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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:I've given up the Chickencheese idea. I went to the fridge and I was out of cheese so that's off the cards forever. Dude, we've seen people like you come through CC before, throwing their poo poo around all monkeylike and expecting the regulars to help you craft it into a beautiful, majestic chickencheese. So excuse me if I come across as hostile and short-tempered. What is this  GLORIOUS NIPPON chickenshit? You think just because you watch some cartoon animes you're suddenly an expert on Japanese culture? You want to mash all your favorite cartoon anime-manga-hentai cliches into a giant robot tit pantyshot kungfu-karate fighting perfect storm of kawaii chickencheese-san horror, and expect the superior people of GLORIOUS NIPPON to immediately see your pimply white neckbeard genius and make you the king of mangakatanas with like six hot Japanese waifus with color-coordinated hair and outfits. Seriously, dude, do you even know how to draw, let alone draw a big-titted robot chicken with six guns on robot arms coming out of her vagina? Get the gently caress outta here with this chickencheeseshit.
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Nov 28, 2012 04:45
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5 bucks a month is nothing. It shouldn't even be a consideration. It's the cost of a beer or half a pack of cigarettes. If you want to use Duotrope's service, subscribe. If it's "not worth it" as you say, then don't pay that cost-of-a-beer once a month. It's pretty simple.
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Dec 6, 2012 14:05
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Over in Thunderdome, Peel made the comment that "minimum word counts are the devil." Edit: And since I'm dumb sometimes I thought he meant "maximum" word counts. So anyway, while  pretty easily, and not all of them are really worth putting on the page or reading. Having to keep to a low word count like 500 or 800 really makes you go through a story and cut extraneous words. Being able to tell a great story in as few words as possible is an art and a trained skill, and we can all work on it.Using myself as an example, the first few Thunderdome stories I wrote were tough for me to keep to the Martello fucked around with this message at 16:11 on Dec 9, 2012 |
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Dec 8, 2012 18:23
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Rose Wreck posted:Looking at it in that light, how do you do when you end up with fewer words than expected? If you end up with more space do you want to keep what you have as the best example of what you set out to do, or do you revise it? That's fine. If you don't have any more words to put in there, don't try to do it artificially. You'll just bloat the story.
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Dec 8, 2012 18:39
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Haha wow, I'm an idiot. I thought you meant maximum word counts. Even though I copied what you wrote and then typed "minimum word count" myself. 
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Dec 9, 2012 03:38
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BigRed0427 posted:First off i'm hitting this point where I have a lot of ideas for characters and stories to write about but I'm not sure which to actually do first. Just write something. Usually the best way to get a story done is by writing it. Stop thinking and sperging about writing and actually write something.
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Dec 14, 2012 20:22
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Stuporstar posted:I'm gonna qualify my last post by saying I've identified three core things that you need not to suck: This is all excellent. It might be a good thing to edit into the OP.
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Dec 17, 2012 23:57
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Have you tried writing shorts? Sometimes a whole novel is just too daunting and you can't focus long enough to finish it. Try writing short fiction so you get the feel and practice of writing a self-contained story but in far less time and space. I know I always plug Thunderdome, but I've never seen you here before so I'll say it again. Come join us there and write some easy 1000 words or less flash fiction, get some story ideas outta your system. 
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Dec 26, 2012 02:04
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supermikhail posted:But you won't see me in Thunderdrome because 1000 words seems too short for my kind of awesome idea. Sorry dude, but this is a really dumb thing to say. You're not a published famous writer, referring to your ideas as "too awesome for 1000 words" just makes you sound like a self-important new writer who doesn't know what he's talking about. I didn't invent the concept of flash fiction for Thunderdome. It's a thing and it exists and it's a good thing. Give it a shot before you say you're too good for it. Then take one of your finished, completed flash fiction pieces and make it into something longer, say 4000-10,000 words. That's the kind of short piece you want to send to a magazine. Even if you don't make a flash piece into something longer, the practice of writing a story with a beginning, middle, and end can't possibly be anything but a good thing for you. supermikhail posted:I wouldn't say my protagonists are ever close to being heroes. For me realism is the most important character trait, and I wouldn't say my characters are cardboard cutouts. I try to start them with a reasonable amount of "handicaps". What the gently caress are you talking about here? You used the term "character trait" and "handicap." Do you think writing fiction is like making Dungeons & Dragons characters? My extrapolation here is that you think of your characters in terms of constituent parts and maybe even (god forbid) "power levels" that need to be handicapped. Your characters should be living, breathing human beings (or aliens or robots or pirates or whatever you like to write) that just so happen to inhabit the pages of your fiction instead of the real world. I'd really like to see what your character development process is, because if it looks like this I'm going to cry: "Well, Bobby Ray Phillips is really really good at shooting pistols and throwing knives, and is very charismatic, but I don't want him to be a Mary Sue so I'm gonna also give him bad BO and make him bald and bad at math." And then there's that other part that I bolded, which I'll quote again just for emphasis: "The best characters sort of are cardboard cutouts."  Seriously dude? This is actually what you think? Please give me some examples so I can tell you why you couldn't be more wrong.
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Dec 27, 2012 17:20
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Rose Wreck posted:If you always write what other people want, you're going to wear yourself out, waste your time, and end up with an audience you can't connect with on the things that interest you.  "watch out for the falling irony rose rec!"
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Dec 30, 2012 19:40
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Speak for yourself, T-dog. I'll come to a mothafuckers house if I see fit. Drunk in Manhattan btw An like happy new year and poo poo
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Jan 1, 2013 06:09
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Holy poo poo I get really drunk in Manhattan and get thrown outta a bar for singing "The Wild Rover" too loud, come back to the thread and we've been talking about fanfiction for two pages. Not a good start to 2013. Sitting Here posted:Are you drunk on Manhattans in Manhattan  No I was drinking tequila primarily. quote:You know it's funny, when I was a high school student writing sci fi "novels" in my small town starbucks while waiting for my shift at the outlet mall to start, I would always pick like 2013-2015 as my setting. My thought was that it was far enough away to be, you know, science fictiony, but close enough to be recognizable. This is actually a good topic for discussion - better than fanfiction that's for loving sure - how do you other spec fiction writers handle future technology, society and politics? It's a very broad topic, obviously, but as a guy who primarily writes postcyberpunk I'm very interested in how we as writers do that. For example, I like to postulate that as much as the world changes it also stays the same, so my future version of the earth (2030s-70s so far) has much the same geopolitical layout even after a third world war and significant technological advances. Yes, there are orbital habitats from the 2050s on, China is balkanized, Italy is a loose confederation of nation-states, and so on. But humans are still humans. We still use guns because lasers suck and getting past the drawbacks are still pretty far in he future from what I've read, and bullets work so well that I doubt there will be significant investment in switching to a whole new type of weapon when we have billions of guns and rounds floating around the world and all the manufacturing and logistics support is already in place. I still want to explore some transhumanist themes and the effect of advanced technology on humanity and society, but I all that will still exist alongside completely normal people squatting outside mud huts in some backwater watching YouTube videos of posthuman sea-dwellers live-broadcasting their eyecam views of skin diving in the Marianas Trench. quote:happy new year CC, my resolution is to post some things. Post that post-apocalyptic thing in the Cascades already. 
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Jan 2, 2013 20:35
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We've been talking about forming small (3-6 people) critique groups over in Thunderdome. I'm gonna let Erik Shawn-Bohner handle it when he gets back from his little "vacation."
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Jan 3, 2013 15:14
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change my name posted:I just finished a short story that I thought turned out really well, but the question of "city-specific" references kept coming up. Since I live in nyc I thought they'd be nice touches, but won't this kind of pigeonhole me down the line? (IE remaining consistent with the level of specificity, even if the characters need to go somewhere/do something I don't know a lot about) Personally, I find specific geographical references to be a huge plus when I read. I strive to do the same in my writing, and I use Google Maps and Street View a lot as well as other types of research. I really hate the "Metropolis City" and "Smalltown, USA" bullshit some writers like to use, but it's really a matter of personal preference. I say do it.
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Jan 7, 2013 06:20
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:the country which is a rough equivalent to China is called Xiang (pronounced ecks-AYE-eng [which is often mangled into sigh-eng.]) Don't do this. Definitely don't do this. The other guys already made it pretty clear why, but I just want to echo them. I see "Xiang" and I immediately thing "shang" or "zhang." Using an X to start a word is often an "X is cool gaiz!" thing which is also bad. Don't do that unless it's in a way that makes sense. Why not just spell it "Ixang" or something if you really want that pronunciation?
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Jan 7, 2013 12:34
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How about you two pigtailed tutu-wearing schoolgirls take this little dance-off into Thunderdome and have it out? I know Oxxidation is a good writer already, I'd love to see what the Tube Knight's capable of.
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Jan 13, 2013 00:52
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What is "the Mark Twain thing" in this case?
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Jan 16, 2013 04:15
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Re CB Tube Steak: Moral of the story along with that trigger warning horseshit - pussies abound and will always be offended by SOMETHING, so just write what you gotta write and don't worry about it. Some of the greatest stories ever written or put to film are disturbing and offensive and loving raw. Don't ever tiptoe through the roses with your writing. Re Didja Redo: Knew he was trollin, but I didn't know Huck Finn was censored. What in the loving gently caress? Martello fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Jan 16, 2013 |
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Jan 16, 2013 04:33
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CB_Tube_Knight posted:There's something seductive about first person, I know I'm terrible at it but I keep wanting to do the thing and I don't get why. I don't really like the way that first person is done most of the time. What's your issue with it? I mean in your writing and in poo poo you've read? It can be done really badly, just like anything else, but it's also a great opportunity to use a close, intimate view of a scene to tell the reader exactly what you want them to know. You can also use narration for the protag's internal monologue. That should be done sparingly. I think when I've seen first-person done badly, too much internal poo poo was one of the problems. Nobody wants to read your tough-guy PI examining his meatus for three paragraphs. I know I personally have been guilty of that kind of poo poo in the past, but I try to keep it to a minimum these days.
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Jan 21, 2013 22:38
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Everybody read Elmore Leonard.
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Jan 22, 2013 22:05
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Molly Bloom posted:Got a copy of his complete Westerns coming my way, in fact. Can't find poo poo here in Froggyland. I'm as interested as can be in that at the moment. Funny, I'm working through that right now on my Kindle. The first three stories are great so far, but overall I prefer his crime novels. Probably because that's one of my favorite genres. Muffin and Bohner - you forget Arcanum. Banana - you're asking us to fix your writing based on a single sentence. Please go to Fiction Farm to post a longer piece, or go to Thunderdome and compete. You'll get great feedback either way.
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Jan 22, 2013 23:39
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Please everyone shut up about "literary" fiction vs "genre" fiction, forever. Thanks in advance.
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Jan 23, 2013 13:04
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Chillmatic posted:If you could just unshart your jorts for a second, you'd be able to see that my primary concern was a disconnect between the type and scope of stories vs. the consensus regarding quality or lack thereof. I chose the words I used because they're the easiest way to make my point; but hey, don't let me keep you from being a pedantic gay baby. New thread title: Creative Convention>Fiction Writing: Don't let me keep you from being a pedantic gay baby That thing Works quoted says the average American reads 6 books a year.  I've read 15 full-length novels since I came out to this shithole of a training area at Ft Polk on the 10th. Thank god for my Kindle.
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Jan 26, 2013 06:19
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If you're submitting something to be published, use #
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Jan 28, 2013 01:17
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Don't substitute an additional real-world language for a fake language. Using English for whatever the "common tongue" ( ) in your world happens to be is fine, because otherwise nobody could read your book. Duh. But substituting Spanish or whatever is just going to look absurd.Stabbey, you really should consider making a thread for some of your writing. You come in here all the time asking for advice on setting and other stuff, and it's hard to give you advice without knowing the context that is your actual work. Post a dedicated thread, post something within the 1000 word limit in the Farm, or better yet, be a man irl and enter the 'dome. It's also kinda tough to know if anyone should bother reading your critiques when nobody knows what your own writing looks like.
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Jan 31, 2013 21:18
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:Look at that. loving look at it. What are you wearing?
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Feb 2, 2013 16:31
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Oh man, personal definitions of genres! I love this! Personally, I draw the line for Feminist Sci-Fi when any female characters are included in a sci-fi story. I once read a story that would be hard SF but there was a girl dog in it  so it's Feminist Sci-Fi to me.
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Feb 5, 2013 17:30
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Maxwell Lord posted:I dunno, the chapter headings in Dune are kind of cool. I was gonna say this exact thing. Really added to the immersion for me. Too bad Herbet went whacky with his second novel.
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Feb 6, 2013 01:14
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Another "these are my ideas" guy, ok. Dude (or dudette as the case may be), it's going to be tough for any of us to tell you if your superhero story will work or not just based on your ideas. We need to see your writing. Even the dumbest idea can make for a loving awesome story if you execute it right, and a brilliant idea, poorly executed, will look like the worst Sailor Moon/Adventure Time crossover slash fic. I highly recommend posting a piece of your writing in the Fiction Farm, or at least a small sample here. Also, all you're asking us about is "will these superpowers work." Superpowers are just tools like any other storytelling device. You need to be thinking about things like "are these characters believable, do their motivations make sense, does my dialogue resemble the ramblings of a 14 year-old on mescaline." Showing us your writing will help us help you answer those questions.
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Feb 15, 2013 12:10
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That's great. Can we see your writing so we know if it's bullshit or not? You know that "my characters are based on my RPG PCs" is like the least confidence-inspiring thing you could say, right? But I should probably just go gently caress myself since you clearly don't actually want feedback, you just want us to tell you that you're a special snowflake and your amazing unique and never-before-seen superhero ideas are going to make for a blockbuster novel. You really want my opinion on your superpowers? They both sound loving retarded and not even vaguely compelling. There you go, feedback.
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Feb 15, 2013 12:28
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See, what you did was fail reading comprehension. My whole point was that your ideas are almost meaningless, your execution is what's important. That's why "I played these characters in RPGs with my friends" is a terrible answer and why I responded the way I did. Telling me that says you probably don't know how to tell a good story, and says nothing whatsoever about your actual writing skills. What we want to see (and what the reader wants to see) is a writer who can take the most mundane thing and make it interesting. RPGs are not anything like actual prose fiction. Trust me, I've played a lot of Shadowrun in my day. I see that you posted something in the Farm, and I'm proud a you. I'm in the process of critiquing it for you right now.
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Feb 15, 2013 17:11
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yoyomama posted:I'm kinda nervous to submit, but why not. I'll try to get it at least the poems together for the contest deadline. I have stories, but FTFY
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Feb 25, 2013 12:48
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I'm really not getting this "you want to write fantasy but irl earth is FANTASTIC so just write historical fiction" thing. If that works for you, fine, but some people just like to write fantasy. In that case trying to force the setting to be Earth is not gonna work.
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Feb 26, 2013 19:03
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Sitting Here posted:(but it's not really space, it's like, this whole other thing [Plus there's air there {or maybe they just don't breath, IDK}]) I try not to breath either, I find it more effective to breathe.
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Feb 27, 2013 13:00
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Sitting Here posted:Both Sebastian and the spaceboat come from a dream I had when I was like 13. It stuck in my brain for more than ten years so I figure it's time to give the little guy his shot at being a big fiction star. Where is this Sebastian the Talking Pig story? Did you post it in Thunderdome and I missed it? I wanna read it.  Sitting Here posted:I have no idea what you're talking about there was no typo there. Go look. You clearly edited the quote to smear my world-renowned spelling. Sitting Here posted:Sitting Here hosed around with this message at Feb 28, 2013 around 12:03 Sitting Here posted:Another question, what do you think about linking two sentence clauses with a comma instead of and, where and would link two actions? I'm sure there is a better way to articulate this but my grammar sucks. It's called comma-splicing and the Bohner hates it. I love them but since he sees a lot of my stuff I usually reluctantly cut 'em. He can elaborate on why they're so awful, or conversely why he's such an awful person.
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Feb 28, 2013 18:47
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Either work really hard on your world-building or don't. It doesn't matter. It's your story, write it or don't.
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Mar 14, 2013 18:53
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Great Horny Toads! posted:Not sure what you're saying. Everyone's always sperging on poo poo like "Well I spent approximately 80% of my typing time on just world-building am I doing it wrong  " or like "But clearly you just need to write a story and not worry about SPERGS who want to read stories set in well-realized worlds  " when none of that poo poo really matters as long as you can write a good story. Different people write in different ways. I can spend an entire week world-building; adding to my character timelines and information sheets (yup I have these), figuring out how events work on my global timeline, doing write-ups for cyberpunk tech weapons and locations, and so on and spergy on. Or I can spend a whole week just banging out 1500-7000 word stories in a matter of hours every day. It depends on how I feel and what media I've been consuming and how much I feel like playing Black Ops II or Shogun 2 or whatever instead of writing. Write it how it works for you. Keeping track of how much time you spend on whichever part of your writing process isn't going to help anything.
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Mar 14, 2013 21:15
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systran posted:If you do short fiction you can spend a week or just a few days writing 1200 words Holy poo poo, a week? How about 2 or 3 hours?
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Mar 28, 2013 15:36
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systran posted:I can write something in a few hours but it usually takes me at least a few days to polish it to completion. I also just started writing so hopefully I can get faster. Yeah I'm really just being a huge rear end in a top hat because I have this ability to bang out a coherent thing in a couple hours and always have. Multi-page papers for my English degree, banged out with no edits, etc. I know a lot of other people don't have that, it's just a personal thing.
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Mar 28, 2013 16:47
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If you're bad at writing short, self-contained stories, something like Thunderdome is exactly how you'll get good at it.
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Mar 28, 2013 17:09
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