I believe either one would be fine in a novel setting, but why haggle when you can simply eliminate the indecision with: "He didn't dare wait for a dicey opportunity to stab the man." or such. Take care. Vern
76 2021-01-21 02:49:44
Re: that vs which - weird case? (4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
77 2021-01-18 14:54:51
Re: Time for a new contest (34 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
A horror contest with SPAM being the medium of evil. Maybe the Devil tricks many with SPAM and a super group of anti-spammers is called in. I agree this sounds Scooby-dooish, but more plot points can be added. Not sure 'bout the minimum of words, but the max could be 2500 to 3000, maybe.
Too, everyone who participates in this contest gets 25 points. YAY!
Or comedy horror: people get cursed and become like Ken and Barbie. One-dimensional, too perfect in some ways, but not good for much, overall. Or maybe it's just a case of young, good-looking people being hypnotized and made into mindless lackeys.
The contest is already up. Take care. Vern
78 2021-01-17 21:48:19
Re: Time for a new contest (34 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Did I miss Strongest Start this year?
Nope. Didn't happen. take care. Vern
79 2021-01-17 04:37:03
Re: Time for a new contest (34 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I was thinking more along the lines of The People vs Donald Trump. Or The People vs Karen, Judge Rudy Giuliani presiding. But to have a couple of Hobbit cops sweating Gollum down at the station house might be fun, too. The possibilities are limitless even if the contest itself is inherently limited.
I could certainly work in a few good cuss words -- made up or not -- in a Trump trial, lol. Take care. Vern
80 2021-01-15 02:47:01
Re: Time for a new contest (34 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
vern wrote:George FLC wrote:How about writing stories or poems so that kids and grand kids can read it. Made up cuss words would be funny but I can see them morphing into similar renditions of current cuss words.
A word by any other name is still a word, no better or worse than it's ability to put forth your message. If you called the rose a bastard, it would still be a rose. Cuss words only become cuss words because people decide they are, not by any inherent evil. And please don't answer with some pretense of the Bible condemning them or such; you will lose that argument of taking the Lord's name in vain. But to each their own. Take care. Vern
Good points, however, if I call my boss a bastard then he interprets it badly. He's still my boss but now an upset boss. We can leave the Bible out of this if you want. I just like writing to generally be classy. Granted that talking about the Inquisition and Holocausts doesn't leave much room for class! But I like being uplifted by the words that I read. The biggest problem in what I'm saying is that most everyone swears and how realistic do I want characters in my writing to sound? But I just don't think that it takes tons of talent to sound like everyone else. It takes work to lift up, build up, elevate the the environment around you. I'm new to this website and I do find it entertaining and this discussion has been interesting as well. Thanks for your honesty, Vern. I've enjoyed this. I feel good about this discussion! George
An intelligent response. I disagree that the subject matter wouldn't be classy, but that's merely my opinion. Thank you for further clarifying yours. Take care. Vern
81 2021-01-14 18:31:41
Re: Time for a new contest (34 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
How about writing stories or poems so that kids and grand kids can read it. Made up cuss words would be funny but I can see them morphing into similar renditions of current cuss words.
A word by any other name is still a word, no better or worse than it's ability to put forth your message. If you called the rose a bastard, it would still be a rose. Cuss words only become cuss words because people decide they are, not by any inherent evil. And please don't answer with some pretense of the Bible condemning them or such; you will lose that argument of taking the Lord's name in vain. But to each their own. Take care. Vern
82 2021-01-10 21:45:23
Re: Time for a new contest (34 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
How about something where you must use at least X-number of creative made-up cuss words for effect and imagination. You know I get tired of the same old shit all the time, lol. Take care. Vern
83 2020-12-24 22:10:04
Re: Merry Christmas! (6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Ho, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum. To all a Mer4y Christmas and partially sober New Year. Take care. Vern
84 2020-12-08 00:18:07
Re: Too many exclamation marks? (7 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
You can cut them all with no ill effect. Let the words and accompanying situation show the exclamation. Much more effective than punctuation. Take care. Vern
85 2020-11-20 05:11:17
Re: Who’s the point master? (26 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I believe Flo was the grandmaster when they were shown. Wherever she is now, she had like a gazillion points, nobody even close. Take care. Vern
86 2020-11-14 03:43:36
Re: How to handle lots of dialogue within dialogue? (16 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I agree with CJ, it sounds like Elrond is merely the narrator and wouldn't be in quotes so the dialogue would proceed as normal. If that is not the case, then you might consider making it the case. Take care. Vern
87 2020-10-25 23:39:23
Re: What are your secret on-line resources? (9 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
If I told you, it wouldn't be secret. Now, non-secret sources are different, but if I kept those to myself, then they might become secret also, which brings us back full circle and round and round we go. Nonetheless, if you read all these various forums, which are secret to those who don't know about them, then though they are not really secret, they might provide some non-secret secret sources as long as you don't tell anyone where they came from. Just don't tell anyone I told you, okay. Take care. Vern
88 2020-09-11 22:57:32
Re: Anyone been to a movie theatre lately? (13 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
The Dune teaser trailer dropped today and the official trailer comes out tomorrow. I'm dying to see that film (it's the best-selling sci-fi novel of all time), but I'm very hesitant about going (in December). A friend of mine said, where he is, they run at about 25% capacity and people wear masks. I suspect a lot of people lower those masks to eat popcorn, though. Although Canada was very compliant with all the quarantine rules, we've had a number of people take stupid risks since the economy began to reopen, primarily by going to events involving large groups, minimal distancing, and too few masks.
Does anyone still go to the movies?
I assume this is a remake of Dune from several years ago. That one was a big disappointment compared to the book. Perhaps with the newer technologuy, it will improve. Dune is still my favorite Sci-Fi novel -- the trilogy. Take care. Vern
89 2020-09-08 01:55:52
Re: Capitalize exorcist in direct address? (16 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Quote from English Grammar: "And so, in usual practice, don't capitalize the common noun. However, if you want to achieve the specific effect of highlighting the proper noun you are referring to, go ahead and capitalize."
Take care. Vern
90 2020-09-06 13:57:16
Re: Reading habits article (4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I tend to read what I want when I want and read as much online as anywhere so imo all the charts and graphs and generalizations are pretty much a waste of time to peruse; therefore I took a glance and ignored all the might be useful information, but that's just me strung out among all the age groups like the boy who never grew up.
91 2020-07-26 13:36:30
Re: Beginnings (12 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I always wax rhapsodic when I smoke weed too.
(I try not to post under the influence though)
LOL. I do love your moving responses. Take care. Vern
92 2020-07-26 04:55:46
Re: Beginnings (12 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Hello, John, I, like Memphis, have read several of your three gazillion versions of Antagony and have both enjoyed and been annoyed with some as I suppose is the case with most of us would be authors on the receiving end. And I do think you actually have that great beginning within the ad hoc presentations, but in just my personal and certainly unprofessional opinion, it just might be your modest opinion of having an "above-average" vocabulary which just might, might mind you, be holding you back. Your vocabulary is certainly well beyond a mere "above-average" and as such may put too much of the burden on the reader as opposed to the writer. While most of your "above-average" vocabulary is understandable within context, it can create too many pauses for the "average" reader which of course would mean the mass market variety. I am of the opinion that you do have a "great story beginning" and possibly middle and ending, but you seem not to really want to connect to that "average" reader and finish the story in that context. I truly believe you could throttle the "above-average" wording by half or more and still maintain the eloquent presentation you present to the world and just maybe be TNBW. As I greatly admire your work as is, I say all this with the utmost respect for your craft and it is obviously only my humble opinion. Why not give it a shot and see what happens. Take care my friend. Vern
93 2020-06-22 14:08:29
Re: Posting tip I discovered (13 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I'm subscribed to Office 365, so I always have Word's latest version. Pasting from Word to TBNW represents no formating issues except that, from time to time, there are some phantom question marks at the end of some paragraphs.
Those phantoms are the ghosts of stories past, present, and future. Take care. Vern
94 2020-06-14 13:26:36
Re: Just to let you know... (7 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Hello, Ray, it could be the tests for antibodies are not accurate, a lot of tests aren't. Rather weird not to develop them. At any rate. good luck and best wishes for a return to good health. Take care. Vern
95 2020-06-13 02:20:48
Re: gone, but not forgotten (16 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
It's still in there. Lightning fried my computer a while back and I took it to a specialist and they retrieved everything. Don't know if it would be worth it if you can already recreate it, but just in case, it is salvageable if it comes to that. Take care. Vern
96 2020-06-10 23:24:30
Re: New and saying hello. (6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Welcome, John. To all new and old members who may be able to answer my question. Is there an invisible
shield over the button to add profile info. I'm guessing yes since no one seems to be using it. Inquiring minds want to know. Take care. Vern
97 2020-05-30 23:49:48
Re: Newbie hello (9 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Do you have a fever, a cough, loss of smell, or been in contact with anyone testing positive for COVID-19? If not welcome to the site. Take care. Vern
98 2020-05-25 13:58:13
Re: Subjective point of view (17 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
If it feels right and sounds right, it just might be right. Of course that's just my opinion. Is that a subjective point of view? Take care. Vern
99 2020-05-18 13:59:22
Re: POV Question (8 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
The POV character may know anything you want them to know without having to reveal it to the reader. A major character in my novel would be an example. The protagonist talks with this character quite frequently but no one else knows anything about this character though clues are left with each encounter. A few readers have come close to guessing, but not one was sure of the true meaning of the character until finally repealed by the protagonist. No one ever expressed being "cheated" along the way. Why try to change your approach for no valid reason? Take care. Vern
100 2020-05-10 13:27:48
Re: She Picked Up the Knife Contest Winners Announced (11 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Congrats to the winners and all who entered. Take care. Vern
