posted
I am of course an aspiring writer, (clearly as it says in my profile.) and from time to time will require some help. The help I need is very basic; I wish more some advice on my book.
My book contains magic and characters somewhere along the lines of the Lord of the Rings, however much darker. I need to know the names for several characters that I am having trouble thinking of.
The head character is a half-elven bastard princess born to the dethroned elven queen, and the mortal king. She's very erratic, intelligent, and beautiful, as well as severely insane. (However the fact that she is insane gradually develops over the course of the story, so it is inconsequential for the time being.
I was thinking something along the lines of Audilae, which is my friend's name, but it would be weird to use it. Audilae means "bringer of light" and also "lucifer." So I appreciate its dark quality. Any ideas about that would help.
There is a dwarf who is the other major character, who is essentially your idea of any cliched hero; heroic, handsome, and smart, which a bit of a sick sense of humor and a dark side. He dies in the end (at the hand of another major character, of course), and is virtually the only "normal" one in the book. He's the rightful heir to the dwarven throne, but he isn't the prince; he's the king's fifteenth cousin twice removed. The entire king's house was slaughtered in a massacre so he's the last living heir, and is the son of a rat catcher.
And finally there is the "Fire Lord". (A "Lord, in my book, is a magical creature who can develop from any race except orcs, that rules over an element and sole purpose is to claim souls.) He is a High Elf, more specifically a race of elf that was shunned after its leaders turned to occult Dark Magick. His mother and father were killed in a fire set by his brother, and he eventually finds out that he was actually a bastard by his mother's mortuary assistant. (His parents lived and ran in a funeral home.) He is severely and clinically insane, depressed, and dangerous, and is the love interest of the elven princess. He's also very big, as he's part giant, 7' and over 300 pounds, with long waist-length flaming red hair.
I gave you such detailed descriptions of the characters so perhaps you could help me figure out their names, and also if you could tell me if you feel these are interesting characters, if they need work, etc. Iff it seems too cliche or doesn't make much sense, I'd like to hear about it. The plot of the story is unimportant as right now i'm trying to figure out their names first off, so I can begin the book. (Thank you.)
posted
Mudblood and Blood Elf may not be trademarked, but there is a huge weight of existing culture behind them. Enough that you don't want to use them.
quote:perhaps you could help me figure out their names
I'm not going to do your homework for you.
BUT-- what kinds of things are important to these people? Sometimes, cultures name their members according to what is valued by the culture.
You can also take existing names-- for example, Evan. Change up some vowels, add some consonants: Ovan, Yovin, Thor Von Egglestein.
Naming characters is easy. Royal characters get more names-- William Bright Eyes, Son Of the Gloriously Endowed and Puissant Dragon Of Flame and the West Wind Smith; poor characters get simple names-- York, the Piss Boy.
Or maybe you want to change things up, and make the people with longer names the impoverished, and the people with simple names be the powerful and rich. Be sure to give a reason if you do so.
quote: and also if you could tell me if you feel this is good character development.
It's not. Sorry. You've got character descriptions here-- not *development.* Character development happens in-story: Jane blossoms from a wall flower, to the rose of the ball; Steve turns from being a caring father to a coldhearted assassin of evil-doers; Giana overcomes her anxiety to become a star on the Food Network.
I think what you might be asking is whether your characters are interesting. If so...not really. They're all insane and violent. Insane, violent people are not interesting. SANE violent people can be interesting, though.
Also, the story, as described, isn't anywhere NEAR 'along the lines of lord of the rings.' That's actually a positive in your favor.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Pardon me for being a smart ass, but if you intend to be a writer the first thing you should do is investigate the concept of paragraphs. Then contemplate the concept of using a capital letter to start a sentence. (Now all corrected by author.)
As to your problem, if you like 'Audilae' then use it. Don't let the fact that it is your friends name stop you. Or create some new variation. I assume Audilae is Aud-ill-lay; change it to Audilie (Aud-ill-lie) or Audilea (aud-ill-lee), or Audilia/Audelia (aud-dee-lee-ah).
As far as names in general, there are some rules, but overall, I've always felt the character already had names, it was my job to discover what those names are. I search baby name website. Note baby name websites can be isolated to ethnic origins. In other words popular Greek baby names, popular Chinese baby names, Scottish baby names, English(UK) baby names. I search the internet for names of various foreign authors. For example, if I need a Russian name, I will search Google for Russian Authors or Russian poets. If I need a Scottish name, I search the internet for list of Scottish Clans. You can also find ancient name sites, which is helpful if you want a name that has a very ancient flavor to it.
Finding character names is an on-going task, I am constantly searching movie and TV credits for interesting names. Keeping an eye out for interesting place names, flower names, astrological/astronomical names, building names, etc....
I'm not sure anyone can name your characters for you. I think that has to come from yourself. Only you will know the characters name when you find it.
Sorry I couldn't be more help. Here is a link to Orson Scott Card's on-line Writing Class. There are a couple of articles about naming characters that might give you some guidelines.
Naming characters is very difficult. I've even gone into stores looking at product names. I finally name one of my characters James Dunhill. I got the name Dunhill when I was walking past a tobacco shop and saw Dunhill brand of UK cigarettes.
Another source of names is language dictionaries. I've named characters by translating a concept into Swahili; I needed an African sounding name. Here are some examples of Swahili - Magic = Azima; Protective Magic = Kago, Ukago; Black Magic = Kipapae. I think I settled on Umgawe which is a variation of socerer.
posted
To BlueWizard: Yes, I have looked at baby names and baby names sites, although I didn't find much that I felt I could use. And although I was aware that there were several tips on the site that could help me, I had as of yet to access them. Thank you very much for remind me and also for you help.
To Scott R: Yes, I'm fully aware that my summary statement had many errors, and several copyright infringements. I know full well that those are copyrighted terms, I merely used them to give you a better idea of what i meant. I was also in a hurry and didn't care much for going back and changing that.
I do in fact use paragraphs, (as you can plainly see) but didn't particularly care to do so, as I was only casually browsing this site. I understand that you are trying to help me, but their is no reason to deign me over something minor when I was merely asking for help.
Perhaps you don't consider insane people interesting, I do. And as I stated the female lead is not revealed to be insane until later in the book, thus justifying the end.
And the interest in the insane lies in how they came to be there; I do not believe that it is by mental illness, but instead by a process called "violentization" (shortened from violent socialization), a term trademarked by the under-appreciated criminologist Lonnie Athens. It would show gradually throughout the book their change from "sane, violent" characters to "insane, violent characters." Perhaps this is not your forte or interest, but I always was a screwed-up child.
I was aware that I had put the wrong term when I said "character development" instead of "character descriptions." I was in fact going to fix it, when I noticed that I had reviews and had decided to read them first.
So I want to say thank you very much for you help both of you, but please don't judge my entire writing style from one bad summary. I was looking for some help and I received it, so thank you. I will now go back and try to change my topic summary to be a little more coherent.
Posts: 135 | Registered: Jun 2007
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Having your lead character be insane is not a good idea, IMO. I'm not saying she can't develop insanity, but that's a huge thing to hide from the audience throughout the whole story. It's atrocious, along the same lines as the 'it-was-all-just-a-dream' plot.
The reason it's not a good idea for the main character in (specifically) a longer work, is because it's extremely difficult for sane people to identify or sympathize with insane people. "Kazoo walked down the street, stopping every so often to put her finger through the worms squiggling on the sidewalk. Lovely, juicy things-- she liked to hear the sound her finger made as it went through them, and the feel of the worms, thrashing, thrashing, against her fingernail..."
See, unless Kazoo is a morbid five-year-old with long fingernails, people will have a hard time sympathizing with her. Admittedly, I don't know how you plan on characterizing your protagonist...but there you go.
quote:violentization
That's a terribly clumsy word. Sorry, but it is. For a fantasy series, that would throw me right out of the world. Too modern, too psychoanalytical.
quote:Perhaps this is not your forte or interest, but I always was a screwed-up child.
Not always. Someday, or perhaps even currently, you can aspire to be a screwed up adult.
quote:please don't judge my entire writing style from one bad summary.
Okay. Keep in mind it's all we had to go on.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Also, you seem to have a distorted idea of Copyright and Trademarks, and what can and can't be used.
Trademarks are brand names, and phrases and symbols associated with those brand names.
Copyrights refer to published works. Once something is published, it becomes the intellectual property of the author.
JK Rowling owns the story concept of Harry Potter, but she doesn't own Harry Potter. You could, and authors have, made references to THE Harry Potter in their own books. That is fair use. For example, if your character walks into a cafe and orders a Pepsi, that is not a trademark violation. If Pepsi starts marketing itself as 'The Real Thing' that is a trademark violation and probably a copyright violation because it is a phrase that Coca-Cola has been using for years.
I think the concept of 'mudblood' is also a fair use reference. It predates its common usage by JK Rowling. The concept of High Blood and Low Blood has permeated European history since the beginning.
There was a dispute over the word 'muggle', another author claim she coined the term, but it was determined that the word was in common usage and had other legitimate meanings.
So, you are not forbidden to use concepts created by other authors; all authors borrow. JKR doesn't own magic or dragons, Tokien doesn't own elves or dwarfs. Wraths are very similar to Dementors, but both concepts exist in mythology in some form, so both authors are merely borrowing the concept. Though I think 'Dementor' is a term unique to Harry Potter and Rowling. I'm not sure about Wraths.
So concepts are fair game, but specific terms unique to an author are probably not.
Also, you may have tried baby names, but I find many foreign baby names have a very mythological feel to them; Greek, Celtic, Hebrew, African, Arabic, etc.... Several cultures can be found on the baby name site I referenced.
posted
As a reader, I think a great story is great because it resonates with a reader. A character needs to be believable and likeable (not sure if I like that word choice on my part- you need to enjoy reading about them and there should be someone you root for). The character can be screwed up and flawed, but there needs to be a connection. It can be hard to make a truly insane person that people connect to. For a short story, I think the connection can be weaker because you are only asking to be part of their life for 15 minutes. Also, the end should be satisfying- NOT good or fairy tale, but satisfying. You should never have the reader feel like they were tricked into the story. Your story may not do that and the character may very well draw me in, but from your description that will take a LOT of skill on your part. When I write, I come up with character names also through using foreign baby name websites. I also like Native American names. I may sit there are read through list after list after list before I find the right one, but usually it is out there. Keep in mind that you need a name that isn't so foreign that the reader can't pronounce it in their head or remember who is who (Adklsfajlkre is the wizard while Asklfdflakrefds is the thief is a bad idea).
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
I'm going to chime in with primarily a ditto to what others have said:
foreign name sites are great. Every time I've been trying to develop character names I've browsed through different name books/sites, sometimes mythology guides, sometimes baby books etc etc... try tweaking those names, try taking existing words/names and makind anagrams of them or just simply reversing them: nilbog is a decent goblin name for example.
as for the insanity thing: I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that the initial explanation of your characters is starker than what you actually intend to write. As others have mentioned, it's important for the reader to be able to sympathize with/understand the characters. Even if you don't necessarily like the characters or agree with everything they do, you need to have some understanding of why they do what they do.
Insanity is very hard to pass off on the reader, because it is generally seen as completely irrational behavior. Look at the movie Beautiful Mind <SPOILERS>. The only reason we accept his insanity is because we see his delusions through his mind's eye, so we see the rationale that he uses in formulating his actions. However, this is a dangerous game to play, because if you show the delusion too clearly, then we feel lied to when it is shown otherwise, but if it is too clearly a delusion then we don't accept the character's acceptance of it.
When you speak repeatedly of violent insanity it's particularly off-putting, because I think this more than other varieties of insanity is hard for most people to swallow. Perhaps we're misunderstanding your aim here, but from your description it sounds like at least two of the main characters are effectively or become something akin to serial killers. That is something that most readers are likely to not accept at all.
Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
The insanity develops throughout the course of the book and allows you to glean why they become that way; although the book is in third person you can still "hear their thoughts" (ala Harry potter) so you have some idea of what they're thinking.
And perhaps they are akin to serial killers; I never said that they were the very best of characters. The term I used before "violentization" is NOT something that I made NOR is it a term that I am ever going to use in my book. I merely feel that people are "just insane" and I'm not going to portray my characters as "just insane" either.
Clearly when I stated that I didn't need to go into details on my book (or rather the plot) I was wrong, because it tends to send people very far off track, including myself. The reason why I gave such a sc ant description at all instead of just asking for names is that certain characters need nicer names, (Errewyn the Good) and other characters need darker names. (Audilae "bringer of darkness")
Posts: 135 | Registered: Jun 2007
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quote:Copyrights refer to published works. Once something is published, it becomes the intellectual property of the author.
Quick correction here. Once something is written, it is the intellectual property of the author. It does not have to be published to be copyrighted. I haven't published much, but I own the copyright to everything I've ever written.
A nit, I know. But still.
Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Vyrus, I wonder if you wouldn't have better luck down in the writer's workshops. We're not a writer's workshop.
Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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Along the lines of what Scott was saying about development... One of my biggest beefs in fiction is when characters are over-described. I would rather learn how brave someone was because of something surprisingly selfless they did in the face of danger. I would rather know a woman is beautiful after another character notices some nuance in her gesture that had never struck them before. I would rather know someone was evil by being shocked at their greedy decision, or insane because they did something that only made sense in their twisted brand of reality - and yet fits into a pattern.
Many stories never make it through my slushpile because they focus more on introducing their characters as RPG templates than actualy storytelling.
Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
The writer's workshop is over 18. When he asked the question, I assumed he was too young to be over there. Though I am sure that there are some online workshops for youths. I think that was a thread over in the writer's workshop at one point.
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Many stories never make it through my slushpile because they focus more on introducing their characters as RPG templates than actualy storytelling.
Amen. Oh, and amen again.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Originally posted by scholar: The writer's workshop is over 18. When he asked the question, I assumed he was too young to be over there. Though I am sure that there are some online workshops for youths. I think that was a thread over in the writer's workshop at one point.
The writer's workshop is over eighteen? So I can't go there? I'm rather confused now; if scholar was referring to me, I'm only fifteen. (And also a girl for the part where he referred to be as a "he", but I suppose a unisex name like "Vyrus" could be confusing.)
Posts: 135 | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
I'm nothing remotely resembling a fiction writer, so I have only one suggestion: work on your grasp of the basic mechanics of writing (e.g. punctuation, grammar, spelling).
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Yes because cleary I'm of incompetent moron who talks in "fangirl" and cannot put a clear and concise sentence together. BUT ZOMG WTF DID U EXPECT I MEEN IM LIEK 15 SO IM AMORRON RITE??~!!11
Posts: 135 | Registered: Jun 2007
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Given that Hatrack has quite a few members who are about your age -- and many, many more who have been members since before they were 15, some of whom are now graduating (!) from high school -- I doubt that's what eros meant at all.
I have a rather different suggestion. Judging from how you have reacted to well-intentioned advice in this thread, I suggest learning how to deal with constructive criticism. It's a very useful skill, both in writing and in life.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
If that's how you want to read what I wrote, that's your prerogative, but it's pretty clearly not what I meant.
Edit: in an effort to be as clear as possible, I'll expand.
Without a firm handle on the language you're writing in, it's going to be difficult for you to effectively communicate anything in your writing, as many competent readers will be too busy being distracted by fundamental errors to notice any of the potential problems you posted about originally. It's going to be hard for people to take you seriously if you don't even take the effort to proofread your posts on an author's forum in a thread you started about writing help. Hatrack is, thankfully, incredibly patient and indulgent in this regard, which is why you've received so many quality responses thusfar. Some of the people who've responded to you are published authors (and I don't mean in the "selection in a poetry.com anthology" way).
I'm sorry if you took my post as an attack, but I felt it was a valid point, and worth bringing up.
posted
Eh, grammar nazism is an old tradition at Hatrack. Don't let it get under your skin, Vyrus. Plenty of people here have "unique" ways of writing, and have been called out for it now and then, and continue to post. You just have to take the nitpicking with a sense of humor.
I'd say don't worry so much about the names of the characters, but do what Scott said and focus on developing the characters themselves. Perhaps the names will spring naturally from the living, breathing beings they become at your hands. Use throwaway names if you must, but don't let the lack of the perfect name stop you from figuring out who the character is.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Very sorry, sometimes I just don't handle criticism well, but clearly I should. I very well might delete this topic and start fresh so as not to appear as much of an erratic overly-sensitive person affected by a rather severe case of ADHD and a broken spellchecker.
Posts: 135 | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Very sorry, sometimes I just don't handle criticism well, but clearly I should. I very well might delete this topic and start fresh so as not to appear as much of an erratic overly-sensitive person affected by a rather severe case of ADHD and a broken spellchecker.
Posts: 135 | Registered: Jun 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Vyrus: Very sorry, sometimes I just don't handle criticism well, but clearly I should. I very well might delete this topic and start fresh so as not to appear as much of an erratic overly-sensitive person affected by a rather severe case of ADHD and a broken spellchecker.
Don't delete it - lots of good advice in here, and a lot of people on Hatrack REALLY frown on deleting threads, because it's insensitive to the effort they went through in thinking and responding to you. Just a forewarning. Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
For the Hatrack writer's workshop, they ask that you be 18 to register. You are free to read the posts there and there are a lot of good threads for a new writer to read. As far as the reason behind the 18 rule, that has been debated frequently in other places.
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
My personal focus is on screenwriting, not novel writing, but many of the concepts are universal. Here's a few quick simplified tidbits of what I've learned.
Stories are conflict, at the most basic level. All stories are just the conflict between protagonist (whatever the protagonist is) and the forces opposing said protagonist. Whether it's nature, a person, the social system, God, fate, injury, self-doubt, whatever, stories are conflict.
Character is action. A character's personality exists in a single place: What they do. Thoughts, words, physical actions call all be actions. Someone above gave a good description of that kind of thing, in talking about over-describing.
Characters must act. If all they do is react to the world around them, then they aren't really doing anything.
Each scene needs to either reveal information or forward the plot in some way. If a scene passes and nothing occurs, and nothing is learned about the character situation, then what was the point of boring us with something with no purpose? Each scene is a minor turning point, or a major one, depending on its importance. Each scene does something.
All stories consist of a beginning, middle, and end, but not necessarily in that order. Beginning is where everything is set up, middle is where rising complications occur, and end is where the crisis, climax, and resolution occur.
Nonlinear stories can be extremely good. But they still need those three things!
Each series of events must build to something. In any story, several large turning points exist, among many smaller ones. The first major one is the turning point which causes the story to really get going, in the Lord of the Rings the creation of the Fellowship and the beginning of their quest, in the Matrix, Neo taking the red pill, etc. Then, depending on how you go, there can be one or more major turning points during the middle of the story. Shakespeare uses a five act structure, for example, which has a major turning point at the end of each act, which turns things in another direction.
The second truly important turning point is the one that pushes things from middle to end, which leads directly to the conclusion. In Battlestar Galactica, that turning point is the return of Starbuck from the dead, with the intention to lead everyone to Earth. In the Matrix, it's Neo's decision to save Morpheus in the end which leads to the final act and the end. Etc.
You can have many acts, three, five, seven, whatever, but always ,you have beginning, middle, and end. But not necessarily in that order!
(How do those things sound?)
Posts: 1577 | Registered: Sep 2005
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...and I think you're pretty nifty, too, PG. What's the likelihood of you writing more columns for IGMS? That was, like, my favorite non-fiction content of the entire magazine.
Or, if not for IGMS, for anyone? If you're writing, I'm reading...
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote:Originally posted by scholar: The writer's workshop is over 18. When he asked the question, I assumed he was too young to be over there. Though I am sure that there are some online workshops for youths. I think that was a thread over in the writer's workshop at one point.
It's my recollection that OSC said that if you didn't act like you were under 18, they wouldn't stop you from participating (if they even knew).
posted
The only advice I can give you is to never, *ever* go to a 'fantasy name search' database or website. My sister was really into those until I pointed out the back story of half the characters on the screen to her, because they were names from books I've read before. Arya was on there, from Martin's Ice and Fire series. (Yes, I paraphrased the title -- It's just so long!). Arya. One of my favorite characters ever was on the database search.
quote:although the book is in third person you can still "hear their thoughts" (ala Harry potter) so you have some idea of what they're thinking.
The technical term, I believe, is 'third person omniscient.' 'Limited omniscient' if you restrict the narration to a single character's thoughts at a time.
Orson Scott Card is a master at this point of view. He's written one of the most useful books on the subject-- called, creatively, "Character and Viewpoint." It is one of the few books on creative writing that is actually useful. (I always recommend Stephen King's 'On Writing,' too-- not for the bit at the end where he talks about how to craft, but for the autobiographical information at the beginning of the book, which shows the sacrifice one man paid to get to where he is.) Go and check them out. You can probably find King's at the library; Card's you'll have to buy somewhere.
The measure of a good book on writing is the amount of time the author spends telling you NOT how to do such and such, but exploring the different ways different writers have done the same thing.
(One of the problems I have with Dan Simmons' essays on writing is that he's so...authoritarian. I have the same problem with Robert Sawyer, quite often)
Study grammar. Study words. Read, read, read. Read some more. The one absolute, hard core, inviolate rule for all writers is the necessity of reading.
Read inside the genre for at least two purposes-- pleasure, and to learn the genre's conventions. Read outside the genre for at least two reasons-- pleasure, and to learn what other writers in other genres are doing so you can bring that back to the genre you're writing in. Read non-fiction for pleasure and to gain knowledge. A writer has to know something about everything.
quote:although the book is in third person you can still "hear their thoughts" (ala Harry potter) so you have some idea of what they're thinking.
The technical term, I believe, is 'third person omniscient.' 'Limited omniscient' if you restrict the narration to a single character's thoughts at a time. Study grammar. Study words. Read, read, read. Read some more. The one absolute, hard core, inviolate rule for all writers is the necessity of reading.
Read inside the genre for at least two purposes-- pleasure, and to learn the genre's conventions.
Thank you for help with that technical term; although I know much about certain authors and their styles I have as of yet to study in-depth the technical writing terms. And as for "read, read, read" I can assure you that I've been starving to get my hands on any books in sight. (Although as of late I've become more selective.)
I'll take into consideration your tips on the anyalytical books, as well.
Posts: 135 | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Thank you, those notes helped me alot. Most of that stuff I already knew, but it reinfornced some ideas I need to pay attention to.
Posts: 135 | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Huh. That stuff is another variation of the many things I'm reading about good storytelling.
Very cool, and gives me another hint that the books and concepts I'm learning aren't bad, when OSC is stating a variation on the same thing.
Posts: 1577 | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
"It's been thirty years since you had to italicize thoughts."
Huh. And I thought that that italicization was just a clever quirk of a few authors I'd read, which I had found quite revolutionary. I had already decided to use them for thoughts if I ever wrote an actual novel.
Um... hmm. Learn something new every day, I guess.
Posts: 1577 | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
I would recommend giving your characters working names and just start writing. Sometimes what I find is that the character just grows into whatever name you give him/her, and other times, four pages in, you'll think of the name they should have. When I was about fifteen I was really into writing Star Wars fan fiction (a little scary I know,) but I would do to create names was open the phone book, find an interesting name and then create an anagram of it, and don't be too strict on them either, you can reuse a letter or drop one out too. Back in High school, I did it with one of my friends and Melissa Reeder became Saeri Mistrel.
Nowadays, I've abandoned fan fiction and been converted to the paths of righteousness and write poetry almost exclusively. But I hope this helps.
Posts: 681 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Another suggestion that will make a huge different in the quality of you final story, find yourself a good proof or Beta reader.
One problem I have is I'm too close to the story and too blind to my own bad habits. I know the story so well that I read what I intended to say even if that isn't what the page says.
Several FanFic reader commented on the improvement in my writing, just from finding and on-line friend to read over my stories and make suggestions.
We had a system where the Beta Reader would added her comments and suggestions into the Word Document in a different colored fonts (one color for changes, another for comments, etc...), so the original was never changed. I could see what I wrote, see what she suggested, see her comment relating to the suggestions she was making, and I could make a decision as to how I wanted to change it. It worked very well, and we could do it easily by email.
posted
Well, of course, that's kind of redundant. Writing isn't like riding a bike. If you don't have some sort of regular exposure to literature you'll become rusty.
Posts: 135 | Registered: Jun 2007
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quote: ...and I think you're pretty nifty, too, PG. What's the likelihood of you writing more columns for IGMS? That was, like, my favorite non-fiction content of the entire magazine.
Or, if not for IGMS, for anyone? If you're writing, I'm reading...
Oh, that's sweet. I doubt I'll be writing new columns for IGMS any time soon. The editorial work really takes priority, and I started struggling with the monthly deadline. Apparently the broader my subject matter, the harder to pinpoint what I need to write about - especially with the PG 13 guidelines. I'm the worst.
It was also becoming difficult because a lot of the things I wanted to write about didn't really fit in with the flow I had established. Then it seemed the whole column didn't really fit, as was pointed out in a hatrack thread once.
Thanks for the compliments, though. I really wasn't sure that anyone was reading my columns other than my roommates and coworkers.
I'll try to let peeps know next time I write something for public consumption. Fiction?!! Maybe! Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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