Jibber Jabber - Q1 - 29

Mine is sitting for a week to give me some distance.

This is extremely difficult considering I'm going to mail it on the 28th.

paper, definitely. I'd prefer e-subs in general, to save on postage. But my one-and-only e-sub sent me a confirmation of receipt, and then got eaten. So, no, not doing that again.

So, the hour draws nigh...

Paper or e-sub?

Which are you doing, and why?

So I submitted my story electronically a few days ago, and I have not yet received the "Thank you for your submission" email. Does anyone know if that is automated and if I should be worrying? There was a bit of a weird glitch on my computer when I subbed, but it did say it went through ...

So I submitted my story electronically a few days ago, and I have not yet received the "Thank you for your submission" email. Does anyone know if that is automated and if I should be worrying? There was a bit of a weird glitch on my computer when I subbed, but it did say it went through ...

I'm sure that's an automated email. If you haven't seen it in days, submit again. I also recommend a separate note to Joni so that if there does happen to be a duplicate entry, she's aware of it.

Also, check your junk mail. For some reason WotF email keeps landing in mine, even after I marked them as a safe sender.

Just my opinion.

I'm sure that's an automated email. If you haven't seen it in days, submit again. I also recommend a separate note to Joni so that if there does happen to be a duplicate entry, she's aware of it.

Also, check your junk mail. For some reason WotF email keeps landing in mine, even after I marked them as a safe sender.

Just my opinion.

That's kind of what I was afraid of. And I have checked the spam folder. No such luck.

Off I go to try to fix it ...

I'm sure that's an automated email. If you haven't seen it in days, submit again. I also recommend a separate note to Joni so that if there does happen to be a duplicate entry, she's aware of it.

Also, check your junk mail. For some reason WotF email keeps landing in mine, even after I marked them as a safe sender.

Just my opinion.

That's kind of what I was afraid of. And I have checked the spam folder. No such luck.

Off I go to try to fix it ...

Did you remember to sacrifice the third chicken from the left before submitting? Last time, I did the third chicken from the right, and almost killed myself.

(I really oughta take the red pen to my entry so I can finalize it and send it off... getting close to crunch time!)

Did you remember to sacrifice the third chicken from the left before submitting? Last time, I did the third chicken from the right, and almost killed myself.

(I really oughta take the red pen to my entry so I can finalize it and send it off... getting close to crunch time!)

Why does the world have to be so cruel to dyslexics? WHY!?!?! (I can't tell right from left.)

Did you remember to sacrifice the third chicken from the left before submitting? Last time, I did the third chicken from the right, and almost killed myself.

(I really oughta take the red pen to my entry so I can finalize it and send it off... getting close to crunch time!)

Why does the world have to be so cruel to dyslexics? WHY!?!?! (I can't tell right from left.)

There's an old Cub Scouts trick to that (I never made it to Boy Scouts--too unmotivated). Make an "L" shape with your fore-finger and thumb on both hands--then carve the word "left" into the thumb of your left hand and the word "right" into the thumb of your right hand with an exacto-knife.

Er... or was that not how it goes?

LOL, Stewart. I'll just let you ponder on the subject of dyslexia for awhile until you figger out why that one might not work as intended - absent the Xacto knife, of course. b, d, whatever.

I look for my wedding ring, or I feel for the callus on my right middle finger from holding pencils kinda funky. Frankly, about the only thing funnier than a dyslexic writer is a dyslexic astrophysicist who programs missile telemetry. I know one of those...

a dyslexic astrophysicist who programs missile telemetry. I know one of those...

That's not okay!

Hey... what is funny about dyslexic writers? We do just fine, thank you.

LOL, Stewart. I'll just let you ponder on the subject of dyslexia for awhile until you figger out why that one might not work as intended - absent the Xacto knife, of course. b, d, whatever.

*smacks forehead* Pardon me while I rapidly downgrade my estimate of my own intelligence and wit.

I didn't get an email confirmation, but I did log back in to the submission page and I get the message that "Your application has been submitted." so I assume all it well.

I didn't get an email confirmation, but I did log back in to the submission page and I get the message that "Your application has been submitted." so I assume all it well.

I have that as well, and I'm hoping it's right. The reason I'm particularly ... er ... panicky about it is that my whole computer locked up while it was submitting and I had to kill it, so I'm afraid it didn't process fully/correctly.

Fingers crossed that all is well.

I'm about halfway though my newest entry attempt. It has some obvious setting problems (as in there is practically none)...but I'm going to try to push through it and layer in the setting when I'm all done then go though and just cut out extra words. Not going to rewrite whole sections, just going to let it stand as is. This is very scary for me, but I don't have time to put too much thought into it...so this will be my second DWS no rewrite experiment story. I hope I finish this one, so I don't have to throw in one of the flash stories I have waiting in the wings. That will probably win me another rejection for sure.

Tina- setting is character opinion. If you have no setting, you might not have much character either. Or you might be mistaking lack of overt classical descriptive passages as lack of setting. Hard to say, of course, without reading the story. But generally, if you lack good setting, you aren't getting into the characters enough. Might be something to think about, since WotF is definitely a char driven favoring market from what I can tell from reading the anthologies.
(my two, completely unwanted, cents)

Has anyone ever -- and it's just happened to me -- written almost an entire story, and named your character or alien race/world a name which you think is
1) totally original
and
2) so weird sounding
that you never bothered to look it up on Google ... and then you look it up on Google ... and the urban slang dictionary says it means something both ludicrous and obscene ... AND it is also on WookieWikipedia (aw, whatever) as being something the fans already know is the name of a planet in the Star Wars fan mythos ???!!!

Because, damn all the good ones are taken.

Soulmirror, I wrote an alien creature called a targ. It's the centerpiece of a coming-of-age struggle for my MC.
I received feedback on that one... "Did you know a targ is a Klingon creature, pretty much exactly how you described it?"

Tina- setting is character opinion. If you have no setting, you might not have much character either. Or you might be mistaking lack of overt classical descriptive passages as lack of setting. Hard to say, of course, without reading the story. But generally, if you lack good setting, you aren't getting into the characters enough. Might be something to think about, since WotF is definitely a char driven favoring market from what I can tell from reading the anthologies.
(my two, completely unwanted, cents)

I agree with this. When I feel like the character's in a place devoid of setting, it's usually that my character is not fleshed out enough.

Tina- setting is character opinion. If you have no setting, you might not have much character either. Or you might be mistaking lack of overt classical descriptive passages as lack of setting. Hard to say, of course, without reading the story. But generally, if you lack good setting, you aren't getting into the characters enough. Might be something to think about, since WotF is definitely a char driven favoring market from what I can tell from reading the anthologies.
(my two, completely unwanted, cents)

I agree with this. When I feel like the character's in a place devoid of setting, it's usually that my character is not fleshed out enough.

It might be lack of descriptive passages or might be a character issue. Hard for me to say I'm not someone who can judge my writing very well.

When you say character opinion do you mean their opinion on the world around them? Like how hard the floor is or shinny the table is....as well as their opinions on other people? I think you've mentioned this before as a workshop from DWS and it made me curious. Is there somewhere I can go to read on the concept worded that way?

It might be lack of descriptive passages or might be a character issue. Hard for me to say I'm not someone who can judge my writing very well.

When you say character opinion do you mean their opinion on the world around them? Like how hard the floor is or shinny the table is....as well as their opinions on other people? I think you've mentioned this before as a workshop from DWS and it made me curious. Is there somewhere I can go to read on the concept worded that way?

Although I've never attended any workshops by DWS, my understanding is that basically the way you describe setting should clue the reader in to the character's personality.
For someone who has OCD, excessive description of niggling details would make their characterization more apparent. For a 29-year-old slacker librarian (Mary Sue? Never!) it would not. (Although, of course, there are plenty of other reasons not to do that specific thing.)

This goes back to the two guidelines I try to keep in mind when writing (or at least when editing), in short that each sentence should either:
1) Advance plot
2) Advance characterization

I think it also has to do with voice--how the character describes something is going to have a lot to do with their voice.

None of these are DWS's, that I know, but I have no idea where they came from.

That, of course, makes a lot of sense. Advance character, advance plot.

Any one else can chime in too. I love hearing about this kind of stuff. If you've read a book or a received a piece of advice you felt really gave you an ah ha about setting (or how it interacts with character) let me know.

That, of course, makes a lot of sense. Advance character, advance plot.

Any one else can chime in too. I love hearing about this kind of stuff. If you've read a book or a received a piece of advice you felt really gave you an ah ha about setting (or how it interacts with character) let me know.

Perhaps in the writing forum?

Dang it! I always forget where I am...

How a character describes something has *everything* to do with their character.

A person who walks into a room and sees a scratched wood floor, windows with insufficiently sized blinds, and a couch with upholstery the color of old blood is a very different character than someone walking into the same room and seeing a pine floor, lots of natural light, and an antique couch the color of dried rose petals.

Same room. Different people. If you are in a character's head, everything will be described the way they would see it.

Joe Abercrombie does this about as well as I've ever seen. Here is the opening from his book "Best Served Cold":

The Sunrise was the color of bad blood. It leaked out of the east and stained the dark sky red, marked the scraps of cloud with stolen gold. Underneath it the road twisted up the mountainside towards the fortress of Fontezarmo- a cluster of sharp towers, ash-black against the wounded heavens. The sunrise was red, black and gold.

The colors of their profession.

See what I mean? Ideally, you'll write descriptions and setting and character voice so distinct, you could change POV without ever explicitely stating it and people would know whose head you are in. Nora Roberts is also brilliant at this (she can head hop inside the same paragraph and not lose a reader, for example).

It's a tough thing to do consistently, but I figure it is worth working on. And whenever I feel I don't have enough setting, I take a good look at the characters and make sure they are actually well-drawn. Character drives everything in fiction, especially genre fiction.

Hope that helps. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

The good news: It feels like the best 18,980 words I've ever ... oh wait: that's still bad news! Okay, back to the butcher block!

Meat is murder. Editing ...

How a character describes something has *everything* to do with their character.

A person who walks into a room and sees a scratched wood floor, windows with insufficiently sized blinds, and a couch with upholstery the color of old blood is a very different character than someone walking into the same room and seeing a pine floor, lots of natural light, and an antique couch the color of dried rose petals.

Same room. Different people. If you are in a character's head, everything will be described the way they would see it.

Joe Abercrombie does this about as well as I've ever seen. Here is the opening from his book "Best Served Cold":

The Sunrise was the color of bad blood. It leaked out of the east and stained the dark sky red, marked the scraps of cloud with stolen gold. Underneath it the road twisted up the mountainside towards the fortress of Fontezarmo- a cluster of sharp towers, ash-black against the wounded heavens. The sunrise was red, black and gold.

The colors of their profession.

See what I mean? Ideally, you'll write descriptions and setting and character voice so distinct, you could change POV without ever explicitely stating it and people would know whose head you are in. Nora Roberts is also brilliant at this (she can head hop inside the same paragraph and not lose a reader, for example).

It's a tough thing to do consistently, but I figure it is worth working on. And whenever I feel I don't have enough setting, I take a good look at the characters and make sure they are actually well-drawn. Character drives everything in fiction, especially genre fiction.

Hope that helps. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Yes! OK I see what you mean. I have a specific problem in mind going on with my story, but rather than hash it out here I'll go write and practice this concept.

THANK YOU!

This goes back to the two guidelines I try to keep in mind when writing (or at least when editing), in short that each sentence should either:
1) Advance plot
2) Advance characterization

That's actually an old rule for writing plays. But you forgot #3. Each line must do at least one of the three:
1) Advance plot
2) Develop character
3) Get a laugh

(The truly brilliant writers can do all three in a single line, but if it's not doing one of the three, cut it immediately.)

The color is all wrong on that sunrise opening... It's purple.

Indeed describing a setting through a character's eyes is like sneaking plot in without the reader necessarily realizing it. Which is why long descriptions are generally considered bad.

I have a character in a techno bar. He can't think with the loud music blasting in his ears. The patrons bump into each other. (not dancing, bumping.) They stink of alcohol and exhale smoke which he passes through, waving his hand in front of his face. (Did I once say he's annoyed? No... Let his reaction to setting give you his mood.)

Describe that place from the POV of one of the patrons, and you'll get the positive side of it. The music infused his soul with blood-pumping energy that made his body move...

This goes back to the two guidelines I try to keep in mind when writing (or at least when editing), in short that each sentence should either:
1) Advance plot
2) Advance characterization

That's actually an old rule for writing plays. But you forgot #3. Each line must do at least one of the three:
1) Advance plot
2) Develop character
3) Get a laugh

(The truly brilliant writers can do all three in a single line, but if it's not doing one of the three, cut it immediately.)

Oooh. I like #3. Thanks!