Critter Notices
Expanding Critters - Feedback Wanted
I've long planned to offer workshopping in more genres, both writing and in other creative areas. But there are lots of options how to do that... Please share your thoughts here, so I can keep them in one place. Thanks!
Notices Layout
So, lookie, I've moved the notices over here because of popular demand. Hope you like. Don't forget to look at them though!
The State of The Future?
What are your thoughts about the future (as in, "The Future")? Is the future healthy or are people burned out on it? Share your thoughts...
Ebook Pricing
The e-book pricing survey results are in! Read more...
Vote for Your Favorites!
I've launched a poll / reading list for your all-time favorites. Please vote and share the link. Vote here...
Wishes for the Future
What do you want the future to hold? World peace? Self-driving cars? Share your dreams of the future, big or small, on the Wishes for the Future forum.
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What are the most common faults that get stories rejected from the slushpile? An editor speaks! Posted with permission from a newsgroup exchange, we have this: Mary Soon Lee began by saying... > Guy Gavriel Kay has one habit I hate, > that of withholding key information from the reader, even when it > is known to the POV character. ====================================================================== Yer Critter Captain replied... >This really annoys me, too (no matter who the author). It's tempting to >do it, but I hate myself when I do it, so I try never to. The couple >times I have, it's only been for the span of a few paragraphs, and I've >justified it as "but the POV wouldn't stop to explain it and I need a >few more sentences before I can clue the reader in". But those spots >still feel like a burr on an otherwise smooth piece of wood. >How do other folks feel about withholding POV information from the reader? >How widespread is my personal feeling that this is a cheap/false tension trick? ====================================================================== and Liz Holliday, editor of Odyssey answered... >I'd say it's one of the two commonest faults in my slushpile rejects >(the other being a story in which the protagonist doesn't do anything >or have any stake). I think one particular beginner error is to use >this method in order to write a story with a twist ending - whereas a >better story would tell the reader the secret early on, and explore >the consequences. ====================================================================== So there you have it, folks, right from an editor's mouth. Learn it and live by it. :-)