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From Reddit:
Q: How bad are '-ing' verbs?
A: They're so bad every published novel by popular authors is filled with them.

Awesome idea (if I do say so myself): rather than have Connor make up and show what he's seeing of Christ to the other members of the tour group, I'm going to change it so that the visions are real and Connor is merely showing what he truly sees. I can even switch scenes briefly to put Connor there, meaning a quick jump to the past. Connor will be in the historic scene, pretty much as he describes Christ addressing him across time, but the visions will not show Connor in the past, just that he is there and God is talking to him.

Hopefully, I can come up with things for Christ and Connor to say that have double meanings: to the others in the tour group, it'll reinforce they're growing belief of Connor as Christ (or at least won't give away that Connor is the Antichrist); only Connor knows that the words are intended for the Antichrist. Of course, God could give away Connor's real identity at any time, but He agreed up front not to do so.

I'll have to write up all these interactions up front to ensure it can actually be done in some way. It should be similar to the way Phanuel answers the questions of the group about why Antonio's noble deeds (eg saving Connor from the caracal at the baptism site) aren't really noble. Instead, Phanuel says Connor probably would not have been harmed by the caracal. He also says great deeds await you. Instead, I could put that in the message from Christ at each stop.

Welcome to the site, Betsie. I'd suggest joining the Writing Tips & Site Help group as well, where you can ask whatever questions you may have as you try to familiarize yourself with the site, and someone is sure to answer. If your request is urgent, or you want to maximize the number of eyes that see it, feel free to post directly to the Premium forum. That's one of its common uses, and is generally the fastest way to get help.

Since you're probably still in your trial phase, trying to see if the site is worthwhile, here are a few tips for you:

- Be sure to post your chapters to Premium in addition to any other groups that you think are appropriate for the written piece (you must be a member of a group to post your writing to it). The Premium group requires points to post in, but that ensures everyone on the site will see it on their home page. Also, it's where the most experienced writers usually look for posted new work to review. Those are the folks whose eyes you really want on your writing.

- The best way to get reviews is to give reviews. Go to your home page and dive in. The longer the piece, the more points it pays.

- Be sure to thank those who review your work in a timely manner, and reciprocate by reviewing their work in return, unless you really just can't stand their stories. It happens, but then let them know it's not something you normally read. However, trading reviews is how to build your network of reciprocating writers (and friends) and gather points to post your own work. Even if points weren't required, you would still need to reciprocate to get other writers to continue to review your work (they need feedback too). And reading their work, even if outside your favorite genres, generally makes you a better writer by having you study the writings of other authors, a number of whom on this site are already published and very experienced.

- The site forums tend to be fairly quiet, although I personally use the Fantasy/Magic & Sci-fi forum for brainstorming with other writers about my works in progress. You may notice that there aren't a lot of posts after 2019. That was the result of a major server crash (the backup disks went down with it), which required our site admin to restore the site all the way back to 2019. Everything (posted works and forum discussions) dated from late 2023 onward is new. Our admin says he put new procedures in place to avoid a repeat.

- Some of the site's veterans have been here over a decade, myself included. While it's a small site, the caliber of the reviewers ranges from quite good to excellent. If, after the trial period, you're still unsure of whether to set up shop here, I'd suggest trying the monthly plan until you're certain one way or another.

- The Quickee communication feature on this site is rather confusing (new members almost always send themselves Quickees at least once, rather than to the person they intended). Still, it's the only way to communicate with someone until you've sent them a connection request (and they've accepted), or they've sent you one. Most members use connection requests and the private messaging feature. Quickees are public, by the way, so anyone can see what's written there. You can delete Quickees sent to you.

That's all I can think of for now.

Welcome and please let us know if you have any questions.
Dirk

Create New Work is probably better than add, start, or new. When it's a smaller work (short story, poem, essay, article, etc.), you essentially create it and you're done. For a book, you create it and then can come back later to add more chapters (via the action buttons).

Oops. You were responding while I was updating above.
A few more that yours bring to mind are "The Road (or Path) to Heaven" or "The Highway (or Expressway) to New Jerusalem".
Shylock might be an odd duck since he converts to Christianity at the end of the play, where followers of the movement think they already are Christians.

I'm still leaning toward Mammonists for Christ. It's the perfect contradiction/assertion for the obliviously rich to make.

George, having thought about it some more, I'm open to changing the name of the Greedy Gospel if it'll make you happy. However, I would appreciate your assistance in coming up with a new name for both the Greedy Gospel (GG) and the Libertarian Church. The name for the Greedy Gospel would hopefully reflect the fact that it was created by the stinking rich for the stinking rich, and ideally be something derogatory (a name that others called it by (eg, the Stinking Rich for Christ, but better).

The new name for the Libertarian Church should be "sexier", meaning, ideally, it should reflect the fact that extreme Republicans/conservatives/stinking rich dreamed up the Church for their own benefit. Also, when a reader first sees the name, their reaction should be either "weird" or "funny," or both.

George, while the idea for the name of the Greedy Gospel was based on the stereotypical portrayal of the Prosperity Gospel, I've intentionally avoided any mention or comparison to the Prosperity Gospel. The name Greedy Gospel is mentioned once as a historical movement followed by billionaires and trillionaires, who feel they're paying too much in taxes. The Bezos Islands are a tax haven for people like Bezos, Musk, and Trump. The Church on New Bethlehem and the Republican attitudes of the citizens are a future extension of capitalism and Republicanism run amok.

Since I needed a religion for the planet, I went with Protestantism, yet the closest I come to making such a connection is to say that the citizens revere the King James Bible, which gave me an opening to take all biblical quotes in the book from that public domain Bible. I also have Church "Elders", the most prominent of whom is Elder Amos, who turns out to be a traitor. The fact that he's an elder is not an attack on Mormonism nor on any denomination that happens to wear purple frocks with white collars (there is one, but I forget which).

If you look back at my post above (from 04:46:45), I'm looking for a sexier name for the modern Church on New Bethlehem. I want a slightly better name than Libertarian Church, which, by the way, is also the name of an existing Christian denomination (Libertarian Christianity), who might be as offended of my using that name as you are about my using the term Greedy Gospel.

My ideas come from modern/contemporary elements of our society, which I then change to futurize them and/or to minimize comparisons to anything I'm not trying to satirize. I intentionally avoided comparisons to the Prosperity Gospel because you objected to whatever name I had previously, which led me to the idea of a branch of Christianity founded by the stinking rich as a self-serving denomination. And I mention that that denomination didn't get created until some time in the future to further separate it from Libertarian Christianity and the Prosperity Gospel.

Another example: the execution of Andrew (a 14-year-old) came from my discovery that the US once executed a young teenager (14, I believe) and sentenced another to death at age 12, although the latter was 19 when actually killed. Might some Americans be offended that my idea for Andrew originated with two events that happened in America in the 1950s/60s? Sure, because you don't execute minors anymore, but that happens to be where my idea for him came from. Even though I never mention those two executions, I nevertheless am commenting indirectly on the American justice system, which is much harsher than that of most Western countries.

I also changed the nationality of the unethical woman (Dr. Anne Narky) who invented the faulty Congo-2071 vaccine to Canadian because I didn't want it to seem like I was only picking on Americans. I also have a world in the book based on the Soviet Union/Russia, which some Russians might find offensive, yet I never mention Russia or the Soviet Union. I have a world based on Mayan civilization, which modern residents of some Latin American and South American countries might find offensive because they're descended from the Mayans.

My creation of the Greedy Gospel, the Bezos Islands, the Libertarian Church, the reference to Elonus the Socialist, and (soon) Trumpism all originated to steer clear of the Prosperity Gospel by instead tying it to extreme capitalism. I've spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to name things so as to avoid offending my reviewers, which really isn't what I should be doing given that the book is intended, in part, to be social/cultural commentary on modern society.

Hope that helps.

On steroids.

I'm looking for alternative names for the Libertarian Church on New Bethlehem, which is an outgrowth of billionaires practicing the Greedy Gospel on the Bezos Islands. While its origins are fine, I want a better name for it in the future. It's too bland. Needs to be more spicy.

One possibility is to somehow tie the Church to Trump and/or capitalism. These are capitalist extremists; survival of the fittest! The Church of Trump? I figure since Elon and Bezos are mentioned in the story, why not Trump? If I do that, I'll have to work in their fear of stolen elections.

I'm also open to a Church name that clearly reflects their capitalist views. Definitely not your father's Christianity.
Residents of New Bethlehem could be called bootstrappers by others in the Sovereign Stars, a derogatory term for their mindset (i.e., you're on your own).

Depends on how much has oozed away. Since they're animating a dead body to begin with, I would think the loss of facial skin wouldn't matter. I guess it should putrify as it slides off the face. Anybody know what color putrified skin is? Snot green might work.

LMAO! That's hilarious. I don't plan to remove them all. I started on it earlier today and, so far, I've kept about 1/3 of them. It only applies to -ing verbs, of course, not to other -ing words. If the un-ing version reads like cacas, I'll leave it until some mythical future publisher tells me otherwise. Even if I intended to sell the book through a publisher, I have no idea when I'll continue the cleanup beyond act one. I decided to get on with v2 of Connor Book 1 around early July. I only have so many years left to live, and I'd like finish the Connor trilogy before I drop dead, at which point anything I've published will change to a Creative Commons CC BY license. People can do anything they want with the publications at that point as long as I'm credited for the original work. And not credited for the derivative crap.   The only way that plan would change is if the work is ridiculously successful before I keel over, in which case I still have no idea who to leave it to.

Cool thing. I was looking for an old sci-fi book online I'd read about 40 years ago, but I didn't remember the title, author, most of the plot, nor the names of any of the characters. There's a subreddit called Whatsthatbook where you provide as much information as you remember (e.g., when I read it, anything about the plot, anything about the book blurb and cover, etc.). My information about the story was limited, and my memory of some of the plot was half wrong, yet someone figured it out: Secret of the Lost Race by Andre Norton. I don't know why I thought of this book last night, but I remember enjoying reading it. Fortunately, used copies are still available on Amazon.