The importance of reading in creating an author

[Bramblethorn]

I havta say, I would have definitely 1 bombed your story if I’d noticed that

I'd have bombed it for using BTUs instead of watts.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

I'd have bombed it for using BTUs instead of watts.

Do other countries really rate gas stoves in Watts?

100,000 BTU/hr is 30kW apparently.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Do other countries really rate gas stoves in Watts?

Either watts or "joules" (actually joules per hour) here, e.g. "Fast recovery 33mj (9.2kw) burner" at https://leadingcatering.com.au/gasmax-countertop-2x10l-lpg-fryer-jus-trc-2lpg.html.

From a quick look at a couple of UK sites, seems to be either metric-only or metric with BTUs also given. I'm guessing EU mandated providing specs in metric and that the UK has not yet fully reverted to savagery in that regard.

 

[KeithD]

Unless it is important to the plotline, I see no reason to have to go to this stove BTU level in a story.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

If I had a unit named after me I'd use it all the time.

 

[VallesMarineris]

If I had a unit named after me I'd use it all the time.

"Wow! Those heels are incredible! At least 2.3 JoCs on the Fet scale!"

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Either watts or "joules" (actually joules per hour) here, e.g. "Fast recovery 33mj (9.2kw) burner" at https://leadingcatering.com.au/gasmax-countertop-2x10l-lpg-fryer-jus-trc-2lpg.html.

From a quick look at a couple of UK sites, seems to be either metric-only or metric with BTUs also given. I'm guessing EU mandated providing specs in metric and that the UK has not yet fully reverted to savagery in that regard.

I have never heard of BTUs before today. Anything scientific or accurate in the UK generally switched to metric before I was born in the 70s, or by 2000 - apart from retail milk and beer being still sold in pints and road sign distances in miles. Mpg for cars is finally dying out given fuel is sold in litres. Medical weights and heights are in kg and cm, though the midwives know to immediately tell parents that their 3.15kg baby is 7.5 pounds, or else. Clothes are increasingly in cm when they aren't in random numbers.

Most hobs don't say how powerful their wok burner is when they have one, by which we can conclude it isn't very. All the ads for commercial wok burners are in kW (mostly 10kW, some bigger). Is an electric wok remotely useful, anyone know? I might get a new hob soon (current one was on Freecycle), but for reasons it would cost a few grand to get gas into my kitchen.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

"Wow! Those heels are incredible! At least 2.3 JoCs on the Fet scale!"

Heel height in mm (h) x shininess of footwear item (s) x a stylistic constant (f, fap factor) = JoC. A mainstream 4-inch heel court shoe in leather is 1 JoC.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Most hobs don't say how powerful their wok burner is when they have one, by which we can conclude it isn't very. All the ads for commercial wok burners are in kW (mostly 10kW, some bigger). Is an electric wok remotely useful, anyone know? I might get a new hob soon (current one was on Freecycle), but for reasons it would cost a few grand to get gas into my kitchen.

Dunno yet, but our state is in the process of phasing out home gas, so I guess we'll be exploring induction woks in a few years' time.

Heel height in mm (h) x shininess of footwear item (s) x a stylistic constant (f, fap factor) = JoC. A mainstream 4-inch heel court shoe in leather is 1 JoC.

Heel height in metres, please. Let's keep this SI.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Unless it is important to the plotline, I see no reason to have to go to this stove BTU level in a story.

More likely characterisation/colour than plot. Depending on what the characters do for a living, it might be useful to have them talk shop for a bit. @Kumquatqueen has a fantastic bit with a fire safety engineer failing to switch out of work mode at a sex party.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

More likely characterisation/colour than plot. Depending on what the characters do for a living, it might be useful to have them talk shop for a bit. @Kumquatqueen has a fantastic bit with a fire safety engineer failing to switch out of work mode at a sex party.

Thanks for the compliment - it's page 1 of Sex Swing Satisfaction, for anyone interested.

Casual conversation or narrator observations make a story interesting, but while we're likely to check ones crucial to the plot (yes, I did chat to my fire engineer friend about what would make you instantly freak out in a cheaply-converted club and call the emergency services, though I didn't mention being mid-fuck at the time), it's the less-crucial stuff we're likely to just let pass without double-checking every word.

 

[nice90sguy]

Anything scientific or accurate in the UK generally switched to metric before I was born

Yeah, I'm still amazed that the Apollo Moon Mission was all done using imperial measurements -- and it's weird for me now in the US to see feet and yards being used in road signs

 

[MrHereWriting]

Before becoming a volunteer editor, I submitted a story but had made one mistake Literotica didn't like, using dialogue from two different characters in the same paragraph.

It depends on how you do it. In American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis, there's a chapter that is one large paragraph with multiple people speaking within it and it's meant to be that way as Patrick Bateman has a kind of drug-induced psychosis.

Instead of correcting the error, I became a volunteer editor. It was during this time I was informed by the author that if you have a character doing something, say like using drugs, you need to explain if the character did them previously or was this a first-time use.

No you don't, unless it's important to the story.

 

[TheRedChamber]

No you don't, unless it's important to the story.

An author is usually going to highlight the first time a main character does anything, be it have sex, do a new drug or eat a pomelo for the first time. There's always going to be inner voice that reacts to something new.

 

[MrHereWriting]

An author is usually going to highlight the first time a main character does anything, be it have sex, do a new drug or eat a pomelo for the first time. There's always going to be inner voice that reacts to something new.

Doesn't mean you have to explain it as their first time or their hundredth time.

Actions and attitude should be enough to tell the reader how experienced the character is with said activity.

 

[VallesMarineris]

Heel height in metres, please. Let's keep this SI.

Millimeters are SI. Just not MKS.

Heel height in mm (h) x shininess of footwear item (s) x a stylistic constant (f, fap factor) = JoC. A mainstream 4-inch heel court shoe in leather is 1 JoC.

My definition: 1 JoC = the kinkiness of the median shoe in Joy_of_Cooking's closet.

I'll let JoC decide if the two definitions are equivalent. As with other modern metrological standards, this can be a theoretical closet that can be duplicated in other kink centers around the globe. There's no need for a platinum-iridium stiletto preserved in a basement in Paris.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

You people have no idea how happy this conversation makes me. I've made it!

 

[Bramblethorn]

Millimeters are SI. Just not MKS.

Doh. You are correct and I have no excuse for screwing that one up. Off to hang my head in shame for 3.6E3 seconds or so.

 

[desecration]

You know from reading J.R.R.Tolkien that he was fully versed in English and European myths before he wrote TLOR. Dickens understood the class system of England, through personal experience. Shapiro's lack of knowledge and his unwillingness to even scan Wikipedia set him up to fail.

Writing includes research, but Wikipedia is only good if you want a surface treatment.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Yeah, I'm still amazed that the Apollo Moon Mission was all done using imperial measurements -- and it's weird for me now in the US to see feet and yards being used in road signs

We're still putting stuff in space using imperial measurements.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Research is important, but at some point you can't let facts get in the way of a good story.
My FMC and MMC went on a weekend trip to a boutique hotel in one of my stories. I did the research but nothing that fits what I needed exists.
So I made it up. The logistics all check out, the distance from where they live, other places they visit in the area and so forth, just not that particular hotel.
As Sir Terry Pratchett would say, "narrative causality". It exists because the story needs it to.
It isn't a "mistake" it was a conscious choice that advanced the story.

 

[desecration]

In American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis, there's a chapter that is one large paragraph with multiple people speaking within it and it's meant to be that way as Patrick Bateman has a kind of drug-induced psychosis.

And then there's The Sound and the Fury.

 

[VallesMarineris]

Research is important, but at some point you can't let facts get in the way of a good story.

I remember a story about the novelist John Buchan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Buchan

TL;DR, he was a popular writer of adventure and thriller novels about a century ago, sort of an early 20th century Michael Crichton. He’s remembered mostly these days for writing The 39 Steps, which Alfred Hitchcock turned into a classic film. He was also Governor General of Canada for a time.

So my story (IIRC):

Buchan’s nephew had just returned from a trip through the Canadian arctic and was enthusiastic about it.

Nephew: Uncle John, you have to go up there! It’s incredible! It’s the perfect location for one of your adventure novels!

Buchan: Do I need to go up there? Why don’t you just tell me about it.

Nephew: There are so many things! I couldn’t begin to describe them all!

Buchan: Just tell me ten things you think I should know.

The nephew begins to tell him, a first thing, then a second, then a third.

Buchan: Wait! That’s enough.

The moral of the story is that you don’t need to present a boatload of facts. Just pick the right ones and let the reader’s imagination do the rest.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I remember a story about the novelist John Buchan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Buchan

TL;DR, he was a popular writer of adventure and thriller novels about a century ago, sort of an early 20th century Michael Crichton. He’s remembered mostly these days for writing The 39 Steps, which Alfred Hitchcock turned into a classic film. He was also Governor General of Canada for a time.

So my story (IIRC):

Buchan’s nephew had just returned from a trip through the Canadian arctic and was enthusiastic about it.

Nephew: Uncle John, you have to go up there! It’s incredible! It’s the perfect location for one of your adventure novels!

Buchan: Do I need to go up there? Why don’t you just tell me about it.

Nephew: There are so many things! I couldn’t begin to describe them all!

Buchan: Just tell me ten things you think I should know.

The nephew begins to tell him, a first thing, then a second, then a third.

Buchan: Wait! That’s enough.

The moral of the story is that you don’t need to present a boatload of facts. Just pick the right ones and let the reader’s imagination do the rest.

Crichton, early Clancy and others the technology is basically another character in the book, so the nuts and bolts matter. For most other writing...not so much.
Grabbing the paper from the Epson laser printer is fine.
Grabbing the paper from the Epson 2400LX with 4000DPI dual sided, wireless printing is a waste of the reader's time.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

We're still putting stuff in space using imperial measurements.

NASA went metric finally in 2007. Should make life on the ISS easier.

I predict that in the next 50 years, the US (or at least the majority of states) will adopt metric for all official usage except speed limit signs, with drinks and other items permitted to be retailed in US customary units.

I do enjoy John Buchan. The film is very different from the book, which is more down to earth but as exciting (and fascinating nationalistic and other stereotypes, and other social history, in 39 Steps and his other books. I rather like the sequel Greenmantle, which has more explicit spying. The Isle of Sheep is a good title but less interesting.