I'm doing work on Book Two for #StarKnight, and while I figure out the novel's narrative (and with it the plot outline), I've had a few ancillary things come up. First, I want you folks to satisfy a curiosity of mine by hitting up the Tweet below and saying Yes or No to the question given:
#StarKnight people, got a Q for you: Would you like to see each nation/faction have their own names/jargon for mecha or no?
— Bradford C. Walker (@MrBCWalker) September 6, 2018
Second, I'd like to talk about how some mecha designs are just so good (and therefore influential) that it's hard to make something that doesn't infringe upon them. Shoji Kawamori shall forever be remembered for making one of those designs: the VF-1 series Valkyrie and its descendants.
Not that it can't be done, because it has--successfully--multiple times, but damn if it's hard to not just come up with a clone of the Valkyrie due to how well that design works. I think I'll figure it out by the time my Not-Valkyrie pilots show up.
This is one time when figuring out how the machine works and then accurately describe how it works--lorework--is going to have significant payoff well after the novel itself is finished. The lack of windows alone should be a big enough change to allow me to make a notable design that doesn't risk a nastygram from either Harmony Gold or anyone else with Macross rights. (And yes, that's the real concern; getting SLAPPed by Harmony Gold.)
Compared to this, just saying "beam sword" for "lightsaber" (which has decades of prior art) is cake.
Just curious, have you read Travis Taylor's Tau Ceti Agenda? It's one of the few examples of Veritech-inspired mecha in American SF.
ReplyDeleteBradford,
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of each group with its own jargon for mechas. That could make a good dectective type story where 1 side has to find out if the other side has an advanced mehave or not
xavier
Not yet. Just read the blurb and some reviews.
ReplyDeleteKnow what closed the sale? Some twat say "He writes like a 12 yr. old." in reference to how his characters are in combat.
That's like saying "You write action movies like John Woo.", but thinking it's an insult. No, that means "SOLD!"
I'm adding that to my next Amazon order.