Dan Megill

Novelist, erstwhile aid worker, Christian, but I mostly just post quotes I happen across and want to remember. JJ SDG.

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

My latest clean sci-fi adventure, The Waymaker's Foresight, was published today! I'm pretty proud of it, but SDG :)

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

@patio11 Since writing myself I've become much more sensitive to the implausible "fridge logic" moments, like "Wait a second, how did the estranged friend who abandoned the hero make it into final chamber of the forbidden tomb at the exact right moment to punch the gloating bad guy?"

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

A bit I had to retire when I left an employer, recorded for posterity:

"<employer> Field Finance: The Movie.

In the years since the legacy FARS record keeping system was abandoned for a newer, shinier program, it was all but forgotten. But FARS was record keeper; FARS never forgot. It festered in the shadows, developing a malevolent intelligence, gathering power.

Now, it's time has come. In its first strike it eliminate Jim from IT, its creator, the one man who could threaten it.

Humanity's only hope: Assemble a ragtag band of former <employer> Field Finance staff to dust off their old skills and prepare one last monthly upload while they still have a chance."

My character was the star, obviously, and I would then describe how a chopper would come to my remote mountaintop cabin and I would be like "I swore I'd never go back..."

I used to boast that I was one of the top 5 FARS users in the world. It was probably true.

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

@nwilliams030 And yet

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

@Aderaido And her sister Goulash

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

The core storytelling problem with Supergirl(/man) is that she's overpowered, and the movie had it solved at the beginning. She was strong under the red sun, but manageably so. She bled in the barfight.

And the villain was grounded! He'd lost his ship! They were all set up to have the whole movie on that one planet, where the bad guy was a credible threat, and then they just ditched it, and had to resort to contrivances like poison and kryptonite and that crazy planet where the suns rotate like a traffic light.

AND the symbolism is right there! Kara's fleeing community and it's bad for her, and the red sun makes her a lesser version of herself.

Then in the climax, the villain could have the upperhand and be gloating and open a dimensional window to her new home to taunt her with one last look, and then the yellow sun shines through and the music swells and we're off to the races

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

Supergirl peaked when she got to the yellow sun and fought off the space pirates. The plot after that dragged and the fights/power levels were confusing.

They should've had the whole movie in a red sun system and then at the end she gets the yellow sun to save the day

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

The secret to getting your books done is reducing your daily goal till it's embarrassing not to get it done, and then doing it everyday

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

"Apostrophes come in only one shape, which happens to be the same as that of the single end quotation mark. In word-processed documents, however, when apostrophes are preceded by a space , the software thinks the writer wants an opening quotation mark and supplies one. When documents aren’t proofread carefully, these marks appear in place of apostrophes."

Editors never cease to amaze me

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

"Just booked my flight. Excited for the wedding!"
"Yay! Where are you staying?"
"Haven't booked that yet. Wherever's cheap."
"Ok. Stick to the east side."
"What's wrong with the west side?"
"It's the murder capital of the country most years"
"Oh."
"Most murders are by former significant others, so you'll be fine."
"But you invited my ex to your wedding"
"True, but I didn't put you two at the same table."

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

@sonyasupposedly Petition to see a screenshot of his pre-marriage dating profile :)

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

@selentelechia

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

@melodyskim Add some mnpi to your dating profile and see who bites?

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

Some organizations seem to conflate "customer service" with "exhausting the customer till they give up"

Not pictured: a very, very long line

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

The East German national anthem is actually amazing

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

Travel update: moved flight earlier to avoid weather. Flight got delayed due to maintenance. Found another flight, that then also got delayed, but not before they let a bunch of Newark passengers board a flight to West Palm Beach.

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

@simonsarris So my neighbors DO judge me when I haven't mowed in a while...

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

I asked Claude if the story was plausible, and this part got me:

"The one place the story glosses over reality is regulatory, not mechanical: a boiler built and certified for mobile excavation duty wouldn't have been certified for stationary building service, and you'd want a boiler inspector to sign off before piping it into occupied-building radiators. But mechanically, the premise holds up"

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

@AvatarVikram This is why it's important to act on your anger immediately at all times

[Dan Megill @DanMegill]

Finished first-pass editing my last book Sunday night, told nephew he could read it last night, he finished an hour ago.

I may not have the largest quantity of readers, but by golly I've got quality