u/Josephschmoseph234

This is for stalker 2. I forget what it's called (psuedodog or psidog I think?) But every time I fight one I genuinely cannot tell which one is real. Sometimes I see one start howling to spawn more but when I shoot it it's another fake?? I only kill them by getting lucky and hitting the real one by accident. But every time I fight one I am out of ammo at the end. A single psuedodog makes any expedition not worth it. Their hide doesn't even cover ammo, let alone meds.

I've seen a fair few images of atoms and molecules, and one thing I'm wondering is why they, especially molecules, look like a bunch of spheres?

I was under the assumption that the electron cloud was just a cloud of potential, not literally an opaque cloud that makes an atom appear spherical. Also on the images of molecules i see lines between them. We're these added in post, or do they actually have lines just like the textbook?

Ill see if I can add images in the comments so you see what I mean.

I'm on the first book and I'm writing just after I read the part where Hardin explains how he wants to keep things drifting until there are no possible alternative options. If things get explained later, please don't spoil, but I feel like im not getting it.

Political turmoil and geopolitics, I understand Seldon predicting all that. But the Cruiser is a new variable, is it not? Surely he wouldn't know the exact trajectory of the derelict warship, or that scavengers or individuals wouldnt touch it before it arrived? If such a thing was accessable knowledge, the Empire would've gone and brought the ship back themselves, so it wouldn't even be a variable during Hardin'a rule, no? How could he have predicted that?

Edit: It seems I've taken the bechdel test too literally. I think the reason for this is just that I mostly write in third person and have never had to think about passing it before, so it never occurred to me that it wasnt supposed to be literal. If you still have advice that would be appreciated. And no, I promise I'm not sexist. I usually write female protagonists, actually.

For those unaware, the Bechdel test is basically "do two women talk to each other about anything other than a man". It's not fool-proof, but it is a good gauge of how much woman representation you have.

I usually write third person, so I have always passed the test before. But how do I pass in first person? I never switch POVs, it's a fairly limited story in terms of scope. There are two prominent female characters, but they aren't important enough to change POV.

But the main problem is the POV character is male. How would I even write a conversation between them that he isn't a part of? There's no reason he would try and overhear them secretly, no reason he would just stand there and describe how they talk. Is it possible to pass? Or does the test not apply to a story of this pov and scope?

And please don't be trite and give non-answers. obviously the "correct" writing advice is "don't force a conversation that doesn't make sense to exist in this story". Im just unsure on the expectations people have for first person writing, which isn't my usual style. If the conversation isn't there, it isn't there. I just want to know if readers \*expect\* it to be there, and if it IS there, how would I write it without weird POV stuff?