Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 06:58:10 +0000 (GMT) From: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> To: zen@buddhist.com (G. Adam Stanislav) Cc: licia@o-o.org, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Is it ok to use the FreeBSD name in a cyberpunkish Message-ID: <199905150658.XAA06536@usr09.primenet.com> In-Reply-To: <3.0.6.32.19990512202146.00958db0@mail.bfm.org> from "G. Adam Stanislav" at May 12, 99 08:21:46 pm
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> >(smiles) I've got to get around to writing that glossary :) c&e is slang the > >characters use to mean 'compress and encrypt', I'll try to start a glossary > >when I get episode 2 online, and update it with each new episode :) > > I have a better suggestion: Incorporate it in the story. When a slang term > is used for the first time, find some excuse to explain to the reader what > it means but not in an obvious way. > > Otherwise you are forcing the reader to interrupt the reading experience > just to look something up in a glossary. Ian M. Banks and William Gibson both delay definition of terms until well after they have been mentioned (thrid or fourth mention is in a context where an explanation is necessary to an outsider, usually by a minor character to a secondary character). I believe that Jeff Noon (Vurt, Pollen) uses similar techniques, as did Roger Zelazny. Capitalizing the initials indicates their representative nature, however, and is important to their understanding as initials. A similar literary technique is the internal dialog -- e.g.: Jessie started the C&E, hoping there was time; as she fretted away the minutes, it seemed that the compression took forever. "Get a hold of yourself, girl", she told herself, "It's just the time pressure". But something was wrong; the encryption was taking more than twice as long as it should have, worst case. She hear muffled sounds in the hallway: it was obvious that Hector was closing in. She fingered the pin on the viral grenade; she'd use the thing, if it came to that. She was pretty sure she'd use the thing. She hoped it wouldn't come to that. God, please don't let it come to that... In general, as long as it's explained or hinted at before it's used four or more times, it's enough. I think that you are suffering "serial shock". 8-). Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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