What e-mail notifications? I've never gotten any since the site changed, and I understood that feature was gone. Has Sol changed his mind?

702

(61 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

And Janet!

703

(61 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Thanks Sol - and Temple!

704

(61 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I think that it should occur to a newbie that in order to get more reviews, reciprocation is a must. This wasn't spelled out in the old site, per se, either, but beyond common courtesy it was logical to do the payback. I made some friends on the site - including you, Aussie - doing that. There will be those who won't even respond to reviews, let alone reciprocate, but who needs those writers, anyway? They've made their prresence, or lack thereof, known. So live and let live, and let the cream (those sincere in their efforts to improve their craft) rise to the top.

705

(11 replies, posted in Old forums)

I agree that the threads in the old forums tended to wander off into personal tangents. My advice to you, JP, is to ask those who have published their books - both self- and traditional, rather than get opinions - freely given - from those who have not gone through the process and don't know, really, whereof they speak. Hey, it's a free country, right? Everyone entitled to their own opinions? But not their own facts.  You'd have to do some research to find the ones to ask, but it shouldn't be much of a strain.

706

(217 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I agree! And who wants to see posts weeks old, anyway? Is this an archives issue? Can't the early posts be deleted after, say, a couple of weeks? Or name the limit. But there should be a limit, in my view.

707

(14 replies, posted in editorials & commentary)

charles_bell wrote:
mswriter wrote:

Hey Charles, I was just stating my opinion.  Part of which was many people who are not really religious are using the euphemism... just because they hear others use it.   I really doubt that anyone was insulted by it.  And if they were, well, that's what opinions sometimes do.  But as far as opinions (and insults) go, I don't think what I said was particularly heinous.  And thanks for your input and feedback.

It is one of my pet peeves on opinion writing but not always over-the-air which may be extemporaneous.

Is that a sentence? What does it mean?

708

(3 replies, posted in Cop Shop)

There was a TV show back in the day dealing with this very subject. It was a Playhouse 90 or one of those. Anyway, a group of poker-playing buddies got bored with the "risk" involved in their high-stakes games and decided to commit the perfect murder. The victim would be a complete stranger, with no connection to any of them. That's all I can remember! But I'd start with that, then hire a hitman anonymously (like Steve McQueen hired the crew in "The Thomas Crown Affair.") Of course, the only motive involved would be just to do a murder and get away with it. If you're talking about a real reason to kill someone, it gets dicier to accomplish, since that motive could eventually lead to you, and your alibi could break down.

Yeah, that happened to me, too. And since I hadn't yet reached the 5-review minimum, I got no points.

710

(13 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Well, I have yet to receive an e-mail about anything related to the new site. Whatever the mechanism, though, that would be the only way you'd know if someone responded to a forum post, short of searching for that thread and scrolling down. Unless you spend the day glued to your computer. Even in the old site, I wouldn't be notified of a response to one of my forum posts, though new reviews would be announced.  Don't know how yours came about, but it's gotta be good, right? Can't see how it could just be serendipity, but what do I know? Not much, apparently. Sol, a little help here, huh?

711

(13 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

We don't get e-mails anymore, since e-mails aren't listed. You have to check your home page to see what new stuff has been posted.

Regarding your other issue of chapter length, we're in kind of a bubble here on site. Long chapters tend to discourage reviewers, short chapters encourage. But in a book actually on the market, I don't think a reader will care about chapter length. So, if you want reviews here, you'd be better off keeping to about 2500 words or thereabouts. But if this will affect what you're trying to say in your novel, then go for it!

712

(17 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Basic)

You beter figure out real quick what SolN means! smile Hint: Look up two posts from this one, and you'll see the face of SolN, the head man.

713

(2 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Basic)

Hey, SP - I read once that you can't reproduce lyrics from a song without infringement of copyright unless you have permission. I don't think there's a minimum-word reg involved. Titles are fine. The lawyers would not likely know you did that unless your book gets on the NYT bestseller list, but I assume that would be your goal. smile So if you can work around it in your story without having your character actually sing the words, you'd be okay. Getting permission would seem to me to be an arduous task.

714

(30 replies, posted in Thriller/Mystery/Suspense)

I'll give him a look. Thanks.

715

(30 replies, posted in Thriller/Mystery/Suspense)

If you give DeMille a look-see, start with Plum Island, the first of his John Corey series; followed by The Lion's Game, Night Fall, Wildfire, The Lion, and The Panther. Up Country is in the same vein. The Gold Coast is completely different, but still a compelling read.

716

(30 replies, posted in Thriller/Mystery/Suspense)

Crais and Connelly are in my top five. But numero uno for me is Nelson DeMille. His John Corey character, especially, is my favorite. Probably because of his wise-ass nature, something I can identify with. smile

717

(30 replies, posted in Thriller/Mystery/Suspense)

Annie wrote:

I adore Connelly's writing style, but my favorite for characterization is Robert Crais.

I found another Crais fan! He doesn't usually get mentioned in such lists, but I've always liked his stuff.

718

(9 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

No, my "Send a Message" to my connections scroller issue has been solved; as has, apparently this latest scrolling issue in the last few minutes! Sol, you're either an attentive genius or this was just a temporary glitch. Maybe both? smile Thanks!

719

(9 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

It's that scrolling issue I've brought up before. My list stops at Mystery, unless I hold the mouse clicker down and move it down the highlighted list. Then I can see all the genres but can't click on any "hiding" beyond Mystery. As soon as I take my finger off the mouse, the original short list returns.

720

(9 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Okay, I discovered that by clicking on All in the genre box, all the genres come up. So are the ones listed without doing that considered more important by Sol the Magnificent? smile

721

(9 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Those search boxes leave out several genres, including mine - Thriller. And as a test I typed in Action and Adventure and got nothing.

722

(9 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

In the old site, there was a list of genres one could click on to find postings in that particular category. We have groups now, but searching through them to find a particular genre is tedious, not to mention that all genres aren't listed. Plus, authors might not have joined any groups. If there is a similar list here, I haven't found it. If not, can there be one?

723

(28 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I have an iPad 2, also. I can't do in-line reviews with it. I click on a passage and no highlighting occurs.

724

(7 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Ah, Cobber's icon has now been replaced with Sol's smiling visage. Hmm. Did I stumble upon a secret and now must be eliminated before the TNBW world can go beserk?

725

(7 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Has Cobber become Sol, now? smile Or maybe he was always there, behind the scenes, manipulating the strings . . .