Forum: Story Ideas

without authenticity

It's already too OTT for that. I think the way forward is to continue in the same fashion offset by gentle humour, much as the early part of Banadin's Richard Jackson saga.

AJ

Problem is that anyone with that kind of experience probably has some sort of NDA type reason they can't talk about it even in the hypothetical/if they change some names.

It is not NDA, it is even more than that.

One thing made clear to anybody in the military that has a security clearance, is that it is for life. We are all made more than a little aware of that fact, and that even decades afterwards, we could find ourselves in a court of law for letting something slip that is still classified.

And the identity and how our intelligence services operate are some of the deepest secrets, as literally people's lives are at stake.

Many question why for example a lot of information about the Kennedy Assassination are still secret. But if you read the actual reports, there are some large chunks that came from "redacted sources". Both inside the US, and in other countries. And the official US policy is to never disclose something like that, unless all individuals so named are dead.

And in this case, it is long speculated that much of the information came from inside the USSR, as well as Mexico, Cuba, and other countries. So until it is confirmed that all who had given such information to the US are confirmed to be dead (or themselves revealed who they are), they will remain classified.

For decades, people speculated who "Deep Throat" was. But Woodward and Bernstein both said they would never reveal it until the person was dead. Until former #3 man in the FBI Mark Felt finally revealed to the world himself in 2005 that he was the one that leaked the story to W&B.

No, a DND or NDA has at most a civil risk that can get you sued if you reveal something. Revealing actual classified information can ultimately see the person hanging at the end of a rope in Leavenworth penitentiary.

they would never reveal it until the person was dead

So we're going to have to wait for Carly Simon to die to find out who was so vain? Or the vain person?

So we're going to have to wait for Carly Simon to die to find out who was so vain? Or the vain person?

Well, that was actually been answered a long time ago.

Carly herself admitted that Warren Beatty was the main inspiration, but it was actually a conglomeration of three different men.

Which does NOT mean that it never happens.

For example, seven active-duty Team 6 SEALs were punished for advising EA Games while still in the Navy. Their offences included revealing classified information.

Note. Punished, not locked up in Leavenworth or hung by the neck.

Then there is Snowden...

I did say could, not would. It depends upon the severity of the breech the person did, and the circumstances behind it.

Just recently, the Navy arrested a sailor for the arson that led to the fire on the USS Bonhomme Richard (LSA-6). And one of the charges filed was UCMJ Article 110, "Hazarding a Vessel". And yes, that is one of the Capitol Offense charges still in the UCMJ. He could theoretically be put to death for that, but likely that will not even be suggested if it goes to trial.

The problem, as I see it, is that you have to make him likable. From your initial description, the only people I see liking him are people who like their heroes to be over-powered Mary Sues who know that they are Mary Sues. I think you'll lose a good portion of the audience if you make this guy so direct, but, you'll have readers who love him for his wish fulfillment characteristics.

I have to admit, I would not read it. That is the kind of character that filled tons of pulp books through the 1980's, and I never did like them. Essentially gun porn for fat couch potatoes who likely never served.

Are you sure a male character can be a Mary Sue?

Why not? The formalising of the concept can be traced back to a character named 'Mary Sue', but the defining characteristics are ambisexual. There's no actual need for a 'male' equivalent, and none of your three names 'alternatives' have achieved anything like universality.

AJ

Are you sure a male character can be a Mary Sue?

Simple, look no farther than Tom Clancy.

During his time out of government service, he was doing the exact same thing Tom did before he became a writer. And the Ryan family home is in the same place and is described exactly as his own real life house.