Writing Questions for Josh Showing 701-750 of 4,753

[Charming]

Nicole wrote: "I totally understand. That's what I used to say. The problem with it is that the author, who is already very defensive at this point because they are the person being criticized, usually just snaps, "We'll I'm not you!" and storms off in a huff, rendering whatever points (valid or invalid) you, the critic, may have made, moot."

Thanks for this. It's better to say things in a way they can be heard, for sure.

[Charming]

It must be pretty entertaining when the beta is also ego-involved in her critiques. :-)

[Sylvia]

Did anyone notice the latest blog-post of Jordan C Price? If you have a writing project that needs a kick in the pants, check out: Massive action day

[[deleted user]]

Josh, if you were proposed to choose one of your books to turn into a movie, which would it be? (And in case your first choice is Adrian English, what's your second choice?)

[Anne]

Sylvia wrote: "Did anyone notice the latest blog-post of Jordan C Price? If you have a writing project that needs a kick in the pants, check out: Massive action day"

Oh, that is so cool. I signed up. Thanks, Sylvia!

[Sylvia]

Looks interesting but unfortunately I don't write ;)

[Anne]

Sylvia wrote: "Looks interesting but unfortunately I don't write ;)"

On Jurgen Wolff's website he said it's for any project, writing or otherwise. The focus is on writing, but it sounds pretty open.

[Becky]

Sylvia wrote: "Looks interesting but unfortunately I don't write ;)"

You could devote the day to 8 solid hours of reading instead. What a hardship! I might need a nap after all that. :P

[Sylvia]

Anne wrote: "Sylvia wrote: "Looks interesting but unfortunately I don't write ;)"

On Jurgen Wolff's website he said it's for any project, writing or otherwise. The focus is on writing, but it sounds pretty open."

You are right, I can think of a number of projects I should be doing instead of all this reading. Gardening, cleaning the house, ugh. Maybe I should sign up.

[Anne]

Sylvia wrote: "Anne wrote: "Sylvia wrote: "Looks interesting but unfortunately I don't write ;)"

On Jurgen Wolff's website he said it's for any project, writing or otherwise. The focus is on writing, but it sou..."

Ugh. Cleaning the house should be, I don't know, illegal or something. Don't do that. Unless it fulfills the creative need for you.

[Jordan]

I should sign up for this, I looked into it briefly yesterday, but not enough to fully understand it. I'll look into it more shortly. If it helps get that house work done, and you're not a writer and don't have anything else that needs doing, well, then... or, if you're a writer and you'd always rather be writing than cleaning so your house is a pig sty, well... sometimes you've just got to take the opportunities that are given to you.

[Jordan]

Ahhh, I can't. I'm already working that day. Drat work! But at least I can check out his book.

[Anne]

Jordan S. wrote: "Ahhh, I can't. I'm already working that day. Drat work! But at least I can check out his book."

I might be in your boat -- I signed up and then realized I might not be able to do it that day. I'll definitely be checking out his book, though.

[Jordan]

Hey, Anne, maybe we can choose another day, and get some writing done as a group. We can come together every hour in a chat room or something. There's chat capabilities in this group, right? Or the mmcrits group? If there are others who want to participate and can't on that day, if we can all agree on a date?

Thoughts?

[Anne]

Jordan S. wrote: "Hey, Anne, maybe we can choose another day, and get some writing done as a group. We can come together every hour in a chat room or something. There's chat capabilities in this group, right? Or the..."

Me! Me! Sign me up! I can't do next Saturday, but I could do Sunday. The weekend after I'm booked.... We would have to come up with a schedule that works for all the time zones people are participating from....

[Nicole]

Charming wrote: "It must be pretty entertaining when the beta is also ego-involved in her critiques. :-)"

Here's a little secret: If one is thinking very closely about another persons MS, it is almost impossible not to get ego-involved in the critique, especially if one cares about the piece or the author. Editors are not neutral, we simply try to maintain a position of neutrality on the page so that the author is capable of "hearing" what we say. And also so that we are capable of hearing and responding to the author's needs. An editor is more like a sentence doctor than a grammar cop.

Actually, I would go so far as to suggest that maintinting a position of caring, attentive neutrality might be the first step in developing a skill set that allows one to move from being a "beta" to an actual editor.

I'd also like to add here, as a personal note, that for some reason using the the word "beta" to describe critique reads rubs me the wrong way... Probably that is just because I like to think of myself as more of an "alpha" type. Though I'm always game to read a friend's MS, I'm not sure that I would agree to "beta" anything, just out of principle. :)

[Jordan]

Anne, sadly, I've got a crit group meeting in RL that Sunday afternoon, so that let's that out for me. Darn it! But this coming Saturday, the 14th, I have free. Does anyone else have Saturday free? Let's plan something!

[Taylor]

Jordan S. wrote: "Anne, sadly, I've got a crit group meeting in RL that Sunday afternoon, so that let's that out for me. Darn it! But this coming Saturday, the 14th, I have free. Does anyone else have Saturday free?..."


I do!

[Anne]

Taylor V. wrote: "Jordan S. wrote: "Anne, sadly, I've got a crit group meeting in RL that Sunday afternoon, so that let's that out for me. Darn it! But this coming Saturday, the 14th, I have free. Does anyone else h..."

I actually could do it, but I might have to drop out for an hour or two for my nephew's birthday party. Or I could make the husband deal with it.

[Anne]

Nicole wrote: "I'd also like to add here, as a personal note, that for some reason using the the word "beta" to describe critique reads rubs me the wrong way... Probably that is just because I like to think of myself as more of an "alpha" type. Though I'm always game to read a friend's MS, I'm not sure that I would agree to "beta" anything, just out of principle. :) "

Hmm, maybe I should ask my betas if they mind?

[Jordan]

As far as I know "beta" is a fanfic term, and I've never really associated it with anything beyond that.

So, Saturday it is! Thanks for giving me something to do this weekend and something to accomplish! My day will be so much better now!

Of everyone who wants to do this this Saturday, (looks like me, Anne, and Taylor so far) what time zones are you in, and let's set up some times we can all work at the same time. I'm EST, on the east coast of the US. What about you guys?

Anne, I'm sure if you need to skip out for only an hour or two it shouldn't be too big a deal. Or, yeah, see if the hubby can do it. It's up to you.

I haven't really checked out his site on this, but I'm assuming we just come together in a chat once an hour to check in and make sure we're all getting work done? www.chatzy.com is an easy and free chat site we can use if we need one.

[Charming]

Jordan S. wrote: "As far as I know "beta" is a fanfic term, and I've never really associated it with anything beyond that. "

Actually, I am pretty sure it comes from beta testers, who test software out before it is released.

[Anne]

Jordan S. wrote: "As far as I know "beta" is a fanfic term, and I've never really associated it with anything beyond that.

So, Saturday it is! Thanks for giving me something to do this weekend and something to a..."

I'm in the Pacific time zone. I'll check out chatzy.

[Taylor]

Jordan, I am also on the east coast. And I was thinking, if it turns out to be only us, we can always use the crit group's chat capability.

[Anne]

Charming wrote: "Jordan S. wrote: "As far as I know "beta" is a fanfic term, and I've never really associated it with anything beyond that. "

Actually, I am pretty sure it comes from beta testers, who test softwar..."

Yeah, that's what I'd always heard. Really, my 'beta's are critiquers.

[Taylor]

My beta is a sounding board, proof reader, critic, et al. She's amazing and doesn't threaten me with death every time I change something AGAIN. LOL

[Jordan]

Taylor, very true! And Anne, you're only, what? Three hours behind us? That's not too bad. I suck at math, but that I think I can figure out! woot!

[Josh]

Sylvia wrote: "Did anyone notice the latest blog-post of Jordan C Price? If you have a writing project that needs a kick in the pants, check out: Massive action day"

I think it's a cool idea. And if I wasn't already booked to go out of town that weekend, I'd be up for it.

[Josh]

Suhi wrote: "Josh, if you were proposed to choose one of your books to turn into a movie, which would it be? (And in case your first choice is Adrian English, what's your second choice?)"

I think Fair Game would make a good movie.

[Jordan]

Should also mention, this could easily be a monthly thing if anyone is interested. Might be a good way to continuously get things done and do something fun with cool people. Cause we're all cool like that, right? Right!

[Josh]

Here's a little secret: If one is thinking very closely about another persons MS, it is almost impossible not to get ego-involved in the critique, especially if one cares about the piece or the author.

I think this is a great comment.

I also think it's one reason why writers can take one hell of a lot of criticism and advice from a content editor and yet get bent out of shape over a suggested em dash change from a copyeditor. With a content editor -- a good content editor -- you know he or she has got your back. They've got your best interests and the best interests of the book at heart. It's personal for them, just as it is for the you the writer.

A copyeditor...well, there are good copyeditors and bad copyeditors, but mostly a copyeditor is reading a zillion pages backwards and they're not thinking a lot about you or the book in any deep or personal way.

(Now I should clarify here that I've never actually gotten excited over ANY punctuation changes, even when I thought they were silly or incorrect, but I know some authors do get easily riled.)

[Jordan]

Josh, some of us are branching off and planning this for this coming Saturday, you could always join us then? Just a thought. I'm busy the day he's officially doing it too.

[Charming]

Josh wrote: "I think Fair Game would make a good movie. "

Oh, God, those sculptures. Chills. I'll leave it at that for spoiler purposes.

[Josh]

I have to run errands in the morning, but I could definitely join in from lunchtime on.

[Calathea]

Charming wrote: "Oh, God, those sculptures. Chills."

I do exactly know, what your talking about! *quiver*

[Anne]

Josh wrote: "Suhi wrote: "Josh, if you were proposed to choose one of your books to turn into a movie, which would it be? (And in case your first choice is Adrian English, what's your second choice?)"

I thin..."

That's funny -- I was just re-reading it and thinking the same thing the whole time.

[Anne]

Jordan S. wrote: "Taylor, very true! And Anne, you're only, what? Three hours behind us? That's not too bad. I suck at math, but that I think I can figure out! woot!"

Three hours is doable. Sometimes I get up early and write, anyway. When no one can bug me.

[Anne]

Josh wrote: "Here's a little secret: If one is thinking very closely about another persons MS, it is almost impossible not to get ego-involved in the critique, especially if one cares about the piece or the aut..."

So, what do editors do when they don't like the MS or the writer's style? That's got to happen sometimes, right?

[Anne]

Josh wrote: "I have to run errands in the morning, but I could definitely join in from lunchtime on."

Yay! You're in my time zone! Although my nephew's b-day party is afternoon, if I don't get the husband to do it (it's bowling, he'll probably be happy to do it).

[Anne]

Charming wrote: "Josh wrote: "I think Fair Game would make a good movie. "

Oh, God, those sculptures. Chills. I'll leave it at that for spoiler purposes."

That would be crazy-good... a close-up of the scar?

[Cleon Lee]

Josh wrote: "Suhi wrote: "Josh, if you were proposed to choose one of your books to turn into a movie, which would it be? (And in case your first choice is Adrian English, what's your second choice?)"

I thin..."

I think so too! Although I wouldn't mind Somebody Killed His Editor. It'd make a great thriller with a hint of comedy. The setting is so creepy and isolated.

[Beanbag]

Josh wrote: "Suhi wrote: "Josh, if you were proposed to choose one of your books to turn into a movie, which would it be? (And in case your first choice is Adrian English, what's your second choice?)"

I thin..."

Fair Game would make a great movie. I never go to the theater anymore but I would for that.

Adrien English would be amazing as a series on a channel like AMC (pretty much doing the best series work on TV these days). I think it would be a huge hit.

[Kari]

Another vote for Adrien on AMC. That would be *stellar*.

[Jordan]

OK, so the Writing Challenge thingy on Saturday (the day after tomorrow) will happen on www.chatzy.com. Are we all cool with that? Basically, one person sends out an invite through the site and that email has a link to the chat. It's easy and it's free. Unless someone else has a better idea?

I'm also assuming we'll start the day with a beginning chat, then work for an hour, do another chat, work again, and so on and so forth. Does that make sense? And for those who want to jump in midday or something that's totally cool too. Yeah?

And what time do we want to start? It looks like we've got two people on East Coast time and two on West Coast time. I'm assuming that if the West Coasters want to start at say, 9am, the East Coasters will start at 12pm, so we're all doing it at the same time. Does that make sense?

[Anne]

Jordan S. wrote: "OK, so the Writing Challenge thingy on Saturday (the day after tomorrow) will happen on www.chatzy.com. Are we all cool with that? Basically, one person sends out an invite through the site and tha..."

Oops. This is why we should be able to address our Goodreads PM's to more than one recipient. Taylor and I figured we'd do the Goodreads chat feature. Except I can't seem to find it....

I'm fine with either chatzy or chatting here, and I can start before 9am (actually, I might just go ahead and get up and started by 7 or so).

[Jordan]

I've never used the chat feature here, but I'm all for it!

[Josh]

Jordan S. wrote: "I've never used the chat feature here, but I'm all for it!"

If someone can figure it out, it sounds good to me. I'm going to stay offline as much as possible that day to try and make some serious progress in this sloowwww moving novella of mine.

As a matter of fact, I'll be largely offline until Monday -- other than this little writing challenge of ours.

[Cleon Lee]

Yeah, anyone can figure out how the chat works? Or we use 3rd party chatroom like IRC? It'll help force me to write. lol.

[Anne]

Okay, where is the chat here? I can't find it. Is it because I'm on an iPad?

[Josh]

Anne wrote: "Okay, where is the chat here? I can't find it. Is it because I'm on an iPad?"

I don't see it either. I thought it used to be in the right hand corner, so maybe it's been elminated? I mean, the threads almost function like chats, don't they?