# So many questions...



## Frostbittenhusky (Jan 12, 2011)

I've been having some trouble with this story I've been working on for a little while. I've come up with a name for my main character, I also have a plot but my biggest problem is setting.

Bascially the story follows my main character as he goes through life, he isn't a particularly special person, he doesn't do anything particularly amazing, at least not when its considered to be a part of the job. He joins the military and ends up seeing some bad stuff, when he gets out he tries to get back on his feet and deal with the PTSD.

What I'm not too sure about is whether to set it up in the modern day and with my main character as human (I'm still debating whether to use this for practice and post it online, or actually make this my first markatable work) or whether to set it in the future and have my main character also be a member of the same species as my fursona (bioengineered wolf mix, think Freefall's Florence Ambrose and you've got the right idea) or keep him human. The story itself isn't all action, its supposed to be a realistic depiction of what soldiers go through on a day to day basis (think Jarhead), and is more character driven than anything else. Scientific and Militaristic accuracy is important to me.

Help... (also in my mind I actually have alot of ideas for the future version that could make this into an entire series)


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## Icky (Jan 12, 2011)

Why exactly would he be an anthro? Is there a plot point to it?


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## Frostbittenhusky (Jan 12, 2011)

Like me, my main character was born Roman Catholic but chose to be agnostic. Also like me, he isn't the sort of person to leave a question like whether a higher power exists or not unanswered. My main character is supposed to use his new found freedom away from his parents to do some joint internal/external soul searching as he explores other religions. And while I can't say for certain what most people say about things like test tube babies I figure if my main character was anthro and had to ask himself whether being artificial in origin actually meant he had a soul or not, while at the same time trying to figure out whether it's actually worth saving would make for some pretty good reading...

What do you think?


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## Icky (Jan 12, 2011)

I think you completely missed my questions :l


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## Frostbittenhusky (Jan 12, 2011)

Well that kind of was my answer (whatever species he is that was one aspect of the character that I've already decided upon, wether the 'artificial' point comes up or not depends on whether he's an anthro or not, but the rest is the same), also because of personal preference (still doesn't make that much of a difference though), and because if its in a futuristic setting I can cheat a little bit when it comes to things like military traditions, I can just make up my own for the units that he serves in.


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## Fay V (Jan 12, 2011)

Icky brought up a good point though. Making it anthro would just feel like making it anthro for the sake of making it anthro. Does the wolf thing serve a purpose?
personally I feel the future one is a bad idea for a few reasons. 

1. You can "cheat" but that isn't necessarily good. The traditions and units that you want to skip each have history and add depth. If you make up your own society you have to make up a history for the military, a deep one that involves more than "and then they fought these guys". You also have to create a new society outside the military. 
You couldn't just say "it's like now" because it wouldn't be. there's future tech, culture changes as it advances. Trying to use modern society would be like writing a story about a modern soldier, but the non military world is really the 1950s 

2. What is there in the future for a reader to connect to? When you have stories of modern soldiers we have a focus. We know soldiers, or at least we know they are people like us, or if not you can show they are people like us. That's a lot. With the future stuff, you have to work harder. It's the future, already it is less close to me.Is there a reason to have it in the future besides "so he's a wolf now"

3. I think it would degrade the message. If you want to show what soldiers go through, show what they go through. Why confuse it by making it more futuristic. 

You already have to work hard to get a nice balance of emotion and characterization, why muddle things with random anthros and futuretech


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## Term_the_Schmuck (Jan 12, 2011)

I'd keep the character human, make it modern day.

That doesn't necessarily mean you have to do a war in Iraq kind of deal.  You can make up some conflict in another country, like some civil war in Uganda or something along those lines that he ends up getting sent to as a peacekeeping mission or something.  Ultimately what conflict it is really isn't important considering that we're talking about a war situation where bad stuff happens.  That can be anywhere.

Also, I wouldn't half-ass it.  If you're going to write a story based on a soldier dealing with PTSD, then research the shit out of it.  Don't just take Jarhead or Rambo as a sign of what PTSD can do to someone.  If I were you I'd try giving the guy a job in a white collar setting where he's supposed to be reserved but can't seem to break out of the horrors of war.  The examination of a person dealing with the sensory overload a combat situation provides as opposed to the mind-numbing monotony of working in a cubicle could be an interesting route, but that's up to you.

Also, I wouldn't bank on this being a marketable work.  Personally, if I were going to try and market something like this, it'd be part of a collection of short stories.  Just do the best you can with it, try to get feedback, and revise.


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## M. LeRenard (Jan 12, 2011)

If you want to do a real futuristic, soul-searching kind of story regarding war and God and souls and whatnot, honestly I think a robot would be a better choice than an anthro.  If only because you said you wanted to keep the science accurate, but also because, aside from maybe _The Positronic Man_ and similar works, I don't think that type of story has been done very often and could make for something very interesting if you could give it a new spin using modern knowledge of the subject.
But if you're doing a story about PTSD or something of that nature, since it's a touchy subject, I think everyone's right in that you should just stick to modern day humans, where you can build the character based off of real information or off of real people.  That's the kind of subject that deserves as much accuracy as you can get.  And yeah: research it like crazy before you start, if you haven't already.


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## Frostbittenhusky (Jan 12, 2011)

Don't worry I've been wrestling with the modern/future decision for a while and I have been researching like crazy, and I did actually put alot of thought into stuff like the society (waking up in the middle of the night just to take notes about how some of the economics might work was really cutting into my sleep ), and Fay has a point about just being anthro because it can be...

Thanks, this has helped alot.

P.S.-Should I post this story online? Or keep it to try and get published?


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## ScottyDM (Jan 13, 2011)

Frostbittenhusky said:


> P.S.-Should I post this story online? Or keep it to try and get published?


That depends, and before making that decision maybe write a first draft. It also depends on where you are with your writing. Do you feel you're ready for professional publication? Maybe this story is just for practice. Most authors eventually end up with far more ideas than they have the time to write, so no single idea is sacred.

S~


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## Aeturnus (Jan 13, 2011)

When it comes to your character, here's something to keep in mind: he's your character. Do whatever the hell want with him. If you want him to be wolf, go for it. I don't see why there should be a 'reason' for it. Yeah, some people will have a problem with it, but others won't.

As for the story, I suggest keeping it modern, give or take a couple of years. I also agree with those who tell you do some research on PTSD. Buy a book or two about it, and go from there.


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## Frostbittenhusky (Jan 13, 2011)

Some parts of my writing are really up there and good, and others I'm still not too sure about :/

Next question, and this goes back to the conflict thing, part of the reason for me originally planning it to be futuristic is to make it a first contact scenario gone wrong. Two cultures/species that evolved without meeting each other at around the same time and have reached roughly the same technological tier would be evenly matched, and anybody with teh resources for regular space travel would be superpowers in their own right. And assuming that habitable planets are incredibly rare in the galaxy the most common reason for wars would be over living space, and because WMDs could cause damage to the environment it would make a massive slugging match and a groundpounder's war...

Anyways, what I'm asking is, any suggestions on a real world nation that this conflct can be set in/against? Preferably somewhere in Europe since I know alot more about it than anywhere else, and the weather is particularly agreeable to the story (I have a thing for rain). So far other people I know have suggested Albania, Greece and Romania, anything better that someone can suggest?


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## Icky (Jan 13, 2011)

Frostbittenhusky said:


> and Fay has a point about just being anthro because it can be...


 
That was the point I was trying to make :I

Anyway, why does meeting with aliens have to be set in the future? It might actually be an awesome premise, to have an alien encounter set in the 50's.


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## Frostbittenhusky (Jan 14, 2011)

I wanted it set in the future so that the fighting could be over a barely inhabited planet (early to mid stages of colonial development, most of population are engineers), it gives me an excuse to set up urban combat without the mess of heavy civilian casualties (like I said before I want my story to be realistic, military life isn't all action. And I like stories that are gritty and dark in general, but every once in a while it just feels good to watch a building get blown up in a satisfactorially impressive manner, even if it is in your own imagination)


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## Frostbittenhusky (Jan 15, 2011)

So, any suggestions?


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## Term_the_Schmuck (Jan 15, 2011)

Frostbittenhusky said:


> So, any suggestions?


 
If you're talking urban combat with low civilian (ie non-combatant) casualties, look at some of the battles in Chechnya in the 90s for inspiration.  You could just have a bunch of people rebelling against an oppressive regime, with once major cities being abandoned except for combatants in the area.  

There are plenty of real life examples that you should take into consideration when trying to write something along the lines you described.


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## Frostbittenhusky (Jan 17, 2011)

Okay, next question, should my character be officer or enlisted? I've thought about it for a while and I haven't gotten anywhere.


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## Dexter Fox (Feb 5, 2011)

I say don't worry about the present or the future. Or wolf or not. If the story is going to be about PTSD and the character journey, then the setting and external details are both secondary and eternal. People were probably dealing with PTSD after the Civil War about the same as they'll deal with it after WW3. I'd personally recommend faking the setting. If it's a modern real battlefield, then the details or errors could take precedence over the character. And let some things take care of themselves - you don't need to know how the warp drive on the Enterprise works to enjoy the series. I don't remember or really care what caliber rifle they had in Jarhead.

If it's in the future, don't worry too much about details. You don't need a fully functional and rational economic system if it's not going to be important to the plot. As an extreme example, you don't need to develop drawings and latin names for a dozen different plants to write the line, "He looked over at the flowers by his bedside." Keep it simple and use what you need. You should know more than your readers, just so the story makes sense for you, but you should also allow your readers to fill in the unimportant details you don't mention.


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