Jibber Jabber - Q1 - 29

Well, Martin's out of the hospital it seems, so our grand scheme of surprising him with 5000 posts here has failed.

Oh well.

81 left!

Hope you get well soon Martin. Some time in the near future 29 will surpass 5000 .

Stating the obvious.

Get well soon Martin. In the meantime, take one down...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Here's to hoping all of you have an awesome day with plenty of bounty.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Here's to hoping all of you have an awesome day with plenty of bounty.

Seconded!

(I have to work today. My Dollar General stays open all day, for some stupid reason. )

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Here's to hoping all of you have an awesome day with plenty of bounty.

Seconded!

(I have to work today. My Dollar General stays open all day, for some stupid reason. )

Grrr... Hopefully it's a quiet day and you can spend a lot of it mentally planning out writing.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Here's to hoping all of you have an awesome day with plenty of bounty.

Seconded!

(I have to work today. My Dollar General stays open all day, for some stupid reason. )

Grrr... Hopefully it's a quiet day and you can spend a lot of it mentally planning out writing.

I've already been doing that. Got a story about two thirds of the way finished with the rough draft (mostly dialogue at this point, because I've learned the hard way that character introspection slows down my rhythm).

Happy Thanksgiving, US friends. I wrote 3k on my NaNoWriMo novel today and broke 40k on the story. I hope your day is as productive!

This might be jumping the gun a bit, but seeing how a lot of forum members have already turned in their Q4 stories and are working on Q1, I thought I'd start this thread.

For Q1 I'm writing a Fantasy. My last three entries have been more science fiction. I love science fiction, love to read it, but I think I'm not qualified to write it. I just can't get very science-y in my descriptions. I love fantasy too and I think I'll give it a shot. Plus the story is already outlined and some basic first scene attempts have been written.

What does everyone else write? Do you stick to one sub-genre or do you mix it up?

I generally try to mix it up but find myself heavier weighted to science fiction. Anyone else?

This might be jumping the gun a bit, but seeing how a lot of forum members have already turned in their Q4 stories and are working on Q1, I thought I'd start this thread.

For Q1 I'm writing a Fantasy. My last three entries have been more science fiction. I love science fiction, love to read it, but I think I'm not qualified to write it. I just can't get very science-y in my descriptions. I love fantasy too and I think I'll give it a shot. Plus the story is already outlined and some basic first scene attempts have been written.

What does everyone else write? Do you stick to one sub-genre or do you mix it up?

I generally try to mix it up but find myself heavier weighted to science fiction. Anyone else?

Sci-fi mostly for me, but some fantasy too and mixed genre.

This might be jumping the gun a bit, but seeing how a lot of forum members have already turned in their Q4 stories and are working on Q1, I thought I'd start this thread.

For Q1 I'm writing a Fantasy. My last three entries have been more science fiction. I love science fiction, love to read it, but I think I'm not qualified to write it. I just can't get very science-y in my descriptions. I love fantasy too and I think I'll give it a shot. Plus the story is already outlined and some basic first scene attempts have been written.

What does everyone else write? Do you stick to one sub-genre or do you mix it up?

I generally try to mix it up but find myself heavier weighted to science fiction. Anyone else?

In terms of what I write, probably 1/3 Sci-Fi, 2/3rds Fantasy.

I love sci-fi, but fantasy comes easier to me. I write everything from urban fantasy to sword and sorcery, though.

Fantasy, or at least some flavor of historical setting, seems to come easier to me than sci-fi/futuristic settings.

Mostly fantasy for me, with rare sci-fi.

I write a combo as well. My two pro sales are in science fiction, but I love writing fantasy. If you want to hear one of my humorous fantasies, click on the website link and it's in the blog on podcast. Funny thing, you do need to research when you write about science, but when I'm writing historical fantasy, the research is through the roof! So many things have to be fact checked, and even simple things you might have your characters use may not have even existed in the times! Did anyone read Shogun? The writer has the pilot steering the ship with a wheel. I choked when I read that...they weren't invented at that time, ships were steered with whipstaffs. I then checked the movie...they caught it, not the writer--Hollywood (surprise!) did it right, their ship had a whipstaff. But there are so many little details like that, it can drive you crazy.

But when you pull it off, getting the details right, it's cool to do the time warp and move through their world with your characters. I've had moments where I've been transported with them, can see everything. It's so real, it gives me chills.

Just like a great book. : )

Engages in thread necromancy:

... And congrats on getting us to page 70 on the longest thread on the board ever.

Somebody should have said: "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Engages in thread necromancy:

... And congrats on getting us to page 70 on the longest thread on the board ever.

Somebody should have said: "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Posting since we are so close to hitting 5,000.

Onward and upward! <img src="

Here's an idea, since Sean Hazlett dropped by (hi Sean!). Why don't we fill the short jaunt to 5000 with advice on how to win the contest from former winners. It can be something you did that turned the page, something you learned at the workshop, something someone told you on a critique, advice from an established writer, anything. Looking for that epiphany, perhaps boiled down to one sentence, that turned the tables for you. This would be useful to our forum.

Thanks!

Here's an idea, since Sean Hazlett dropped by (hi Sean!). Why don't we fill the short jaunt to 5000 with advice on how to win the contest from former winners. It can be something you did that turned the page, something you learned at the workshop, something someone told you on a critique, advice from an established writer, anything. Looking for that epiphany, perhaps boiled down to one sentence, that turned the tables for you. This would be useful to our forum.

Thanks!

I knew I was weak in description. I made an effort to be more descriptive. Dave says that was what I had been missing.

(I'm still weak on description. It's a constant struggle.)

Here's an idea, since Sean Hazlett dropped by (hi Sean!). Why don't we fill the short jaunt to 5000 with advice on how to win the contest from former winners. It can be something you did that turned the page, something you learned at the workshop, something someone told you on a critique, advice from an established writer, anything. Looking for that epiphany, perhaps boiled down to one sentence, that turned the tables for you. This would be useful to our forum.

Thanks!

I knew I was weak in description. I made an effort to be more descriptive. Dave says that was what I had been missing.

(I'm still weak on description. It's a constant struggle.)

But knowing our weakness is the first step toward correcting it! Well done!

Here's an idea, since Sean Hazlett dropped by (hi Sean!). Why don't we fill the short jaunt to 5000 with advice on how to win the contest from former winners. It can be something you did that turned the page, something you learned at the workshop, something someone told you on a critique, advice from an established writer, anything. Looking for that epiphany, perhaps boiled down to one sentence, that turned the tables for you. This would be useful to our forum.

Thanks!

Keep entering. That's what worked for me.

Also, editing a 25,000 word chunk of novel into a 16,700 word novelette. So I guess ferocious, ruthless editing helped?

Here's an idea, since Sean Hazlett dropped by (hi Sean!). Why don't we fill the short jaunt to 5000 with advice on how to win the contest from former winners. It can be something you did that turned the page, something you learned at the workshop, something someone told you on a critique, advice from an established writer, anything. Looking for that epiphany, perhaps boiled down to one sentence, that turned the tables for you. This would be useful to our forum.

Thanks!

Keep entering. That's what worked for me.

Also, editing a 25,000 word chunk of novel into a 16,700 word novelette. So I guess ferocious, ruthless editing helped?

Cutting 8000 plus words out of a story? Yeah, that's ferocious. Feathers were flying!

Here's an idea, since Sean Hazlett dropped by (hi Sean!). Why don't we fill the short jaunt to 5000 with advice on how to win the contest from former winners. It can be something you did that turned the page, something you learned at the workshop, something someone told you on a critique, advice from an established writer, anything. Looking for that epiphany, perhaps boiled down to one sentence, that turned the tables for you. This would be useful to our forum.

Thanks!

I knew I was weak in description. I made an effort to be more descriptive. Dave says that was what I had been missing.

(I'm still weak on description. It's a constant struggle.)

I believe this is my greatest (but certainly not only) weakness as well and I have been making an effort to improve. Dave's last few posts about about making appeals to the senses have been helpful. Hopefully it pays off.

It looks like I'm about a week late, but one piece of advice I would give is have a story ready to submit every quarter. In other words, use the contest to help you develop a habit of writing at least one new story every ninety days. Eventually you will win.

It looks like I'm about a week late, but one piece of advice I would give is have a story ready to submit every quarter. In other words, use the contest to help you develop a habit of writing at least one new story every ninety days. Eventually you will win.

Great advice. Even if you don't win a quarter, you have new stories to send out to pro markets. And becoming a pro is really what this contest is all about.

Here's an idea, since Sean Hazlett dropped by (hi Sean!). Why don't we fill the short jaunt to 5000 with advice on how to win the contest from former winners. It can be something you did that turned the page, something you learned at the workshop, something someone told you on a critique, advice from an established writer, anything. Looking for that epiphany, perhaps boiled down to one sentence, that turned the tables for you. This would be useful to our forum.

Thanks!

I realised I had to go hard on my characters. It was no good inventing them to protect them; they're my protagonists, not my kids. They were made to be put through the wringer, and I had to take every opportunity to make it harder on them than it needed to be. No mercy! No sympathy! Only conflict!

Here's an idea, since Sean Hazlett dropped by (hi Sean!). Why don't we fill the short jaunt to 5000 with advice on how to win the contest from former winners. It can be something you did that turned the page, something you learned at the workshop, something someone told you on a critique, advice from an established writer, anything. Looking for that epiphany, perhaps boiled down to one sentence, that turned the tables for you. This would be useful to our forum.

Thanks!

I realised I had to go hard on my characters. It was no good inventing them to protect them; they're my protagonists, not my kids. They were made to be put through the wringer, and I had to take every opportunity to make it harder on them than it needed to be. No mercy! No sympathy! Only conflict!

Hard on your characters, not your kids. Got it.

Cinco de Mayo approaches.