Recent content by Simpson17866

So one of the people that I showed this system to showed me that even some of the problems I was having worked better than I thought they did :D but I'm still getting myself stuck on one last issue: I'm not sure how well the Metal spell "conduct and consume heat/electricity" fits into the...

It takes a lot of training for boot camp to break down the blocks in prospective soldiers minds that would make it hard for them to kill in self-defense without crashing afterward. Even then, it doesn't always work.

After learning about the Magic: the Gathering color wheel and how much thought had been put into working out how the different philosophies connect with each other, I started to think that my own system was underdeveloped and needed to be made more cohesive, but now I'm wondering if it may have...

The main cost of magic in my world (in addition to materials and exhaustion) is time: you can spend 10,000 hours becoming an expert at playing the piano, you can spend 10,000 hours becoming an expert at dirt bike racing, or you can spend 5,000 hours on each becoming a functional amateur at both...

That sounds perfect :) I've always found that completely "consistent" worlds are unrealistic and unbelievable, myself ;) You ever hear the term "Planet of Hats"?

I would start with two ideas that don't look like they fit together, then make them fit together anyway. I've always felt that the most important part of storytelling is to surprise the reader in an interesting way, and being the first to create a clear connection between two ideas that other...

Have you looked into how people in the closet might find out that other people are too?

Just noticed your post count; welcome to the site! The idea that people of compatible gender and orientation can't be "just" friends unless one of them is taken (I'm looking at you, When Harry Met Sally). Does either of your guys have a platonic relationship with a gay-guy friend in which...

Basically, focus on what makes your characters different from each other as much as on what makes them similar. People are not stereotypes, only patterns are stereotypes.

I realized recently that I need to tone down the references (pop culture and otherwise) in my WIP. Every other story I've written, the references are quick Easter Eggs that flow naturally in the narrative, but my WIP spells all of them out over the course of entire paragraphs. I will need to...

So was Earth/Air/Fire/Water, but I plan on using that in my books too ;)

Almost all of my best work in this area has been inspired by a TVTropes article and a GiantITP post (referencing said Tropes article) about rearranging Maslow's Hierarchy: Humans care first about survival (Maslow and the Tropes page call this Physiological Needs, the GiantITP post calls this...

Classic: I've never been able to force myself to finish watching The Aztecs, but I have watched Tomb of the Cybermen, Terror of the Autons, Pyramids of Mars, and Caves of Androzani. Not enough to make full judgements about any of them, but my knee-jerk reaction is that my favorites of the five...