Blood makes every title better! Besides, mountains can't be dead or alive, wanted or not.

I've changed my mind. The Dead Mountain is more interesting precisely because mountains can't be dead. Daughters can be of blood. In fact, they usually are.

Good point. So, "Aimee's Awesome Adventure" is right out then?

I think Aimee's Awesome Adventure was 2005 in New Orleans

My book is completely based upon that, even though I know nothing about it.

My book is completely based upon that, even though I know nothing about it.

You could say the same of Nicholas Sparks' writing.

But yours is far better crafted, based on your samples, Gud.

Aw, thanks.

I did a critique last night and had no time for more work on my own stuff.

However, pieces are starting to click into place for my next book idea, the one set on a tidally-locked planet orbiting a red dwarf.

Humans are not indigenous, but this is long forgotten. A red dwarf star burns for much, much longer than a star like our sun so this planet is old. Life has had a long time to evolve after the star has settled down and no longer pours down deadly levels of UV radiation. Super-predators in the rich twilight zone have driven humans into the deserts of the day side and the frozen lands of the night side.

I wanted to start off on the day side. Here water and food are scarce and vicious storms (as one would expect on this sort of planet) means settlements have to be underground. The settlement that the book starts in has put into place rules and restrictions on reproduction because of this.

The restrictions are carried out by education, giving woman the right to manage their reproduction, and compassionat--no, it's done the traditional way, brutal oppression especially for women.

I wanted to make the MC male this time around, but as I started figuring out this society I'm finding myself going female again. The MC is a third-born daughter (her mother's third daughter) and a third-born daughter must be exiled when she comes of age unless her father pays to have her placed in a celibate order. There are no restrictions on sons because additional people don't come out of men, they tend to die off more, and men make the rules.

The MC's father is wealthy, but she's a bastard born from an affair her biological mother had and there's no chance of the father paying the price to keep her alive. The story starts the evening before she will be turned out into the desert with neither food nor water.

Okay, that was a lot longer than I thought it would be for just the starting bit that clicked into place. The other bits I'm not going to inflict upon the board.

I think that this post is a useful and entertaining read for all writers. Remember: your character just wants a glass of water.

That sounds like an interesting premise, Gud. How are you planning on dealing with finishing up your current work while not losing your new ideas? This is a perennial problem for me and I can't decide if working on several things at once is just my process, or if it's a bad habit I should try to crush.

Gud, as part of your research for the next book, you should read Dole's Habitable Planets for Man.

The PDF is free to download at: [link]

How are you planning on dealing with finishing up your current work while not losing your new ideas?

I'll just let it percolate in the back of my head. I don't want to start it up until I get finished with TDM.

Gud, as part of your research for the next book, you should read Dole's Habitable Planets for Man.

Looks like a good resource. In theory, the big problem is the atmosphere. It would need to be thick enough to survive until the star settles down. Once settled it would then need to be not too thick and not too thin, weather would be hell though, with the amount of convection. Probably not real likely, but there are a sh*tload of red dwarf stars out there and I'm not going to to place this at a particular one.