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Agony Aunt
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Today I mostly wrote ... the word count thread.
I've written another one. Half cheery, half not cheery. Sorry about that. I feel better now and I and a lady in church had a good cry together about our demented parents, hers now gone, mine just starting off again.Cheers
MTM
Blog time ... https://mtmcguire.co.uk/2019/12/22/mi...
Pastry full of custard. Yup - I could go for that.If anyone thinks I've got the overworked Christmas madness, you have to go to M.T's link.
Just to say back in November I posted here that I had received an offer to do a review from a user that looked suspicious. Have now had another, and this one is using practically identical wording as the first message though this time their profile on GR is private so maybe they read my warning. They are now calling themselves Vina Reviews and using a different email address, but can still see from their private profile view that they have five ratings and no reviews, though can't see when they created the profile.
Pam wrote: "Just to say back in November I posted here that I had received an offer to do a review from a user that looked suspicious. Have now had another, and this one is using practically identical wording ..."I did reply to one. They just send you a load of span website offsetting to review your book. After a week or so they stop if you don't reply.
Cheers
MTM
Jim wrote: "There's a lot of it about :-("When humans create a system, any system, other humans will find a way to scam it for their own advantage.
Unfortunately, this behavior is built into the evolutionary system like the cuckoo bird's, laying its egg in another bird's nest. Beware the cuckoo bird humans.
"Beware the cuckoo bird humans." Good way of putting it, Alicia.
555 words on a new short story. It's intended for submission to an anthology. No idea if it'll be accepted but that's no reason not to write it!
Kath wrote: "555 words on a new short story. It's intended for submission to an anthology. No idea if it'll be accepted but that's no reason not to write it!"it'll always do as a blog post :-)
Wrote this morning while I was drinking my coffee. Think I got about half an hour in. 🙂 Not sure how many words.
Just spent the last two hours at my in laws writing. Good bless the remarkable. Looks like a book not a screen and therefore way less anti social. nobody minds at all.Cheers
MTM
Just over a thousand for this short story.
Starting off the New Year by going back to the U.N.D.E.A.D. book again.
Yay! More U.N.D.E.A.D. ! And go Kath.Have done some work on the mailing list today and am now writing a blog post for tomorrow.
Cheers
MTM
Whoop Whoop UNDEAD!
Wrote some stuff yesterday and an enormous blog post today: https://mtmcguire.co.uk/2020/01/04/2020/
I put my secret piece of lit fic into a 'First 3K' competition. sadly didn't get anywhere, but the feedback from a Little, Brown agent was so positive that I've decided to crack on and complete the book.
Will wrote: "I put my secret piece of lit fic into a 'First 3K' competition. sadly didn't get anywhere, but the feedback from a Little, Brown agent was so positive that I've decided to crack on and complete the..."Top going Will. Was that a horror, sff or something new?
Cheers
MTM
*Hides head in shame* It's Lit Fic. There, I've come out.
I like lit fic!I forgot to update my totals on the shorts. One came in at 2835 and one at 2420 so I've written 5255 words during and since the holidays. Editing now so I can send them off.
I finally weighed in for 2019 at about 495,000 words. A little bit peeved to have fallen so stupidly short of the big half million.I'm mostly editing at the moment, so I've yet to post any scores for the new decade.
Tortoise and hare, ladies and gentlemen, tortoise and hare...
Will wrote: "*Hides head in shame* It's Lit Fic. There, I've come out."Like Kath, I like Lit Fic. Great to get positive feedback - jump for joy :o)
Did anyone else read that Nadine Dorries still writes 1,000 words a day? She "...forged a career as a novelist, is so prolific that she submitted three books in advance before joining ... government last July."
She said she started when her youngest went off to university and no longer has to be chauffeur etc. She writes for six hours on a Sunday. About 300,000 a year, she says.
I feel totally inadequate.
That's a lot of words. More than I manage: but then, I don't get 6 hours on a Sunday to just write
Will wrote: "*Hides head in shame* It's Lit Fic. There, I've come out."Interesting, from the wiki "Neal Stephenson has suggested that, while any definition will be simplistic, there is today a general cultural difference between literary and genre fiction. On the one hand, literary authors are frequently supported by patronage, with employment at a university or a similar institution, and with the continuation of such positions determined not by book sales but by critical acclaim by other established literary authors and critics. On the other hand, Stephenson suggests, genre fiction writers tend to support themselves by book sales"
So actually you need to get yourself a patron or two.
But what really tickled me was this bit of the wiki
"Characteristics of literary fiction generally include one or more of the following:
A concern with social commentary, political criticism, or reflection on the human condition.
A focus on "introspective, in-depth character studies" of "interesting, complex and developed" characters, whose "inner stories" drive the plot, with detailed motivations to elicit "emotional involvement" in the reader.
A slower pace than popular fiction. As Terrence Rafferty notes, "literary fiction, by its nature, allows itself to dawdle, to linger on stray beauties even at the risk of losing its way".
A concern with the style and complexity of the writing: Saricks describes literary fiction as "elegantly written, lyrical, and ... layered".
Unlike genre fiction plot is not the central concern
The tone of literary fiction can be darker than genre fiction."
So actually, Tallis Steelyard is Literary Fiction!
I can recall Kath telling me that plot wasn't the point of one of the TBU books, so maybe they qualify too?
Will wrote: "I can recall Kath telling me that plot wasn't the point of one of the TBU books, so maybe they qualify too?"I'm thinking of gate crashing prestigious literary events, with a straight face and plenty of pompous rhetoric :-)
Jim wrote: "Will wrote: "*Hides head in shame* It's Lit Fic. There, I've come out."Interesting, from the wiki "Neal Stephenson has suggested that, while any definition will be simplistic, there is today a ge..."
The definition I've heard was something along the lines of 'genre fiction is written to be read, and literary fiction is written to win prizes.'
Will wrote: "I'd settle for either"Money would be nice as well :-)
Wow! Well done Will. So now I'm agog wondering what Macmillan Jones Lit Fic looks like! Mwahahahrgh!I have just uploaded Few Are Chosen and Unlucky Dip on audio to Findaway voices ... gulp. Launch date for Unlucky will be April.
Cheers
MTM
Well, I'm going to be looking for some BETA readers shortly when I pass the half way point. Any volunteers?
Will wrote: "Well, I'm going to be looking for some BETA readers shortly when I pass the half way point. Any volunteers?"I tend to be a bit leery about lit fic but I'll give it a go. I might not like it because of the genre though, rather than anything to do with the quality.
I don't go for genres, I go for "good" :)
Thanks guys, I'll email some stuff out next week, if that's OK?Kath, I forgot to update my address book with your new email when I just looked: could you let me have it again, please?
Rosemary (grooving with the Picts) wrote: "I don't go for genres, I go for "good" :)"I would normally say the same ... for everything except lit fic. Mwahahahrgh. But it's Will's lit fic so it should be alright. :-)
While I'm here, can I pick the hive mind a moment. I have a new release out in four weeks so it's time to get my finger out of my arse and format the bloody thing!I have a holiday in my latest work. The Prophet's Birthday. It's all capitals, like Christmas or Christmas Day. There is cake and food and I call it Prophet's Birthday pastries at the moment. I'm thinking it should be, Prophet's Birthday Pastries or Prophet's birthday pastries. In which case I'd go for the former.
Likewise, if people are having a Prophet's Birthday celebration, I'm thinking capitalise it because you'd normally capitalise both Christmas and Day if you were using them instead in the same sentence.
Have I got that right or is this one of those debatable ones, where I just need to be consistent because no two editors will agree?
Thoughts ...
Cheers
MTM
I wait for Kath on this one but I would think that Prophet's birthday pastries are the pastries that you gave the Prophet for his birthdayWhereas the Prophet's Birthday pastries are the ones you buy to celebrate the Prophet's Birthday.
I sit back now to learn why I'm wrong :-)
Jim wrote: "I wait for Kath on this one but I would think that Prophet's birthday pastries are the pastries that you gave the Prophet for his birthdayWhereas the Prophet's Birthday pastries are the ones you ..."
Mwahahahahrgh! Yeh. It's doing my head in! I, too, wait for Kath!
:-)
Jim wrote: "I wait for Kath on this one but I would think that Prophet's birthday pastries are the pastries that you gave the Prophet for his birthdayWhereas the Prophet's Birthday pastries are the ones you ..."
I'm with you on that one Jim. So that means you are bound to be wrong!
Will wrote: "Thanks guys, I'll email some stuff out next week, if that's OK?Kath, I forgot to update my address book with your new email when I just looked: could you let me have it again, please?"
Messaged.
I'd say Prophet's Birthday Pastries as we say Christmas Cake.But consistency is the key.
Thanks, excellent. I couldn’t find anywhere that confirmed whether or not we say ‘Christmas Cake’. Thank you for confirming both!Cheers
MTM
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Bless you Pat, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!