Who cares ...
Editors, proofers, and publishers care, Temple. Ever since typesetting left the manual stage, where two spaces were used to make the gaps clearer. Now, two spaces is considered wasteful of space and writers are asked to eliminate them and go for a single space.
Word can be set to flag (or not flag) the use of two spaces in the Options settings.
Bill
Thanks, Sol. If I allow my web site to gather many unnecessary files, the fees will escalate rapidly. I go through and prune files once every month. I just took a look at my back messages. I had 24 pages just in the Received queue. It would be double that if you included the Sent queue. I can pare them down to just three pages, and maybe not even that much. That's a heck of a lot of storage saved.
Bill
Outstanding, Rachel! Hope there will be many more.
Bill
Like you, I have found trying to delete old messages 10 at a time is terribly tedious, not to mention unnecessary. The little check box at the top left which is SUPPOSED to check all the messages on a page actually checks every one of them, BUT hitting the delete button will NOT work. I was told long ago that the only way to mass delete messages was ten at a time--no more. This is crazy.
I do agree with Vern, but having all those stacked up only costs Sol money in storage fees. The 'delete all on the page' function should be fixed.
Bill
Interesting concept, Randy. Have seen very few book trailers. Maybe they'll catch on.
Bill
The first viral movie I ever saw was "The Andromeda Strain". Not quite what's happening now, but close enough. We're staying in as much as we can. Only ventured out three times in the last three weeks (prescription pickup, food, food). Both of us are in the process of watching every season of The Big Bang Theory (we have them all). Now in the middle of the third season.
Bill
My pleasure, Max. It was a great read. I used to be Tom Oldman, but I've changed my account name to reflect my real name, and the name I used to publish my two novels. I self-published, though, after I reached 50 rejects. LOL.
Bill
Username is "Reynold". I've blocked that user, but they need to be removed.
Bill
Hoppy Hallidays to everyone. Haven't been on the site much. I'm a little out of touch with things here.
Bill
And the same from me and my family. Just the two of us this year. The others are far away. In the case of one daughter in Boulder, CO, they're up to 18 inches of snow and still falling.
Bill
Oh my. Hope you're feeling better soon, Marilyn.
Bill
When you made your first posting of the item, you should have chosen "book". That way, any additional postings would be made into a chapter. You can go back to the first post and change the publishing information to reflect "book", then begin adding other posts as chapters and deactivating those posts as you go. I am not sure if you will have to use points to do so though.
Bill
... image removed ...
And, what's your problem with this, pray tell?
Bill
Good idea, Sol. How about making a contest that requires points to enter and not money? I have a feeling that a lot of aspiring authors would like to enter a contest, but simply don't have the money. A payout of points would be the prize. If you tie a percentage of the amount of entry points to the prize, then the more that enter would raise the payout amount.
Bill
One trend I've noticed is that new users leave the site right after their trial period is up. I've lost count of the number of users I've tried to get up to speed only to have them disappear days later. I've always thought that the trial period is too short for such a complex site. Perhaps it could be lengthened to a month? It's not like someone is going to use the site in that month to write and publish a novel without eventually having to pay to continue to workshop here. Let's give them the full tour.
Now, that's something I can get behind. The trial period is pretty short. When I first joined, it took me at least a month of heavy posting to get reviews that did some good. Within that month, I spent a lot of time editing and replacing chapters after a critical review. Boost the trial period. And, while we're at it, perhaps some method could be found to "loan" points to some deserving soul who is just too timid to give a meaningful (if any) review to an old hand. Once they build points of their own, the "loan" could be repaid.
Bill
Now that you mention it, I see the trend you pointed out. Over the years I have posted quite a few stories/novels here and had two of them go on to be published, giving credit where credit was due on the Acknowledgements page to those who helped greatly in the success. Beginning early this spring, the level of readership/reviews did seem to drop off. I must include myself as a glaring example of this phenomena however. I've been a total sloth in reviewing as much as I had before. Instead, I find all sorts of excuses to keep from logging in and commenting/reviewing. For that I apologize. I like your phrase "drive-by comments" as it accurately describes many of those I have seen on other's posts.
I have been involved in an ongoing personal health and family struggle, but can now see the light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel. In the past nine months or so I've hardly touched pen to paper, so to speak, and my work on my latest novel, a sequel, has suffered. I hope I will get my act together, overcome my massive writer's block, and continue as before: reading, reviewing, chatting in a forum, and generally returning to this site much more often than I have been lately.
Bill
I am so sorry to hear of this. I loved every one of her stories she posted here. She was such a big help guiding me through my first novel.
Bill
W. E. B. Griffin, an author I greatly admire, tends to add detailed descriptions in certain places if it is pertinent to the story. He does tend to overuse naming the persons involved in a conversation or otherwise engaged in some activity in the story. For instance, he might have a conversation between Lieutenant General Archibald Frogerty Millhouse and Brigadier General Randolph George Whateverhisnameis. He will introduce them at the beginning of the conversation and then use their full names and titles every third or fourth exchange. This, in my opinion, is way over the top. he does this in most every novel he's written.
As for other descriptions, he might start with a rather vague scan of the immediate area, then add more details as the chapter continues and the characters react to surroundings.
I tend to add too much detail and stage direction. I've tried to watch this, and have set "traps" in my writing software to help catch these bits of "fluff".
Bill
I agree with the last suggestion. So many times I've clicked to comment and begun typing, only to find that my keystrokes are going to Windows or some other application and not TNBW's edit frame.
Bill
You might give this a try. I've used it before.
https://rollforfantasy.com/tools/solar- … reator.php
Granted that this assumes only one sun, but what if your populated planet was only under the influence of ONE sun at a time? You specify a figure 8 orbit. Why not have it under gravity well of Sun A then cross to Sun B in mid-season. it would make for interesting effects on the planet in question, that's for sure. (Tides that swoosh from east to west and back; rotation speeds up or slows depending on which of the suns it is nearest (changes length of day/night cycles; creates animals impervious to diurnal cycles, or migratory cycles; etc.)
I can help with other details if you wish.
The site above is part of a fabulous site. Extremely useful in every way. https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/
Bill
Wow. That's interesting.
Bill
First, let me say this: Don't get old. It tends to make you forgetful.
Before I left for my vacation to Colorado in the middle of June, I set up Thunderbird (email application) on my server downstairs which runs 24/7. I programmed TBird to gather emails from several sites (TNBW included) and, based on text in the body of the email, file them away for action when I got back.
Needless to say, I'd forgotten I'd done this and have been sitting here for six weeks wondering why TNBW was so silent except for an occasional notification from an author I hadn't programmed into TBird. This morning, I did some routine maintenance on my server and discovered what I'd done. I am red-faced as all get out for not reviewing 31 notification emails. Something I will undertake at once to rectify.
Sorry.
Bill
I have wondered why there isn't a method to do this for a couple of years, Gacela. I wish there was, but there isn't.
Bill
Sorry to hear this, Alan. Best wishes to you and the rest of your family.
Bill
The Search function is nearly useless. I've searched for known authors many times and come up as "No Match" when I know for sure they do exist. Sometimes you can find them by using a partial match. In your case, try "ill" or "Wi" or even "H." and look at the suggestions offered.
Bill
