Random Questions Thread

Bit of a broad question here, but: some advice on writing Self-Harm respectfully?

For context: the character in question doesn't do self-harm anymore, but they did in the past. They had an overbearing step-parent who tried to micromanage their personal appearance and what they did out of school, and when they refused to play along the step-parent accused them of being ungrateful, or being 'awkward' out of spite. The accusations of ingratitude got to them, and on some level they felt they had to punish themselves - which they did by constantly walking insane distances in the summer heat, wearing ill-fitting shoes, giving them a horrible sunburn and so many blisters on their feet that it became painful to walk anywhere.

I've never really written Self-Harming before - or even referenced it - so it's unfamiliar territory for me.

@Swordofknowledge:

That's fair!

In that case, I think that the main thing would be to give the readers insight into the character's reasons for choosing to not kill, and to set up those reasons beforehand.

For example, you might show how little sympathy for failure have the character's superiors, and their explicit order for a living capture. You might then show the character, when choosing whether to kill or spare, considering both—and reminding themselves of the consequences of defying their orders.

Or something like that!

From last page:

Okay, generic insults and mentioning the possibility of going back to slave lives sounds good enough. Thanks!

I really don't know what to do about my story's setting. I was thinking of it taking place amongst the Great Lakes of North America. There's a cult involved in my story but I don't know how big I should make it.

If i'm understanding this correctly, an isolated population needs at least 500 people in order to not collapse from inbreeding or catastropes. How many more people do you think the place would need so that absolutely everybody wouldn't need to be forced into having sex?^note  This is a post-apocalyptic desert fortress where people live in tiny huts stacked on top of each other in four stories. I modeled the fortress in Minecraft, and despite the unwieldiness of the 1mX1m blocks, i managed to fit 500 "apartments", and their communal kitchens, wcs, bathrooms, and eating areas in the space of about 100 x 50 meters, so the other half of the 100X100 meter fortress would still be free room.

Edited by Nukeli on Apr 17th 2021 at 3:37:43 PM

x 5 @ President Stalkeyes:

I understand what you're trying to say about self-harm, at least I think I do. The thing is, it's a little more complicated and at the same time more simple than that. People self-harm for a number of differing reasons; some out of an internalized sense of hatred/disgust for themselves like your example, while others actually do it because it makes them feel something other than mental pain or numbness.

So it isn't really about respect as much as it is accuracy. In your case, it could be that your character doesn't even realize the underlying reasons behind their actions until it is brought to their attention by someone else, perhaps a close friend or a therapist/councilor of sorts. In the former case, they could pick apart in their own mind why they are subjecting themselves to needless physical suffering and then figure out that their stepfather's words have wormed their way into their mind and taken root. Or in the case of a councilor, they could tease out this conclusion together.

So I don't really see anything wrong with what you've done already; it seems "respectful" and accurate enough as is.

@ Nuekli: I'm not familiar with this number (actually I have to thank you for bringing it up since it helps a question of my own) but all I can posit for your question maybe double the number? If five hundred people are enough to prevent inbreeding or collapse from disaster, if you doubled that amount to a thousand, would that perhaps be more stable? It seems like a lot, but a thousand human beings really isn't that much when you look at the trials and tribulations a population can go through in just a year.

Sort of two questions at once, though they are so linked to one another that it felt it a good idea to ask both at once.

• Question 1: If the United States came under a widespread threat that is explicitly supernatural and a large organization with its own private military force and expertise on the arcane offered to work in tandem with the country's military, how likely is it that the US would work together with them? Who would be in charge of making that final decision? I assume the president, but am not sure.

• Question 2: If a large monster was spotted off the coast of the US who would be sent out to deal with it? The coast guard or the navy?

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Apr 17th 2021 at 4:52:26 AM

1. I'd say that decision would fall onto the President, because 1) the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the US military, and 2) collaborating with a foreign/non-state military force (especially one you're not formally allied to) would expose a lot of your secrets to them by default, which is a rather sensitive matter. On the other hand, I'm not sure if the President normally gets to deploy armed military personnel (let alone foreign ones) on US soil without an act of Congress,^* The continuous deployment of the US military to the Middle East and elsewhere as part of the War on Terror is a result of the Congress' 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which is a huge legal and ethical can of worms. so expect opposition congresscritters to throw a fit over it at the very least.

2. Navy for the shooting, Coast Guard for evacuating any civilians that might be trapped in the area.

Edited by eagleoftheninth on Apr 17th 2021 at 2:49:56 AM

@ eagleoftheninth:

Thanks for answering in such an informative way!

• 1. The idea is that (should things go as planned) the US military would be launching joint missions with this group, thus having members of this organization with military training and supernatural knowledge among the branches of the army to provide armed support and basic understanding of what they are dealing with. I figured that such a close "relationship" would be a pretty big can of worms.

Oh yes, I can just imagine it lol. On the other hand...I'm not sure if this counts as another question, but the threat in question is sudden and rapidly escalating everywhere. If you've seen it, think of the World War Z movie with Brad Pitt. I'd imagine that Congress would be a little more amenable to letting the president "get away" with certain things, especially if they under duress like that.

• 2: Oh good it looks like I was right. I honestly wasn't sure whether it would be the Navy or Coast Guard again due to the idea of military action on US soil being a thorny issue.

Well, collaborating with another military is a massively complicated affair in real life. You'd have to figure out issues like: who's in overall command? Who's footing the bill? What are the rules of engagement? And if the partner force isn't legally a state military, what kind of legal immunity would they have for the duration, and who would be in charge of investigating and prosecuting them if they go beyond the line?

I think that a president, in that situation, would be wary of the political fallout if the private military force they'd authorised ended up, say, destroying a beloved local monument in the course of their operations, let alone hurting people they're not supposed to. But it's all up to the needs of your story and characterisation, of course. If I were doing this kind of story, I'd probably have the White House and the Congress pass the responsibility for the authorisation back and forth while the monster demolishes Upper Manhattan.

If the government in your story is (rightly) wary of letting this partner force launch armed operations on US soil (at least before extensive vetting and negotiation over the above matters), then they'd probably restrict the collaboration to advisory and intelligence capacities.

"If the United States came under a widespread threat that is explicitly supernatural and a large organization with its own private military force and expertise on the arcane offered to work in tandem with the country's military, how likely is it that the US would work together with them? Who would be in charge of making that final decision? I assume the president, but am not sure."

Heh, google "Iraq War" and "Blackwater" to find out how easy it is for the US government to contract out it's military missions. If this private military force has US executives on it's shareholders board, then expect Congress to be lobbied to hand everything over to them in about 10 minutes flat. If there are no US executives on board, then it becomes a little more complicated, but then I would expect the foreign private group to simply appoint some. To be blunt, the global rich worked this all out some time ago. Economic assets must be protected, after all.

"If a large monster was spotted off the coast of the US who would be sent out to deal with it? The coast guard or the navy?"

If it's a known danger, then the Air Force would likely be the first on the scene with serious firepower, unless they decide to nuke it immediately. After that, it would depend on what military assets were nearby and how soon they could get there.

Edited by DeMarquis on Apr 17th 2021 at 6:17:55 AM

@ eagleoftheninth

Yes one of the biggest reactions to US government has when these people show up with offers of aid is absolute horror that a powerful armed military group has been just sitting around within the borders of the country (well all over the world, but still). I leave a lot of the "nitty-gritty details" of how the collaboration came about in the background/left to the imagination but it is mentioned several times by US personnel and the members of the order itself that it was a "miracle" that they managed to work together, especially on such short notice.

Thank you again, this is all very helpful and makes up for a lack of knowledge in this subject.

@ De Marquis Sorry I missed your reply.

Again you hit a point that I never even thought of, so thank you. It would make perfect sense for this group to have such people (US executives I mean) if only in preparation for such an eventuality when they would need to ally with the government. On the response to a giant monster off the coast, I always thought it would be the Navy or Coast Guard who would engage first, due to it being a threat approaching the country via water?

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Apr 17th 2021 at 6:30:42 AM

What advice would you give for writing songs/poems for novels?

My setting is a version of The Roaring '20s (and later the thirties) not set in the real world but highly influenced by it. Kind of like Legend Of Korra but without the supernatural elements and populated by Bird People. Diesel Punk and Steampunk also.

I need to come up with the main country's national anthem, a marching song for the local thrush supremacists which keeps showing up through the story, and a song for the communist revolutionaries who start a civil war to save the downtrodden but by the end become dictators. Actually, i think that the communists should have two songs, one about helping people and another about destroying The Enemy, that would propably work better at showing their two sides.

I have the fascists' and the war-communists' symbolism, sound, and maybe titles figured out, but the words themselves are hard. I've tried watching communist song translations from youtube.

Edited by Nukeli on Apr 18th 2021 at 9:57:50 PM

"I always thought it would be the Navy or Coast Guard who would engage first, due to it being a threat approaching the country via water?"

It's simply a matter of speed and distance. If this thing first appears off the US coast, the AF is much more likely to have assets nearby.

Do sailors onboard US navy ships carry weapons with them during active missions at sea? Even if it's just a side-arm?

At the beginning of my story's "endgame" there is a scenario in which a number of navy vessels are forming a blockade and preparing for a battle with a waterborne enemy when they suddenly find the decks of their ships swarming with enemies, forcing the sailors into combat on the ships themselves.

In a situation like this, would the sailors be able to pull out guns and start shooting in hopes of repelling their attackers or would they be completely taken off guard as they are forced to locate and equip weaponry?

Either way they lose in this particular scene, but I wanted to be as accurate as possible in conveying the battle before the inevitable loss.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Apr 19th 2021 at 9:17:57 AM

Not normally. On a vessel where a few dozen to hundreds of bored children young adults have to live in close proximity for months at a time, you'd generally want to keep access to hazardous instruments tightly controlled.

Typically, you'd have an armed security team, masters-at-arms (basically Navy police), a few sailors posted at watch and maybe a few deck officers carrying sidearms, depending on the situation. The rest of the crew would be unarmed; any personal weapons would be stored in an arms locker, only accessible by certain personnel.

I guess however that it is not to difficult to find some Improvised Weapons on a ship, using ropes or gaffs, for instance.

If this is US Navy post Civil War, the sailors picking up guns and fighting off boarders themselves are highly unlikely. By WWI rolled in, due to the naval artillery (and soon later radar) growing more sophisticated and powerful, as well as most ship adopting ironclad platings boarding just stopped being a thing for the most cases. Merchant ships, however, are not as immune.

x3 @ eagleoftheninth:

! That's good to know though; For some reason I always imagined that the sailors would be equipped with some sort of handgun as a constant sidearm in case of a situation where enemies breached the ship and "in your face" combat became inevitable. But I see I was mistaken.

I do see that it's not entirely hopeless since there are certain armed personnel onboard but I realize that the situation is even more dire than I was trying to create. Which is a good thing.

x2 @ C105: Yes it will have to be improvised weapons I suppose...which again is a good thing, since it adds to the chaos I'm trying to convey.

@ dRoy:

This is definitely post Civil War; this incident takes place in 2009. The enemies aren't human and didn't come by ship; I'm actually stuck between two methods they get on board, but the outcome is the same: they land on the deck all of a sudden and begin viciously attacking and overpowering the sailors onboard who are forced to fight back with whatever they can. Originally I thought it would be handguns/sidearms but it seems that isn't accurate to the way the US navy arms its personnel.

It would be interesting to note that some of them bounce off the armored sides of the ships and fall back into the water, especially in one of my potential scenarios.

x7?

How quickly can drifting embers start a fire? For context, a character is waking up to a forest fire right outside his house, and having slept with the window open, his room is starting to fill with smoke and some flying embers. Some of those embers are landing on a book. In my idea, it's only taking a few seconds for the embers to catch the book on fire; is that realistic?

For more context, it's been very hot and dry out for the past few days, which is why the forest fire was able to start and keep going in the first place. He might have a fan in his room, but would that even help? I'd imagine it'd actually just blow the embers around more.

It is, assuming that the book cover is sufficiently flammable. Of course, the flames need some time to spread over the entire book.

One question is how the embers end up in the room. Is there another opening somewhere in the building that is allowing air to flow through it?

x7 @ Nukeli:

I'm afraid I can't exactly help you there specifically, but what I can offer is an idea of how to go about things. Is it possible for you to find some sort of song/poem writing website that helps construct these sorts of things? That would probably help a great deal. Considering your world is populated with Bird People, I would incorporate that into the mix. Perhaps, for example, a line about "our talons are ever-sharp" or something like that?

Do that kind of sites actually exist?