Search found 31 matches

by lac582
October 8th, 2019, 6:37 pm
Forum: Nominate Your Query or First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Topic: NEW - Nominate Your Query for a Critique on the Blog
Replies: 152
Views: 124404

Re: NEW - Nominate Your Query for a Critique on the Blog

Dear [Agent], Reggie Kaplan is a Conjurer--one of a rare cohort who possess a telekinetic ability to manipulate atoms and molecules, and who are conscripted into public service converting waste into resources for communities across the nation. After violating Guild law by accidentally injuring anoth...
by lac582
September 7th, 2019, 5:11 pm
Forum: Nominate Your Query or First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Topic: NEW - Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Replies: 207
Views: 178020

Re: NEW - Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog

Title: The Conjurers Genre: Sci-Fi Reggie Kaplan had finally gotten her son down for a nap not ten minutes earlier and was eight clues deep into the daily crossword when the inspectors knocked. Same as always--three booms with the fist followed by a cheery knuckle rap--a command glossed with entreat...
by lac582
March 2nd, 2011, 12:01 am
Forum: Writing
Topic: This is going to bother me...
Replies: 12
Views: 4095

Re: This is going to bother me...

Thank you, Polymath. You make me feel so validated :)

Play-by-play first person narration drives me batty, and is a major reason I have trouble getting drawn into a lot of YA.
by lac582
January 22nd, 2011, 1:44 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: is there a novel in there or did i just do a short story?
Replies: 6
Views: 2660

Re: is there a novel in there or did i just do a short story?

What I think it comes down to is: at what length can the heart of what you're trying to tell be done in a dramatically satisfying way? The heart is that spark that compelled you to write in the first place. Was it a character? A theme? I don't know what genre you're writing in, but take, for example...
by lac582
January 22nd, 2011, 1:07 pm
Forum: Books
Topic: Steampunk Recommendations
Replies: 12
Views: 4208

Re: Steampunk Recommendations

"The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson. Not his best, but his closest to Steampunk.
by lac582
January 22nd, 2011, 12:46 pm
Forum: Books
Topic: China Mieville THE CITY AND THE CITY
Replies: 13
Views: 14079

Re: China Mieville THE CITY AND THE CITY

Like others, I've only read the sample chapters of "The City and the City", but when I was on vacation a few months ago "Perdido Street Station" was the first novel I read on my Kindle, as well as my first time reading Urban Fantasy, and it blew me away. I plowed through it. I wa...
by lac582
August 11th, 2010, 11:14 pm
Forum: Books
Topic: Your favorite first-person novels
Replies: 12
Views: 4212

Re: Your favorite first-person novels

I second the previous mentions of 'A Handmaid's Tale' and 'Lolita'. Although I haven't read it since high school, I remember really enjoying the Quention section of 'The Sound and the Fury' as well. I tend to have a lower tolerance for first-person narrative. I'm not a big fan of YA, and I think the...
by lac582
August 4th, 2010, 11:04 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Do we have any screenplay writers in our midst?
Replies: 6
Views: 3069

Re: Do we have any screenplay writers in our midst?

My current WIP is my first novel. I studied screenwriting in school, and at first found it really hard to un-train myself of the constraints of screenwriting. My biggest challenge was learning that it's ok to go into the character's head, since in screenplays it's a no-no to describe anything that c...
by lac582
June 14th, 2010, 10:16 pm
Forum: Finding An Agent
Topic: Is this a partial request?
Replies: 11
Views: 4576

Re: Is this a partial request?

I am nowhere near this far in the process, but I was always under the impression that a partial was a couple of chapters, not just a few pages.
by lac582
June 13th, 2010, 12:11 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: When the first draft is done - what next?
Replies: 12
Views: 4972

Re: When the first draft is done - what next?

I haven't finished my first draft yet - and I will likely launch straight into revisions - but once I have a polished enough version to kick out to beta readers I will likely work on a short story. It depends on your genre (mine's Science Fiction), but I have a short story idea on the backburner and...
by lac582
June 13th, 2010, 12:05 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Plotters/Outliners - do you plan your exposition?
Replies: 16
Views: 6048

Re: Plotters/Outliners - do you plan your exposition?

Thanks for the responses everyone! I guess I'm a perfectionist. I keep stopping myself as I write the first draft and reworking the plot - including when certain 'pieces of the puzzle' need to be dribbled out. :)
by lac582
June 10th, 2010, 12:30 am
Forum: Writing
Topic: Plotters/Outliners - do you plan your exposition?
Replies: 16
Views: 6048

Plotters/Outliners - do you plan your exposition?

I'm curious - for those of you who outline before you write, do you only outline the plot or do you also plan in advance when and how you're going to reveal your exposition? My WIP is science fiction and I'm struggling with slowly peeling off the layers of worldbuilding in "show" vs. neces...
by lac582
June 9th, 2010, 11:24 pm
Forum: Nominate Your Query or First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Topic: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Replies: 720
Views: 451899

Re: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog

Title: Apotheosis Genre: Science Fiction Word Count: 257 (is there some margin? Didn't want to cut off mid-sentence) There had always been people who mistrusted the doctors, avoided them, feared them. Men who had convinced themselves that taking care of oneself was a greater sign of weakness than a ...
by lac582
May 30th, 2010, 2:27 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: The rules of "stronger" writing... lol?
Replies: 52
Views: 18387

Re: The rules of "stronger" writing... lol?

I also think there is a distinction in using adverbs in description vs. using adverbs as part of dialogue tags. I think it's the latter that feels like lazier, or weaker, writing. There's a 'no dialogue tags other than said' rule, and the use of adverbs therein seems to add insult to injury for a lo...
by lac582
May 29th, 2010, 12:54 pm
Forum: Finding An Agent
Topic: REVISION SUGGESTIONS FROM AGENT
Replies: 7
Views: 3161

Re: REVISION SUGGESTIONS FROM AGENT

Some friends are suggesting that I ought to be asking for a contract at this point and saying they would refuse to do any more gratis work, that the agent should provide me with an editor to help. I just wonder what you, as an agent, think about that. I'm not an agent, nor have even begun querying ...