Rubilacxe

Long ago for me, I was in college and had submitted a short story to our university's review board for publishing. They refused to accept it unless I changed the three tenses I used throughout the piece to one tense. There contention, which I vehemently refused to accept, was that it was too confusing for the reader and unnecessary. Time has passed, much "water over the dam"so to speak. The editors were right and I was obstinate without recourse. I'd suggest thinking about it some more remembering that the reader's ease in reading can often trump "special effects" that seem relevant to the author but not so to anyone else.

Pec, I think that your three major postings here are a primer for good writing -- excellent!

When I posed the question about using a voice to pc program to "write" a story, I knew well its issues having tried it and gave it up for the reasons already noted here. However, I hoped that someone had figured out what I could not--a way to make it work. As I think about the responses so far, it is clear that there is something that happens when finger hit the keyboard or the pencil scrawls its way through a story. Though we can not now do this, I wonder if there was a way for thought transfer to paper if that would be the "breakthrough" that is needed to make this kind of thing work. I don't really think so. There is something almost magic about how being forced to be slower as in typing or writing long hand aids the creative process in some undefined way. I think there is a synergy in putting ones fingers to keys even though it can be a painful process at times.

Des' comment brings up another question for me. Have any of you tried using voice technology such as Dragon Speaking to talk in your stories? If so, do you see it as an advantage or merely easier? Perhaps you discovered it was harder to use than the assumed result would be. Curious...

Clearly, an author without readers especially without feedback from readers is an unfulfilling universe and devoid of support. Readers without an author who encourages feedback is also an arid place. I agree with Des that perhaps another thread is needed or at least to be able to expand this one to include the needs of readership along with those or authorship. I also think that the piece that Des offered as description of what voices can do for a story was instructive. I would hope that others could similarly post items the further the discussion around the uses of voices in supporting a story.

A veritable Symphony of Words, Brandon! I find it fascinating how you alternate the imagery between the poppy and the rest of the scape. This duality is often what makes all of our authors find their step and beat as well as their voice. Thanks so much!

By any chance, has anyone ever seen or better yet can copy and paste to this thread, a table of voices and their strengths and weaknesses so that authors might view this?

Brandon, as Pecman noted in the thread Lem: While I too abhor Card's religious homophobia, he does write fiction well and these books will give you insights on how to do it/improve it.

Well put, Des! I think it would be difficult to maintain as well but I'd sure love to see Brandon try and make it work!

Cole, you are absolutely correct! No reason to ever butt out. Though my head said "prose", my olden self chose the word meaning the way it was originally used oh so long ago. In the end, I feel that the piece is a prose poem which is what I finally said after lapsing into olden speak.

In fact, Jason, evoking a comment on another 'Brandon' thread, it is a prosaic form of one of Debussy's Tone Poem musical pieces. A truly remarkable and evocative prose poem. Thanks Brandon!

Certainly Debussy's work leaned heavily on letting his creativity find its way via impressions of his aural world as opposed to his visual one. You, Brandon, use the written world to evoke a visual one as well coupled with situations that engender thoughtful musings on the part of the reader. All artists look at similes in the medium they are most familiar with. I would enjoy reading poetry that you attempt Brandon. But, whether it be poetry or prose, I'm sure the effect will be similar. The important point is to continue writing and writing and writing ...

Brandon, truly wonderfully written - a prose Debussy if you will.

I understand what Brandon is saying; however, for me I'd side more with Cole -- it's not so much I want a "nice" and "happy" ending but rather I'd prefer to feel better for having read and internalized a story/body of work then to feel I've seen a real slice of life with all its warts. I think a story such as "Discovering Love" is an example of that and so, in its own way, is "Duck, Duck, Goose".

Trab and Brandon -- very true and on target! I remember Rick's story when it was Discovering Greg but it still resonates strongly today as it did back when. Wonderfully sculpted characters who go beyond the norm in morphing into characters that you just want to hug in the end.

Very kewl!

Sudden Storm is a Coming of Age story. The protagonist goes through a life altering event which follows him throughout his life. In fact, I would say that this is one of the common threads throughout Driver's works.

I can say from personal experience that Driver always welcomed discussion about his work. Like all of us who write, he needed some affirmation that the effort was worth it, especially given what he had to personally go through over the years as a result of having written these stories. He did, however, eschew the need to dissect each story and especially to glean into his personal life which he has always held sacrosanct.

It seems to this reader that the posters are using tne "spoiler" when it is not needed. Wibby's statements and Camy's replies don't really contain "spoiler" items. They "do" discuss the central issues of Wibby's story and why he wrote it the way he did. I think that for readers, any mechanisms which make it harder for them to hear the various sides and to state their own obfuscates the purpose of a forum. Free will is a quintessential question and concept for all sentient creatures, be they human or whatever else.

I'd have to agree with Wibby. I, too, like your style but feel that more action and less paragraph length would aid the reader as well. I certainly don't want you to stop - please post more!

Interesting new story. Well crafted with just enough of Brave New World and antithesis of Animal Farm. I am reminded of a walk through St. Petersburg in the afternoon rain back in 1996. My host, a graduate of the Univ. of St. Petersburg, brought me to a walkway between several large University buildings. He stopped and said, "Can you hear them?" I listened very carefully until I heard, very faintly, howling of dogs. "They're coming from Pavlov's laboratory - it's still being used today." And so conditioning continues...

VWL did email me the last few chapters and certainly it is up to him as to whether to post them or not. I can only say, after reading them, that 46 is another amazing chapter but with breaks in it due to transcription problems between the original paper copy and what is was tramscrobed into a pdf file. Chapters 47 and 48 are even more disconnected with many breaks throughout. Personally, if I were editing this, I would end it after 46. However, the rest of you can not determine that for yourselves without reading those chapters. Denis wrote some amazing words in this tale of love disconnected and connected. His academic background is obvious throughout. I wish that he were still writing although it appears that he has dropped out of sight at this point. I have had no response from his former email adress (as of 2004) or from the owner of the website he posted in 2002 where html versions of the work were to be available (there are no such files there). Sad when such talent leaves us -- several times in the last chapters prior to 46, Denis lamented about not receiving any feedback from readers and wondered whether to continue or not. Let that be a lesson for all of us. As readers we owe it to our authors to tell them what we like (and don't like) so that they get the feedback they need to continue on. Their pay is often only what we tell them in such feedback.

Thanks for the kind offer, VWL.

Pecman, you are correct with your dates - sorry about that. As for the blog, I posted a comment and hope that the artist, a Thomas Shaw, will respond. I also went to Mr. Shaw's website as posted in Chapter 44 (http://home.comcast.net/~shawthomas/) and then sent him a private email asking the same question. It seems that Mr. Shaw was a friend of Denis and hope that he will respond. I will post what I find out. Thanks for the help.

I've just read chapters 1-45 and have found this a captivating story. It shows lots of growth of the author and of the storyline itself. My question is that the last post was Dec. 2002 and is a short posting for chapter 46 saying that the author needs to be emailed to get the html copy of the latest chapter. The url to his website is non-functioning. I have, of course, emailed the author, but have yet to receive a response and I fear that the author's email may well have changed since 2002. Does anyone know of the whereabouts of chapter 46 or more? Or of the author? Thanks.