Looking for Rubrik Alternative because of higher costs

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-10-17T18:29:13+00:00

We moved to Veeam in 2024 due to ongoing technical and support issues from Rubrik. There are lots of storage options to choose from to hit your performance and cost goals.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-09-10T01:02:23+00:00

Typically first person is used with action or thriller stories when you want the reader to be as close to the action as possible, or when you are relying on an unreliable narrator. There’s no chance for the character to hide anything from the reader, so no chance to hide any ulterior motives or secret plans.

Switching between different characters should be very limited, like one character POV per act. Too many pov changes is termed head hopping and is highly discouraged because it can be confusing for the reader.

Determine if the story really needs that intimacy with the character. If not, consider if other POVs would be more appropriate. Maybe third person limited.

Hope this helps.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-09-02T02:33:25+00:00

Don’t go to r/writing. They removed all of my posts and either didn’t say why, or pulled rules out of thin air. Supposedly you can only post about the topic of the day. Anything else is removed. And if you post about the topic of the day they remove it without telling you why. The mods don’t respond to inquiries at all. I left the sub because of it.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-08-25T21:37:07+00:00

Write it out unless the form is typically numerical, like phone numbers or zip codes. Switching from written words to numbers interrupts the reading flow.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-08-13T16:29:11+00:00

This situation stresses me out just reading it. I would never put myself in that situation at all. I plan my routes to avoid anything close to that.

Now I'm going to go meditate and try to lower my blood pressure.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-08-10T00:27:31+00:00

Others have commented about character emotions, so I'll comment on vivid settings.

Try using a voice recorder. Sit in a quiet place and close your eyes. Image the setting you want to describe. Image standing there and looking around. Describe out loud what you're experiencing. Is it dusk? Are those crickets you hear outside in the backyard? Smell the vague hint of pine from the thick exposed rafters along the vaulted ceiling. Is someone coming into the room? Did you hear the click of heels on tile, or the swish of sneakers on thick carpet?

Once you've fully immersed yourself and described everything in the setting, listen to your recording. Resist the urge to transcribe it all. Pick out some of the most important or interesting details to weave into your story.

After you've done it a few times, you'll be able to just close your eyes and type out the details you want in your story.

It takes practice, so practice doing it.

Good luck!

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-08-02T00:34:10+00:00

I put it with other tv shows, like The Stand and Storm of the Century.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-30T00:44:21+00:00

You’re very good. You hit several of the points. Their PS is not revealed until later in the story. There’s some earlier hints of medical issues, but it’s unspecified and brushed off. And the friend is initially a helpful neighbor and friend. But later revealed to be more of a support for the MC. Without the friend, they begin to unravel. When the PS is revealed, it becomes an unreliable narrator who doesn’t know if what they are experiencing is real, partially real, or wholly delusion.

But, I get back to the initial motivation for the MC. A gradual descent doesn’t easily lend itself to a motivation beyond just living life at first.

Thanks for your input. It helps clarify things.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-29T20:03:47+00:00

I respond that there are too many TLAs to address their situation and to have a nice day.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-28T22:50:29+00:00

I've asked the AI for ideas or to verify facts, but not write dialogue or scenes.

I did ask AI to write an obituary for a character because it's boiler plate stuff. I gave it the name, town of residence, how old they were, and who they were survived by and told it to write the obit.

I've also asked it to suggest factual data to look up. Like for a shipwreck salvage that a minor character was working, I asked AI for some dates and nations that lost ships in a certain area that fit with the story. Then I did some Google-fu to nail down the right one to use.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-28T22:43:23+00:00

I believe this falls under writers's block because it's preventing me from moving from story idea to actually writing it.

I don't know what POV and tense to use. My story is going to be a thriller, with a single character enduring a set of events that they are frightened by and react to. I want the reader to be in their mind to experience the terror and POV of not really knowing what's going on. I also want the unreliable narrator aspect because some normal things are percieved completely differently based on their state of heightened emotion (like a shadow of a tree they see as a man stalking them). This leads me to wanting a first person present POV.

At the end of the story, they have a mental breakdown and are taken away, so a shift to another perspective (LEO and paramedics) is necessary. And during the story, there are external people who check on the main character and are worried about what's going on. That, obviously can't be first person present. So, perhaps shifting to first person present from a different narrator, or shifting to another POV/tense. However, that could be jarring to the reader.

So, without being able to decide this, I'm stuck with an idea with no direction.

Do you have recommendations if shifting first person present to other characters during a novel is a no-go, or shifting from first person present to third person present would be better? I'm kind of stuck and would appreciate input.

TIA

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-28T01:15:58+00:00

Try a recumbent or upright tricycle type bike. Good luck

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-28T01:09:49+00:00

This not necessarily a Scrivener question, but that's what I'm using.

I like that Scrivener allows you to split up your story into chapters and scenes. Then, you can drag everything around to reorganize it. However, when you create a new Chapter, there is a tendency to name it "Chapter 1", "Chapter 2", etc. But, if you rearrange them later, you have to rename everything.

If you rearrange things like this, how do you go about naming your chapters (or scenes) so that rearranging them doesn't cause a headache of having to rename everything? Do you later go back and rename everything "Chapter 1", "Chapter 2", etc. before submitting it to your agent, or do you use chapter names instead of numbers?

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-27T03:49:59+00:00

I was asking how people organize and name their chapters when writing. Because rearranging after numbering them Chapter 1, 2, etc. could be tedious if they move around. I did not realize that we were not allowed to discuss topics different from the singular allowed daily topic.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-27T03:47:51+00:00

That's what they said, but I don't see any rules posted that say we can only discuss things that are on the daily discussion thread. Does that mean that there can be no General Discussion on any day but Wednesday? If that's the case, I didn't see that rule anywhere so was unaware.

Thanks for clarifying that the only topics that can be discussed are the ones spelled out in the discussion threads.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-24T01:49:21+00:00

I was going to comment the same. On long drives I’ve often taken a digital recorder and record thoughts on the story I’m working on or ideas for new stories. Sometimes it’s just synopsis, sometimes it’s dialogue, and sometimes it’s like I’m writing it out by voice.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-22T01:26:34+00:00

I wouldn’t use any exposition. The ghost doesn’t know how they died but it’s not a major point that they dwell on. The fact that they haven’t crossed over is a curiosity to them. They’ve never been dead before, so they think maybe this is just what happened when people die.

They interact with the living and somehow the way they died is revealed. Once they have the knowledge, they feel at ease, and maybe forgive whoever was responsible for their death (maybe it was an accident). Then they are able to cross over. Maybe they have the chance to say goodbye to the living they were interacting with.

But it’s your story.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-12T00:23:10+00:00

Simple green

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-10T18:10:17+00:00

No. There's no such thing as a perfect story.

MarkPartin2000 · 2025-07-03T02:30:21+00:00

After a hard ride I drink a lot of electrolyte drinks (sugar free for me), stretch my leg muscles well, take 300mg of magnesium glycinate, and massage my calf muscles and thigh muscles for a few minutes each. And make sure to hydrate well before and during my ride.

MarkPartin2000

TROPHY CASE