Creation Daily

[Oversleep]

3 hours ago, Darkness Ascendant said:

Then I'd assume 10,000 years is plenty of time to repopulate the planet. That's like 100 generations

More like 400 generations (having kids at 25 years old). Or even 500 (at 20).

When the world ended, probably lifespan dropped pretty hard, so did the age of having kids. Now the question is, how many kids would people have? @Darkness Ascendant estimates 4; that's reasonable but I assume people would have at least three up to... I don't know. Seven? I have no idea.

[Eagle of the Forest Path he/him]

15 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

More like 400 generations (having kids at 25 years old). Or even 500 (at 20).

When the world ended, probably lifespan dropped pretty hard, so did the age of having kids. Now the question is, how many kids would people have? @Darkness Ascendant estimates 4; that's reasonable but I assume people would have at least three up to... I don't know. Seven? I have no idea.

Considering that as little as a century ago it wasn't very unusual (in western Europe at least) to have a dozen kids in a family, or up to 3 dozen (counting miscarriages, infant deaths and widowers remarrying younger women), 7 seems a bit on the conservative side. Then again those were the boom years of an industrialising society.

It largely depends on the morals and resources of the society you're writing, more available food generally means more kids, less labour-intensive production methods means less kids, and so on...

[StrikerEZ he/him]

This idea would be hard to make a book about, but I like the thought of it. 

So, you find a pocketwatch-like object. You feel compelled to pick it up. When you're alone, you finally open it. There is a clock, but in the center of the watch there are two strange things. A little button, and next to it, what looks like some sort of LED light. When you push the button for the first time, the light glows blue and you instantly know the falling information: The watch is actually a device that's allows you to wish for anything you want. You press and hold the button and describe your wish. After letting go, the light flashes green three times before flashing blue, which means your wish has been used. You can press the button before the light goes blue and stop the wish, which would turn the light red. You have one wish a day, and at the end of the day, you lose that wish. There are a few limitations. You can't wish for infinite wishes (or for more devices that give you wishes), you can't wish for the destruction of the universe, and you can't wish for the wishing device to no longer exist. Otherwise, you can wish for whatever you want, paradox-free.

Or it could just be a time travel watch.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

30 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

This idea would be hard to make a book about, but I like the thought of it. 

So, you find a pocketwatch-like object. You feel compelled to pick it up. When you're alone, you finally open it. There is a clock, but in the center of the watch there are two strange things. A little button, and next to it, what looks like some sort of LED light. When you push the button for the first time, the light glows blue and you instantly know the falling information: The watch is actually a device that's allows you to wish for anything you want. You press and hold the button and describe your wish. After letting go, the light flashes green three times before flashing blue, which means your wish has been used. You can press the button before the light goes blue and stop the wish, which would turn the light red. You have one wish a day, and at the end of the day, you lose that wish. There are a few limitations. You can't wish for infinite wishes (or for more devices that give you wishes), you can't wish for the destruction of the universe, and you can't wish for the wishing device to no longer exist. Otherwise, you can wish for whatever you want, paradox-free.

Or it could just be a time travel watch.

An twist that makes the idea more book-friendly: The watch grants wishes, but is less like Genie from Aladdin and more like Apple's Siri. 

"I wish for a nice, cozy reading nook." 
"No problem! One rice-blowing, bleeding cook coming right up!" 

[Oversleep]

31 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

So, you find a pocketwatch-like object. You feel compelled to pick it up. When you're alone, you finally open it. There is a clock, but in the center of the watch there are two strange things. A little button, and next to it, what looks like some sort of LED light. When you push the button for the first time, the light glows blue and you instantly know the falling information: The watch is actually a device that's allows you to wish for anything you want. You press and hold the button and describe your wish. After letting go, the light flashes green three times before flashing blue, which means your wish has been used. You can press the button before the light goes blue and stop the wish, which would turn the light red. You have one wish a day, and at the end of the day, you lose that wish. There are a few limitations. You can't wish for infinite wishes (or for more devices that give you wishes), you can't wish for the destruction of the universe, and you can't wish for the wishing device to no longer exist. Otherwise, you can wish for whatever you want, paradox-free.

I read a book with that premise in my childhood. An old book. Siblings were on vacation in some relative's house and they find a little creature that grants one wish a day which lasts only a day. Then they have many (mis)adventures.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

3 hours ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

An twist that makes the idea more book-friendly: The watch grants wishes, but is less like Genie from Aladdin and more like Apple's Siri. 

"I wish for a nice, cozy reading nook." 
"No problem! One rice-blowing, bleeding cook coming right up!" 

I actually really like that idea...I might actually use something like that, if I ever write the book. 

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

would be quite amusing I'll admit.

And also make it like you wish for something, your soul gets more corrupted.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

On 2/12/2017 at 7:13 PM, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

An twist that makes the idea more book-friendly: The watch grants wishes, but is less like Genie from Aladdin and more like Apple's Siri. 

"I wish for a nice, cozy reading nook." 
"No problem! One rice-blowing, bleeding cook coming right up!" 

Oh, I came back to this and I had a really cool idea. The watch has a mind of its own literally, and a personality and everything. So it's like Genie with the sarcasm, but it always misinterprets what you say.

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

On 19/02/2017 at 11:59 AM, StrikerEZ said:

Oh, I came back to this and I had a really cool idea. The watch has a mind of its own literally, and a personality and everything. So it's like Genie with the sarcasm, but it always misinterprets what you say.

and it has terets

[Landis963 he/him]

I'm trying to make another Cosmere world, but I'm having trouble figuring out the behind-the-scenes stuff.  Right now I have a mono-Shardic world that created a magic system where you blow a specially-made powder to make an effect happen (You might remember a prototype of this magic system as my previous contribution to this thread).  However, I want to have another Shard come in and start attacking, only to be mercilessly destroyed piece-by-piece by their would-be victim.  The reason for this is that I want each piece to become a sword with an Intent, and for those Intents to shape the history of the Physical Realm of the world.  So, I need the names of both Shards (I'm thinking the resident Shard is "Industry"), whether or not the resident Shard was destroyed alongside the aggressor (I suspect not), the mini-Intents of the swords (I have a few, but nowhere near enough), and what exactly possessing one of these swords does to and for you (I suspect it's an unholy mixture of Nightblood and an Honorblade, with the powers involved relating in some way to the Intent).  

[Kered he/him]

Recently, I've tried to start really focusing on creating very impactful sentences, influenced by Rothfuss. I feel that if you train for a little it in the mindset that every sentence, every word, has to be perfect, it can lead to elevating your craft. This is my first attempt that this, and it was actually quite fun trying to put the sentences together and think of description combinations that have a solid visual and mental impact. 

Got a long way to go, but it felt good in more ways than one putting this together. 

 

Greatest among the Aspects servants, were the High Aspects Eldarem. Beings of fathomless power, the Eldarem were charged with the protection of mankind. They were to be the stalwarts in the storm, battered but never cowed. A shield for those who could not protect themselves from the greater turnings of the world. The Eldarem were absolute in their devotion to both their Aspects and their scared duty. They were ordered to never lose hope for humanity, even if hope is lost to the Aspects and Humans themselves. The Eldara were to be the champions of the people in the world of the gods, and champions they were. They shielded man from the wrath of Broc Mensul, they prevented the infection that was the Terisal Dusk, they cast down and defeated  Ludax’s most feared servants, the Daesra. Eldarem are the focal points of the light that is creation, they are beloved above all else, and hated for the curse they bare.

 

 

Among the Eldarem is shining Sesila, the Truthstar, with wings of bone and fire, who wears a crown of blood. Solemn Ralsis, Champion of the White Garden, who wears wisdom and chaos as a mantel. Fair Juea, Lady of Moonlight, with a shining star upon her brow, who sows light upon the darkness. Masked Morfes, Lord Sun, draped in hate but never vengeful, wields the staff of the Final Dusk.

Edited March 1, 2017 by KereDerek

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

8 hours ago, KereDerek said:

Recently, I've tried to start really focusing on creating very impactful sentences, influenced by Rothfuss. I feel that if you train for a little it in the mindset that every sentence, every word, has to be perfect, it can lead to elevating your craft. This is my first attempt that this, and it was actually quite fun trying to put the sentences together and think of description combinations that have a solid visual and mental impact. 

Got a long way to go, but it felt good in more ways than one putting this together. 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Greatest among the Aspects servants, were the High Aspects Eldarem. Beings of fathomless power, the Eldarem were charged with the protection of mankind. They were to be the stalwarts in the storm, battered but never cowed. A shield for those who could not protect themselves from the greater turnings of the world. The Eldarem were absolute in their devotion to both their Aspects and their scared duty. They were ordered to never lose hope for humanity, even if hope is lost to the Aspects and Humans themselves. The Eldara were to be the champions of the people in the world of the gods, and champions they were. They shielded man from the wrath of Broc Mensul, they prevented the infection that was the Terisal Dusk, they cast down and defeated  Ludax’s most feared servants, the Daesra. Eldarem are the focal points of the light that is creation, they are beloved above all else, and hated for the curse they bare.

 

 

Among the Eldarem is shining Sesila, the Truthstar, with wings of bone and fire, who wears a crown of blood. Solemn Ralsis, Champion of the White Garden, who wears wisdom and chaos as a mantel. Fair Juea, Lady of Moonlight, with a shining star upon her brow, who sows light upon the darkness. Masked Morfes, Lord Sun, draped in hate but never vengeful, wields the staff of the Final Dusk.

I tend more toward the opposite school of thought: write to say what you want to say, and beauty and grace of phrasing will come with practice. 

[StrikerEZ he/him]

So, I posted this idea in the General Discussion topic Random Stuff X, but I thought it'd be cool to expand upon it here. Well, not really expand upon, but you get the idea.

The basic premise is that scientist have discovered an asteroid the size of the moon headed directly for Earth. It'll hit Earth in exacly one week. What do you do?

I at first thought it'd be cool to write a book about this, then I thought that would be too long. So then I thought about maybe doing a short story. I finally decided I'm going to to write a long poem story-thing, entitled "T-Minus Seven." Since I'm on spring break, I should be able to finish it, but don't count on it.

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

52 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

So, I posted this idea in the General Discussion topic Random Stuff X, but I thought it'd be cool to expand upon it here. Well, not really expand upon, but you get the idea.

The basic premise is that scientist have discovered an asteroid the size of the moon headed directly for Earth. It'll hit Earth in exacly one week. What do you do?

I at first thought it'd be cool to write a book about this, then I thought that would be too long. So then I thought about maybe doing a short story. I finally decided I'm going to to write a long poem story-thing, entitled "T-Minus Seven." Since I'm on spring break, I should be able to finish it, but don't count on it.

Be looking forward to it!

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

Grabbing the popcorn

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

So, question. And this is more of an opinion, no-wrong-answers kind of thing, not a Serious Question About the Craft. 

Do you think it's possible to raise the stakes to life-or-death levels without killing off a major character? 

[Oversleep]

1 minute ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

So, question. And this is more of an opinion, no-wrong-answers kind of thing, not a Serious Question About the Craft. 

Do you think it's possible to raise the stakes to life-or-death levels without killing off a major character? 

You can always use Worf Effect... if you wanna make sure the enemy is powerful, make him curbstomp some widely-recognized-as-powerful characters. I know, that's not a good trope but all I can think of right now.

[ShadowLord_Lith he/him]

 

1 hour ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

So, question. And this is more of an opinion, no-wrong-answers kind of thing, not a Serious Question About the Craft. 

Do you think it's possible to raise the stakes to life-or-death levels without killing off a major character? 

In my story, or fan-fiction really, I took the main character's brother and, using the the idea that the closer two people are the more strongly linked their souls are, I had him get kidnapped.

 

The antagonists now plague the protagonist with glimpses into the torture his brother is experiencing, at random moments during the day. He'll just hallucinate and begin to feel his brothers pain and emotions. Add that to the antagonists ability to influence his actions and choices slightly through the same link and... you get the idea.

 

I don't know if that'd work in your situation, but the idea that something is happening to someone close to your protagonist and he/she can't stop it unless he/she either defeats his/her enemy or gives into their demands adds a lot of weight to the story, I think; especially when the protagonist is unaware of the fact that his/her enemies are the ones doing it, even if he/she guesses at the truth.

 

What do you think? Did I help?

[Eagle of the Forest Path he/him]

10 hours ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

So, question. And this is more of an opinion, no-wrong-answers kind of thing, not a Serious Question About the Craft. 

Do you think it's possible to raise the stakes to life-or-death levels without killing off a major character? 

Yes, absolutely.

For example, a story I've currently got in the planning stages involves a vial of incurable plague in the hands of a less-than-scrupulous faction of freedom fighters.
Usually the threat of death can work just as well as an actual death.

... hold on, am I confusing "stakes" with "tension" here?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

14 hours ago, Oversleep said:

You can always use Worf Effect... if you wanna make sure the enemy is powerful, make him curbstomp some widely-recognized-as-powerful characters. I know, that's not a good trope but all I can think of right now.

That's always a possibility. It's not a trope I'm fond of, because it's easy to overuse it, but that is one way to establish the antagonist as someone powerful enough to cause trouble. 

12 hours ago, ShadowLord_Lith said:

 

In my story, or fan-fiction really, I took the main character's brother and, using the the idea that the closer two people are the more strongly linked their souls are, I had him get kidnapped.

 

The antagonists now plague the protagonist with glimpses into the torture his brother is experiencing, at random moments during the day. He'll just hallucinate and begin to feel his brothers pain and emotions. Add that to the antagonists ability to influence his actions and choices slightly through the same link and... you get the idea.

 

I don't know if that'd work in your situation, but the idea that something is happening to someone close to your protagonist and he/she can't stop it unless he/she either defeats his/her enemy or gives into their demands adds a lot of weight to the story, I think; especially when the protagonist is unaware of the fact that his/her enemies are the ones doing it, even if he/she guesses at the truth.

 

What do you think? Did I help?

 

3 hours ago, Eagle of the Forest Path said:

Yes, absolutely.

For example, a story I've currently got in the planning stages involves a vial of incurable plague in the hands of a less-than-scrupulous faction of freedom fighters.
Usually the threat of death can work just as well as an actual death.

... hold on, am I confusing "stakes" with "tension" here?

I guess I was kind of getting at both. See, to me, stakes and tension often go hand-in-hand. They're two different things, sure, but they're also closely linked: if the stakes are high, it's easier to raise the tension; if the stakes aren't high enough, it'll be hard to raise tension. Yet it's also possible to say the stakes are high, but have the tension level be relatively low. 

….okay, I'm going to give an example of what I want to avoid. I'll spoil it just in case, but really, the one-star reviews on Goodreads—not to mention the myriad sporks available online—have discussed most of these twists in detail. 

Spoiler

In Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, we are told, time and again, that Valentine is a threat, that he's going to take over the world, that he'll stop at nothing to achieve his goals. We're told that he has no qualms against killing children (although his definition of "child" turns out to be rather broad) and that he deserves his status as the series' Big Bad. And yet he doesn't come across as half the threat Clare obviously intends him to be. When he appears onscreen, we're supposed to feel a sense of terror, but he doesn't inspire that. Perhaps it's because his biggest act of evil—the one that the characters react most to—is informing Jace and Clary that they're actually siblings. Which turns out to be a lie. He kidnaps two side characters (a vampire and a werewolf) and threatens them with sunlight and silver, but even then he doesn't feel like a threat. The plot armor is evident on those two. 

Now, let's say there's an antagonist who is an established killer. He clearly has no qualms against it. He kills a minor character early on, and talks about killing others. Now let's say he attempts to kill a viewpoint character, and the viewpoint character survives—but barely, and with all the lasting scars and trauma that go along with such a narrow escape. Let's also say that this antagonist has every reason to kill other viewpoint characters, yet never succeeds, due to cleverness and skill (not to mention the fact they avoid him for the most part) on the viewpoint characters' part. Do you think that antagonist could remain a threat, if it's established that he will kill a viewpoint character at the first opportunity, even if he never succeeds? 

[Edgedancer he/him]

@TwiLyghtSansSparkles I suppose a large factor here is effort and consequence. If the only thing the protagonists loose is time and maybe some nerves it'll eventually grow old, even more so if a sense of routine Sets in and every escape takes less effort. Now, the stress and exhaustion from those escapes building up over time and leading to slip ups, finite resourcess getting used up each time to get away and each encounter growing closer on the other hand can ramp up tension quite a bit.

[ShadowLord_Lith he/him]

To add to what @Edgedancer has said, another thing you could do is add subtle hints that, when viewed later, let the reader realize that the antagonist had been manipulating the protagonists into a final confrontation; he appears to go all out each time they meet, he take vital things from them, but he also leaves them just well enough to continue on and eventually reach him. 

 

He would then then show a hither-to unseen restraint and wait to kill the protagonists, toying with them and revealing just how long he has been manipulating their actions. Eventually he really does go all out, pushing the protagonists past the breaking point and potentially killing them; but how it ends is up to you. Deus ex machina, physiological weakness of the villain, and even mental ingirmities on either parties parts could explain the victory or (for once) the loss of the protagonists. 

 

But its up to you. So good luck!

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

2 hours ago, Edgedancer said:

@TwiLyghtSansSparkles I suppose a large factor here is effort and consequence. If the only thing the protagonists loose is time and maybe some nerves it'll eventually grow old, even more so if a sense of routine Sets in and every escape takes less effort. Now, the stress and exhaustion from those escapes building up over time and leading to slip ups, finite resourcess getting used up each time to get away and each encounter growing closer on the other hand can ramp up tension quite a bit.

Oooh, that's a good way to build up tension.  Showing resources running out and stress piling up would also go a long way toward adding some grittiness. 

12 minutes ago, ShadowLord_Lith said:

To add to what @Edgedancer has said, another thing you could do is add subtle hints that, when viewed later, let the reader realize that the antagonist had been manipulating the protagonists into a final confrontation; he appears to go all out each time they meet, he take vital things from them, but he also leaves them just well enough to continue on and eventually reach him. 

 

He would then then show a hither-to unseen restraint and wait to kill the protagonists, toying with them and revealing just how long he has been manipulating their actions. Eventually he really does go all out, pushing the protagonists past the breaking point and potentially killing them; but how it ends is up to you. Deus ex machina, physiological weakness of the villain, and even mental ingirmities on either parties parts could explain the victory or (for once) the loss of the protagonists. 

 

But its up to you. So good luck!

As much as I like that idea, this antagonist isn't the sort to toy with an enemy, but more the ruthlessly pragmatic sort. If he did manage to get the protagonists into a tight spot, he'd just shoot them. So to help the protagonists survive, I'll have to make them resourceful and clever enough to avoid confrontation on their own.

Edit: I thought I'd add that I'm not asking because I can't bear to kill off one of my precious characters. I can. I've killed off characters before. But lately, I've found the question of how someone can pick up and carry on after multiple tight scrapes and worldview-shattering events to be more interesting than the question of how people can move on after a loved one's death. Not that the latter question isn't interesting—if it wasn't, then we wouldn't have millennia of literature pondering it—but the former interests me more. 

Edited March 16, 2017 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Oversleep]

I have joked about it for a long time - that tagging online (like we do on Shard or on reddit or FB etc) is summoning (I even use phrase "summon: Username") - but only now I have fully realized that's exactly how True Name magic would work. I may need to read Vinge's True Names again and start building something like that.

In other news, I joined a worldbuilding community on FB and I'm currently developing Lanternlight and Soulsmiths.

Edited March 23, 2017 by Oversleep

[Eagle of the Forest Path he/him]

The world-building for the story I'm currently writing includes the use of luminescent sea organisms (aka sea sparkles IRL) in lamps.

Basically it's a jar full of seawater with the tiny organisms in it. You shake the jar and it agitates the sea sparkles, making them light up.
People have to regularly feed their lamps (I'm thinking powdered seaweed) or they weaken and eventually die. 

The one thing I'm stuck on right now is a name for the lamps. Current options are sea-lamp, waterlight, merlamp, glowbottle and bluetorch.
Thoughts?