Paul's comments (member since Feb 21, 2009)

Paul's comments from the Writerpedia group.

Citing a web page, you would put in: 'The article title' (2008b)

If you have several, it would be 'article x' (2009) and 'article y' (2008a).

Note that if you have several articles from the same year, the (2008a) etc

The bibliography would look like this:

Bibliography
(2009) Class equipment 'can be a waste'. BBC. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/797... [Accessed April 2, 2009:].

(2008a) Distractions 'hit old-age memory'. BBC. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/774969... [Accessed November 26, 2008:].

(2008b) Teenagers' learning 'dumbed down'. BBC. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/769... [Accessed October 27, 2008:].

I think Da Vinci said "A work of art is never completed, merely abandoned."

If that principle was good enough for him...

Aawww, sad end. Great story though. Gives me some hope for the future. Thanks again, Mari.

Well, I've been with you so far. Looking forward to seeing how ut ends.

It's been a nicely paced, readable story, with enough action and humour to satisfy a wide spread of tastes.

I suppose the chattering classes in Washington DC and New York, and come to think of it, parts of London as well, would sneer at the message as naive and backward, but what do they know? I agree with it anyway, even though I'm from England.

We could do with Tornado over here when he's played his part in the USA. Could we borrow him before our next election?

Once again, a good read. Thanks for sharing it with us, M.L.

Hehe. Nice one M.L.

I agree with Phillip. Chisel a chunk of free time out of your crowded day and use it just for writing. Not for editing, or social networking, or creating a treatment, or plot development. Just for writing.

Having said that, it won't be possible to guarantee your e.g. three hours free every day. Sometimes there are interruptions or committments you can't escape.

Also, if you're a creative person with a fertile imagination, you will generate more ideas for stories than you can ever write. It's the same for everyone else. Get used to it. When you die, you'll have notebooks filled with unused but viable ideas.

So choose one idea and stick with it till it's finished. Don't try to write two things over the same time span. You can develop a plot for book A, write book B and edit book C over the same span, 'cos they're different activities. But don't try and write book A for an hour in the morning and book B for a couple of hours in the evening. I don't think it'll work.

Your passion is greater than your ability?

Good. Cherish the passion. Nurture it. Feed it. Just be sure to grow your ability as well. The first writing attempts by anyone suck. They get better with time, experience and learning more about the craft.

And as Phillip also said, first drafts are messy and full of mistakes. That's why we edit, have people review them, revise, write another (better) draft, and possibly repeat the process a few more times.

Just keep going as best you can. No one can do more than that.

Greg - a fact, which may or may not help you.

Of all writers who are published (by others, not themselves). less than 1% can afford to pay their bills and eat solely by writing.

When you are unemployed, you should devote the best part of your efforts to finding another job which will pay the bills.

But that only takes up part of your time. The rest, why not enjoy the leisure? Write, write, and then write some more!

When you get a job again, value your spare time. Use it to write. Write as much as you can.

That only applies if you actually like writing.

It doesn't really matter whether you're good enough or not, the chances are that, no matter how good you are, you will never make a full time living from writing. You can make some money, and have a damn good time, and have something which takes you away from the normal humdrum. But to expect it to pay your bills any time soon?

I think you get what I'm saying.

Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither freedom nor security - Ben Franklin.

Oh, Michele, that's not just editors. I treat everyone with reserved scepticism. Including total strangers (about 7 billion at last count). I am pleased to relate though, that when I meet a stranger, that person is usually nice.

Hi Lorna,

No need to be intimidated. We're all pretty friendly on tnis site.

If you want to finish a story, why not write the ending first, and then work towards it from the start? That guves you have a target to aim for.

Still loving it. Poor Tornado is going to have serious problems soon, I think. Not all of his new bride's making either!

Michele,

Re most of your points, that assumes you have found a good editor. Many aren't. If you find a good one, they are like gold-dust. But I think most should be treated with a degree of scepticism until they've proved their worth.

Yo Denny, I agree with just about everything you said there :)

Welcome Michele :)

Hear hear! To know a genre, you have to read lots of work in it. Absorb the (mainly) unwritten rules and conventions. These aren't a shackle, any more than the fact that the human vocal range is about 3.5 octaves shackled Verdi or Puccini. They are merely a set of guidlelines within which the story may unfold.

I would agree that SF should have a core of hard science and plausible extrapolation.

To me, fantasy implies magic - i.e. the control of powers by unexplained means - casting spells, hurling fireballs and the like.

Horror involves an elementof the supernatural (which means it would be difficult to have SF/horror, because although horrific, everything in an SF work should be capable of being explained as natural by the science involved.

Any good boook in any genre should have action, thrills, romance and humour. I suppose it's the degree to which each is present that leads a book to be classed as belonging to a genre it was not intended to be a member of.

That's OK Mari, your invoice is in the post ;)

Seriously, it's no problem. If I didn't enjoy the story, then it might be a problem!

Yes, yet another easy-to-read and humourous chapter. Great stuff.

Yes, the only problem with talking to yourself is that you tend to agree with yourself. If you argue with yourself, professional help is required urgenttly :)

Discussion with others, seeking other viewpoints, having the occasional disagreement, is vital for mental stability. We are, after all, a sociable and gregarious species.

The other, cynical, viewpoint is this: the more ways there are to communicate, the more banal and trivial the communication becomes. (Present company excepted of course.)

When it took time and effort to send someone a message, that message had to be worth sending. Now, it takes seconds, so people just send messages for the sake of it.

I always do a timeline and a placeline, so I know what should be happening, when and where. Since I often write in 1st perosn POV, it is very handy to know that the protagonist would have knowledge of event A, but cannot possibly yet know about event B.