Okay, No, But Seriously, Gimme Topics!

The holidays are over, booo! That means it’s time for us all to get back to work. Personally, I can’t say boo to that, because it just means I’ll be doing more writing. But in order to do some really excellent writing for you lot over the course of 2016, I shall need topics. TOPICS!!!

Image shows a tabby kitten with blue eyes standing up and pawing at someone holding the camera. Caption says, "Want topix."

You can recommend pretty much anything: geology, science in general, religious nonsense, atheism, social justice, writing (fiction and non), and many other things. Do try to avoid most sports, because I haven’t any interest in them (although if the Seahawks somehow end up winning another Super Bowl, I might just get round to finishing that series on their championship rings). We can talk about Quidditch. Possibly horse racing. If it involves balls, though, you’re probably on your own.

So, think about it, and leave your requests here, and I’ll reach into the bag and rummage around and see what I can do. No promises, alas. I’m not sure which subjects will make my brain go badabing and which will make it go sproing at this point. It’s early times yet. Don’t censor yourselves, thinking, “Oh, Dana would never write about that.” Dana very well might. Unless it’s sports. And then she still might.

All right? So, while you’re pondering, I’m gonna go write some more. Got to get you good things to distract you while you’re stuck at work or on a commute or are looking for that quality cantina content just cuz!

{advertisement}
Okay, No, But Seriously, Gimme Topics!
{advertisement}

15 thoughts on “Okay, No, But Seriously, Gimme Topics!

  1. 2

    I couldn’t find the earlier request thread here, so I’ll repeat what I’d requested there.

    It’s to write “I was there” accounts of various notable events in our planet’s past. Like watching an end-Pleistocene Columbia-River giant flood. Or watching a Columbia-Plateau flood-basalt eruption. Or the splitting of Pangaea.

    Also interesting might be “where was everybody back then”. Where the continents were, what present-day parts had yet to be formed, where our ancestors were and what they were like, and the same for various other species. Like for the Eocene, noting that dogs’ and cats’ ancestors diverged about then, and they both looked rather weasel-ish.

    Dana Hunter, I’ve done some of that myself, and I don’t know if you’d be willing to try your hand at that.

  2. 3

    It’s to write “I was there” accounts of various notable events in our planet’s past.

    That’s pretty cool!

    It also might be fun to write from the viewpoint of a rock. Stuff like humans would move so fast you probably wouldn’t even see ’em. But, from the viewpoint of a rock, would things be kinda bouncy? Would your neighbors just wear away to pebbles overnight? “Hey, Fred, you lost a lotta weight there!” (next day) “Fred? Fred? Darn sandstones, they’re so flighty!”

    Also, it might be fun to talk about geology in the media. I watched “San Andreas” the other night (sue me. alcohol was involved and I was too smashed to watch anything thinky) How about those 100 yard-wide cracks that suddenly appear in the earth? Does that happen? There are loads of movies featuring geology as plot devices, how bad are they?

  3. 4

    More geology stuff! It was neat learning about Mt. St. Helens around the time of the anniversary of the eruption. It would be interesting to relate geology to current events, for instance, how fracking waste storage leads to earthquakes in normally stable areas.

  4. 6

    Well, I have plenty of pictures of pretty rock formations from places I’ve travelled, and I don’t know anything about them, so if you want to do a geology write-in column sort of thing, I have rock pictures you could explain…

    I also really, really like Kengi’s idea of geology of fictional places! And, since you’re working on fiction these days, maybe you could share some advice for fiction (esp. sci-fi/fantasy) writers in terms of big geological worldbuilding blunders to avoid. (Not entirely geology, but one thing that comes to mind is the lack of rain shadows adjacent to mountains on fictional worlds.)

  5. 7

    Anything about glaciation in the Pacific Northwest, especially how glacial movements interact with young mountains/ongoing uplift.

    Having moved to the Seattle area from New York City, I’m struck by the long narrow lakes that I’m told are basically glacial valleys carved into the ongoing Cascades uplift. The most visible glacial remnant where I’m from is Long Island, a moraine rather than a cwm. Here, it’s Puget Sound and Lake Washington and all the narrow clefts that make getting around Seattle so much fun.

  6. 9

    In reference to heliconia #6, I once wrote essays on these subjects:
    World building: climate
    World building: geology
    World building: moons and rings
    World building: planetary systems
    World building: exotic stars
    World building: ordinary stars
    (no links to avoid being spamfiltered; they are at secularcafe.org)
    I don’t know if our host would consider them any good.

  7. rq
    10

    I still owe you some photos and information for geology related stuff. Glacier geology, that is. And some fluvial geology that has since been lost.
    Ooooother than thaaaaat… I’ll have a small think on this. :)

  8. rq
    11

    Speaking of world-building, perhaps you can talk a bit about that on the fictional level – how it happens, how it works, what comes first, what develops out of that, do your worlds have any scientific surprises, etc. Asking for a friend. ;)

  9. rq
    13

    distinguished and delicate sensibilities

    Didn’t know we had any of that ’round here. Are you sure you’re in the right place?

  10. 15

    Bit late now and mentioned elsewhere too – but astronomy and planetary geology e.g. Pluto, Ceres, Titan and so on would be my requests topics~wise please Dana!

Comments are closed.