04-16-2013, 05:49 PM | #31 |
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Drat. Are you telling me I actually need to *know* stuff to write a story.
Oh noes.... But still, I've started. I expect to finish it... someday. |
04-16-2013, 06:06 PM | #32 |
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I think it depends on if it's a direct or indirect question. If it's a direct question then inside the quotes, but if it's an indirect question then put it at the end of the sentence. Does that make sense?
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04-16-2013, 06:20 PM | #33 | |
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Nope not at all. Lots of completely ignorant folks write stories filled of bad information. However, I would also say lots of completely ignorant folks write stories by spending the time to learn what they need to know for the story. |
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04-16-2013, 09:15 PM | #34 |
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04-16-2013, 09:18 PM | #35 |
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04-17-2013, 01:11 AM | #36 | ||
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Quote:
A quote from Bulldog Drummond by Sapper, published by Hodder & Stoughton Limited, London. This is the sixty-fifth edition from 1943: Quote:
* Note that some care has to be exercised when dealing with style-guides. Many, such as University ones, are about internal preferences rather than necessarily expressing a wider definition. Some do get adopted more widely, but you need to look more widely to find and verify that - and in the case of single vs double quotes I can see no reason to support a regional bias. Disclaimer: I don't really have the qualifications back my remarks above - other than observation of the books on my shelves. |
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04-17-2013, 01:42 AM | #37 |
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04-18-2013, 02:51 PM | #38 |
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Write it. All of those limitations you mentioned can only be overcome by actually writing something. Don't worry if you feel like it can't be the masterpiece you want it to be (yet). There's only one way to get those skills.
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04-18-2013, 03:40 PM | #39 |
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Someone once said it takes a million words before you start to get good at writing. I am not sure if that is a real magic number but the concept is true; so relax, plan for the long haul and write!
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04-18-2013, 03:51 PM | #40 |
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Similarly, I think it was Bob Dylan who said the secret to writing 10 great songs is to write 1000 songs.
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04-18-2013, 04:01 PM | #41 |
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I think it was Ray Bradbury who said that if you write a short story a day (what we would call flash fiction) that at the end of a year you will have 365 stories and the odds are in your favor that at least some of them have to be good stories. Or if you write slightly longer stories (one a week) you will have 52 stories at a years end and some of them have to be good.
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04-18-2013, 04:07 PM | #42 | |
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10.000 hours is 250 work weeks. That is about 6 years of full time work, or 12 years in 20 hours a week part time. If it really takes 10.000 hours just to be merely "acceptable" or "good" at something, most people won't be good at anything except their daily job. Most people don't have the time to spend 20 hours a week on a hobby, and if they do, they often don't have the inclination. If you'd say that it takes 10.000 hours to become a master, or expert, then I'd believe that. |
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04-18-2013, 05:06 PM | #43 | |
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How you measure it is up to you, but I have published 1/2 million words in my fiction novels alone in 2 years, so I do not think a million is all that hard of a goal to reach. |
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04-18-2013, 05:18 PM | #44 |
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If I count all the posts I've written in some tech and photography forums, then I'm probably a long way past a million. I *long* way. But that are not stories.
I've just bought Scrivener, using the coupon code I found, and then hit the brick wall I always hit: I forgot taxes, so the durned thing turned out €5 more than expected. Ah well. Now see if I can make up some credible names for characters and races I've got in mind. Not too easy to depart from the typical Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, etc, after having played (AD&D) RPG's for 15 years and reading Tolkienesque fantasy for even longer.... At least, my Elves WON'T be called Elves, they WON'T be in the West, and they WON'T be the "firstborn race that is now at the end of its time in the current world", and they WON'T live forever. (You know, that's GOT to give you some epic space problems at some time.) Hm. Maybe my Elves are not Elves after all. Maybe I'll just be original and call them Elfs. Nah Last edited by Katsunami; 04-18-2013 at 05:20 PM. |
04-18-2013, 05:21 PM | #45 |
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You could cheat with the names...
http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/ http://fantasynamegenerators.com/ And dozens of others. |
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