Don't you have an elsewhere to be?

Cordelia ,'Lessons'


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.


Connie Neil - Oct 16, 2007 10:00:03 am PDT #9439 of 10001
brillig

Oh, he's got them, I'm just too cowardly to look for his reply.


erikaj - Oct 16, 2007 11:19:53 am PDT #9440 of 10001
Always Anti-fascist!

That is awkward. Hope he doesn't take it too personally.


Connie Neil - Oct 16, 2007 11:24:19 am PDT #9441 of 10001
brillig

Nah, he's probably more of a grownup than I am. I'm just whinging away in angst again and contemplating my weird relationship with authority. It's amazing how many people think I'm a hardass, when really the least bit of pushback makes me crumble.

edit: My first reaction to editing notes is always shock, horror, and "How could you criticize my deathless prose! Heathen! Philistine!" But recognizing the problem is half the battle. I don't know how pros do it. They probably don't react like their only precious darling child has been prepped for a beauty contest, only to be booted in the first round.

Issues? Volumes.


Typo Boy - Oct 16, 2007 11:53:07 am PDT #9442 of 10001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

My first reaction to editing notes is always shock, horror, and "How could you criticize my deathless prose! Heathen! Philistine!" But recognizing the problem is half the battle. I don't know how pros do it. They probably don't react like their only precious darling child has been prepped for a beauty contest, only to be booted in the first round.

According to "how to write" books that is, in fact the normal reaction. The way the pro's handle it is to send out short note thanking the editor or beta responder for the feedback, taking a deep breath, putting the feedback aside, and looking at it again the next day. By then they have recovered from the shock of criticism and are able to evaluate it rationally. (Your time may vary. Some writers are able to reach that stage within hours, some take weeks, but very few don't have that initial reaction. The secret is not in not having that reaction, but in moving beyond that.

Maybe someone can tell me how to deal with the "why won't someone publish my book cause it can't be my fault" reaction.


erikaj - Oct 20, 2007 11:04:51 am PDT #9443 of 10001
Always Anti-fascist!

Okay, I'm writing a story where my character, aged somewhere mid-thirties, is going to eventually find out she had experimental brain surgery as a child, but right now, her hairstylist has just discovered the scar. What would it look like?(bearing in mind that I pulled this particular operation out of my butt and it doesn't currently exist, but let's say she had a "pacemaker" of a sort implanted in her brain's motor center.) Like I said, being that I made this up, it doesn't have to stand up to fact-checking, but I'm drawing a complete blank.


Jesse - Oct 21, 2007 7:00:53 am PDT #9444 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

I just image-googled "brain injury scar" and some good pictures came up -- it looks like they can get pretty unobtrusive, but I don't know how no one would have noticed before. Maybe previous haircutters were just more discreet?


erikaj - Oct 21, 2007 10:54:11 am PDT #9445 of 10001
Always Anti-fascist!

Maybe she could have the wrong idea about where she got the scar from...her memories have been manipulated, too, so maybe she remembers it as happening from a childhood rollerskating accident, but it didn't. Because after I posted that, I went to the Google and while I was surprised about how small they can get, not quite *that* small, you're right.


Laga - Oct 28, 2007 10:58:08 am PDT #9446 of 10001
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.

I signed up for NaNoWriMo, username Laga. Who else is in this year?


Typo Boy - Oct 28, 2007 11:09:00 am PDT #9447 of 10001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

Had a dream last night with a plot bunny. A hit woman is close friends with a woman, and is hired to kill that woman's husband. She is too professional to consider not taking the job. As an act of kindness she does persuade to couple to take out a large life insurance policy. She murder the husband a few weeks after the policy goes into effect. And of course that act of kindness eventually leads to her being caught, because the wife eventually grows suspicious, wondering why her friend was so insistent on their taking out that policy.


-t - Oct 28, 2007 11:32:47 am PDT #9448 of 10001
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

i'm registered as tskaredoff. Thursday.