Daniel M. Bensen's Blog, page 77

How to Profit off Time Travel?

Let’s say you’re the late-21st-century government of India, and you have access to time travel.

It works like a train. You create a permanent wormhole back to a particular point in the past, then lay rails through it. Traffic can now flow in both directions. Changing the past does not change your present. It’s as if you opened a rail line to a foreign (and technological primitive) country.

So how can you make money off of this?

1. Patent and sell future technology to the past. You could also engage in some social engineering by deciding which tech to release.

2. Selling short during crashes. You arrive right before a crash, sell a lot of whatever (maybe shares in TimeTravel Inc or bonds in future governments?), and then buy it all back after the crash. What would the effect be on the past economy? It would balance out the crash, right, with the injection of cash from the future? The future people could say they were doing the past people a favor.

3. Profiting from bubbles. Okay! So the future people arrive at the height of a bubble and sell a lot of whatever is currently inflated (silver, houses, tulips, whatever). That inflates the bubble more, and the crash comes later and is bigger than in canonical history. As Stephen says, this sort of insider trading will distort the hell out of the local (past) economy. But what do people in the future care about that? They sold a lot of tulips!

4. Commodities trade. Use future-tech to manufacture petroleum or diamonds or whatever and sell it to the past for cash, which you can use to buy resources that are more precious in the future (say, rare earths…or CHILDREN?? Dun dun dun!). Of course, flooding the past-market with commodities will cause a crash in their price, probably inflating their currency into uselessness, but that’s a good thing. It’ll make those past-jerks dependent on the future-people for their money supply. (think the Spanish fleet dumping cowrie shells on the Pacific Island market and destroying them as a currency).

5. Fix problems. Yes. In addition to illegal or semi-legal vigilantes going back in time to kill historical villains (Hitler keeps getting assassinated), future governments topple regimes like the Nazis and the Maoists or prevent them from forming (several 1920s European countries get partitioned, so do 1950s China and USSR, the 1980s Arab world gets lots of irrigation technology, etc.). The future people say they’re preventing terrible evil, but the people who replace the Stalins and Pol Pots are always suspiciously meek and obedient to the future, and it’s hard to see any improvement to the lives of normal people. Think the Cold-War juggling of African and Latin American dictators.

6. Treasure-hunting. You think the future is going to leave priceless relics just lying around for past-living barbarians to play with? That stuff belongs in a museum! In 2139! And if you think any of you barbarians are getting access to the Amber Room or the Buddhas of Bahmiyan, or the Amazon Rain forest, forget it. (also, you can go out and recover the wrecks of the Atocha and the Black Swan for a cool $1 billion)

And yes, you can travel to the past, start a new timeline there, build a time machine in that timeline, and start your own money-making scheme in the past-of-the-past. In fact, in order to pay their debts to the future, the past-people sort of have to make their own time machine. It’s like a pyramid scheme and space-race and globalization rolled into one!

But I feel like I am missing something. Any OTHER ways to profit from time travel? Assume that I am evil.

How dinosaurs can fix your research

On Micah Joel’s website

When I was in middle school, I stumbled across a website on the then-nascent internet called Hell Creek Faunal Facies. It was no less than a complete list of every living thing — dinosaur, mammal, plant, and bug — whose remains were discovered at the Hell Creek fossil site in Montana. Let me tell you, that web-page blew my tweenaged mind.

Read on

And take a look at Micah’s upcoming book: Broken Tablet

Timeline for writing a novel

Here’s what I’m thinking. Spend too much time on writing a novel, and it becomes boring and dies. Spend too little, and it’s half-baked crap. Here’s what seems to be a good timeline for me.

Month 0-3: Think about story. Let ideas accumulate while you work on something else. Outline the hell out of it.

Month 3-9: Write the alpha draft, working with alpha-readers to tell a coherent story.

Month 9-10: Rewrite the most egregious plot-holes, to produce the beta draft. Send to beta-readers.

Month 10-11: Let it rest. Let the beta-readers’ comments accumulate.

Month 11-12: Rewrite trouble areas as identified by alpha-readers to produce gamma draft . Send to gamma-readers of typo-correction and cheer-leading.

Month 12-?: Reread the whole thing from beginning to end, fixing whatever problems you can find to produce final draft.

This way I can hopefully avoid reading and re-reading the book until I’m sick of it and I can’t “see” it any more.

What do you guys think? Is this timeline doable for me? Would it be doable for you? How do you do it?

The Old History

This is a big one. Using future timeline, necrometrics, this handy graph, the BBC timelines of India,and China,a random number generator, and imagination, I put together a timeline for the world of Raj Station.

Note that the establishment of stations (for a train that travels through time) does not change this “canonical history”

Note also that the timeline was made by the same people who made the trains, so it’s most focused on the 2100s, Indian, and Chinese history, as well as their own self-justification.

So now I’ll open the floodgates: How am I wrong?

Raj Station established early 1907

1907: Knickerbocker Crisis

1914: First World War (15 million dead)

.

1918: Spanish Flu (75 million dead)

.

.

Roaring Station established early 1929

1929: Black Tuesday, beginning of Great Depression

.

1937: Second Sino-Japanese war (20 million dead)

1939: Second World War (66 million dead)

.

1947: Partition of India

.

.

Great Leap Station established 1958

1958: Great Leap Forward (40 million dead)

.

.

1971: Bangladesh secedes from Pakistan

1973: Oil Crisis, Stock Market Crash, beginning of 1970s Recession

.

.

.

Iron Station established early 1987

1987: Black Monday, beginning of Early 1990s Global recession

1991: Dissolution of Soviet Union

.

.

.

2007: The Financial Crisis, beginning of the Great Recession

.

2014: Proclamation of Caliphate by The Islamic State

.

Singularity Station established 2021

2021: Refugee Crisis, Last Crash, beginning of Pivot

2022: Third World War (0.5 million dead)

.

2034: Water Crisis

.

.

Jungle Station established 2044

2044: Mumbai Civic AI failure (32,000 dead), Picketty Shock, beginning of Flight Recession

2049: European Turning

.

2065: Insurance Crisis

.

.

2070: Hurricane War (400 thousand dead, 1 million virtual)

2075: Pandemic (60 million dead, 0.5 billion virtual)

.

Cosmos Station established 2080

2080: The Glitch (6 million virtual)

.

2084: Degassing (24 thousand dead)

2085: Orbital war (4 thousand dead, 0.2 billion virtual)

.

.

2096: Istanbul Earthquake (9 thousand dead, 0.8 million virtual)

.

.

.

Origin Station established 2110

2111: Contact with 2080. First Sustained Terminus. Cosmos Station established.

2113 Delhi Earthquake (6 thousand dead, 600 thousand virtual)

2114: Jungle Station established.

2118: First Time-Bubble Crash

2118: Singularity Station established

2121: Iron Station established

2124: Unwar (3,435 dead, 2 billion virtual)

2126: Great Leap Station established

2127: Second Time-Bubble Crash

2127: Mirror War (62,500 virtual dead)

2130: Roaring Station established

2132: Third Time-Bubble Crash, Islamabad Earthquake, reactor leak (5,545 dead, 4,900 virtual)

2134: Origin Station established

2136: Raj Station established

Tell me how I’m wrong, guys

The New History

This is a big one.

Using future timeline, necrometrics, this handy graph, the BBC timelines of India,and China,a random number generator, and imagination, I put together a timeline for the world of Raj Station.

Note that the establishment of stations (for a train that travels through time) does not change this “canonical history”

Note also that the timeline was made by the same people who made the trains, so it’s most focused on the 2100s, Indian, and Chinese history, as well as their own self-justification.

So now I’ll open the floodgates: How am I wrong?

Raj Station established early 1907

1907: Knickerbocker Crisis

1914: First World War (15 million dead)

.

1918: Spanish Flu (75 million dead)

.

.

Roaring Station established early 1929

1929: Black Tuesday, beginning of Great Depression

.

1937: Second Sino-Japanese war (20 million dead)

1939: Second World War (66 million dead)

.

1947: Partition of India

.

.

Great Leap Station established 1958

1958: Great Leap Forward (40 million dead)

.

.

1971: Bangladesh secedes from Pakistan

1973: Oil Crisis, Stock Market Crash, beginning of 1970s Recession

.

.

.

Iron Station established early 1987

1987: Black Monday, beginning of Early 1990s Global recession

1991: Dissolution of Soviet Union

.

.

.

2007: The Financial Crisis, beginning of the Great Recession

.

2014: Proclamation of Caliphate by The Islamic State

.

Singularity Station established 2021

2021: Refugee Crisis, Last Crash, beginning of Pivot

2022: Third World War (0.5 million dead)

.

2034: Water Crisis

.

.

Jungle Station established 2044

2044: Mumbai Civic AI failure (32,000 dead), Picketty Shock, beginning of Flight Recession

2049: European Turning

.

2065: Insurance Crisis

.

.

2070: Hurricane War (400 thousand dead, 1 million virtual)

2075: Pandemic (60 million dead, 0.5 billion virtual)

.

Cosmos Station established 2080

2080: The Glitch (6 million virtual)

.

2084: Degassing (24 thousand dead)

2085: Orbital war (4 thousand dead, 0.2 billion virtual)

.

.

2096: Istanbul Earthquake (9 thousand dead, 0.8 million virtual)

.

.

.

Origin Station established 2110

2111: Contact with 2080. First Sustained Terminus. Cosmos Station established.

2113 Delhi Earthquake (6 thousand dead, 600 thousand virtual)

2114: Jungle Station established.

2118: First Time-Bubble Crash

2118: Singularity Station established

2121: Iron Station established

2124: Unwar (3,435 dead, 2 billion virtual)

2126: Great Leap Station established

2127: Second Time-Bubble Crash

2127: Mirror War (62,500 virtual dead)

2130: Roaring Station established

2132: Third Time-Bubble Crash, Islamabad Earthquake, reactor leak (5,545 dead, 4,900 virtual)

2134: Origin Station established

2136: Raj Station established

Tell me how I’m wrong, guys

Stations of Life

1. Raj Station 1905 (+0) preventing WWI, Victorians E, Steampunk

2. Roaring Station 1929 (+6) preventing Depression/WWII, Flappers R, Dieselpunk

3. Great Leap Station 1957 (+10) preventing Great Leap Forward/Cold War, Greats E, Atompunk

4. Iron Station 1989 (+15) preventing J-curve/Islamic extremism, Boomers R, Cyberpunk

5. Singularity Station 2021 (+18) preventing Autowar/DOS war/Trade War/European Civil War/the Pivot, Millennials E, Podpunk

6. Jungle Station 2044 (+22) preventing pandemic/hurricane war, Nomads R, Bloodpunk

7. Cosmos Station 2080 (+25) preventing Orbital War/Green War, Islanders E, Smokepunk

8. Origin Station 2110 (+2) preventing the Unwar, Vengeancers R, Mirrorpunk

9. The Present 2139 (N/A) Redempters E, Lightpunk

Let your work rest

Here’s a stupid mistake I made with every damn novel I’ve written up to now.

Here’s my old process: brainstorm>outline>first draft (with simultaneous alpha-readers)>second draft (with simultaneous beta-readers)>third draft (sent to agent)>Massive structural edits needed>cry.

See what happened there? I like alpha-readers for the real-time advice they give me as I’m writing, but then I tried to do the same thing with beta-readers. I opened up my second draft to dozens of people, and then rewrote the draft based on their feedback as it they gave it to me.

People told me I shouldn’t do that, but I brushed off the advice. “I’m no socially-crippled shut-in like the rest of your writers,” I said as stupid-sauce dripped off the pants I was wearing on my head, “I am an extrovert! I love it when people give me validati—I mean, feedback. When people give me feedback! I can handle getting feedback while I rewrite a story in real time.”

Well, I couldn’t. Not because the feedback made me feel bad, but because there simply wasn’t enough time in my life or energy in my body to rewrite an entire novel for each beta-reader. Trying to make make a new draft as the old one was being beta-read resulted in massive changes based on one person’s suggestions, which I then overwrote with more massive changes based on the next person’s suggestions. It was madness! And in the end I needed to redo everything anyway to make some publishable. I needed to find a more efficient way.

So here’s my new process: brainstorm>outline>first draft (with simultaneous alpha-readers)>second draft>send to beta-readers and agent>let it rest (note feedback, but don’t rewrite anything)>third draft>send to gamma-readers and agent again>fourth draft.

So that’s what I learned last year. So what about you? How can you make sure you get the feedback you need to make a good book without being overwhelmed?

Drafts

From 1st to 2nd draft: Decide what actually happens in the story

From 2nd to 3rd draft: Fix structural errors, characterization, and prose

From 3rd to 4th draft: Typos

If Linear B was the basis for the Roman Alphabet?

The Roman Syllabary, still often called the Traditional European Syllabary, is ultimately derived from Cretan glyphs, spread by the civilization of MiKeNa across the northern Mediterranean. The TiRiNi-ans simplified the syllabary for their own use, which the people of RoMa imported more or less wholesale. The RoMa-n empire spread the Syllabary across Europe, where it is still used today for sacred or traditional texts, from LonDon to hRiBõ to PuKăReȚî, as well of course in KaToLi-c documents around the world.

Everybody else mostly writes in Hebrew nowaday, though. It’s much easier that way.

Boredom and Xenophilia

About a month ago I wrote some different from my usual flights of speculative fancy: a slice-of-life exercise describing my walk from the metro station. People really liked it. Or, rather, lots of people who know me commented on it, which isn’t quite the same thing. Most people in my social circle aren’t spec-fic fans and don’t have much to say about my usual writing, and most of the people who read my stuff who are spec-fic fans don’t know me and are unlikely to comment. But even accounting for that selection bias, let’s say people like my writing more when it’s closer to home.

It makes sense. When I write about things in my daily life, I don’t need to expend energy on worldbuilding. I can focus on description of scene, secure in the knowledge that my readers’ xenophilia will be tickled by Sofia, itself. Most of my anglophone readers have never been to Sofia and are curious about it. They’d probably also be curious about my experiences growing up in a college dorm, moving cross-country three times, teaching ESL in Japan, Boston, and Sofia, living in the Balkan Tower of Matriarchy, raising a bilingual child…why don’t I write about any of that stuff?

Because I’m a xenophile, too. My love for the strange and foreign is what made me a fan of science fiction and fantasy in the first place, and everything I’ve experienced is normal to me. I do add autobiographical details to the story, but the writing process isn’t fun unless I’m learning about something foreign to my experience.

Of course I’m not only in this job for fun, and I have a sneaking suspicion that real experiences sell. Write what you know and all that. So the challenge of my next project will be how to balance the stuff that’s weird (and therefor fun) to me with the stuff that is only weird to you. How should I go about that?