Desiderius Price

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Looking at it from the readers perspective, a sudden change of tags is kinda like bait and switch, IMO, because if it happens after they’ve already invested hours, and potentially hundreds of Kwords, reading the story, only to suddenly have it change. Outside of a oneshot collection, where each story isn’t really related and hence skippable, it could be rather maddening. A reminder on a particular chapter, sure, but I’d rather not make it the first introduction of a tag. That said, as I’ve got WIPs, I’ve had new ones suddenly decide to invade the story, at which point, a chapter-level warning is a good way to let the regular readers know about it (while also updating the story summary).

The one trouble with tags is they kinda become spoilers, in a way, MCD is the biggie, IMO. I’m sure the balance was considered long ago, so I put them in while crossing my fingers that the reader forgets about ‘em before the ending

An author is always free to use “Other” and add a more specific warning.

Main Character Death, and Controversial.

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Well, if you were a programmer, I’d suggest changing the numbering system… what value do you want it to be?

Good reading. After I decide I’ll need a character, I typically use a random picker to give me a list of traits/hobbies/allergies/phobias, and I’ll see if any work for what I want out of the character. If it’s a marginal character, I’ll pick more freely. If there’s a specific/important reason for the character, I’ll be more selective and reselect until I get something closer. And, after I select, I will record them (I’ve got dossier files for each character) – this is perhaps the most critical, because if I work with the character later, I can keep him/her consistent. At the threat of a mild spoiler, this process helped me this week, because a character needed to eat a lot of a particular food. As I was editing his dossier to make it his favourite, I noticed that I had previously made him allergic to it. This suddenly made the character richer in his personality for deliberately eating something he’s allergic to (and suffering the consequences of it later), and strengthened the plot a bit since I no longer had to make it ill-prepared food. So, for me, my process helps me, helps me have a diversity of characters with different traits, and it helps me when writing because it can fill in those awkward moments, like, when one character gives a gift to somebody else, where the friendship is deep, then what’s the gift? My day job involves software so I have to be very rational, logical, and considering subtle nuances; this is something I carry over into my writing. So, maybe somebody else will find my process useful.

Not certain, the sunspot number is going down. (Which means less activity.) However, there is a random chance factor, that unless somebody is looking up NOAA’s space weather page, can be easily fudged to make the plot happen.

Feeding trolls is a no-win scenario, IMO, and I’d rather spend my time tormenting my characters. So yeah, good luck and starve the trolls.

While I wanted to reply at work, I figured I ought to be working at work…. (not to mention, replying on the tablet is painful). Several different ways, depending on whether you’ve got a receiver pad, or not, and whether it’s got to be permanent or just temporary. Obviously, with a permanent receiver pad/device on Earth, it could be moved, defaced, destroyed by us, or be used as a chamber pot by some soul who doesn’t realize what it is. Now you could go with electromagnetic interference because that has changed in 2017 years, choosing your favorite gadget for causing this, on the “specific frequency” needed for the beaming to work. (ie, microwave, or wifi blaming our porn habits, or, if you need night time only, the sodium vapor common in street lights) Another possibility is pollution in the atmosphere, blocking the frequencies needed for the beam in/out to work. A non-human possibility is a geomagnetic storm (ie, a solar flare) from the sun. Several ideas, hope it helps!

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Report and ignore it, that's about the only option that won't drag you down with the trolls. Plus this documents the issue in case it comes back up. (Assuming this other sites mods care as much as AFF's do... Anything to the trolls will just bait them further. IMO.

As my mother’s said, it’s better to be over the hill than under it.

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It’s that time of the year. Happy Birthday Dirty Angel!!!

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You know you’re an author when you’re cursing Google for insisting on finding links for fixing diarrhea when you're trying to give it to your character (in a plausible fashion, of course).

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