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Idea for a Furry science fiction novel? Critique p

Serris · 17 · 2285

Serris

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Darwin's Soldiers is already confirmed.

I also had an idea based off someone else's Land Before Time fan fiction (Time Gate X WARNING: rated R for strong language and intense bloody violence. I will not provide a link).

I only have the title: R.A.P.T.O.R. Project and a few lines of the first chapter done and the genre which is: SF, Furry, Fantasy,Thriller). I have some of the main characters

I sort of came up with a plot but I desperately need work on it. I'm aiming for something along Clive Cussler's style.

The plot outline is:

A human researcher (from 2150) travels back in time to the time of the dinosaurs and he is to capture specimens for research.

The story begins when he is about to leave and a Struthiomimus and an Ankylosaur decide to follow him though the portal. At that point he has captured Deimos (OC from Twilight Valley, he is a Deinonychus) and an un-named Troodon.

He returns to the moon port only to find that mercenaries have attacked it. (the moon port is a combination civilian space port and research facility.)

Note that this will take place on both Earth and the space port. It will start on the space port and then go to Earth. I am split if I should keep it on Earth at that point or have the characters go back to the space port. Time travel is also an issue (Yes or no?).

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As to why I jammed it under fantasy; the dinosaurs [censored] TALK (Okay, only Deimos can talk without artificial aid. The rest can speak with an artificial aid. I'll work on what that aid is)! And I WILLFULLY ignored the Jurassic and Triassic and the other time periods.

Oh, the trope of "combat scientist" appears in this story too (Only one!). Yeah, I'm in love with that trope (Thanks to Time Gate X and Half-Life!).

The only thing I need to establish who the antagonists are. Which is arguably the hardest part.

I will take any and all critiques, criticisms, flames, ideas, anything. BRING IT!

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On a side note, how do I get a novel published?

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aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)

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Quote from: Serris,Dec 8 2008 on  04:49 PM
On a side note, how do I get a novel published?
From what I hear, have most or all of the manuscript written, then search for publishers who you think would be interested in publishing a book of your nature. Give them time to read through the manuscript, and if they seem interested, they'll discuss terms with you. If you come to an agreement, you're good to go. To be safe, you should consider looking into getting an agent before agreeing to anything. Also, don't get rejected by rejection slips; you will get many of them, and you  must remember that there are hundreds of publishers out there. Tons of them would be interested in publishing your work.

Now, regarding the book:

1. Dinosaur Babel Fish: I can't think of a readily available way to establish their ability to talk, but maybe the scientist has a major in Prehistoric Physiology, and can just understand their gestures? Kinda weak, I know, but it's the best I can come up with.

2. Time Travel: He did it once, didn't he? Why not again? It also could be the way he defeats the primary antagonist, sending him back in time to the moon before any space station existed (not the most pleasant way to go). Speaking of which:

3. The antagonist: First thing you need to figure out is who the antagonist is directing his antagonism towards: the scientist or the dinosaurs. Does his plan involve the dinosaurs, or the time machine? The antagonists' objectives will influence who the protagonist is, Deimos or the scientist. a good role for the antagonist might be the space station operator: having control over the base, it's equipment, and it's personnel would give him more than enough power to cause problems for Deimos & co.

Last question. Is your story going to be R-rated?


Kor

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& also best to flesh out the characters as much as you can.  Try to look for ramifications forward and backward.  Meaning if this is so, then this had to happen before to make sure this can be here, and this here would mean that this would happen in the future.  

Take notes and be sure your story stays consistent.  You  also have to decide if you are going to only have dinos from a certain time period, or will ignore then and do research for the different dinos that will be in your fiction.  If you have some military characters look up and research some military phrases and standard protocol, ways they'd talk on the radio, and things like that.


Serris

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I meant that the fan fiction is R-rated. My story should be about as violent as Darwin's Soldiers.

As for the "talking" idea, I like your idea of dinosaur sign language better than my idea but I'll toss mine out there:

My idea was to have Deimos be the only dinosaur who can somehow speak English. This Deimos is almost the exact same Deimos from Twilight Valley (only his species is different). The artificial aid would be something like a speech synthesizer or muscle stimulator to mimic speech. I borrowed this from a furry story that involved Utahraptors but that story was more like Jurassic Park meets Counterstrike. Again, that's all I took.

The protagonists are Deimos and the scientist. Or should I limit myself to 1 protagonist?

The dinosaurs are pseudo-anthropormorphic; they have Human level intelligence and can understand English but are otherwise normal dinosaurs.

I'll think of some more possibilities for the antagonist. I'm leaning towards the antagonist going after the scientist but I can't quite think of a motive. I thought about revenge or profit until I realized this: "Could the antagonist hate the protagonist (lust after money) so much that he is willing to jepardize the lives of other scientists and moon tourists?" As for the antagonist being the space station administrator I like that idea but that opens a new question: "Why did the admin wait until now to try and kill them?" Of course, the antagonist could go after the dinosaurs and target the scientist as an obstacle to his objective but now the reader is asking, "why would he go after the dinosaurs."

Since this is a civilian space station, I doubt firearms are going to be accessable to our heroes. The scientist may have a firearm for protection against attacking dinosaurs when he travels back in time but other than that, no. I might have the scientist depend on his dino allies for combat. So I guess improvised weapons, stolen firearms, claws and fangs are the way to go here.

The last question is REALLY dumb, should I allow Deimos or the Troodon to manipulate technology? Nothing too substantial, things like pushing buttons, plugging in wires or possibly even using firearms. Inspired by rumored plotline of Jurassic Park IV (genetically modified Deinonychus mercenaries)

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Quote
(Kor)
& also best to flesh out the characters as much as you can.  Try to look for ramifications forward and backward.  Meaning if this is so, then this had to happen before to make sure this can be here, and this here would mean that this would happen in the future. 

Take notes and be sure your story stays consistent.  You  also have to decide if you are going to only have dinos from a certain time period, or will ignore then and do research for the different dinos that will be in your fiction.  If you have some military characters look up and research some military phrases and standard protocol, ways they'd talk on the radio, and things like that.

I'm wedging this into fantasy because I WILLFULLY ignored time periods. And there are no military characters (except the mercenaries who attack the protagonists). Research isn't a problem.

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Uhh, should this be in AM, because it could be potentially sensitive stuff if I wanted to publish it?

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Kor

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With how smart real life troodons were in comparison to the other dinos of the same era they were from why could they not be able to use some technology.   They have less fingers then humans so a typewriter would be hard for them to use as a human does, but they could be able to press buttons, turn door knobs and such.  

You can make the bad guy, more believable I think in my opinion, if he thinks and believes he is doing the right thing instead of their relishing in the fact they are evil as some do their bad guys.  Though if he has any thugs they can be just working for the money, like hurting folks ect.


Serris

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I also received another suggestion from someone, they said it has potential for a humor story. I don't really see any opportunities for humor in this work.

Kor, you bought up an interesting point about Troodon intelligence. They were the most intellegent dinosaurs but Deinonychus wasn't that far behind. This means that the Troodon and Demios will probably serve some kind of tactical role (also meshes with the point that those two dinosaurs probably hunted in packs).

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I'm still kind of stuck on the "dinos using firearms" angle. Yes, it seems kind of stupid but how am I going to even the odds between a mercenary with a gun and a Troodon with nothing other than his claws and teeth?

The other thing is the combat aspect. I want to keep the character as a "combat scientist" but pretty much every combat scientist character I RP uses a firearm as their main and usually only weapon. And this is a civilian space station/research facility where there are few if any firearms around.

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Kor

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Sounds like you have some ideas but may need some more thinking.  If the dinos can take 1 armed human down they they can take the person's equipment.  They may be able to steal or acquire high tech in more then 1 way also.


aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)

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I have an idea. What if the Time machine, instead of being a walk-in machine like most people expect a time machine to be, is a hand-held device? Then it could be used as a sort of defensive tool. Example 1:

A. Protagonist is in room holding time machine.
B. Enemy guard rushes into room with firearm.
C. Protagonist uses time machine to travel 45 seconds into the future, enough time for the guard to wonder where he went and go searching into another room.

or...

A. Protagonist is being chased by firearm-wielding guards.
B. Protagonist turns a corner.
C. Protagonist uses time machine to travel 45 seconds into the future, enought time for the guards to turn the corner and keep running, away from his current position.

This could also provide the antagonist's motive: he's after the time machine; he wants it for himself. Maybe he didn't want it before because he didn't believe it would work: now that the dinos are proof that it does, he makes plans to get his hands on it.


landbeforetimelover

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Sorry but your idea doesn't appeal to enough of the general population so I doubt you'd ever be able to get a publisher to invest in you.  Your interest base is far too small.  Think broader if you want to actually publish a novel.


Serris

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How much broader can I get with a thriller?

LB&T, I like your idea but I am afraid of creating a "game breaker" situation with the time warping. Of course, it should be easy to fix: add in a cool-down time or require that it be recharged by plugging it into a wall or replacing the powercell.

Kor, you're right. I do need to plan this more. I'm doing some of the planning here.

As for your suggestion, that'll work except I have to "erase" paleontological discoveries/evidence to allow Deimos, the Troodon and the Struthiomimus to manipulate technology and use firearms. But hey, it's all for the sake of telling a good story and no one will mind.

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Kor

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Sounds like some of your ideas may work.  

You are doing well in looking at the ramifications of certain things.  

Don't to write for an audience, write what you enjoy.  Write a story you would enjoy reading, and some others will like it too.


aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)

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I agree with Kor completely. landbeforetimelover, I think your suggestion is coming from the viewpoint of someone trying to make money, not doing what they love. And I also think you underestimate the potential of talking dinosaurs as a selling point  :smile


Serris

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This was from an early planning stage:

During one of the space station chapters, Deimos will fight with a terrorist and he'll kill him by wresting his pistol away and shooting him in the head. Needless to say, the researcher is suprised (later revealed that Deimos learned to use firearms by imitation <he gets a brief lesson on firearms from the researcher during a little lull in the action and he learns REALLY fast>) I made Deimos a little more human-like (good problem solving skills and human-like dexterity).

The Struthiomimus character will also use a weapon (a knife he takes off a terrorist the researcher shot and killed)

I have a small text snippet where I worked with this but I have to find it somewhere.

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inlerah

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I'm still kind of stuck on the "dinos using firearms" angle. Yes, it seems kind of stupid but how am I going to even the odds between a mercenary with a gun and a Troodon with nothing other than his claws and teeth?

how about having them use a head mounted rig, with a bite plate replacing the trigger as the firing mechanism


aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)

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Also, in regards to publishing, the amazon Kindle has made self-publishing extremely easy and cost-free. Here&#39;s
Here's a website to explain how to do it.

If you can't find a publisher who's interested in selling your work (not an unknown problem; publishing houses have become extremely hesitant to hire new authors), this is an excellent way to get your work out there to an audience. Using this method, I've become a published author, and people have bought my work  :D


Serris

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Quote from: inlerah,Oct 6 2010 on  12:18 AM
Quote
I'm still kind of stuck on the "dinos using firearms" angle. Yes, it seems kind of stupid but how am I going to even the odds between a mercenary with a gun and a Troodon with nothing other than his claws and teeth?

how about having them use a head mounted rig, with a bite plate replacing the trigger as the firing mechanism
The crew really have no time to work on something like that.

About the Kindle method, will I ever be able to get paper copies out there on the market?

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aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)

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If the Kindle edition is popular enough, you can use that to prove to a publisher that it's worth it to publish your book for reals.

Speaking of which, how is this book and the Darwin's Soldiers novelization coming along?