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Hey, everybody. Long time, no see.  How are you all doing? I'm sorry I've been MIA.  Anyway, I do have a couple of legit questions. I think I might be ready* to ask for a second opinion on the world building of my fun little novels, and I was wondering where to go for such a second opinion. It might take a while to get it down in words and really pinpoint where my concerns are, but can anyone point me in the right direction? Also, I'm kind-of-sort-of thinking about taking part in NaNo this year. Does anyone have any opinions, experiences, or pieces of advice to offer? The concept of NaNo seems daunting, but it might be the kick in the pants I need, too. *I use "ready" in the loosest term here. I'm actually terrified to share my novel things. I might need a therapist before this novel is done.  OLAF voice: Just click "Post Note" OLAF voice: Why doesn't she just click "Post Note"? OLAF voice: Does she know how to click "Post Note"? |
Wow, those classes filled up fast. Kind of a bummer, but perhaps it's a blessing this time—not sure if I really had the time to dedicate anyway. Alas, I shall wait for fall.  Looks like there are still slots for Comma Sense open. I'll just leave this registration link here for anyone who might need it...
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oh..maybe now you have time for "Invalid Item"  ! we need another witchy  LOL use the prompt to write something.  |
Reply| It's been so long, where do I start? First of all, thank you all at the Quills for the honorable mention for my little pirate raffle.  I was honored just to be nominated, and there were so many good entries that I wasn't expecting anything. Also, thank you Schnujo's having school probs  (and congrats!) and Elle  for the merit badges and awardicon. Also, thank you those who nominated me.  I honestly forgot about my anniversary and the Quills  and this was all such a nice surprise. And now, my life. I see that New Horizons is opening up again for May and Punc. Inc. is being offered (WOOT!) so I plan on signing up for that. That will get me online to prepare for June. But then, after that, I may be disappearing for the summer for the most part. I thought about Game of Thrones a lot, and I had wanted to make a team of my own, but I don't think that will be in the cards this time. My little boy just started up a pretty intense therapy schedule through NMU, and they also want to look into getting something going for my girl, so that's going to eat up a lot of time and energy. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to even participate until GoT moves into the school months. I think I'll keep that TBD for now. And Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕 , did I ever answer that email? If not, I apologize, but here's a hug in any case.  Anywho, I have coffee to make.  I'll try to check in more often. Just renewed my upgrade, after all. |
Yay! Brandi, us at King Bob's Kingdom have missed you SO much. And, as for the email...  Honestly, I'm not sure. I don't remember, but that's okay!  |
| Just want to share a quick article : What Famous Writers' Most Used Words Say About Them? —The Guardian |
| Just a couple of quick links: Some Tweets about working with an editor: traditional pubbed, self-pubbed or otherwise The differences between copy-editing and proofreading In other words—if a book has a sluggish pace or other major plot/story problems, it's an editor's job to point that out; if the book uses too many commas or has overzealous thesaurus syndrome, etc., that's the copy-editors arena; proofreaders watch out for extra spaces, typos, and formatting issues on an otherwise polished work. That's my understanding, anyway. I'm just now starting to become comfortable with explaining which editor does what.  |
| The proofreading shop is down until further notice (probably until summer...? I don't know). Bit off more than I can chew there. It will probably need some remodeling and simplification before I start it up again, since most of what I advertised doing in it was intense amateur copy-editing stuff. How goes the life with you? |
| Alright. First, happy Valentine's day. Who's ready for a controversial question? How do you feel about white writers including people of color characters in their stories? I say that this is controversial because I've read a myriad of opinions from many points of view ranging from "Sure, as long as you do your research and get some good beta readers" to "No way! That's not your story to tell." I ask because my real life perspective includes folks from all walks of life, family and friends, and it feels natural for me to include that point of view in my fiction. I feel like it's important to talk this out. Thoughts?  (If there's an appropriate forum for this sort of discussion, feel free to direct me there, too ) |
| I sound several times more extreme than I really am. Deleted my previous comment. We need to be able to do this. Not *even if we're wrong* but *especially* when wrong. I wrote about an Urgan (essentially an Orc), experiencing a (melodramatic) racial-profiling problem. The situation had never been so clear to me. One treatment for racism is 'virtual reality' in which the player experiences being in the body of the other race. But writing about them is the original VR. I know that sometimes it comes off as disrespectful. This is one of the sad facts of life. That's no excuse to leave the summit and go back to cold war, is it? Because that's what it is when we stifle each other's imaginations and empathic attempts. Hope I didn't derail your discussion, by the way! If I did I'm really sorry. |
| Coming over from the General Discussion forum, I really want to jump in due to my experiences. From what I've seen, the biggest obstacle white writers face in opting to include POC characters is they will never get the most authentic picture since many groups have been taught to act a certain a way around white people. Thus, any research a white writer does will always been viewed through an altered lens. Let me explain why think this. Thanks to being biracial, I can mingle among different racial groups with minimal interference. As a result, I have been able to observe different groups' behaviors in a way that's less biased than if I was completely white and in the group. I think the issue that many completely white readers encounter is they either go into stereotypes or try to hard to emphasize diversity in their works, the latter sometimes being interpreted as more disrespectful. This is where the altered lens idea comes into play. The resources they choose or the people they talk to come across differently to white people than to nonwhites. For example, I accidentally hit a Hispanic kid while riding my bike back in middle school. Because I look similar to what many people consider Hispanic (tan skin, dark hair and eyes), I got teased a little, but no one tried to jump me for hitting their buddy. If I had a more pale complexion, the reactions would have been far more defensive. (I suppose now might be a good time to mention I'm half white/half South Asian, which makes me look like a ton of different ethnicities.) Ultimately, I think white writers can include POC characters but need to think very carefully about how they want to raise that point in the story. It's very likely that their initial efforts will show that skewed research, but I don't think it's impossible to overcome. |
| Relevant solution: Sensitivity readers. A sensitivity reader is a special expert reader who tells you if you have things wrong. Is your writing offensive, or did you just plain miss important points? Now, even if you have the facts right, there are people who still will say that it's not your property. They'll say, "I want to read what a Native American has to say about Native Americans." Sure, and the Native American should write what they have to say, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't look into the souls of characters who happen to appear different than me. If you're black, and you have a story about a white man who works in a gas station and studies psychology and dreams of being a writer, what's to say that isn't really your story? I mean, that's my demographic, but that doesn't really make it my story to tell. Sure, on the surface of it, I'm not a downtrodden demographic. I could argue that, but I don't care. Just humanize your characters. If I had a black character, trust me: I'm not writing about you, I'm still writing about me. Or I will be by the time that the story is ready for publication. |
| For starters: Hubby got his job back! Yay! (Had been on lay off for six months and we didn't know if we were going to have to move out of state for a new job.) On a lesser note: I started writing again for a change and the more I write, the less I feel qualified to review anyone else's writing. #rollercoasterconfidence |
Yay for you! I think we all feel unqualified to review Some people's work depending on experience---but no worries. We can learn and hopefully everyone here knows we are all doing the best we can from what we know. Carry on and let that Full moon tonight, with its eclipse bring up lack of confidence so you can POW it out of existence. It is in creative proud LEO so shine, baby!!  Tap into your greatness!  |
| "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with a passionate intensity." (Citation needed.) When reviewing, give whatever bad advice comes off the top of the head, and warn them that this is 'for informational purposes only'-does not constitute adequate advice-and that they should be sure to back up their work before following your advice. The Koalafications of the highest koalified are overrated, Bobbi! Just get in there and start doing. |
| But seriously, while scholarship and fact checking are great, most reviews aren't about that. We need perspective, we need other ideas. The only person in the world who is not qualified to review my work is me. And I'm not sure about that because if I sat down to write a review of my work, I might learn something there, too. It's not like riding a horse, it's like being a bit nervous of bumper cars because you're afraid you're going to have an accident. You're supposed to, so get in there. |
| Meanwhile, at Congress.gov, a bill was introduced... Text to the bill introduced to enact the "American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2017" which proposes to remove the U.S. from the U.N. Considering the BILLIONS of dollars Trump proposed to add to the Defense budget, this makes me a bit nervous... |
| Seriously? That's real? Though, just maybe the UN might finally be able to get some stuff done. Crazy times! |
| Okay, before I go to bed for real, Snopes confirmation on some of my five-minute research: Yeah, Republicans have tried this before |
I think I still owe Nixie 💃  2 Merit badges of her choice from the Pirate Raffle... Please drop me a line...  |
un: 
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