Geek Pride Day! Official Support Thread

[Blind_Justice]

Yeah, she had me, too. And my Uber-William-Gibson-Fan Coworker.

"Texture" is a good word for that opening scene. Perfect Al Dente.


Well, if the protag's "legacy" status applies to the overarching plot at all (don't know if it does, but that detail was interesting to me), please make it a subtle reference to Windows OS somehow?

I'll get back to you on that. He will bring about some very interesting events, that's for sure.

Damnation and salvation, rolled into one scruffy package.

 

[Alice_Rosaleen]

Yeah, she had me, too. And my Uber-William-Gibson-Fan Coworker.

"Texture" is a good word for that opening scene. Perfect Al Dente.

Thanks, Etaski! I also owe a big thanks to NotWise, who read the first draft of my opening scene and made such valid, constructive critiques that I completely rewrote everything but the first line. Sometimes it takes another person to point out how a story is reading so I can make it better while I'm writing, if that makes sense!

 

[NotWise]

Thanks, Etaski! I also owe a big thanks to NotWise, who read the first draft of my opening scene and made such valid, constructive critiques that I completely rewrote everything but the first line. Sometimes it takes another person to point out how a story is reading so I can make it better while I'm writing, if that makes sense!

Hey! I thought it was good! Devil's in the details, they say.

 

[Etaski]

I gotta get out my list!!

*licks pen* Bleh! Why do I do that??

In Order of Appearance:

PuckIt (In Progress)

BiscuitHammer

Antryg Windrose

electricblue66 (13K and counting)

Blind_Justice (15K and counting, Etaski's beta impression: mash-up and strain together Mass Effect, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Babylon 5, pour into a sizeable goblet, and enjoy. )

lovecraft68

ChloeTzang

Voboy (FIRST FINISHED! Quote the author: "21,000 words, and yes, it includes penetrative sex with an alien who has a prehensile penis and can cum on order. Also lots of oral, in all sorts of contexts. And a space battle!")

YouDidWhut

xelliebabex

rutger5

LoquiSordidaAdMe (Untranslatable alien language report In Progress)

Alice_Rosaleen (1500 words, Etaski's beta-impression: Cyberpunk triple-distilled, topshelf)

PrettyLilPussy

JasonClearwater

ShyChiWriter

Loquere


Nobody here has to cough up what they're working on. Surprises are awesome. But as long as people here are chattering a bit and sharing, I can be the scribe.

Looking forward to more!

 

[Blind_Justice]

Thanks, Etaski! I also owe a big thanks to NotWise, who read the first draft of my opening scene and made such valid, constructive critiques that I completely rewrote everything but the first line. Sometimes it takes another person to point out how a story is reading so I can make it better while I'm writing, if that makes sense!

I've had a similar experience with Etaski when she offered to read my "Temptation of Gheeran" story. Tons of valid points caused me to rewrite about half of it, to the story's benefit.

 

[Voboy]

My betas will say this is typical of me. "How many bloody buttons does your spacesuit have, EB?"

"Zips, guys, zips. And clever seals, to keep the air in. It's space, remember."

"No wonder you've taken 13000 words. Without buttons, your characters don't know how to get undressed."

Maybe a naked alien will save some time...

Still, I'm guessing it'll be the first time a NASA transcript features in a Lit story.

For my story, I invented sentient clothing.

I never explain how it works; I just throw in random sentences, like “her pants were on their way to the washer when she called them back again,” things like that.

It’ll seem like I’m doing a “used universe” thing, where scientific wonders like sentient clothing are so commonplace they’re not even worth explaining.

But the truth is that I’ve got no idea how sentient clothing works. It just... sorta... happened.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

LoquiSordidaAdMe (1500 words In Progress)

Wait, you're actually going to keep a running tally of our progress reports!? Gah! The pressure!

 

[JasonClearwater]

Wait, you're actually going to keep a running tally of our progress reports!? Gah! The pressure!

33,000 words, and a great deal of work away from being finished, or being geeky enough to be included.

 

[NotWise]

Wait, you're actually going to keep a running tally of our progress reports!? Gah! The pressure!

Ooh. Clever motivational trick.

 

[Etaski]

Wait, you're actually going to keep a running tally of our progress reports!? Gah! The pressure!

C'mon, I was born a NERD. Someone puts numbers in front of me, and I sort them where they make sense at the time. Then I forget where I put them until a worthy update rolls around to pull out the notebook again.

Last week I just finished compiling over 50 individual creative widgets and sketches from the past 4 years about necromancers and liches into something that actually looks like a readable, 200+ page RPG sourcebook. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS THERE!

But seriously, no harm meant to anyone's creative process. The only person I feel good about laying serious pressure down is myself.

Happy to nix that mark easily enough and pretend any more odd scratchings from LoquiSordidaAdMe that look vaguely like numbers is really some strange, alien tomb markings.

 

[Etaski]

For my story, I invented sentient clothing.

I never explain how it works; I just throw in random sentences, like “her pants were on their way to the washer when she called them back again,” things like that.
.

Self-bathing laundry.

....I want.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

Happy to nix that mark easily enough and pretend any more odd scratchings from LoquiSordidaAdMe that look vaguely like numbers is really some strange, alien tomb markings.

No, no. No special treatment for me please. I've never entered a contest (or anthology or whatever this is) here before, so I'm not real familiar with the protocol. If this is the way it's done, I'll play along.

And I'll do my best to tamp down on my jealousy of writers who can crank out 10k words a day. This must be how George RR Martin feels when he looks at Stephen King.

 

[PuckIt]

No, no. No special treatment for me please. I've never entered a contest (or anthology or whatever this is) here before, so I'm not real familiar with the protocol. If this is the way it's done, I'll play along.

And I'll do my best to tamp down on my jealousy of writers who can crank out 10k words a day. This must be how George RR Martin feels when he looks at Stephen King.

And then there are the ones like me who decide arbitrarily they don't like what they have so far and wipe out a 100kb "story" just 'cause it wasn't good enough and all that crap writing was stifling the creative process.

(Or, maybe just to tweak certain numbers nerds noses. You never can tell when I might feel all over Puckish. )

*****

But, seriously... I was coasting along and realized it was probably way too soon to be turning an eight-inch fairy into a gunge girl. So, pausing for a bit of a rethink about what happened after the guy woke up to see a dragon and eventually realized he had been summoned to another world on his way to becoming not the hero they needed, but the villain they deserved.

 

[Etaski]

No, no. No special treatment for me please. I've never entered a contest (or anthology or whatever this is) here before, so I'm not real familiar with the protocol. If this is the way it's done, I'll play along.

You'll...play along?

....But that makes it way too tempting to fuck with you. Stop it.



*pulling the halo back on* There's no protocol whatsoever, Loqui. This is me doing geeky/nerdy things to express excitement and convey positive information on this event. Because a certain, cuddly bear of a barbarian has hinted he could use a little help focusing now and then.

*cracks knuckles* This is when a decade of managerial experience comes in and is actually fun for once.

So, as you like, no special treatment. Just random lists and progress estimations that mean exactly nothing in the end. Happy writing!

 

[Etaski]

And then there are the ones like me who decide arbitrarily they don't like what they have so far and wipe out a 100kb "story" just 'cause it wasn't good enough and all that crap writing was stifling the creative process.

(Or, maybe just to tweak certain numbers nerds noses. You never can tell when I might feel all over Puckish. )

This dainty Drow nose remains un-tweaked, dear Barbarian. You'll notice I left off any mention of numbers for you. By the Hells, I even left Chronic Chaos off the list the first time.

But, seriously... I was coasting along and realized it was probably way too soon to be turning an eight-inch fairy into a gunge girl.

....

So, pausing for a bit of a rethink about what happened after the guy woke up to see a dragon and eventually realized he had been summoned to another world on his way to becoming not the hero they needed, but the villain they deserved.

Hmmm, that sounds genuinely intriguing.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Geek help needed.

What the heck is the naming convention for People's Liberation Army navy warships? Like for us it's USS whatever and for the Brits it's HMS Queen Kate or whatever. But I can't find anything on Chinese naval ship names.

 

[Etaski]

Geek help needed.

What the heck is the naming convention for People's Liberation Army navy warships? Like for us it's USS whatever and for the Brits it's HMS Queen Kate or whatever. But I can't find anything on Chinese naval ship names.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Vessels_Naming_Regulation

Got a list for you. Not official at all, not printed on the side of the ship, but this is the convention intended for Westerners looking at Chinese ship names in our alphabet.

The same concept for USS/HMS doesn't exist in the Chinese language, looks like, they have a different regulation system only going back to 1978, if Wiki is at all accurate about that...

So! You could use something here, or another idea is to use which Fleet they are part of:

South Sea Fleet (SSF)
North Sea Fleet (NSF)
East Sea Fleet (ESF)
Hong Kong (HK)

The above is just me and another geek pulling this out of our ass. Idea scrounged from this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_People's_Liberation_Army_Navy_ships

 

[Blind_Justice]

Beaten to the punch by the lovely Etaski.

Ah well.

Back to dealing with religious zealots then.

 

[Etaski]

Ohh...we just found another source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_prefix (the world's ship prefixes, if applicable)

Some authors use CNS (Chinese Naval Ship) or PLAN to designate naval ships.

Only for an outsider looking in.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Thx everyone. It's for a space warship so People's Liberation Army Navy Spaceship I think works well.

 

[PuckIt]

Thx everyone. It's for a space warship so People's Liberation Army Navy Spaceship I think works well.

Or maybe Spaceship of the Liberation Army of the People? I mean, since it's futuristic and all, there are bound to be some naming convention changes.

"Con, Sonar. We have a target bearing zero niner. It's the SLAP Happiness, sir!"

Sorry, I'll go back to brooding my own dragon egg.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Or maybe Spaceship of the Liberation Army of the People? I mean, since it's futuristic and all, there are bound to be some naming convention changes.

"Con, Sonar. We have a target bearing zero niner. It's the SLAP Happiness, sir!"

Sorry, I'll go back to brooding my own dragon egg.

Not too far in the future. PLAN space force heroically defending earth from the evil aliens....

 

[RjThoughts]

I've held back long enough....take this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZEdDMQZaCU

Yes, you called?

 

[Etaski]

"Con, Sonar. We have a target bearing zero niner. It's the SLAP Happiness, sir!"

BWAH-HA-HA!

Sorry, I'll go back to brooding my own dragon egg.

I'd like to know who your "nest partner" is.

https://gazukull.deviantart.com/art/Love-Story-II-181795308

(might have to confirm age, but it's very nice. Promise. )

 

[lillianaZ]

Or maybe Spaceship of the Liberation Army of the People? I mean, since it's futuristic and all, there are bound to be some naming convention changes.

"Con, Sonar. We have a target bearing zero niner. It's the SLAP Happiness, sir!"

I have to admit this made me giggle...Not much, just a little.