lizvogel

This is genuinely a little detail.
Context: Character is stranded outside her home base and uses a walkie talkie to make contact and ask for pickup.

How do you describe actually engaging the walkie talkie? "clicked the button" is way lame. "Key" seems to specifically describe hitting the button but not talking, to "send" static (I think?), like to silently say "I'm here". (this could be massively wrong and just the misguided interpretation of the one website where I saw it described that way.)

I feel like there must be an appropriate word/phrase, but I struck out trying to find it myself. Someone elsewhere suggested checking HAM radio sites - I'm about to do that, but thought I'd throw this in here and see if I got the usual super-helpful feedback.

Current Mood: irritated

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

1. How often do you hear live music?

2. What was your favorite live musical performance ever?

3. Do you play an instrument, or sing?

4. Have you ever performed music onstage?

5. Who is your favorite musician?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/5/15/the-joy-of-being-an-otter

Via uso_otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/5/15/the-joy-of-being-an-otter

wildelife_feed

https://www.wildelifecomic.com/comic/intermission-15

New comic!
Today's News:

Gosh, you guys. I can't believe how many chapters I've drawn!

I've got to sit down and figure out how long the intermission will be. I have a lot of things to do to get the next chapter ready, so I'll be back shortly with an update on when the next chapter is going to start. [Watch this space.]

Thanks so much for reading!

https://www.wildelifecomic.com/comic/intermission-15

pcwrede_comments_feed

Posted by LizV

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62788

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62788

Even if each storyline *is* interesting and involving on its own merits, this sort of structure can backfire. I remember several Star Trek novels (by Diane Duane, IIRC) which had one historical plot/timeline which influenced the situation in the second, current-day plot as well as having a thematic connection. Both were engaging, but the end result of that was that I was annoyed *every* time I got to the end a chapter and had to switch! I’ve always meant to go back and reread them as separate stories…

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62788

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62788

duskpeterson

ONLINE E-BOOK (html, epub, mobi, pdf, and xhtml)

Free at my website.

The Motley Crew (The Thousand Nations). When a young man named Dolan flees from the north, he faces danger on all sides. The Northern Army wants him back. The Empire of Emor wants him dead. His native homeland of Koretia may not want him at all. And his only protection is a man with motives that are mysterious and possibly deadly.

New installments:

4 | Apprehension of the Ambassador. A border crossing gone awry turns an escape into a new realm of danger.

Historical Note. [The historical note appears at the end of the omnibus, after the side stories.]

BLOG FICTION

Tempestuous Tours (Crossing Worlds: A Visitor's Guide to the Three Lands #2). A whirlwind tour of the sites in the Three Lands that are most steeped in history, culture, and the occasional pickpocket.

New installments:

Emorian council chamber.

From the council chamber to the courtyard.

Inner garden.

( News and upcoming fiction )

My fiction announcements are also available by e-mail and feeds.

pcwrede_comments_feed

Posted by Patricia Wrede

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62787

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62787

In reply to Auri.

There is no one true answer to this question. For some stories, it’s a good idea. For other stories, it’s not. It depends on the story, the writer, and what the writer is trying to do with the story.

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62787

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62787

pcwrede_comments_feed

Posted by Auri

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62786

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62786

Do you think It,s good to make some charter inside the villain heidän in dephts of craziness? Or if It,s good to make charter about other people and Come back to the heroine?

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62786

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62786

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/5/14/otters-dance-with-their-favorite-stones

Via Santa Barbara Zoo

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/5/14/otters-dance-with-their-favorite-stones

arghink_jennycrusie_feed

Posted by Jenny

https://arghink.com/2026/05/this-is-a-good-book-thursday-murderbot-2/

https://arghink.com/?p=32874

So I finally decided I was not going to work until later and picked up the latest Murderbot. I am ride-or-die on this series, have read the other books multiple times, but this time . . .

The other books grabbed me right away, but I’m on page 26 and I still don’t have the slightest clue what’s going on. He said he’s on a rescue mission? but I don’t know who he’s rescuing, and that’s key. The biggest reader demand there is: Make Me Care. I don’t think Murderbot’s going to die, and I’m hoping we don’t lose Three, but I don’t know what the hell Murderbot is breaking into this place for, and I’m actually skimming at this point. What is this about, damn it? And then on page 38, he gave me a hint and said, “Now you know why this was such a big fucking deal.” Yes, Murderbot, I do . . . thirty-eight fucking pages in.

Bob and I have this argument all the time: Do not keep secrets from the reader. Really good authors do it all the time–Dick Francis did it once and I threw the book across the room, and I really love Dick Francis–but it’s always a mistake. Tell the reader everything the PoV character knows, anything else is a cheat.

Oh, yeah, and what did you read this week?

https://arghink.com/2026/05/this-is-a-good-book-thursday-murderbot-2/

https://arghink.com/?p=32874

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/26603771-bujold-signing-at-hugo-s-this-saturday-may-16

A reminder...

I will be signing for Penric's Intrigues, and whatever else of mine folks want signed, this Saturday May 16th at 1 PM at Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore here in Minneapolis.

Hugo's website with all the particulars here:

http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.s...

Hope to see you there!

Click back one post for links to the podcast interview I recently did for the book.

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on May, 13

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/26603771-bujold-signing-at-hugo-s-this-saturday-may-16

pcwrede_comments_feed

Posted by Mary Catelli

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62785

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62785

And of course, there’s no hard and fast line between alternating storylines and a main and sub plot. It’s clear in Even After that Biancabella is the main character, but several storylines follow other characters. Particularly Constance, and then John.
Which does not correspond with how important the characters are.

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62785

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62785

larawillard_feed

Posted by Lara

https://larawillard.com/2026/05/13/reading-challenge-customizable-bingo-board/

http://larawillard.com/?p=22849

If you follow me on Instagram or Threads, you may have seen my reading BINGO board. If you don’t follow me, not to worry. Here I’m sharing the BINGO Board with you, along with my picks for 2026 as well as a link to make your own! Here’s my blank board: I chose these 25 … Continue reading

https://larawillard.com/2026/05/13/reading-challenge-customizable-bingo-board/

http://larawillard.com/?p=22849

narrativity_updates_feed

Posted by Liz Vogel

https://www.narrativity.fun/55-going-once-going-twice/

https://www.narrativity.fun/?p=2241

Tomorrow is the last day to get your membership for just $55. So if you don’t have your membership yet and you’ve been waiting for the last minute… it’s here!

On May 15th, this Friday, the price goes up to $75. Sure, we’ll happily sign you up then, too, but wouldn’t you rather save that twenty bucks to buy another book?

Speaking of books…. Got a beloved tome that you’re ready to see go to a new home? Bring it to Narrativity for the Good Book Exchange! Pass on that marvelous tale that you want more people to experience. And be sure to browse the Exchange table for your next great read!

https://www.narrativity.fun/55-going-once-going-twice/

https://www.narrativity.fun/?p=2241

pcwrede_comments_feed

Posted by Danithra

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62784

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62784

As a reader, I’d also suggest not leaving every chapter on a cliffhanger. I’ve seen alternating storylines done really well: Taltos, as mentioned above, Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs, and Beguilement and some of the Penric and Desdemona stories by Lois McMaster Bujold start out as alternating storylines (although those mostly converge to a single story with alternating POVs before the halfway point).

But the comment about wanting to get back to the real story took me right back to Maggie Furey’s Heart of Myrial, a book I haven’t thought about in years. It had 3 or 4 alternating storylines and at the end of every chapter, there was a cliffhanger or a hook, so you really wanted to find out what happened next. But by the time you read through three other chapters, and were trying to remember all of their situations, you’d half forgotten what had happened to character one when you last saw them. And the storylines did not converge until right near the end of book one. I think I gave up on the author’s structure, and started skipping chapters to read character one’s story, then back for character two’s story, etc. It was not a keeper.

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62784

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62784

pcwrede_comments_feed

Posted by Patricia Wrede

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62783

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62783

In reply to Wolf Lahti.

Nothing. Writing terminology is not standardized, and there are a LOT of things in fiction writing that can be classified in more than one way, depending on whether you are looking at it through a plot filter, a character filter, a purpose filter, etc. How one views a story affects how one thinks about it and develops it. Structure is also one of those things that many writers do intuitively, which often makes it hard to see why one is telling the story that way (much less what additional things a particular structure might add if one tweaked it a little).

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62783

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62783

pcwrede_comments_feed

Posted by Kevin Wade Johnson

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62782

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62782

Other things to *help* unify the storylines can be a visual motif repeated between the two, or lines of dialog that echo each other.

Little things like that can help, but I would think you’d need something more, as in the things our hostess mentioned above.

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62782

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62782

pcwrede_comments_feed

Posted by Wolf Lahti

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62781

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62781

In Captain Jax and the Space Pirates, I alternated chapters between a stowaway on a starship and his sister’s attempts to get him safely back home. I never thought of it as structured as alternate storylines but rather simply change of scene, as it is a single story told from two viewpoints.

What distinguishes one from the other?

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/#comment-62781

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955#comment-62781

patwrede_blog_feed

Posted by Patricia Wrede

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955

It’s been a while since I talked about structure, and Rose’s question in the last Open Mike made me realize that I normally talk about structure in general, not about specific story structures. So this time, I’m going to dig into alternating storylines. I’m not talking about

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/alternating-storylines/

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/?p=12955

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/5/13/shh-dont-disturb-the-nap

Via California Coastkeeper Alliance

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/5/13/shh-dont-disturb-the-nap

Using a walkie-talkie - how do you describe it?

The Friday Five for 15 May 2026

The Joy of Being an Otter

Wilde Life - Intermission

Comment on Alternating storylines by LizV

UPDATE: Apprehended Ambassador (The Thousand Nations: The Motley Crew #4)

ONLINE E-BOOK (html, epub, mobi, pdf, and xhtml)

BLOG FICTION

Comment on Alternating storylines by Patricia Wrede

Comment on Alternating storylines by Auri

Otters Dance With Their Favorite Stones

This is a Good Book Thursday: Murderbot?

Bujold signing at Hugo's this Saturday May 16

Comment on Alternating storylines by Mary Catelli

Reading Challenge – Customizable BINGO Board

$55 going once, going twice….

Comment on Alternating storylines by Danithra

Comment on Alternating storylines by Patricia Wrede

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Comment on Alternating storylines by Wolf Lahti

Alternating storylines

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May 2026

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