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Topics - THETA

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Author Craft / Sci-Fi Story Summary
« on: December 30, 2008, 04:03:16 AM »
This is me killing two birds with one stone.  First bird, me trying to learn the ways of creating a successful book jacket summary.  Second pain in the ass bird, "advertising" my friend's story.  I'd like feedback on both the execution of the book summary/hook and on how the general story sounds.  More importantly, does it sound eerily like any Sci-Fis you've ever encountered.  Here goes...

Are you still considered a genius if you took up a military conscription on impulse and ended up on a special missions ship with a rank that's about as noticeable as the ship's many flooring tiles?  No clue, all I know is that Papa General wants one of his own to be the one to hit the switch if the mission goes badly.  Bastard blood is still thicker than water.  Well eat your heart out Dad, I didn't even need to carry out the order.  When we reached our destination, we jumped right in the middle of an alien war and they're both looking for an idiot to join up.  Good thing I'm still a genius, right?

So the story is that there's two alien races.  One alien race is a insectoid race, collective mind, lotsa disposable troops, that jazz.  Another alien race is an advanced humanoid reptilian race.  Basically, dinosaurs who in their fairly recent past, combined their DNA with the primitive ape people of their planet to evolve.  The Insectoid are out to simply devour other worlds.  The Dino-men want to embrace the newcomer Earthlings with open arms which they will easily turn into a vice grip of an inescapable alliance.  The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?  Well, can you trust a race of Dino-men when they've enslaved the entire population of primitive humans on their home planet?  Friendship, not so forthcoming.  Especially since there's plenty of division within the Dino-men race without the Insectoid threat.  What is a lost ship from Earth to do?

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Author Craft / Career as Publishing Editor
« on: September 30, 2008, 03:55:58 AM »
Although i wouldn't risk my bread and butter on being a full blown author, i was thinking that working as an editor or marketing consultant or some such thing at a publishing house would be the next best thing.  I mean, being paid to read and write my opinions on it and correct grammar or other errors sounds amazing.  However, when i researched an editor's salary rates on Payscale, i found the results rather dismal.  Of course, Payscale doesn't take into account i might work my way into a major publishing house and make buku bucks, but it's quite fair and accurate as according to many other jobs as comparison to reality, such as an aerospace engineer or pharmacist, ect.  50,000 after five years isn't poverty level, but if i became a doctor like i originally planned, it's almost laughable.  I have the grades for the medical field as well as the passion and fortitude, but there's something about books and literature that arouses me more than the dogged pursuit of curiosity i feel for medicine and science.  I'm not sure.

There any editors on board?

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Author Craft / Recommended writers guide
« on: September 07, 2008, 05:54:09 PM »
How NOT to Write a Novel: 200 classic mistakes and how to avoid them--A misstep-by-misstep guide
by  Howard Mittelmark, Sandra Newman

I recommend this guide for any aspiring writers and definitely those whose been sending in their works to publishers.  I picked up this book just passing by the isle in Barnes and Nobles and before i knew it i was 100 pages in, absorbing and best of all, laughing.  This guide is not in any way a dry read.  It's witty and funny, hell it uses profanity at times.  Also, it gives classic examples of mistakes every beginning writer is bound to make.  It points out when cliches are acceptable and when you're on the verge of losing your audience.  In fact i think the first chapter was named: How to lose your reader in the first ten minutes of reading.

It had stuff like:
-Making the unintentional relationship (you know, when you accidentally decide to describe a sister while the brother is hugging her just a little too intimately)
-Gay characters, an insight to both female and male perspectives, however books are not sitcoms, they better as hell serve some kind of purpose
-The difference between mirroring real life and making your book just as mundane as real life
-It is okay to use "he said, she said, they said ect" a billion times in your novel.  It's just a bridge tool and readers hardly notice. 

I really liked it and some of the stuff i was like, "Oh my God, i hate when i read that kind of shit." and other times where i was like, "...dammit, how many times have i done that?" and also, "Wow, that's a great idea.".  It's a great tool for all aspiring writers.

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Author Craft / Cure for Writer's Block: Character casting
« on: July 28, 2008, 01:18:40 AM »
I just found a fabulous cure for writer's block.  I'm the type of writer who needs everything set up in advanced before really digging into the meat of the story.  I usually start with a simple idea or scene and then i layer on more and more plot and development until i have a complex and complete story, so my process is often times long and susceptible to writer's block or simply having trouble on major development decisions.  This leads to frustration and avoidance and coming to hate what i'm working on.  Doesn't that sound familiar?  But i have found a fun way to fall back in love with your work.

Choose models for your characters.  It's like fantasy casting and it helps a bunch.  It helps to better determine a solidified personality for your characters and it can revitalize your work.  I was actually excited cruising pictures on google images trying to find the right face for the characters i had sort of vaguely and at the same vividly swimming up in my brain.  For my main characters i picked two to three different faces and for more secondary characters i just clicked and saved pictures and distributed them later. 

One method, use www.models.com.  Top 100 models, men and women, featuring the hottest people in the world.

Method number two, just use google images with the search description of what features you want.

Third method (and my favorite) when you don't want insanely beautiful people and just want normal people, type in the name of your character, like "Chloe" on google images and find the right person.

After that, pin them up on a cork board or glue them into your writing notebook so you can stare at them for reference or inspiration.  I hope my advice leads you to a successfully cured writer's block.

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