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Messages - Mishell

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Author Craft / Re: Grammar
« on: October 05, 2011, 12:39:44 AM »
Assuming you're beyond the basics, Strunk & White's Elements of Style is a classic.  It deals with some more advanced grammar subjects as well as just making writing more crisp and powerful.

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watch out for train headlights.

I should have heeded your warning.

I was supposed to finish my novel yesterday.  Instead, my 2-year-old got a stomach virus.  I haven't slept in two nights.  Now my parents are in town.  AAAAAAAAAAAUGH.

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I'm an old-fashioned sort; I won't be self-publishing.  I believe in division of labor (it's what pulled us out of the stone age after all!).  I believe that people train and work hard to become agents, publishers, editors, etc., and that they have specialized skills and knowledge and deserve their pay.  I also don't try to sell my own house, cut my own hair, fix my own car.  I'm just that kind of person.  I want to do what I do best (write) and leave the publicity to publicists, the design to designers, etc.

If a publisher doesn't pick up my book, I'll just assume it's not a good fit for today's marketplace, and write another, and try again.  It's not so important that My Words Get Out There that I am willing to forgo the security of a second and third opinion on their quality.

That said, at some point in the future when I'm flush with cash, I may self-publish some self-help stuff that I don't want to make money on and just want to share with family/friends.  Personal experiences etc., life lessons learned, stuff most people wouldn't care about but would still be nice to have in an attractive package.

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The Bar / Re: Edumacation And Enlearnment
« on: September 12, 2011, 01:49:03 PM »
College dropout here!  Continually self-educated though.  Also, a graduate of the Clarion writing workshop!

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I have passed the 75% mark in my current novel (first draft).  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel from here!

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Have been doing well with my 2K a day!  Have not missed a day yet.  Will break 60,000 words today!

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Author Craft / Re: First verses Third
« on: August 19, 2011, 09:11:05 PM »
I ask myself, is this story being told by me, or by my character?  If it's the latter, I use first person.

Once I had to use first person in a short story because there was no appropriate gender pronoun to use for the main character in 3rd.   :o

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Author Craft / Re: How do YOU plan your stories?
« on: August 19, 2011, 09:07:01 PM »
I am horrible at finding things on big sites like this - can someone point me to the blog mentioned in the first post?

As for my plan, I've adapted it from the various screenwriting books/seminars that I have been to.  I have five major "turning points" in the story and know at around what word count they should appear.  The rest I've been planning on a very basic level day-to-day by looking at the larger structure, looking at where I am in the word count, and writing what seems the most urgent thing that needs to happen en route to the next turning point.

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Hi everybody!  I've been trying to write 2,000 words a day on my novel.  Am just finishing up week 3, and have amassed 35,800 words or thereabouts.  I am typing this and patting myself on the back instead of writing today's 2,000.  Just FYI.

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Author Craft / Re: Published Author On Board
« on: August 07, 2011, 12:33:41 AM »
I wasn't sure whether to introduce myself as an author in progress or a published author.  I've yet to publish a novel, but have sold 4 short stories and am a member of SFWA.  You can read stories of mine here, here, and here, and the fourth one's out later this year in Electric Velocipede.  I'm in the process of writing an urban fantasy novel now, which is what brings me into Jim Butcher's orbit.  That, and I interviewed him a couple weeks ago for the Clarion Blog.

Nice to meet everyone!

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