Community Event / Creation painting the background of the future

[Cmdr Andy B]

technology changes over time and as the basics of life develop names are often changed to reflect this.

for example if you kitted out a space vessel with a gas oven and no gravity your readers would laugh at you and never pick up anything you wrote again

who is to say a microwave oven will still be the way to heat ready meals in the future?

I've had to address some of these questions in my story so i thought i'd share some of my ideas and get some input.

the following is a passage from space storm chapter 2 that explores the sort of equipment you find in the living area of a cobra 3

Beep Beep, Beep Beep; the proximity alarm woke Hari with a start, sitting up so fast he wrenched against the harness still holding him to the pilots chair. A quick look at the scanner confirmed he had entered the highly regulated traffic control zone of the station. He still had plenty of time before he had to be fully awake and alert to request clearance for a slot in the docking queue so he unbuckled his harness and went to the fresher for a quick clean up.

The Cobra MkIII was a marvel of modern convenience for the solo trader or so went the sales pitch; with everything the galaxy hopping adventurer could require. It had a fresher to ensure you arrived at your destination with both yourself and your flight suit smelling clean and fresh. It had a lowgrav bunk that was comfortable to sleep in at anywhere from zero to ten G’s gravity and a split level cryo locker that kept foods and beverages fresh from one side of the cosmos to the other. Plus all the other basics you would expect to find in a one person, life support dependant craft: a mini recyc unit, a zero G toilet and an atmospheric repossessing system so efficient that you could drink your own breath.
Hari got out of the fresher and took his newly pressed flight suit out of the slot of the clothier built into its side wall. Struggling to get his oversized feet through the legs he and his suit performed acrobatics, pirouetting around the cramped but well-appointed cabin (you’ll feel the glee with a MKIII!). Grabbing a safety ring with one hand he started to wiggle his hips and his feet finally popped through. ‘Starbeans, its starbeans, every trader wakes up with star-beans. Bada bam StarBeans’ He sang as he swung across the cabin to the cryo. He reached in and pulled out an astrocup, Starbeans coffee house splashed across it in bold letters superimposed over a cross. Twisting the top he began juggling the container from hand to hand to mix it whilst it heated then once at the desired temperature he snatched the top out of mid-air and with a flick of the wrist snapped out the feeder tube from its holder. ‘ahhh wake up juice.’

continues further on:

Disposing of the astrocup in the recyc unit Hari pulled his way across the cabin and back into the cockpit area. Dragging his boots behind him, socks stuffed in to stop them floating away he swung into the pilots chair and clipped the harness together over his legs to keep him in place while he finished dressing.
A fresher was an absolute necessity in a one man trading vessel; it’s built in mini-clother was an all in one solution to the combined problem of personal hygiene and storage. The cramped space of a trader’s cabin didn’t give much room for personal items. Most only had two flight suits to their name, one for kicking around in between stops and another ‘dress suit’ for when they were in dock; you didn’t find a clothermat on every asteroid, or a public fresher.

As you can see from the text I didn't give the ship any gravity, it has all in one shower and laundry facilities, a fridge freezer, a bin and a bed.


containers of food/drink are self heating and you get hot coffee in an astrocup

a shower is called a fresher, a washer/dryer is a clother and a laundromat becomes a clothermat

the fridge freezer becomes a split level cryo locker

the bed becomes a Low Grav bunk

i haven't mentioned the toilet as i don't know many books that bother with that side of things, apart from Asimov and his personals but it might make for an amusing scene for later in the book if i have someone on the ship who isn't used to zero G toilets.


if people added their own bits to this thread it would help build up an outline of what everyday things around us may become.

whats a kitchen like on a planet 1300 years from now? do they even have kitchens or is it the Asimov alternative of communal cooking/eating to reduce waste?

goes without saying every planet could and would be different and different groups will have different names for the same thing but while we are writing the for ground ourselves having some basic background ideas would still be a help

 

[Mobius]

I’m not a writer and could never hope to be and I fully understand where you are coming from regarding future products but would there be a need to name and describe said products in a story, on reading it I liked the idea of a fresher as a possible future item but as a reader I didn’t need to know about everything else. As a reader I already know it’s the future and don’t think I need reminding of all the possible future items, can’t stand the word Astro for anything describing something spacey or futuristic. I think it’s not necessary to come up with future words as I feel jarred out of the flow of a story when a words like split level cryo locker pops up.
I would think if you was describing a modern holiday caravan based in Norfolk you wouldn’t be describing all the contents, you would probably just say that it had all the necessary mod cons nicely tucked away for holiday maker.

 

[Ian Phillips]

I would think if you was describing a modern holiday caravan based in Norfolk you wouldn’t be describing all the contents, you would probably just say that it had all the necessary mod cons nicely tucked away for holiday maker.

That's because we all have the references needed to fill in the gaps. What about trying to describe a neolithic kitchen? What tools would there be? You can describe them taking a knife and cutting some meat on a chopping board, but that does not get the visuals of a flint hand knife, a hunk of flesh from a freshly killed antelope and a conveniently placed slab of rock on which to cut the meat into bite sized blocks, to put into the water filled animal skin that hangs over the low fire.....

The writer needs to have that background in place, to be able to write about something in that place...I have read a book (by a writer that has many published books) in which one of the main characters has his eyes change colour from green to blue and back to green in the course of the story. These sort of details need to be in place, otherwise your story gets that sort of error creeping in.

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

tbh one of the reasons for this thread is astrocup sounded a bit silly and i'm looking for suggestions but how do you describe a self heating cup you can use in zero G in one word? you can go down the route of not naming things but that becomes very confusing for the reader and author alike as you get lost in the plot because you haven't a clue what they are doing.

by introducing the cup it opens the door to a lot about a traders life and give a better feel for what it would be like and even allowed me to squeeze in hyperbombs that will become important later in the story into the zeitgeist

out of context it may look a bit wordy but once you get to a later chapter and hyperbombs are used the action can flow without interruption as you already know what they are and what they are used for from earlier chapters

 

[RobFisher]

how do you describe a self heating cup you can use in zero G in one word?

If it was me, I wouldn't. Until it becomes needed for some part of the story, it's just a cup. It's such a familiar object to the people in the story that they don't think about it.

When the cup becomes central to the story -- perhaps it leaks all over the controls causing some problem -- then just describe what happens.

Liquid squirted from the cup's seal, sending steaming globules of brew in the approximate direction of the open computer cabinet.

 

[madassa648]

Brilliant details on the writing, interesting to see the small ships don't artificial gravity which you would assume you would need for long distance work but then again you're moving so quickly between the stars that you can spend a fairly short time in 0-G and then move planetside or to a station so you get some gravs and don't suffer muscle degredation etc.

 

[Susimetsa]

I actually didn't mind the description of the Cobra Mk III's equipment at all. The text flowed into it quite naturally. But, yes, the astrocup could just be a cup or - better yet - a container.

I would, however, shy away from writing too detailed descriptions before we get the writers' bible. It could be that the pilots simply float in some sort of jello for their entire trip and never need to go to a lavatory or to sleep in a bed (this from one of the concept art pieces).

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

I actually didn't mind the description of the Cobra Mk III's equipment at all. The text flowed into it quite naturally. But, yes, the astrocup could just be a cup or - better yet - a container.

I would, however, shy away from writing too detailed descriptions before we get the writers' bible. It could be that the pilots simply float in some sort of jello for their entire trip and never need to go to a lavatory or to sleep in a bed (this from one of the concept art pieces).

how would you fight or bounty hunt? besides i have the advantage of it being fan fiction so i'm not as constrained by details

if people read it and like it that's all that really counts, if they think its nothing like how the elite universe is in the other books 'that's not what the inside of a cobra looks like' does it really matter?

and if they are reading it without knowledge of elite or the universe it doesn't matter at all.

I do get what you are saying about the bible and this is why i'm not going into any details at all on the layout of the ship, just that it has a living area and an airlock but with procedural generation i would imagine the stations to be quite different inside so i'm more free to explore it alone.

names may have to be changed for it to fit in with the game but this can be done quickly so they could be considered placeholders for now

oh and first run through it was a container but it didn't seam to work for me, too bland

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

Brilliant details on the writing, interesting to see the small ships don't artificial gravity which you would assume you would need for long distance work but then again you're moving so quickly between the stars that you can spend a fairly short time in 0-G and then move planetside or to a station so you get some gravs and don't suffer muscle degredation etc.

not definite about zero G, it may just turn out to be a power saving option that he switched on before chapter 1 and never switched off. that way if in a few weeks the bible says Cobra's have gravity i can add it in next time he is in his ship or a ship. something like this:

Hari boarded the cobra and took the gravity out of battle mode, slowly he could feel himself getting heaver as the ships grav generators cycled up to full power

can always add it as a Doh moment, went to all that hassle ect when i could of just turned on the gravity


Edit:

what about calling it a selfheat as in 'Hari grabbed a selfheat of coffee from the cryo

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

so that would then read

He reached in and pulled out a selfheat of Coffee,

not too jarring and self explanatory, same could go for food, grabbed a self-heat of stew - its a Twofer and could be considered slang

 

[Susimetsa]

Brilliant details on the writing, interesting to see the small ships don't artificial gravity which you would assume you would need for long distance work but then again you're moving so quickly between the stars that you can spend a fairly short time in 0-G and then move planetside or to a station so you get some gravs and don't suffer muscle degredation etc.

The official word is that there's no artificial gravity. But, yes, they could still change their minds before the bible comes out.

 

[Susimetsa]

how would you fight or bounty hunt? besides i have the advantage of it being fan fiction so i'm not as constrained by details

Yup, writing fan fiction has its benefits.

But, yes, one of the last concept art pieces shows ships where the pilots appear to float in some sort of liquid as they fly their ships. Given that this would definitely hamper their reaction times and is definitely uncomfortable to a human being (to be constrained thusly), I hope that it doesn't make it to the final writers' bible. Of course, it has the benefit of protecting the pilot from high G-forces.

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

Yup, writing fan fiction has its benefits.

But, yes, one of the last concept art pieces shows ships where the pilots appear to float in some sort of liquid as they fly their ships. Given that this would definitely hamper their reaction times and is definitely uncomfortable to a human being (to be constrained thusly), I hope that it doesn't make it to the final writers' bible. Of course, it has the benefit of protecting the pilot from high G-forces.

still, you never know if it gets rave reviews once its edited punctuated and submitted to WriteOn i might see if it can become official.

in that case I'd rather be stuck with a bunch of rewrites so it conforms to the bible than not write it because i feel too constrained by the prospect of having to make a load of changes.


some stuff will be fairly safe to cover as its a big enough galaxy for variance, example if Hari visits a planet and gets the local version of 33rd C mobile phone to use i can have him buy a burner at the star port as:

'every planet used their own communications system, tailored to the needs of its magnetosphere. it was easier to buy a disposable than try and plug your own device into the planetary comnet'

I just hope they don't go all star trek on us and bring in inertial dampeners, artificial gravity isn't so bad as its a generic concept but ID's scream trek at the top of their lungs

back to the OP, Selfheat container as a generic device for food & hot drinks?

not too outlandish like astro and descriptive, also has the advantage of being used for food and drinks but is not as weak descriptively as 'Cup'

 

[Perseus]

Yup, writing fan fiction has its benefits.

But, yes, one of the last concept art pieces shows ships where the pilots appear to float in some sort of liquid as they fly their ships. Given that this would definitely hamper their reaction times and is definitely uncomfortable to a human being (to be constrained thusly), I hope that it doesn't make it to the final writers' bible. Of course, it has the benefit of protecting the pilot from high G-forces.

Maybe that pilot is in the fresher? I mean, judging by the damage to the ship, I think I'd need the fresher - not to mention the under garment dispenser!

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

Maybe that pilot is in the fresher? I mean, judging by the damage to the ship, I think I'd need the fresher - not to mention the under garment dispenser!

ship damage? maybe he's in the ***** and they ran out of brown paint

 

[jptreen]

If it was me, I wouldn't. Until it becomes needed for some part of the story, it's just a cup. It's such a familiar object to the people in the story that they don't think about it.

When the cup becomes central to the story -- perhaps it leaks all over the controls causing some problem -- then just describe what happens.

Liquid squirted from the cup's seal, sending steaming globules of brew in the approximate direction of the open computer cabinet.

I agree with this. It's just a cup. We're calling the FTL-equipped-spacecraft 'ships', and by saying this we're using shorthand that takes no amount of effort to decode.

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

I agree with this. It's just a cup. We're calling the FTL-equipped-spacecraft 'ships', and by saying this we're using shorthand that takes no amount of effort to decode.

set 1000+ years in the future in space 'ship' has a lot of imagery associated with it beyond 'something that sales the ocean blue' (the enterprise, a fine ship to serve on your first tour'

a cup is a cup is a cup on the other hand and doesn't fit (IMO) in a scene with no gravity much as a bowl of soup would be out of place.

a tube of soup concentrate and a bottle of water maybe more fitting but it was clumsy so i at first added 'Astro' to cup to denote it was 'more than a cup' subsequently changing it to 'self-heat container' or 'self-heat' for short to describe food and drink on a space ship.

was i wrong? personally i think 'a cup' would of been as out of place as a deckchair to put his clothes on

 

[Andrew Sayers]

An odd bit of future fell on my head while I was riding the moving walkway in Sainsbury's.

At some point, the first generation of space civilians will go up and start inventing words for the things they experience, like the first generation of digital civilians did a few decades back. Back then they rejected the technical language computer experts used, preferring analogies from the world they knew. These analogies were applied rigidly at first, then gradually adapted as time passed and the old meaning was left behind. For example we still "cut and paste" things, but we don't think it at all odd to paste a row from a web page into a spreadsheet even though cloning and modifying data is beyond the capabilities of any system based on scissors and goo.

The moving walkway reminded me of Drew's explanation about how people would perceive gravity on a rotating space station:

If you ran with the direction of spin you'd feel heavier, if you ran the other way, you feel lighter ... Jumping would be very unsafe as you're not in 'real' gravity, so the artificial gravity affect disappears the moment you jump. You'd appear to move away from the direction of spin and, from your own frame of reference, arc through the air as the station turned around you.

If a businessman had work to do in space but didn't particularly want to think about the mechanics of it, they'd probably say the station had an "uphill" and "downhill" direction. The analogy isn't exact, but it's close enough to get started. If that same businessman spent went planetside after spending a few decades touring the galaxy, they'd probably find it hilarious to actually see an old-fashioned hill - the quaint design, the strange effects of "up" and "down" in classical gravity, and the people running round it like it was real.

Either that or they'd get dizzy and fall off

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

i get where your coming from with cut and paste but nobody drives around in a large four wheel drive car they jump in the SUV and nobody goes to the local pub for a flagon of ale, they drink it from a glass and if they asked for a flagon of whatever is on tap the 18 year old barman would stare at the with a blank look.

things Do change over time and although we cut and paste into a notepad on our desktop the isn't a pot of glue in site and most kids have never heard of a scrap book

it may be in the future that every day items we don't consider will change so much as to require a new name to be adopted, after all how many people used to call a vacuum cleaner a Hoover and how many now call everything that spins as it sucks a Dyson and everything that washes as it sucks a VAX?


Also details set the date, if i describe the cobra and its equipment based on the space shuttle people will read it and think its some ship designed by an 80's revivalist

 

[jptreen]

set 1000+ years in the future in space 'ship' has a lot of imagery associated with it beyond 'something that sales the ocean blue' (the enterprise, a fine ship to serve on your first tour'

a cup is a cup is a cup on the other hand and doesn't fit (IMO) in a scene with no gravity much as a bowl of soup would be out of place.

a tube of soup concentrate and a bottle of water maybe more fitting but it was clumsy so i at first added 'Astro' to cup to denote it was 'more than a cup' subsequently changing it to 'self-heat container' or 'self-heat' for short to describe food and drink on a space ship.

was i wrong? personally i think 'a cup' would of been as out of place as a deckchair to put his clothes on

I see your point. From the perspective of the reader, and therefore from a writing perspective, I can see the use here for 'self-heat' instead of 'cup' or 'mug'.

I was must making a more 'real world' point, that I think the meanings of words over the centuries (or even decades) can be surprisingly ambiguous. 'Ship' is a very general term, as is 'mug'. One carries things from a to b, the other holds a drink. I don't see it as mad thinking to assume that if 'self heat' mugs or cups become commonplace and take over, initially they'd be called 'self-heats' or something, but eventually we'd revert back to mug.

Already, people don't read ebooks on a kindle, they just read books.

If people do woodworking, the (electric) 'router' they are likely to use was preceded by another kind of router (the router plane), also just called a 'router' at the time but very very different.

Admittedly, I have no studies to back this up, but my instinct leads me to believe that more often than not in English history shows when technological advancement happens we pick old words and recycle them rather than invent totally new ones.

Now, in German, I think they'd use 'self-heating-container', I'm almost 100% certain. But then they have that kind of bolt-on linguistic tradition.