![]() |
|
![]() |
#1 | |
Perverted Asexual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: In the grand state of Denial
Posts: 1,299
|
Process: Realism vs. Imaginary
I was wondering about how everyone feels about a process's catalyst/cause being made to be realistic versus just leaving it as a mysterious/magical thing.
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW FOR JITENSHA'S "MY PET GIRLFRIEND" For example, in the My Pet Girlfriend series we have Daisy's TF-powder that just suddenly turns people into animals and a counter-formula powder that turns them back to humans (and the exact way they were as humans too). While I have no complaints with the cause of all this, let's face it: it's not a 'scientific' idea, being more akin to 'magic dust'. Is that something that irks anyone or would turn them off in reading a process story? Like I said in the TF section I'd like to make an illustrated story, but I'm worried my plot-devices for making people transform might be too 'magic' and less 'scientific' despite it being something of a scifi story. What's everyone's feelings on this as far as how a process occurs? Be it BE, AR, AP, TF, SW, GTS, TG, etc. ?
__________________
DA Account: Crash-Ichimonji Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#2 |
OhYeah!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Jersey Shore
Posts: 38,933
|
Re: Process: Realism vs. Imaginary
Oh, well, almost every process category is going to be magic even if it claims to be scientific, simply because most of it is scientifically impossible. I suppose some of it might be possible in the future, but it's just not possible in RL. But you can have a science fiction force that causes the process, sure.
I really don't care what causes as long as it's process and slow in the case of shrinking.
__________________
- |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#3 |
Goliath is Online.
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Skaro
Posts: 1,998
|
Re: Process: Realism vs. Imaginary
Clarke's Three Laws...
1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. 2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. 3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Word. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#4 |
Banned
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: NYC, NJ
Posts: 2,266
|
Re: Process: Realism vs. Imaginary
The most personally depressing thing about my science education is knowing that clothes-ripping growth a la AO50FW and TF is not only is impossible at the biological level, but at the most fundamental level of physics.
__________________
Real niggas do real thangs. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#5 | |
Perverted Asexual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: In the grand state of Denial
Posts: 1,299
|
Re: Process: Realism vs. Imaginary
Yeah, Law of Conservation of Mass/Matter/Energy always puts a wrench into things. That's why slow process (like a span of weeks or months or even years) of building up biomass is more plausible than suddenly shooting to 100ft tall or going from being a petite 20-something girl and suddenly turning into a T-Rex...but it's not as fappable to some who like it more 'sudden' by comparison. I personally like diary-format stuff where each day a new but minor change occurs. More realistic, but some could argue it's too drawn-out.
I'm just wondering if making people TF in my story within hours from a highly radioactive alien substance is more to their liking instead of a slower process derived from something like nano-machines, protein baths, gene-therapy, etc. Each of the two basic formats would determine the overall plot.
__________________
DA Account: Crash-Ichimonji Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#6 | |
Goliath is Online.
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Skaro
Posts: 1,998
|
Re: Process: Realism vs. Imaginary
Quote:
When I have had to write about the matter, I have used the space between atoms as a good cheat with the admission that the actual mass remains the same... barring some "Super Science" or "Magic". This is also why I rarely venture into the subject of actual SW and stick with GT/ Tiny Humanoids and robotics. ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#7 | |
The Incorrigible Author
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Posts: 581
|
Re: Process: Realism vs. Imaginary
Quote:
Personally as a writer I live in the world that unless you tell me something does something I assume it can't be done and want an explanation as to why it could be. For instance, I don't expect a powder to turn you into an animal to also turn you into a giant or a doll. Now if that same powder is told to me to contain unknown side effects which may cause another random transformation I'm fine with that. Because the author has told me what type of world it is by explaining what it does. Now, personally I don't understand magic, can't believe in it because I'm a seeing is believing sort of person. However in the converse Master PC and Science so advanced it seems like Magic are alright to me for some reason. In our... hobby. The amount of realism is subjective to your own perception and opinion. So everyone will probably have a different take on it. All that matters to me is does it make sense? If so carry on. If not, well I'll spend the rest of the story thinking about why it worked but still keep reading.
__________________
Find me at... The Incorrigible Author, Smashwords, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Google + or Google +, Pintrest, Tumblr, Deviant Art, Steam, Twitch, YouTube, Goodreads "One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them" - Thomas Sowell "Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry." - John Wesley "But it's an easy fix. One line of dialogue. 'Thank God we invented the... you know, whatever device.'" - Rob Lowe, Thank you for Smoking |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#8 | |
Perverted Asexual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: In the grand state of Denial
Posts: 1,299
|
Re: Process: Realism vs. Imaginary
I see. My concern was I'd get too 'real' in an explanation and bog down the shininess of it all. In some of the Process-content stories I've read that involve science fiction instead of magic usually the catalyst for process is something that is intended for a less extreme scenario that ultimately snowballs into an extreme situation, like in an Evangelion AR fic where an artificial radiation-field that undoes damage caused by aging and oxidation accidentally hits Shinji and undoes years of aging until he's reverted to an infant. Stuff like that. I'm never fond of 'magic raygun to shrink people' stuff unless it's something like Wayne Szalinksi's shrink ray where it was supposed to be a long ways from being used on humans.
In short, I personally prefer the catalyst to be accidental (or misused by a someone against their rival).
__________________
DA Account: Crash-Ichimonji Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
|