Well, I took my own advice, and changed my channel for a bit, I put Imperfect Hope on a back burner, and started fiddling with some ideas for a short story for the 1632 slush pile. I have jotted down a couple of IH ideas and filed them away with the rest of the stuff for when I get back to it, but otherwise, I've put a fair amount of effort into just clearing my mind of the logjam that had developed...
Writing a short for the 1632 universe is a complete change of channels for me. Going from an entirely self-created universe to a shared world with some pretty exhaustive rules is a challenge. I read a fair amount on the ground rules for writing there, they all make sense, (and would make really good sense in a shared ifgs writing world). Major characters are "owned" by specific writers, new writers may petition to obtain rights to one of the 3000 or so "uptimers" known to have existed when Grantville jumped back to 1632, or may create any number of non-historical, non-major characters for their stories. Technology has major restrictions, for example, no airplanes were transferred back to 1632, so when the Grantville army needed an airplane for scouting, they had to cobble one together using a vw bug engine and a relatively primitive design.
I've been bouncing ideas back and forth with my brother, comparing notes on "what we know", between my aviation background and his engineering background. Jeff had spent a fair amount of time working in the north sea, and so has met some unique characters both on the offshore oilrigs, and on the mainland itself. Me, I've dealt with aviation ups and downs, seen technology change over the last 23 years (oh so slowly in our bureaucracy), and handled many types of emergencies, from "ohgodfireinthecockpitwegottalandthisthingnowcentercanyouhearus" to an open-cockpit 1930's era restored monoplane stuck on top of solid cloud layers, no navigation equipment, and no holes in the clouds within 100 miles. The latter is something that just might translate to a good 1632 type story.
See, the way I figure it, one of the biggest lacks in the down time of 1632 for aviation wanna-be's (after the shortage of reliable aircraft powerplants is addressed) is navigation and weather. No gps nav systems, no vor nav aids, no radio beacons. No satellite weather forecasts, no current upper wind readings, no dopplar radar. A pilot flying from point a to point b in 1635 will have to reinvent (or resurrect) dead reckoning navigation if he wants to fly in any kind of weather. Even flying visually, there will be very few roads to follow. Visual navigation will rely on geographic features, not terribly easy even in clear skies visibility 100 miles. If you've not flown somewhere before, you'll have almost no visual references to tell where you are, one small hamlet will look exactly like another, and unless you've planned your flight carefully, chances are you'll be lost most of the time. Rivers will become critical for knowing where you are, and since cities tend to be near rivers, they'll be a useful air highway...
My job as a writer is to introduce a stick of gum into the gears, though. One storyline to fiddle with involves a young swede or nordsk, trying to learn his now profession as a United States of Europe certified "weather guesser". Stay tuned, we'll see if anything comes of the concept...
Anyway, more to come
TTFN,
Jim
Weather forecasting today relies on computer models and satellite feeds. 60 years ago, though, forecasters depended on amassing hourly readings from all across the US, fed to the weather forecast offices where trained scientists analyzed the data and gave out limited forecasts. Predicting conditions beyond a day or so was iffy. Local conditions could be predicted several hours in advance with some accuracy, but... Not the degree that we have now.
Since navigation and weather go hand in hand in early aviation, I think I've got a good story to piece together. Gonna toss an idea football back and forth to Kuala Lumpur and see what come up. More to come soon...
Writing a short for the 1632 universe is a complete change of channels for me. Going from an entirely self-created universe to a shared world with some pretty exhaustive rules is a challenge. I read a fair amount on the ground rules for writing there, they all make sense, (and would make really good sense in a shared ifgs writing world). Major characters are "owned" by specific writers, new writers may petition to obtain rights to one of the 3000 or so "uptimers" known to have existed when Grantville jumped back to 1632, or may create any number of non-historical, non-major characters for their stories. Technology has major restrictions, for example, no airplanes were transferred back to 1632, so when the Grantville army needed an airplane for scouting, they had to cobble one together using a vw bug engine and a relatively primitive design.
I've been bouncing ideas back and forth with my brother, comparing notes on "what we know", between my aviation background and his engineering background. Jeff had spent a fair amount of time working in the north sea, and so has met some unique characters both on the offshore oilrigs, and on the mainland itself. Me, I've dealt with aviation ups and downs, seen technology change over the last 23 years (oh so slowly in our bureaucracy), and handled many types of emergencies, from "ohgodfireinthecockpitwegottalandthisthingnowcentercanyouhearus" to an open-cockpit 1930's era restored monoplane stuck on top of solid cloud layers, no navigation equipment, and no holes in the clouds within 100 miles. The latter is something that just might translate to a good 1632 type story.
See, the way I figure it, one of the biggest lacks in the down time of 1632 for aviation wanna-be's (after the shortage of reliable aircraft powerplants is addressed) is navigation and weather. No gps nav systems, no vor nav aids, no radio beacons. No satellite weather forecasts, no current upper wind readings, no dopplar radar. A pilot flying from point a to point b in 1635 will have to reinvent (or resurrect) dead reckoning navigation if he wants to fly in any kind of weather. Even flying visually, there will be very few roads to follow. Visual navigation will rely on geographic features, not terribly easy even in clear skies visibility 100 miles. If you've not flown somewhere before, you'll have almost no visual references to tell where you are, one small hamlet will look exactly like another, and unless you've planned your flight carefully, chances are you'll be lost most of the time. Rivers will become critical for knowing where you are, and since cities tend to be near rivers, they'll be a useful air highway...
My job as a writer is to introduce a stick of gum into the gears, though. One storyline to fiddle with involves a young swede or nordsk, trying to learn his now profession as a United States of Europe certified "weather guesser". Stay tuned, we'll see if anything comes of the concept...
Anyway, more to come
TTFN,
Jim
Weather forecasting today relies on computer models and satellite feeds. 60 years ago, though, forecasters depended on amassing hourly readings from all across the US, fed to the weather forecast offices where trained scientists analyzed the data and gave out limited forecasts. Predicting conditions beyond a day or so was iffy. Local conditions could be predicted several hours in advance with some accuracy, but... Not the degree that we have now.
Since navigation and weather go hand in hand in early aviation, I think I've got a good story to piece together. Gonna toss an idea football back and forth to Kuala Lumpur and see what come up. More to come soon...
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