Why a faux-pas? Best way to get them published.
Uh, are we gonna fight, or is there just gonna be a monster sarcasm rally?
Stoner Vamp ,'Lessons'
The Great Write Way
A place for Buffistas to discuss, beta and otherwise deal and dish on their non-fan fiction projects.
deborah grabien - Oct 12, 2003 8:40:07 pm PDT #2174 of 10001
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.
sj - Oct 12, 2003 8:47:15 pm PDT #2175 of 10001
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
It's in Adobe Acrobat form... Do you have it on your computer?
No. Sorry, wish I could have helped.
Deena - Oct 12, 2003 8:54:41 pm PDT #2176 of 10001
How are you me? You need to stop that. Only I can be me. ~Kara
Brynn, I agree with Deb. Unwritten is good, but it doesn't have quite the air of mystery that Lucid has. It's got layers. Beat's a nice way to put it.
Insent with the story you e-mailed me yesterday. I'm sorry I didn't get it to you sooner.
sj, I still owe you yours. Sorry. Things have been awfully hectic lately.
I'm really going to try to sleep now. Goodnight all.
sj - Oct 12, 2003 9:01:13 pm PDT #2177 of 10001
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
sj, I still owe you yours. Sorry. Things have been awfully hectic lately.
No worries. Get some sleep.
Susan W. - Oct 12, 2003 9:57:27 pm PDT #2178 of 10001
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
Bow before me, for I am Susan the Word Slayer.
I'm, oh, a sixth or a seventh of the way through my manuscript on my first editing pass, and I've already cut over 2,000 words!
Beverly - Oct 12, 2003 10:04:08 pm PDT #2179 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
Wow, Susan, that's fantastic!
Susan W. - Oct 12, 2003 10:23:07 pm PDT #2180 of 10001
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
Well, it helped when I asked myself why in hell I'd felt the need to introduce and give a personality to the housemaid who plays lady's maid to the heroine at the house party where most of the action takes place when she has absolutely no relevance to the plot. I cut two pages in one fell swoop without losing a bit of plot or characterization.
deborah grabien - Oct 12, 2003 10:24:51 pm PDT #2181 of 10001
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.
Hee! Susan slays the Unnecessaries!
Susan W. - Oct 13, 2003 7:20:55 pm PDT #2182 of 10001
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
Random editing rambles....
As it stands, Lucy meets her future husband James on page 64 of a 530-page manuscript (for those of you who got my editing copy, it fattened up considerably when I changed the font to Courier to make it all professional-like). To my eye, the story really picks up once he appears. For starters, he's the hero, and he's an energetic person who likes to shake things up. And, he slightly edges out Lucy as my favorite character. I love writing him, and I love any scene he's in.
So I keep asking myself if there's any way I can move that first meeting forward, perhaps even open the book with it. And I keep deciding I can't--that the reason James shakes up Lucy's life so much is in how he contrasts with and contradicts everything she's always taken for granted, and I need that first 60 pages or so to set the scene and introduce her properly. Otherwise it's just a woman meeting a man, not a particular woman meeting the man who'll turn her well-ordered world upside down.
But I'm not happy with the first 60 pages. I don't fall in love with my own story until James comes in.
P.M. Marc - Oct 13, 2003 7:26:59 pm PDT #2183 of 10001
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear
Is there a way to tighten the opening, to use fewer words with more impact to introduce her?
As a reader (of romance and of the historical kind), I often find my interest will vanish completely if they're not introduced within, in paperback form, I'd say about 30-40 pages.