Changing from a serit font to a grotesque font or vice-versa always helps. Likewise from a closely spaced font to an expansive font.
2,701 2015-09-25 18:22:24
Re: My great self-editing secret (5 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
2,702 2015-09-25 18:19:52
Re: Acts/ Dictates/ Mandates/ Mantle - Amy's Thread (1,905 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
The slather bread business isn't pimarily comedy. It's character.
2,703 2015-09-25 13:59:30
Re: Acts/ Dictates/ Mandates/ Mantle - Amy's Thread (1,905 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Or begin with KHA's staff and steaming cloak.
2,704 2015-09-25 06:35:57
Re: Acts/ Dictates/ Mandates/ Mantle - Amy's Thread (1,905 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Fog still hung over the trees, thick enough to slice and slather over bread. The morning light might have a chance of burning it away, but that was going to be a battle worth watching. Kha turned away from the window and smiled to himself. Everything both beautiful and terrible could be described in terms of food. The blaze in the estate’s fireplace called to his bones. He wandered toward the heat. His magical staff leaned against the mantle. His cloak hung on the propped wood, steaming after a long night’s ride.
Kha reached toward the fire to warm his hands. After more than a year of waiting, he heard Airen behind him, voice cold enough to put out this fire.
“Ganolin, my love, step away from our guest.”
Try putting the 'blaze in the fireplace' part first, so you begin with Kha and some 'action' (really desire). The circumstances of the desire can lead to the weather, and then back to food anv desire.
Sorry I haven't checked in in a bit. I've been on the road, and I'll spend much of today on it as well.
2,705 2015-09-22 20:43:39
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
You've invested a great deal in a Brythonic tale about a largely Brythonic world, and carried your readers along. I recommend staying with it and making cautious, marginal changes to your style where there is strong and clear reason for change, and not otherwise.
2,706 2015-09-22 13:01:58
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
From over there, it's as big as. From here, it's a ripple of the past. Isn't the whole issue here managing that distance?
2,707 2015-09-22 11:52:59
Re: Titles in The Pendragon and The Beast of Caer Baddan (206 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I like having the flavor that we have now. It's part of the setting and feel of the story.
Alhough directed at modern audiences, this is not a 'modern' novel. It's a story in of older style in a modern package. Keeping the Brythonic flavor keeps it true to the story and its setting. Likewise, R.V.'s very spare style serves this story well. Even when I suggest a change, I know that it might do damage.
Regarding Amy's suggestions above: I agree that those points could be changed, but in general I think her suggestions are too strong for the style. I could see Elen's last accusation being 'pleaded', since Camuir has a way of turning everyone's love into tragedy.
Regarding 'Onnen'--if the (back)story is essential, then it must be told sufficiently for the reader to understand. If 'Onnen' is part of the story, then she must be named. If the only thing the name does is amplify the tragedy, it is enough ... however ...
It might make sense to identify Onnen as 'your nurse' or 'her cousin' (or whatever) at first appearance, and only name her once, or only once in the story, and once in the reply (or in 'you cannnot blame'), so that she is identified as supporting dramatis personae here, but one with her own story. Ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream, the road goes ever on and on ...
2,708 2015-09-20 00:20:04
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
One of my pushdown stack tasks has gone sour.
I've been relying on a 12v->20v power brick to provide extra run time to my flaptop. The brick has been losing the ability to keep up with the peak current draw. I bought a replacement (whose plug is so crappy I'll have to replace it after it's run 100 hrs or so and I know it won't fail on the infant mortality side of the bathtub curve) and opened up the old one with the intent of replacing the no-name electrolytic capacitors (probably the source of the slow failure) with top-end Panasonics, and maybe to increase the output capacitance by 25% to 50%.
But it was put together in a way that made it difficult without special desoldering gear and I destroyed the copper plate-throughs in the holes where two powertab transistors and two powertab-packaged diode pairs were soldered. The circuit board in that vicinity suffered, too.
Now, how badly do I want to fix this, and how much am I willing to risk catastrophic failure? Catastropic failure could include overvoltage to the laptop. What kind of test load do I put on it? This thing can supply 90 watts. I'm no spark.
2,709 2015-09-19 23:59:47
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
It's not that the writing is small, it's that the page is big. It's about 20 inches long. The ruling on the tabs is a little bigger than college ruling, so my natural witing size looks a little small on it.
2,710 2015-09-19 17:09:01
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Nyarharrharr. It's all copied out. Now I have to flesh it in and make all the bits work. I'll probably have to diddle the previous chapter as well.
2,711 2015-09-19 11:35:19
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Well, you did ask for it:
2,712 2015-09-19 10:03:47
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I'm working on the f'schtunkin' photo. It got me into a problem where I thought I would need a tech to dismantle my laptop to get the cable out. But the counter guy at Geek Squad recognized that it was a problem with the combo (USB/eSATA) port--you actually had to pull harder than feels safe. I'll avoid that connector from now on.
2,713 2015-09-18 05:54:59
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
2,714 2015-09-18 01:46:40
Re: Deas in the water (13 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
But, since I don't have my tools ... Tom
One of the woes of vacation--you leave your right arm#########tools behind. That's ... beyond bummer.
2,715 2015-09-18 01:08:13
Re: Deas in the water (13 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Windoze is not on my laptop. It runs Ubuntu 14.04 Linux.
My congratulations. I suppose you've checked that all the cooling airways are clear and dust-free?
2,716 2015-09-17 23:04:39
Re: Deas in the water (13 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Doesn't sound like the vid chip. The video would have gone out immediately, and chips don't usually go POP! It sounds like something in the power supply on the board, which may or may not have taken other things with it. I'm guessing the pop was a blown electrolytic capacitor. In any case, you'll probably want a new board. Even if you replace the blown component, you don't know if something else triggered the failure or if the failure damaged something else.
Let a technician look at it, but unless it's under warrantee, expect to replace it. Have your software and data transferred. Whoever does it may need to make a call to Micro$oft to get your Windoze license transferred to the new hardware. Watch out for unwanted and un-asked-for software installations and upgrades if you let someone like Greek Squad do it.
2,717 2015-09-17 21:08:34
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
You want a photo?
2,718 2015-09-17 13:02:28
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
The Big Page of Sticky Notes has been transferred to a file. Now I have to fill in the blueprint. It's still a lot of work.
2,719 2015-09-17 04:20:40
Re: Kurt Vonnegut: Eight rules for writing fiction (20 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Rodger opened the door and found his wife in bed with his best friend.
"What the hell are you doing?" he shouted.
"See?" his wife smirked. "I told you he's an idiot."
The problem: Can you imagine Rodger saying "What the hell are you doing?" in any other way than a shout? And it's so hollow!
What about the dead cold of the grave, or the frustration of the polyamorist whose only concern is that if they don't get dressed soon they'll be late for the opera?
2,720 2015-09-17 04:16:57
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
The head amp. I've got two new tasks pushing down the pushdown stack. Sometimes it seems like turtles all the way down.
Meanwhile, I may have a workable sequence for the monster Erevain scene, assuming that the post-its I've been jugging around the big sheet of paper don't get blown away. (But see the link I posted on the other thread.)
2,721 2015-09-17 04:11:49
Re: Northern Skies - Janet! (520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
*cover ears with hands and sings tra-la-la-la-laaaaaaaa*
2,722 2015-09-16 22:15:04
Re: Kurt Vonnegut: Eight rules for writing fiction (20 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Israel Zangwill (have I got that right?) in The Big Bow Mystery.
Strictly speaking, narrative, not thoughts ... but ...
In a more limited way, John Dickson Carr in The Secret of Castle Skull.
Don't forget the last story of The Old Man in the Corner by Emmuska, Barroness Orczy.
Or the last of the Drury Lane stories by Ellery Queen under the pseudonym Barnaby Ross. The thematic clues are devilish.
One of Asimov's Black Widower shorts does this in a different way.
The more recent mysteries of Jane Haddam (Orania Pappazoglou) have us share some thoughts of every suspect, for character and sometimes backstory.
2,723 2015-09-16 06:57:22
Re: Kurt Vonnegut: Eight rules for writing fiction (20 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
The best story I know, for long-running bit-by-bit release AND re-evaluation of information is Girl Genius, which I am sure I've mentioned before. It's also slow-running and the author's have lampshaded the point: days take months when taken three short moments a week. And it will take most of a day to archive-binge the 15 years already out. To decide if you want it, try this, here, here, Young minions in love, and warriors in love. (No, the guy in the striped shirt hasn't been explained yet. The list of questions is getting longer.)
2,724 2015-09-15 14:20:31
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
You mean when Kirsey visits the library? Could be, but Escher was limited to impossibles that looked possible.
2,725 2015-09-15 04:29:36
Re: Awesome TV shows you should be watching (8 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Why are we watching TV when we should be writing or reading?