❛ the lazy writers ❜ V2

[Megaguirus]

I've encountered a bit of a dilemma and was hoping some of you might be able to impart upon me some of your wisdom.

I wish to be racially inclusive in my stories, however my current project takes place in Romania during the 1400s. Other than neighboring countries and enemies, I don't know how I'd be able to introduce other nationalities and races without it seeming far-fetched and desperate. I was wondering what any of you guys might think of what to do. Should I keep the community strictly Romanian, or do you have ideas on how to include others? It'd be of great help.

For history's sake, I'd keep it Romanian. You can't please everyone, so it really comes down to who you'd like to please more. History buffs who prefer an accurate location, or those who don't care about history and just want their race included. Besides, it might be a fun little experiment to see how well you do sticking to just one race/culture.

I would go with the former, in my opinion.

Hmm, speaking of race, I guess I could just throw this in. I know I haven't posted in weeks, but hi, I'm back and not contributing to anything. I've reached a little dilemma myself.

So I've been working on this idea of mammals in a human-like world (think Zootopia, but in the 1500s. And with more apes). My sister gave me an excellent origin idea, but I still have this nagging problem. I want it to be fairly accurate with the human 1500s, which means no cars, just horse drawn carriages. But what do you do when horses are just as smart as humans? I came up with three answers.

1. Horse drawn carriages become like a taxi service, where the horses get paid to drive these mammals places.
2. Horses are enslaved and forced to drive mammals places.
3. They have ostrich drawn carriages instead! (Because in this universe, birds, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods and fish are still just as dumb/smart as ours)

This also includes foregoing the carriages and just riding the horse, but this is kind of only restricted to simians (because seriously, how would a still quadrupedal lion ride a horse?), who mostly rule the government and do almost all of the construction and crafting, since, well, they have hands and thumbs.

So please, fellow writers whom I don't speak to much, what number do you vote for? The one with the most votes is the one I shall write into the story.

Anyways, off I go, back to my story (because I'm totally not procrastinating).

[sparrow;]

@Megaguirus
I'd personally go for the first one. It reminds me of rickshaws, so it'd make quite a lot of sense.

[Yubel Fated]

@Megaguirus
I'd either go for the first or the third one to be honest. I mean, the third option wouldn't be fast as horses per say but it would be very interesting to see how they'd fare.

Or maybe even mixing the two to where both species are pulling carts. Horses for a taxi service type thing and Ostriches for just a cheaper way to travel, kinda like our Cars and taxis today.

[food ☕️]

For history's sake, I'd keep it Romanian. You can't please everyone, so it really comes down to who you'd like to please more. History buffs who prefer an accurate location, or those who don't care about history and just want their race included. Besides, it might be a fun little experiment to see how well you do sticking to just one race/culture.

I would go with the former, in my opinion.

Ah, thank you. That makes sense. (And I wasn't thinking anything obscure because distance is a thing, just perhaps a Spanish nomad, but nonetheless, I think I'll stick to your advice.) I just wanted means of diversity, as other genders are kinda out of the question, but I suppose in a way monsters on their own kinda make up for lack there of. I mean, I'm sure I'll have some Ottomans bounding about, but other than that, Romanian people's would probably work the best. Again, thanks for the input. I just really needed another vote on the matter to influence my decision.

Edit: Oops, I should probably answer your question as well, haha. I'd probably go with the first one, though the third would work as well. I just feel as though for the second option, because horses are a lot larger and more powerful than many other species, it would seen kind of unlikely that they were the ones who became inslaved. Perhaps another species, if you wanted to add plot, but for the sake of being more realistic (in my opinion), either one or three would be most probable. Again, just my opinion.

[Megaguirus]

You're welcome for the advice, Food! Good luck on the story!

And thanks so much for the advice, everyone. I agree on the first one, that was the one that I was more drawn towards in the first place. But adding ostriches on as a cheaper ride service does sound creative as well! So I'll most likely put the both together, like WinterSerperior advised.

[The Worst Username]

I've encountered a bit of a dilemma and was hoping some of you might be able to impart upon me some of your wisdom.

I wish to be racially inclusive in my stories, however my current project takes place in Romania during the 1400s. Other than neighboring countries and enemies, I don't know how I'd be able to introduce other nationalities and races without it seeming far-fetched and desperate. I was wondering what any of you guys might think of what to do. Should I keep the community strictly Romanian, or do you have ideas on how to include others? It'd be of great help.

It's worth mention that I know very little about Romania and its history; take what I say with a grain of salt. If you want to include more non-Romanians, just google "x group in 1400s romania" or "x group in medieval romania" or even "x group in 1400s europe" to check if it'd be historically accurate or not.

I know Meg already answered, but I think the whole diversity thing really depends on where you are in Romania; a bustling city would have more diversity than a small village, which would probably be completely Romanian.

Since the European Dark Ages overlapped with the Islamic Golden Age, and there were a lot of contributions by Middle Eastern people to European society, there might be Middle Eastern travelers, scholars, what have you in Europe. I'm not sure how common Africans might be, and I don't think there would be many Asians.

I don't know how active Romanian traders were on the Silk Road, but it was still in use during the 1400s; you might get some cultural influences/Asian inventions/Asian philosophies/what have you leaking into your town. You might also have Romani people (commonly known as "gypsies"; some people consider gypsy to be a slur). Also, I forgot to mention this, but it's pretty likely there'd be Jewish people--here's a history of Jews in Romania, excuse the Wikipedia.

If you're working in a small village, you probably wouldn't have Europeans from outside of Romania, not to mention nonwhite people. You might want to include influences and inventions from non-Romanians, but those might've not reached poor farming communities, so I wouldn't stress about it.

[Yubel Fated]

I have three questions for you all. One is related to writing and the other two are not.

Code: Select all

[b]What's the [i][u]worst[/u][/i]advice you've ever gotten from someone?[/b]

and

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What if you ran across a person who, coincidentally, had the same signature as you did? What would you do?

[The Worst Username]

What's the worst advice you've ever gotten from someone?

I don't know of much bad writing advice, but my mom told me "you should get it published, then" when I told her I'd finished the first draft of my story. what?

What if you ran across a person who, coincidentally, had the same signature as you did? What would you do?

I wouldn't be that surprised, since my signature doesn't exist.

If someone had the same stamp collection as me, I'd probably laugh (the stamps I chose are the ones in the example stamp collection behind the "click here to create your own stamp collection!" message):


Whoops, tiny images. Shouldn't have resized them that small, but eh.

[WildCat :3]

What's the worstadvice you've ever gotten from someone?
That if I worked in the lowest group I would be the best. wow.
What if you ran across a person who, coincidentally, had the same signature as you did? What would you do?
Find a soulmate XD
But it involved some of my ipod music

[kolechia]

I'm back again and I likely missed a lot...opps.

@WildCat :3 I completely agree, listening to music
is a good way to get ideas, especially if the style/tone matches.

I have been listening to pumped up kicks for about 3 days
straight, I need help-

What's some of the best writing advice you've received/read?

You can't please everyone which can apply to pretty much anything
if you think about. There will be people who will love your stories,
your creative, your style, your characters and so on...there will be
people who will dislike it. Heck there could even be people who hate
them and will do everything in their power to put you down.

The point is you physically cannot please everyone, it's impossible.
Go with your heart. Make your story the way YOU want to! You
shouldn't change your story just to make other people like it, that
takes the enjoyment away from it. Do what makes you happy. We are
all humans with different likes and interests, someone is bound to like
your work <3

What's the worst advice you've ever gotten from someone?

Telling a friend I've completed a draft for the second chapter
and then they told me to post it. Don't do this. Just...just don't-