Ask Pangaea

[Cancerian Tiger]

Also, I HATE essay questions. <_<)

I almost found this to be ironic, given the nature of your posts .  However, I'm the same way so I understand.  I love to write, but I despise essay questions :.  Anyhoo, now for a question...

What is your favorite kind of test question ?

[Pangaea]

I'm a freestyle writer. I don't do so well when I'm told what to write. Also, a big reason I dislike essay questions is that I usually have to do them on paper. I don't usually write long pieces linearly, starting at the beginning and proceeding onward, because it's often hard for me to put my thoughts in words. For instance, if I'm preparing to write out an argument, I might not be sure of how exactly to spell out my opening statement, while I have a clear idea of what I want to say for one of my key points. On a computer I can simply write whatever comes to mind first, and then worry about how to word the preceding statements. On paper, I have to write out everything in order, which takes a LONG time. There have been numerous instances in which I have been the last student left in the classroom while taking a test, simply because I have been flummoxed on how to word my response to an essay question.

As for my favorite kind of test question...I'd have to say multiple choice, because they're the easiest. The answers are all provided; it's just a matter of picking the correct one. If I'm faced with a blank space to fill in, my mind often similarly draws a blank. But if I'm given choices, there's a likelihood that I'll recognize the correct answer as familiar, and mentally link it to the question being asked. Though multiple choice questions can still give me difficulty, because sometimes I see more than one option as being potentially correct.

[Amaranthine]

^I'm the same way Pangaea, as far as tests goes.

And I just want to say thanks for the tips on studying, that helped greatly! ^^

Anyhow questions....do you have a favorite mystical creature? If so what is it and why?

[Caustizer]

How is your Fan Fiction story coming along?

[Pangaea]

Rat Lady: I really like dragons, largely because of their great variability of appearance and characteristics (much like dinosaurs). However, another mythological creature I find fascinating is the cockatrice, an amalgamation of rooster and reptile with a singularly bizarre life history (hatched from an egg laid by a rooster :huh: and incubated by a toad or snake) and the ability to kill any living creature it makes eye contact with, including itself (it dislikes reflective surfaces ). I drew a “realistic” version of one for an art contest/exhibition in my first year of college, and won third prize for it.

Caustizer: Not so well, I’m afraid. I haven’t worked on it in weeks, due to a combination of Writer’s Block and a plentitude of distractions.

[Caustizer]

Could you send me what you have so I can take a look at it? I'm really interested to see how you would write a story.

[Pangaea]

I’m not sure. :unsure: There are a number of reasons for which I am reluctant to share what I have accomplished on it so far. Can we discuss it by PM?

[Amaranthine]

If dinosaurs were still alive and you wanted to keep one as a pet, which one would you choose? ^^

[Pangaea]

If they weren’t extinct, you mean? (Of course dinosaurs are real! That’s what makes them so awesome! ) Well...assuming that it could be guaranteed that whatever dinosaur I chose would take well to captivity, I knew how to take proper care of it, and my lifestyle was otherwise more or less the same (i.e., I lived in the same house, and wasn’t a millionaire or anything), I think I would pick a relatively small one. (I mean, imagine the food bill for a longneck! ) Since I live in northern Minnesota, I would want one that could either stay inside the house for at least part of the year, or was adapted to a climate with cold winters. Perhaps a small climbing theropod like Microraptor, Epidendrosaurus, or Anchiornis. I could buy them one of those playground thingies they sell for cats, and probably feed them on crickets, mealworms, and other insects sold as reptile food. Alternatively, I could get a small herbivore, like Incisivosaurus, Fruitadens, or Microceratus (the “Great Hideous Beast” from the “Stranger from the Mysterious Above” LBT TV episode ). Another possibility is Troodon, which is known to have lived as far north as Alaska during the Cretaceous period, and therefore might be able to tolerate spending some time outside during the winter. (Though I’d have to either put a high fence around my yard or keep my pet on a leash when I brought it outside, for its own safety as well as that of the smaller neighborhood pets! )

If pterosaurs are game, too, I might like to have a Sordes, Anurognathus, Nemicolopterus or other species small enough to fly around the house comfortably. Dimorphodon is also a possibility, as it was relatively large for a flying indoor pet, but has been supposed to have been better adapted for climbing in trees than flying long distances, and may in fact have been a reluctant flier.

(As long as I’m on the subject of owning arboreal pterosaursóand in keeping with the spirit of the holiday seasonóI thought I’d share this hilarious art piece by a pterosaur researcher/paleoartist, depicting the potential hazards of keeping Dimorphodon in the house at Christmastime. )

[Amaranthine]

Yeah, that's what I meant.

[Cancerian Tiger]

Since you're a northern Minnesota resident, have ya ever been to the Boundary Waters wilderness?

[Pangaea]

I’ve been to Ely on two occasions (once in September 2008 and once last August), visiting the Soudan Underground Mine State Park, International Wolf Center, and North American Bear Center, but I didn’t really spend any time in the wilderness. Paradoxically (and perhaps shamefully) for someone who loves nature, I don’t get outdoors much.

[Amaranthine]

How are you doing?

[Pangaea]

See my latest post in the "How are you Feeling?" thread.

[Amaranthine]

Ehhh how's Sasquatch?

[Pangaea]

Pretty much the same as always. Though actually, he seems to have been a bit less mischievous as of late (though it's also possible that I'm being forgetful, or growing overly accustomed to his bad habits ). He's never attempted to climb the Christmas Tree, and has treated the hanging decorations as toys a lot less often than I had anticipated. (Of course, having said this, I won't be surprised if sometime soon he makes up for his recent run of relatively good behavior by committing some disastrously naughty act. )

[Mirumoto_Kenjiro]

What are your plans for the near future?

[Pangaea]

Well, I’m graduating from college in May (with an English major and Biology minor), and in the fall I may be starting graduate school. However, due to my having an extremely narrow range of skills (most of them unmarketable), and being ridiculously unsuited for most jobs, I have virtually no idea what career I’m going to pursue. (I used to want to be an author, and had my own series of books planned, but it’s not looking promising. )

[Cancerian Tiger]

Some advice: Land a steady job, and at the same time submit your written work to publishing companies.  As my Creative Writing instructor told me, you'll get rejected nine out of ten times, but don't give up.  Unfortunately, I have not written any stories I would try to publish.  Universal would take me to the cleaners for copyright infringement .

Okay, now for a question: What kind of stories do ya write ?

[Pangaea]

Thank you for the advice. Unfortunately, the main problem isn’t getting the books published, but writing them in the first place. The books have been stuck in a planning stage for years, during which time I’ve barely written anything that would actually be part of the books themselves. By this point I’ve thrown out many of the ideas I previously had, and am basically starting from scratch on the specificities of the plot. I’m also struggling to design realistic, inventive, diverse, three-dimensional characters (and find unique names for them), and make the story dramatic and engaging, but avoid clichÈs as much as possible. It doesn’t help that I’m experiencing a creative drought, and am having difficulty fleshing out the story and establishing the rules of the world.

As for what the books are about, I only feel comfortable with saying so much on the forum, but it is set in a world where species and ecosystems from all stages of Earth’s history (including the present day) exist contemporaneously, but separate from one another. All of the characters are animals, which I am attempting to portray with minimal anthropomorphic traits. The principal cast is a group of present-day animals of various species, who discover a means of traversing the natural barriers that divide the regions, encountering prehistoric creatures in the process. (If you’re interested in hearing more, send me a PM. )