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Post by Infinity Blade on Apr 17, 2019 23:26:38 GMT 5
Noted. Thinking back now, I think the novels I've read in the past were formatted like this, but I only had a vague recollection of this when writing, so I paid no heed to it.
I'll include a more specific description of the landscape in the next chapter, which I'm planning to be the last taking place during the K-Pg event. The third chapter will begin straight away in the Paleocene. By that point the main thing I'll need to work on is my knowledge of the Paleocene and how to implement the alien/wizard.
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Post by dinosauria101 on Apr 18, 2019 1:35:19 GMT 5
What do you mean by 'wizard'? I may be able to help with that
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Post by creature386 on Apr 18, 2019 1:54:32 GMT 5
Time travel might not be scientifically possible require bulky and ugly equipment, so some would prefer a supernatural agent swinging a wand with a star at its end.
If time travel is a plot device used once or twice, like in your stories, the audience will generally not question it. They will recognize its necessity for this type of story, just like they realize FTL drives or alien translators are necessary in science fiction.
However, Infinity Blade is planning a story where time travel occurs in a way which implies intelligent intent, so the audience will probably demand an explanation.
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Post by dinosauria101 on Apr 18, 2019 2:00:32 GMT 5
^Was that directed at what I said?
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Post by creature386 on Apr 18, 2019 2:02:17 GMT 5
Yes.
Without the fancy words, he must explain time travel and AWizardDidIt is convenient. Plus, I suggested it. On the other hand, an alien would be much more convenient for us science-minded readers.
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Post by dinosauria101 on Apr 18, 2019 2:03:49 GMT 5
Maybe glitches would work as I am doing? Or would something else be in order?
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Post by creature386 on Apr 18, 2019 2:06:45 GMT 5
Something else would be in order. There is supposed to be a plan behind what is happening in his story.
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Post by dinosauria101 on Apr 18, 2019 2:13:00 GMT 5
Hmmm.....
I'm not fully sure how this would work, but maybe some kind of mechanism derived from the basics of the storyline?
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Post by creature386 on Apr 18, 2019 2:19:07 GMT 5
How do the glitches in yours even work?
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Post by dinosauria101 on Apr 18, 2019 2:20:25 GMT 5
Well as you said, it isn't really explained to the readers. It just.....happens.
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Post by creature386 on Apr 18, 2019 2:35:25 GMT 5
BTW, Infinity Blade, if you don't know what agent to choose, I would pick neither of my two options, but rather a human from the future. This would be functionally the same as an alien, but more thematically fitting and such a person would probably more interested in the history of their planet than an alien. You might even give your readers and your characters a glimpse of how the future of humanity turns out in the end. Of course, this wouldn't be the type of near-future you see in science fiction, but the faaar, post-Singularity ( link) future. It might be hard to depict, so it's enough to give just a glimpse. I think this would be a more satisfying ending than the Holocene, as you could shock your readers just as much as your characters. Should humans master the ability to travel through time, it would also put a nice twist on that whole "every species goes extinct, so what's the point?" concept (on the other hand, this might not be the message you are aiming for9. |
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Post by Infinity Blade on Apr 18, 2019 3:28:14 GMT 5
I was going to choose an alien (who, just because there were two potential options for me to choose, might call himself a "wizard"), but yeah, a human could work even better.
If I'm understanding this correctly (I looked beyond Wikipedia), a post-Singularity period of time would include extremely intelligent AI at least as smart, if not smarter than humans themselves, wouldn't it? I could have the human scientist (he's conducting a study, he's a scientist) change his original plan and transport them to his own timeline and have the characters' internal and external conflict resolve there after their day in the Holocene (well, the Holocene as we've seen it so far, that is; maybe I'll go ahead and call the scientist's own geological epoch the Anthropocene or something, lol).
I wonder what should happen to the human scientist.
I guess it would be best described as "Am I significant? Do I (or even my own kind, for that matter), and the time and place I am a product of, actually matter? Are we all just here to go extinct and be forgotten, remembered by no one or nothing?". I wonder how seeing future technology that we ourselves would drool over would affect this, if at all. Or, of course, I could add another theme (though obviously this makes things more difficult for me, as someone who's just ventured into story telling).
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Post by creature386 on Apr 18, 2019 17:39:27 GMT 5
If I'm understanding this correctly (I looked beyond Wikipedia), a post-Singularity period of time would include extremely intelligent AI at least as smart, if not smarter than humans themselves, wouldn't it? Yeah. You could check out the Orion's Arm world building project to get a brief glimpse of just how mind-bogglingly advanced auch AIs would have to be. Since I don't expect you to (it's rather complex), I'll fill you in. This setting has computers so large that they need several star-sized nodes linked by wormholes to have enough computation substrate. That, or they create their own pocket universes for computation. Even the OA universe is far from time travel though. A time travel universe might build their AIs as black hole brains ( link). Perhaps these black holes are also used for time travel? Or these AIs have such a mastery over quantum physics that they don't care for pesky limitations such as the Bekenstein bound and can be as small as they wish. You don't need to go that deep, just pick something that's gonna impress your audience. Big computers are an easy way. I guess it would be best described as "Am I significant? Do I (or even my own kind, for that matter), and the time and place I am a product of, actually matter? Are we all just here to go extinct and be forgotten, remembered by no one or nothing?". I wonder how seeing future technology that we ourselves would drool over would affect this, if at all. It would affect this by making the human race immortal. At this point, what could even exterminate the human race? We could just travel back in time to avoid it. This would include the very heat death of the universe itself. On the other hand, evolution would still go on. Maybe humans don't exist anymore and have been outcompeted by posthumans. Even these posthumans could be outcompeted by those who have the same technology as they do. You can choose to go that route if you want to send the message "Every species is going to be outcompeted one day". |
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Post by Infinity Blade on Apr 19, 2019 2:05:37 GMT 5
I'm currently thinking of a title for my story. I'm thinking "A New Actor Every Scene". This is a reference to how the niches organisms fill over millions of years stay the same, but different species fill in those niches at different points in time. You'd have something similar if you replaced the actor for each scene in the same play.
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Post by creature386 on Apr 20, 2019 23:04:14 GMT 5
I'm a bit undecided on how to depict the adult Liliensternuses in the next chapter. Should I go with 5 m or should I make up a size (presumably 6-7 m), based on the fact that the known specimens are likely juveniles?
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