Steampunk Pipes: Five Observations

Five things I've noticed about steampunk steam pipes:

• There are always lots of them, even if there's no logical need to have pipes filled with steam.
• Steam pipes can be used to power any kind of machine, no matter how far fetched it might appear. Want to travel through time? Just add steam.
• In a steampunk city, there will be tunnels filled with steam pipes. The sole purpose of these pipes is to spread the steam around the city, so that everyone can have too many steam pipes in their home.
• There's never a problem with the steam cooling and turning back into water, even when it's snowing. You'd think it would be a problem in the steam tunnels, where the steam has to travel for miles without anything keeping it warm.
• No matter how well-maintained the pipes are, they always leak. This isn't true of real world steam engines, which are designed to vent steam from specific places. It's like the builders want the pipes to leak so they can say "look at my steam!".

The logical conclusion is that steampunk steam is magical. I hope it's not secretly planning on world domination.

Writing For Replacement Actors/Actresses

It's always unfortunate when an actor/actress can't reprise a role in a series. Sometimes the character can't be written out because they're too important, so replacing the actor/actress is the only option. As a viewer, sometimes this works for me and sometimes it doesn't. I've only recently nailed down what dictates which way I'll go.

It boils down to two main issues:

• Do I know which character this is immediately? Has the writer made sure they're addressed by name the moment I first see them (or beforehand), or do they make me wait for confirmation?
• Does the character get character building time, as though they were a brand new character?

I've found that whether the person is better or worse at acting than the person they replaced isn't the main issue. As long as I can suspend my disbelief, and they meet the basics of acting skill, that doesn't matter.

The Dark Knight was one that didn't work for me. The new Rachel* was introduced in a "what do you mean you don't recognise her" way. I was left with that doubt about who she was, and that took me out of the film for the scene.

She also didn't get much character time in the early part, as though I'd still be attached to her from the events in the first film. But she wasn't the same person and the actions didn't transfer over. She needed something in this film to make me care. By the time the film ended, I was only just getting used to her.

Iron Man 2 took a different approach. The new Rhodey** is introduced in a courtroom scene, so his entry is announced. There's no doubt about his identity. There's also a little back-and-forth between him and Tony Stark, starting the process of getting attached to the character. It's interesting that you get a back view for this exchange, so you get to know him a bit before you're shown his face in detail (which highlights the physical differences).

The Rhodey transition was smooth, and after that initial "this is a different actor" moment, I didn't think anything more of it.

It's a pity more series that have actor/actress changes don't handle it well. It's not a good idea to keep an identical version of the script as though nothing has happened. Something has happened and the person on the screen has changed... the viewer needs a little help to get used to that.

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* Played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Originally played by Katie Holmes in Batman Begins.

** Played by Don Cheadle. Originally played by Terrence Howard in Iron Man.

Writing Diary: I'm Not Dead

I don't have much writing news, though as some general news, summer has arrived. I have a few trips in the next few months, so I might drop out of contact for a bit*. I'm also focusing mainly on novel writing, so short story/poem news is likely to be thin on the ground.

Based on my musings about talking more on rejections, I decided to count out how many times I submitted my published pieces before they were accepted. The submission numbers are after the titles:

• Whirligig Fingers and Globular Thumbs [1] - This was written for Crossed Genres' steampunk issue... and they accepted it, so that was yayful.
• The Price of a Soul [2] - It's a drabble, so it didn't do the rounds of the professional markets and settled at a non-paying market.
• Carousel Princess [3] - It was originally written for a Mslexia** theme (the theme was 'Riding').
• Clockwork Fly [9] - This is one of my oldest stories***, written a few months after I'd decided to try the whole publication thing.
• Ten Easy Steps [10] - Yes, it's a strange coincidence. This was originally my entry for the Weird Tales spam fiction contest.

I'm not going to break down the poems, as they all sold to the first place I tried. I hadn't realised this till I checked my log. That's not to say my poems are never rejected... just that the ones rejected have yet to sell.

I don't have any startling conclusions based on this, other than people who stop submitting after the first rejection are being pretty silly. Some things sell the first time, but a whole lot of things don't.

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* You might have noticed I already did for a bit... I went to see gardens. Then I got home and planted all the seeds I got from the gardens. Some of them have germinated already, so I'm a happy gardener.

** A women writers' magazine in the UK.

*** Not the oldest story though. I'm still submitting the first story I wrote.