426 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(21 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Thanks, Rhiannon. I can't imagine how I would manage a time travel novel. The paradoxes (paradoxii?) would drive me insane. Well, not actually drive, it would be a short putt.

I am finding bug after bug in the desktop editor/writing software I bought from ProWritingAid. It seems like every day I am bitten by yet another hole in their programming. I wouldn't mind it so much except I've been programming for over 50 years and it really grinds my gears to see such terrible programming. I am pretty sure that when my year is up, I won't be renewing.

The latest bug was a doozy. I spotted it today. If I edit in their desktop editor and replace, say, one word with three words, it looks good in the editor window, but when I save the file, all three words are run together. I can almost hear the editor shrugging it's shoulders and saying: "Hey, what you typed replaced that word didn't it?"

Bill

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427 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(21 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I read some of them also. And didn't find a one I'd buy. A couple I might read, but not buy. Maybe it is because of the seeming glut of publishers nowadays. I can't believe I've submitted to 50 of them. With the advent of "the Cloud", anyone with a couple of computers to rub together can form a publishing house.

Bill

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428 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(21 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Yesterday, I sent a chat message on Facebook to the publisher. Their response today was that they happened to be working on submissions when mine popped up in the email Inbox. They read the synopsis and decided it didn't fit what they were looking for.

I thought that was darn decent of them to give me a personal response. When I get other novels ready, I'll definitely submit to them again. They could have remained faceless and aloof, but they didn't.

Bill

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429 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(21 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Marilyn Johnson wrote:

Has anyone else here sent anything to this publisher?  How did it go?

Good question. Anyone else?

Bill

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430 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(21 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

corra wrote:

I wonder if they have some kind of screening software that scans for key words. Example: "sparkly vampires." They know they don't want books about that, so they auto-reject any emails/queries containing the words "sparkly vampires."

{I'm not implying you wrote about sparkly vampires.} smile

Maybe you wrote on a topic that doesn't interest them for some reason, & the auto-scanner caught it.

This is what I'm thinking, Corra. The response came back about as fast as it takes to load up a 750KB DOC file and scan for given words. Nine minutes from input to reply has to be non-human.

One of the requirements had me put the genre and sub-genre in both the query letter and the name of the DOC file. That could have been the key that rejected it. Maybe they are full up with "Romance" and "Adventure" or "Romantic adventure".

Bill

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431 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(21 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

dagnee wrote:

Bill,
I went to the Fiery Seas site and after reading a ton of requirements I found this sentence:

Failure to follow these guidelines will result in unread submissions.

There were a lot of requirements, and it would be easy to over look one. Perhaps you should check your manuscript and see if you failed to follow one of their guidelines, because 9 minutes is just enough time to look something over for guideline omissions.

smile

I printed out the requirements page and went over each one. I spent over two hours reformatting to their requirements. I sent in the query, received the auto-acknowledgement and then 9 minutes later received what I suspect was an automatic reply as there was no personal note, nor was it "signed" by anyone - no name.

I would also have to assume (which is probably not a good thing) that if I'd violated one of their requirements for submission, the rejection would have stated that. Instead, it was one of those "don't fit our requirements at this time" responses. In fact, it was nearly word-for-word the same thing I received from five other publishers. They probably use the same screening software.

Bill

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432 Topic by B Douglas Slack

(21 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I lay an immediate claim to the world's fastest rejection in the history of submissions.

I submitted my novel to Fiery Seas Publishing at 18:22 this evening. At 18:22 I received a confirmation email. At 18:31 I received a rejection notice.

That's NINE minutes from submission to rejection. I challenge anyone to beat that.

BIll

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433 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

That's what I thought also, but going back to the chapter, and choosing inline review should give me back my blue highlights, but they don't appear. MJ's instructions got me to the right place. Sort of around O'Leary's barn though.

Bill

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434 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Ah. That did help, MJ. Actually, I think that a new "button category" at the top of our home page -- or another droppdown menu item -- would be "Draft Reviews". A single-button click to get where we need to be. I've left behind a few draft reviews because I couldn't figure out the chain to get to them. It isn't really intuitive.

Bill

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435 Topic by B Douglas Slack

(4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I've started an in-line review with about 10 comments. How the devil do I get back to it. I can see it marked as a "draft", but there doesn't seem to be any way to get my remarks back. No blue highlights appear in the draft.

Bill

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436 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(6 replies, posted in The Aurora Mission)

Okay. That works for me, Karen. I see I have more reviewing to do. I'll get on that tomorrow morning.

Bill

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437 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(2 replies, posted in The Aurora Mission)

One method that I've seen is to use the first sentence Tina and Matt speak into the comms unit. Then enter a scene break (I use * * *) and echo the same exact sentence, but have Reese react to it on Aurora.

You could also leave the planet scene right at the ringing of the phone and then have something like:

Aboard Aurora, Reese slapped the answer button before his comm unit could ring a second time. "Yes, Delana...Oh. Tina, Matt. Where's Delana?"

Bill

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438 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(8 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Initially, I went to my settings and verified the box was checked to receive notifications - it was checked. Then I went to the list of connections and verified they were all set to receive also. They were. My ISP isn't filtering any of my emails as I went to them in a chat window last year and told them I didn't want anything filtered as my email client would do that. They removed their initial filters. I now receive spam as well as valid emails, but still nothing from one writer in particular. Sol, among those emails you saw, were there any from Mikira? She's been putting up chapters and I'm not getting notifications when she does it. That's one that I am particularly interested in receiving.

Bill

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439 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(6 replies, posted in The Aurora Mission)

Ah, that answers that question. I seem to remember that the shuttle took off after dropping them on the surface. And, yes, I do remember the guns.

If nosy animals happen to have cold blood, then infrared sensors won't help. If they are warm-blodded they could be in the temperature range of humans and thus won't trigger the alarm either. Unless the security is a dome, covering the entire camp, then some of those flying furry things can jump from tree to tree and go over the security fence.  All kinds of ways to circumvent security that won't harm the story.

Bill

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440 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(2 replies, posted in The Aurora Mission)

I understand, Karen. And, you're right. It's your novel and you can write it any way you wish. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here and maybe voicing what could be running through a reader's mind. When Delana came down with the toxic mushroom malady, the first thing I thought of was: "Why didn't they use gloves?" Even if they did, it is still possible that when she reached down, a blade of grass or a twig could have ripped the glove without her knowing it. She still goes through the treatment, but she was following protocol - just bad luck. And when they decided to add local plants to their diet, I thought of my old Boy Scout training that told us to slip a bit of suspected food under your watchband for 6 hours. If it raises a blister or causes a red spot don't eat it. I doubt I would jump right in and make mashed tubers and gravy a day after one of the party went sick on me.

Bill

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441 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(8 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

If unchecked, then all notifications would stop, not just some of them.

Bill

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442 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(8 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Well, that's the problem, Janet. I get notifications for some, but not all of my connections. I used to get all of them, but lately some have stopped for some reason. Not sure why that's happening.

Sol, If you are around, is there something you can do?

Bill

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443 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(6 replies, posted in The Aurora Mission)

Another thought. In earlier chapters, there was a shuttle. Is this shuttle parked at the camp? If it is, why couldn't that lift off and fly over the area they are exploring for real-time imaging and general search. That way, you would have charts/maps created for the on-ground troops to follow. They'd know where various trails lead and the like. Of course, spots where trees overhang the trail make it difficult, so that's why infrared is a good thing.

The 'temples" are in a clearing, so a shuttle flyover would have picked that up immediately.

Bill

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444 Topic by B Douglas Slack

(2 replies, posted in The Aurora Mission)

You've established that their comms are FTL (faster than light) boosted by relay satellites. This is a good procedure, but it begs (in my mind) why this can't be applied to objects as well as radio waves. Or, soes Aurora use a modified version of FTL drive to get from here to there without taking a lifetime?

Down on the planet, I'm surprised that the explorers don't carry personal comms units. Even if they are line-of-sight, they would still be functional over a wide range of terrain. These units would have loads of other uses: timing lengths people are gone from camp, intervals between events, etc. Personal units would even be handy in camp from tent to tent.

One single person should not be the holder of important codes such as contacting the mother ship. Too many things can (and did) happen. If each person is given a different code, then Reese, sitting in Aurora, could identify immediately who is calling.

Another problem with ground to Aurora comms: if the planet is turned away from Aurora, how can they establish a circuit? Did Aurora set out a satellite ring in orbit before departing? I don't remember.

Bill

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445 Topic by B Douglas Slack

(1 replies, posted in The Aurora Mission)

This subject has been at the back of my mind for some time now. They are in a binary system (two suns), but there isn't much detail as to what type of system this is. Is one sun bigger than the other? Is one a yellow sun like Sol, and the other a white dwarf? What? DO they rotate around one another, or do they rotate around a fixed point in space.

Is the planetary orbit arranged in such a way as they two suns are additive and eclipse regularly? If they do, then the "day" can get bright/dim periodically. And, speaking of day, how long is the local day? Do the explorers have special watches that can be set to compensate for the length of the local day? Does a "sunset" consist of both setting at the same time?

Are there more than one planet in the system? If there is, maybe you could explain to the reader in a short paragraph that the next one closer to the suns is too dang hot, and the next one outboard is a frozen ball of ice similar to the this Earth is turning in to.

If you could give me an idea of what the system consists of, i might be able to rough up a great "picture window" view from Aurora as it orbits the planet. By the way, what IS the name of the new planet? I forget.

Bill

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446 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(6 replies, posted in The Aurora Mission)

That can definitely be a problem, Karen. Admittedly, my own procedures would have kept the drama from the exploration and bore the readers. Still, a minimum of security is a good thing.

But, site security is one thing - personal security is another. If you were to set out some sort of warning fences (laser/infrared/etc) that can simply warble "something's coming", then that doesn't impact any single person. By personal, I mean things like making sure that they carry a firearm even if it is packed in a backpack (not very useful there in a hurry, I agree). Heck, even pepper spray sometimes works on bears.

Bill

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447 Topic by B Douglas Slack

(8 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Is there some way to renew the receiving of notifications for posts by connected writers? I seem to have stopped getting them from several persons, when I should be getting them (and have in the past).

Does "disconnecting" and "reconnecting" work? or is that even possible?

Bill

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448 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Welcome, David. We have a fine group of writers here who are willing to help.

Bill

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449 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I tried that, but it never completed loading. When I finally gave up, most of the comments hadn't populated yet either. There is something wrong here, but I can't put my finger on it.

Bill

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450 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(19 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I am still being plagued with extended delays. This manifests itself especially when reviewing my own in-line comments on another author's chapter. I click on the blue highlight and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. According to my traffic monitor, a query for display has been sent to tNBW, but nothing is received. If I wait long enough, it times out. Even though I hate Internet Exploder, this behavior is still present if I use that as a test. Something is either not fielding the request at the site, or that response is being dropped on the floor. Most times, I can finally view my comment if I close and re-open the comment repeatedly -- or click another comment and then go back to the original one.

Bill

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