May
20th
2012
Las Pegasus Stratochase · 6:29pm May 20th, 2012
In preparation for the final chapters of "Wild, Sweet & Cool," I decided to draw out the entire course to use as a visual reference.
The course starts and ends at the red marker, following the direction of the blue arrows. The green section at the end is the "inversion" area, where teams can do inversions to shave seconds off of their official time, while the thin red lines beneath it are there to give you a rough sense of the angle relative to the horizon.
My question for you is whether I should put this graphic in the fanfic proper, so those who don't read the blog can see it, or if you think a description of the course will be all that's needed to help the readers (i.e., you) keep track of what's going on.
While I think that descriptions should be enough, it can't hurt to put the picture in there too right?
Just a link to the image, or this blog post, will suffice, I think; no need to embed it directly. This is very helpful for me personally, so thanks.
Now for some geometry and ratio calculations.
Also: A description will suffice and possibly a link to either the picture or this blog.
I'd say describe it in the fic, either from a POV or an announcer verbally describing "this year's" course, and have the description itself (either way) be the link to this picture / blog.
Nice detail. Twilight would approve
I think you should put this in the story, as a diagram that they see for the competition. Knowing Twilight's preparation, she would research what the Stratochase course entails and probably draw this or find it from a book.
link, don't post.
Either way.
Hey,
Given the format, it's hard to see why you wouldn't put the image in. A fair minority of printed books take the trouble, and it's much, much more troublesome for them.
JMH
Absolutely put the picture in the actual fic. Many people understand pictures better than descriptions.
125820>>125832
These.
I think either link to this, or put a "buffed up" version in the fic.
Without a shadow of a doubt if you ask one of the fans will re-draw this with the show's vectors...
I don't think you should put the image in the fic but link to this blog post either in an author note at the top of the chapter or in a footnote at the bottom.
125892
Well, I definitely like the "buffed up" idea, if only because I'd love for this to look more like something an actual graphic designer would make and less MS Paint-y. If anyone's willing to make a cleaned up version that wouldn't be too jarring in the actual fic, I'd be willing to credit them in the story description.
Hey,
I might have time to take a crack at it, but I doubt it (I'm jammed at work next week, and I'm in danger of lynching if I don't get the next chapter of 'Madame Butterfly' out sometime next weekend. There's a (free) vector graphics tool called Inkscape which handles things like this pretty well. For the uninitiated, a pixel-graphic is made at a particular resolution - so, the sideways 'jumps' in the first climb section are a feature of Kwakerjak's PC/monitor/zoom settings when this was being drawn (in MS Paint, really?). Vector graphics are stored as an equation, which your PC then displays to the limit of it's monitor - and it'll stay a smooth line if you zoom further in.
One other question - what's around this track? I'm imagining that the right hand side climb-dive pair is up-and-over a skyscraper, for example, and the corkscrew is around the outside of another. Or, maybe, it's a climb up inside some giant shopping mall/casino - either way, with ponies lining interior or exterior balconies (more dangerously in the interior case, risking being hit by a wild Rainbow Dash. Or, hopefully, you have some even cooler ideas in mind!
From the way you've painted it in the prior chapters, I'm imagining this as Nascar to the rest of the pegasi-racing world's F1: a little bit lowbrow, and a little bit more dangerous, and a whole lot more popular (certainly, among folks like the Apples and the Carrots).
JMH
I think it might be good to put it in for visual reference just so that the readers have an idea of the distances on the track.
126008
I'd avoid comparisons to auto racing---it's best to think of the Stratochase as a cross between the Kentucky Derby and a rollercoaster. If anything, it's on the highbrow side (again, much like the Kentucky Derby, which has traditions of fancy food and women wearing ridiculous hats, like the ones Rarity makes).
As to where it is, it's all just hanging in midair, in the deserts outside of Las Pegasus, surrounded by seating for spectators.
126047
I'm British, and I've no idea what the Kentucky Derby is - I think you're saying it's something like Ladies Day at Ascot, but I'm not actually sure. It's not the image I have in my mind of Las Vegas, but maybe that's wrong too (and probably mostly from odd episodes of CSI anyway). Not that Las Pegasus has to be akin to Las Vegas, either.
The 'lowbrow' thing was my impression from the previous chapter, but maybe that's more Rainbow Dash's impression of the kind of high-class ponies who attend it, plus outfits I'm sure she'd consider 'ridiculous'.
JMH
A graphic in the main story would be a good idea -- mention them looking at the diagram of the track, or Twi MAKING said diagram, then show the image. Additional text description would be good too, I feel. All in all, feels like a good course for aerial racing. Good job.
Description please. It would be easier anyways. And, the course is very low to the ground...I think this fits rainbow dash's character perfectly.
I like the idea of an embedded image. Either a flyer from the race producers if you get an improved version, or a diagram twilight makes if you use the one it this post.
just my two bits.