Tannalein

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5h	comment	Completed New Novel You might want to google for some sites where you can get some constructive criticism of your work, like Critique Circle. Writing a book is just the first step, editing it is the real work. And it helps greatly if you have a reader/critic while you edit.
6h	comment	Creative writing use and abuse @SF.: Thanks, I didn't know the details behind it. It's hard to follow all he changes, and all the fighting about who's right and who isn't. I just concentrate on the obvious things, like spelling :D
6h	comment	Creative writing use and abuse @LaurenIpsum: It's frightening how fast languages change. They're living things. Of course, that's a pain in the ass for all of us that are trying to write. So I've kind of given up on following the things that are on the border, like split infinitives and starting with conjunctions, I have enough troubles with spelling and proper tenses. No matter how much I proofread I can never catch all my mistakes. I do try to avoid splitting as well, and the conjunctions, but sometimes, they just sound right. Even if it is grammatically incorrect, we have the right to some artistic freedom, right?
7h	comment	What paragraph style should I use for an e-book? @MonicaCellio: That's why I said, it all depends what's it for. Smashwords will reject it if it doesn't follow their style guide. Kindle has it's own formatting rules - for example, the first line is indented automatically, whether you want it or not. But if it's for his own, what's the proper term, distribution? If that's the case, he has the freedom to do what ever he wants, and indents + paragraph spaces may not be "correct", but might just be easiest on the reader.
1d	comment	Is it better to make clear immediately in which country/continent the story is taking place? It's generally a good practice to set up a setting right from the start. Think of it like setting a stage in a theatre - you don't put a new background in the middle of a scene, you set it up before the scene (or act) starts, so the setting would be set from the very start of the scene till the end. Either you give enough clear hints from the beginning, or give no hints at all.
1d	comment	Is it better to omit phrases like: after a moment, after a while, for a moment, etc? Uh, I'm trying to get rid of those myself. It's hard, once you get into the habit. My reasoning is: what does it even mean? Everything happens after a moment, when you look at it, one moment always comes after another ;). By the time the reader read it, the moment has passed for him as well, so most of the time there's no need to point it out to him, he already feels the passing. If you need a pause, then call it a pause: "He paused, then decided to walk west." Always use the more precise word, apple instead of fruit, sprint instead of run...
1d	comment	Is it better to omit phrases like: after a moment, after a while, for a moment, etc? It's the famous "show, don't tell". But show only when you have something to show, don't show for the hell of it ;)
1d	comment	HTML Formatting for ebook There are a lot of people out there, I wouldn't call them exactly professionals, with enough knowledge of HTML who could do it for you for a very small fee. HTML is fairly simple and straightforward, a lot of people know it, and they can't charge you too much because it's not nuclear physics. I don't have experience with Kindle, but on Smashwords, there was a small list of people on their site who offered formatting services. Maybe there's something like that on Kindle too, so if you're not confident in your own work, you might just hire somebody.
1d	comment	Creative writing use and abuse @LaurenIpsum: I've read somewhere that splitting the infinitive is not incorrect, just like starting a sentence with a conjunction isn't either, but with all the war between British and American English, who can really tell what's right any more? And honestly, I'm not a native speaker and I really don't care. If I need it split, I split it.
1d	comment	Creative writing use and abuse One of the examples of learning, then breaking the rules is José Saramago. He's been called "the greatest living novelist" - and his books are one giant wall of text, with sentences longer than a page, no dialogue marks, no punctuation, no nothing. It shows when a writer does those things because he doesn't know any better, or when he knows what he's doing. Of course, there's always the risk you'll fail miserably, in which case it's safer to follow the rules :)
1d	comment	Creative writing use and abuse Yes. Perfectly justifiable.
1d	comment	Avoid blending Fantasy and Sci Fi Just don't call it science-fiction in the end. If it has a slightest element of fantasy, it's fantasy, period. The point of sci-fi is that it might happen one day, and when there's fantasy in it, it can never happen. Also, having spaceships doesn't make something sci-fi. Explaining scientifically how they work makes it sci-fi.
1d	comment	Is the following allowed under the ungrammatical exceptions in fiction? I disagree. Sentence variation has purpose. For start, alternating sentence length (short-long-short-long) makes writing more dynamic than all long sentences, or all short. All short sentences convey action, they're fast, energetic, should be used in action scenes. All long sentences convey calmness or laziness (and should not be used in action scenes). Run-on sentences, if used right, can convey tiredness or confusion of the character. Right sentence length sets the right mood. Since the mood in the example is serene, long sentence works better. Also, long sentences does not equal confusing.
Jan 8	comment	Must every piece of speech get its own paragraph? @LaurenIpsum - I'm watching Numb3rs right now and paying attention at the close-ups. The camera is actually all over the place. It doesn't switch only for something significant. It switches constantly, it never stands still. Even while one character is talking, it switches for a split of a second to the one he's talking to just to show he's listening to the first one talk. That's not significant. It's just that we don't notice these things while we're watching. It's the same with paragraph breaks. But we will notice if everything gets clumped together in a big, confusing wall of text.
Jan 7	comment	How about a story as a series of anecdotes? @bmearns - haha, that would be a perfect name :)
Jan 7	comment	Must every piece of speech get its own paragraph? @LaurenIpsum: Then write it like that and avoid a new paragraph, cashier doesn't matter anyway ;) Imagine it's a scene from a movie. Without the paragraph break, it would be one wide shot of Jill paying for the mints. With the break, it would be equivalent to one close shot of Jill paying, then another close shot of cashier returning the change. No pause, only a shift in focus. Nothing confusing. In this example cashier is unimportant, no reason to switch attention onto him, but what if he wasn't? With the movie, both versions are just as valid, but with writing, "close shots" are more clear.
Jan 7	comment	Must every piece of speech get its own paragraph? @Lauren - Maybe there isn't a pause, but there is a shift, a change in the action and who's performing that action. The cashier probably stood still, waiting to take the money, so the new paragraph also indicates his switch from inaction to action. Not every paragraph indicates a pause. Like SF said above, it can indicate a change of state, change of thought... This is both a change of subject, from Jim to cashier, and a change of state from standing still to taking the money, so the break is more than justified. If we break only for pause, the whole story would be a few giant paragraphs :)
Dec 28	comment	Is it possible that my short novel will be boring to my readers because it only has two characters and the location doesn't change? It's about quality, not quantity.
Dec 27	comment	alternatives to “he said” in dialog @Mr.Mindor: perhaps we are, but I can't agree with Lauren Ipsum. I believe "said" is a parasite that brings nothing to the writing. Every single word needs to justify it's presence inside your text and all excess fat needs to be trimmed off. "Said" merely says someone is saying something, which we already know, but it doesn't say HOW he's saying it, or why, or anything. It says nothing. It's useless. But we should leave it in because it MIGHT become invisible? Spelling errors also become invisible after a while, when reader's brain starts to auto-correct them. Should we leave those in as well?
Dec 27	comment	alternatives to “he said” in dialog @Mr.Mindor: the problem with "said" and why people don't like it is that it doesn't actually say anything. We already know someone is saying something, that's why the quotes are there. Substituting it with "whispered", "mumbled" and such is ok if it's used to better describe how the character is speaking (if whispering is crucial for the story) but as a substitute for "said", it's just lazy writing. It's much better to have the character "claim" the paragraph as his own by performing some action, thus making the "said" superfluous, and at the same time making the whole scene more dynamic.