Hatrack River Writers Workshop: 12 Lines (no seriously, it is) SF

This is topic 12 Lines (no seriously, it is) SF in forum Fragments and Feedback for Short Works at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Draven on :

I guess 13 lines doesn't really mean thirteen lines. Whatever. Nuts to this place.

[This message has been edited by Draven (edited February 07, 2007).]

Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :

>beyond the wake of the churning sea.
??

>Impenetrable mountains
I don't get this either

"Yet the ship’s life-scanners could detect nothing of any animals, birds, or even the smallest insects." -> "There was no animal life." That is, it doesn't seem surprising to me that there are no animals -- I don't have enough context. (In this future, is it common to find planets with life? Is it rare to find it w/o animals?) It can't seem surprising to the POV character at this point, since there isn't one.

"Registered nothing of conscious intelligence either": how can oceans register conscious intelligence? What does this mean -- a handwavium-based intelligence detector? I'm skeptical.

I don't find a hook in this section. What's the cool thing that you're story's about? Start there, maybe.

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

And this is why we ask people to read the "Please Read Here First" topics to find out what we mean by 13 lines.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

...

That was great!

Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :

Drive-by postings!

Posted by oliverhouse (Member # 3432) on :

I love the "no seriously, it is" when it clearly isn't if you read the instructions.

It's amusing that we can even still have this conversation. Consider what "I guess 13 lines doesn't really mean thirteen lines" implies: everyone is using the same browser, with no overrides of font settings, perfectly filling the screen (i.e., fully maximized), etc. That's the only way that this arbitrary-width screen could be consistently "13 lines".

> Whatever.

Precisely.