Thanks, Jack. I wasn't aware of that.
2,952 2016-12-14 19:45:42
Re: Acts/ Dictates/ Mandates/ Mantle - Amy's Thread (1,905 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Thanks
2,953 2016-12-14 19:43:22
Re: promoting (28 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
What's the point of having a publsher if you have to pay your own promotions? Is the author talking about self-publishing through sites like Amazon?
2,954 2016-12-14 07:51:29
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Does anyone have an opinion of the name flesh eater? Since it's my last major draft of book one, I want to revisit a few names. Flesh eater is one word too long in my opinion. If you're going to have a colloquial name for a weapon, I think it would be short, like oozie. I could introduce it as flesh eater, but then refer to it as an eater from then on. Meh. That brought up the idea of heater, which could be a recycled weapon name from Earth's past. Also, light toaster and deep fryer shorten nicely to toaster (you're toast!) and fryer (fry them!). Crisper is also good. For some reason, I like that one a lot.
Thoughts?
2,955 2016-12-14 05:42:49
Re: Acts/ Dictates/ Mandates/ Mantle - Amy's Thread (1,905 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Deep POV question: should I be trying eliminate all references to 'his mother' and 'his father' in favor of just 'Mother' and 'Father'? It reads very weird to me. Less so in chapter two, when Joseph is just four and thinks of them as Mommy and Daddy.
2,956 2016-12-14 05:37:48
Re: The Sorcerer's Progress (1,528 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I almost wet myself when the redheaded Bilbo popped up.
2,957 2016-12-14 00:19:45
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
constitutional democracy
For now ....
2,958 2016-12-14 00:18:48
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
misterindirect
2,959 2016-12-14 00:17:56
Re: Imperial vs. imperial (5 replies, posted in Writing Tips & Site Help)
Imperials is an odd duck. I originally capitalized all occurences of Imperial based on your observation that it is like Canadian, which made sense. However, I found that inconsistent with every other resource I looked at for usage of imperial. Since Imperials is short for imperial forces, I went with lowercase for that, too. For now. :-)
2,960 2016-12-14 00:12:15
Re: Imperial vs. imperial (5 replies, posted in Writing Tips & Site Help)
Thanks, Janet. I lowercased perimeter because there is one per palace on Earth, so there is more than just one. Based on a bit of research, emblem is lowercase even though Coat of Arms is capitalized (at least in Britain). As a result, I went with imperial palace (lowercase) for consistency, but will name the palace as you suggest.
As for imperial family, I went lowercase. Otherwise I would end up with caps on Imperial Family but lowercase on imperator, which is wrong. I don't want to capitalize imperator since that causes a cascade of other inconsistencies. It looks weird to me to put royal family and imperial family lowercase (ditto for imperator), but I'm sure I'll get used to it. If not, I'll be back. :-)
Thanks for your help.
2,961 2016-12-13 23:52:04
Re: How to write OD'd (1 replies, posted in Writing Tips & Site Help)
How would you write overdosed if you used OD? would it be OD'd or ODed?
I'd use OD'd.
2,962 2016-12-13 20:50:46
Re: Acts/ Dictates/ Mandates/ Mantle - Amy's Thread (1,905 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
If it helps, here's mine: Not even the End of Act 1 of v3 of Book 1 of 5.
Donkey droppings!
2,963 2016-12-13 20:48:29
Re: Acts/ Dictates/ Mandates/ Mantle - Amy's Thread (1,905 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
The End of Act 1 of Book 1 of 5.
Oh poo!
2,964 2016-12-13 14:19:17
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
USA! USA! USA!
2,965 2016-12-12 19:51:51
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
I disagree about Deux ex Machina. Computers can already perform facial recognition. I could easily see future guns being manufactured so they can't kill heads of state, unarmed children, police, etc. (e.g., guns would have to be updated regularly, like GPS maps, in order for them to keep working; the updates determine who can't be shot at).
Kdot, there's virtually no way she could have stopped all four from entering. It would have gone very quickly and they were all armored. She would have tried to stall them until reinforcements could get there, and would have pumped them for information in the meantime. Firing is necessary only when Cain physically attacks them.
I like disarming them remotely. It's a nice surprise for the reader and a key element to the scene and the actions that follow. I just need to reduce the risk associated with them trying to kill Joseph (e.g., What if the remote disarming failed?). She should be firing as soon as he was being targeted.
2,966 2016-12-12 06:00:33
Re: The Galaxy Tales - Dirk B. (1,217 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Opinions, please (as if I could stop you).
You may recall that in the chapter entitled the Shadow of Death, the royal palace is attacked and the royal family is taken hostage. There is s scene where the ringleader, Cain, orders his son to kill Joseph, but he refuses to do it. Cain then pulls the trigger himself, but nothing happens. He grabs his son's gun and tries to fire. Again nothing. The queen (a regent in v3) reveals the big secret that the intruders' guns were automatically disabled when they entered the palace. She then reveals the only working weapon, a basic blaster, as opposed to the intruders' assault rifles. Cain charges her, Joseph jumps in, gets beat up, the queen eventually fires at Cain, saving the day.
I took a lot of heat from several people because she waited until Joseph had been "shot at" twice before revealing why the weapons failed. My rationale was that, even though she had the only working weapon, the royal family was outnumbered (4 to 3) and the intruders all wore body armor. There's no way she could have taken them all down with a blaster before they charged, which could have easily given them control of the blaster. She was stalling, waiting for reinforcements.
I've reworked the scene somewhat, but it's still largely as described above, perhaps with better explanations of her motives and a more powerful hidden weapon (a rifle).
Given the above rationale, is the delay in firing reasonable? Basically, the queen waits until there is no other choice.
Thoughts?
2,967 2016-12-11 23:44:53
Re: Hello (6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Welcome, Jack. Your posting in the right place. Can you tell us what you write about? Also, is it a book, short stories, poems, etc.? Some of the site's groups have withered, but we can probably steer you to the most appropriate ones depending on your interests.
2,968 2016-12-11 21:13:07
Re: Acts/ Dictates/ Mandates/ Mantle - Amy's Thread (1,905 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Are you calling Dirk an AI, or does that jave to be capitalized?
I prefer Sage. Be sure to capitalize it. I am not a herb.
2,969 2016-12-11 18:56:55
Re: POV character's "view" of others (8 replies, posted in Writing Tips & Site Help)
Ann provided some creative examples that reduce the repetiveness of my examples. Those are handy, regardless of how deep the POV. I'm trying to apply some of the basic principles of deep POV as I write (fewer saw, heard, felt, thought, etc.). But, it has its own rules to follow and is not something you can perfect overnight.
2,970 2016-12-11 16:07:43
Re: POV character's "view" of others (8 replies, posted in Writing Tips & Site Help)
Thanks, Ann. Your examples are great. I'll play with it some more to see how best to apply them.
Charles, I think you're referring to deep POV. I looked at writing the story that way, but wasn't comfortable with it. I found it too limiting, perhaps because I'm not familiar with it.
2,971 2016-12-11 07:19:16
Re: Acts/ Dictates/ Mandates/ Mantle - Amy's Thread (1,905 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)
Yaks? Aww, thems just hairy cows. Up here you need to put a polar bear over your feet if you want to keep from freezing your yaks off.
2,972 2016-12-11 06:32:44
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Gay machos.
2,973 2016-12-11 02:09:00
Re: POV character's "view" of others (8 replies, posted in Writing Tips & Site Help)
Thanks, Ann.
Below is a representative sample. FYI, Rosary is a robot maid, but is considered a "she" rather than an "it" by Joseph. Moses is the palace AI system. This is all from Joseph's POV.
Miss Rosary appeared in the doorway and addressed Joseph's mother. “May I be of assistance, Your Majesty?”
Joseph’s mother waved impatiently and said, “Rosary, get in here! Keep out of the way.”
Rosary did as instructed. As she cleared the room’s entrance, Joseph’s mother spoke into the air. “Moses, secure the doorway!”
As you can see that's a lot of "Joseph's mother", sometimes 2-3 per paragraph where there are three females about, so using she or her doesn't always work. The scene moves so fast, there is no real way for Joseph to transition from his mother to regent and back. I tried to use the words "Joseph's mother" and regent to serve as the transitions themselves, but I can't get it consistent.
Here's another:
Joseph's mother nodded. “Then may God be with all of you, Alicia.” She hesitated, then spoke into the air again. “All right, Moses, close it up.”
The reference to Joseph's mother as "she" in the third sentence is probably technically correct, but in my opinion causes confusion between Alicia and Joseph's mother.
The alternative is:
Joseph's mother nodded. “Then may God be with all of you, Alicia.” Joseph's mother hesitated, then spoke into the air again. “All right, Moses, close it up.”
Too repetitive?
2,974 2016-12-11 00:14:03
Topic: POV character's "view" of others (8 replies, posted in Writing Tips & Site Help)
I have a POV character named Joseph who is together with his mother, Mary, who is the royal regent of the planet New Bethlehem. Normally, Joseph thinks of her primarily as his mother, not Mary or regent. However, in the middle of an attempted coup, Joseph's mother is very active in the scene (she gives orders, acts, reacts, etc.). I can't keep calling her "Joseph's mother" as it becomes very repetitive in the scene, even within individual paragraphs. Is there any reason I should avoid calling her Mary or regent as well, thereby reducing the repetitiveness? I find this issue comes up frequently, and I'm often told to choose one way that the POV character thinks about someone and stick with it.
I'm curious how others handle this in their own writing.
Thanks.
2,975 2016-12-10 02:28:38
Re: Imperial vs. imperial (5 replies, posted in Writing Tips & Site Help)
Thanks, Charles. Very helpful.
I'm treating Imperial Fleet like US Navy, hence caps.
I'm rethinking Imperial Perimiter. It's a no-fly zone. I may drop the caps for consistency with palace, family, and emblem.
Colosseum was a typo and refers to the one in Rome, hence caps.
I settled on imperials instead of Imperials, since it's really just short for imperial forces.
I think I'm set (until next time). :-)
Thanks.
Dirk