And a (hic) happy new year.
2,476 2017-12-30 05:14:21
Re: Acts/ Dictates/ Mandates/ Mantle - Amy's Thread (1,905 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
2,477 2017-12-30 05:10:37
Re: Attention NEW Members: Before You Post (11 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
A handful of us set up shop in the Medieval group so we can help each other flesh out ideas, or just chat. Each person creates a single running forum thread for their book(s) that the others read and respond to. Simultaneously, we review each other's chapters. Two of us are actually writing science fiction, but since Medieval is where most of my reviewers hang out, that's where I put my thread.
My next book is going to be a supernatural thriller, but the group for that has zero posts in the forum since the site went live, so I'll probably just continue with a thread in Medieval.
Naturally, when it comes time to post chapters, I include them in Premium and Science Fiction as well. I have a couple of long term readers who don't hang out in the forums.
If I need help beyond what our little clique can provide, I ask in the Premium forum.
This is not really how the site/groups were meant to be used, but it's an acceptable workaround.
2,478 2017-12-29 23:24:44
Re: Readers' poll (32 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I just voted for all of the above. Good luck to you all.
2,479 2017-12-27 06:27:56
Re: -40 degrees in Calgary with wind chill (5 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I can't recall if Disney is going to release The Last Jedi on Netflix or limit it to their own upcoming streaming service. I know future Star Wars films will no longer run on Netflix. Just what I need. Every entertainment company charging $10 a month for streaming. I have enough monthly expenses paying for Wi-Fi, Netflix, and Spotify.
K, is there a service in Canada like Amazon Video that allows you to rent videos for a few days and stream them? I don't mind paying $4 occasionally to see a film that I don't want to own.
2,480 2017-12-27 03:58:11
Topic: -40 degrees in Calgary with wind chill (5 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
That's 72 degrees below the freezing temperature of water! Reminds me of that Star Trek episode where the away team was freezing to death on a planet and the transporters were out of commission. A few dozen episodes later it turns out the Enterprise carries a shuttlecraft. That's the kind of error that would turn Star Wars fans rabid. Fortunately, they're currently busy despising The Last Jedi. It rates worse than the prequel trilogy, but will still easily top $1B before everyone realizes it sucks and stops going. And then J.J. Abrams, who never saw a movie franchise he didn't want to reboot, will destroy the final episode in the new trilogy.
2,481 2017-12-25 00:21:15
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Just bought my sixth ($%?&*!) book on Revelation. The first was Protestant and I need a Catholic interpretation. The second gives four major viewpoints for interpreting Revelation, but is too generic (neither entirely Catholic or Protestant). The next two are Catholic, but are incomplete and confusing. Book number five is also Catholic, is beautifully written and researched, but comes at Revelation from a less common point of view (i.e., that most of Revelation was already fulfilled in the 1st century after Christ's death and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Only events surrounding the Second Coming are left to be fulfilled. Unfortunately, many Catholic scholars think this point of view, while not incorrect, isn't mainstream. Finally (last try), I bought another highly rated book that I'm going to read over Christmas. It's no wonder there is mostly Protestant information about Revelation on the internet. Catholics can't agree on a particular interpretation. Anyway, my new novel will be based on either book five or the new one, if it's any good.
2,482 2017-12-22 04:05:17
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Pfft to y'all Americans. Or as Trump would spell it: Amerikansky.
2,483 2017-12-18 21:33:10
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
amy s wrote:Meesa thinkin youza is crazy for likin Jar-Jar
I was ok with Jar Jar's speech patterns, however I found he brought excessive levity to the story. I mean the story already has tons of comedy (eg the chain of bigger fish eating each other) and here you have a main who can't sell your serious scenes.
He's like WWE Wrestler Doink the Clown who gets occasional matches to lighten the mood in longer events. But imagine you're stuck with this clown in every match. No matter how desperate or dire the match-- or emotional the foe, there's this clown standing there in the background.
Queen Aussie?
2,484 2017-12-17 13:36:49
Re: Hope you're sitting down (if you still remember me!) (36 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Aussie! Welcome back. As promised, you are a mass murdering robot in my book. You run Acme, Inc., a firm founded by the Professor that holds a monopoly on all tech manufacturing, including a coconut powered time machine.
However, for various reasons, I've decided not to publish the book until after I write and publish a totally different story about the rise of the Antichrist within the Catholic Church. The book summary for it is on the last page of my thread.
2,485 2017-12-16 03:19:46
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I never watched it thinking the Gungans are CGI. I still don't get what's wrong with his accent. Yoda couldn't get his word order right, yet no one complained.
2,486 2017-12-15 23:58:56
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Some of the fans say that Snoke in The Last Jedi is worse than Jar Jar. Personally, I liked Jar Jar.
2,487 2017-12-15 21:27:52
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Just read a whole bunch of comments from die-hard Star Wars fans about the new movie. Many despise the film. Yet the critics love it. After reading some of the spoilers, I'm with the fans. Makes me think my sci-fi story is actually pretty good. Nevertheless, I'm going to stick with my original plan not to publish it until after my next story is done. Working title for the new story is Saving Connor. I wanted to call it Rise of the Antichrist, but that title is taken, more than once.
2,488 2017-12-14 02:57:18
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
The research is going to require many long months, especially since I can't keep anything in my head. I had to buy five books just to find two decent Catholic interpretations of Revelation, and even they don't agree.
2,489 2017-12-11 04:05:48
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
That's quite a vacation. I'm glad you had a nice time.
2,490 2017-12-11 03:46:36
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Draft Book Summary:
Living in a Catholic orphanage in Rome, fourteen-year-old Connor has special gifts. He comforts the grieving, heals the sick, and casts out demons from the possessed. As the Church struggles to understand his supernatural abilities and reconcile them with accepted doctrine, priests, bishops, and cardinals in Rome are dying at an alarming rate, either by accident, suicide, or murder. Soon the Pope’s Council of Cardinal Advisors concludes the Church is being stalked by the Antichrist, and Connor becomes his main target. The Council must move swiftly to save Connor, who may be the Church’s long-awaited Christ returned in the flesh. What follows is a desperate struggle between good and evil that could decide the fate of Christendom and all of humanity with it.
2,491 2017-12-11 03:31:17
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Thanks, Amy, but I decided to punt on the idea of setting it in the future. Too much effort just to try and justify why the Antichrist is going after the Catholic Church. It's the Mother Church. No greater reason needed. The Omen series totally ignored 95% of Revelation. I can skip a few signs of the Second Coming, especially since no one seems to agree on which are real signs and what they mean.
However, I'm considering including a female detective in the Gendarmerie Corps of Vatican City State who investigates a series of disappearances and murders among priests, bishops, and cardinals in and around Vatican City, which is a sign of the Antichrist at work. How does Detective Amy Ess sound? There're actually only 130 people in the Corps, and, knowing the Catholic Church, they're probably all men, but what the hell. I want at least one major female character in the book. There will also be a possessed reverend mother, but she will probably only appear in one chapter.
2,492 2017-12-11 00:34:45
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Just finished The Exorcist (40th anniversary edition). Meh. Medically and religiously speaking, it's incredibly well researched, but the Father Karras character (a Jesuit psychiatrist) treats phenomena like mind-reading and telekinesis as facts of modern science, ruling them out as signs of Regan's possession. I'm glad those elements were left out of the movie. The prologue was a mess and the first few chapters didn't draw me in at all. The book was written in omniscient POV, with quite a bit of telling, and overuse of flashbacks. I don't mind omniscient if it's well done (e.g., Dune), but in this book, the author, William Peter Blatty, headhopped like a ping pong ball, including describing things that happen when no one is present to see them. Also, a heavy focus on excrement, vomit, and obscene masturbation involving Regan that took me out of the story. Nevertheless, none of the above got in the way of him selling 13 million copies, so what do I know? I got some useful research out of it, although I prefer the prequel, Exorcist: The Beginning, written by another author.
Now back to researching the Book of Revelation. I now have five books on interpreting Revelation, three of them written by Catholic theologians, and they all disagree wildly about the prophecies. One of the Catholic authors cites quack science about the ability of the U.S. government to use EMF-emitting technology to control our thoughts.
2,493 2017-12-10 23:33:04
Re: The "was" wars and "was" addiction (30 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Nice, Temple! Thank you.
2,494 2017-12-10 22:05:02
Re: The "was" wars and "was" addiction (30 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Here's the most difficult example of was/were I came across as I wrote my current book. There are a total of six:
Seven year old Apollo Julius Caesar III sat in the game room of the Imperial Palace on Earth with his half-brothers, Caligula, Romulus, and Remus. Caligula was a year older. Romulus and Remus, twins, were a year younger. Although Caligula was the eldest, it was Apollo who was Heir to the Imperium Romanum since he was the only child of the Emperor and Empress. The other children were illegitimate sons of the Emperor.
With the help of njc and Janet Reid, we got it down to three:
Seven-year-old Apollo Julius Caesar III sat in the game room of the Imperial Palace on Earth with his half-brothers. Caligula was a year older, and the twins, Romulus and Remus, a year younger. As the only child of the Emperor and Empress, Apollo was sole Heir to the Imperium Romanum. His brothers were illegitimate sons of the Emperor.
2,495 2017-12-01 04:52:49
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Manufactured by Acme, Inc. and delivered to your door by Mama's Little Shipping.
2,496 2017-12-01 02:14:26
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Chapter 28, King of the Salves, is up. It's a cleaned up version of the same chapter from v2, including suggested edits from reviewers. I also rewrote the opening to make it more from Joseph's POV, rather than that of a neutral narrator. Given that the temperature reaches up to 50 degrees Celsius due to the Warming, I got rid of the convertible taxis. The cabs are fusion-powered, so there's plenty of energy to keep the cabs running and the air conditioners going. Leonardo's cab is specially equipped, since he's the Crazed Cabbie, and can eject its roof. The aero-hunters are open-air vehicles to begin with, since the guards need to be able to stand up in them and shoot at those they're pursuing.
Quick, go read!
Dirk
2,497 2017-12-01 02:12:25
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Thanks, Amy. Somehow I missed your post above from two weeks ago. Posting the research to Facebook is an interesting idea. I've joined a bunch of writing groups, but have yet to join any Catholic groups. If I post on my timeline, do the groups see it?
2,498 2017-11-22 22:56:23
Re: Editor/Writer from Vancouver, BC (6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Welcome. Here is a quote from a post my Marilyn Johnson that you may find useful: The one thing I would suggest is when you post your first chapter or story or poem, make sure to post it in a group that pays points to the reviewer, like the Premium group. If you're not a member of it yet, may I suggest you join that one before you post. You will get more reviewers if they get points for their review, which they will use to post their next piece.
2,499 2017-11-11 17:35:03
Re: Best books on how to write? (17 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Thank you, all.
2,500 2017-11-11 08:06:42
Topic: Best books on how to write? (17 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Can someone please recommend top books that they recommend for how to write. I've got a few, but none that I'd recommend, except for real beginners.
Thanks
Dirk