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Comments
Okay.
For what it's worth, I mostly like her because of a different article she had, and I posted the other one because it seemed more relevant. What are your thoughts on this one? I could still be wrong, since I only became invested in the topic about three days ago, but this seems like important stuff to consider, given her experiences with publishing.
!!!
They are.
No, really, they are. Let me explain.
Someone who buys e-books has an e-book reader. Whether this is a laptop, a Kindle, or whatever, they do have the capability to buy e-books, and the convenience makes it easier.
That doesn't necessarily mean that they will buy e-books every time, but it does mean they they are less likely to buy physical books next time.
I actually like that one. It actually speaks to the problems of being a self-published author, and an author in general, and I can appreciate that. I also agree that self-publishing is important in this day and age, particularly for writers of niche or hard-to-market works. There were but two things that bothered me: Again, the lack of acknowledgement that there are other publishers than the Big Six, and this:
What the line means is that before self-publishing came into vogue, only extreme niche works by authors incapable of being published otherwise would seek to publish their own work, with some exceptions. It's a bit snidely phrased, but it's not wrong.
^ I meant something different from that, but I get your point.
I am quoting that because it irritates me. I can't quite place why.
Other than that... I can very much tell that this blog piece is written by a writer. It fails to take into account anything except the author's frustration- things like the agent trying to represent people for very little money, the sheer volume of requests publishing houses receive a year, and all that sort of stuff.
The article speaks of... the writer's frustration with the publishing business, and fails to take into account why it exists and the problems with self-publishing in the business.
I sympathize with the complaint, but the tone of the article rubs me the wrong way again.
The tone of smug dismissal, most likely.
It's irritating because it's kind of thoughtless and obnoxious. I hate to be rude about it, but it is.
Reading it again, you're absolutely right.
Yeah, it is that.
Another thought: Isn't smugly dismissing people that actually sell books a marvellous demonstration of passive-aggressive hand-biting for an author and a reader?
Fair enough. For what it's worth: like with the other one, I read for the insights, even if they're biased. There is still something being observed here that I, at least, hadn't known/considered before reading it: posting rejected queries to Twitter, or something, is pretty dickish, and I agree with her that it's good that writers now have to learn other skills intrinsic to the publishing industry. A fair bit of the article is anecdotal, and therefore leaves the smug dismissal unfounded. Now that I've had this discussion, I can understand how agents would be prone to sending mass-rejections, given that there are fewer of them. I'm also upset that I didn't stumble upon an article that better highlights these ideas that were good in this one.
^^ Yes.
Both of those points are true, and publishers and agents are not entirely blame free. Rejecting queries on a number of basis, such as the professionalism of the query, etc, is one thing, but posting them elsewhere in a public setting is another thing entirely, and is a dickish move.
I suggest you read up on vanity presses and the Atlanta Nights debacle to learn a bit more about the background of the publishing business.
Sweet Jesus, vanity publishing...
So anybody doing nanowrimo? I'm almost at three thousand words.
I don't have any novels planned, but I'm starting updating my blog again and I guess I could work on that short story series I want to do.
I'm starting on Saturday, hopefully, once I hash out enough details for a story to be able to continue writing it with its own strength.
I thought about doing the Script Writing in April, but I didn't see the point.
I wrote this. It's shit.
how do i make it not shit
(Mind you, the conceit of the scene is not my idea and can't change it because it's another person's project.)
A couple notes.
* We don't really need to know that Maggie is Katie's Roommate.
* "Maggie doesn’t follow on with the pleasantry." sounds awkward. Maybe take out "on"?
* "This he being?" also sounds a little odd. Now, I don't know how Katie talks, but consider changing it to just "He?" or "He who?"
* "Katie sighs in frustration and sits in front of Katie." Second one should be Maggie. Also, I would take out "in frustration" but that's just me.
* "Katie shifts on her seat." should be "Katie shifts in her seat."
* "Well, why didn’t you call?". You put emphasis on the "didn't" when you should have put in on the "you".
* Over the next few lines you have very liberal use of ellipses. Considering cutting some unless absolutely necessary, because they tend to clutter the writing. If you want to have a character trail off or be interrupted, considering a double-dash "--" instead.
* "I don't want to dance this song with you" Weird line. For a few reasons. 1) It's kind of cheesy and out of place and 2) In English, you wouldn't say "dance this song". If you really want to keep the line, change it to something like "I can't keep doing this dance, Maggie."
Whose room is it? Katie's or Maggie's? What kind of room? Bathroom, Bedroom? Those kinds of things aren't just helpful to the reader, they can help you to spice up a scene with action and dialogue. You could also describe the room a little. We have no frame of reference, so I don't know what I should be picturing in this scene.
Also, you capitalize the character's names, so that implies this is the first time we are meeting both of them. You didn't give them any description at all from appearance to age, so once again, I don't know what I should be picturing.
You shouldn't have colons next to the talking characters. Just the name, followed by the line of dialogue.
Other than that, it's pretty good. Just clean up the grammar and constant use of ellipses, consider word choice, and maybe think of some more interest action. I know it's just a conversation, but maybe have one of them doing something like washing dishes, cooking, anything. There is a lot of sitting and standing and it gets repetitive. You should almost always avoid scenes that are literally just two people talking.
Also, this is just me personally, but the version of Courier you're using looks a little odd to me, and should be 12 point. That's the standard as I know it anyway.
Edit: Now that I'm more lucid, this isn't needed anymore.
Aren't dreams more...visual? Visceral experiences of sight and sound and action?
Also, since this is (in your own words) a "GIANT WALL OF TEXT", it is thus naturally very difficult to read. Break it apart into different paragraphs, and intersperse some gestures and actions of the character here-and-there.
The flow could also use some work. Think about the frame of mind the person who's speaking this is saying, and break up or join sentences accordingly. As it is, it rambles, and while there is a certain "A-B-C" progression, I'm not really seeing the "A-but-B-also-C-but-D-but-F" progression.
I've also never really liked the term "magic-user", as it evokes neither romance nor menace, mystique nor majesty. It's almost...kenning-like (war-tree, giants-bane, red-day), but is also immensely clinical.
You also mentioned that the character could see through illusions twice. And the Black Sun twice. This also relates to the flow issue I mentioned earlier.
I prefer the term magic-user because it doesn't envoke those things, these are simply people who use magic, nothing more or less.
But anyways, like I said, this is a recording of a dream, not anything more. I posted this so I can look back and draw from it later. And I'm writing this while going through a moment of psychosis, so it also works as a distraction from that.
I have no idea how I'm going to write 2,000 words for NaNoWriMo tomorrow. Or each other day of the week. ;~; (I've decided on 2,000 words each weekday, and 1,000 on each day of the weekend except the last weekend, to compensate for my late start)
what the fuck am i doing ijbm
halp
Alex come with me! Get on my horse and I will whisk you away to Laos where we will learn the secrests of being cat masters, the ancient magic of using a cat to do damn near anything. You will shed away all the inanity of your forum days. And your body will change to accomodate your new powers over using a feline as an all purpose tool.
You will grow another set of eyelids. Three rows of teeth will come in, and it will sting like crazy. Your nipples will be made of bone. Your bellybutton will sprout teeth. Your knees caps will hollow out holes to hold acid sacks. Your will lose your fingernails and finger prints. You will never be able to hold a key again. 8 new organs will manifest themselves in your torso and form a consensus on all your personal dilemmas. It will become difficult to chew once all your teeth are replaced with cyanide capsules, so you will take to drinking.
Come with me Alex. Get on my horse.
ne ks \
mo-na0co
owlf faofslfudo
fusrhosda;
Super Lazuli is not what she seems. Ice and cold shall be our salvation. The chill of the cave will halt the undead acrobats and the leatherwings will fly to our victory.
i am cat
So you shall be Alex's tool. He will carry you everywhere in a bucket and occasionally inject you with drugs to let you do crazy stuff like be a periscope or perform autopsies.
It is all falling into place.
Halt! I must first don my armour and clothing, for I am naked and without either.
And so my body is prepared.
doing nanowrimo and I decided to write a Wesley/Faith fic for a friend.
Why do I hate myself.