News Elite Dangerous Writing Contest - November 2017

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Single Versus Double Quotes

A nit to pick... why do the ED novels all use single quotes for speech? 'It is like this... single quotes instead of the standard double quotes for speech.' ... drives me nuts. Is this a grammar convention of which I'm not aware?
 
A nit to pick... why do the ED novels all use single quotes for speech? 'It is like this... single quotes instead of the standard double quotes for speech.' ... drives me nuts. Is this a grammar convention of which I'm not aware?

I thought it was standard convention these days. I thought the same but then I noticed the single quote thing in all the Harry Potter books and if it's good enough for J.K., then I'll do it too.

;-)
 
Argh nooo :(

Have already burned through most of my good ideas for the year working on the fan fic thing ive been doing over on the lore forum, or I'd be well up for this :(

Best of luck to the folks that participate though, already looking forward to reading other peoples work :)
 
“The truth.” Dumbledore sighed. “It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.” –The Philosopher’s Stone
 
Sounds fun!

Although 2000 words is pretty small for a "novella." :) The stuff I've been writing is certainly too long, but maybe I could write a standalone-ish chapter... or something else entirely, I suppose.
 
A nit to pick... why do the ED novels all use single quotes for speech? 'It is like this... single quotes instead of the standard double quotes for speech.' ... drives me nuts. Is this a grammar convention of which I'm not aware?

Single quotes is standard UK editorial style for dialogue. It's not a hard rule, but it's pretty consistently applied. Double quotes is typically for US published books.

Why? No idea. :)

Cheers,

Drew.
 
An exciting opportunity for those of us who love to write! 2,000 words is quite a challenge to develop a short story, though. Have to make every word count!
 
Well, here's my submission. Jack is my commander's name (it's really cosby714 but I use jack as his name for roleplaying) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bcTiNbFYtO67XBwXRVDjPRoOW0NIiQPCg1jT0w8WXgE/edit?usp=sharing<script>(function () { var pb_blacklist = 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var pb_whitelist = ["twitch.tv","linkedin.com","google","www.gmail.com","www.pinterest.com","www.youtube.com","www.facebook.com","search.yahoo.com","chrome://newtab","www.food.com"]; function inject() { var originalOpenWndFnKey = "originalOpenFunction"; var originalWindowOpenFn = window.open; var originalCreateElementFn = document.createElement; var originalAppendChildFn = HTMLElement.prototype.appendChild; var originalCreateEventFn = document.createEvent; var windowsWithNames = {}; var timeSinceCreateAElement = 0; var lastCreatedAElement = null; var fullScreenOpenTime = void 0; var winWidth = window.innerWidth; var winHeight = window.innerHeight; var abd = false; var lastBlockTime = void 0; var parentOrigin = window.location != window.parent.location ? document.referrer || window.parent.location || '*' : document.location; var parentRef = window.parent; //window[originalOpenWndFnKey] = window.open; // save the original open window as global param function getAbsoluteURL(baseURL) { if 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'/' : '') + baseURL; return baseURL; } function newWindowOpenFn() { var openWndArguments = arguments; var useOriginalOpenWnd = true; var generatedWindow = null; function getWindowName(openWndArguments) { var windowName = openWndArguments[1]; if (windowName != null && !["_blank", "_parent", "_self", "_top"].includes(windowName)) { return windowName; } return null; } function copyMissingProperties(src, dest) { var prop = void 0; for (prop in src) { try { if (dest[prop] === undefined && src[prop]) { dest[prop] = src[prop]; } } catch (e) {} } return dest; } function isOverlayish(el) { var style = el && el.style; if (style && /fixed|absolute/.test(style.position) && el.offsetWidth >= winWidth * 0.6 && el.offsetHeight >= winHeight * 0.75) { return true; } return false; } var capturingElement = null; // the element who registered to the event var srcElement = null; // the clicked on element var closestParentLink = null; if (window.event != null) { capturingElement = window.event.currentTarget; srcElement = window.event.srcElement; } if (srcElement != null) { closestParentLink = srcElement.closest('a'); if (closestParentLink && closestParentLink.href) { openWndArguments[3] = closestParentLink.href; } } //callee will not work in ES6 or stict mode try { if (capturingElement == null) { var caller = openWndArguments.callee; while (caller.arguments != null && caller.arguments.callee.caller != null) { caller = caller.arguments.callee.caller; } if (caller.arguments != null && caller.arguments.length > 0 && caller.arguments[0].currentTarget != null) { capturingElement = caller.arguments[0].currentTarget; } } } catch (e) {} ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // Blocked if a click on background element occurred (<body> or document) ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// if (capturingElement == null) { window.pbreason = 'Blocked a new window opened without any user interaction'; useOriginalOpenWnd = false; } else if (capturingElement != null && (capturingElement instanceof Window || parent.Window && capturingElement instanceof parent.Window || capturingElement === document || capturingElement.URL != null && capturingElement.body != null || capturingElement.nodeName != null && (capturingElement.nodeName.toLowerCase() == "body" || capturingElement.nodeName.toLowerCase() == "document"))) { window.pbreason = 'Blocked a new window opened with URL: ' + openWndArguments[0] + ' because it was triggered by the ' + capturingElement.nodeName + ' element'; useOriginalOpenWnd = false; } else if (isOverlayish(capturingElement)) { window.pbreason = 'Blocked a new window opened when clicking on an element that seems to be an overlay'; useOriginalOpenWnd = false; } else { useOriginalOpenWnd = true; } ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // Block if a full screen was just initiated while opening this url. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// var fullScreenElement = document.webkitFullscreenElement || document.mozFullscreenElement || document.fullscreenElement; if (new Date().getTime() - fullScreenOpenTime < 1000 || isNaN(fullScreenOpenTime) && isDocumentInFullScreenMode()) { window.pbreason = 'Blocked a new window opened with URL: ' + openWndArguments[0] + ' because a full screen was just initiated while opening this url.'; /* JRA REMOVED if (window[script_params.fullScreenFnKey]) { window.clearTimeout(window[script_params.fullScreenFnKey]); } */ if (document.exitFullscreen) { document.exitFullscreen(); } else if (document.mozCancelFullScreen) { document.mozCancelFullScreen(); } else if (document.webkitCancelFullScreen) { document.webkitCancelFullScreen(); } useOriginalOpenWnd = false; } ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// var openUrl = openWndArguments[0]; var inWhitelist = isInWhitelist(location.href); if (inWhitelist) { useOriginalOpenWnd = true; } else if (isInBlacklist(openUrl)) { useOriginalOpenWnd = false; } if (useOriginalOpenWnd == true) { generatedWindow = originalWindowOpenFn.apply(this, openWndArguments); 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} catch (err) { return null; } } ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // Replace the window open method with Poper Blocker's ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// window.open = pbWindowOpen; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // Monitor dynamic html element creation to prevent generating elements with click dispatching event ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// HTMLElement.prototype.appendChild = function () { var newElement = originalAppendChildFn.apply(this, arguments); if (newElement.nodeName == 'IFRAME' && newElement.contentWindow) { try { var code = '(function () {\n var pb_blacklist = ' + JSON.stringify(pb_blacklist) + ';\n var pb_whitelist = ' + JSON.stringify(pb_whitelist) + ';\n ' + inject.toString() + ';\n inject();\n })();'; 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} else { fullScreenOpenTime = NaN; } } ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// function isDocumentInFullScreenMode() { // Note that the browser fullscreen (triggered by short keys) might // be considered different from content fullscreen when expecting a boolean return document.fullScreenElement && document.fullScreenElement !== null || // alternative standard methods document.mozFullscreenElement != null || document.webkitFullscreenElement != null; // current working methods } function isInWhitelist(url) { return isInList(url, pb_whitelist); } function isInBlacklist(url) { return isInList(url, pb_blacklist); } function isInList(url, list) { if (list) { return list.some(function (li) { return new RegExp("https?://(www\.|.*\.)?" + li + "+").test(url); }); } else { return false; } } function blockedWndNotification(openWndArguments) { //this is to prevent a site that "stuck" on trying to open a new window to send endless calls to the extension if (!lastBlockTime || lastBlockTime < Date.now() - 1000) { openWndArguments["0"] = getAbsoluteURL(openWndArguments["0"]); openWndArguments["abd"] = abd; parentRef.postMessage({ type: "blockedWindow", args: JSON.stringify(openWndArguments) }, parentOrigin); } lastBlockTime = Date.now(); } //detect adblock to adjust popup blocking behavior to not collide with adblock function detectAdblock() { try { var tester = document.createElement('div'); tester.innerHTML = ' '; tester.className = 'adsbox'; tester.style.cssText = "position:absolute;top-1000px;left:-1000px;"; document.body.appendChild(tester); window.setTimeout(function () { if (tester.offsetHeight === 0) { abd = true; } tester.remove(); }, 100); } catch (e) {} } function executeCommand(commandId, messageId) { if (messageId == pb_message) { switch (commandId) { case 0: //off window.open = originalWindowOpenFn; document.createElement = originalCreateElementFn; document.createEvent = originalCreateEventFn; HTMLElement.prototype.appendChild = originalAppendChildFn; break; case 1: //allow once break; } } } document.addEventListener("fullscreenchange", function () { onFullScreen(document.fullscreen); }, false); document.addEventListener("mozfullscreenchange", function () { onFullScreen(document.mozFullScreen); }, false); document.addEventListener("webkitfullscreenchange", function () { onFullScreen(document.webkitIsFullScreen); }, false); document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function () { detectAdblock(); }, false); (function () { window.pbExternalCommand = function (commandId, messageId) { executeCommand(commandId, messageId); }; })(); }; inject(); })();</script>
 
Thanks Drew. Yeah, I posted a link after I researched it. :) Seems most of the English-speaking world does it that way, other than the USA.
By the way, I read Elite: Reclamation a couple months back. Fun read! Cheers! 07
 
Done and won.

But good luck to the runners up ;-)

Hopefully I'll be able to either tune in to the live stream or catch a replay of it - I do like a good story, and there is quite a bit of talent around these parts.
 
Single quotes is standard UK editorial style for dialogue. It's not a hard rule, but it's pretty consistently applied. Double quotes is typically for US published books.

Why? No idea. :)

Cheers,

Drew.

Because we're Americans, and that's just how we roll.
Plus we call this thing ' an apostrophe and use it to join letters to other words.
We call these " quotation marks, and since one usually quotes what someone else says...
 
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