actually got down to writing, realizing that some things didn't work in the moment, or that smaller details that I first deemed inconsequential actually ended up giving my story greater emotional depth once I focused a bit more on it. Things like that are some of the benefits of planning, but others would also argue that it's too constraining. If planning is how you want to go, however, there definitely isn't anything weird about it.

I have two plot lines in a pilot teleplay, each with unique characters, set in two different regions. THEY WILL NEVER CROSS OR MEET. Is it acceptable to have the two plots occur at different seasons of the year? Each plot has a linear chronology, but I can't find a way to intersperse them coherently, so it would be best if they just each have their own timeline. Acceptable????

If those characters never meet and you can put their storylines months away from each other, why are you keeping both together?

Ok, so apparently I've got a hero with quite a good few negative traits that can make her unlikeable at the start of the story (as the critique pointed out).

She'll encounter Character Development throughout her story and become less reckless/short-tempered/rebellious as she interacts with her partners, sometimes with arguments and stuff.

Now, what I'd need to know... how long can I show her having these negative traits without her becoming The Scrappy, before she starts getting some corrective Character Development?

(Bear in mind that the information in her bio is more like her history/flashbacks, the main story starts out in the zombie-infested city)

It isn't so much about a specific number of hours/pages, it is about showing that the protagonist is making progress. At first the potential for progress should be enough, and her failed attempts to use darts with her blood to cure zombies are a very good start, but later you may have to show her questioning herself once in a while in order to keep said impression alive, and making her slowly change in the small things, like becoming less brash and aggressive with time, can be enough to pull her into the sympathetic zone for a big part of your potential audience.

Foreshadow her development before it occurs, and you can delay it until nearly the end of the novel.

What do you understand if a character is described as having eyes like 'Muddy pools'?