Spelling Rules: "Terrain"

[sspunisher]

Terrained?

[Mac H.]

A flat terrained planet is visible...

When I saw that phrase, I assumed that you had made up the word 'terrained' to indicate that someone had 'terrained' the planet - presumably when they 'terra-formed' the planet.

It simply doesn't make sense to restructure the sentence that way.

Compare your equivalence:
* 'A planet of flat terrain is visible' = 'A flat terrained planet is visible'

With:
* 'A dress of white silk is visible' = 'A white silked dress is visible'
* 'A glass of cold milk is visible' = 'A cold milked glass is visible'

And since :
* 'A flat terrained planet is visible' = 'A planet of flat terrain is visible'

It would also seem that :
* 'A well carved sculpture is visible' = 'A sculpture of well carve is visible'
* 'An over stuffed bag is visible' = 'A bag of over stuff is visible'

Do any of them make sense?

You are lucky it did complain about the word - otherwise you may not have noticed the sentence didn't actually have the meaning you thought it did !

Mac

[dpaterso]

The purpose of the -ed suffix is to make adjectives out of nouns so ignore your dumb spellchecker and move on with your life. :)

I'm more worried about where we're seeing the planet from. If it's from space then surface details will be too distant to make out, blurred by atmosphere, etc.

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)

[sspunisher]

Thanks.

[dpaterso]

Methinks you could describe "the featureless surface of a blue-green planet" or whatever. Since you can't know if it's flat terrain until you're actually standing on the surface. For example, the 600-foot hills behind my house wouldn't be visible from space but it's by no means flat terrain hereabouts.

Ah, the wonders of writing Sci-Fi, where every other sentence invites analysis. :) If in doubt follow the KISS rule.

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)

[sspunisher]

KISS?

[dpaterso]

(All together now: )

Keep It Simple, Stupid!

:)

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)

[scripter1]

The technology is advanced enough in the spaceship to map the planet and provide a geographical readout.

The first mate can look down at the screen and it's just a flat line.

FIRST MATE
Someone with no imagination terra-formed
this one sir. She hasn't got even an A sized bump.

FEMALE CAPTAIN
That's it! You're demoted to
Sanitation Officer.


It is perfectly fine to create your own words for a character's dialog.
Slang terms really help round them out, make them more interesting, and help verbally distinquish the characters from each other.

However, really odd words should be avoided in the description and action lines. They force the reader to stop, go "Huh?" and takes them out of the story. You want them to keep turning the pages just as fast as they can.

Every way I twist this one it just is really weird to use it in a sentence.

[NikeeGoddess]

depending on the software you use, you can alter the allowable words in the spelling library to accept your made up words. i know you didn't think you were making up a word but, if you do....like when you're writing a sci-fi with future words or something then you can ;)