100 Questions String of Conscious

Hello Dreamers

Transcript: So, I, um, need ideas for my blog, because I routinely find that it's my, that time of

the week to write a new blog post and you don't frickin' know what to write about. I mean, it's not like I feel like always updating you on everything I'm doing or anything like

that, so I asked, um... So I asked Gemini here, for anyone that doesn't know Gemini, Google's AI. Um, so I asked it, um, to give me 100 sci -fi fantasy related questions that are common Google searches. Why common Google searches? Well, the idea, well, the hope is someone types this into Google and my blog post pops up

somewhere in those search results that they then click and then they read my post and

hopefully I make a new fan. Baby steps. It is recording. Okay, so, let me just adjust the timing. Let me sync this as good as it goes. Oh, two gitties. Oh, kizies. Okay, so, now, of course, it starts with, like, a bunch that are just more specific, um, which,

I'm not going to do any of these because these require, like, a deep dive into a specific

canon and a lot of these canons I don't have that kind of in -depth knowledge of. I mean, like, there's some of these, like, questions, and of course, like, questions

are either it's a specific one or two word answer really isn't discussion worthy or it

doesn't have a definitive answer, so I'd be running around and running.

So, it's like, is Deckard a replicate? I mean, this is a very debated topic within Blade Runner. I mean, how did Palpatine return to Rise of Skywalker? Plot. How old is Yoda when he dies? Is Gandalf human or god? He's a wizard. Why do dialects hate everything? Do they hate everything or are they just malcontents? I don't know. Doctor's real name?

I don't think that's ever been answered.

Then again, I think I've seen a Doctor Who episode since, like, the first couple episodes of Julie Whitaker. What is a warp core? It's a motor. Some of these are not that interesting. All right, why does Jaeger have swords in Citigriff? He has swords because he has swords. It's not like that, right? Now, here, next, like, this category is, like, world building and lore. This might be more interesting.

This is, like, about the craft of writing sci -fi and fantasy. And some of these would be interesting topics to more or less dive into. But some of these are just one -liners. I mean, here, what's the difference between hard and soft sci -fi? Might be an interesting topic. I mean, the TLDR, to my knowledge, is, like, one is more heavily rooted in the science

of the time than the other. How do you create a magic system? Just vomit. Create a magic system. This is a worthless question, and it's worthless because lit RPGs exist. Hey, best tropes for dystopian worlds. That might be interesting. How far is a parsec? You could Google this and get a specific answer. I believe a parsec is a specific unit of measure. There it is. Wikipedia. Relatively trustworthy. A parsec is a unit of measurement for...

It is 3 .26 light years. For 30... or 30 .9 trillion kilometers. So, there. That's how far a parsec is. It's an actual... It's not like George Lucas did not invent a parsec.

It's an actual unit of measuring distance. Grimdark fantasy. That would be another interesting one. I mean, it's just...

Grimdark fantasy. That's just fantasy where people get torn up and raped and shit. That's what that is. How do you name a fantasy character without being cringe? You're gonna be cringe.

Deal with it. Generationship. What is a generationship? If only I understood what they mean by ship. I mean, I first thought they meant an actual boat that would have multiple generations of people on it. But this could also refer to something really disgusting. How does FTL travel work? Fucked if I know. Fucked if anyone knows, to be honest. I mean, we don't have FTL travel yet, so who cares? So how can we answer that?

Grandfather paradox. That's an actual thing in the time travel canon. It's like, what do you do if you go back in time and kill your grandfather? Different types of elves in fantasy. Okay, another worthless question in part because...

Unless we're speaking of real world mythology... There are as many elves as there are human beings times every perverse fantasy they could possibly imagine. And then cyberpunk vs steampunk. Really? Really? People are legit confused.

Like they hear people talking about steampunk and they immediately think Blade Runner, really? Or they hear cyberpunk and are starting to think airships? Harold's Journey? This is another lore thing I don't care about. Gemini, you stupid. I have mine inside the mind, maybe. Okay, here's another interesting one. Mary Sue vs Gary Stu.

Very soon, Gary Stu. Maybe that's a specific writing trap. Where a main character is just the worst. And I explain how that works.

How it ends up being that way. How does dragon breath work? I guess this is a how could you scientifically explain how a dragon breath fire. Solarpunk, I guess that's to do with solar panels? I'm not familiar with the term, I'm assuming that's what it means. I mean, I'm familiar with all the other ones.

Here we go, logic and plot hole investigations. Some of these are, again, lore. They're, again, canon associated. And my problem with a lot of these are a lot of this is one of two things. Like some of these either do not have an answer. Or they exist because whoever or whomever, we could look for people, were responsible for the plot point. Or it was a plot error. For example, we have, if you die in the mix, do you die in real life?

That's actually not a bad question. I presume so. Why do aliens in Star Trek look human? Lazy writing. That's why. Though I think there was an NTG episode that actually gave it a war explanation, strangely enough.

How does a TARDIS translate every language? Isn't the thing in the TARDIS that runs the TARDIS and powers up and shit, isn't it like a telepath? I think it's her. That explanation. Why do zombies only eat brains? Okay, this is a canon specific one. Not all zombies just eat brains. Certain canons, zombies eat something. Don't just eat the brains. It's possible to have a black hole complete, so. How do spirits work?

I don't get it.

A lot of these are plot holes. Where the writer didn't think of it. And they don't expect you to either. I mean, some of it is like, how does a superhero afford the gadgets? That's called fridge logic. That just simply refers to various plot holes or things that are explained that the writer doesn't explain. And it's one of the things that doesn't explain it.

But you yourself don't, or doesn't immediately take you out of the experience until you're no longer watching or experiencing it.

And then you go to the refrigerator to grab a snack and that's when it clicks like, wait a minute. How come they travel so fast into the moment? Because in the moment you're not thinking about it. Why don't characters in horror, sci -fi just call the police? I think it depends on the canon.

Because it sucks. But others, they do have to have a single line explanation why they can't just dial 911. And I think this one is also like, which canon are we speaking of? Can a robot have a soul? I mean, we don't even know if souls are real, never mind if a machine can have one. And why are there no guns in most fantasy worlds? People who wrote them don't want guns. Usually. Or they're set in a setting where guns would not have been invented yet. Or at least the creator doesn't think guns would have been invented yet. I mean, I could do a quick rule -of -fragile when the first musket was invented. But I think for the most part, if your fantasy setting is a standard medieval European fantasy setting, which is usually in the medieval era, there are no guns installed. That's why there's no guns in most fantasy worlds. Hacking characters in space? That's not a bad question. There probably are some explanations for that other than convenience. But a lot of hard sci -fi, they usually have to explain how there's gravity on a spaceship, or everyone's just floating around. And if you travel at the speed of light, what do you see? And then who would win? These are just stupid. I'm not going to do any of these.

They're dumb. Star Trek vs. Star...like, what? That's just a matter of taste. I'm not going to get into it. Enterprise vs. Star Destroyer? Which is stronger? Okay, well this is a stupid one, and I'll tell you why this one's stupid. Which is stronger? A yacht or an aircraft carrier? That's why this question is stupid. Alright, is the Zenimalshawna the predator? Alright, most powerful weapon in sci -fi? That's a debate topic that's not that interesting. Can Superman be killed by magic? I'm sure there was a comic that went into that. Geralt of Riviera faster than a human? Possibly.

Never played the Witcher game, so I can't comment completely. War vs. Cybermen? Who wins a war? I think they would win for different reasons. Alright, next is history and genre origins. Which is not interesting, in part because this is a Google bowl and there's a definitive answer for this. It's like...

I mean, I probably know the answer to some of these right now.

I mean, what was the first sci -fi... what was the first sci -fi science fiction novel? It's Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Who is the father of science fiction? A woman wrote the first book, jackass. Though I'm sure there's a dude that's taken care of this. Is Frankenstein sci -fi or horror? It's both. It can be both. Ready to leave your board? I believe it's fey? I think they're fey? Some sort of fey thing that got translated. I know the concept of the book predates Tolkien. What are the origins of steampunk? It's sci -fi from the Victorian era. So, where they imagined that future technology would still be powered by steam. They used steam because steam is what the Victorians would have been familiar with. Who wrote the first dying earth story? Why is it called speculative fiction? The speculative fiction thing is because it has to do with the fact that sci -fi or science fiction

started to become associated with a lot of schlock usually meant to target young men that are just about shooting aliens and shit. So a lot of stories that weren't that but were still sci -fi wanted to be called speculative fiction. Handmaiden's Tale is speculative fiction. Even though it's going to be sci -fi.

Wait, is that science fiction? Yes it is. But if you ask Margaret Atwood, you can go up and tell her how I like Handmaiden's Tale. Such a great piece of science fiction. She's like, no, no, no. It's speculative fiction. Don't believe me enough of that. Don't tell me I'm referring to you because I'm thinking bullshit. Because the term science fiction in a lot of circles is a dirty word. The speculative fiction is meant to encompass both hard and soft sci -fi

as well as things that would be normally considered fantasy. What is the oldest fantasy in Miss Delta Hill today? That's... I'm not a middle -aged person. How did Azimuth change sci -fi? I think he might have been the precursor to cyberpunk. And the Golden Age I knew. According to Trump, we're living in the Golden Age right now, so who knows when the Golden Age is. What if science realisms are...

This one's kind of maybe interesting to go into. What if it happened if the moon disappeared? I mean, that's interesting. More of a sciency one than what I would do, but yeah, that's kind of cool. Can we actually terraform Mars? It would take a very long time. Is the Dyson sphere physically possible? How would humans react to first contact? This is a common trope in sci -fi that's been written to death. What happens to a body in the vacuum of space? That's not an interesting blog article for me to write. I mean, one, science, two. This is more of a science topic than anything else. And two, well, we kind of have an idea. And it's not...

And you're not really picking my brain or anything. Can we ever build a real lightsaber? Probably not.

Is time -trivial theory possible? Okay, here's my one. Here's one I could probably sort of speak on, because I do have a degree in computer science. What are the ethical risks of AI? I could probably get into that. And a lot of them are not just the surface. Well, you can make deepfakes. You can undress people and make revenge porn with it. You can trick...

You can use it to make propaganda machines. You can have chatbucks, talk people into suicide.

Shit like that, right? How many habitable plans do we have? Can dragons actually fly with their wing -to -body ratio? Okay, this one's a bullshit one because it depends on the dragon, it depends on the cannon, it depends on what we're calling a dragon. Here we are. So fan theories and deep lore, these ones are also not going to do these. Especially, these terms are big, so say the word, seriously. People care, seriously. Was the entirety of Harry Potter just in his head? Or...

Isn't most film and television inside of this kid from St. Elsworth? All Pixar movies in the same universe? It could be. But there are creators that do that. Is Neo actually the one, or is it agent Smith? I don't know. Meaning of number 24 in the Hitchhiker's Guide. I think it was a... I think a computer was asked what was the meaning of life and everything. And the computer just spat out 42. Played around in the same universe. Interesting connection there. Is Mad Max a ghost or a human? Don't know enough about World Warrior. Is the Force just midichlorians? A lot of people have made this point to death. That defining the Force as... A thing in the blood that is in hereditary condition ruined the Force in Star Wars. And then here's writing stuff. And these are questions that I don't have an answer to. Like how long should sci -fi novel be? I think there are industry recommendations in that.

But I'm a self published author. And one of the reasons why I'm going this route is because a lot of these are bullshit. Like how long should it be? I don't know. I think it depends on the attention span of who you're writing for. And how much detail they want versus plot. How do I get a fantasy book published? Have you tried Amazon? Amazon KDP? I know there's a few others that do this. I'm just saying. Do I need a map for my favorite fantasy novel? This is why I don't number my books in a series.

I mean, you may have noticed that Guide for Madness is not Book 2 of Echoes of the Godsworn Whispers. It's simply a part of. Because if I told some...

Because I mean some readers will see that it's Book 2 and be like, Oh, okay, whatever. I'll just buy the book and read it. Others will see that it's Book 2 and be like, Oh, so I must get Book 1 then in order for Book 2 to make sense.

And then you have other readers like, Oh, it's Book 2. That means I need Book 1 for Book 2 to make sense. And that's just too much of a risk for me. Time risk and possibly money risk for me to put into this. So I'm gonna move on. And if you ever wonder why you keep seeing like reality crisis and like Marvel and whatnot.

That's why. Because they know that you can't get...

That when you get to a certain size, a lot of new people are like, I need to go through all of that lore and all of that material just for...

I can join in now and it makes sense to me. So they don't do it. I don't even plot twist. Fucked to my nose. I'm on my sixth book and I have no fucking idea.