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Messages - Eric James Stone

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166
Writing Group / Re: Politics and Writing
« on: February 20, 2006, 04:22:01 PM »
The story I sold to Analog showed some of my political biases.  In fact, before accepting the story, Stan Schmidt asked me to make the "enviros" less sterotypical, so I put in a scene where the hero interacts with a reasonably sane environmentalist.  (In fact, I have the hero make a mistake by letting his anger toward environmentalists lead him to ignore advice from the reasonable one.)

Obviously, it is possible to sell stories that show political bias.  Depending on your political leanings, there are some markets that might be friendlier and some... um... enemylier.


167
Eric James Stone / Re: Screenplay formatting
« on: February 15, 2006, 02:51:22 PM »
Nice to know someone appreciates a bad pun.

168
Stephanie Fowers / Re: The Challenge of the Query letter
« on: February 15, 2006, 02:19:14 AM »
Well, I've printed everything out for my submission.  All I need is to go down to the Post Office tomorrow morning, buy a stamp for the SASE and whatever the postage is on the large envelope, and I'm all set.

Thanks for your feedback on the letter, synopsis, and sample pages.  It was very helpful as I did my revising this evening.  And thanks for posting this challenge -- I'd probably still be procrastinating if you hadn't.

169
Stephanie Fowers / Re: Conspiracy Theories
« on: February 15, 2006, 12:59:54 AM »
Quote
Sure hope the BYU FEDS aren't monitoring this site.

Brother Big is watching you.

170
Eric James Stone / Analog giveaway
« on: February 14, 2006, 06:38:54 PM »
At LTUE's pre-symposium reception tomorrow night, I will have some copies of the September 2005 issue of Analog (the one with my story.)  I'll give some away to the first few people who tell me they are on TWG.  I'll sign it, and since Kevin J. Anderson has a story in that issue, maybe you can get him to sign it, too.

171
Eric James Stone / Re: Seattle signing February 10
« on: February 13, 2006, 09:42:08 PM »
Hope you're feeling better.

172
Stephanie Fowers / Re: Conspiracy Theories
« on: February 13, 2006, 10:46:31 AM »
I swear the following is true, because it happened to me.

For a church history class at BYU, I did a report on the Urim and Thummim.  One of the sources I used was Lucy Mack Smith's history, in which she described something Joseph had told her about the Urim and Thummim.  (It's been a few years, so I don't recall exactly what it was.)  I had to access that book through the BYU Library's rare books collection, which meant I couldn't take it from the room.

Anyway, after I had finished the research and was writing the paper, I decided I needed to double-check something in that book.  So I went back to the rare books collection and requested the book.  I was given a different edition of the book -- and the passage about the Urim and Thummim was missing.

Obviously, there was a conspiracy to keep me from writing that paper, but I bravely wrote it anyway.

173
Writing Group / Re: Creepy Antagonists
« on: February 12, 2006, 11:36:57 PM »
If you want nasty-creepy, I suggest some variation on "I'm doing this for your own good."  (Cheesy example: "I'm sorry to have to torture you to death, but you're becoming part of something greater: me.")

174
Writing Group / Re: Creepy Antagonists
« on: February 12, 2006, 07:24:14 PM »
Quote
Creepy characters do creepy things.

That pretty much pegs it.

Now, in my mind there's a difference between "creepy" and "truly nasty," which means a character can be creepy without being truly nasty.  (Of course, it's possible to be both.)

As a quick example, a stalker can be creepy even if he never actually harms anyone.  On the other hand, a mobster can be truly nasty without being creepy.

So perhaps you don't need to have your character do anything truly nasty.  If you just have him do things that make him weirdly obsessed, that might be "creepy" enough.

175
Eric James Stone / Re: Seattle signing February 10
« on: February 12, 2006, 07:07:20 PM »
The panel discussion part went well, especially since Jay Lake was there to be a moderator/leader.  There were some very good questions from the audience.  That took up most of the time.

As far as the signing part itself, there wasn't all that much to do.  I signed a couple of books, and that was it.

The real highlight of the event was actually before the event, when Ken, David, Jay and I had dinner with a few other people.  It's fun to sit around with other people in the genre and talk about writing.

176
Eric James Stone / Re: Screenplay formatting
« on: February 12, 2006, 06:54:33 PM »
Unfortunately, discrimination against platypoda is endemic to the entertainment industry.  Among egg-laying species, dinosaurs probably get the most respect, followed closely by birds (penguins are very hot right now). Reptiles' reputation for cold-bloodedness doesn't endear them to anyone, but they are still respected (although a lot of people still look down on them.)  Fish didn't get much respect at all until Finding Nemo, although sharks made a good niche for themselves in the horror genre after Jaws.

But if you're an egg-laying mammal?  Forget about it.  I've got a good friend who's a platypus, and he actually got a fairly good part in a movie a few years back.  He thought everything was great until he saw the final credits.  In the cast list, it showed his part as being played by "A Duck."  It turned out that there's a blacklist against movies with a platypus in the cast, so the producers got around that by billing him as a member of a different species.

Since then, such cross-species trickery has become quite common, but my friend was the original duck-billed platypus.

177
Eric James Stone / Re: Screenplay formatting
« on: February 11, 2006, 12:28:36 PM »
I just hope you can come up with a fresh take on the hoary old "undead kleptomaniac robot" cliche.

178
Rants and Stuff / Re: How the heck do you buy a new car?
« on: February 08, 2006, 01:12:12 AM »
My grandfather bought a new Kia a few years ago.  From what I understand, it's had quite a few problems.

One of my brothers has owned Hyundais for a few years.  He's been very satisfied with the quality.  And from what I've read, he's not alone.  In recent years, Hyundai has made a huge turnaround in their quality.

179
Writing Group / Orson Scott Card's Literary Boot Camp 2006
« on: February 07, 2006, 01:06:14 AM »
The dates have been announced for this year's edition of Orson Scott Card's writing workshop.

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Uncle Orson's Writing Class and Literary Boot Camp
Uncle Orson's Writing Class   /   June 12-13, 2006   /   $175.00
         This seminar is open to novice and experienced writers alike. Students in Uncle Orson's Writing class take part in two days of discussions, lectures, and idea sessions, right along with participants in the Literary Boot Camp.
         Uncle Orson's Writing Class and Literary Boot Camp is for writers of any kind of fiction, and even valuable for screenwriters and playwrights.

Literary Boot Camp   /   June 12-17, 2006   /   $725.00
         Literary Boot Camp is open only to writers -- college-aged and older -- who are serious about professional level work. Following the two-day Writing Class, the Boot Camp writers go on with four intense days of creating and critiquing new stories developed at the beginning of the week - all under the leadership of noted author Orson Scott Card.
         NOTE: Enrollment for Literary Boot Camp is limited to only 18 participants. Those who wish to attend must register with $175 deposit and submit the FIRST PAGE ONLY of a short story. Prompt application is advised. Tuition does not include housing or meals. The deadline for submitting writing samples is April 3; you will be notified whether or not you have been accepted by April 10. The remaining balance of $550 will be due by May 12 and deposits will be returned to those who choose not to attend the Writing Class.


See http://www.hatrack.com/

Although it doesn't mention the location, my understanding is that it will be back east, probably at SVU.

I went to Boot Camp in 2003.  It was a great experience, and it definitely paid off in my writing career.

180
Stephanie Fowers / Re: Woo hoo!
« on: February 03, 2006, 11:14:25 PM »
Congrats.  It's always a thrill to see one's name in print (unless one is being libeled or exposed, I suppose.)

In looking at the credits of your interviewees, I realized there are quite a few LDS films I've never gotten around to seeing.  I'm such a slacker.

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