Hello, fellow writers! Got any question that you can't find answer from Google or Wikipedia, but you don't think it needs a separate thread for? You came to the right place!
Don't be shy, and just ask away. The nice folks here, writers and non-writers, experts and non-experts, will do their best to help you.
The folder below contains links for special interest threads, mostly at OTC, but also from Yack Fest and Troper Coven.
- Aircrafts and Aviation
- Computer
- Economics
- General Religion, Mythology, and Theology
- General Science Thread
- Chemistry
- Earth Science, including Meteorology
- Medicine
- Physics
- Space
- Just don't talk about space warfare over there; use Sci-fi Warfare thread below instead.
- Chemistry
- History
- Martial arts
- Military
- Police and Law Enforcements
- Politics
- The opening post of the linked thread includes links to political threads on specific countries as well.
- Philosophy
- Psychology
- Sci-fi Warfare
Also take a look at Useful Notes on various topics. They can be pretty useful.
Now, bring on the questions, baby!
edited 11th Apr '18 6:31:51 PM by dRoy
I'm sorry for butting in, but I have a question. I need it for a superhero novel with serious undertones I'm planning.
There is a scenario, where a foreigner from Europe is invited to Japan by his acquaintance to work for a specific job. His experience and talents makes him an invaluable asset. The thing is, that foreigner is missing an arm (up to elbow) and an eye. He lost an eye during a fictional war between and an arm during a terrorist attack.
How would Japanese people react to him? If you need more information about the situation, I'll give it as soon as possible.
I apologize if I'm posting this question on a wrong thread.
![]()
I'm from Finland (in Scandinavia, between Sweden and Russia), and if something is not rated appropriate for all ages (S) you're technically not allowed to sell them to people who're younger than that (K-7, K-12, K-16, K-18.).
It's not really enforced unless the rating is K-16 (16yo and up) or K-18 (18 or up), and if it is, it's outright illegal. People might still show K-16 movies to kids, but it's illegal, so...
Edited by Nukeli on Oct 31st 2019 at 6:29:12 PM
~*bleh*~![]()
An interesting case. As far as I know in normal circumstances Japanese people will be a little cautious around persons like your character because of his 'otherness', let's say, but generally they don't give it too much attention. Of course, it's totally different case if your character doesn't work good.
And my question, adressed to French people here — can you tell me, which stereotypes and superstitions about Great Britain and English people in general exists in your country?
Setting question:
In the alternate historical setting of the Amida, most Amarelo prendiza (Read: Asian slave) are determined lifetime tasks based on their ethnic origin and their arbitrary traits by Iberian masters in the American colonies. The main purpose of the division of labor is to prevent solidarity and thus preventing future slave rebellions from occuring.
For example:
- Tamils are assigned to hard labor like mining and sugarcane harvesting.
- Japanese, Koreans and Chinese are assigned to domestic servants or 'comfort furniture.'
- Malays are assigned to skilled labor such as rice planting and low-risk mining.
In your opinion, what do you think about the categorization system of slave labor based on Asian ethnicity in an alternate history setting?
If the purpose is to prevent solidarity, then this division is very counterproductive. If anything, it will increase the chances of a rebellion occurring. You have:
- People locked up together;
- Speaking the same language;
- Of the same nationality/ethnicity;
- Some of them could even be neighbors in the old country;
- Doing the same kind of work.
Edited by Millership on Nov 1st 2019 at 5:41:34 PM
Spiral out, keep going.If you want to minimize the chances of a rebellion, you do what the southern slave states did before the US Civil War, break groups and families up and distribute people randomly.
@Nukeli: So your worried that an adult rating will make it illegal to sell your work to part of your target audience? You may need some semi professional legal advice to ensure that you remain compliant with Finnish law, or else revise the problematic sections of your work to ensure that there are no problems.
Edited by DeMarquis on Nov 1st 2019 at 10:55:42 AM
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.I assume your question concerns the current era?
Here are some sterotypes the French have about the Englishnote . Disclaimer: I chose the most common stereotypes that came to my mind, and I don't share them (apart from the last one
).
- As a whole, the English are smug bastards (they burned Joan of Arc!) who will not miss an opportunity to play a dirty trick on the French. However, they will be there to help when really needed (if only because it will allow them to feel superior afterward).
- Two interesting points of language: Great Britain is occasionally referred to in French as "la perfide Albion" ("treacherous Albion"), and "un coup de Trafalgar" ("a Trafalgar trick") is used to mean "a dirty trick".
- The English are cold and distant, apart from the football supporters who are bunch of drunk, bloodthirsty hooligans
- They keep looking down on France whenever there is a sport competition between the countries, even if they lost on the previous confrontation.
- Their cuisine is horrible (then again, every cuisine is horrible compared to the French one)
- They are not very interested in sex. Most men are gay and women are usually frigid and unattractive
- They are unable to get a tan and burn in the sun. You can recognise them on the seaside by their red colour, which goes well with their nickname of "Rosbifs" (the French equivalent of the "Froggies" nickname, and which alludes to the Roast beef)
- More recently, they are unable to decide whether they want to be in the EU or not.
Keep in mind however that stereotypes are evolving, especially now that it is becoming easier to share information and that British series are getting more coverage. There is now a growing proportion of French people who have a far less cartoonish view of the Brits.
Whatever your favourite work is, there is a Vocal Minority that considers it the Worst. Whatever. Ever!.As a Southeast Asian myself, your slave SUB-castes are really fucking uncomfortable for me because you have the dark-skinned Asians as analogs to "field slaves" and the light-skinned Asians as "house slaves."
Aside from the key difference that East Asians are actually notorious for enslaving OTHER Asians in real life, this is going down a MINEFIELD of racist practices. Check out Dubai and its Open Secret of using South/Southeast Asians (especially Indians and Filipinos) as "foreign laborers."
You seem to be treating this concept as an intellectual exercise, and it's got a BIG potential to blow up in your face if you manage to get enough Asian-Americans AND African-Americans to read it.
Edited by Sharysa on Nov 2nd 2019 at 12:14:17 PM
@Sharysa
That's why when I was writing the alternate history setting, I have to be careful on writing because of Unfortunate Implications. I was getting nervous of publishing this setting on TV Tropes and Alternate History forums.
In fact, there are parallels in real history and reality. Remember that George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four used parallels with Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia with deeply oppressive setting of Oceania as well Margaret Atwell's The Handmaid's Tale parallels with societies oppressive to women with the theocrate setting of Gilead.
The Spanish in the colonial period of the Americas used the casta system, where it is divided into three major racial categories which are Spaniards (Espaniols), Native Americans (Indios) and West Africans (Negroes). Each category in the casta system was based on your 'racial' lineage of your parents. For example, an offspring of a Spaniard and a Native American produced a mestizo while an offspring of a Spaniard and a West African produced a morisco.
The concept of racial categories and colourism extended to the Philippines, where it influences societal expectations. This traces back to colonial times when the Spanish ruled the Philippines as a colony.
Due to it, there's a disturbing tendency in Filipino society to associate dark-skin with poverty and ugliness, while fair skin with beauty and wealth. If you're a regular viewer of television and newscasts from the Philippines you'll see advertisements for skin whitening beauty products regularly and manifestations of skin color biases in the media.
Examples include:
- Nita Negrita, a 2011 television series by GMA Network. It is about a young girl named Nita, an Afro-Filipino girl. The show received criticism for the usage of blackface by the main actress to play the titular character as well ascribing poverty based on skin color.
- Bianca Gonzalez, a morena television personality and model who advocates for morena beauty and vocal about it. Last 2016, her 6 month old baby was called 'ugly' and 'negra' by social media because of her and her baby's skin color.
- MMK, a Phillipine dramatic anthology series based on real life stories, aired the episode of Norman King, an Aeta graduate from the prestigious University of the Phillipines. It had received outrage on social media because of the issues of misrepresentation. Norman King in the episode was portrayed by a lighter-skinned actor and used an application of blackface to portray his physical appearance. This is a symptom of the lack of dark-skinned actors in the movie and TV industries of the Phillipines.
Another thing is the Portuguese engaged in the brief slave trade of Asians. Many Japanese women were used as concubines for crewmembers on ships. The Portuguese "highly regarded" Asian slaves much better than West African slaves. It was nearly intensive enough that Toyotomi Hideyoshi felt disgusted thus banning the importation of Japanese slaves, and King Sebastian banned enslavement of Asians because of the harm would bring to relations with Asian kingdoms.
This have been your daily wall of text. Please talk to me on PM if you want more clarification.
Edited by AdeptGaderius on Nov 2nd 2019 at 1:49:58 AM
I've been thinking about adding a bit to my story, and that is where Alex, the super strong girl in the story will often get sent flying due to her EXTREMELY light weight class for someone of her strength(and she is a whooping 500 pound DENSE mofo) when clashing with other enemy with super strength or simply when reaction force of her attacks come into play.
Is there anyway to negate this, or should I just abandon this idea entirely and let Acceptable Breaks from Reality take the wheel?
Edited by Andermann on Nov 2nd 2019 at 6:16:07 PM
I'm afraid to write, but I like to imagine.Does it work in the story? And are there perhaps interesting ways for it to be turned around, maybe even for the protagonist to intentionally taken advantage of it?
My Games and Asset PacksThe way they usually get around that is Alex will dig her feet(sometimes legs) into the ground to provide more support for herself, or their mage will use the spell “Chain of restraint”(a debuff spell that keep target object or creature from moving from the spot) to keep her firmly in place while she do her things.
But both of these thing require a lot of preparation, so they are not effective in live combat.
As for advantage, she can easily propel herself for a long distance.
Edited by Andermann on Nov 3rd 2019 at 1:06:02 AM
I'm afraid to write, but I like to imagine.![]()
Those sound like interesting points, and potential sources of drama or clever fighting—especially given that two of them only work if prepared ahead of time.
Of course, my question still stands of whether this works for your story. If it does, then great, and the above points seem like arguments for keeping it in! If it doesn't, then even with those points, it might be worth considering revision.
My Games and Asset PacksUm, do you think I don't know the Asian obsession with skin-bleaching? I'M FILIPINO. American, sure, but my mom's family is in the Philippines. I have seen all the movie posters and glamour shots of skin-bleached Filipino celebrities (frequently mestiza but not always), and I (don't) watch the commercials promising you a better life just by getting a few shades lighter. Correspondingly, I notice the LACK of brown Filipinos in acting unless they're the maids, the nameless farmers and poor people who prop up the scenes in the provinces, or the pretty mestiza girl's "ugly" best friend.
My ass is tan/olive-skinned and my family calls me "dark." To say nothing of the indigenous tribes who are ACTUALLY dark-skinned, because they are frequently mistreated and forgotten about by the mainstream culture.
The reason I think you're treating this as an intellectual exercise is for two reasons:
A) You often post your questions about this concept here in the random questions thread—implying that you don't think it needs much discussion?—but it frequently leads to long conversations, because folks have to explain the social implications you seem to be missing. I mean, people warned you that the very concept is going to piss off African-Americans AND Asian-Americans.
B) Ironically, your walls of texts and history facts are sound enough, but you simultaneously have STRANGE details in your concepts—I remember once that your story involves "thousands" of Asian-American slaves uniting in a rebellion, and folks (me included) had to tell you that the Asian half of Eurasia has had MILLIONS of people since medieval times, plus homeland "Asians" are just as prone to fighting amongst national lines as "Europeans," so Asian-Americans have absolutely inherited cultural feuds/stereotypes.
Like, you know a lot of stuff, but it doesn't seem to be gelling together properly. Feel free to PM me, but one Filipino-American isn't gonna be nearly enough for a real discussion—I feel like you need to start a dedicated thread on worldbuilding for this.
Edited by Sharysa on Nov 5th 2019 at 11:10:58 AM
I will second that suggestion. I should mention that I have seen a sample of this story (the first chapter, I believe) and while the writing style needs improving, I didn't see anything in the depiction of the characters that seems disrespectful or triggering. However, it probably needs someone from the South Asian community to beta read it to be sure.
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.How do i do Supporting Protagonist / First-Person Peripheral Narrator in a way that the protagonist is clearly the protagonist, and the narrator isn't?
~*bleh*~I would imagine that, as long as the primary arc belongs to the protagonist, it's likely to be fairly clear that they are in fact the protagonist. It also occurs to me that the narrator is likely to spend more time talking about the protagonist (or things related to the protagonist) than about anything else, which should also serve as an indicator.
My Games and Asset PacksHow do I deal with having like 8 protagonists doing different things at different places and then have them meet up at some point?
Would that be too much of a contrived coincidence? Especially when most of them are connected or used to be connected in some way.
Edited by Andermann on Nov 6th 2019 at 7:07:32 PM
I'm afraid to write, but I like to imagine.If they have a pre-existing connection, then it seems to me likely to feel less contrived that they all meet up.
Ultimately, I think that how contrived it feels (if at all) depends heavily on how they come to meet up. If they all just go in arbitrary directions and just happen to keep bumping into each other (and this isn't played for comedy), then it might feel contrived. If they each have their reasons for going to the place at which they meet, or if they communicate and decide to meet, then it might not feel contrived at all, I think.
My Games and Asset PacksFor a character with a host of Split Personalities, it would make sense for them to have Multi-Gendered Split Personalities if the emergence of a not-same-sex Split Personality is tied to an event or time when the character's gender identity was either not firmly defined or was thrown into confusion (e.g. suffering psychological trauma during early childhood at a time when the character was going through a "Why is that only boys/girls can do X? I wish I was a boy/girl so that I can do X too!" period), right?
Edited by MarqFJA on Nov 6th 2019 at 8:20:08 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.I've got a minor question about characterization. My Main characters in my upcoming work are a Power Trio and I'm finding difficulty on deciding a way to balance the third character.
The protagonist is the leader, decent at magic and swordpplay but is primarily a thief. The deuteragonist is a beastman and is the big guy. The only characteristic I have for character 3 is that they are a woman, any suggestions?
This sounds pretty obvious, but I'm guessing you can start with finding an occupation for her, like you did with the other two?
Although I'll be honest—your men don't have much personalities either, since you only gave a trope and occupation.
Why is your leader a thief? My first instinct is that The Leader being a criminal means Conflicting Loyalty, because thieves usually need to be sneaky and solitary. If he was a Justified Criminal and only stole to survive, he may still have been sent to prison or spent a while dealing with BIGGER and more ruthless criminals, so his occupation would likely give him a lot of shame/guilt and now he wants to make up for it with heroic deeds.
If he DOESN'T feel bad that he's a thief, maybe he used to be a Harmless Villain who grew up in poverty, but kept his crimes low-risk and with as little bloodshed as possible, and now he relishes having a job where he gets paid RELIABLY?
There's a lot of ways you can spin this character.
As for the beastman, I guess it makes sense that the bigger and hybridized being would be the party's tank, but there's no personality I can extrapolate from that at all. Does he like being The Big Guy, so he both fights hard and parties hard? Is he a Gentle Giant who mostly fights in self-defense? Is he a full-on Blood Knight from a race/tribe of warriors?
Your characters' "personalities" can have as much or as little to do with their "jobs" as you see fit. I mean, my job is a retail-worker, but I use it to pay the bills and I hate the fact that I NEED it to survive, because I'm actually trying for a career as a writer/performer.
Edited by Sharysa on Nov 8th 2019 at 11:26:41 AM

If you dont mind my asking, what country are you from? Ratings laws are tricky beasts.
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.