Some minor edits to the new chapter, titled Dirtier than Dirt. It's a crummy title, and I'm open to suggestions. I cut a few words, combined some sentences, and managed to add about forty words. It's over 3,000 now (eeeek!) But it will be good for a few review points.
1,001 2017-01-14 23:05:38
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
1,002 2017-01-14 15:44:03
Topic: Creating Conflict (1 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
1,003 2017-01-14 03:08:06
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
3000 words to get to street level in The Rockpile. I'll put it up later and you can tell me where to cut.
1,004 2017-01-14 00:03:22
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
LOTR is a Milieu story. MICE: Milieu, Idea, Character, Event (O.S.Card). What you describe belongs to a Character story.
1,005 2017-01-13 20:12:26
Re: The Colorless Dragon Thread (354 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Well, you know best. Since I'm pretty centered on my own story, I'm letting hard bits idle while I work on other parts. Regardless, I'll be eager to read your story as it comes.
1,006 2017-01-13 16:22:39
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Looking at the next brief part of their journey, I can see 1,000 to 1,900 words here as well. 19 short stages, estimate 55 to 100 words each. There's a huge amount of description, so Amy can come out with the machete. But remember, I don't want it to go to 3,800 words!
1,007 2017-01-13 16:20:08
Re: Hit or Miss (12 replies, posted in Alpha to Omega - Review Group)
More than interesting, it is valuable. If I read your publisher's web page correctly, you'll be doing publicity yourself. I think everybody here will be interested in your experience with that!
1,008 2017-01-13 03:49:53
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Fixed. Tnx. I fear it's more Bored than Lawd.
No Daylighters allowed.
1,009 2017-01-13 03:26:04
Re: I'm still alive but... (27 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
From Kate Paulk. USA politics, translated into Aussie. YMMV
1,010 2017-01-13 03:16:53
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Indie rights
1,011 2017-01-13 03:15:51
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I'm reaching for 1,800 words, and I've just got Merran off that d***ed hill.
Pausonallie must have read the doubt in Merran's voice. "It was a new district they opened up about twenty years ago. Thorodeus can give you the whole history. They called it the 'Gold Stone Plat' but that name didn't stick. Then they called it the 'Hammered Stone District'. Then they abandoned it for another area they built, and now people use it for unofficial things, clubs and stuff, and we've started calling it the Rockpile. You'll see why."
1,012 2017-01-13 02:44:03
Re: Hit or Miss (12 replies, posted in Alpha to Omega - Review Group)
Oh, and congratulations. It's great to hear you made it!
1,013 2017-01-13 02:42:55
Re: Hit or Miss (12 replies, posted in Alpha to Omega - Review Group)
Sorry to hear about the semicolons. "They're not much used, so we won't use them," is a follower mentality that does not contribute to the wisdom of the crowd.
You might want to mention the dialog tag point in a more widely read group forum, for the benefit of people who want me to use more inventive tags 
.
1,014 2017-01-12 16:36:50
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
It's not that I want to ...
1,015 2017-01-11 15:37:48
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Time now to commit my prose, fragments and notes on The Rockpile to type. Putting it in order is probably four to six days work.
The chapter now called The Rockpile may become Seeming if the new stuff gets nesrly as long as I expect. Amy, I may out-wordcount your Catacombs jouney in one day of Merran's visit to The Academy.
1,016 2017-01-10 23:37:43
Re: Chicago Manual of Style (18 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I hope one day to be able to use that line!
1,017 2017-01-10 19:07:04
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
A loping Trollope
1,018 2017-01-10 18:12:48
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I take far too many words for description. Professor T. spent extravagently, but got his value. Even when I have a good idea, like the blood of stone, it drags for the reader.
We'll see what you think of the opening of The Rockpile, which won't go up in the next 36 hours. I keep getting all sorts of Very Good Ideas that need to be worked in to the parts already written, already sketched, and floating in my head.
amy s wrote:
You are writing an epic fantasy, with sundered fragments of worlds and patched dimensions. Melayne is gathering the power required to save a world. Merran's story is just beginning. ...
You say that adding description isn't your style. I cross my eyes. You parse your words. I point out that the best chapter you've written was the statues and monument to the Sundering. As far as I'm concerned, that is where Merran's story begins. That chapter was fucking GREAT.
Suck it up, buttercup. Your material is stronger with a mere couple more lines of description placed in the right couple of paragraphs.
Not everyone agrees with the GREAT, and you want more than a mere couple of lines. I, OTOH, am trying to get to my story, of which the elements listed are mere prelude, with the reader still following along. Heck, I'm trying to get to the prelude.
1,019 2017-01-10 12:40:46
Re: the kindle effect (19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Are they a scam because they don't do what the promise, or because they are unnecessary? If the latter, are there people who could benefit from them?
1,020 2017-01-10 04:22:26
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
The deer and the ant elope.
1,021 2017-01-10 04:19:19
Re: the kindle effect (19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Terrific link. You might send it to The Passive Guy.
1,022 2017-01-10 04:03:33
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
You could drop the 'r' in Chambers and start with Chi-a
1,023 2017-01-09 16:31:47
Re: New Writing Contest (107 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
The left-right line lies over the Tragic Vision line. Thomas Sowell has made a very strong case on the point. It also tracks the Plato/Aristotle split pretty closely. These are not new issues.
1,024 2017-01-09 15:30:43
Re: New Writing Contest (107 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Our society id highly polarizef now along the Rousseaen/Tragic split. The middle very badly frayed.
1,025 2017-01-09 14:51:00
Re: New Writing Contest (107 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Common sense does depend on your frame. If you believe in Rousseau's view of human nature, your commonsense solution to a human problem may be the exact opposite of what it would be if you took the tragic view of human nature.
Averaging 'go north' and 'go south' gets you exactly nowhere.
