Search found 10 matches

by smasover
March 6th, 2011, 1:46 pm
Forum: Ask Nathan
Topic: Posting sketches from work-in-progress?
Replies: 2
Views: 1617

Re: Posting sketches from work-in-progress?

Thanks Nathan, much appreciated...
by smasover
March 2nd, 2011, 11:47 am
Forum: Ask Nathan
Topic: Posting sketches from work-in-progress?
Replies: 2
Views: 1617

Posting sketches from work-in-progress?

Hi Nathan, I'm toying with the idea of posting fiction-in-progress on my blog -- specifically, short sketches that I write in the course of developing my current, nascent novel project. I'd pick and choose bits I thought would stand up as something approaching short-short fiction. Some of these migh...
by smasover
January 21st, 2011, 10:51 am
Forum: Books
Topic: China Mieville THE CITY AND THE CITY
Replies: 13
Views: 14076

Re: China Mieville THE CITY AND THE CITY

I thought Mieville's novel was terrific, and I was kind of surprised because I don't usually read the genre that this novel (kinda sorta) fits. Mieville's characters are socialized & coerced to ignore what is "taboo" but directly in front of them, which is profoundly weird until one re...
by smasover
November 27th, 2010, 12:13 am
Forum: Writing
Topic: So you want to write a novel
Replies: 8
Views: 6116

So you want to write a novel

Have folks seen this yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9fc-crEFDw???
by smasover
October 27th, 2010, 3:29 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Present Tense
Replies: 10
Views: 3882

Re: Present Tense

My current novel project shifts between present and past tense -- the principal plot (and a vast majority of the chapters/pages) in past tense, the sub-plot in present. This has mattered to some readers, others haven't even noticed -- presumably because the sprinkling of present tense isn't so awful...
by smasover
October 22nd, 2010, 8:16 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Are there any tried and true rules about prologues?
Replies: 10
Views: 3056

Re: Are there any tried and true rules about prologues?

I don't suppose there are any rules about writing that apply universally. Nathan's opinion is a matter of record. Worth reading, I think...
by smasover
October 22nd, 2010, 8:11 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Crowd-sourced Editing
Replies: 8
Views: 3551

Re: Crowd-sourced Editing

I ended up blogging about this and a friend responded with a link to a related, equally fascinating instance of crowd-sourced editing: Planned Obsolecence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy by Kathleen Fitzpatrick. This one is a sort of open-ended, on-line peer review for an acad...
by smasover
October 18th, 2010, 3:12 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Do you listen to music? What motivates your muse?
Replies: 14
Views: 4689

Re: Do you listen to music? What motivates your muse?

I need quiet to compose. Thinking through plot lines, problems, even editing sometimes, I like to hang out in public spaces, usually cafes, and if the music is something that doesn't pull at my attention it's sometimes helpful (baroque classical, opera, lyrics in a language I don't understand, are b...
by smasover
October 15th, 2010, 11:51 am
Forum: Writing
Topic: Beta readers - when and who?
Replies: 9
Views: 2901

Re: Beta readers - when and who?

I choose my beta-readers carefully. I like to have a variety of ages, both sexes, people who read books like the one I'm asking them to read & people who read something else, people who are writers & people who are not. I also take care about asking for feedback only when I think my mss. is ...
by smasover
October 15th, 2010, 9:18 am
Forum: Writing
Topic: Crowd-sourced Editing
Replies: 8
Views: 3551

Crowd-sourced Editing

Rafael Lima is an author, screenwriter, and lecturer at University of Miami in Ohio. He's been selling a draft of his novel-in-progress on Amazon for $0.99 (as an e-book for the Kindle) in order to "crowd-source" responses that he has been using to refine his manuscript. I get terrific val...