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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.

    Special Interest Threads 

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

Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#18176: Jan 19th 2021 at 2:26:53 PM

I suppose it could do something like that. The intent was to be shocking and a little horrifying to the character in question, the other protagonist present during her discovery, and the readers all at once. Heck, she wakes up the other protagonist from a sound sleep with her screams when she sees what's happening.

The slow but gradual regrowth does make it more realistic but I'm concerned it may dampen the shock value I'm going for.

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Altris from the Vortex Since: Aug, 2019 Relationship Status: Not caught up in your love affair
#18177: Jan 19th 2021 at 3:13:28 PM

I think the whole "regrowing a leg" thing would be shock enough, given that you said this character is "new to the whole werewolf thing". Also, what does "new to the whole werewolf thing" mean? Was she 'turned' recently? Is she discovering that she was born a werewolf?

So, let's hang an anchor from the sun... also my Tumblr
Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#18178: Jan 19th 2021 at 3:24:11 PM

You may be right. I guess my original version was just more "in your face" with its outright goriness along with the way it "synced" with the way werewolves transform. But perhaps the subtle realization of what is occurring is better as she takes it in and the reacts accordingly.

Also, what does "new to the whole werewolf thing" mean? Was she 'turned' recently? Is she discovering that she was born a werewolf?

She was born a werewolf...well born pretty much human but destined to turn into a werewolf. Werewolves in this story can be born or can infect humans with the curse via bite. But this is rare so 99 percent of them are born to werewolf parents. The curse kicks in around one's teens and she had no idea what to expect since many werewolves hide it until the moment of the kid's first full moon. In her particular case her parents died shortly after she gained the power so she has no one to guide her on the pros and cons of what she is.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Jan 19th 2021 at 6:26:12 AM

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Altris from the Vortex Since: Aug, 2019 Relationship Status: Not caught up in your love affair
#18179: Jan 19th 2021 at 3:31:18 PM

What's "the kid's first full moon"? Are the moon cycles so different here that there's not a full moon roughly every month?

So, let's hang an anchor from the sun... also my Tumblr
Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#18180: Jan 19th 2021 at 3:38:31 PM

Ah sorry that was an awkward phrasing tongue. There is a set age where all werewolf kids will transform for the first time and it happens on a full moon. Some packs have a policy if hiding their true nature from their children until after they've inherited the curse and so they force their members to hide it from their children until they themselves turn. Others are more progressive and openly explain to their kids what will happen to them one day on the full moon in their teens and what they will be from that point on. It's like having "the Talk". The protagonist in this example unfortunately came from a very traditional pack.

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Altris from the Vortex Since: Aug, 2019 Relationship Status: Not caught up in your love affair
#18181: Jan 19th 2021 at 3:51:32 PM

There is a set age where all werewolf kids will transform for the first time and it happens on a full moon.

I'm not sure how the kids are guaranteed to transform on a full moon at a set age given that the kids are presumably born throughout the year, and as such have different and presumably sometimes non-full-moon times where they all hit the predetermined age.

So, let's hang an anchor from the sun... also my Tumblr
Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#18182: Jan 19th 2021 at 4:08:26 PM

The way it works is that when they hit the "special" age the next full moon within a month of their birthday is when they will transform. It doesn't happen all at once which is why it is difficult to keep it a secret until the child turns...which is part of why the more progressive packs just decided to let the secret be known from birth.

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Nukeli Since: Aug, 2018
#18183: Jan 19th 2021 at 10:06:58 PM

What kind of injuries could a child aged ambiguously around 10 sustain for too much and too heavy exercise (like running, bicycling, and swimming or other excercise that's hard on the arms) for a prolonged period?

He's also not an athlete (actually he isn't in very good shape in general), but trying to have a jumpstart in time for a sports event. He is also being goaded into pushing on and winning no matter what. What's the worst that could happen?

Edited by Nukeli on Jan 19th 2021 at 8:29:05 PM

~*bleh*~
dRoy Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar from Most likely from my study Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
#18184: Jan 19th 2021 at 10:09:05 PM

Shouldn't be too different from teenaged athletes: sprains and strains.

Continuously reading, studying, and (hopefully) growing.
AdeptGaderius Otaku from the Anime World Since: Nov, 2018 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
Otaku
#18185: Jan 20th 2021 at 2:38:37 AM

I'm creating a set of dark elemental powers. Just as elemental powers are associated with virtues, so does evil versions of elemental powers are associated with sins. For this, I've listed out the outline:

Element Sin
Earth ???
Water Envy
Fire Wrath
Air Lust
Metal ???
Lightning ???
Wood ???
Ice Treachery
Aether Pride

What sins would be associated with elemental powers above?

dRoy Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar from Most likely from my study Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
#18186: Jan 20th 2021 at 2:42:24 AM

How about gluttony for Earth, as in, earth that swallows, earthquakes, quicksand, etc.

Also, maybe greed for Wood, as in those vines that keep spreading and tangling over everything.

Continuously reading, studying, and (hopefully) growing.
ArsThaumaturgis Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: I've been dreaming of True Love's Kiss
#18187: Jan 20th 2021 at 3:40:51 AM

[up][up] Perhaps it would help to see your list of virtues? For one thing, my first instinct is to make the vices the opposite of the virtues, and even if not that, the virtue-list might provide some guidance.

Otherwise, just going on what you have...

If I may, I'm going to suggest a few alternative mappings to those that you already have, along with some new ones:

Earth -> Sloth

  • Earth, after all, moves very slowly, and resists rapid change.

Water -> Gluttony

  • The seemingly-endless depths of the ocean swallow people, boats, buildings, spitting up little more than occasional bones.

Fire -> Lust

  • Lust burns in the loins, after all, becoming a driving blaze.

Air -> Envy

  • Just as air is transparent, so the envious person sees not what they have, but only what others do.

Metal -> Greed

  • After all, some of the material things most prized by humans are metals.

Lightning -> Wrath

  • Lighting strikes hard and fast, doing great damage, then vanishes.

Wood ->

  • I don't have an entry here, I'm afraid.

Ice -> Treachery

  • I like your mapping here—ice, after all, can be rather unsafe to walk on...

Aether -> Pride

  • Likewise, I like your mapping for this element: Aether might be seen as the element "above all the others", it seems to me.

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Jan 20th 2021 at 1:41:46 PM

My Games and Asset Packs
wingedcatgirl mys. minty from the silly dimension from lurking (Holding A Herring) Relationship Status: Oh my word! I'm gay!
mys. minty from the silly dimension
#18188: Jan 20th 2021 at 7:14:59 AM

I'm not sure this advice will work for you, but what I'd do in a case like this is assign them randomly — like literal random.org randomly — and see if I can come up with good explanations for the random pairs. And adjust as necessary after that.

Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.
Nukeli Since: Aug, 2018
#18189: Jan 20th 2021 at 9:22:39 PM

I have yet another new concept.

In a draft set in islands in a baltic sea-based ecosystem, an albino seal is found in a fishing net (alive). People start worshipping the seal, initially the religious commandments cover just the obvious basics (don't kill, don't steal, etc.), but they quickly become a tool of control that threatens people's rights and privacy. When the seal-worshippers' attempts at spreading the religion peacefully fail, they immediately resort to violence and forced conversions against the people of the other islands.

It explains how religious people brainwash their children and how weak, gullible, and desperate people latch onto the idea of a superior being because they fear death *that* much, or need somebody to either love them or to tell them what to do and defend them from real and perceived threats and want reassurance that the people they hate are going to suffer, how With Us or Against Us thinking inherent in a monotheistic system will always lead to this exact chain of events. And how many religious leaders don't actually believe or practice what they preach and just use the uneducated masses to their advantage.

Any ideas on how to make it clear that this is a Take That! on christianity specifically?note 

Edited by Nukeli on Jan 20th 2021 at 8:10:11 PM

~*bleh*~
dRoy Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar from Most likely from my study Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
#18190: Jan 21st 2021 at 1:05:11 AM

Ah, as a lifelong Christian I feel like this question is made for me.

Much of the criticism and the soft underbelly of Christianity lies in both the incongruencies of its source text the Bible, as well as the violent, bigoted, and most certainly unchristian ways many of its believers have spread the religion.

If this fictional religion has religious texts, have it contain some contradictory or impractical passages. Also, have one of its critic point out the logic of "problem of evil" and have the followers fail to give a proper retort and resort to violent retaliations.

Or you know, just type "Christian fundies" and you should have plenty of references. evil grin

Continuously reading, studying, and (hopefully) growing.
Nukeli Since: Aug, 2018
#18191: Jan 21st 2021 at 2:15:08 AM

The religion doesn't have any texts because it's founded in the draft's literal first chapters as the draft is about the religion's creation, it's rise and fall, the destruction and human suffering religion causes, and people outgrowing their need for religionnote . In the story's first scene the still living albino seal is found from a fishing net, put on a leash, and paraded around the village for the people to stare at because it's something unusual. This continues until somebody decides that it's a god and shit gets very dark very quickly.

.

What i meant in my question is "what kind of symbols/features should i give to the religion that religious christians (and hopefully also the other readers) realize that it's a specific Take That! against them?".

~*bleh*~
dRoy Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar from Most likely from my study Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
#18192: Jan 21st 2021 at 3:07:59 AM

Should be even easier. Cross, angels, lambs, dove, etc, just look up symbols in Christianity.

Continuously reading, studying, and (hopefully) growing.
Nukeli Since: Aug, 2018
#18193: Jan 21st 2021 at 4:14:56 AM

I'm going for something a little less on-the-nose. Even though it's a Take That! on christianity, it still shouldn't be just christianity with a seal replacing jesus. That'd be weird and Anvilicious. Crosses and lambs wouldn't make sense in-story anyway. And not just symbols, but anything that will make people get it without crossing into overt weirdness.

Edited by Nukeli on Jan 21st 2021 at 2:19:12 PM

~*bleh*~
Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#18194: Jan 21st 2021 at 5:42:21 AM

Sensitive issue time! Maybe.

So in my story, the idea of "soul mates" is very much a tangible and solid reality for number of supernatural species, while others are simply attracted to their mates the "old fashioned" way.

A prominent Hero Antagonist possesses the ability to magically alter and control the Red String of Fate and force others to view him as their destined soul mate, at least temporarily. His victims are unable to bring themselves to hurt him at all and he can kill and maim them without even the slightest resistance. Those under his spell will even feel guilt at showing distress while he is harming them.

My main protagonist eventually enters battle with this man while trying to steal this power and falls under his control. Where my question comes in is this:

Technically this character has the power to utterly obliterate and change a person's sexuality, since he is forcing gay/straight/etc people to be attracted to him. I wonder if it would be considered offensive? A way to avoid it is to simply have him transform (in the eyes of his victim) into a male or female version of himself when he's using his power on them depending on their orientation.

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
C105 Too old for this from France Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
Too old for this
#18195: Jan 21st 2021 at 6:16:19 AM

[up] Just my two cents, does this attraction always have to be romantic in nature? People with an incompatible orientation (straight same-sex, asexual, etc) could experience this as becoming enthralled by the character, feeling the kind of love you would have for a family member, a lifelong friend, or someone they would admire and want to please at all costs.

Whatever your favourite work is, there is a Vocal Minority that considers it the Worst. Whatever. Ever!.
Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#18196: Jan 21st 2021 at 6:38:24 AM

I suppose you are right; that would work a little better. Although the "making people fall in love with him" sort of goes with some of the story's themes, the idea that he simply instills intense artificial devotion to him does make the ability more versatile. Come to think of it actually makes it more understandable why my protagonist wants to steal the power for himself.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Jan 21st 2021 at 9:56:35 AM

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Nukeli Since: Aug, 2018
#18197: Jan 22nd 2021 at 1:11:43 AM

One of the villains in my superhero draft is a professional killer who does the job because it's the only way he can afford to pay for his family's healthcare, and he has to keep killing because the money is never enough.

In my original plan he was an american (while the story is set in Germany), but i've been reconsidering his nationality. Is there any other technologically advanced country with as bad or worse healthcare system than america's?

Edited by Nukeli on Jan 22nd 2021 at 3:10:46 PM

~*bleh*~
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#18198: Jan 22nd 2021 at 7:38:33 AM

Imagine if Skynet was, in addition to operating the US Armed Forces' nuclear arsenal and legions of robots and drone aircraft (in order to eliminate the human factor as a vulnerability), designed to analyze all the data collected by the US Intelligence Community's member agencies, scour the Internet for relevant data to feed to said Intelligence Community's agencies, and wage both defensive and offensive cyberwarfare. Which real-life government agency would supervising the AI fall under its purview? Or would a whole new agency have to be created?

Also, I can't believe that I completely forgot about this question from a few months ago.

@Altris & DeMarquis: But aren't Faceless Goons considered characters by virtue of reacting (or posing a potential source of reaction) to the protagonist's actions such that the protagonist is typically forced to either react to their actions or preemptively avoid the goons? Also, unless I'm misunderstanding DeMarquis' definition, the first scenario's wolves would count as characters.

Edited by MarqFJA on Jan 22nd 2021 at 6:42:32 PM

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Altris from the Vortex Since: Aug, 2019 Relationship Status: Not caught up in your love affair
#18199: Jan 22nd 2021 at 7:44:44 AM

Well, technically, yes. They're just not very inspired ones, and I thought the original question was asking if they counted as well-defined. Sorry if I read that wrong.

So, let's hang an anchor from the sun... also my Tumblr
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#18200: Jan 22nd 2021 at 7:53:40 AM

Apology accepted. In hindsight, I probably should've phrased my question better.

Edited by MarqFJA on Jan 22nd 2021 at 6:53:57 PM

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

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