I’ve been working on my NaNoWriMo project. Writing is hard, so I’m taking a break to ponder what TVTropes calls schizo tech.

I always liked that trope myself, but then I’ve been known to write blog posts by candlelight. I’m including a lot of it in my fledgling novel, in poor neighborhoods it wouldn’t be uncommon to see someone using their smartphone as a light to find the candles, because they don’t have electricity at home and go out to charge up their phone periodically. These people have Twitter but no automobiles. Their military tactics include jamming radio signals so your enemy can’t coordinate a catapult strike. They have detailed computer models of wind patterns so sailing ships can plot more efficient courses for vital shipping.

I’m having a lot of fun dreaming up the world.

Anyway, although I haven’t run into it yet, eventually I’m going to have to face the decision between what I’d like something to be like, and what it makes sense for it to be like. I’m wasting a l0t of thought worrying about where I should draw the line between justifying the odd little quirks of the setting, or just declaring it to be so because I’m the author. I’m sure that at some point I’ll have to do the second, but I’m going to try to stick to the first as much as I can.

Well, I can’t spend all night goofing off here, I have a book to write! I’m really terrible at coming up with names, so if you have any ideas for names of characters, gizmos, geography, or anything else you think I should use, put them in the comments! If you think having characters use “Twitter” over the “internet” on their “smartphones” with “wifi” is just too prosaic for my fantastical setting, tell me what I should call them instead!