Incidentally —
Posted on August 17, 2006 Posted by John Scalzi 13 Comments
Yes, I got that chapter done yesterday. I have another to do today. Joy.
Here’s a fun fact: Raymond Chandler once wrote about writing “If you ever run out of ideas, have someone come through the door with a gun.”
In science fiction, a missile attack does pretty much the same thing.
That is all.
I recommend asteroids.
Personally.
Elizabeth:
Define “asteroid.” Is that like a pluton? [snaps fingers and moonwalks out of room].
Did someone say ASTEROID?
I’m a ball of fire
Fire from heaven
Terror from nowhere
You’ll never shoot me down
Days turns to minutes
5 seconds till it hits us
3 seconds to ground
1 second to ….
[the rest deleted — kids, let’s not violate Killing Joke’s copyright by reposting the entire lyrics to a song, hey? Love, JS]
oops. Sorry.
That’s illegal to do? But I found it on the internet!
I’m trying to find a way to incorporate a rocket attack into my horror story about mermaids. Hmmmm…
“If you ever run out of ideas, have someone come through the door with a gun.”
Heh. Works in real life, too (Although he didn’t come in carrying a weapon)
http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/435130.html
Perhaps Vampire Mermaids?
They stalk cruise ships looking for easy prey.
Mix in some Were-dolphins that fight them and you’ll probably find a publisher.
By the time it gets made into a screen play, Dakota Fanning should be old enough to play the misunderstood young Were-dolphin in search of true love amidst the war waged underwater against the dread vampire mermaids…
I can hardly wait to see the movie. I hear Barbra Streisand’s hairdresser is an awesome movie producer…you should look him up once the book is ready.
Whenever I whine about what to do next, I have a friend who says “kill somebody.”
I may kill him the next time he says it.
Gun… missle… *something* out of the ordinary.
I was once stuck and frustrated and I (vacuuming the cat) posted on my blog, “I am taking this thing too seriously! Maybe it would be better if I turned the two antagonists into snakes or something… hey… that’s not a bad idea, actually…” and though I didn’t do that literally, it did work!
Congrats on keeping up with your deadline, Scalzi.
When I first read that I thought he meant, like, in real life. Which always works for me.
Actually, I believe it was “Have *two* guys burst through the door with guns.” But I might be misremembering.
“Perhaps Vampire Mermaids?”
Space sirens: no need to try to sneak up on spaceships (which is more or less impossible) when you can lure them to dock at the Spaceport of No Return.
“If you ever run out of ideas, have someone come over the border with the Grand Army of France.” – attr. Leo Tolstoy
Or, as in John Ringo’s Poslie series, have the earth fleet suddenly appear out of deep space, like a deus ex machina, and immediately wipe out whatever has been bedeviling the protagonist for the prior 4 books. ;)