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With friends like these…
Dustin has never been a fan of navigating the Rhône-Sète canal, but now he’s considering to quit. Fine to spend his days with the cargo ghosts. Without, his job would be a lonely affair. But this is an outrageous proposal. Oilyboy is a naughty number. With a soy ghost, you’d expect no good. Agro bulk…
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The 2k challenge
Fascinating, the number of formats out there. Longshot Island does me the favor to define precise criteria: Usually stories with more characters work better than stories with fewer characters. Check. Lots of spiky characters, that’s the easy bit. We prefer shorter stories, 500 words to 2,500 in length. Wordcount feels kind of low, even for shorts. The…
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Genre malaise
Time for my very first call for help to the LinkedIn community. The more diligently I read, the more confused I get. Very basic basics are under reconsideration. I’m still convinced what I write should be called Science Fiction. Little science and lots of fiction = Science Fiction. Used to feel like a no-brainer. Looking at…
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Narrative beats
Amazing, the amount of terminology one needs to master to discuss book quality issues. Newest addition, courtesy of Ally Machate, owner of The Writer’s Ally via LinkedIn: ‘Beat’, as in narrative beats. Repetitive beats as one major cause of boredom, makes loads of sense. Even novice me experiences occasional rewriting urges associated with a feeling of ‘We’ve been…
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Target audience?
One more LinkedIn learning, and I once again lost track of the advice, meaning I can’t thank the author personally. Bad Troim. Anyway, I do recall the advice: “Know your target audience. ” Well, this is either very easy or borderline impossible. At first glance it’s a no-brainer: I’m the target audience. I’m first and foremost…
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Obsessed with visuals
In principle, Think-o-mat doesn’t progress too badly, on the plot and character side of issues. Chapter 6 will be available by the end of the week. But style remains a huge concern… The third language issue is solved by having been declared a feature. Rewriting after a gap of at least one day is both…
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Third language travails
One of the disadvantages of writing in a third language is the occasional confrontation with gaps. Had to look up the definition of ‘aside’, just to be on the safe side when using this format option. Turns out it means as suspected. Phew. Got really close to a dire doubt here. Except one of the…