Ah, I see.
Well, is your laptop an older model or just not pleasing?
1 Like
its too many screen, i feel like a depressed troll hunched over a computer that’s shining sickly light onto my dryass retinas in the dark of my hovel.
i need to change it to dark mode maybe.
2 Likes
I bren dry. Dry bren.
4 Likes
I’ve been out this post for a bit. This is teh struggle month!
3 Likes
I’m editing that novel I was avoiding! That counts, right? I might be feeling it? That tingle? The writing hyperfocus coming to me? Maybe? 
I miss you hyper focus, come baaaack!
I also noticed some conflicting feedback between the men and women who commented on my prologue on Scribophile. The one man that read it, he was able to put together the underlying world lore and hints about the character’s background from the dialogue and other environmental cues I’ve provided. I was like YES, this man gets it! And then the two women were like, but how old are the MCs, what color is their hair, their eyes? One even said she didn’t get any sense of the character’s personalities when it’s all there in the dialogue. I almost felt like the women wanted all the answers up front, all the long-winded character descriptions, and lore info dump. Whereas the male reader was able to put together a lot from what I hoped was “show, not tell” story telling since my first draft was pure info dump.
Was reading a Stephen King novel a while back in the bookstore and noticed in his first chapter or two, he only mentions one character had red hair. That’s it. Everything else is the story. It was enough for me to mentally paint the picture as I read it but maybe not for others? Starting to wonder if it’s just a style preference between a male or female reader? Thoughts? 
3 Likes
I’m a very visual person, but depending on the demographic you might be able to get away with only minimal description.
2 Likes
I am still working on part 5, chapter 2!
So, nothing else to say until I am near the end of it.
1 Like
How to regain your love of reading fiction the same way you write it?
I need some serious answers, if you have any? If I want to publish my own fiction stories someday, I need to get into a good habit of reading.
The problem is that it’s harder than it sounds.
Might make a thread about this later tomorrow or someday of the week.
2 Likes
Started writing a bit about a lazy dragonoid prince.
His nickname is Tip.
I have a sneaking suspicion I’ve subconsciously taken this nickname from an existing character out in the world, but I can’t remember who.
I’m not going to change it though, but I just feel like I saw Tip somewhere…
5 Likes
5 Likes
Meaning how do you have the same “passion” to read? Honestly I write more than I read. I should read more too. And I tend to read more comics/manga than books. I used to read a lot more actual books so I’m also trying to get back into that.
My main issue is there are so many choices in a bookstore for example, I get overwhelmed. I have specific tastes and I don’t want to invest time/energy into reading 50 books to find “the one” I’ll really love and actually finish.
So one thing I do, get recommendations. If you have friends with similar tastes, ask them what they read. Also ask a librarian. Sometimes the book store employees are knowledgeable enough too but I expect a librarian is more well versed. So if there’s an author or style you like, they can point you in the right direction.
I also like Amazon Prime Kindle books. You can “take out” a few at a time, and you have a certain amount of time to read them or you can’t take out a new one until you “return” one so you can sample things that way. I get a LOT of kindle samples. If the sample doesn’t sell it to me, then I’m probably not going to read the actual book. Most of the “classics” on there are free too.
Make a cozy reading spot or find a cozy spot if you can. I have a little nook area that’s basically a tiny hall in front of the door that leads to my balcony outside. I set up a cushy fold out chair there, some fairy lights, and that’s become my writing/reading/crocheting spot. Sometimes when you look forward to being in a spot you’ve decorated yourself, it helps you want to USE that spot.
Also squeeze in reading during times when you can’t really go anywhere else. Commuting. Someone driving you somewhere. Waiting at the doctor’s office. I used to think that reading only counts if you FINISH the book but especially w/ ADHD, the truth is most books, I won’t finish. BUT whatever you read, it still gets stored into your brain, and it’s still useful to learn from as a writer.
I also tend to look for book versions of things I already like. That’s how I got into Diana Wynne Jones. I loved Howl’s Moving Castle. Read the book. Totally different ball game than the movie, BUT I still loved it. Read more. Now I have a small series worth of her books in my library. I haven’t finished them all but I know when I do, I’ll love them.
Hope that helps! 
3 Likes
We seriously have a lot in common because of our mental health…
3 Likes
I’m gonna take a tiny break from my story until I get my new laptop and stuff.
2 Likes
I was finally able to write down the characters and locations from Project Merellian so far.
Thank goodness.
I’m not done because I still have terms and more to write down.
2 Likes
I made questions to ask myself about Alagossia, the fictional world that I constructed.
Going great!
2 Likes
I was looking at blurbs on Amazon to see the word count and found something…
Is this even…I guess you can 
You don’t have to read it. Just look at this LENGTH.
“Although Jolene grew up outside the clans having to survive on her formidable skill with the blade and her own resourcefulness against a plethora of dinosaur predators and human adversaries, it’s her connection to The Grey and their potent elemental magic that gives her the best chance to survive against the impossibly deadly speed of the Moog and the irrepressible forces of the evil Treff and the powerful Legion Commander Jo-Vi’el.” (by Chris Podhola, “Twinfinity”)
This is the second paragraph of the book’s blurb.
71 words for one single sentence. One sentence for one paragraph.
Probably not particularly recommended though, right? Still, hasn’t stopped this guy from doing it 
and so, saying “Eryn’s world” sounds weird to a writer in a facebook group, apparently.
I guess I have to say “the normal world where Eryn lives”
“I’m a normal girl, from a normal world. There’s no magic, but it’s fantastic.”
2 Likes
I’ve never heard of this book or author before, but you’re just looking at Big Five blurbs, right? I’d stay away from self-published blurbs if I were you since I assume the big houses know what they’re doing and indies often don’t. Nope, I’d never use a run-on sentence in a blurb like that since that tells the reader the book is probably full of them, and you want to rope the readers in, not turn them off. But hey, if he’s selling plenty of books, that’s all that matters, eh? ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯
3 Likes
New book, new author, idk if he’s self-published or not.
I should probably stop asking for advice in the indie writers facebook group then
3 Likes
Ack! I put this in the wrong place!
I’m so tired and out of it.
Okay, I have thoughts about book covers and blurbs.
Book covers: You can’t please everyone. Some people are gonna say “you HAVE to have the MC on the cover OR ELSE” and others will say “I ADORE typography and hate people on the cover” and others will say “I don’t like it, I don’t get it”. As long as the cover is your genre, and you like it (for self-pub people only), then it’s good.
Blurbs: Same thing, you can’t please everyone. As long as the blurb is length-wise standard for your genre, gets the gist of your story across in an intriguing way to your designated audience, and is grammatically correct, nothing else matters.
These are my thoughts on covers and blurbs because the number of different opinions is astounding for both. If there was some general criteria for critiquing covers or blurbs, I would think people would use it, but they don’t. So, maybe there’s not?
But it’s not like what they say is all useless. You just gotta know what advice to take and what to leave, then just make sure you’re doing what your genre typically does, and that you’re adhering to whatever guidelines are given by wherever you’re publishing your book.
I could be all wrong about this…but I’m getting frustrated by all the different opinions on the same blurb on various facebook writer groups.
Too long, too much detail, not enough, weird phrasing, not weird phrasing, no problem, the Alice in Wonderland stuff is distracting, great as is, wonderful and good luck, this is a synopsis not a blurb you must shorten
All thoughts on the same blurb.
Sigh.
4 Likes