I admit that I could be wrong about production costs. Having said that; I lost my taste for broadcast television years ago. I would rather see the franchise go to the theaters the way Star Trek has gone. The publicity for movies would generate more interest in the Dresden Files books, as well as Jim's other works.

Game of Thrones is a huge point in the other direction; with the airing and success of the TV show, the books jumped back on the bestseller list and have stayed there.

Hey, I'm not a TV fan, either—I could easily go a month without seeing any TV and not miss it. But I have to admit that there are some things that have made the small screen that are quite pleasing to watch, and GoT is one of them. In fact, I have to admit that I like the show better than the books.

So long as it works, and in this case I think it does.

Personally, and maybe this is from my attempt to write a PG/PG13 book, I think you can use alternate words like.  If you are getting so frustrated you want to take a two-by-four and pound someones melon like head until juices start coming out..., or you can go straight to Hades if that's your path but I suggest.  Or sweet crying...

I agree the F-bombs and H's can get through to some that can't be reached otherwise.  But if you are a word smith.... Like with my Amazon E-book helper post.  You can hold them by the jacket and kick them in the pants at the appropriate moments until they get motivated, without necessarily crawling into the verbal gutter and rolling around.

That said, perhaps I am creating a mountain=molehill situation.  Since I honestly wasn't offended or upset or anything by what I read, which from looking at my response so far I can see how I might come across as.  Let me just finish by saying, I hope his post helped some people.  It takes all types and all types of messages and communication formats.

If even one prospective author was helped and winds up putting out a book I will read and enjoy then his work is worthy and should be out there.

Just come on man, your a word smith, so smith some alternates language already!  Show us some of those skills!




The Deposed King

The "keep it clean" stuff is a purely artificial stricture, one that actually limits a writer unnecessarily if they're targeting the audience who wouldn't be fauxffended by that language anyway. I've read Chuck's writing, and there's a verisimilitude in it that is vastly different from that of writers who force themselves to stay away from the blue.

In some ways, writing blue is even more difficult, as the basic vocabulary pool is actually kind of limited (if you're sticking to the blue as much as possible, that is). It takes a skilled writer to find precisely the right blue phrasing every time.

In the end, one thing I've seen from Chuck is that you find your own balance between audience and writing what you want to write. He's found his, and it works: much of his audience has commented on social media that his vocabulary is very un-limiting and visceral.

Chuck's got some fine brainstuffs. The key is that he's offering his own personal experiences; writing is ultimately an individual thing, so you're the one who has to decide what parts do and don't work for you.

To answer the OP: it depends on the author. There's an entire continuum of what authors need/want from betas, from pure mechanics to thematic analysis/critique and everywhere in between.

I was under the impression that he’s an active reader in this forum.

But your right. I guess I’ll write him an e-mail.

What Richard says; he's extremely busy and only gets to duck his head in here under extreme circumstances.

Fred is fantastic at responding and helping out. My copy started falling apart recently too, and Evil Hat's already sending me a new one. I'm telling all my friends about how awesome they are.

It's nice to have a company so dedicated to customer service!

Be sure and tell Fred that. Not only do they personally like hearing compliments (who doesn't?), it lets them know what they're doing RIGHT, which is just as important as knowing what they're doing wrong. And, to be practical, doing what you can to reinforce behaviors you like helps YOU out in the long run.

Yup, that's the kind of guy he is.