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sebmojo posted:Le Carre (Spy who came in from the cold, little drummer girl) and Eric Ambler are both vg. Want to be more specific here and say "pre-war Eric Ambler", because man do his books go to poo poo after the war. Also, The Day of the Jackal is a masterpiece in many ways, one being that you already know the ending of the story right from the start and yet you don't care one single bit. I'd highly recommend it for anyone interested in the genre.
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Jul 27, 2017 22:10
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sebmojo posted:I've only actually read one Ambler but I liked it (Send No More Roses). I've actually never read that one. What the hell: I'll give it a shot. Thanks.
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Jul 29, 2017 11:55
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I got a story published in Ellery Queen and with this one they've used it as one of this month's issue previews, so you can read the first third of it online for the next little while. It's a traditional Sherlock Holmes pastiche. I've actually found this thread really helpful (especially the mega-OP) in becoming a better writer, so I wanted to say thanks to the gang as well. Two professional sales so far. Xotl fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Feb 12, 2019 |
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Dec 22, 2018 18:12
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Al Cu Ad Solte posted:So this is interesting because the feeling of disconnect from the characters is something beta readers have told me before, but never go into detail, so I'm honestly just not sure how to fix or even begin to approach the problem, since, well, I don't see it as a problem. "For example, in your opening action, I wanted to see your main character still dedicated to saving the Starborn child but struggling with the physical pain/disorientation of losing her limb, and that felt skipped in favor of the plot driving forward." Well, the editor here gave you concrete feedback, even if only for a single instance. The example points to you favouring plot over logical dives into character development. Would you say that's accurate in general? Do you tend to break away from headlong narrative much, or do you feel that a distraction?
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Feb 20, 2019 20:54
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Fruity20 posted:ey, for any of you writers out there, should just plow through a draft in one sitting or take a break then go back and write? Whether you take a break or try it all in one sitting is irrelevant: you need to overcome the desire to not write unless it's perfect in your eyes the first time. I think understanding that that's an illusion in the first place might help. You can be more or less happy with the very first version of some passage you set down, but you'll almost always be able to improve it on further rumination, so either way, there's work to be done after the draft is finished. When I write something that I had as an idea in my head and it comes out as garbage, I just cringe and move on until I'm out of steam with the day's writing as a whole. Sometimes I even skip over minor structural paras that need to be there but don't excite me at the moment, in favour of heading towards what does; I'll come back to those later. When I figure out how to progress in a story, I usually have a full a scene or wider plot point that's occurred to me as part of that understanding that I'm trying to capture. As long as I have that down, even in the broadest sketch, I know I can polish towards a better representation of that structural goal later even with the whole being incomplete. But the moment I have another opportunity to move forward I take it, because you can polish at any time.
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Mar 19, 2019 20:59
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