Paul
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Posts posted by Paul
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Simply wonderful.
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Or more.
Paul, I'd leave the word counting up to your word processing program--probably Microsoft Word?--because that's what any editor/publisher who receives your work is going to do.
I was too lazy to do that. Besides, why let some soulless piece of software decide such things when we have creative writer-types around to dream up more imaginative arguments?
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Just one question: does "clappity-BUMP" count as one word or two?
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Well, with all the personal connections, it's no wonder this story is coming through so real and heartfelt. Well, that and the fact that Dabeagle is just plain good at that anyway. In addition, we're again getting some great Dabeaglesque characters. On the quirky scale I'd have to rate Wyatt at the top; endearlingly so, but a real riot.
Oh, and another thing: it's with really mixed feelings that I learn there's just one chapter left to go. I'm looking forward to seeing how Dabeagle resolves the story, but I'm going to miss all these guys.
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You said it.
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Part six is up: http://www.dabeagle.com/storymainpages/TU.html
Yay.
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I've read Patrick O'Brian's entire Aubrey/Maturin series twice, and it's still there on the shelf in case the mood strikes again. I've been through all of Jack Vance's works at least twice, more frequently for many of them. Same with Wodehouse. Both of those I could give another go or two. Plenty of others.
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Extraordinarily sweet.
http://awesomedude.com/ryan-bartlett/french-kiss/french-kiss.htm
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This continues to be top-notch Dabeagle. Eager for more. But in the meantime... did I ever mention that his stuff is eminently re-readable?
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If a story is presented complete, I can control the pace of my reading; there's no obligation to read it through all in one go. I can appreciate the frisson of aniticipation that serial posting can elicit, but for me that's more than countered by frustration and, all too often, fear that the thing won't be completed. Losing track of what's going on is, as Graeme mentioned, another downside, as well as keeping in mind who's who. Hell, that happens when I'm reading completed books as well, but that's memory and the aging process for you. Thank god for e-readers and their search function.
But I'm not totally adamant; there are cases when the writing is so good I'm just glad to get what I get when I can get it. That's the case with EleCivil's latest, for example.
But none of this prevents me from reading serialized works, mind you. For me, it's just not a plus.
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Delightful; Saki couldn't have done it better!
("Miss Jenkins' Work," actually, but I couldn't figure out how to edit the topic title.)
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The problem, of course, is when personal taste and using commas to create pauses so as to make a sentence easier to read, conflicts with the rules of grammar. Do you follow your instincts, or follow the rules? That's what I'm frequently up against. For instance, a sentence beginning with a dependent clause and followed by an independent clause is supposed to have a comma separating the two clauses. But frequently the comma seems either superfluous or disruptive. As I think it would in that sentence. I'd much rather have it written as I did than written: But frequently, the comma seems either superfluous or disruptive. I find the pause that comma creates in the flow of the sentence distracting and very much unnecessary.
Interesting. Using that particular example, though, if I were speaking it aloud to someone and wanted to make sure I got the point across, I'd be inclined to put a stress on "frequently" and follow it with a brief pause. Nevertheless, the point comes across either way. It is, in a manner of speaking, a manner of speaking. I tend to be a bit more histrionic in my speech than the average person.
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That article also explains exactly what was so rare about "O rare Ben Jonson."
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Just to be clear, I wasn't decrying beginning a sentence with a dependent clause per se, just stringing a bunch of them together one after another. It's like being on a merry-go-round.
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Scanning the topic list for this forum, I noticed this thread had new messages. Wanting to see what was being discussed, I clicked the link. Reading Colin's post about SmartEdit, I was reminded of a story on another forum. Writing it, the author had started each sentence in one paragraph with a dependent clause. Wondering if such software could detect something like that, I wrote this post.
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I just replayed the video. When the computer comes up it reads Apple ][ but the narrator says the floppy disk has DOS. That disk wouldn't load squat on an Apple II. It must be a games disk for the original Apple II.
I had a couple friends with some version or other of the Apple ][ back in the day. In my then-computer-total-ignorance, I had no idea what they were talking about when they mentioned "DOS." It was this:
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I don't know anything about the legalities involved, but speaking strictly about how real-world individuals can fit into fictional works, I'd say there's a difference between citing their documented words and actions and having them interact personally, even second-hand, with the characters and events in your story. For example, it's one thing for your character to say something like, "Did you know that Real Personality A said he thought X about Y..." and another to have Real Personality A express those thoughts directly to your character. My personal reaction to the latter is that it introduces a jarring note that takes me out of the story. "Oh, really?" I find myself thinking.Of course, when the whole purpose of the story is historical fiction, that's a different matter, as in the case of Doctorow's "Ragtime," as has been mentioned. But for contemporary personalities, incidental introduction of them directly into the narrative usually comes off as gratuitous to me. And anything more involved than that gets into the area of fan fiction which, again as a personal matter, is distinctly not my cup of tea.
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It's like the story that Somerset Maugham didn't write.
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I've changed the style sheet so that sans serif is the next choice after Comic Sans, and deleted cursive altogether. That should mean that the iPad will use a sans serif font. If it does, I'll eliminate cursive from our style sheets.
That fixed it for me on my iPad.
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The only reason I can think of for a non-gay disclaimer would be the hope of forestalling potential tirades from the easily-affronted. On the other hand, it's nice to expect that readers can behave like adults. Certainly the regular members here do.
I personally find the warnings that many sites use to be variously amusing and icky. Stories preceded by a litany of subjects and themes: oral, anal, mast, BDSM, frot, scat, nose-picking, littering, gluten abuse, you name it.
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I agree, a good beginning... although, I've never heard an American use the term "hard-arsed." Hard-assed, sure.
The story takes place in Sydney, Australia.
We ended up spending almost the entire morning walking the streets of inner Sydney...
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And the next chapter must have much more sex in it...
While it would be interesting to see how he'd continue the story - as he did with Alec/Sasha in the Sanitaria Springs series - I think it works perfectly as a stand-alone. I wouldn't be looking for more sex in it, though.
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You'd be surprised. For example, about 8 months ago, Warner Bros. tried very hard to stop Weinstein Films from releasing the movie The Butler because Warner Bros. had a trademark on a 1916 silent film with the same title...
That actually wasn't a trademark issue; Warner's claim was filed with the Title Registration Bureau of the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America). It's a voluntary trade organization, though as signatories, both Warner and Weinstein are bound by its rules and the decisions of its arbitrator. In the end, Weinstein agreed to change the official title of their film to "Lee Daniels' The Butler."
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Maybe they could come up with a reverse Lend-Lease Act and send some out here to California.
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I met an author!
in The Raccoon's Den
Posted
He's this guy: http://forums.awesomedude.com/index.php?showtopic=8104