Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 231

Our Current Top Ten Posts :-)

Even though this blog has only been active since the first of the year (95 posts), I thought it would be good for my readers to take a gander at the most visited posts in its young history.

Here are the top ten most-read posts:

Author Interview ~ Maria Savva

132


Author Interview ~ Karla Telega

99


Author Interview ~ Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick

98


In Memorium, for Jamie…

75


Author Interview ~ Stacy Juba

67


Invitation To The Madhouse ~ Report On Self-Publishing

67


Author Interview ~ Simone Benedict

66


Where Do Writers Find Their Ideas? ~ Revisited…

63


Where Do Writers Find Their Ideas?

61


Rediscovering The Power of The Word, "No!", with Irina Avtsin

58

If a post about you didn't make the current top ten, stay tuned, 'cause it could be there any day now :-)

I find it interesting that five out of ten are Author Interviews, even though it's still scoring low in our survey…

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Tagged: best posts, blog, most read, most read posts, Notes from An Alien, posts, top posts, top ten

When Is A Manuscript FINAL ?

Last month, I'd finally reached the stage in the process of my book where I could say I had a final manuscript.

Last week, I decided I needed a final read-through, just in case. I've read through thirteen chapters so far and have about as many places where I'll be making small adjustments in words and phrases…

I actually had another reason for the read-through. I've mentioned before my involvement in the virtual word, Second Life. << That link was stolen from the handy Top Tags Cloud in the right side-bar of this blog. Great way to find topics of interest :-)

I'd been reading a chapter each week to folks from all over the world but there weren't an infinite number of chapters–I needed a new format for the Thursday event and that format had been decided way back when the book was in its infant-outline form.

Beginning next week, I'll be leading discussions about various issues that are dealt with in the book and the final read-through was to compile an index, by chapter occurrence, of the main issues the book deals with. I'm pretty sure I'll really have a Real Final manuscript by the time those discussions start :-)

When I created the book's web site, I made sure there was a forum built-in for discussing the characters and ideas of the book as well as soliciting story ideas for the book's sequel. I haven't yet done much publicizing of the forum but as the book's launch date approaches (May 16th) the forum and the discussions in Second Life will be getting more attention and they'll also be interacting with each other.

So, there are some very practical reasons this last read-through must really be the last, why the book must reach its final form, even though, down the road, I might wish I'd made a few more changes…

Steven King is reported to have said that he doesn't look at published copies of his books because he doesn't want to deal with the wishing-I-could-have-changed-that syndrome.

Of course, since I'm self-publishing Notes from An Alien, I could send an altered manuscript to FastPencil and create a new edition.

Actually, I pray I never feel like I want to do that :-)

I'd love to hear any other writers' comments about reaching the Final Manuscript………

I'd also like to see any comments or questions about the final revision process in a book's life :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)

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Follow the "co-author" of Notes from An Alien, Sena Quaren:

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Tagged: discussion, editing, FastPencil, forum, manuscript, revision, Second Life, Steven King

Come On, Change My Mind ~ Vote In Our Survey :-)

A couple days ago, I posted a poll, soliciting readers' opinions on what topics they wanted to see in this blog.

I published results the other day and there have been a few votes since then.

Knowing what my readers want is important to me, so I decided to put off a "normal" post and, instead, ask again for those who have yet to vote to, please, take a minute and register your desires.

You can either scroll down two posts or click here…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)

Follow the "co-author" of Notes from An Alien, Sena Quaren:

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Tagged: opinion, Opinion poll, opinions, poll, reader opinion, readers' opinions, survey, vote

Survey Results ~ New Directions

Our last post was a survey; and, while I encourage you, if you haven't voiced your desires, to scroll down and add your opinions, it's been up long enough to not see any new votes for the last 24 hours.

I currently have an average of 58 people coming to this blog each day, which isn't so bad considering I started it on January first.

There are about 7 people who regularly comment and the survey had 39 votes. Since each person could check 3 options, there may have been 13 people contributing to the results (so far).

The topic with the most votes (20.5%) was Writing, closely followed by (c. 18%) Writers' Issues.

One surprise for me was the number three slot (15.4%), How Notes from An Alien Can Help Earth. If you're new to the blog, Notes from An Alien is my book, being published May 16th and available free from the link in the right side-bar :-)

The remaining votes fell out like this:

Self-Publishing c. 10.3%

Reading & Genre Explorations both c. 7.7%

Language, Author Interviews, and Social Issues all at just over 5%

And, Global Issues and Publishing both at c. 2.6%

I gratefully thank everyone who voted and, again, encourage those who haven't to scroll down and take part.

I'll be pondering these results and working toward satisfying my readers' desires; at least those readers' desires which got expressed.

It's interesting to me that there were no topics with more than around 20% of the vote. The spread of interests intrigues me.

What are your thoughts?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)

Follow the "co-author" of Notes from An Alien, Sena Quaren:

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AND, Get A Free Copy of Our Book

Tagged: blog topics, blogging, poll, reader opinion, reader opinions, survey, survey results, writing

Reader Survey ~ What Do You Want To See?

Select Your Top 3 Choices



View This Poll
online surveys


Tagged: blog, blogs, Notes from An Alien, poll, reader, Readers, topic, topics

Coming Out of The Closet ~ I'm A Poet At Heart

I've written what one author friend has called a Documentary Novel which will launch on May 16th.

That will be followed by a Short Story Collection.

I have a number of other publications that are free to download.

Then there's my Poetry Book…

It was reviewed recently by an author I've interviewed on this blog–Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick:

"Don't be surprised to learn that Alexander is a poet. A fine poet.

"I own his collection from 2005, which he subtitles 'A Poet's Struggle With God'.

"This is not poetry in a page, nor in a phrase, or sentence.

"It is poetry within a word.

"Here is my review:

"How many words does it take to say something profound? If you are Alexander M. Zoltai, sometimes only three or four. 'Is Your Soul in Here?', is not a question this poet is asking you, the reader. He is asking himself, and listening very hard for answer. In this book is the silence of rushing waters, the stone-stillness of clouds, the laughter that pain causes, and joy in feeling the search for love in your soul.

"Alexander claims this 'spiritual struggle [is] an activity best performed alone…', and he's listening to hear if God agrees.

"This is a deeply personal writing, dedicated to his daughter–with the simplest expression of pure love that I've ever seen in text.

"I wanted to share this, to thank him for those pages. I find them wonderful to know."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)

Follow the "co-author" of Notes from An Alien, Sena Quaren:

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AND, Get A Free Copy of Our Book

Tagged: author, free download, God, Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick, poet, poetry, review, soul

Another "Review" of The Alien's Book

I'm sort of "cheating" with this one since I just rediscovered it on my thumb-drive and it's sort of a review/critique. It was written months ago before I submitted the book to my editor…

Since it's "review-like" I thought it deserved its own post :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexander:

I am engrossed in your fiction and would love to read more. Your world painting, character development, dialogue, and imagery are all top-notch. What stands to be improved is your story's structure, which is a bit clunky. By using transitions between your chapter breaks (or even creating numbered sub-chapters, ala Stephen King), you can enhance understanding. You have a flashback that is a good scene, but this is not a movie. It needs to be transitioned to. Point of view is a bit confusing, but it is all just a flaw of structure and so close to being fixed. Only some simple tweaking, I believe, with the structure to find a suitable and understandable rhythm for the reader.

I LOVE your prologue. It is very cleverly done and grips me immediately. To imagine that your protagonist is actually your co-author is a stroke of genius and a nice gimmick. I also think the setting is very well developed and interesting. I like how the planets come close to each other in their orbits over many years, allowing for more direct interaction. I also like the idea of plasma as an emotional and mental conduit. All very, very good. The planets become a dichotomy of existence, a split of the "survivalist" vs. "spiritual," "technological" vs. "communal," and "rational" vs. "irrational." This is all very symbolic and when put into a good action story becomes an effective backdrop that does not become too preachy.

I have some general ideas/questions. First, I am interested to know what these aliens look like, at least their major similarities and differences between humans, if any. As a modern sci-fi writer, I timagine you buy into the idea that life evolving on another planet would have to have some sort of different physiology shaped by its own unique environment. I think this could be explained quite easily when your "co-author" is explaining the other similarities and differences between her race and humans. I would add it there somewhere, just a paragraph. It helps me "see" these people.

There were a few instances where some editing of word choice and sentence structure could be improved, but I will leave that to your copy editor.

FAVORITE PASSAGES

"I am a woman from a star system about twelve light-years from Earth. If you choose to believe me, my story is a history lesson—how to achieve unity and peace—a lesson that Earth desperately needs. If you choose to not believe I'm real, my tale is a science fiction story about how to achieve unity and peace—a lesson that Earth desperately needs…

—–Very nice, ironic statement. Also very well-worded.

"My "voice" will return when the story arrives at my birth."

—–Thank you for telling us this. Very effective, as we wait for her, and puts your story on a timeline for us.

"Sorry for this short scientific digression but, if you don't have a basic understanding of plasma, you'll miss much of the meaning of this story."

—–Successful gimmick for the early info-dump! I am envious of this…

"This is how I found Alexander, the co-author of this book."

—–see above for accolades

"A simplistic example would be to say that we share things like the idea of dog and cat but not the knowledge of beagles and tabbies. A more accurate example would be that we easily share an idea like four-footed, domesticated animal but not ideas like dog or cat or lizard. Those differences take much more conceptual exploration and sharing."

—–Sounds liked you have studied Plato and his dialogue on "forms." I like!

"You have a bad habit of repeating what you know I already know, Morna."

"Sometimes I feel it necessary."

"It's going to take the whole voyage for me to figure you out."

"I believe it will take longer than that."

"Could be, but the leadership on Anla apparently hate the Nari."

"Yes."

"Asking for a man their enemies worship…"

—–I like this exchange, but I need just ONE attribution to keep me on track with who is speaking, maybe somewhere in the middle.

"unwillingness to adhere to norms"

—–maybe use the word "deviance" somewhere here. In sociology, social deviance is exactly that, "unwillingness to adhere to norms." I think the word adds to your crredibility. It seems that your Corporate World has a huge division of sociology, since they are so big on social engineering. Using deviance as their jargon increases the strength of your work.

"People who didn't become passive through fear—those who fought against the invasive alteration of their feelings—were kept apart from others till they killed themselves."

—–ghastly, but good!

I look forward to reading more. Now, I have to ask if you might consider returning the favor. It seems difficult to find people here who are willing to read a lengthy chapter; they tend to stick to poetry. It becomes a volume business with reviewing, that is why I try to focus on short stories and chapters as often as I can. These are the works that need the most exposure and reading. If you can stomach epic fantasy, I would love a review of the first chapter of my work, The Betrayer of the Virtues. Chapter is called "Kabar's Creek." Take your time to fit me in. I understand the pressure of trying to read, write, and review.

Thanks for sharing your work with me!

Patrick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I did return the favor for Patrick :-)

And, for anyone who's read this far into this post, I have a little bonus:

I've just begun to checkout the list of 58 potential places to have my book reviewed. One on that list had an asterisk in front of it from way back when I compiled the list. I discovered a major resource about Book Reviews. Enjoy :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)

Follow the "co-author" of Notes from An Alien, Sena Quaren:

On Facebook

On Twitter

AND, Get A Free Copy of Our Book

Tagged: alien, book, criticism, editor, manuscript, Notes from An Alien, review, reviewer

Another Review of The Alien's Book

I'm sort of "cheating" with this one since I just rediscovered it. It was written months ago by a man who not only "reviewed" it but made some very helpful comments on the manuscript. This was before I submitted it to my editor…

Since it's "review-like" I thought it deserved its own post :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexander:

I am engrossed in your fiction and would love to read more. Your world painting, character development, dialogue, and imagery are all top-notch. What stands to be improved is your story's structure, which is a bit clunky. By using transitions between your chapter breaks (or even creating numbered sub-chapters, ala Stephen King), you can enhance understanding. You have a flashback that is a good scene, but this is not a movie. It needs to be transitioned to. Point of view is a bit confusing, but it is all just a flaw of structure and so close to being fixed. Only some simple tweaking, I believe, with the structure to find a suitable and understandable rhythm for the reader.

I LOVE your prologue. It is very cleverly done and grips me immediately. To imagine that your protagonist is actually your co-author is a stroke of genius and a nice gimmick. I also think the setting is very well developed and interesting. I like how the planets come close to each other in their orbits over many years, allowing for more direct interaction. I also like the idea of plasma as an emotional and mental conduit. All very, very good. The planets become a dichotomy of existence, a split of the "survivalist" vs. "spiritual," "technological" vs. "communal," and "rational" vs. "irrational." This is all very symbolic and when put into a good action story becomes an effective backdrop that does not become too preachy.

I have some general ideas/questions. First, I am interested to know what these aliens look like, at least their major similarities and differences between humans, if any. As a modern sci-fi writer, I timagine you buy into the idea that life evolving on another planet would have to have some sort of different physiology shaped by its own unique environment. I think this could be explained quite easily when your "co-author" is explaining the other similarities and differences between her race and humans. I would add it there somewhere, just a paragraph. It helps me "see" these people.

There were a few instances where some editing of word choice and sentence structure could be improved, but I will leave that to your copy editor.

FAVORITE PASSAGES

"I am a woman from a star system about twelve light-years from Earth. If you choose to believe me, my story is a history lesson—how to achieve unity and peace—a lesson that Earth desperately needs. If you choose to not believe I'm real, my tale is a science fiction story about how to achieve unity and peace—a lesson that Earth desperately needs…

—–Very nice, ironic statement. Also very well-worded.

"My "voice" will return when the story arrives at my birth."

—–Thank you for telling us this. Very effective, as we wait for her, and puts your story on a timeline for us.

"Sorry for this short scientific digression but, if you don't have a basic understanding of plasma, you'll miss much of the meaning of this story."

—–Successful gimmick for the early info-dump! I am envious of this…

"This is how I found Alexander, the co-author of this book."

—–see above for accolades

"A simplistic example would be to say that we share things like the idea of dog and cat but not the knowledge of beagles and tabbies. A more accurate example would be that we easily share an idea like four-footed, domesticated animal but not ideas like dog or cat or lizard. Those differences take much more conceptual exploration and sharing."

—–Sounds liked you have studied Plato and his dialogue on "forms." I like!

"You have a bad habit of repeating what you know I already know, Morna."

"Sometimes I feel it necessary."

"It's going to take the whole voyage for me to figure you out."

"I believe it will take longer than that."

"Could be, but the leadership on Anla apparently hate the Nari."

"Yes."

"Asking for a man their enemies worship…"

—–I like this exchange, but I need just ONE attribution to keep me on track with who is speaking, maybe somewhere in the middle.

"unwillingness to adhere to norms"

—–maybe use the word "deviance" somewhere here. In sociology, social deviance is exactly that, "unwillingness to adhere to norms." I think the word adds to your crredibility. It seems that your Corporate World has a huge division of sociology, since they are so big on social engineering. Using deviance as their jargon increases the strength of your work.

"People who didn't become passive through fear—those who fought against the invasive alteration of their feelings—were kept apart from others till they killed themselves."

—–ghastly, but good!

I look forward to reading more. Now, I have to ask if you might consider returning the favor. It seems difficult to find people here who are willing to read a lengthy chapter; they tend to stick to poetry. It becomes a volume business with reviewing, that is why I try to focus on short stories and chapters as often as I can. These are the works that need the most exposure and reading. If you can stomach epic fantasy, I would love a review of the first chapter of my work, The Betrayer of the Virtues. Chapter is called "Kabar's Creek." Take your time to fit me in. I understand the pressure of trying to read, write, and review.

Thanks for sharing your work with me!

Patrick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I did return the favor for Patrick :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)

Follow the "co-author" of Notes from An Alien, Sena Quaren:

On Facebook

On Twitter

AND, Get A Free Copy of Our Book

Tagged: alien, book, criticism, editor, manuscript, Notes from An Alien, review, reviewer

Traditional VS Self Publishing ~ Some Thoughts…

I read a post last night on Isabella Louise Anderson's blog. It was about the fortitude it takes to get through many rejections to finally see a book accepted for publishing.

My book will be self-published on the 16th of May.

I still found Isabella's post (and its comments) interesting because I'm not the kind of self-publishing author to look down on traditional publishing.

In fact, I think both methods of publishing have their pros and cons.

Some Traditional Pros:

National or International marketing help.

Recognition by peers.

Acceptance in the marketplace.

Some Traditional Cons:

Huge effort to have book accepted.

Pressure from editors on book's content.

No guarantees of ultimate success.

Some Self-Publishing Pros:

No restrictions on content.

No editorial pressure.

No struggle to have book accepted for publishing.

Some Self-Publishing Cons:

Responsibility for every bit of promotion and marketing.

Less acceptance by peers (though this seems to be swiftly changing).

No guarantees of ultimate success.

It could seem like a lesser of two evils choice, but those were only Some of the differences.

My major determinants for choosing self-publishing were that I knew my book had an extremely slim chance of being accepted by any traditional publishers and I'm old enough to realize that, even if it got accepted, I might die before the book's launch.

What are your opinions, experiences, or knowledge of these two seemingly contending methods of publishing?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)

Follow the "co-author" of Notes from An Alien, Sena Quaren:

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AND, Get A Free Copy of Our Book

Tagged: author agents, editors, publish, Publishers, publishing, self-publish, self-publishing, traditional publishing

Facing Negative Criticism ~ Is Thinking Like An Artist The Same As Thinking Like A Normal Human?

Our last post, about criticism and using the integrity of the book to defend against negativity, had me saying this:

"At each stage of this process [all the steps of getting feedback on my book] I was of two minds: the merely human writer seeking perspective and the Artist, bearing the Book and feeling its Life and Truth…"

A merely human writer is any writer when they consider things from a conscious, objective, society-oriented perspective.

The Artist is the same writer when they consider things from a deeper-than-conscious, subjective, not-necessarily-society-oriented perspective.

Language is slippery and seems to favor, in most instances, a conscious, objective approach that engages some aspect of developed social structure.

Just comparing my sentences up there about a merely human writer and an Artist, just looking at what I had to do to contrast the two frames of mind is one example of how Language can respond to simple comparisons.

I could have used a more metaphorical approach:

A merely human writer thinks like the Manager of a shop full of creative people.

An Artist is the same writer when they think like a shop full of creative people.

I could take this comparison further into the waters of metaphor:

The merely human writer: "I was riding the waves of criticism, responding with what I had in the boat–signalling flags and lights, carrier pigeons with responses secured to their ankles; and, finally, I had to abandon the boat, floating with the aid of a life-vest but without the aid of my compass and map, now sinking with the boat."

The Artist: "The sea of criticism broke its waves against the shore of my understanding. I lashed myself to the rocks and bore it all for love of my Muse."

Just a bit exaggerated, eh? Also, those examples are only me giving voice to my perception of the different ways I handle the thoughts of other people when they share their negative opinions of my writing…

How do you handle negative criticism, how do the merely human and Artist aspects of your nature think and communicate when the waves start to rise?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)

Follow the "co-author" of Notes from An Alien, Sena Quaren:

On Facebook

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AND, Get A Free Copy of Our Book

Tagged: artist, criticism, Human, language, metaphor, objectivity, subjectivity, writer