Random Ramblings XXXVII · 7:48am Feb 14th, 2016
THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT:
I've uploaded the latest chapter of Break Time, as I said I would. I'll make it public later today. Sure enough, I ended up tweaking it a little to make the dialogue flow better and sound more in-character. The original cut of the story was only 875 words; after expanding it, it now clocks in at a little over 1500. That's a lot more respectable, although it's still pretty short for anyone other than me. To be honest, I like the short version because it ends on a good stinger – you'll know it when you see it – but I'm satisfied with the scene I added too.
More rambling below the jump, if you care to follow.
Not gonna lie, I don't like overly-long chapters. Maybe it's because I'm old and lazy, but I have a really hard time enjoying chapters that are over 5000 words long. Ideally, I prefer chapters of less than 4000 words. Of course everything is relative – a longer chapter might be necessary to convey enough story to leave a reader feeling satisfied. In that case, a too-short chapter will feel like the FimFic equivalent of later episodes of DBZ or One Piece – a set piece that feels like it accomplishes nothing. But on the other hand, you don't want to bog your reader down with too much in a stretch – There was a LyraBon story I wanted to read, but put on the back-burner because it's 20,000+ words in a single go. Ain't nobody got time for that!
I originally intended my first story on this site, Election, to be a one-shot. However, it ended up clocking in at over 10,000 words. So I decided to split it at the spots where I already had major scene transitions. I think the story ended up better for my having done that. My mythical Pinkie Pie fic is an even better example, but that's a rant for another day.
I like my laptop, and it's served me well, but it's getting to the point that I can't do much with it anymore. I tried to torrent an anime soundtrack (which I wouldn't have needed to do had the youtube uploads of the songs not gotten blocked – fuck you JVC), but the site refused to recognize my client because it's too outdated, and I can't upgrade it. Same goes for my browser. This is getting ridiculous. I want very badly to get a nice desktop rig spec'd for gaming, but I have no faith in my ability to build one, so that means a prebuilt. Unfortunately, they all come with Win-10 Home, which everyone says is awful because there's one particular bit of spying it does that you can't turn off (though most of it you can). Absent a catastrophe, I have the money to get something nice, but I hate spending money. I am cheap.
That's all I have to ramble about tonight. Well, what I feel I can talk about at any rate – there are things I prefer not to mix with Pony. So…goodnight!
I hear Windows 10 is crap, but I don't know for sure, because it refuses to successfully apply the "free" upgrade on my cheap laptop that I bought for writing. Ain't no way I'm going to feed an actual machine I care about into the upgrade limbo meat grinder until I see how it does on the cheap one.
Your move, Microsoft.
No seriously, the day may be coming when it'd be crazy not to run Linux. I couldn't quite make a clean break when I tried to defect in the Vista era, but that was a while ago, and a lot more games are compatible these days.
3752954 - Linux, some versions of it anyway, are also more user-friendly than was the system back in the 90's when I first became familiar with it. I'd get it, but I'm not sure if the games I'd prefer to play are compatible. Windows may suck, but it's also the path of least resistance. I've not heard very many complain about the OS itself, only a couple of its botched updates and bizarre privacy policy. At least it doesn't come pre-bundled with Norton anymore.
The computer I'm typing on right this second is a MacBook. Despite this, I don't consider myself an Apple-fag; I've just had far better experiences with Mac laptops. I will replace this old laptop with a new (or perhaps newer refurb) MacBook, but the desktop comes first. I already have a monitor, so that's money I won't have to spend.