Search found 160 matches

by JohnDurvin
November 16th, 2013, 3:06 pm
Forum: Social Media and Book Promotion
Topic: Does Social Media Make Us Nicer?
Replies: 8
Views: 6646

Re: Does Social Media Make Us Nicer?

It may depend on which social media we're talking about; I bet people that join Facebook animal rights groups are nicer than people that moderate 4chan porn discussions, for example. And sure, there's people that do nice things so they can show off how nice they are. On the other hand, just in my ex...
by JohnDurvin
November 16th, 2013, 2:55 pm
Forum: Social Media and Book Promotion
Topic: Save your social media!
Replies: 3
Views: 18273

Save your social media!

I realized a little bit ago that a lot of today's communication gets forgotten about and sent to oblivion without our thinking about it. Whether it's for research or just nostalgia, it can be really interesting to read correspondence from a long time ago; these days we can haul an old shoebox out of...
by JohnDurvin
November 16th, 2013, 2:45 pm
Forum: Procrastination
Topic: The SQUEE GOOD NEWS Thread
Replies: 356
Views: 171863

Re: The SQUEE GOOD NEWS Thread

Not exactly writing news, but I'm going back to school to get my master's degree in Library & Information Science. I'm almost done with my first semester, and I'm doing great; apparently it's all coming pretty naturally to me. The only problem is, while world-building continues (I'm up to Rowlin...
by JohnDurvin
November 16th, 2013, 2:36 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Rubik's Cube Plotting in 9 Easy Steps
Replies: 7
Views: 7036

Re: Rubik's Cube Plotting in 9 Easy Steps

Reminds me a lot of Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" but with some of the details broadened out so you don't wind up writing exactly the same story.
by JohnDurvin
September 20th, 2013, 11:42 pm
Forum: Books
Topic: like a bestiary, but with objects
Replies: 0
Views: 5665

like a bestiary, but with objects

I know most of the discussion on here is about fiction, but I'd like to know if anybody's heard of a book of any kind like this: a collection of legendary objects. I was working on organizing my books and put together my "bestiary" section, including Carol Rose's encyclopedias of monsters ...
by JohnDurvin
September 20th, 2013, 11:31 pm
Forum: Procrastination
Topic: Checking and catching up and I've missed you!
Replies: 3
Views: 9400

Re: Checking and catching up and I've missed you!

I agree with a lot of the article, but I disagree with number three--I don't see any reason why your fictional equivalent of Belgians should be an accurate representation of Belgians. That's the whole reason why I world-build, personally; I don't want to have to work within the framework of existing...
by JohnDurvin
June 10th, 2013, 1:02 pm
Forum: Procrastination
Topic: Grammer Jokes
Replies: 2
Views: 14160

Grammer Jokes

Come on, you all know you know some.

For example, I know you're not supposed to end sentences with prepositional phrases, but ain't nobody time for that got.
by JohnDurvin
April 4th, 2013, 5:55 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Accuracy in Inspiration
Replies: 4
Views: 5144

Re: Accuracy in Inspiration

Another tip: make sure the culture is actually extinct. Do a web search for a "___ heritage" group, maybe even get in touch with them. I mention this because a friend of mine once went to an Indian pow-wow (a sort of heritage festival for any and all Native American groups, for those of yo...
by JohnDurvin
March 22nd, 2013, 10:01 am
Forum: Books
Topic: What type of reader are you?
Replies: 6
Views: 5468

Re: What type of reader are you?

My girlfriend is totally a hate-reader. I caught her reading the Twilight series and for a while there, she kept telling me she enjoyed it because it was so bad, the way many of us enjoy things like "Plan 9 from Outer Space". Eventually she admitted she was really enjoying it.
by JohnDurvin
March 18th, 2013, 8:30 pm
Forum: Procrastination
Topic: Readings...In-Person Events
Replies: 2
Views: 8972

Re: Readings...In-Person Events

Since it's been a while since Ryan posted this and nobody's said anything, I don't feel bad veering the conversation a little bit--anybody have experience doing this kind of thing, readings and author talks and that kind of thing? It's majorly early for me to be thinking about doing them, but a loca...
by JohnDurvin
February 21st, 2013, 9:47 am
Forum: Books
Topic: What are you reading now?
Replies: 528
Views: 307862

Re: What are you reading now?

I know I'm supposed to be reading new books, but I seem to be getting into the early parts of the cosmic horror genre--Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, all those guys. This isn't good, because my WIP really doesn't need to be influenced by them--Huck Finn and Paul Bunyan don't need to go on a dream-qu...
by JohnDurvin
January 27th, 2013, 10:39 pm
Forum: Procrastination
Topic: Appropriate Convention Costumes
Replies: 0
Views: 6887

Appropriate Convention Costumes

I know it's not for a while, but my girlfriend and I will be going to DragonCon this year, and we definitely want to dress up somehow. Neither of us has any idea what to do, and I raised some weird suggestions that got shouted down as not being from the "right kind" of movies. Is that real...
by JohnDurvin
January 25th, 2013, 9:56 pm
Forum: Excerpts
Topic: untitled retail humor (600 words)
Replies: 2
Views: 11290

untitled retail humor (600 words)

This isn't the beginning of the story (around 2500 words), but it's the beginning of the main conversation. The story is a character sketch of a young lady with a retail job, and just how miserable it is to work there. The dialog between Tatiana and the Grunnah is a compilation of real conversations...
by JohnDurvin
January 24th, 2013, 2:07 pm
Forum: Self-Publishing
Topic: Shared World E-Shorts and Published Novel
Replies: 0
Views: 2546

Shared World E-Shorts and Published Novel

Sorry if the title's a little compacted, but I had to fit it all in there...I've got this idea that I'd like to run by everybody. For a while now, I've been world-building for a series of YA novels that are essentially fantasy, but based on American folklore instead of European--robber barons instea...
by JohnDurvin
January 19th, 2013, 11:13 pm
Forum: Procrastination
Topic: What's The Worst Insult You've Ever Heard?
Replies: 1
Views: 7743

What's The Worst Insult You've Ever Heard?

For me, it's Wisconsin newspaper editor and Southern sympathizer Marcus M. Pomeroy calling Abraham Lincoln "fungus from the corrupt womb of bigotry and fanaticism". It's disgusting--the combination of "fungus" and "womb" in a sentence together creates an especially disg...