Random Questions Thread

Suggestions about how could i make a name out of the elements "wine" and "wunn" (they can be found from behindthename dot com) in a way that would pass for german and doesn't sound weird (they are so similiar i don't know what to do with them, but the meaning is important)?

Edited by Nukeli on May 21st 2019 at 4:07:39 PM

@GAP: Ultimately, a critic or reviewer represents the audience, not the work. What I mean by this is that a creator generally has a vision for their work that they try to remain true to, and hope that their audience will understand. Reviewers should make a good faith effort to try to understand the creators vision, if possible, and do their best to translate that into words to be read by the reviewer's own audience. But ultimately, the reviewer or critic's most important responsibility is to experience the work as a member of the artist's audience, and share their impressions with other people who have not had a chance to experience the work themselves. Therefore, while having been a creator themselves can help inform a review or critique, it isn't essential. What they do need to have is experience viewing or reading a large number of similar works, so that they can compare and contrast the new work in a way that will be useful to the potential audience. A good reviewer is an experienced and informed consumer of creative works, not necessarily a creator themselves.

Creators generally don't like this, because it means that their work is being interpreted by someone who takes the perspective of the audience, not the creator. But that's the nature of the market- once a work is released to the general public, the audience will relate to that work in whatever way makes the most sense to them, regardless of whether that corresponds to the creator's original vision or not.

When would a Story Reset make more sense over a Soft Reboot within my writing? What would be the pros and cons of each?

So far, I've had the characters travelling - eight characters, three different cities.

Not sure which makes more sense for something that's Lighter and Softer in tone, and is a short-ish story that's original work not a Fan Fiction.

It is a Fan Fiction of Series.The Flash 2014.

Edited by Merseyuser1 on May 25th 2019 at 2:04:20 PM

From my understanding, a Story Reset is done when the writer proceeds as though specific aspects of or the entirety of one or more installments (but not all; that would be a Continuity Reboot) had gone differently or not happened at all, while a Soft Reboot is done when the writer wishes to refresh the whole work because it's getting stale or to attract new readers while still acknowledging the original continuity.

I can't tell exactly what your intentions are, where you plan on going after this new work, or its relationship to the rest of the continuity, but if I had to pick one, it seems like this work is going to be a Soft Reboot, more because I'm not sensing that you want to drop anything in particular from the continuity, it just sort of... seems like you want to take a break from something that seems to be getting a bit convoluted.

Edited by CrystalGlacia on May 24th 2019 at 3:19:05 PM

Actually, I would just write what you want to write, and worry about what to call it later.

What are symbols of femininity in Jewish culture?

The Story Reset / Soft Reboot question actually relates to Fan Fic - I'm writing a Lower-Deck Episode focusing on some original characters, that's set within the continuity and world of Series.The Flash 2014 within Series.Arrowverse, yet it's still an Alternate Continuity to it in some ways.

The characters are developed, the plotline is OK, but I wasn't sure if a Story Reset is good for fixing pacing problems, or a Soft Reboot was - that was my main issue.

Edited by Merseyuser1 on May 25th 2019 at 2:02:59 PM

@Nukeli: Well, you might need to think about IN-UNIVERSE reasons for why a character is named the way they are.

Theoretically, the parents could intentionally call their kid "Winewunn" or "Wunnewine" because they want their kid to be a good friend to others, and maybe one is properly Germanic while the other is Anglo-Saxon, but not many people actually ponder the meanings of names anymore as opposed to "choosing an existing name that sounds nice," so this is getting into "what setting is your character in?" territory.

Edited by Sharysa on May 25th 2019 at 2:00:34 AM

my setting's kinda complicated, but there are some universal rules, one of which is Meaningful Name, and many of the setting's other names are made-up because the setting is a fantasy world, and made-up names make it sound less real.

Also, does anybody know what " ~ " in the end of the sentence neans in manga?

Edited by Nukeli on May 28th 2019 at 5:01:01 PM

If you don't need literally German names, William George Searle's Onomasticon Anglo-saxonicum: A List of Anglo-Saxon Proper Names from the Time of Beda to that of King John might be useful. Old English/Anglo-Saxon being itself a West Germanic language, the compiled names and naming practices should be close enough.

Can Wolfgang be used as a last name?

And base on name alone, what kind of person do you think Gunther Wolfgang is?

A quick Google search shows that it has been used as a surname, but very rarely, and probably not by ethnic Germans/Austrians. All of the data I was able to find about its use as a surname has come from the US, suggesting that descendants of German immigrants divorced from actual German culture may have repurposed the name.

That being said, when I read the name "Gunther Wolfgang", it reads like a given name and a middle name. The names taken separately both sound 'badass' and call to mind an over-the-top German action hero, or perhaps a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure character.

When you say "over-the-top", did you mean the action hero part or the German part?

And does anyone have a good surname replacement for Wolfgang?

Edited by Andermann on May 30th 2019 at 12:08:05 AM

BehindTheName has an extensive collection of names as well as surnames from various cultures, with meaning and history.

Also, I have to agree with Crystal Glacia, Gunther Wolfgang does sound over-the-top, even somewhat cheesy. It's a "Testosterone Poisoning" kind of name.

Edited by Millership on May 29th 2019 at 10:11:25 PM

It sounds like a Die Hard villain.

I got a weird question. What are some problems that a person who is basically an amalgamation of the souls and consciousness of the thousands dead stuck inside one humanoid armor might have?

How many personalities would such a compound being have? Does it act more like a committee or is some soul dominant?

You mean besides complete, gibbering insanity? Also, you sort of have to define terms here. "Soul" in fiction is a very slippery word. Does it just mean some intangible essence uniquely associated with that person? Does it include elements of memory or personality? Does it confer some kind of power or ability?

For a really well thought-out take on what happens when you have thousands of memory-lives inhabiting one mind at the same time, see the Dune series, particularly Children of Dune. Speaking very broadly, there needs to be a dominant personality in such an arrangement, lest every identity be constantly struggling for control and turning the character into Mister (or Mrs) Dissociative Identity Disorder.

For a character who starts out with a single identity and has years to build it up before getting a thousand others crammed into their skull, it's easier because the sense of selfdom is well-established, and all they have to do is maintain order. For a character who has all the identities from the start, it's much, much harder. Who is "I" in such an arrangement? The solutions proposed by Dune include:

• Hypnotic suppression to silence the voices, allowing the individual to build their own identity.
• An alliance or pact between the souls, forged of a shared purpose, that allows them to work together as long as the collective consciousness is fulfilling that goal.
• Lacking either of the above, a particularly strong identity (usually an evil one) will assume control and will run the show as they see fit.

In Dune, exposure to the spice essence in the womb (because the mother consumes it while pregnant) can result in a premature awaking of genetic memory, causing the individual so affected to become "pre-born", or conscious prior to delivery. Such people are called "abominations" by the Bene Gesserit and killed immediately, since they always turn into monstrous echoes of some past identity. Only two characters in the series escape this fate, using the first two methods above, respectively. One succumbs to the third and eventually commits suicide.

Edited by Fighteer on May 29th 2019 at 2:48:59 PM

A lot depends on whether and what type of needs this entity has. Does it need to make a living? Defend it's existence? Or can it just hang out in some forgotten castle somewhere haunting the place? As Fighteer implies, the souls are going to come into conflict, it's just a matter of what type of conflict and how it gets resolved.

I'm working on a scene where my reporter protagonist interviews a superhero who has just defeated a villain. From what I've gathered, news interviews in real life involve a lot of preparation beforehand, but what does one do when the event just happened and there isn't time for that?

I honestly dont think they do that. I've seen journalists reporting on what they see in front of them, basically narrating what the camera man is recording, but I cant recall anyone conducting an interview spontaneously.

I would guess that the journalist would take at least a few minutes to casually develop a rapport with the subject, get some basic background information, and of course permission to interview them, all before turning the camera on.

Edited by DeMarquis on May 29th 2019 at 5:36:47 AM

Usually a reporter doesn't just stick a camera and microphone in someone's face and demand answers, but an exception might be made for a superhero in a really rushed situation.

Edited by Fighteer on May 29th 2019 at 5:55:16 AM

& She'll definitely introduce herself and ask for permission first, but what I meant was that there's not enough time to prepare the questions beforehand.

How do children and toddlers act mostly, I know they cry a lot, love attention and mostly speaks in gibberish like they have a mouthful of candies.

But what else do I need to know to write a convincing average kid?

https://springhole.net/writing/writingchildrenright.htm

Does "Siegfried Blitzen" sound cool or over-the-top?

Edited by Nukeli on May 30th 2019 at 11:02:22 AM