I just got an email from Sol today and the solution he provided works. While on the editing screen and only able to see the maximize editor orange bar refresh with control and F5. I had previously tried the refresh data route but wasn't using the DOS method.
While it seems localized to me, if anyone runs into this there you go for the solution.
A couple days ago, I noticed I wasn't able to go in and edit my chapters. I just see the orange maximize editor bar option, but it's blank where the story text normally would be shown. I also can't get a reply box to respond to reviews.
I bet it's just me. Can someone try to go into their chapter and see if the editing function still works?
My procedure is - go to portfolio tab - expand chapters with the "+" sign then click on the chapter I want to edit. Worked before but no longer.
Hard for me to decide on a personal basis. All 3 covers are very good IMO. The Queen knighting the subject with the sword has that oil painting look so that comes off very well, but you might decide something with more action orientation is better. If I had to walk away and steal one cover for my own - it would be the first book. All the people, some in boats, the sunlight casting a ray across the waves up to the shoreline, the towers in the background. Someone went to town on making that cover 
The High Maga has the best impression of a supernatural battle going on of course.
Thank you, Matthew. I think you are actually on reciprocal reviews up to the very chapter that is driving me bonkers on the issue mentioned. My chapter 11 when I can finally generate the 28 1/2 points or so to post it - then you can hopefully read it and find out if you: 1. Read to the end without any comprehension issues, 2. Had to read it over again with the question in the mind coming up as "Huh?", 3. Aha, the 3 year old son he mentioned in his bio finally got a hold of a chapter because this sure wasn't written by Jube - is that a doodle I see?
I feel the same and thank you for the example. I've never felt there was a problem with 2 POV shifts as that many are fairly easy on the reading flow. I have heard in the past from some writers that say the traditional thinking is to use 1 scene through the entire chapter and never break to another scene although shifting the POVs within the same scene can be done. I feel in the end it boils down to is the reader confused or not confused? If not confused then green light. If confused, then rewrite time!
Hello everyone,
Thanks for the previous times for responding to my questions and such.
I'm looking to see if anyone knows of a novel where there is at least 1 chapter where 3 scenes with POV shifts occur. The 3 POV shifts would also need to demonstrate a time frame of the same day or within 24 hours of each other to the reader.
My chapter 6 is the only place where I had to use 3 POV changes and it seemed to go over well enough as there weren't reviewer complaints about it. But now, as much as I dislike to do so I have to do it again in my chapter 11. This time around, I feel for some reason I can't figure out it's not flowing well. If I can see a published example, or even someone on this site that has done this fairly well - it will help me self diagnose my perceived issue.
Anyone know where I can find a 3 within same day or 24 hours?
The scenes are too short to break into 3 chapters to fix it that way. I "could" break them in 3 and then fatten them up with new added content but then it may not come across as suspenseful.
Thank you Luke and Candy. I'll go ahead and present final thoughts on what the author can do to increase the suspense by adding a minor plot point to revolve the story around. I feel you are both correct where the author is painting herself into the corner of the room with the amount of narrative description and doesn't really have enough conflict to generate the needed suspense readers will be looking for.
The author has done a phenomenal job at line by line editing of my revisions in the past, so I wanted to treat her work as carefully as I would my own - I just couldn't find the missing ingredient(s).
I've been trying to help out a reciprocal reviewer (offsite) on a particular point for a couple of weeks now and so I thought it would be beneficial to turn to our small writing community on this forum for advice? What seems out of sight for me maybe easy to see for others
Also it's too quiet on this forum so :cool - *hands out tin foil hats labeled - made in the Bermuda Triangle - spinning compass not included*
Without going into much detail, the storyline in question involves a body switch to an alternate Earth that is almost identical but not quite evidenced by the technology that allowed such a swap to occur in the first place. Impacted genres are: fantasy, science fiction, and romance.
When I originally reviewed it, I critiqued it on the specifics and at a micro level not really at an overall big picture overview. After having reviewed the first 6 chapters I have come to agree with the author that the chapters are lacking something vital to catapault the reader to the next chapter. I'm stumped on what that is.
It's written in 1st person POV so with that comes the territory of a lot of self introspection and thoughts. The first chapter is IMO around 97% "fluff" with a decent hook at the end where the character falls unconscious to wake in world B. I will define "fluff" here as describing in detail the daily events: getting breakfast ready for spouse and kids, seeing kids off to school, cleaning up at home, etc. Chapter 1 was intended by the author to set the tone to the reader of a very ordinary day in an ordinary housewife's life. The author wants to go small potatoes and build up over time to larger events. If you are familiar with the idea of the snowflake writing format then you know there will be 3-4 large events that the entire novel is structured around as they build up to those points - I think that is what the author is trying for.
Chapter 2, 3, and 4 involve waking on world B in a different person's body and having to figure out what is going on etc. Chapters 4 and 5 also focus on home life in the new body with the family of the person swapped. On revisions the author incorporated feedback on playing up the WIM card (woe is me) and showing bouts of depression, self doubt, and longing for the "other" life on world A. While this helps, WIM can't carry the chapter interest alone. The author wants to set chapter 5 on fire and bury the ashes decrying it as "boring". Chapters 2-6 are running around 70% fluff, 20% WIM, and the remaining 10% suspense/danger of being discovered composition.
My ideas so far which have been refused to give you an idea of what not to suggest?
- An organization that brought MC to world B is now actively searching for her.
- MC runs away from "home" to go back to original home not knowing she is no longer on world A although she's seen some technological differences and is becoming suspicious (clocks that run on 24 points vs 12, cars with unheard of manufacturers, hospital used scanning technology clearly not anything seen before, etc.)
- switching POV for a chapter or 2 and show the "other" person's experience in the MC's body. The author is uncertain at this point if she wants a full A to B and B to A switch. Might go in the tragedy direction and other person ceases to exist.
The author's strengths: expert grammartician, detailed plot written out in advance with character designs included, writing is efficient and emphasis is on sense discription (sight, sound, smell mainly).
weaknesses: heavy on descriptions at times bordering but not quite into purple prose territory. Too much fluff writing, too caught up in the details and prefers slower pace. When I say slow I mean stand here and watch this leaf find enough wind to move across the lawn. Not quite a snail pace but not a quick walking pace either.
The only larger plot point the author revealed to me at this point for the future is - a good guy image boyfriend who in reality is a stalker-fiend character to be introduced in later chapters. I have a feeling this won't occur until chapter 10 or later.
Any ideas on what can be done to fix the issue? How much fluff should be allowable? Zero, 10%, 50%, have no idea? The author's chapters run 5-8k words on average. The prose description contributes significantly to this.
My worry is if not enough interest is derived before chapter 10 no one will care since they will have stopped reading.
Have you seen any writing that follows this pattern? If so, do you know how the author fixed it, if at all?
Are there any points that the author seem to you to be adamant on not incorporating that actually necessitate they do? In short, if I have to risk the author's wrath, and push back on what strategy or points do you think I should do this with?
I was working on my chapter 11 yesterday and nearing its completion when I realized "Gee, this sure resembles chapter 12 much more than Chapter 11 now that I look at it again."
So now it's time to start on the "real" chapter 11 from the beginning and the somewhat good news is I apparently have chapter 12 pretty much completed for the rough draft.
Anyone else wrote a chapter then in the end decided it was better somewhere else in the chapter chain?
While my plot outline, and character development worksheets have long been completed before I started writing the chapters they are still in general form so wouldn't narrow the lanes to where this couldn't happen.
I probably will want to hire her. I don't wear glasses but maybe I should because I really can't tell much difference if any between her covers and the established designers. Looking at her pre-made covers that one she has up for Portal Walkers looks pretty damn good. I wouldn't bet against a pro designer being able to pick out any differences but to a normal non designer like me - I can't see it. What I will bet on is anything she does is going to far surpass my current $5.00 cover
I may need to write in a scene somewhere just to get a good basis going for the cover
Nicholas, thank you for posting the information. Combining your excellent reviews, with helpful knowledge of having gone through these kind of growing pains already - I sure am glad you're on the fantasy genre side, and not say some other genre where we likely would not have run across you.
Ditto for me. When I had my last chapter ready to post - it showed I needed an ungodly amount of points to post to this forum so I skipped it and posted to premium and free groups.
I don't have a solid grasp of how the points are done on specific forums, but for myself I would hope none here get zero points for reviewing my chapters. Why? Since you need points to post your own work - bluntly speaking my chapters are worth a lot to review (with the good or bad read aspect aside). I"m peculiar in that respect, where I write lengthy chapters and my last posting is worth 6.25 points to reviewers so you can imagine the word count on it. I definitely don't want anyone on this forum to put in time for nothing in return. Is there a way to reduce the amount of points needed to post to this forum while retaining our current value when reviewed by members here? I mention this because I saw at least one forum where it said zero points to post and zero points gained by reviewing or something to that effect so that didn't appeal to me unless Sol was going to get rid of the point system all together which he won't as it's the incentive to get people to review.
If what I've said makes no sense, then it's a good thing I mentioned I have little know-how on how the points are adjusted for specific group forums.
Ok, it's time for me to "fess" up. I was actually looking a lot at Nicholas Andrews cover and your lady holding the sword Karin. Your publisher knows what they are doing with that cover for certain.
Well, for those of you doing reciprocal reviews on my novel in progress - if you are having a day in the dol-drums remember to look at my cover and say, "Oh yeah. $5.00!" A good hearty laugh can help you feel better so it will at least serve a purpose that way
No. I don't think so, HK. I mentioned the majority of writers are going to definitely notice if they get a glowing and flattering review - and as a consequence will think less. I do believe most writers look for a combination of a reviewer who points out - this is what is good, this is what is working, this is what isn't working, and this is how I would recommend you fix it. Just as getting a review that is 100% negative when no other review shows the same a 100% positive review not pointing out any areas of improvement will be met with skepticism.
Offering points vs hiring the reviewer vs gifting the reviewer all simply different wordage for the same action.
At least I take it I didn't unknowingly resurrect an already discussed issue? Well, as Sol said he's already been thinking about the idea so that's good enough for me.
I've only been on TNBW site 4-5 months now so I don't have the long term perspective of many who posted on this thread. Even so, I wonder about the following when it comes to the point system.
If the point system were modified to allow the author to "spend" points to "hire" specific members to review their chapters would their be any significant drawbacks that outweighed the benefits? Some of the benefits I could see is it would address repeated concerns mentioned by others. Hiring good reviewers has the overall effect of allowing them to gain points faster and other reviewers that do subpar (subjective to the author's POV to be sure) work will feel the pressure to elevate their review quality if they want to partake of more than just the minimum points set for a review.
One could argue I will lose points by "spending" them on specific reviewers this way so I will have to do more reviews to compensate. Again, that encourages me to do better reviews so that I too can be "hired" for more than the minimum points posted.
I think it's an idea that has some merit in addressing at least a few of the issues raised by Charles? So let's say Charles finds 2-3 reviewers he prefers for their style of reviews then he can offer his points to hire them. On the flip side, as his points quickly dwindle he either has to do more reviews than normal to replenish his point bucket (increasing the number of reviews overall which is the current goal of the system anyways) or he realizes he needs to put out reviews that get him hired. I know this is where you will be able to raise your hand and say, "This will create more of the friendly vs no nonsense reviews he is highlighting." That isn't going to happen. If you are good enough to write something with most of the basics checked off, you are good enough to realize when you see superficial flattery and won't spend your points to hire that reviewer again.
This also allows you to gather a higher concentration of the reviews you value more, doesn't it? If I have 4-7 reviews I paid points for of course I'm going to cherish and use those much more over the random reviews I received although you can still pick up a gem of a review that way too. The difference is the hiring method puts me in the expecting a good review seat rather than in the hoping for a good review seat.
I'm sure there are some cons to this idea as most ideas aren't perfect, but the question is are there any pros to it that will outweigh the cons by a large enough margin to make it attractive?
For all I know, someone who has been on this site for years has already brought this up and it's been looked at already and found wanting. If so, then I'm sorry I rehashed a dead issue.
Of course, if Sol says, "The programmers say this can't be reasonably implemented" then that's the end of it.
Speaking for myself, I'm going to keep that name in mind. I feel you already did the hard work of sifting through and finding the right kind of designer. It's also nice how you mentioned the particular issues involved with selecting a cover maker for fantasy versus say romance or other genre. Your covers were some of the ones I was referring to without mentioning names in my OP. I especially liked the one with the characters in the boat if I remember correctly. That portrait style was very eye catching. A solid point mentioned here is - hey Jube, you're working on chapter 11? So when you get near chapter 60 then start planning for it - which would be correct. I can see I will have plenty of holidays to try to get a holiday discount as I near the end of my book. The book cover I currently have I used a site that charged $5.00 to allow preset images to be pushed together into some sort of cover. So for those who would say - I reviewed your chapters and so far those ring things on your cover don't have anything to do with your storyline - well, I get what I paid for. Something one step up better than a blank red cover. I think the $200 - $250 price specials mentioned are a good deal considering how much more work they have to put in the design for a fantasy cover.
Maybe when the time comes I can start a post to see how many authors want to join in and do a bulk discount rate with Keith Andrews. It's a shame Sol the guy who runs this website doesn't create a small contact list of designers that will offer a good discount to TNBW authors - that would be an interesting idea. I think if he says, "Look, I have thousands of writers on my site what kind of discount can you offer if they use you for cover design?" that might bring a lot of negotiating clout to the table and it's something that as far as I know his competitors aren't doing.
I have a question that something tells me has been asked more than a few times in the past probably on the older TNBW site. If you don't mind replaying the answer for me - the question is about E book covers. When I review other authors on this site with novels in progress they sometimes already have a knock out gorgeous cover in place. The smattering of research I did on my own shows yes you too can get one for around $500 and up from a designer. Is that pretty much the only avenue to take and do the same? Or is there an option others are using you think that doesn't involve this cost or a lesser one?
Hmm, I believe I "get" what you are saying Luke J but as a reader I will not want your spin off authors to go to far off point from your original because we humans are built with a need for a certain amount of commonality to feel grounded. I had a mild point of contention on this with C Lee Brown when I was reviewing his well written series he is currently on (his elves don't stay within the lines as the great Joe Izuzu once said in a series of commercials). We who love to read and write fantasy may sometimes ask? Why do elves have to be natural woods crafty, evasive, and dead shots with a bow? Why do dwarves have to speak in a Scottish accent and are always great at metal crafting to bashing an enemy with a axe or hammer? Because after we read enough great works and subsequent ones that follow in that form it forms a commonality that we come to expect and feel comfortable with when reading. Even the great Tolkien based much of his work on the many myths he collected and studied from all over Europe so in that sense he too followed a sense of commonality. So distilling my blah blah blah down to what I'm trying to get at is this - I read your novel and think it's great (start getting some chapters posted so we can make this come true!) then you give writer John Doe permission to pen a spin off. The more I like your series the more likely I will dislike John Doe's spin off if he contradicts or moves too far off point of some of your more interesting features since that's disrupting my commonality framework I built from reading your novel if that makes any sense.
On a completely different note - I love this new site! Why? Because I finally got enough allocated space to post my continental map where my novel takes place. Guess it doesn't take much to make me happy
Yes, if other writers are going to be using the same world then the owner of said world would need to be making sure everyone is on the same page with the same descriptions and details involved. Dragonlance comes to mind. The World of Krynn, spawned a ton of writers who wrote spin offs within that world and so needed to communicate with each other and stay consistent to not just the descriptions of the world but the events as well that preceded and formed the history.
Hmm, well I'll throw in my 2 cents (copper removed). I've been studying Brandon Sanderson recently. He cited 2 well known authors one being Steven King who basically advises a style of just winging it on the fly and let the story write itself as you go without any significant pre planning. The other author recommended the exact opposite. I think where world building is concerned to me it's in the middle of those 2 arguments. One of the deadly sins of world building I didn't see mentioned but should (maybe I just missed it) is relevancy. I think it's going to waste a lot of time on the author's part to really detail and span out a ton of world building since it's highly likely the story itself will not utilize all the material. So back to Sanderson again, I just finished reading his very first published novel that got TOR publishing to notice him - Elantris. Most of the story takes place in 1 country and 1 city with dialogue references made throughout referring to the adversary country and 1 allied country. Only at the very end does the reader see the characters relocate to the other allied country and just for an ending to the novel there. His magic system looked like about 2 hours to create the symbols used in the story and he has a smattering of his fictional world languages involved. An extensive world builder would probably give him an F or D grade, but it works because his novel only utilizes that which he created out of necessity. Then on the other extreme of this end of the curve we have Tolkein, Robert Jordan and many others who built extensive maps, languages, cities with historical background information, etc. I'll hold to the belief - if you don't plan on having the reader or find as you are writing the reader will be seeing or hearing about it then don't bother building it. It can also be pointed out that the audience you are targeting dictates much to what you will be doing on world building. If you are for example, targeting Millieu admirers then an extensive world build will be needed since your story will be heavy on world description.
All I can say is I've found your reviews useful, PByrd. Actually with every review I've gotten there has been at least one golden nugget in them that made my story better by incorporating the feedback. I understand we will not agree with all points of a review, but it's hard to imagine not finding any of it useful unless it's one of those drive by reviews where they just want the points and say something very general to make the quota.
For the in line review - I've noticed sometimes I just simply run out of character space. I get this is the system telling me to learn to say more with less, but sometimes I just can't cram the elephant into the cracker jack box (did the elephant eat the contents first?). Well, the later versions will probably address this.
Hi SolN. I don't know if someone already suggested or heck if maybe it's already there as a feature and I just haven't learned of it yet. I saw something on a similar site for writers where they have a feature that allows you to "hire" specific members for a review. Could you implement something like that? So let's say I see a reviewer that the word around town is they are an army of one in how thorough and complete a review they give. I know it's unlikely they who are busy with so many reviews already are going to show up on my doorstep. Hence, I can offer them X points to come review me and tell them which chapter. I know you probably will say - hey that's what the message feature is for, but it's still just a message right? No consideration can be exchanged to compensate them for putting oneself at the top of their to do list? On the dark side, I don't think it's subject to abuse since the payer still has to use their own points even if they want to benefit someone solely for points and not the original intent. Well, if something like that is already there just point it out to me if you would? So far, I like the new site a lot. Sure, I don't yet know all the ins and outs, but the schemes, feel, and promise of ongoing enhancements is - great. Thank you for your hard work on the new site, SolN Ahem, any chance you might be willing to add a "thumbs up" emoton to the list? I like the idea of actually having a thumbs up instead of when I do reviews typing it out as - <thumbs up>
