Creation Daily

[Young Bard he/him]

I was just thinking about that in Legal Studies Class today actually... I've got a half-baked idea in my head about something, but I'll probably tease it out in the next day or two to share.

[Zathoth]

I tried to start writing Skyverea again, but the beginning I have been planning is not working.

 

Riem sneaks in somewhere to steal some important document, guy is dead at his desk, building floods with guards, Riem is accused for murder and sent to be executed, but he flees, steals a ship and crashes somewhere. An epic adventure to find out who set him up starts... and blowing up gods, solving murders, outwitting an army of invisible dinosaurs and so on...

 

I just need to get the beginning down so I can get to all those awesome parts.

I solved it, I started the story earlier with Riem getting the job. Now I have no idea what I am actually doing anymore because I didnt plan to start the story this early, but I'll figure it out...

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I've been tearing my hair out for the past three weeks trying to figure out a way to keep Francine from becoming Susan's Black Best Friend. (For those unwilling to open that dangerous, time-devouring link, the trope refers to a black character who serves little to no other purpose in the story than being the white lead's best friend. Not a good trope.) I knew she had a larger storyline, I knew  this story was as much hers as it is Susan's, but I couldn't figure out what that storyline was.

 

Now I think I know: Francine becomes the closest thing this 'verse's Spokane has to a full superhero. 

 

It's still in the rough draft stage, but figuring out her story feels awesome.

Edited June 3, 2016 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[+Slowswift]

Just posting this here, in case anyone is interested: 17th Shard Camp NaNoWriMo cabin

Edited June 3, 2016 by Slowswift

[Quiver he/him]

Wanna pitch a world building idea to you guys, see if it fits.

 

So, I had an idea for a Spanish-themed fantasy, and I was batting around the idea for an archery-themed take on bull-fighting as a sport.  

 

I was considering writign a short scene involving it, and I had an idea for a line, and, well...

 

I think the nobles in my setting might practice polyamorous marriages as the default norm.

 

What I'm considering is... there are "normal" marriages, between a man and a woman. But at the same time, people can also marry multiple partners of the same gender. Among the peasantry, it kind of leads to a very communal vibe, whereas for the nobles, it's generally considered more of a public way of formalizing alliances...

 

So, for instance: 

 

Lord Castellan marries Lady Arista. So Lord Castellan can't marry another woman...

But he might have two or three men that he's married to as "husbands". Ditto for Lady Arista; she can't have another husband, but she might have a wife.

And yes, some of those marriages might have been made for love, and some of those marriages might involve... um... marital acts. But others are just a case of two people marrying as a way of publicly announcing that they are uniting their houses in an alliance, and that's generally how it is used by the nobility. And considering each of them might have multiple partners of their own, politics get's... complicated. 

 

(Theoretically, said alliance would be dissolved upon the partners death, since... there are no children to keep the houses united. In practice, it tends to vary a bit more.)

 

I'm just trying to figure out inheritance laws for the setting now and I think things are getting... complicated. 

 

Keeping everything straight is frankly part of the reason I'm saying the poly- part only applies to their own gender; working out who inherits what when it comes to land and such when there are multiple potential fathers and no way to genetically verify things seemed like it would make the setting more complicated.

 

(And, yeah, I figure the nation has a reputation for being decadent and lustful and the other kind of slurs which people use against their enemies. The nobility I imagine are actually rather distanced from the whole thing.)

 

So... yeah. I suppose what I'm wondering is:

-Does this sound like an interesting set up for a political system

-Does anyone have any good advise for figuring out inheritance laws?

Edited June 8, 2016 by Quiver

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Spokane hired 13 police matrons back in 1934, and in 1940, promoted one of them to detective. She served in that position until her retirement in 1961.

This opens the world up quite a bit. I mean, one female detective is hardly a ringing endorsement for egalitarianism, but it makes the notion of many women hired to be full officers--and staying in those positions after the war--a lot less absurd.

[Edgedancer he/him]

Wanna pitch a world building idea to you guys, see if it fits.

 

So, I had an idea for a Spanish-themed fantasy, and I was batting around the idea for an archery-themed take on bull-fighting as a sport.  

 

I was considering writign a short scene involving it, and I had an idea for a line, and, well...

 

I think the nobles in my setting might practice polyamorous marriages as the default norm.

 

What I'm considering is... there are "normal" marriages, between a man and a woman. But at the same time, people can also marry multiple partners of the same gender. Among the peasantry, it kind of leads to a very communal vibe, whereas for the nobles, it's generally considered more of a public way of formalizing alliances...

 

So, for instance: 

 

Lord Castellan marries Lady Arista. So Lord Castellan can't marry another woman...

But he might have two or three men that he's married to as "husbands". Ditto for Lady Arista; she can't have another husband, but she might have a wife.

And yes, some of those marriages might have been made for love, and some of those marriages might involve... um... marital acts. But others are just a case of two people marrying as a way of publicly announcing that they are uniting their houses in an alliance, and that's generally how it is used by the nobility. And considering each of them might have multiple partners of their own, politics get's... complicated. 

 

(Theoretically, said alliance would be dissolved upon the partners death, since... there are no children to keep the houses united. In practice, it tends to vary a bit more.)

 

I'm just trying to figure out inheritance laws for the setting now and I think things are getting... complicated. 

 

Keeping everything straight is frankly part of the reason I'm saying the poly- part only applies to their own gender; working out who inherits what when it comes to land and such when there are multiple potential fathers and no way to genetically verify things seemed like it would make the setting more complicated.

 

(And, yeah, I figure the nation has a reputation for being decadent and lustful and the other kind of slurs which people use against their enemies. The nobility I imagine are actually rather distanced from the whole thing.)

 

So... yeah. I suppose what I'm wondering is:

-Does this sound like an interesting set up for a political system

-Does anyone have any good advise for figuring out inheritance laws?

So if Lord Castellan also marries Lord Placeholdername, then what's the relationship between Lord Placeholdername and Lady Arista?

[Quiver he/him]

So if Lord Castellan also marries Lord Placeholdername, then what's the relationship between Lord Placeholdername and Lady Arista?

I haven't come up with a name for the concept, but I guess the idea,would be 'husband-in-law'?

In practical terms, it would pretty much obligate all of them into an alliance together. Which...could get unwieldy if I don't establish some hard limits on how many partners someone can have, since you could end up with everyone married t everyone.

I suppose it's...sort of like World War One. There are huge networks of alliances, so one person attacking another would basically result in a HUGE war...so everyone is sort of, bought in to making that that kinda thing doesn't happen.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I haven't come up with a name for the concept, but I guess the idea,would be 'husband-in-law'?

In practical terms, it would pretty much obligate all of them into an alliance together. Which...could get unwieldy if I don't establish some hard limits on how many partners someone can have, since you could end up with everyone married t everyone.

I suppose it's...sort of like World War One. There are huge networks of alliances, so one person attacking another would basically result in a HUGE war...so everyone is sort of, bought in to making that that kinda thing doesn't happen.

I don't know if you need to limit partners, technically speaking. If everyone were married to everyone, however distantly, that could (theoretically) lead to greater peace among the nobility. In a more pragmatic sense, it could allow you to explore what they do and don't consider binding marriage--if a man is another man's third husband once removed, would it be kosher for them to marry, or at least flirt in public?

In other news, I just learned about Carl Maxey, Spokane's first black lawyer and the man who single-handedly dismantled much of the Inland Northwest's segregation. He was so amazing, why have I never heard of him before?

[Lindel he/him]

So, I need a (somewhat) feasible way for the apocalypse to kill all animals bigger than insects, but leave flora and insects relatively unharmed. Any suggestions?

EDIT: The most important thing is that no animals larger than insects survive, the issue of plants isn't as big of a deal either way, so long as there's still something for the insects to eat. 

Edited June 15, 2016 by Lindel
Clarification

[Master Elodin]

2 hours ago, Lindel said:

So, I need a (somewhat) feasible way for the apocalypse to kill all animals bigger than insects, but leave flora and insects relatively unharmed. Any suggestions?

EDIT: The most important thing is that no animals larger than insects survive, the issue of plants isn't as big of a deal either way, so long as there's still something for the insects to eat. 

Some sort of biological weapon? Neutron bomb?

[Oversleep]

I'm not sure whether typing that in Google is a good idea... XD

I wonder whether there is a list of the most interesting things writers typed into Google:
"how long does it take for human to bleed to death"
"a method to kill all animals but leave insects and plants intact"
"what is nuclear bomb blastwave composed of"
"what would happen if every electric device died"

[Lindel he/him]

Haha, yep. I've found myself googling a lot of things that are worryingly similar to many of those... XD  

[Zay Wolfe]

The world I'm working on is a few thousand years into the future. In this future corporations have absorbed governments and have become the leading governing bodies in the galaxy. Investors are citizens and get a say in how things are run during investor meetings. Poorer families that can't afford investment have no citizenship and no defined rights to speak of. The company boardrooms meet and form a tribunal with other corporations to discuss law and policy.

I thought it could be a realistic future that has evolved from our current state.

Edited June 16, 2016 by Zay Wolfe

[Patar he/him]

So I've got a question. In what I am writing, I soon plan on introducing a "mysterious" character. I put "mysterious" in quotations because I want this character to avoid the traditional "mysterious" character traits (appears cloaked in darkness, only speaks to main character, etc). I want to keep this character's intentions shrouded, I want readers to be intrigued by this character and find him mysterious, while avoiding the typical mystery character mold. If that makes any sense at all. Any tips for writing mysterious characters?  

[Master Elodin]

17 minutes ago, Patar said:

So I've got a question. In what I am writing, I soon plan on introducing a "mysterious" character. I put "mysterious" in quotations because I want this character to avoid the traditional "mysterious" character traits (appears cloaked in darkness, only speaks to main character, etc). I want to keep this character's intentions shrouded, I want readers to be intrigued by this character and find him mysterious, while avoiding the typical mystery character mold. If that makes any sense at all. Any tips for writing mysterious characters?  

Have him seem whimsical and hilarious at the beginning, but then have the main character find something written by him saying something along the lines of "if only they knew.."?

[Oversleep]

12 hours ago, Patar said:

So I've got a question. In what I am writing, I soon plan on introducing a "mysterious" character. I put "mysterious" in quotations because I want this character to avoid the traditional "mysterious" character traits (appears cloaked in darkness, only speaks to main character, etc). I want to keep this character's intentions shrouded, I want readers to be intrigued by this character and find him mysterious, while avoiding the typical mystery character mold. If that makes any sense at all. Any tips for writing mysterious characters?  

Well, the first question is whether the character has some actual role in the story or just providing the mystery. It's quite hard to have the character look mysterious whatever they do.

Readers can wonder about what are intentions of this character, what are this character's connections to other people in the story, where is this character coming from and what is the past of this character.

[Gabriele she/her]

On 6/3/2016 at 9:02 PM, Slowswift said:

Just posting this here, in case anyone is interested: 17th Shard Camp NaNoWriMo cabin

I'm already in a cabin since someone talked me into doing July Camp. I should know better.  The camps never work for me the way November Nano does. But I got an invasion of plotbunnies now. Shooo, dang critters.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Gabriele

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I've been thinking about my WIP (pretty sure most of my posts here start like that  ) specifically, about the adoption angle. As I have it, Susan was adopted at birth by Charles and Mary Whitelaw, who were unable to have a child of their own, when her birth mother gave her up. I'm considering doing away with that and making Susan Charles and Mary's daughter by birth. 

Here's some pros and cons for the adoption angle. 

Pros
It's a simple, believable reason as to why Susan has no siblings 
It gives the Whitelaws a double-edged sword of manipulation: when they're pleased with Susan, they can talk about how God brought her to them; when they're upset, they can use the "You're a gift from God" line in a negative context or throw the "You're not our real daughter" line in her face 
It gives Susan a simple reason for choosing the name Gillespie, if she knew it was her birth mother's 

Cons
Susan's birth could have come with complications, leading Charles and Mary to put off plans for any more children
Having Susan be adopted and know it could potentially weaken Susan's connection to Whitelaw in the minds of some readers by giving her an emotional "out" 
If Susan chooses the name Gillespie because she thought it sounded nice, it could heighten her desperation to sever all ties with her family 

I'm leaning toward doing away with the adoption angle, but if anyone has compelling arguments as to why I should keep it, please share them. I want opinions on this. 

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

On 16/06/2016 at 1:52 PM, Zay Wolfe said:

The world I'm working on is a few thousand years into the future. In this future corporations have absorbed governments and have become the leading governing bodies in the galaxy. Investors are citizens and get a say in how things are run during investor meetings. Poorer families that can't afford investment have no citizenship and no defined rights to speak of. The company boardrooms meet and form a tribunal with other corporations to discuss law and policy.

I thought it could be a realistic future that has evolved from our current state.

Heyyy this sounds a lot like the Legends of Tomorrow episode. I think Episode 10, Progeny.You need to watch this because it is almost EXACTLY what you have shown here. 

 

On 16/06/2016 at 2:50 PM, Patar said:

So I've got a question. In what I am writing, I soon plan on introducing a "mysterious" character. I put "mysterious" in quotations because I want this character to avoid the traditional "mysterious" character traits (appears cloaked in darkness, only speaks to main character, etc). I want to keep this character's intentions shrouded, I want readers to be intrigued by this character and find him mysterious, while avoiding the typical mystery character mold. If that makes any sense at all. Any tips for writing mysterious characters?  

Building on what @Oversleep and @Master Elodin have said

I think you should read some of the original Amazing Spiderman comics, particularly the ones that involve Mary Jane. Why? Well in the comics Mary is percepted as a fun-loving charismatic persona who noone takes seriously. But the fact that noone takes her seriously troubles her greatly. So say your character is like this, you can get him to somehow know alot of things that should be secret, but have it that noone believes him, similar to a conspiracy theorist. The mysterious part would be in the questions the reader asks of the character. How does he know this? Why is he fooling everyone into underestimating him? Do the affects of this annoy him in a way where he might "snap"? Who is he really?

[+Slowswift]

I need a last name that goes well with Fritz. Might I enlist your help?

Edited June 20, 2016 by Slowswift

[Eagle of the Forest Path he/him]

Hänkel?
Von Schlesswich-Liebherr?
Franken?

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

5 hours ago, Slowswift said:

I need a last name that goes well with Fritz. Might I enlist your help?

William  As in Fitzwilliam

Blitz a bit of rhyming to set the tone

Von Heidenberg.

Could you give us some background info on your character, so we can create a last name that actually fits yoru character

 

[+Slowswift]

9 hours ago, Eagle of the Forest Path said:

Hänkel?
Von Schlesswich-Liebherr?
Franken?

Good, but it doesn't necessarily need to be a Germanic name. 

9 hours ago, Darkness Ascendant said:

William  As in Fitzwilliam

Blitz a bit of rhyming to set the tone

Von Heidenberg.

Could you give us some background info on your character, so we can create a last name that actually fits yoru character

 

William. You know, I like that. I was considering Simmons, but that's a little too close to FitzSimmons from Agents of SHIELD.  

I don't have his whole life story quite fleshed out yet. Will let you know when I've got more to go on (I can tell you now, though, that he has a thing for bomber jackets. Also, he lives in a scifi kinda world.).

Edited June 20, 2016 by Slowswift

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

2 hours ago, Slowswift said:

Good, but it doesn't necessarily need to be a Germanic name. 

William. You know, I like that. I was considering Simmons, but that's a little too close to FitzSimmons from Agents of SHIELD.  

I don't have his whole life story quite fleshed out yet. Will let you know when I've got more to go on (I can tell you now, though, that he has a thing for bomber jackets. Also, he lives in a scifi kinda world.).

Then....Fritz...hmmm

Is your character similar to an aviator?

Fullermeister?

Maestro?

Aileron?