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Topics - WonderandAwe

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Cinder Spires Spoilers / The Spy
« on: October 05, 2015, 10:08:02 PM »
My Guess for the Spy

(click to show/hide)

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Cinder Spires Spoilers / Warriorborn
« on: September 29, 2015, 09:09:33 PM »
So...  What are the Warriorborn exactly?  They seem to have cat like eyes and cats refer to them as "half souls".   They are rather strong and have a high metabolism.   They have normal humans as relatives.   

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Author Craft / Dialogue - Observations and Thoughts...
« on: February 01, 2007, 09:50:56 PM »
I've been thinking a lot about dialogue lately.  Mostly about what separates good realistic dialogue from poorly written passages of dialogue.  Forgive my brainstorming here.  I sort of want to start a general discussion on the way dialogue is used in real life and in written form.  A lot of these ideas will be skeletal in nature.  Some of them will be more fleshed out. 

I guess the basic way to break down dialogue is in two groups:  Informational and Persuasive. 

1.  Informational Dialogue:  This dialogue conveys facts and observations.  The person speaking wants to make sure thier target audience understands what they are trying to convey. 

2.  Persuasive Dialogue:  This dialogue is meant to encourage the target audience to agree with the speaker.  I'm not sure if a command should fall under this catagory or be its own.

Another way to break down dialogue is into target audiences (for lack of better word).  Three ways to do this: Speaking to an authority figure, Speaking with an equal, and Speaking with someone you have authority over.  Languages other than English have this built into them.  For example, the Spanish words for "You".

1.  Speaking to an Authority Figure:  From what I observed, when you speak to authority figures, you do so in a very formal tone.  Most people would be more likely to take time to think before they speak.  They are also less likely to curse, lose their temper or openly bad mouth others.  Of course there are exceptions to this.

2.  Speaking to an Equal:  Freinds and co-workers fall under this catagory.  I mostly hear very informal speech when people talk among themselves.  Slang is more common.

3. Speaking to someone under you:  I find that this is somewhat similar to speaking to an authority figure.  However, there are usually more commanding in thier tone.

Education and Slang:  Why did I put these two under the same topic?  I feel that both have much to do with vocabulary and Grammer and less to do with tone.  An highly educated person will have a larger vocabulary and better grammer than someone that barely finished grade school.  Also keep in mind that just because a person KNOWS a word doesn't mean that it will be used in thier everyday speech.  A person will probably be more likely to use the word punishment instead of retribution in spoken language.  I also think the gap between what a person says and what a person writes widens with education, but that is just a pet theory of mine.

Slang is interesting as you can make up all kinds of neat phrases in a fantasy setting.  Don't get too carried away though.  :)


Making better Dialogue:  I found that I write better dialogue when I actually interact with people face to face.  For a while I got sucked into World of Warcraft.  I tried to write something after that and discovered I lost the knack I had for making believable Dialogue.  While you have hours to look at a line and re edit it, your character came up with it during a course of conversation.  Not to say you should edit your dialogue to make it sound right, but just keep that in mind. 

Feel free to add, argue, and discuss. 

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Author Craft / Published on the Web?
« on: January 18, 2007, 07:23:06 PM »
I post a lot of my poetry on my live journal.  I would like to get it published some day but I have read that since I posted it on the web it is considered published.  Is this true, even though it is on live journal?  If so, can I "retract" (read delete it) from the site?

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Author Craft / Bloody Research
« on: November 07, 2006, 05:40:55 PM »
I am running into a few road blocks with my research on my current writing project (I would say novel but I only got two chapters so far). 

Where do you go to get information on "taboo" subjects?  I'm not really talking about alterntive sex lifestyles, but more of "What is the best way to crack open the skull to get to the brain?" and stuff like that.  It's sort of hard to find information on that on the internet. 

Also, fighting and stuff.  Where do you go for inspiration for writing such scenes?  I'm planning on taking a trip soon to the local university library to do research about it.  Is this a good idea or should I look at current works already written?

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Author Craft / People Watching
« on: October 31, 2006, 07:19:24 PM »
I was wondering if anyone else practices people watching.  I usually people watch at the mall or while I wait at the bus stop.  The reason I asked is that I have picked up this habit of creating personas of the people I watch.  I usually don't use the in any of my stories (I should start carrying a note book around so I can write the descriptions down). 

One variation of this is to try to imagine what that person would be in a different time period/setting.  For example, I would see a business man walking down the streets of downtown as some sort of nobleman, while the guy trimming the grass on the side walk would be a field hand. 

Does anyone else do this?

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Site Suggestions & Support / You have 1 New Message (nothing in Inbox)
« on: September 11, 2006, 03:48:40 PM »
I delete the spam that was in my PM box but I still get a "You have 1 Message" warning.  My box is completely empty.  Is there another place the message could be so I can see what it is/delete if necessary?

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