Have you ever wondered why...?
*has been reading through this thread for the past several hours now*
Ok, besides occasionally making me laugh, making me think "there's a word war going to happen" at spots, and just gathering interesting opinions from everyone and tips on writing from Mr. Perry later on in this looooooooooooong thread, I thought maybe to comment and question on some things...
Quote from: steveperry on Jun 14, 2008, 02:58:25 PMXenomorphs are war toys, developed by some species a whole lot smarter for biological warfare. Nothing else makes any sense. If they evolved naturally, they wouldn't be at the top of their world's food chain, otherwise, why acid for blood? Like the South American frog used for arrow poison, the reason you have acid for blood is to make you taste bad enough to keep something from killing and eating you. Think about it.
How can we know for sure that the aliens are bio-engineered "war-toys"? For all we know, they evolved naturally on, say, a varied eco-system world where they had predators who could hunt and kill them, even with their adaptations of hard exoskeleton and acid blood? (I think another member mentioned this bit already.)
I know, someone will say that couldn't have happened because humans "Created" the species like they did with "Predator", which leads to this post:
Quote from: steveperry on Jun 09, 2008, 07:32:37 PMHumans created them both, remember?
That begs the question of "how did we "create" these species?"
What's to say we humans honestly didn't see the Predators actually hunting the Aliens in the human race's past and fled before the Predators realized humans were there, so they didn't know we learned about their existence? They just finished their hunt, cleaned up any "lose ends" with their prey – the aliens – and left planet earth (if that was the planet we "saw" them on, but I'm not going to get into that issue. would take us waaaay off topic!
lol)
What's to say that our myths and legends aren't a reflection of those species – and when you get myths and legends handed down in writing in more than one language and with no "pictures" than everyone would see those "creatures" just a little bit – or a lot – different.
And if that did happen, would anyone who didn't see those species first hand truly believe those who did? Kinda makes you wonder....
following questions are more of a "what's your take" on this topic/opinion and relates to writing stories overall, regardless of the subject chosen to be written on or whether they will be novels, movies or tv "mini-series", "movies of the week", etc. and i'm curious as to Mr. Perry's reply to them, which is why i've included them in this post.
So again, have you every wondered why – and where – we get the information to "create" species for stories? Where does imagination come from? Our myths and legends? Or "random" ideas? are they based on just "imagination" or facts from our interaction with other species – maybe even including the Predators and Aliens? What is "fantasy" anyway? How does that relate to the imagination that "creates" things we say are fantasy – like the predators and aliens?
What's to say that this isn't an attempt of ourselves tying us into other worlds that actually exist, yet we ourselves are not evolved enough to see as "reality" like our current own? So we write those species down as "fiction", "fantasy" and the like?
Quote from: steveperry on Sep 05, 2008, 09:21:29 PM
Literary bankruptcy happens to all the writers I know. I call it Chapter Eleven, because that's usually where I run into it. Initial enthusiasm flags, you run out of steam. The cure is to keep going, even if what you write sucks, because once you get a draft done, you can always go back and rewrite, and it's easier to do that than come up with original material.
The Dreaded Second Act is what separates the pros from the amateurs. If you stop, you never get anything finished, and if you can't finish it, you can't get it published. Even if you just muddle through and you wind up having to fix most of it, that gets you a whole ms.
(That idea about the terraforming machines was off the top of my head. Or maybe from out another, lower part of my anatomy, I sometimes get accused of writing from there. Anybody wants it is welcome to it.)
I know that feeling, though I just let the stories in question site on my computer for a few days...weeks...um months? Damn it, I have to get back to read through those getting dusty, but I currently got Predators on my back to get some crossovers done that I do just for fun. *rolls eyes*
questions: how can you work past those "blocks" and continue the story, even with bits and peices worked into it? just keep refining the story part in question until you get it to flow right with the rest of the story around it?
Quote from: steveperry on Sep 14, 2008, 11:09:11 PMCharacter development is what makes a movie hold my interest. If they are all cardboard, who cares what happens to them? Ripley, you remember. Everybody remembers Ripley.
you're right on the character development part of any story – that's what holds a reader's or watcher's interest, followed by a believable situation, no matter how "far fetched" it seems.
on character development: what is a balance to use for a character? or does it matter more with the character in question's situation at those points in the story that make up for the development of the character as a whole?
Quote from: steveperry on Sep 14, 2008, 11:09:11 PMMy lawyer won't let me look at unread mss by anybody I don't know well enough to trust. We don't want to find ourselves in court someday with an irate writer who claims we swiped his idea. Not that it's likely in a universe where the writer doesn't own any of the rights, but stranger things have happened.
Sorry. Nature of the biz.
I'd be too damn proud if you or another writer I liked, and we got to talking, used any of my ideas in a storyline that was eventually published! Pity you have that restriction but very understandable.
Quick question, which I hope you don't mind me asking: just how do you keep your characters from being brats on you and throwing in unexpected "moves" and situations into the story?
i'm asking this mainly cos as I'm reading this thread, I'm working on a second rough draft of Forever Friends: Stranded (a friend and I are co-writing a predator/starlight express "real life" story line, just for the fun of it...).
Quote from: steveperry on Sep 25, 2008, 12:23:16 AMThere's no market for a spec AvP script. A lot of guys who have credits in the universe, book writers and comic book writers (including me) would have gladly taken a shot at the script for AvP or AvP:R, but they didn't ask us, they went with people who had screen or TV credits. Unless you have some of those to wave, nobody is going to consider it. Trust me here. Unless, of course, you come up with enough money to finance it and get the rights from Fox.
Unless of course you have the money to back the script, or at least half of the money necessary to produce it. Wouldn't that get Fox's attention in one hell of a hurry? Think that could ever happen? For AVP, Predator or Alien? Or?
Your tips on writing and such will be something I keep in mind as I write. Thanks for reading, and answering, the questions above.
I'll check back later as it's very late where I am (when this is/was posted) and I'm going to head to bed.
I hope.
If those damn predators let me off the story board writing hook.
lol. g'nite all, smokeykit