Andres’s Comments (group member since Jul 29, 2020)

Andres’s comments from the Gathering Of Dedicated Scribblers group.

I'm back. I was away in N'awlins.
Let me see, I have this title I'm currently working on 'the sunset slayer' which is two ideas merged into one. It merges information about my universe/pantheon with a fantasy story. This is the background that links everyone of my books together.

I also have my trilogy books 2 and 3 mapped out. Approximately 600 pages of book 2 done. Around 40ish of book 3.

After that is a working title of, 'The dragon prince' which I have about 90 pages written as a short story. I'll try to write the prequel of this leading up to my 90 pages and this should be book 6?

Then I have no more outlines. I have a few ideas i'd like to venture into. I have an idea for a zombie type chiller/thriller? I have an idea for a dystopian novel and i'd love to explore some more old English legends after that.

I have an idea about women who grow thick silver hair that is equivalent to chain mail. This allowed them to dominate men in battle and now rule their world. However the ever growing hair becomes extremely heavy over time and mating is difficult without a special mineral that cuts through the hair easily. The men are forced into mining camps to mine the mineral but sneak pieces out to make weapons against the women.

The last I have is a murder mystery where a lonely wealthy man picks up prostitutes for company. He takes them shopping and rents them a room so they can shower and get ready. When he picks them up he takes them out to dinner so he doesn't have to eat alone before dropping them back off completely platonic. Meanwhile a radical woman abuser accidently slips and kills his escort. He tries planting that death and others on the lonely man. Throughout the story I'm trying to convince readers that the lonely man seems good but is not behind the story only to learn he really was good. Meanwhile a husband and wife function only as the wife has a secondary life as an escort. Their marriage seems on the brink of destruction during the day but at night it thrives. The husband picks her up on her 'working days' and becomes the catalyst for uncovering the radical when his wife gets killed.

So I'm only good for about six or seven books, which sadly isn't half of the 15.

Welcome Ny,

I hope you hit your target audience! I've thought about writing for the younger audience but never felt quite comfortable with how advanced the vocabulary may be. I'm sure once your in that practice it should come easier as you continue to write but I wish you luck. Sounds like a short read, let me know if you need someone to proof read it when your done.

That's better than me. I've got the next 4 books outlined and I'm out of ideas. Hopefully I'll read something in between there that gives me another one.

Or I might do what I did with King Arthur. Grab an old classic fable and re imagine it.

I have 10 more pre-written / rough draft chapters and then I'll be sailing alone once again. I'm looking forward to getting there but i'm also dreading it. It might be a wall I have to figure out how to climb but no point in stressing about it now.

Eve, that's too bad. I know in my writing experience I've encountered a lot of "Yeah lets do it!" types. Unfortunately once it becomes their turn to submit you find they were never really into it in the first place they were simply being supportive. Luckily you have the GODS if you need anything. Tomas and I will likely continue writing until we are old men.

=D

I hope everyone had a good weekend. We went camping and it poured on us for several hours.

I think I just hit chapter 18 on my current novel. How is everyone else doing on their books?

For the record, I never thought of you as dumb, nor dingy or any other word in the thesaurus for unintelligent. On behalf of the community were here for you. I write and read everyday to make my mind work. We are no different.

We have writers here where English is not their first language. Others who have never written. Our job as a community is to provide helpful feedback not try to be little anyone attempting to get a story out. We're bigger than that. We're GODS.

That's so awesome you have a brother whom you could at least communicate with and colab. I think writing for many people feels or eventually becomes isolating. To have someone supporting you from the start is a blessing for sure.

Its a very clever symbol however, do you think because you write in a poly genre that your symbol should contain multiple hearts? I think something along that line could become a symbol for the genre. Just seeing it on the side of a book could draw readers towards it if they enjoy that.

I currently have two books out on the market which I have invested absolutely nothing in advertising. So the three or four books that have sold is surprising to me haha.

I have a solid career so writing is actually my hobby. I'm just very thankful that I have the ability to write simply because I love it and not because my income depends on it. I've met some fantastic writers along the way and look forward to meeting many more.

Rachel,
That's why you have a community like this. I'm glad if anything I wrote helped you in any way. I honestly believe if you had had the time to read it aloud you would have caught the majority of those tenses.

I do apologize however that I am more of a fantasy (myth/magic) writer so I wasn't really able to offer useful feedback that might have helped you in your plot/story. Catching tenses was probably the best offer I could give. Now you have a good idea of how I edit at least. If that helps you in anyway in your future writings please don't hesitate to ask.

Wow thanks for the plug! Her work is beautifully amazing! I'd only wish to be able to write something that would pay homage to her ability.

Welcome Eve! You're quite accomplished already. I like your symbol.

Because you are already so accomplished try not to feel overburdened with peer reviews. You will most likely not receive useful feedback unless it is a reviewer that you maintain in communication with. Understanding that, Keep submitting your chapters through the coursework not really paying heavy attention to the peer review section.

As you build 3-5 chapters, it becomes easier (IMO) to have someone then try to go through and check them. I feel this gives a better of idea of what is happening in the story and allows your reviewers to see a larger picture of your plot. Once they are made aware of what is happening the feedback becomes very useful at this point.

Doesn't always work this way but I'm glad to have a full time Romance professional in the ranks. I hope this group becomes part of your long term community.

For all you fantasy writers that enjoy having a map to go with your story there is a program called

Inkarnate. https://inkarnate.com/

You can explore this for free and create some really cool maps for your book. If you pay the $25 for the YEAR, it will unlock a lot of nice features!

Hi Maria welcome to the GODS. What genre are you writing in?

All right Thomas! Best of luck in getting your 2nd draft done. I love the explanation of why you prefer pen and paper. That actually makes a lot of sense for those who remain stuck on a chapter for so long they have a hard time of getting the rest of their story down on paper.

Rachel, were you able to look over all my suggestions? In word, if you open the review section and click show mark ups everything I did should appear in red. The track changes button might also need to be applied but hopefully it all popped up on its own.

Yeah, I was offered to put my King Arthur in there but never got around to it.

Just hit chapter 9 Rachel. Page, 42 of 70 I think.

Very cool. I'm glad you'll be able to open it in word. I'm wondering if different applications change paragraphing formats as they convert from one to another. Plus the review pane will show up in word.

You're very welcome. I took typing in high school and my first book was far worse LOL. What program are you typing his in? The spacing is unusual. It's acting like notepad.

It's all in Garamond 12 font. 18 font chapter titles. 1.5" spacing. You're welcome to change it to whatever you like. This is simply what I use. I just hit page 19, chapter 5 the barber shop.

Awesome. I'll try to finish this up so she can accept/decline my suggestions and then pass it on to you for a further review. We should catch the majority of typos for her.

Whenever you need me my friend. I'm going through Rachel's work at the moment but her chapters are very short, maybe 1k words each.

Currently I just started chapter 4.

Its okay Tomas, I see you lurking in other forums as well LOL. I'll be your Pinoccio if you'll be my Jimminy cricket. When your 2nd book is closer to complete let me know and I'll restart book 1 since you told me to stop for now.

I'm going to review Rachel's book but you only have to ask my help if you ever need it. Oh, and if anyone would like to read my book for completing the Coursera class, 'King Arthur' I would be happy to send it to you for free only to receive an honest review in return.