Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Reading Excuses => Topic started by: AvalonDreamer on November 17, 2008, 10:09:00 AM
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So we can get a feel of what kind of a mix we have going here, since I know it isn't going to be the idealistic "even across the board".
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Well, my stuff is epic fantasy. You could even classify it as Military Fantasy, I guess. So, I put down "Fantasy", "War", and war sort of implies "Action", so I put that down, too.
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Mine's romance, fantasy... and that's pretty much it. It's really tame actually.
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Um, I write mostly fantasy. Which implies action and adventure, I guess. (At least, that's what I keep telling myself.) Except sometimes I write mainstream fiction. Oh, and I've got a couple of science fiction stories waiting to happen...
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I write mainly fantasy, though I dabble in scifi and even a little in horror lately.
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I write military science fiction and occasionally a bit of fantasy here or there.
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My stuff is fantasy and mystery, but mystery doesn't get a vote. Sniff.
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I am all over the board when I write, but the piece I'm currently working on will be a fantasy adventure. Actually, it is my take on a Magic Girl team as they get started.
There will be some mild romance, mostly towards the end, (not sure how well I'm going to pull that off) but on a whole it is going to be about the main character growing and learning to deal with the changes and trials he/she goes through.
Funny thing about a Magic Girl team, after you join, it wants you to be a girl. Opps, guess the other members never though about that before they asked him to join. ;)
I may also submit a super hero genre story after I get done with that. I have that already written, it could probably use a look and a thorough trashing.
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Mines a sort of sci-fi/fantasy, and it has a fair amount of action.
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Lol, it looks like our predominant genres are becoming rather clear.
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Yes, and sadly it looks like I'm really in the minority here.
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Looking at the poll, it seems we are all in very good company. Our works may be different in some respects, but they could be similar in others. This process, I think, will go over very well.
Variety is good. I can't tell you how happy it makes me that not everyone is doing epic fantasy, and instead are doing other stuff than the things I write. That's fantastic. With our power combined, surely our powers shall increase tenfold!
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Don't worry too badly, you'll be a commodity for some of us. I know my book is going to have a few romantic undertones at certain parts, and I'd be honored if a romance author was on hand to give an opinion about them. ^^
@Chaos:
GO PLANET!
*Captain Planet song starts to play*
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@Chaos:
GO PLANET!
*Captain Planet song starts to play*
I was just about to say the same exact thing!
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Ooh, I'm a commodity now! How exciting! I hope the price of Myself doesn't go down like the rest of the economy, though.
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*smacks Chaos*
You post-sniped me. The part that's at you was for you, before was for RainboRose.
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It's okay, Avalon. Just take deep breaths and you'll be fine. In... and out...
(Conversely, you could do Darth Vader breathing sounds, but I don't know if that's a calming measure. You might just crack up laughing if you did that for five minutes straight)
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It's a good thing this board isn't kosher, because you, Chaos, are far too much of a ham.
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*Captain Planet song starts to play*
I started singing that the other night and realized I knew all the lyrics. -_-
I picked Adventure Fantasy.
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I ended up picking 5. Action, Adventure, Romance, Horror, and Fantasy.
I mean, I have elements of all five in my writing so far.
I've had my main character (him) married by surprise, meet her parents, abducted, sent to hell, fall in love with another woman, watch that woman die, and kill a giant amphibian; and that's only half way through.
Rife with Vampires, shape-shifters, magic, and Love ;D
And it seems to be coming across as a comedy as well...go figure.
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Well, I guess that mine has elements of horror in it, too, just by the nature of the beast.
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It seems--at least from the people I've spoken to--that a lot of writers are Genre braking now.
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Yes, and sadly it looks like I'm really in the minority here.
I also have a pure romance that is on the back burner right now. I am working on it with my wife, but she is dragging her feet.
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Well, that makes me feel a lot better. I mean, mine does have a plot outside of the romance, but everything is driven by the romance (either between my mc and her li, or else by the two people in the arranged marriage.)
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I might be weird, but I've found that when I started writing in a female POV I began to write more about romance or at least that was the effect that came out of it and into the story.
Your not entirely alone! ;D
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I almost went on a feminism rant (because all that female chars think about is romance...) along the lines of my earlier talking-primate-rights rant... I apologize to each of you in the alternate universe that it ended up happening.
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Well, I'm sure the other me was either laughing hard, or else got into a great big debate with you. As long as you don't hate romance around here, I don't think I really mind.
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I almost went on a feminism rant (because all that female chars think about is romance...) along the lines of my earlier talking-primate-rights rant... I apologize to each of you in the alternate universe that it ended up happening.
Sorry. I didn't mean to imply that all women think about romance--just that character of mine--nor was I trying to be sexist. I apologize if I've offended.
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Necroben, my good rocker, no offense was taken - none save that which was feigned far enough for a sad attempt at comedy.
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Do I have to give up my man card if I admit that I read my wife's romance novels after she is done with them?
She tends to read supernatural romance and I kind of like it too.
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I would say no, but then again I would also not know about this strange phanomina which is the "man card". In fact, I would say that your wife is very lucky, because most of the female friends I know what a guy who is willing to read romance books as well.
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The man card is very sacred. One can no longer pee standing up if it is revoked. ;)
I have a book I bought but am afraid to read. It is about Christmas and everything I have heard so far, you end up just bawling by the end. Not sure I'm up for that just now.
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Aww. I like books that make me bawl.
Well, as long as they make me bawl because they're good books.
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While I don't strictly endorse the Romance genre, I like books that pull out emotion - when I was younger and I read the last of the Animorphs books, I cried a little.
As for the Man Card, it's a heated subject of debate, though I personally follow the Dr. Cox "You get 5, then you are dead to all of men-kind." school of thought on the matter.
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Wait, what? Five what? (fear not, Raethe being confused is a fairly normal state of affairs...)
I don't oppose romance in any way. I just don't read it. And I don't think there's anything wrong with having romance drive your characters forward/through plot points/whatever, to whoever said that. (It's past midnight, my memory's going.)
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Dr. Cox is a character from Scrubs in one episode, he was talking the hapless, effeminate JD and handed him five 'man cards'. Each time JD did something stupid or unmanly, he lost one - the penalty for losing all five was to be considered dead to all men-kind.
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I usually write fantasy, it is neither epic nor urban just something...odd. I also like space opera sci-fi with epic themes. All of it shaded more dark with few happy endings.
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I normally write either fantasy or sci-fi. My current book is a futuristic fantasy....But technology-wise it's not really futuristic. Just time-wise. It's about people with powers. Kind of like super powers, but not really. They form a group that is similar to x-men, and yet not at the same time (that's the best comparison I know of)....I really like the idea but I haven't written a whole lot lately. I can guarantee I'm going to fail NaNoWriMo miserably....
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Don't say that! I haven't written much either - only about 4300 words since the start of November - I still figure I can make 50k if I work my rear off. And, uhh, ignore homework for the next two weeks.
That's okay, though. It's not like there's ever anything important due at the end of the semester.
...
Right?
*cough*
Space opera is a funny genre. Space oooooooperaaaaaa!
Ahem.
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7200 from last friday. I'm a bit behind schedule, though. I'm trying to grind out a solid 4000/ day (about a chapter, I hoped), and it's not going well.
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Yeah...Uh. I've got barely 2,000. And I'm going home this weekend for Thanksgiving week. I don't get a whole lot done when I go home. I know this from lots of experience, and I doubt this will be any different.
Plus, I'm just not really in a "writing my own stuff" kind of mood right now. I'm in a "reading Brandon Sanderson books" kind of mood.....I've spent so much time this past week and half reading, it's insane. And I'm getting more and more sleep-deprived. Apparently that happens when you go to sleep past 3 am most nights, and wake up at 7....Who'd a thunk, right?
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Haha. 3am-7am sleeping hours sounds more or less normal to me.
Yeah, I don't know how much writing I'm going to be able to get done in the next little while either. My proffs keep like... assigning me homework! What the heck's up with that?
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I don't know. It's dumb. My school-ethic is horrible. I slack-off, cram, slack-off, and cram some more....It's not the best way. But it DOES make for some interesting semesters.
And that time frame was conservative. Last Tuesday, it was about 5am. Wed about 2, Thursday not sure, Friday about 4, Saturday about 4:30, Sunday it was 5, and yesterday it was great! I went to sleep at almost 1!...Unfortunately, this morning was worse than yesterday. How does that work? I got six hours of sleep, and yesterday I got 2 and a half (I slept for an hour between two of my classes), and today I'm more exhausted....It's so weird.
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Do I have to give up my man card if I admit that I read my wife's romance novels after she is done with them?
She tends to read supernatural romance and I kind of like it too.
I will go out on a limb, and say no. If its done in the privacy of your own home. ;)
That way no one can prove it! Haha!
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Please allow me to stir this pot (slightly): I write screenplays. I have written prose, but what I'm working on and plan to submit is, well, screenplays. This is not su much a division of genre, but more in format.
I only bring this up because not everyone is used to reading scripts, plays, etc.
So I suppose the question is: would it be worth split in the readers' list by format? Those who are willing to read scripts or novels? Or simply prefer short stories?
Just curious what other think.
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I think if we tried to split into groups based on medium we would be WAY skewed towards fiction, and guessing from the comments we've had so far from this bunch, probably mostly towards long fiction. I have a hard time envisioning making that work, and I'd still rather we stay away from subgroups if at all possible.
Fiction writers can give perfectly adequate critiques of screenplays, I think; we all have narrative and dialogue in common. You might want to take our critiques on the other aspects of screenwriting with a grain of salt.
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As I said, we can approach writing academically between genres. Alpha Readers tell us if they like or dislike the story, and if the genre you're reading happens to be one you like, then you're an alpha reader, and a peer reviewer; if not, then don't bash it for being from a genre you hate, just look at it's merits as a piece of writing and try to be fair.
I.e. I have a massive dislike of Anne McCaffery, for stylistic reasons. I can admit that from an academic PoV, it's sound and good writing, even though I don't like the theme of the story itself.
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Please allow me to stir this pot (slightly): I write screenplays. I have written prose, but what I'm working on and plan to submit is, well, screenplays. This is not su much a division of genre, but more in format.
I only bring this up because not everyone is used to reading scripts, plays, etc.
So I suppose the question is: would it be worth split in the readers' list by format? Those who are willing to read scripts or novels? Or simply prefer short stories?
Just curious what other think.
I've been in school plays before, and I've read plays, too. I don't think they are too difficult to follow, so you should submit the screenplay/script just like any other piece of writing here. Writing is writing, and basic elements of fiction like character, plot, and setting are just as prevalent in screenplays. We can give you feedback on that sort of stuff, easy.
However, if you format something wrong in the screenplay style (for example, not italicizing an action somewhere), it's less likely that any of us, not having written scripts, would catch such a mistake. After reading your bio, though, I don't think you would need to worry about that, since you have plenty of experience in the area.
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Honestly, I don't see a problem with the screenplay. I was actually told by (Dave Farland I think it was. Whoever wrote the mice books) said that one of the best ways to pratice is to write a screen play because you're forced to focus on the plot and getting it done. I still haven't taken him up on that suggestion, but I think that's mostly because I'm really depressed about losing One Messed-Up Faerie Tale.
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A slight clarification: though my resume may sound impressive, poverty has rendered my film career null and void. I don't think shooting wedding videos or the occasional industrial film doesn't exactly make me all that 'experienced.'
But self-deprecation as side, I am more than confident in my screenplay formating. I learned much from my first script in which I over-formated and included descriptions for just about every camera movement. Eek!
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I honestly don't know what genres I write, but I like making magic systems and having non-human characters, so fantasy and sci-fi are my favorites.
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Oh, I am devious…
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...How?
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You can't just say something like that and leave us hanging!
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Using my powers of deductive reasoning, I was able to deduce that he voted for every genre on there. :D
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You can't just say something like that and leave us hanging!
Oh, but he can!
He just did, after all. ::)
Haha. I had just figured that the devious-ness was in posting that and not telling us to what he was referring. ::)
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Huh. Waddaya know? A plot twist! Didn't see that coming...
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But you can only vote for 5....
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Ah, but if you're a fancy admin I'm sure you could hack the system long enough to do something insanely devious like that.