What I Wrote in the Guestbook at Whynot? Coffee & Wine

For me, New York will probably be remembered as the city of coffee.

I didn't really touch the stuff before I started living here in earnest. Mostly I just drank tea, and I still do, but I've since graduated to its stronger, younger sibling. I've come to appreciate the taste, but it still gets me so caffeinated that I get jittery. It becomes hard for me to focus on any single thing, and I opt instead for total sensory overload.

It's a mirror for my overall experience with this city. There are always so many possibilities, so many paths before me that at times it can be downright maddening. But whenever I try to imagine living anywhere else at this point in my life, I realize how quickly I'd get bored. Drinking decaf might have the same taste, but when the liquid's gone, what are you left with?

Titanfall: So You Want to Pilot Giant Robots Better

So Titanfall's pretty awesome. And they did something interesting with their prestige system. When you've hit the maximum level and want to start over so you can do it all again, it's presented in-universe as your cybernetically enhanced pilot opting to get "regenerated", which means a brand spanking new body but none of their original memories from since they've showed up on the frontier.

The setting also features robot infantry known as "Spectres".

So last Saturday, after a wee bit too much alcohol, I took that idea and ran with it, resulting in this:

Recorded from Hammond Robotics' Sparta Regeneration Facility, Dr. Rick ------- Ranking Technician

Next. Good morning. Here for the regen right? Good good, let me see your file here. Service on Troy, Battle of Demeter...neat stuff. Ah, first time here. Okay, gotta give you the spiel. If you'll walk this way...

World Building, Characters, Reservoir Dogs, and Lunch

The quickest way to get me uninterested in a story is by opening it with an expository monologue. Controversial statement, I know. But it's something I bring up because it's still a very important point to reiterate, because too often - especially in works of fantasy or science fiction - the person telling the story feels the need to front-end a bunch of maps, important dates, and a general overview of the history of the kingdom/colony/intergalactic empire.

And I kind of get the appeal of this "history textbook" approach to world-building. If it's good enough for Tolkien, it's good enough for you, right?

Wrong. People have been aping Tolkien for years now and quite frankly I'm sick of it. So here's what you should do instead of opening your book with a glossary of terms and technologies you'll only define this once or your movie with (God help you) a character giving an overwrought voice-over explaining why dragons are so important or how magic works in this particular universe: Have your characters go to lunch. This is how you get in your world-building and introduce your characters to the audience in one fell swoop.