children's author needs sci-fi advice

calotta replying,

godisgovernment, I thank you for your input. A year from now when I have finished reading and digesting all your links, maybe I will know what I'm talking about. (I doubt it, though.) Rest easy, I do not plan on giving my child readers the recipe for making rocket fuel. I need only to implant the suggestion in their minds.

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From carlotta to godingovernment -

I hope I didn't sound too flip earlier. The websites you suggested are awesome. I'm sure I'll find a way to make the "science" part of my story sound plausible.

Thanks to everyone for the help and interest you have shown a newcomer to your site.

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Actualy Its fairly simple. Space Ship One uses 2 ingredients. n2o which is used in racing "At room temperature, N2O is quite unreactive with most substances, including alkali metals, halogens, and even ozone. It is therefore widely used as a propellant in aerosol cans in place of the CFCs which can damage the ozone layer. When heated sufficiently, however, N2O decomposes exothermically to N2 and O2." So you see its the freed oxygen which fuels the burn. The rubber is simply a steady burning material. Rubber fires last a long time.

"A sort of fun explosive is potassium permanganate mixed with powdered sugar. The idea is to mix one ingredient that will burn very fast with a second ingredient that will supply enough oxygen for that burning. This burns so fast, it's an explosion."--Chuck Palahniuk

The rest is e=mc2 http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=477866 . See childs play.
In other words, burn something lose mass. That mass becomes energy. It can be used to creat force, by causing say n2o to decompress exotherically, hense leaving you with oxygen to burn, while throwing the lost molecule. Energy is a useful thing in conversions. To seperate the hydrogen in water, run electricty through it.
Hydrogen can then be used to create energy on the spot, given fuel cells.
Of course you use more energy creating the hydrogen than it creates with fuel cells...
Rocket science isn't brain surgergy.
Its mostly just physics, expressed mathmaticaly.
Its not so hard to learn, hell I only have a GED.
Try using moving Feynman type diagrams when imagining the physics behind it. You might have to invent your own symbols for expressing this. Its just a matter of imagination. A writer should be good at this.
They should teach this stuff in grade school. Then it would be easier for everyone to understand. Easier to teach to. Kids are less distracted, and better at understanding abstract concepts. Especialy when dealing with explosions (they love that sh-t). The math could come later, I'm sure it wont be included in your book. The concept is childs play.

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carlotta says-

I am especially fond of the 9-13 year olds. In my experience, they are probably already as smart as they ever will be - they are just so inarticulate and prepubescent. All the major characters in my book are in this age group. Most of my readers will be in this age group, too. I don't want to insult their intelligence with "silly" science, nor do I want to describe something that is so complicated (because, of course, they haven't been taught any of this in school) that they give up reading.

Reading, -learning through reading, and having fun while reading, is my thing. And, by the way, I am reading and learning a lot myself on this project.

I guess I'll write for a while now.

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Boys or girls of the 9-13 years old are, you know, more smart in many respects than adult people, as the former are not distorted by garbage knowledge or interest-oriented minds.

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Right you are.

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carlotta wrote:

The alien boy is about 15... He comes from another galaxy, rather than another solar system.

The nearest galaxy (Andromeda) is about 3 million light years away from us.

If your aliens come from another galaxy, then you are going to have to credit them with some type of space warping technology, or dimensional shift or something. Propulsion technologies, no matter how they are powered, simply aren't capable of traversing those distances in any reasonable timeframe (which involves living things which relate to our timescale).

If I might suggest, two psychic minds are required to give the ship the means necessary to shift into another dimension. Your alien, being young posesses only a fraction of the skill and ability to give the ship what it needs, and Earthlings don't seem to have the necessary gifts to help ... except for possibly a few... or possibly a few under special circumstances... all of which give you the chance to explore some nuance of human psychology in relation to alien psychology as a story line as the little alien tries to find a "friend" with the right gifts. Again... just a suggestion.

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The best way to get around garbage knowledge is reading something like freakanomics http://www.freakonomics.com/chapter.php . Undistort your thinking with unbiased truth.
To many people listen to politicians or "experts" who have something to gain. Distorted truth skews reality.
The pope lying about condoms for instance, or the government saying they fail 14 percent of the time (when the real numbers are 1 to 3 percent). To many lies, no one wants to know the truth.
We are to caught up in the politics to understand the science.
Bush says he wants schools to teach "intellegent design". Christians say birth control pills cause "silent abortions". You have a generation of people willing to belive anything that fits their idealogy, regardless of methodology. If you speak the truth, you get called nasty names, demonized, or worse yet, idealized by politicians who will distort your data.
Children are to vulnerable to these forces. Thats why I belive we should teach them proper science before the politicians, preachers, and "experts" can polute them.
Teach them the truth, while they are still open minded. Before someone else abuses their fragile state.
Of course as long as we use a electoral representitive system to decide the school curriculum we will always get screwed on this.
We should just hire scientist, mathamaticians, legal profesionals, and drill sargents instead. Let them decide what we should learn.
I doubt any teacher would argue against this aproach.

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rosborne979 wrote:

carlotta wrote:
The alien boy is about 15... He comes from another galaxy, rather than another solar system.

The nearest galaxy (Andromeda) is about 3 million light years away from us.

If your aliens come from another galaxy, then you are going to have to credit them with some type of space warping technology, or dimensional shift or something. Propulsion technologies, no matter how they are powered, simply aren't capable of traversing those distances in any reasonable timeframe (which involves living things which relate to our timescale).

If I might suggest, two psychic minds are required to give the ship the means necessary to shift into another dimension. Your alien, being young posesses only a fraction of the skill and ability to give the ship what it needs, and Earthlings don't seem to have the necessary gifts to help ... except for possibly a few... or possibly a few under special circumstances... all of which give you the chance to explore some nuance of human psychology in relation to alien psychology as a story line as the little alien tries to find a "friend" with the right gifts. Again... just a suggestion.

What about cloning the people upon nearing their target. Or how about this fact http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arc98/6_27_98/fob3.htm
You never know what you will find out their.
Besides, this whole thing raises more questions about rna and microbaterial infections then travel.
The link above contains info on a recently discovered planet 15 light years away. Thats not very far. Do you think its the only one?
We may not have to look beyond are solar system after all.
Its not very likely...but neither is are being here.
You never know.

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I meant far beyond I solor system, sorry.

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OT, but I would like to pose a doubt..
A cloned person, if any, does not necessarily have the same "spirit" of the original. Rolling Eyes

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carlotta replies to satt_fs-

I like your idea of a pair of psychic minds who drive the ship through space, time, and dimension. All of your ideas are great. IF you were to take pen in hand, I'm sure you could write that story and sell it.

My brother also thinks that your idea is cool and good enough to expand.
He thinks that psychic ability (sci-fi style) could manipulate atoms and excellerate them. I think I'll let him write that story.

In my story, I probably should have chosen a planet in a distant solar system in our own galaxy as the home of my alien boy. That point is easy to change. I tend to get overly exotic sometimes.

Interestingly enough, as you suggested, I have tried to explored the nuances of human psychology in relation to my version of alien psychology.

My alien never does get to leave earth. He has to learn to interact with Earthlings, to get what he wants and needs, or die. He has the power to hypnotize people, or influence them dramatically, but only when they are in his presence. So, he does have a lot of power. He is very, very smart. And he comes from a society that has more knowledge than we do (cliche) but they are not supermen.

I know I'm really stuck in a rut about his rocket being launched from earth to maybe 50K or so, and then let a made-up, unexplained device get him home. (Except it doesn't work anymore and he CAN'T get home.)

I'm thinking right now about having him work through the details of converting his space ship (made, of course, of an alien metal that withstands heat, pressure, high velocity, and all the rest of that jazz) into an airplane. That way, if all else fails, he could steal ( or make someone else steal) jet fuel from a nearby airport, and he COULD find bits and pieces to repair his ship from junkyards and such.

This is one of the main points of my story: whatever fantastic gimmicks and gadgets that the kid brought with him from outer space, if it wasn't wrecked in the crash, he still has it. Otherwise, everything he needs he has to get, by hook or crook, on Earth. That's the conflict.

I hope you think about writing your story someday!

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satt_fs wrote:

OT, but I would like to pose a doubt..
A cloned person, if any, does not necessarily have the same "spirit" of the original.

Theyre called twins. All a clone is, is a identical twin. The only problem has to do with age related mutations in the dna. The clone may have adult onset arthritis at the age of 3. Thats an example taken from dolly the sheep. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2764039.stm She also had a form of lung disease found only in old sheep. So When I say clone, I mean from a younger specimen. Identical twins accure after fertilization. Thats when you christians clame one is givin a "soul", or "spirit". Its a totaly unscientific claim to say that one has a "soul" at this stage. To say that when one reaches Sentience he has a "soul" is a different story. One is abstarct, the other is dogma.
http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena/user/j/g/jganger/Public/identwin.html
http://www.gen.umn.edu/faculty_staff/jensen/1135/example_student_projects/Sum2000/Twins/twins.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentience
He would have to be created 15 years before crashing, and educated while inflight.
This doesn't differ to much from sending monkeys into space. You don't plan on getting him back, but his info will eventualy be recieved.
http://www.gotwavs.com/cgi-bin/mp3s.cgi?Fight_Club=monkey.mp3

"When deep space exploration ramps up,
it will be corporations that name
everything. The IBM Stellar Sphere.
The Philip Morris Galaxy. Planet
Starbucks."--Fight Club

http://www.gotwavs.com/cgi-bin/mp3s.cgi?Fight_Club=space_exploration.mp3

You know, not every monkey survived. Also theres a rushian dog floating around somewhere in that obyss. Her names Laika. She was never meant to be retrieved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika
People can be so unscientific Shocked

The idea that a clone wouldn't be fully human. They used to say that test tube babies wouldn't have souls, now that they walk amougnst us... well that would be just plain rude Crying or Very sad

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Twin and cloned persons are very different in the environments they are grown up. Twin persons grow simultaneously, though cloned person is brought up differently from the original. Even a twin couple must be thought to have different "souls." A cloned person has very different background from the original at the birth. The problem of "soul" is not simple one.

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Clones are ideal cult-fodder. They have no human family and are orphans of the species.

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http://www.gotwavs.com/cgi-bin/wavs.cgi?Young_Frankenstein=alive.wav
So he would be an individual, with no family, and only one task in life. Space monkey. http://www.gotwavs.com/cgi-bin/mp3s.cgi?Fight_Club=monkey.mp3
How would that be a problem?
He of course would still be an individual. That would not be taken away by cloning.
Sounds like a perfect scenario.
Twins are different, becouse they have slightly different life experiences. Even conjoined twins, learn different things at different times. Their attention won't always be on the same thing, even at the age of 1. Its like buying two identical computers, and then filling them with different programs and games. They look alike, and have the same potential, and thats where the simularities end.
So you see the soul is just an expression.
Unless its dogma.
So Whats the problem with this scenario?
Acoustic Kitty. http://dc.metblogs.com/archives/2005/07/acoustic_kitty.phtml

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godisgovernment wrote:

http://www.gotwavs.com/cgi-bin/wavs.cgi?Young_Frankenstein=alive.wav
So he would be an individual, with no family, and only one task in life. Space monkey. http://www.gotwavs.com/cgi-bin/mp3s.cgi?Fight_Club=monkey.mp3
How would that be a problem?
He of course would still be an individual. That would not be taken away by cloning.
Sounds like a perfect scenario.
Twins are different, becouse they have slightly different life experiences. Even conjoined twins, learn different things at different times. Their attention won't always be on the same thing, even at the age of 1. Its like buying two identical computers, and then filling them with different programs and games. They look alike, and have the same potential, and thats where the simularities end.
So you see the soul is just an expression.
Unless its dogma.
So Whats the problem with this scenario?
Acoustic Kitty. http://dc.metblogs.com/archives/2005/07/acoustic_kitty.phtml

Chasing up your metaphor, if the soul is not the program in the computer but a term of convenience, then what parallels the metaphorical program?

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carlotta wrote:

carlotta replies to satt_fs-

I like your idea of a pair of psychic minds who drive the ship through space, time, and dimension. All of your ideas are great. IF you were to take pen in hand, I'm sure you could write that story and sell it.

Hi Carlotta,

I assume you were talking to me above, since I think I started the psychic pair idea... and yes, I intend to write some Sci-Fi someday, but I never intended to write a childrens book. Maybe your finished story will inspire me. Smile

Good luck with your story.

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carlotta to rosborne979-

So sorry, ros! I did mean to address my reply to you.
The psychic theme is ideal for an adult sci-fi novel. But don't rule out writing for the YA market. (Young Adult - usually 15-21).

Thanks for your encouragement.
I've written 8 picture books for children, but this is my first novel.

If you are serious about trying your hand at writing, but just don't have the time right now, here is one of the best tips I can give you: keep a notebook. Every time you have an idea for your story, write it down and date it. Someday you'll be so grateful that you'll want to kiss yourself.

So, good luck to you, too.

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John Jones wrote:

godisgovernment wrote:
http://www.gotwavs.com/cgi-bin/wavs.cgi?Young_Frankenstein=alive.wav
So he would be an individual, with no family, and only one task in life. Space monkey. http://www.gotwavs.com/cgi-bin/mp3s.cgi?Fight_Club=monkey.mp3
How would that be a problem?
He of course would still be an individual. That would not be taken away by cloning.
Sounds like a perfect scenario.
Twins are different, becouse they have slightly different life experiences. Even conjoined twins, learn different things at different times. Their attention won't always be on the same thing, even at the age of 1. Its like buying two identical computers, and then filling them with different programs and games. They look alike, and have the same potential, and thats where the simularities end.
So you see the soul is just an expression.
Unless its dogma.
So Whats the problem with this scenario?
Acoustic Kitty. http://dc.metblogs.com/archives/2005/07/acoustic_kitty.phtml

Chasing up your metaphor, if the soul is not the program in the computer but a term of convenience, then what parallels the metaphorical program?

The soul is what others percieve as your individuality. If the computer has different programs, it will act differently than its brother.
Its an outside observation based on behavior. That behavior is based on ones programming as well as ones hardware. Its a matter of factors.
The "soul" is are way of summing up these factors, or of claiming that god made him the way he is. Its either a load of crap, or a bad metaphor. You decide.

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children's author needs sci-fi advice

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