The newly discovered ice is amorphous—that is, its molecules are in a disorganized form, not neatly ordered as they are in ordinary, crystalline ice. Amorphous ice, although rare on Earth, is the main type of ice found in space. That is because in the colder environment of space, ice does not have enough thermal energy to form crystals.
For the study, published in the journal Science, the research team used a process called ball milling, vigorously shaking ordinary ice together with steel balls in a jar cooled to -200 degrees Celsius.
They found that, rather than ending up with small bits of ordinary ice, the process yielded a novel amorphous form of ice that, unlike all other known ices, had the same density as liquid water and whose state resembled water in solid form. They named the new ice “medium-density amorphous ice” (MDA).
Though my biggest tips all boil down to “know what your characters want, and let them act to achieve it.” This goes equally for your antagonists and your protagonists! Everyone in politics has a goal, the things they’re willing to do and compromise on for that goal, and the things they’ll do potentially anything to prevent.
This essay, although it’s geared at people running tabletop games, is and remains the piece of writing advice that changed my life the most. When you apply it to solo writing, what it means is that rather than having a specific series of events you’re married to, think about it as a series of characters reacting to each other. The tension of a good political narrative comes from that kind of interplay.
(I honestly rec going through a lot of the GMing 101 section on the Alexandrian with an eye towards using it in your narratives, the Three Clue Rule is also good.)
And by the same token - have multiple antagonists and let them interact with each other. Even if they’re both antagonistic towards your protagonists, they probably don’t agree with each other! Let the antagonists foil each other sometimes. (Bladework readers will recognize this as the Goddamnit Mohs principle, because I have him fuck up Van’s plans as much as he does the party’s.) Sometimes they’ll work together with each other. Sometimes one antagonist will help your protagonists against another.
The other thing to remember with writing politics is that, more than other genres… There’s an element where your characters have to be aware of the court of public opinion. Even bribing crooks behind back doors are aware of it. If someone is pulling nasty bullshit, you as the author not only have to know what the bullshit is, but how they’re going to dress it up and make it look good or at least not-terrible to the majority of people. Politics is about a third keeping the good regard of people who don’t care enough to deeply understand what you’re doing, and a good politician has to juggle that along with all their other concerns.
If you’ve got more specific questions please feel free to lob them at me!
Anonymous
