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	Archive through February 14, 2011	25		02/15 10:32am
	Archive through April 13, 2011	25		07/20 04:54pm

I fixed that, by the way...

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 07:26 am: Edit

Randy, please don't worry. Your story and plot has become what I call a "teachable" moment -- something that other aspiring writers can learn from. In one CL, the Steves didn't have a story and SVC thought I might have an idea. It was a wildly romantic, highly improbable situation that apparently had poor Petrick shuddering with the notion that a Hydran prince would just happen to meet up with a group of foreign exchange students who'd all be at the same battle situation sometime in the future ...

(Please excuse Petrick if he doesn't respond to anything else today as he's no doubt alternating between whoops and shudders and dealing with the coughing they are triggering. )

It was where I learned that "romantic" storytelling doesn't mix with the logic and precision of the SFU. And so I delved into "The Roche Files" and found that Olivette had interesting (if improbable) stories that she had told and which needed telling.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 10:27 am: Edit

@Jean - I'm not worried at all. Part of a balanced outlook on life is being emotionally divorced from the outcome of whatever it is you are trying to accomplish. In other words, I will do what I promised I'll do, and I'm totally indifferent as to whether they (read: "Tiger by the Tail", "Last Waltz of Warspite", and "Thundermark's Final Storm") get published or not. The satisfaction comes from the process of creating, not from the "recognition" of publication.

SVC is right, it is VERY difficult to write a story around a piece of art. I spent a great deal of time going over every impulse on a map, playing the scenario over and over again. Petrick is also right - it is VERY easy to wrap the story around "the scene" (read: Xander's picture), and being very meticulous about obeying the rules (which I even missed some, much to my chagrin), but failing to see the bigger picture.

To any poor bastard that wants to step up to the whipping post of being an author, here's a nickel's worth of free advice:

1. It must obey the rules. Don't sacrifice "common sense" logic for game mechanics, however. Like what Petrick addressed above already.

2. It must be engaging to the reader. Nobody has ever complained about this to me. The writing must have been engaging enough, or I wouldn't have been asked to fix it AND write another, unrelated story.

3. Develop the characters. They are real people, aliens or whatever. They strive to be competent and serve their own best interest and usually that of others. Even the "red shirt" has a life, however brief it may be. Give the reader a reason to care about the characters.

4. Don't take your ass whipping personally, no matter how ridiculous it gets. It's not your sandbox, so you write what you're told to write, and fix what you're told to fix.

5. DO. YOUR. RESEARCH! The SFU is rife with material that you don't want to contradict. For instance, in "Tiger by the Tail", the whole story revolved around WHY it took so long between "Cold War" (cf. CL11) and the start of the General War. And it also explained why an economically powerful Apex County had such a pathetic fleet compared to other Counties. But you would have had to have read "Cold War" and also recognized that Apex County's fleet was pathetic (read: have done the research) to even go there in the first place.

Anyway...onward to writing!!

EDIT
Warspite is totally rewritten with no silly saboteur but with a legitimate reason why the starboard nacelle blew in the atmosphere. All of SVC's/Petrick's suggestions have been implemented. Just need finishing touches laid and will resubmit in a couple of months (after Origins, most likely) per SVC's request.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, July 20, 2014 - 04:19 pm: Edit

If this picture is legal to use

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1407/filament_sdo_1920.jpg

Then there needs to be a story and cover done for it.

By Matthew Potter (Neonpico) on Sunday, July 20, 2014 - 04:54 pm: Edit

A very photogenic image. But my knee-jerk question (as a hobbyist raytracer) is "Is it real? or is it Photoshop?" The first story idea that popped into my head was a remake of "Sundiver" by David Brin

By Eddie Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Sunday, July 20, 2014 - 05:17 pm: Edit

The below is directly from the NASA site. Looks like it can be used within those guide lines. Did not see any info that this image was copyrighted.

Still Images, Audio Recordings, Video, and Related Computer Files

NASA still images; audio files; video; and computer files used in the rendition of 3-dimensional models, such as texture maps and polygon data in any format, generally are not copyrighted. You may use NASA imagery, video, audio, and data files used for the rendition of 3-dimensional models for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages. This general permission extends to personal Web pages.

This general permission does not extend to use of the NASA insignia logo (the blue "meatball" insignia), the retired NASA logotype (the red "worm" logo) and the NASA seal. These images may not be used by persons who are not NASA employees or on products (including Web pages) that are not NASA-sponsored.

NASA should be acknowledged as the source of the material except in cases of advertising. See NASA Advertising Guidelines.

If the NASA material is to be used for commercial purposes, especially including advertisements, it must not explicitly or implicitly convey NASA's endorsement of commercial goods or services. If a NASA image includes an identifiable person, using the image for commercial purposes may infringe that person's right of privacy or publicity, and permission should be obtained from the person. Any questions regarding application of any NASA image or emblem should be directed to:

Photo Department
NASA Headquarters
300 E St. SW
Washington, DC 20546
Tel: 202-358-1900
Fax: 202-358-4333

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Sunday, July 20, 2014 - 05:28 pm: Edit

How long of a story?

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Sunday, July 20, 2014 - 06:24 pm: Edit

Like a lady's skirt, of course. Long enough to cover the subject and short enough to be interesting.

Gee Randy, how long you been around?

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Sunday, July 20, 2014 - 07:55 pm: Edit

Hmmm...needs MOAR STARSHIP!

By Norman Dizon (Normandizon) on Sunday, July 20, 2014 - 08:22 pm: Edit

Awesome, Xander!

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, July 20, 2014 - 11:13 pm: Edit

Holy €$#% that's good!

By Thomas Mathews (Turtle) on Monday, July 21, 2014 - 06:41 am: Edit

Xander, I was thinking about the sunsnake that destroyed the Paravian home world.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, July 21, 2014 - 07:51 am: Edit

Gee.

Do we really have to wait for captainslog number 99!?#!

By Matthew Potter (Neonpico) on Monday, July 21, 2014 - 12:42 pm: Edit

This isn't such a good place to ask this question, but neither is the only other place I can post in the CapLog portion of the BBS.

How many CapLogs feature non-federation/non-Klingon art? How about CL Fiction?

I bring it up because my first question upon seeing Xander's (very excellent) image was "Why does it always have to be a Federation ship?"

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, July 21, 2014 - 01:53 pm: Edit

To answer your last question, it's almost always a fed ship because those issues sell more copies.

In this case, remember that Xander did a swell quick and dirty assembly of art by NASA, a ship by Sandrine, and titles by me. We can have Adam do it for real with any ship the story needs.

As far as "covers without feds" you can tell that from the shopping cart: 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, 15, 18, 19, 22, 28, 30, 34, 35, 36, 38, 48, or 1/3 of them.

By Mike Bennett (Mike) on Monday, July 21, 2014 - 03:16 pm: Edit

My word, Xander! That was absolutely awesome!

By Jon Berry (Laz_Longsmith) on Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - 01:51 am: Edit

Thomas, that was my initial thought as well.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - 11:21 am: Edit

Funny, my initial thought was that the filament was continuous an that there was some sort of life form responsible. The battle would be over control of the life form as it could be used in many ways (generate raw resources), including as a weapon.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - 04:44 pm: Edit

Loren: quit thinking and go do the CL49 art I asked you for.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - 05:42 pm: Edit

Don't worry. I'm not thinking of actually writing that. Besides after the art I've got to fix up that other story I already wrote.

Just two more days of back breaking exhausting RW work then I'm free.