Epigraphs !

[Bloo]

Do you use 'em? The novel I hope to finish someday has two...

******

“Where are they?”
Enrico Fermi, Italian-American nuclear physicist

“…just outside the Sol system.”
Bekana Wurno, Australian astrophysicist

*****

The first is an actual quote. The second is from a fictional character of my own creation (she says those words in Chapter 5).

Let's see what you got.

 

[CageSage]

Bekana Wurno, Australian astrophysicist

As an Australian, I'm wondering where this name came from as it has no significance to anything Australian (there are also indigenous studies of astrophysics worth looking into to find names that resonate with a touch of reality).

Onto epigraphs ...
I am using slightly edited versions of Dante in one of my current stories, but I may take them out before it's finished. Just playing with them at the moment, mainly as a way to keep the 'intent' of the scenes their associated with in the front of my mind as I write.

 

[Bloo]

As an Australian, I'm wondering where this name came from as it has no significance to anything Australian (there are also indigenous studies of astrophysics worth looking into to find names that resonate with a touch of reality).

Onto epigraphs ...
I am using slightly edited versions of Dante in one of my current stories, but I may take them out before it's finished. Just playing with them at the moment, mainly as a way to keep the 'intent' of the scenes their associated with in the front of my mind as I write.

She's a fictional character in charge of The Dish. "Becky" is surveying the edge of our solar system when she intercepts an alien radio signal.

Thanks for the link, BTW.

 

[CageSage]

She's a fictional character in charge of The Dish. "Becky" is surveying the edge of our solar system when she intercepts an alien radio signal.

Thanks for the link, BTW.

You're welcome.

I'm wondering if The Dish is the name of the novel/story, and if it's published (we have an Australian movie by that name, referencing a satellite dish - I'm not sure if it had wide distribution, though).

 

[RK Wallis]

I've written one, but I don't think I'll use it It gives too much away...

 

[Bloo]

You're welcome.

I'm wondering if The Dish is the name of the novel/story, and if it's published (we have an Australian movie by that name, referencing a satellite dish - I'm not sure if it had wide distribution, though).

We got The Dish here in the US. I've only seen the promo. The scene where they are playing golf on the parabola made me roll my eyes (something like that could damage the surface).

Mine is called The Blue. I really hope to finish it someday. Yet it's really not looking good right now.

 

[CageSage]

We got The Dish here in the US. I've only seen the promo. The scene where they are playing golf on the parabola made me roll my eyes (something like that could damage the surface).

Mine is called The Blue. I really hope to finish it someday. Yet it's really not looking good right now.

Sometimes, they have to sit in the back of the mind while you tend to other stuff, but it's bubbling away, catching drifts of relevant words or filling, waiting for the time to bring the world to light up when it's got all the ingredients and is ready for the front burner.

 

[Dorm Ant]

You're welcome.

I'm wondering if The Dish is the name of the novel/story, and if it's published (we have an Australian movie by that name, referencing a satellite dish - I'm not sure if it had wide distribution, though).

I've seen The Dish, here in Britain. Think it was on telly. Same kind of humour as Strictly Ballroom, if I remember right.

 

[CageSage]

I've seen The Dish, here in Britain. Think it was on telly. Same kind of humour as Strictly Ballroom, if I remember right.

exactly the same type of humour.

 

[Pamela Jo]

Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame! WB Yeats.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

You're welcome.

I'm wondering if The Dish is the name of the novel/story, and if it's published (we have an Australian movie by that name, referencing a satellite dish - I'm not sure if it had wide distribution, though).

Oh yes we saw it in uk, was great film, loved it.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

We got The Dish here in the US. I've only seen the promo. The scene where they are playing golf on the parabola made me roll my eyes (something like that could damage the surface).

Mine is called The Blue. I really hope to finish it someday. Yet it's really not looking good right now.

Don’t say you won’t finish it. Please.
I’ve got inches of paper that show how many times I re-wrote the beginning of my MG book until I got it right.
I think beginnings are the hardest bit, but you learn so much by persevering.
You have hinted at some interesting ideas (haven’t seen enough to know how it develops), and it could be fantastic.
Shelve it temporarily, if you must, but please don’t give up.

 

[Pamela Jo]

We got The Dish here in the US. I've only seen the promo. The scene where they are playing golf on the parabola made me roll my eyes (something like that could damage the surface).

Mine is called The Blue. I really hope to finish it someday. Yet it's really not looking good right now.

You hint that you have more than a layman's knowledge. There are so many readers like myself who would like to know more. If not a novel, how about a nonfiction work giving us some inside knowledge? We need a counter-balance to the Three Body Problem.

 

[Bloo]

Don’t say you won’t finish it. Please.
I’ve got inches of paper that show how many times I re-wrote the beginning of my MG book until I got it right.
I think beginnings are the hardest bit, but you learn so much by persevering.
You have hinted at some interesting ideas (haven’t seen enough to know how it develops), and it could be fantastic.
Shelve it temporarily, if you must, but please don’t give up.

Oh wow. Thank you for this

I alternate wildly between thinking I've got something, or nothing. I've written an outline (not a very good one, but it keeps me organized). What it doesn't do is break writers' block.

I've never been the creative sort, and now I want to...well...create. I don't even know how to touch-type and I'm trying to write a book! Yes...the Imposter Syndrome is strong in me.

Thanks again for the encouragement

 

[Bloo]

You hint that you have more than a layman's knowledge. There are so many readers like myself who would like to know more. If not a novel, how about a nonfiction work giving us some inside knowledge? We need a counter-balance to the Three Body Problem.

Hiya, Pam...

I'm not an astrophysicist. My skills and experience provide little in the way of inside knowledge.

I was disappointed with The Three-Body Problem. Many of the atomic physics principles we're believable in theory; their fantastical application was not. Some of the science was sketchy. Yet I can suspend disbelief for things like Star Trek (warp drive, anyone?). My issue with TBP is that it takes a few really cool ideas and wraps them in a mediocre story.

The characters were inexcusably bad. Most of them are not very interesting or deep. They often don't talk or act believably. The Tri-Solarians behave almost like humans. And good lord, the dialogue of either species is boring. You know there's a problem when the VR characters are more interesting than the real ones.

I want to write believable sci-fi with believable characters. Yet I'm so damn far from doing that.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Oh wow. Thank you for this

I alternate wildly between thinking I've got something, or nothing. I've written an outline (not a very good one, but it keeps me organized. What it doesn't do is break writers block.

I've never been the creative sort, and now I want to...well...create. I don't even know how to touch-type and I'm trying to write a book! Yes...the Imposter Syndrome is strong.

But...hey...thanks again

Lol, imposter syndrome, yeah, I think we all have that from time to time.
I went to Uni at age 54 to learn how to do this better. And what they kept telling me was, ‘keep writing. Just keep doing it and you will improve’.
I would add, keep checking progress out on here.
Think I’ve been here about a year now, and I’ve seen my work leap forward in that time. Mostly down to feedback - the more brutal the better, in my case, lol.
Everyone here is in the same boat and wanting to help each other. As a reader, we all can feel when something isn’t right (and better to find out now, than when you’re sending out your manuscript, I always say). And some (most) people in here are so good they can guide us as to what to do instead. This has been invaluable for me. Hope it proves the same for you.
I’ve had lots of, ‘oh well, back to the drawing board’ moments since joining. But what I’ve produced after has often taken me by surprise.
So turn your background paper to blue (stimulates creativity) and keep going. Grow a skin as thick as a Teflon-coated rhino driving a Sherman tank.
And remember the great Alan Rickman - never give up, never surrender.

 

[Bloo]

Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame! WB Yeats.

I know not a single work of Yeats, but I like this. What sort of book are you are writing?

 

[Bloo]

Oh yes we saw it in uk, was great film, loved it.

Now I want to see more than the promo.

 

[Bloo]

I've written one, but I don't think I'll use it It gives too much away...

Well you can tell us, right? Let's see if we can figure it out.

 

[RK Wallis]

Well you can tell us, right? Let's see if we can figure it out.

Okay here goes:

What the Bower Realm endures is a testament to the human spirit: oppression, reprehensible selfishness, mind-tampering. The Garden fuels the spell, the spell traps the realm, threatening our children .… you must win our freedom. But first, you must grasp the whole truth.

Old crone, Bower Realm

This is paraphrasing from something she says a few chapters in.

 

[Bloo]

Okay here goes:

What the Bower Realm endures is a testament to the human spirit: oppression, reprehensible selfishness, mind-tampering. The Garden fuels the spell, the spell traps the realm, threatening our children .… you must win our freedom. But first, you must grasp the whole truth.

Old crone, Bower Realm

This is paraphrasing from something she says a few chapters in.

This sounds like fantasy. That's not my usual gig, so I prolly don't get it. But my non-fantasy mind tells me to burn down the Garden.

Or maybe...is this the Garden of Eden? I guess that would mean the crone is the serpent so she's the devil? I'm prolly overthinking this.

BTW...isn't a crone old by definition? In any case, I'm not sure this qualifies as an epigraph because it's a paraphrase and not a direct quote.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[RK Wallis]

burn down the Garden.

They try ... but this is fantasy

 

[Pamela Jo]

I know not a single work of Yeats, but I like this. What sort of book are you are writing?

I'm writing for a genre called Young Adult for Older, Sexy People. The sad thing is I have lots of marketing research that shows this is a genuine genre-it's just not recognised by publishers yet.

 

[Bloo]

I'm writing for a genre called Young Adult for Older, Sexy People. The sad thing is I have lots of marketing research that shows this is a genuine genre-it's just not recognised by publishers yet.

I would read that.

 

[Pamela Jo]

Hiya, Pam...

I'm not an astrophysicist. My skills and experience provide little in the way of inside knowledge.

I was disappointed with The Three-Body Problem. Many of the atomic physics principles we're believable in theory; their fantastical application was not. Some of the science was sketchy. Yet I can suspend disbelief for things like Star Trek (warp drive, anyone?). My issue with TBP is that it takes a few really cool ideas and wraps them in a mediocre story.

The characters were inexcusably bad. Most of them are not very interesting or deep. They often don't talk or act believably. The Tri-Solarians behave almost like humans. And good lord, the dialogue of either species is boring. You know there's a problem when the VR characters are more interesting than the real ones.

I want to write believable sci-fi with believable characters. Yet I'm so damn far from doing that.

The 3 Body Problem was a story that made me wish I had learned more Kanji. Chinese being a language that thinks in wordplay and visual puns. I didn't come to it with any expectations so I wasn't disappointed. The main point for me is how very differently specifically China, but Asia in general thinks and interprets science. I spent almost 6 years in Japan and was able to travel quite a bit through the rest of Asia. I had the chance to see a little bit through other eyes. The 3 Body Problem was a continuation of that for me. If you cannot comprehend the alien nature of even another human culture, then there is not much hope of understanding any other life form.

 

[Hannah F]

I'm writing for a genre called Young Adult for Older, Sexy People. The sad thing is I have lots of marketing research that shows this is a genuine genre-it's just not recognised by publishers yet.

I think you are referring to the genre New Adult. It features on Amazon and there are agents seeking it, but there's no shelf for it in bookshops. The age of the protagonist(s) is generally 18-25.