Project: Do Stuff

[Nayaby]

Okay, I need a project to keep my mind engaged. For years I've told myself "I'm going to write a story" and then not written it, or started writing it and then scrapped it. As one might imagine, this can be damaging to self-efficacy.

So I have made a decision: I will write my story. The rules are similar to NaNoWriMo, in that I'm aiming for at least 50,000 words. I'm not constraining myself to one month though, since I value quality over quantity. I am however, assigning minimum limits to myself. I will write at least 2000 words a week. This is something I know I'm capable of. I won't tarry too long in planning stages either, since that always exhausts me from a project.

I want people on my back about this. Yell at me if I show weakness! I MEAN IT!

[redpoemage]

It's been like two hours...and what do you have to show for it!?!?!

NOTHING!

You disgust me...

[Nayaby]

I love you Red

[Nayaby]

I solved my airship problem! Here I was trying to think of a way a pre-modern (industrial / steakpunk-ish) society would acquire large amounts of an element which had to be considerably lighter than hydrogen to justify carrying the weight of the dirigibles I had in mind when I realized that the answer was right in front of me! I don't need a gas lighter than hydrogen! I need a dense earth! The denser, the better!

How does dense earth help dirigibles to fly? Wouldn't you like to know... *cough* Okay, it's because of these plot-heavy devices (let's call them "mass generators" until I can come up with something better) which nullify the mass of certain elements, causing them to float.

This makes a lot more sense in context, I promise.

Now I need a reason that big rocks float, but small rocks don't. Gah, my brain... (Applying some phlebotinum here and there will be fine, as long as I'm not too liberal with it)

[Aequus]

Suggestion for the big rocks -- You're mass -nullification things are some material which they can mine.

The big rocks -- the floating ones -- all have a core, or at least a dense enough vein, of said material.

Advantage is that gives you a way (by mining it, and then suddenly removing it) for some group to suddenly one of those huge rocks.

Does dense earth mean dense atmosphere? I don't exactly get how the floating works...

[Nayaby]

Thanks for the idea, but I already have a system in place which is pretty complicated but makes a lot of sense in the greater context of the story. But I can't get into that without massive spoilers for what I have planned.

I can say that my world is called Shaear (pronounced shah-air). It's actually a very unoriginal name which I spliced together from the first syllables of Shattered Earth.

The geography goes like this:
The world is comprised of floating islands. At the center of it all is a massive tower known as the Cloud Spire. The Spire touches all the way to the surface, and is comprised of geological and ancient technological pieces. Cloud Spire houses Imperial City, and the surrounding archipelagos are collectively called the Heart of the Imperium. The Imperium, of course, is the government. The Imperial ethnicity is primarily based on Chinese. To the northeast are the archipelagos primarily associates with Norse/European ethnicity. To the southwest, African, and to the southeast, South Asian.

They're not actually called that, but their based on real world ethnicity, so that fits this short explanation.

Anyway, those four groups comprise the Imperium, although they remain autonomous in many ways. Outside the borders of the Imperium are more islands populated by apes.

There's a lot more, but I can't reveal it... and it hurts me not to!

[Nayaby]

That Nayab guy is a quitter. SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME!

I spit on you sir.

[Aequus]

Aw.

Well, November's in like a week -- you could do if for NaNoWriMo? (Maybe? I don't really know the rules...)

[Sponsored content]