meta user
network profile
| bio | website | |
|---|---|---|
| location | United States | |
| age | ||
| visits | member for | 1 year, 2 months |
| seen | Apr 16 at 22:20 | |
| stats | profile views | 27 |
"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems help me to do so." (Sherlock Holmes)
I enjoy embedding puns and subtle self-references into many of my answers and comments.
This question inspired me to create this web page.
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Jun 19 |
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Some doubts on the use of Italicized words Italics are rude? You've got to be kidding me! |
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Jun 17 |
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Does my story beginning hook the reader? (dialogue + narration)? To become a good writer, one needs to realize how much rework is required. Usually, it takes several revisions to turn a mediocre passage into forceful and effective prose. You have let three people give you brutally honest criticism, thanked them graciously, and improved your piece. To me, that shows you have great potential. Once you've learned how to recognize these shortcomings in your own writing, and make incremental improvements, you'll be hooking readers in no time. |
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Jun 17 |
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I'm getting tired of “he said” “she said” in dialogue; how do I get around it? I agree that the method is overused in this answer. Then again, we're just trying to illustrate the technique here, so one might expect it might be used a bit densely in this small snippet, simply to show different ways the technique could be applied. I wouldn't expect a whole novel to read like this, but those are good examples of how to break up a monotonous string of he said/she said, which is what the O.P. wanted. |
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Jun 17 |
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Does my story beginning hook the reader? (dialogue + narration)? I like your advice to tighten it up, and your comment about how this usually takes several iterations: "took a package of Marlboro Light from her purse, and lit a cigarette up" becomes "took a package of Marlboro Light from her purse, and lit a cigarette" becomes "took a Marlboro Light from her purse, and lit it" and maybe even "grabbed a cigarette from her purse, and lit it." |
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Jun 12 |
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Are these fictional musings convincing or overwrought? I like your revision; it inspired this thought: why not make his shave a metaphor for his thoughts? Something like this: As my razor scraped off yesterday's growth, my thoughts made their usual turn to Kathy. Ever since Kathy, I could keep my rhythm for my morning shave, but I couldn't find a groove for anything else in my life – not after a love like that, a triumph and a catastrophe... Finally, I rubbed my towel vigorously across my face, but I could not rub Kathy out of my mind. |
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May 15 |
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Is it OK to use a single parenthesis after each number in a list? I often wonder about #2 (can an emoticon's smile function as a closing parenthesee? ;^) |
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Apr 13 |
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What is a normal length for a chapter? Instead of counting pages per chapter, you can simply divide the total number of pages in the book by its number of chapters. (Just an alternate way - not necessarily a better way - of accomplishing the same thing.) |
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Feb 27 |
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How can I make this essay more succinct? @Neil Fein: I believe the wordcount was included in the question; i.e., the application form specified that the answer should be no more than 250 words. (That was my interpretation, anyway). |
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Feb 27 |
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How can I make this essay more succinct? If you are going to frame the essay, you need to do it in a more interesting way. Otherwise, the benefits of "framing" are outweighed by the mundane opening. |
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Feb 26 |
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How can I make this essay more succinct? Point taken. Thanks for the clarification, and kind words. |
