551

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

KHippolite wrote:

If H is the one with the problem, nothing stands in Matthew and Catherine's way to get married. They'd meet, fall in love and marry

You make it sound like there's only this one speed bump for the length of the story.

Or are more obstacles on the way?

The bad guy/guys are still around K wink

552

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

njc wrote:

Why not just have H. sterile, reasons unknown?

Because it would make for a very short novel. If H is the one with the problem, nothing stands in Matthew and Catherine's way to get married. They'd meet, fall in love and marry. It also makes C one-dimensional. Her struggle is around loving children and thinking she can't have children. Then also falling for M and thinking she can't marry him (he needs a male heir).

And having H fertile and then magically sterile when he marries C is possible due to age, but I'm not sure readers will accept that so easily. Or would they? I like easy ...

553

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

I could decrease the number of times they had (almost) intercourse i.e. only have him visit her for a few months/a few times and then stop because he can't get things going. My understanding is with ED it's a combination of not being able to do it to being able to do it, but not maintain anything, so he could still have 'almost' raped her (best I have is consensual rape given theirs was an arranged marriage). Amy is probably best to confirm this. I can also make it less painful or less borderline 'forced intercourse', i.e. instead of focusing on the physical aspects, shift it to the emotional aspect.

Will see what I can do next revision around. The important part is pretty much that everyone thinks Catherine can't conceive while she actually can. Otherwise, poor Humphrey (as if he hasn't suffered enough already) can always bust a nut. Or two.

554

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

E.D. due to a combination of age and booze. *sigh* Don't fear, Janet TP gave me a great idea to make it even more obvious. Matthew will be questioning/pondering it a little bit later for the ones that need less subtlety. wink Sorry Matthew.

K, not a bad idea. It's wrong, but a useful one for a bad guy one day.

So is the ruptured testicle, Amy. (You guys are GOOD to come up with ways to inflict pain on our characters!!!). Would've been a great one to use, but if I have trouble making ED obvious, there is no way on earth I'd be able to explain that. How would the old wives from the village pick that up .... mmmm, taps finger thinking about that one for a while ... "Oh dear heavens, my poor sir, your right testicle is three times the size it was just yesterday. You busted that one bad! Scissors!" *snip-snip* And then he's not only sterile, but probably dead too, if not from blood loss, infection. Yeah, those were tough times!

Ernie, if it's an in-line review, don't go back to the chapter you were reviewing. Instead, go to 'New Inline-Review Replies' on your home-page page under your profile pic or select 'Reviews' on the menu under your name in the upper right corner, and then select the 'In-line Posted' tab. There you will see all saved in-line reviews indicated with a red << Draft In-Line Review >> note/comment. If you select 'View' next to the applicable saved review, the saved review should be there. Note, that only in-line comments are saved. As far as I know, the closing comments don't.

Also, if you want to review previous chapters, depending on the browser you're using, I'd suggest opening another TNBW page in a separate tab and open the older chapters in the new tab. That way, you have both the chapter you're reviewing and the older one you're referring to open at the same time without having to find your review again.

Hope this helps!
Janet

556

(4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Janet Taylor-Perry wrote:

All of a sudden, I'm having ads pop up on our wonderful site. Please tell me we are not allowing ads.

Premium members are not supposed to see any ads. This looks like a Sol problem, so maybe contact him directly?

amy s wrote:

Will repost for points if you want

No need for me, I write slow enough that points will never matter. smile

amy s wrote:

OK, your corrections have been added to the Jaylene analysis at the end of the last chapter. I added better lighting, description of the teeth, the mar backstory, and bundled (fainted-snicker) Tazar on a stretcher. I kept the last line as a hook.

Janet, I like the idea of Alda using the tail as a joke, but the timing wasn't right. I can't put jokes there without messing with the tension.

Anybody have any thoughts about my improvised stretcher? I'm terribly proud of that one…

Fully agree - not the time to be funny, it would destroy the tension of the hook especially. A better time for Alda to shine is when there are no more threats left and Tazar hasn't been hurt seriously. So keep that one in your back pocket - if you can use it, I'd be tickled pink. If not, so be it, also good.

I'm about to do some reviews again - will check out the updated version too! smile

559

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

amy s wrote:

Janet, the other thing I use in my book is candle marks. There are candles in my world that people burn marked with even points throughout the day The candle burns past that point and I consider it to be an hour. So three candle marks would be three hours.

Candles have also been used for sure. I should use all this cool lingo! Thanks Amy! smile

560

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

KHippolite wrote:

PS: You don't need to keep pace with Victorious... I plan on posting something quite different this summer. With luck we'll be all equalized in reviews by then. Victorious is complete, however, So at least the chapter-count can't grow on you

Let me know if there is any romancy parts - I'll check those out for you. Okay, and now I'm curious as hell to see what you have planned next. I'll get writing then, to equalize the reviews as much as possible. wink

561

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

KHippolite wrote:

Licks of the candle flame
Strums of the harp

This is pretty good - the Borderers were/are poetic, more so than anything else.
Thanks K!

562

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

amy s wrote:

Personally, I replaced my time measurement with 'moments' instead of seconds. There isn't really a minute measurement in my world, so I paced time by how many footsteps that people took until they reached a place.

Since there is a Christian presence in your world, have the local church tower call the hour for mass. That way, the faithful count time by when the service starts and end working in the fields when the bells chime at sunset for evening prayer. The bells would act as a reliable clock for people to time their lives and meals.

Another thing is the placement of the sun. High noon, afternoon, sunrise, sunset, dusk, evening. Time used to be easy to keep track of back then. Ex: The cooks would fire the ovens and bake the day's bread. People wake at sunrise or when they smell the cooking. Stomachs rank the passing of time, indicating when the character needs to be fed.

"I'll meet you at the stables after the evening bells ring"

"Be ready to mount up and ride at dusk"

"I'll be ready to meet after the morning bread is done."

Does this help?

Moments, steps. That could work.

They did live by the bell, so to speak, but for most, 2.30pm and 9.00am and so on existed, so I don't have the same problem with hours, or even half hours or quarter hours.

And I have to say it again - that is a really great hook!

amy s wrote:

I think the female would be larger, pissed, and in a hunting mood. If this was a lone male, then maybe there isn't another one of them laying in wait. That was the thought at the time, at least.

Like the idea of having a horn or ridge plate on their nose. That could be nice distinguishing feature.

A

Alda would totes like to lift the tail to find out, me thinks. So maybe reconsider the body falling down the abyss and have the head go that way! Only for Jaylene to tell Alda the sex is determined from the horn on the nose. LOL

But yeah, if you explain why a male or a female would be crucial, let the body fly and with it any way of them telling it's sex. That's "good tension". We don't need to know if a male or a female is going to appear (or not appear), we just need to understand the gravity of knowing (or not knowing in this case) the slain beast's sex.

Hope this make sense! smile

565

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

Okay, good people. I have a challenge! (or maybe not at the rate you lot can come up with brilliant suggestions and ideas).

In any case, from what I could gather, clocks existed in the 16th century, but at best indicated hours, half hours and quarter hours, so no minutes and seconds. But I find myself mostly needing to refer to minutes and seconds. grrrrr

The best I have is, heartbeats for seconds, but I can only use it so many times and then it doesn't work anymore.

So, what other alternatives can you suggest to indicate seconds and minutes? You will have my eternal heartfelt gratitude if you can help a co-writer out with this one!

Thanks!
Janet

amy s wrote:

Question one: I have 17 whole days off where I don't have to leave the house, bathe, or get out of bed.

Janet, I like the idea of a 'strength' moment being treated like a power moment. Will clarify that Mar mate for life, hunt by scent, the priests and Tazar have either tracked through the blood or are wearing the blood of the mate, and Mar have been known to stalk prey for days.

The creature is a reactor. It hunts anything that smells of Behira. It can also use a magic similar to the rings in Tazar's prison. It can subtly control priests. Contact with Mar are typically disastrous. Yet Tazar knew something was wrong.

I'll correct the story to throw a bone. Great point.

Lucky you! Enjoy the time off!!!

I actually got that bit with Taz-man feeling the rings from the prison again and that's from the creature i.e. got the bone, chewed the bone, *chomp-chomp* smile

But why does it matter whether it's female or male? Isn't it good enough to know no there's a mate that's going to hunt them down? Or does the gender of the mate doing the hunting matter and why?

Just questions I have, so that when you throw me  that bone, it's juicy enough, okay? smile

amy s wrote:

Oh, they can't look under the tail because I threw half the body into the abyss below the waterfall.

Sh#t! True, I forgot about that 'minor' detail. Glad you remember! LOL So next question - do they need to look under the tail or could there be other differences to tell? Say for example, males have a horn on their nose. I'm not sure, but maybe it could make your life easier throwing bones at readers. wink

568

(520 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

njc wrote:
Elisheva Free wrote:

It's 9:30PM for me, but if it wasn't my day off, I'd be leaving work in half an hour. smile
Darnit, Janet. I need to catch up on reviews!
-Elisheva

Me too!  I've got four I really need to do, and another seven or eight if I want to catch up. sad

Sounds like you're working table service hours.

I'm slowly catching up on reviews. Amy, done. njc, done. K absolved me from Victorious reviews until he had reviewed NS. (although I still would like to keep up with Victorious, I just don't have the time for everything I'd need to do and like to do). sad Elisheva, next. smile

amy s wrote:

will answer that 'spell' for Tazar in the next chapter. I have most of it figured out. Three more shifts and then I have 17 nights off on a row. Time for some me time. After that, it's back to the coal mines.

Sounds nice! Enjoy!!!!

amy s wrote:

OK, I figured out what was missing from the last posted chapter of Dictates. 300 new words added. Found my hook :-)

Here is my complete review - the one that's with the chapter was again cut short for no @#$&% apparent reason. Thank the Lady for "click to go back to the previous page* to recover more than half of your missing review. grrrrrrr

Mother protect us. Look at those teeth!
-- She describes everything in detail except the teeth, the teeth that really made her scared ... I'd also like to be clued in what they look like, throw me a bone please? Make me scared too?

Where is the light coming from? Is it more light now that the mist is gone? Maybe want to make clear, here or where Taz-man starts to see before he faints.

*snickers* I know Tazar didn't "faint" *snickers again* - when I start to give you/Taz witty crap like this, it means I like you lot, so it's a good thing, promise! smile

There was a bright blue strip running between (the) holes for the ears.
-- think it reads better/clearer with the additional 'the' YMMV

Mar. This is a mar. How in the Three Hells did Tazar know this thing was near?
-- Okay, so it was pretty special for Taz to have picked it up, but why? Because it's never been done before? Because it can't be done? Why haven't it been done before or why can't it be done? Like the teeth, I'd like to know why it's special - I might actually like Taz more, borderline impressed even, you never know, but if you can make readers more impressed with your characters, don't let the opportunity pass by i.e. don't underplay an incredible feat ever - you make me think of my performance reviews at work smile

Jaylene fought to keep panic out of her voice. “Valharic! Did you see if this thing was male or female?”
-- Did you see? Or 'can' you see? *subtle difference* The thing is still there - if Valharic hasn't noticed it yet, I'm sure a plan can be made since the thing is, you know, still there .... Lift the tail and, I don't know, check it out?

If you agree, then, the "No. Why?" should also change to something like "No. Why? Should I look?"

Next issue, and this is a biggy.

Clearly Valharic, as the reader, is on a 'need-to-know' basis and we do not need to know why the gender of this thing is important ... alrighty then, we're building a stretcher. <------ not good, Ms Amy. Why isn't Jaylene answering a simple question while I'm building a stretcher?

Good tension makes me ask questions I know I'll get answered as I read on. Where is the mate? is good tension, no, actually, brilliant tension. I will not put this damn book down before I know where is the mate! I"m chewing my nails. But why is the sex of this thing important? I can guess the answer, but why do I need to guess when a simple sentence can tell me straight off the bat what the underlying danger is from someone that KNOWS. (I'm guessing the male or female is bigger and stronger and we're looking at a female or male here ... but I'm guessing stuff that I really shouldn't be left guessing especially when it's a quick thing to fix/sort out). And added to that, a bit later on, why is it important that this thing give live birth and doesn't lay eggs? And why is laying eggs more dangerous than live births? What can those eggs do that a baby can't? *scratches my head* <---- not a good thing

This in my humble opinion is bad tension. It leaves me confused, uninformed and with questions I don't understand why it can't be answered right now? It was important enough to be raised right now, so why can't it be answered right now? It make me feel a little bit cheated by the author after reading through this chapter only to be left with questions that can be answered without too much effort - it's not good tension, it's a cheap shot withholding information for the sake of withholding information to artificially up the tension - but it isn't, it's leaving readers frustrated, not worried. That isn't something you want, I think.

I understand they need to move and get the stretcher built, but I don't understand WHY? Give me a bone, a small bone, please? And I'll go away. smile

Other than this, that is a great hook! Yeap, you found it. I wish I can end chapters like that!!! sad

571

(354 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

Passports can be arranged. *cough-cough*

572

(354 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

Elisheva Free wrote:

It won't necessarily be explained to the readers, but I want to make sure I have it laid out for myself. I also want to put the date on the top of the Human PoV chapters (cause Dragons really don't care what day it is), so it needs to make sense if (delete anyone) K decides to actually analyze the dates, etc.

-Elisheva

I fixed a small error in your post! wink LOL

But other than that, it would seem you came up with a pretty good idea! Go for it, is my vote. smile

Linda Lee wrote:

Charles, your frustration is warranted. It's something all of us have been through, especially when we were newer to the site. The point system is far from perfect, and most of us, myself included, have fought valiantly over the years to get Sol to consider tweaks. I carried that torch around for years. Loudly contributing to the discussion every time it came up. But as time went by, my priorities shifted. When it happened, the point system, with or without flaw, became a distant undercurrent. I don't know if it will happen for you, but I hope so because it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

It was simple: I finally recognized that the spirit of this workshop site is to invest in helping each another improve our writing. How that process is packaged matters little when you begin to see how it translates: The more time invested, the more significant the fruits. For me, the time invested equaled a drastic improvement in my writing skills. And not only that, but as I grew as a writer, my earnest desire to give back grew exponentially with it. And so did my points......which I could give a fiddlers fart about by that time. 

As a former torch carrier, the last thing I'd want to do is put a damper on your enthusiasm to suggest improvements. But if I could take back the time I invested in such things, I would. This is why I chose to comment, and probably why pretty much everyone commenting on this thread keeps bringing up the value of relationship building.

This is so well said Linda. I think we all understand where Charles is coming from - I have to admit I thought about it a few times as well. But I also think that no system (carrot or stick) would be able to change people's intentions - so if someone only wants points for the minimum inputs, there are ways around any system - with sufficient motivation and dedication any system can be 'optimised'.

This is not saying we should never try to suggest improvements, but we should also remember who has the final say - Sol. So if he's happy with the way the system is working, then I don't think a 100 page thread will ever change his mind. I think Charles was trying to achieve a few things based on his comments - one, to suggest a change, but also, and this is something that I think could be easily missed, to find out what others thought or experienced. Nothing wrong with that.

IMO.

574

(7 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Janet Taylor-Perry wrote:

Had a Book Talk event today at the Ridgeland Library. My short program became almost non-existent. An accident at Hwy 51 & Lake Harbour and this (below). No wonder I had a total of 4 people. One came early and had to leave (Lottie Boggan), and thus missed the madness. Two others got there and we suddenly heard all manner of emergency vehicles( Rob Finney--who should have stayed home!!! and Sam Perry--yes, my youngest came to support me). Then, one last person (Alana Harrigill) showed up as I was packing up, saying she had to drive around the world to get to my event.
I have confidence in my local police department to catch this vile person. These two incidents took place within a quarter of a mile and 2 miles of where I was safely ensconced right next door to the police station.

http://wjtv.com/2015/11/19/missouri-bus … ridgeland/

BTW, the accident was a hit and run from shoplifters at the mall 2 miles up the road. The shooter at the other incident went into Jackson and shot and killed a lady. He was caught. 2 of the folks in the hit and run were caught and one still on the loose.

But even in all this chaos, I sold a book--Whatever It Takes. Right this second, I'm happy to be safe at home.

Looks like it has been a bad day for a few people. Glad you are safe though, that's the important bit.

575

(354 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic &amp; Sci-Fi)

Elisheva Free wrote:

I've been playing with calendars (Wheee!) and I'd like an opinion (or twelve).

So, the days are named by the moons and suns (sun-days being equivalent of our weekend while moon-days are work days, for nobility at least) like this:

(Suns)
Ixult's Day
Ceul's Day
(Moons)
Ateir's Day
Keusoh's Day
Yoph's Day
Raith's Day

Essentially, weeks are numbered. For instance, Ixult's Day in the second week of the month is called "Second Ixult's Day". (Yay! Simplicity!) There are fourteen in each month. The "months" themselves are actually seasons, so there's only four and they follow in line with the Elementalist religion. I followed some Wiccan guides for these (Yes, I do research on occasion):

Fire Season (Summer)
Water Season (Autumn)
Earth Season (Winter)
Air Season (Spring)

Then comes the year (cycle). Since nobility are the ones who will be truly paying attention to the calendar, I'm naming the cycles by the noble house currently on the throne. Prior to the Empire, they went like this:

Twenty-Sixth Cycle of House Rosenward

At the beginning of the book, it looks like this:

Sixteenth Cycle of The Empire

The Empire isn't half bad, but the full House cycle names are quite the mouthful, so I was thinking of the slang term being "Rosenward's Twenty-Sixth". In conclusion, this would be the full name of a particular date:

Third Ceul's Day, Fire Season, Sixteenth Cycle of The Empire

So my questions are: A) Does it make sense? B) Any loopholes? and C) General opinion before I dive in and change all my chapters? (Which I totally haven't done already. big_smile )

-Elisheva

A) It makes sense to me
B) Not that I can see - the shorter year compared to "earth" is easy enough to handle since you have 'seasons' and not months
C) How are you going to explain this to your readers? Or won't it be like super important to know the specifics?

Not sure this is helping, but I try. smile