It's kind of...gooey, and I *don't* think that's spinal fluid.
Angel: Eve. So, I guess we should, I don't know, talk? Eve: About what? Angel: About what happened back there with us. Eve: Angel, it's not like this is the first time I've had sex under a mystical influence. I went to U.C. Santa Cruz.
'Life of the Party'
The Great Write Way, Chapter Two: Twice upon a time...
A place for Buffistas to discuss, beta and otherwise deal and dish on their non-fan fiction projects.
Topic!Cindy - Jul 06, 2006 11:58:59 am PDT #7744 of 10001
What is even happening?
Ginger - Jul 06, 2006 11:59:24 am PDT #7745 of 10001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
The way I feel right now, a third of a brain would be better than none.
Pix - Jul 06, 2006 11:59:49 am PDT #7746 of 10001
The status is NOT quo.
I hear ya, sister. I'm in the same boat.
Beverly - Jul 06, 2006 12:07:16 pm PDT #7747 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
Well, *I* don't want it, now that you've tossed it back and forth and it's leaked...goo...all over everything.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Atropa - Jul 06, 2006 12:10:44 pm PDT #7748 of 10001
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
Help! Nested parenthetical statements: okay if someone writes in a very ... mannered, filled with asides style? Or should they be avoided at all costs?
(I'm thinking of turning one paragraph, that already has some parenthetical statements, into one large aside. I suspect my brain has started to shrink and rattle around my skull.)
Fay - Jul 06, 2006 12:14:29 pm PDT #7749 of 10001
"Fuck Western ideologically-motivated gender identification!" Sulu gasped, and came.
Well, I favour them, but I suspect they appeal to only a limited audience. For maximum clarity and accessibility, I'd probably recommend varying it with dashes, or apostrophes, or SOMETHING else (even though I quite understand the temptation [irresistible at times] to use at least two [if not three {or even four, were it but viable}] different kinds of parentheses).
Topic!Cindy - Jul 06, 2006 12:16:25 pm PDT #7750 of 10001
What is even happening?
Jilli, it's hard to tell without reading it, but if by "nesting" you mean parens within parens, I think I would avoid them when I could, although regular use of parens for asides would be fine.
You could always begin the particular paragraph you mention above with: "On a side note" or "As an aside" or even "Aside:" and then parenthesize (is too a word) the bits you would have otherwise nested.
Ginger - Jul 06, 2006 12:19:31 pm PDT #7751 of 10001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
Even I, a parentheses addict in casual typing, try to stay away from the nested parentheses. They're very testy when they're nesting.
Topic!Cindy - Jul 06, 2006 12:29:01 pm PDT #7752 of 10001
What is even happening?
(When I said it was hard to tell, I meant hard to say where your particular paragraph [which might be one big aside] was concerned.)
Atropa - Jul 06, 2006 4:53:13 pm PDT #7753 of 10001
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
Okay, slightly clueless question time (and yes, I've e-mailed my agent, but I'm betting she won't be able to get back to me until Monday).
My notes from the conversation with her say my sample chapters should be 10-20 pages. Is that 10-20 pages by how MS Word counts pages? Or could any of you peoples with more publishing experience than me give me a rough estimate for a wordcount for non-fiction samples?