Betty Adams's Blog, page 131

The Journey

 Travel features in more than one of the seven origonal story-lines. In fact, depending on which list you read, 'The Journey' is one of the seven (or eight, or nine). Many of today's stories center on travel of some sort. It can symbolize change in the protagonist or set a backdrop of beauty or simply keep the protagonist constantly on edge because everything is new. 
What is your favorite travel centered story? (No choosing "There and Back Again" either!)

A Boy and his X

In the case of "Dying Embers" a boy and his shape-shifting alien mentor.  It is a classic plot that runs through every genre and sub-genre. A young person befriends something out of the ordinary and they have adventures together. It was "E.T.", "Old Yeller", and "Real Steel".
What's your favorite classic, "A Boy and His X" story? 

Humans Are Actually Very Strange

Everything in this image is edible. If you try hard enough. ​Report from Cultural Researcher Qulix’tch to Home Swarm University:
Re: Human Survival Rates As it Relates To Diet:
Dearest colleges, I am ever grateful for your kind communications and support. I have compiled all collected data and attached it to the overview for your perusal. Let me say first and foremost that the rumors that I was sent to investigate, ie that humans were the first observed truly omnivorous species, have turned out to be a gross understatement.
It is not simply that humans can eat both vegetative flesh and animal flesh, not even  that they can eat anything in between but seriously, they eat everything regardless of it’s inherent nutrient value and risk factor. Indeed this increases their odds of survival but from an intercultural interaction standpoint it is a little weird, and creepy, let’s be honest, that it seems like their first thought when encountering something new that isn’t a rock is  “Can I eat this?”
Mostly they prefer plant matter as (thank whatever deity you will) they seem to be squeamish about eating sentient beings and the odds favor that plants won’t be. It has also come to my attention that our particular eight-legged and multi-eyed form, added to our chitinous outer membrane is particularly unappetizing to them across their multi-culture. This is reassuring but hardly a firm deterrent as they have an instinct set that drives them to make digestible anything that isn’t inherently.  
The nutrients are trapped in an unusable form? No worries, the human just finds something combustible, builds a fire, and heats it till the undigestable fibers or whatever release the nutrients.
Is the edible bit protected by spikes, spines, and thorns they might just grab a rock and beat it until the edible bit is avaliable.
They carry around vats of acid just in case they need to add it to the mix to denature large proteins.
I kid you not they have hundreds, hundreds, of  different species of microbes on their skin, in their mouth, in their digestive tract that help them break down what their own systems won’t.
If the nutrients are contaminated with unfriendly microorganisms they count on this friendly micro-fauna, as they call it, to fight them off.  Failing that they have developed an entire subculture devoted to brewing poison of just the correct potency that it kills the intruding microorganisms while leaving them alive.
And if there is no plant matter they can eat? They just find a (hopefully) non-sentient species that can break it down for them and wring the proteins and nutrients out of them in ways that don’t bear mentioning. (see appendix Eggs, Milk, and Meat)
It has been reported, if you can believe it (and with humans why not), that on their own planet. In an ocean that is full of fish that they can eat with no processing at all, there is one species that is particularly poisonous to humans. Instead of avoiding it and eating the swarming fish species that are so benign that they can be eaten without even the basic heating, humans pay to have a specialist in food preparation known as a chef go through a complicated ritual to remove the deadly toxin. They will do this even when the non-toxic fish flesh is readily and far more cheaply avaliable.
Then, even when they have enough nutrients they will masticate whatever inorganic substance is at hand in some odd, seemingly unconscious ritual. The humans I encountered seemed to have a preference for writing utensils for this purpose
I hope the information I have gathered will prove useful.

Writing an Outcast on an Alien World

For a modern day human in the Western World being an outcast has little physical meaning. Even the most angsty drama can only move their character from one section of the culture to another. It is a huge thing for even a child runaway/reject to  leave their home city. And adult outcasts usually function the same as any other member of society, with only their behavior differing and having fewer intimate friends. "Outcast" has simply come to mean that they have had specific forms of contact cut off with specific members of society. They still have access to all the benefits of their civilization; the sewage systems, the work, the food, the roads, and the information.
However this situation can be made orders of magnitude more serious with only a little cultural tweaking when writing science fiction. E.M. Foster explored this in her 1909 dystopian story " The Machine Stops ". In which she not only describes the internet but postulates with great accuracy how it will affect human interaction. In this world she creates to be outcast is death. Or so her characters think. It is a terrifying picture and yet it still only shows what happens to outcast humans. What would happen to an outcast who relied on some sort of hive mind? 
What sort of alien physiology/culture do you think might make being outcast the most dramatic? 

When Animals Speak

Talking animals show up in everything from the oldest myths recorded to genetically enhanced pets in the latest sci-fi shows. It definitely sets a scene that is both familiar and different at the same time. Meanwhile is requires some explanation. Why and how are these animals talking? 
What are some of your go-to explanations for verbose kitties and chatty pups? 

Summer, a Good Time for a Good Book

A warm summer day is a wonderful time to curl up in a hammock with a good book. Try out this one for size!

Really Enjoying a Story

A good story pulls you into it and surrounds you like a warm summer day. It fills you with the rich heady scent of flowers in bloom and feeds you like the finest nectar.
​Go find a favorite book today! 

Memorial Day

History is ever reflected in writing, and the lessons learned during the American Civil War are still taught in fiction set a galaxy away and centuries in the future. The value of human life and the necessity of freedom. The cost of war and the cost of peace both taken to extremes. The power of new technology to deal death, and the helplessness of medicine to prevent it. How illness is ever the greater enemy than any war. 
So today we remember the source of our knowledge.
​Rest in peace brothers., fathers, sons, sisters, mothers, daughters. 

Hate Mail

No matter what medium an artist or author works in there will always be criticism. Some if it is very beneficial. There is always more to learn and accepting the advice and warnings of other artists and the complaints of fans can help one read and grow. However there are also things that one should simply ignore. Hate mail, detail free criticisms that offer no useful information should not be allowed to ruin your day.  

Making the Audience Mad

Stirring up strong emotions is not the goal of every story, and more often than not it is sadness or affection that are the target emotions of an author. Sometimes however the author succeeds is making the readership furious. This can be over an injustice in the story if intentional, or a gross inaccuracy if not, and sometimes they get upset at the misuse of words. For instance, mad is not synonymous with angry folks. It is synonymous with crazy. So no a person can't #MakeMeMadIn5Words.