quantumbound general

i'll put shit here later maybe but for now you can give me advice ask me questions that order of thing

also regarding advice, there's multiple kinds of advice and i'll be going over them and how i feel about them.

1. Opinions regarding plot, characterization, the works- of course while QuantumBound is my own thing everyone on OTx constitutes as part of the target demographic and I can infer that their opinions might resemble that of the average reader. This advice is probably the least valuable but I won't get pissed or upset if you provide it.
   
2. Opinions regarding the writing itself- please understand when I say that these are not necessarily objective and if I showed a sentence to ten different people i'd get four different opinions, you're free to hit me up with them but don't be surprised if I don't agree. For example, "show don't tell", which is considered a law in some circles, is considered bad advice by others.
   
3. Errors- Continuity errors, grammar errors, awkward sentences, etc. hit me up with these please and thank you.
   

hey so FD remember when you said you wanted nothing to do with OTx anymore? whatever happened to that?

also any posts from rt won't be responded to in this thread

the mark of a very mature man.

lmao i wonder why he wants to ignore you on a thread that has a purpose other than to start a flamewar

why is it named quantum bound

Brewmaster Mac wrote:why is it named quantum bound

excellent question friendilly. it's named quantumbound because i'm a pretentious little ass shit that likes meta and 2depe shit which features later on in the story. but first a lesson.

what the fuck is quantum science other than that it runs time machines and teleporters: modern quantum sciences and M-theory postulate a) that anything and everything has a very small probability of being true and b) that reality is constantly splitting into different universes where each of these outcomes takes place. there's a whole swab of almost identical universes where the meteor that killed the dinosaurs didn't hit or where it did hit and dinosaurs developed more in the path they were going towards and less like birds like in our universe, except if you chose ten universes at random most of them would presumably be similar to ours regarding the meteor because it's the outcome that makes the most sense and requires the fewest assumptions. after all you've got large animals that need lots of air and have poor temperature control not to mention evolutionary stagnation due to their wide dominance (this is demonstrated in the fact that, for example, australopithecus was five million years before the modern age, but brontosaurus-type dinosaurs stuck around for 30 million plus years without apparently changing much)- the way to change this (pretending for the sake of the argument that dinosaurs don't have free will) is either to make the dinosaurs slightly different or to make the disaster slightly different. the extinction of the dinosaurs has as much to do with the meteor as another incident with volcanic ash, though, so i'm simplifying things, but there'd also be universes where only one or none of these things happened.

why does splitting happen?: the universe has a "frame rate" (planck time) in which the position of electrons from pixel to pixel (planck length) and other minutiae are changed on the "monitor" of reality, so that if you were watching it in slow motion things would be kind of jittery jumping from one place to the other like your computer is shit. the result is that the electron which is moving in a very complex pattern influenced at least slightly by literally every other particle in the universe including itself at some bullshit like 1367 mph which means you can either "snapshot" the electron to know where it was when you captured it or you can measure what direction it was going in but not both, just like a picture and a speedometer are two entirely different sets of data. the difference is that if you do try to measure both at once you won't get either. this is because to determine location the wave function must be 0 everywhere except where the electron is at and to determine momentum the wave function must be nonzero everywhere, and measuring them effectively sets them like that, changing reality in a small way. that sentence basically means that if you want to determine something's location it can only be in one location but to determine something's momentum you have to pre-assume that it can be anywhere. this is technically even true in the case of someone taking a picture of a moving car while using one of those radar speed thingies, the difference is we can make approximations under any reasonable limits (i'll stay out of calculus) because the actions of particles effectively never have any consequence on the car because there's so damn many of them they kind of cancel each other out. this isn't a case of "we don't know the formula to determine where an electron will be", it's "there is no formula". in summary splitting is basically only a way of explaining in a more deterministic and human way (or, a scientific model) how our universe could or would be different, one used because you can hypothetically get to that other universe- it's crucial to understand that "real" and "not real" don't mean much.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU, THE WORKING-CLASS WHITE AMERICAN CITIZEN: the location of the electron being what we mere mortals refer to as "random" causes what you might call the butterfly effect, but completely at random. the electron being five or six planck lengths from where it ended up being could have changed the trajectory of an ion which would make it hit another atom which means that when Unga Bunga comes looking for flint he would find instead regular old quartz, and thus the human race would go extinct. effectively your entire reality including your existence is decided by subatomic particles.

TO ANSWER YOUR ACTUAL FUCKING QUESTION: the characters are together by what is ultimately mere chance ("quantum-bound") and they are headed towards adventures in paradox space ("bound towards quantum") and the exploitation of probability/free will fuckery to improve the quality of life ("paradox space" is a term poached from homestuck referring to the fact that reality is inherently paradoxical, for example a literal interpretation of the first law of thermodynamics necessitates that our reality be a subset of another reality that doesn't play by the same rules (which is explored within), and the many-worlds interpretation forces, for example, universes that contain each other to exist and universes that technically contain everything but are empty etc.) not to mention reason #3: they are more or less trapped within a quite cruel reality "bound in quantum" and there's much talk about how by the laws of the universe there is always misery in some corner of it and the only thing you can do is minimize it. also the much less stupid reason #4, which is that it sounds science-y and adventure-y.

as you can tell the rest of the book is a pretty large departure tonally from the first part of it, as the rest of the series is to the first book at least until the second "wham" moment. tone-wise i'm trying to go for optimistic fantasy(ghibli?)/evangelion/one piece or similar shonen, with different moments more resembling one of those three than the others. one piece has the silly swashbuckling adventures and humor, evangelion has the masturbatory smartypants shit and ghibli brings the fuzzy feelings. all you've seen so far is my take on an adventure novel teenagers would hopefully actually want to read (so one piece i guess); the beginning of "a change of pace with friends" is a bit of a preview of how i intend to treat the more serious aspects.

did you research the name for longer than you actually wrote the book

i know rt is banned now but god damn get a load of that hypocrisy
he straight up invited fd back to otx

anyway, could you give like a plot summary and a summary of some of the characters?

room wrote:did you research the name for longer than you actually wrote the book

no lol i just had to do a lot of research on quantum mechanics anyway because i'm trying to include a realistic portrayal of basically magic and if you want your franchise to have a major motif to make it more memorable people have done much worse than quantum mechanics (chess strikes me as a particularly annoying one, i'd say cards as well but homestuck pulled it off OK)

Him. wrote:i know rt is banned now but god damn get a load of that hypocrisy
he straight up invited fd back to otx

anyway, could you give like a plot summary and a summary of some of the characters?

Alex: 21 year old long legged pissed off Puerto Rican of the "born to die world is a fuck" strain of thought- kind of a "trickster" like character in that he's really smug and defiant. If you tied him to a stick and put him over a fire he'd probably say something like "When I told you to make me dinner this isn't what I had in mind". Weapon of choice: machete. Chaotic Good
Red: above's twin sister. The idea was to have them both be equally important to the plot but that's obviously not going to happen and it's barely relevant now that it's really mostly Zurroon's story from the perspective of Alex and Red at this point. Weapon of choice: something called a bowgun. Chaotic Good
Rufus (Roux): 22 year old cajun black male. A turn of events causes him to encounter Gavine and Kria, who pitch the job to him under the condition that to get any more information than "it's dangerous and you won't be home for maybe years" he has to accept, and because he has almost nothing to lose agrees and also drafts Alex and Red into it since due to Red getting fired they can barely make ends meet. Basically a commie. Weapon of choice: noncombatant (except when push comes to shove). Chaotic good.
Arlene: Mostly a joke character, I think her appearances will remain limited to mentions and maybe a phone call or two. She's a dark Mexican who enjoys heavy alcoholic drinks, clapbacks and hitting things with a frying pan.
Gavine (rhymes with clean): socially retarded "cool guy" who is almost chronically incapable of taking anything seriously. Teases people at every opportunity. He is a member of a shapeshifting species known as Krominians who usually take the form of gryphons. His preferred form is basically a furry gryphon. Weapon of choice: fists and quantum shenanigans. True Neutral or Neutral Good
Kria (rhymes with urea): de jure leader and assembler of the squad that eventually becomes known as the Macheteros, keeps many secrets on a "need to know basis" which gets particularly Alex pissed. Is by far the most serious main character but doesn't really get tired of the others joking around. Takes the form of a rather large gryphon. Weapon of choice: spear and quantum shenanigans. Neutral Good
???: I haven't thought of a name for him but he's da Big Bad, he's also a Krominian and his motives and origin and even the fact he's a Krominian aren't clear until much later on, but I will say he played a hand in the creation of the multiverse the bulk of QB is set in which is supposed to be our own. He doesn't fit well on an alignment chart because he uses both chaos and law to his advantage.
That's all for Book 1 kids, laptop's about to die otherwise I'd do plot too

I forgot the fucking dragons lmao

"born to die world is a fuck" strain of thought

did you use a memer to characterize a character
"Rufus (Roux): 22 year old cajun black male" never met another cajun named rufus
why are your characters put into dnd alignments this reads like a rp character sheet
also shit i dont see how rt didnt love this novel

Flamdini wrote:

room wrote:did you research the name for longer than you actually wrote the book

no lol i just had to do a lot of research on quantum mechanics anyway because i'm trying to include a realistic portrayal of basically magic and if you want your franchise to have a major motif to make it more memorable people have done much worse than quantum mechanics (chess strikes me as a particularly annoying one, i'd say cards as well but homestuck pulled it off OK)

hs is full of game motifs, not just cards

LEEEEEEteral spoilers:

room wrote:

Flamdini wrote:

room wrote:did you research the name for longer than you actually wrote the book

no lol i just had to do a lot of research on quantum mechanics anyway because i'm trying to include a realistic portrayal of basically magic and if you want your franchise to have a major motif to make it more memorable people have done much worse than quantum mechanics (chess strikes me as a particularly annoying one, i'd say cards as well but homestuck pulled it off OK)

hs is full of game motifs, not just cards

LEEEEEEteral spoilers:

not to mention video games but yeah you're right. the reason the chess motif in homestuck doesn't piss me off is because it didn't structure the whole work around fucking chess metaphors like wow chess is heavily strategy based just like what your protagonist is doing good job fuckface
fuck the "chess with death" trope in particulra

how about these stone cold motherfuckers

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheChessmaster

that's kind of in name only so i don't hate it as much. if i see a chessboard in a movie though you'll probably hear me screaming

I'll post the plot stuff and the dragons tomorrow my dad's being a homo

ALSO REASON #5 IT'S NAMED QUANTUMBOUND- it refers to the wormholes they use for transportation or at least that's the excuse i use to Title Drop(TM) and also the original reason but it's not the first thing i think of any more, it's in a similar vein as the previous name RetCon which referred to a plot device I dropped regarding going into the past virtually, exploring "what ifs" and then basically editing the timeline of the universe from that data

Brewmaster Mac wrote:"born to die world is a fuck" strain of thought

did you use a memer to characterize a character
"Rufus (Roux): 22 year old cajun black male" never met another cajun named rufus
why are your characters put into dnd alignments this reads like a rp character sheet
also shit i dont see how rt didnt love this novel

not when i was writing him, just saving breath. thought it also saved breath to just put dnd alignments.
rufus isn't actually that common of a name but "rufus rouge" gets across that he's cajun and black like nothing else and i like the alliteration and assonance so

Spoiler:

also tbh i’m not saying my book doesn’t have any other reasons to dislike it but i imagine he disliked it primarily because i wrote it

alright so here are the major dragons right now:
Zurroon: Clumsy angry dork people tend to not take seriously, but he's down to earth and focused. Probably the third most serious. Spends most of the first book being Mr. Exposition Man in regards to dragon culture, just like Kria is Mr. Exposition Man in regards to complicated plot shit and mechanics. This weapon that's like a combination of a tonfa and a mace that also has spikes along the sides, front and back he uses for jabbing and he's got two of 'em. True Neutral.
Bekaard: Is usually telling Zurroon to stop being resentful about this or that. Doesn’t talk much. Is such a “jolly celtic man” trope he’d fit right in LOTR. Likes writing and is one of the two chiefs. Has an optimistic worldview. See above but with an even bigger metal piece on the end and it's just bigger in general because it's a two-handed weapon and Bekaard is yuge. Neutral Good.
Eltnas: The youngest (think about 12 or 13). Hopelessly naive, very talkative and curious, and perpetually happy except when he’s crying for cheap dramatic effect. Uses a cannon/gun strapped to his back. Has basic training in majyyk. Lawful Good.
Zahaku: A deconstruction of The Waifu in many respects. Abused by her parents and mentally molded into their “perfect little girl” who naturally grew up into the “perfect woman”. She’s a long, or Chinese-style dragon. She uses megec like Kria and Gavine but she doesn’t use any weapons. Lawful Neutral.
Renaya: She's basically a cougar?? She’s Bekaard’s wifey and is known for sleeping around, Bekaard doesn’t care because he’s a cuck. She’s polyamorous more than anything. Her top priority is making everyone 100% comfortable and happy. So basically slutty housewife. Stays at home but is a somewhat important character. Noncombatant. Lawful Neutral.

Plot:

Also I goofed, Rufus uses gauntlets because his aversion is to weapons more than violence and Gavine gets a big ass sword. There's other major characters like Pick but they're not in this book. Red and Rufus are Chaotic Neutral and Gavine is Neutral.

i now have 30 pages of this book done!

Change the title

I don't see an overwhelming need even if it's kind of dorky. Don't have a better name at the moment other than "A Tale Of Fire And Clay" and it's nothing like game of thrones. it gets across what kind of book it is decently and i can do better names for its sequels (want to call the last book F<sup>14, or Fourteenfold Freed). if you've got a suggestion i'll probably take it.

the finalish draft of those aforementioned first 30 pages is coming forthwith as well.

i believe good novels have names that subjectively reference the book through use of objects and the connotations thereof
example: where the red fern grows
the last lecture
the scarlet letter
techniques of modern shamanism vol 1

quantumbound makes me think of a vidya, taking away past knowledge

i feel you but i'm leaning toward something that stands out on the shelf, that's why i put "will sebake" as my pseudepigraph, so "sebake" will be on the spine and people can walk by it and be like "what the fuck is he french". quantumbound is a title that begs for more information. "where the red fern grows" makes me ask "what about that place?", quantumbound makes me ask "quite literally what?"

because the story ball is only getting rolling in the first one, there's also few important artifacts and locations. certainly none big enough to become synonymous with the book and the series.

then there's titles like, say, "unbreakable" or "chains" that usually tell you jack from shit about the story but if they're not shit (like "unbreakable") they pique your curiosity. qb would fall into this group.

and the third and probably last group is "just sounds cool" like "tomorrow never dies". i considered giving qb a title like this but i figure these are better relegated to subtitles or something.

i had a bit of an epiphany while writing this post- the first book, at least, could be called something like "volcanic" to emphasize the dragons whose introduction takes up most of the narrative live in a volcano and also to drop more hints that there's dragons in the book without outright saying it because then it gets lumped in with all those other shitty dragon books, i heard inheritance was ok though

i made a poll if you target demographic upper teenage millenial whippersnappers could help me out that'd be great