18 KiB
Secretly Awesome, Ch. 3. (Btw, looking for an editor/betareader (or more than one); reply in comments or by private message.)
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Author: u/immute Secretly Awesome*
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URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11338629/3/Ship-of-the-Line-Secretly-Awesome
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Score: 10
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Created: 2015-06-27T14:02:17
Post:
Comments:
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+2] Roll the Dice on Fate (3 hours later)
I admit that the name has put me off enough not to want to read this. Tell me, am I missing out?
Edit: righty-ho then, i'll get to reading.
Edit2: Aaaaaand, I love it. The writing is bubbly and enthusiastic in a very enjoyable way. Guess I'll be following this one.
u/kaukamieli [+3] (4 hours later)
You are missing out. I've really liked this.
u/ben_sphynx [+3] (5 hours later)
Yes, it's pretty awesome so far. Would like to read a lot more of it.
u/immute [+2] Secretly Awesome (4 hours later)
As the author, I'm probably biased, so I won't answer.
I didn't realize that the name might be off-putting. Is it too corny?
u/TimeLoopedPowerGamer [+3] Utopian Smut Peddler (4 hours later)
Reddit has long been a hot spot for conversation on the internet. About 57 million people visit the site every day to chat about topics as varied as makeup, video games and pointers for power washing driveways.
In recent years, Reddit’s array of chats also have been a free teaching aid for companies like Google, OpenAI and Microsoft. Those companies are using Reddit’s conversations in the development of giant artificial intelligence systems that many in Silicon Valley think are on their way to becoming the tech industry’s next big thing.
Now Reddit wants to be paid for it. The company said on Tuesday that it planned to begin charging companies for access to its application programming interface, or A.P.I., the method through which outside entities can download and process the social network’s vast selection of person-to-person conversations.
“The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable,” Steve Huffman, founder and chief executive of Reddit, said in an interview. “But we don’t need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free.”
The move is one of the first significant examples of a social network’s charging for access to the conversations it hosts for the purpose of developing A.I. systems like ChatGPT, OpenAI’s popular program. Those new A.I. systems could one day lead to big businesses, but they aren’t likely to help companies like Reddit very much. In fact, they could be used to create competitors — automated duplicates to Reddit’s conversations.
Reddit is also acting as it prepares for a possible initial public offering on Wall Street this year. The company, which was founded in 2005, makes most of its money through advertising and e-commerce transactions on its platform. Reddit said it was still ironing out the details of what it would charge for A.P.I. access and would announce prices in the coming weeks.
Reddit’s conversation forums have become valuable commodities as large language models, or L.L.M.s, have become an essential part of creating new A.I. technology.
L.L.M.s are essentially sophisticated algorithms developed by companies like Google and OpenAI, which is a close partner of Microsoft. To the algorithms, the Reddit conversations are data, and they are among the vast pool of material being fed into the L.L.M.s. to develop them.
u/immute [+2] Secretly Awesome (4 hours later)
It isn't hardcore and gritty, that's for sure.
Well, neither is the story itself, unless you mean something different by those words.
Not sure you want readers who don't.
Why not?
u/TimeLoopedPowerGamer [+3] Utopian Smut Peddler (5 hours later)
Reddit has long been a hot spot for conversation on the internet. About 57 million people visit the site every day to chat about topics as varied as makeup, video games and pointers for power washing driveways.
In recent years, Reddit’s array of chats also have been a free teaching aid for companies like Google, OpenAI and Microsoft. Those companies are using Reddit’s conversations in the development of giant artificial intelligence systems that many in Silicon Valley think are on their way to becoming the tech industry’s next big thing.
Now Reddit wants to be paid for it. The company said on Tuesday that it planned to begin charging companies for access to its application programming interface, or A.P.I., the method through which outside entities can download and process the social network’s vast selection of person-to-person conversations.
“The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable,” Steve Huffman, founder and chief executive of Reddit, said in an interview. “But we don’t need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free.”
The move is one of the first significant examples of a social network’s charging for access to the conversations it hosts for the purpose of developing A.I. systems like ChatGPT, OpenAI’s popular program. Those new A.I. systems could one day lead to big businesses, but they aren’t likely to help companies like Reddit very much. In fact, they could be used to create competitors — automated duplicates to Reddit’s conversations.
Reddit is also acting as it prepares for a possible initial public offering on Wall Street this year. The company, which was founded in 2005, makes most of its money through advertising and e-commerce transactions on its platform. Reddit said it was still ironing out the details of what it would charge for A.P.I. access and would announce prices in the coming weeks.
Reddit’s conversation forums have become valuable commodities as large language models, or L.L.M.s, have become an essential part of creating new A.I. technology.
L.L.M.s are essentially sophisticated algorithms developed by companies like Google and OpenAI, which is a close partner of Microsoft. To the algorithms, the Reddit conversations are data, and they are among the vast pool of material being fed into the L.L.M.s. to develop them.
u/immute [+2] Secretly Awesome (5 hours later)
Good point. Thanks for the advice. The reason I responded is that I myself am not entirely happy with the title (which I guess it may be too late to change now). Here are some reasons why:
- It's not a very clever title. Compare with the chapter titles, which for the most part engage with the themes of their respective chapters.
- It makes the reveal of Willow's Mind-name ("Secretly Awesome") less interesting/unexpected/exciting/compelling. I spent quite a while searching for a name for Willow and was very happy with the result. Now it's possible that I have, in my haste and excitement to get the first chapter published, undermined the value of this name.
u/alexanderwales [+3] Time flies like an arrow (5 hours later)
It's not too late to change it. I've changed titles on some of my stories. ff.net supports it, since what they care about is the story ID (which is invariant). I don't even think it will break any links.
That goes to the same place.
Bad (or rather, non-representative) names are particularly ungood if you're trying to draw people in. The television show "Cougar Town" was stuck with that name through its whole run, and that turned a lot of people away.
u/immute [+1] Secretly Awesome (5 hours later)
Good to know. What are your thoughts on the current name?
u/alexanderwales [+5] Time flies like an arrow (6 hours later)
I'm not a huge fan. I think it's a good ship name, but my ideal title is:
- A quote from somewhere, ideally from within the work itself (bonus points if it's the last line)
- Layered, so that it might mean multiple things
- Suggestive, so that it gives the imagination a kick
- Enigmatic
- Descriptive, so you can make a guess about what you're reading
That's a pretty tall order; I consider myself lucky if I can get two of those. (I've also been accused of being pretty pretentious though, and I sort of agree with that sentiment. These are just my personal preferences.)
Secretly Awesome makes sense within the story, but I can see how it would drive people away, or draw in the "wrong sort" of people who aren't actually interested in the story you're presenting. You want to think about who you're writing for (even if that person is yourself) and then think about what kind of title would draw you in.
And I agree that your chapter titles do a much better job than the story title.
u/TimeLoopedPowerGamer [+2] Utopian Smut Peddler (12 hours later)
Reddit has long been a hot spot for conversation on the internet. About 57 million people visit the site every day to chat about topics as varied as makeup, video games and pointers for power washing driveways.
In recent years, Reddit’s array of chats also have been a free teaching aid for companies like Google, OpenAI and Microsoft. Those companies are using Reddit’s conversations in the development of giant artificial intelligence systems that many in Silicon Valley think are on their way to becoming the tech industry’s next big thing.
Now Reddit wants to be paid for it. The company said on Tuesday that it planned to begin charging companies for access to its application programming interface, or A.P.I., the method through which outside entities can download and process the social network’s vast selection of person-to-person conversations.
“The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable,” Steve Huffman, founder and chief executive of Reddit, said in an interview. “But we don’t need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free.”
The move is one of the first significant examples of a social network’s charging for access to the conversations it hosts for the purpose of developing A.I. systems like ChatGPT, OpenAI’s popular program. Those new A.I. systems could one day lead to big businesses, but they aren’t likely to help companies like Reddit very much. In fact, they could be used to create competitors — automated duplicates to Reddit’s conversations.
Reddit is also acting as it prepares for a possible initial public offering on Wall Street this year. The company, which was founded in 2005, makes most of its money through advertising and e-commerce transactions on its platform. Reddit said it was still ironing out the details of what it would charge for A.P.I. access and would announce prices in the coming weeks.
Reddit’s conversation forums have become valuable commodities as large language models, or L.L.M.s, have become an essential part of creating new A.I. technology.
L.L.M.s are essentially sophisticated algorithms developed by companies like Google and OpenAI, which is a close partner of Microsoft. To the algorithms, the Reddit conversations are data, and they are among the vast pool of material being fed into the L.L.M.s. to develop them.
u/immute [+1] Secretly Awesome (8 hours later)
Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to do some serious thinking about the title and come up with a list of alternatives. Thinking more about the current title, I can see how it has the wrong tone. It suggests I'm writing a Mary Sue fic, or perhaps yet another one of those cliché civilization-building SG fics (you know what I'm talking about) where the author espouses their lame political philosophy. (Though those two particular examples are important for me to keep in mind, since they represent possible failure modes for my own story.)
What I'm going to aim for is something that captures the personality of the story. Something that's thoughtful, maybe slightly pretentious, and a tad bit funny. (I'd say goofy, but that's how the current title fails.) Or at least, that's what I think the personality of my story is. Am I reading it accurately?
Also, do you think the new title should drop the "Ship of the Line" part entirely?
u/ben_sphynx [+1] (8 hours later)
'Ship of the line' did seem a little odd. I really did not get the impression that most culture ships were 'of the line' in the sense that they were even warships. GCU's, while very capable of fighting, are not warships.
Ironically, I quite like 'Secretly Awesome' as a title; it fits both with a culture ship name, and is very Willow.
u/immute [+1] Secretly Awesome (9 hours later)
"Ship of the Line" refers to the genre of Halloween fics where the Gang dresses up as science fiction characters and somehow thereby receive a spaceship, and where, additionally, the Sunnydale universe turns out to simultaneously be a different sci-fi universe (traditionally Stargate). The name comes from a "challenge" on tthfanfic, which you'll see that I don't adhere to religiously.
Exemplars of the genre, which I consider to be influences:
- Ships of the Line: Brooding, thoughtful, imaginative, and, sadly, unfinished.
- Ship of the Line: Forever After Earth: Erotica, incidentally, sometimes very extreme/disturbing. But if you look past that, it's a very well thought out and well written story with some interesting ideas. Also, appears to be written by an aspiring rationalist.
I'm glad you like "Secretly Awesome." It took me a while to think of, but it was clear to me that it was a good choice almost as soon as I came up with it. Much better than the previous "GCU Principle of Explosion."
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+3] Roll the Dice on Fate (5 hours later)
It's a little childish. I'm particularly on my guard recently because I accidentally started reading some really bad fanfictions while wandering the interwebs, so I'm trying to avoid repeating that mistake. I wouldn't call it a definitively bad name in and of itself, but it may not be the same genre as what you're going for.
Still, let's give it a read.
u/JackStargazer [+3] Primordial Apologist (an hour later)
That last line: Hold on. What.
u/kaukamieli [+3] (3 hours later)
Car crashed... Sounds like Spike.
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+1] Roll the Dice on Fate (19 hours later)
Willow probably arranged it to explain Ethan's disappearance. Kinda implies he might not be surviving this experience.
u/Transfuturist [+3] Carthago delenda est. (4 hours later)
Everyone knows about the Culture, and everyone is all too ready to leave whatever Earthly ties they have behind. Things are going too well for the protagonists, building up a tiny cult, and there's no antagonists yet in sight.
u/immute [+3] Secretly Awesome (4 hours later)
Are you sure?
u/Transfuturist [+2] Carthago delenda est. (4 hours later)
......
Don't tease me like that. pout I assume you're referring to the Watcher's Council, as they've gotten the most discussion time, and possibly even Giles. As long as you don't make Giles evil, that should be fine.
u/immute [+2] Secretly Awesome (5 hours later)
If only you were a betareader. Then you could find out early.
(Actually, I haven't entirely settled on that part of the plot yet...)
u/ben_sphynx [+2] (5 hours later)
So, what would being a beta reader involve? Proof reading for sense? Consistency of plot? Grammar?
u/immute [+2] Secretly Awesome (5 hours later)
To a certain extent. But ideally, it'd mostly be higher-level stuff than that -- what the sidebar calls wise reading. We also might have free-ranging discussions about where the story might go, etc.
u/ben_sphynx [+2] (5 hours later)
Heh, that looks like a somewhat challenging level of involvement.
u/immute [+2] Secretly Awesome (6 hours later)
I know. The quantity of contribution described in the link is extraordinary (though if you're willing, it would be really awesome); I meant the link more as a suggestion for the kind of feedback that would be the most helpful. What I would hope is that my betas would be willing to talk about where the story is going, how well the themes work, ways to improve things, stuff it would be awesome to see, analysis of characters, tone of voice, etc., rather than merely pointing out typos or awkward language (which is, of course, still helpful). Basically, just direct feedback on the kinds of things an involved reader would be thinking about. Want in?
u/ben_sphynx [+2] (8 hours later)
Well, I can give it a go.
u/immute [+1] Secretly Awesome (9 hours later)
Awesome! I've invited you to the private subreddit.
u/callmebrotherg [+1] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (9 hours later)
Reading this for the first time.
I think that the title is misleading, because there is nothing secret about how awesome this story is.
u/immute [+1] Secretly Awesome (9 hours later)
Thank you! I guess I'll have to work harder at concealing my true powers (such as they are) in the future.