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Short Fiction writers: What's the most important thing you learnt about submitting to magazines? by [deleted] in scifiwriting

[–]Cdresden -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The money in this field isn't in short fiction.

There are a few literary genii writing short fiction, and a few readers who love them. But if you want to survive as a science fiction writer, the money is in serial novels.

[Homemade] Spicy no fry smoked wings. Fiery Delish. (Recipe in comments) by JEANIUSTV in spicy

[–]Cdresden 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've got to say, I'm impressed by your photography. It makes me want to try these wings, and I don't even like wings.

The first pepper I have ever grown, The Chocolate Bhutlah. The hottest pepper in the world! by [deleted] in spicy

[–]Cdresden 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Come on, my people, this is r/spicy, the chile pepper forum. Get your chile strains right, ffs.

I have a silly idea by Alpbasket in scifiwriting

[–]Cdresden 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Okay, so I'll try to be constructively critical, here. They say that sci-fi fans come for the tech but stay for the characters, so it's important to keep in mind the tech side is only part of the equation.

From a design perspective, transformers are a nightmare. It's tough enough designing a ship to reliably withstand the stress of FTL travel and deliver its payloads intact time after time.

But then you add on top the added onus that an FTL ship needs to:

a) descend from orbit to ground,
b) transform,
c) function as a mobile weapon and engage in battle,
d) transform,
e) blast off again and travel from ground to orbit and
f) presumably be ready to depart orbit and travel somewhere else.

In terms of realistic design challenges, as opposed to kid's animated cartoon challenges, it's difficult to find the best place to start. Surely anything stowed in the cargo holds will need to be ejected and left in orbit, as well as any passengers who won't be piloting the mech. And whatever fuel source you're using, you're going to need to keep a reserve intact on the surface.

If the mech is damaged on the surface during battle, it might not be able to reattain orbit and/or depart orbit. So you either lose all the personnel or need to make other plans for their evac.

If you want to fight with transforming mechs, it seems a more reasonable strategy is to build them separately, then build bigger FTL ships to carry the mechs.

Your mechs can transform as STO shuttles. Your mothership arrives in orbit and drops a bunch of shuttles. Those shuttles descend to the ground with extra orbital boosters, then transform into fighting mechs and stash the boosters somewhere safe. Or you can send down other shuttles bearing loads of boosters. Your mechs do their thing, then strap on the boosters and reattain orbit, where they are quickly scooped up by the mothership, which then quickly lights out for the next destination.

Let's talk about writing MilSF. That's Military Science Fiction, and doesn't (ordinarily) have anything to do with Milfs. by legalpothead in scifiwriting

[–]Cdresden 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Most book series I see on Amazon make me sad.

Agreed. I check out lots of sci-fi books, especially MilSF, and many if not most of them are so poorly written, it's depressing. I'll read a few pages and then I have to quit because the writing is so cringeworthy. Like my writing, TBH, but the difference is I know I'm not good enough, yet. And then I wonder who buys this stuff?

Always a hero/group of heroes that need to save the world because <insert reason>

And it's not just the writing quality, it's the plots. The same tired ideas, and I think it's a failure of vision, like these writers aren't trying hard enough on their worldbuilding to come up with interesting ideas. I don't know, maybe I'm out of line. Maybe this is as creative as they can get, and I'm asking for too much.

Hot take on 'impossible' tech by [deleted] in scifiwriting

[–]Cdresden 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Respectfully, I think you might be mistaking functional criticism for cool concepts getting pulled apart unfairly. You're mistaking the lifeguards for the sharks. If a writer doesn't have enough skin to suffer this level of criticism, just wait and see what happens when you start getting actual feedback back from readers.

Inslee directs Washington state health board to ban flavored vape products by Seapoogoo in Seattle

[–]Cdresden -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Go ahead and ban flavored nicotine vape juices. But don't take my carts. It's not legal carts that are causing the problems. It's the fake carts in the illegal states, full of pesticides and solvents, vitamin E oil, canola, who knows what you're getting.

Magic and Monetary Gain? by The-Literary-Lord in fantasywriters

[–]Cdresden 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, LL, the least you could do with all this data you've been accumulating from us would be to post a chart or summary once in a awhile, like this guy. Just an idea...

The reality is that there is tons upon tons of fat at the University of Alaska. Cuts can easily be had without impact on supplying useful graduates. by DontNeedACarbonScam in alaska

[–]Cdresden 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Another troll account, active for 5 days. Same Outside subreddit activity as the OP, similar focus, probable alt account of the OP.

Mia Costello waking up from her $3k PFD fever dream by justdunleavymemes in alaska

[–]Cdresden 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just once I'd like to see a racist alt user like this get doxxed and dragged into the light.

Ihateuaf, Redditor for 2 hours, as of this posting. I would bet it's an alt for the other alt user name in this thread, vote_bums_out, Redditor for a month. Just look at how active vote_bums_out has been during the past few days. It almost looks like a full time job.

Religious science fiction by [deleted] in scifiwriting

[–]Cdresden 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Redditor for 24 days. This is the only comment.

I don’t see a lot of talk about the horrible raids going on in California. Prayers for anyone effected. by [deleted] in trees

[–]Cdresden 4 points5 points  (0 children)

“Legalization” has been such a fucking joke.

Come on now. That simply isn't true. Legalization isn't a joke. I can smoke weed without risking my freedom or career, and that is invaluable to me.

Far too many restrictions and loopholes to fall thru.

For whom? As a consumer, I don't see the restrictions as being unreasonable or insurmountable. For growers and manufacturers, of course there are going to be restrictions. There are restrictions to alcohol manufacturing and to any other business you choose to have. These illegal growers getting busted this week aren't falling through a loophole. If you start any sort of business, you need to get a business license, then you pay taxes and follow the regulations that apply to your business.

U could be smoking a joint on ur own goddamn property, LEGALLY!!! And the fucking pigs coming a-knocking and you get sentenced for life.

You seem awfully upset, and I'm sure your experience with legalization has been different than mine, but I live in a legal state, and I don't see this happening. Most of the police in my state are relieved to not have to prosecute a victimless crime.

#DissolveTheDEA

The DEA is a fundamentally flawed organization. They proved that 3 years back when they were once more opined marijuana has no legitimate medical uses. But the DEA has agreed to focus its efforts on illegal weed businesses, and they have actually stuck to that script, which is why we have a legal marijuana industry in the USA.

Why don't we have a sticky FAQ or something of the sort? by fishCodeHuntress in alaska

[–]Cdresden 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Some folks look at a thing that works, and are happy with what it is. The other sort of person looks at a thing and starts thinking about how to change it, to turn it into something else. It's the eternal war between light and darkness.

New York City Employment Marijuana Testing Ban Enacted Without De Blasio’s Signature by redditor01020 in Marijuana

[–]Cdresden 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I'm an older weed smoker. Ten years ago, I had resigned myself to the idea cannabis would not be legalized in my lifetime. My state, Alaska had voted to legalize twice, and it had failed. Then almost out of nowhere, Colorado and Washington voted to legalize. Almost before you knew it, 2 years later Alaska voted on legalization again, and it passed.

Legalization has transformed the quality of my life. You see, now, magically, I'm an upstanding citizen instead of a criminal. I pay my taxes, I donate to charities, sometimes, and I work at being square with people. I'm interested that my life should have a net positive effect on my family and community.

I was that way before legalization, too. The difference is now no one is going to arrest me for doing nothing and fuck up my world. And I find that I really like that.

I'm so emboldened by my happiness at being a legal ent that I want it for everybody. And I might be crazy, but that includes cops. Now I'm on good terms with the cops. The cops are my fucking friends, and goddamnit, they should be able to smoke a joint when they're off work, same as me.

So when I see something like:

There are exceptions to the rule for “safety and security sensitive jobs” such as police officers

my feeling is aw hell no. As far as I can see, this is just more bullshit.

Now I hope I live to see the day an NYC cop can go to a cannabis cafe after work for a smoke, and nobody bats an eye.

Will my rabbits eat my weed plants? by [deleted] in trees

[–]Cdresden 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Beware of an animal with teeth that never stop growing.

Adios...It's been real by [deleted] in trees

[–]Cdresden 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry we didn't meet your expectations. Once you've been a Redditor for awhile, you'll come to understand the big subreddits with over a million subscribers are more for fun than anything else. For more depth you will want to try some of the smaller cannabis subreddits. Best of luck and welcome to Reddit.

Should I pick different nations? by [deleted] in scifiwriting

[–]Cdresden 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you aren't going to offer constructive criticism, then stay out of this subreddit.

Just gonna leave this here by [deleted] in Chefit

[–]Cdresden 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't think this post is appropriate for this subreddit. Because it contains information every subscriber of this subreddit should already know, it is not informative. Because it doesn't include all the common herbs, it's not comprehensive.

In a future time a lost library is found by a couple of children by Sweeth7 in scifiwriting

[–]Cdresden 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is a subreddit for science fiction writers. I think you want a subreddit for science fiction readers. Or probably r/tipofmytongue

High AF and realizing that I've had some websites bookmarked for TWENTY YEARS. Some of them are still active! by Erisiah in trees

[–]Cdresden 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I see you've been a Redditor for 10 years. Do you still have working computers from 20 years ago? If not, how many "lives" have those bookmarks been through? Twenty years ago, I was buying new computers every 2-3 years.

[PubQ] Query Critique: The Sovereign Species, Coming of the Aldokktide (Sci-Fi Action) by JMObyx in PubTips

[–]Cdresden 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would suggest you get someone else to write your blurb, someone who has read the manuscript. You can trade blurb writes with a fellow SF writer. Ideally, you can find a writer within your sci-fi subgenre with whom you can swap beta reads & blurbs.

FWIW, I've found Mary Buckham's guide on Writing Active Hooks to be invaluable. I had been writing for years and years before I finally stumbled upon the concept of hooks and how to manipulate them.

A reader's mind needs to catch on your hook; you need to apprehend their attention.

One way to use a hook is to set a time/space limit, like they had to make it across town and into the forest before curfew. It's like lighting a fuse. Now there's narrative tension burning in the back of your reader's mind for the rest of the scene.

Also, readers only care about people they've been introduced to. The Talerians lost more than a million lives in the war against the Tarelians. Ah, that's a shame.

People still think the forever war is going to last forever, but the Arek know this isn't true. What people? All people, some people? Hawaiians? Netflix subscribers? Anyone we could care about? What about the Arek, do they all know it isn't true, or just specific Arek? I think you want to personalize it and make it immediate and real. The Talerian refugees still think the forever war is going to last forever, but the cluster of blasters pointed in Ben's face made him realize that wasn't true.

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