tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post9135565630433270050..comments2024-03-26T18:28:06.391-04:00Comments on Evil Editor: Synopsis 37Evil Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03879826770199639420noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-79722345582784893412013-05-11T09:56:36.041-04:002013-05-11T09:56:36.041-04:00Author,
Continue writing. Even if you never write...Author,<br /><br />Continue writing. Even if you never write a novel that generates significant income, you’ll benefit from mastering written English. The ability to write well and persuasively will be beneficial at work, at school, and when dealing with government and businesses. <br /><br />Here are some websites which we found helpful when teaching our daughter to write well. Her teachers could not do the job because few of them had mastered the basics of written English.<br /><br />All websites start with http:// -- then I write ‘ DOT ‘ for ‘.’.<br /><br />Usage Errors: <br />public DOT wsu DOT edu/~brians/errors/errors.html<br />(This site lists two or three thousand common word choice error.)<br /><br />Grammar – not grandpa’s wife:<br />www DOT grammaruntied DOT com<br />conjugator DOT reverse DOT net < -- this one’s written by a didactic alligator, I think<br />grammartips DOT homestead DOT com<br />grammar DOT ccc DOT commnet DOT edu/grammar<br /><br />style:<br />extension DOT Missouri DOT edu/p/CMZOI<br />www DOT standards-schmandards DOT com/exhibits/rix/<br /><br />Mastering written English is a skill which requires a great deal of time but not much talent. Story telling requires a great amount of talent and some time. <br /><br />A rule for all writing: never use a sentence you cannot diagram. There are also sites that teach how to diagram sentences. <br /><br />Now, get writing.<br />Mister Furkleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07156977719916770984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-65611136146168331862013-05-11T00:55:11.536-04:002013-05-11T00:55:11.536-04:00"got another one tonight baby." He said ..."got another one tonight baby." He said softly."That makes three, listen! Do you hear the sirens?""Do you hear the screaming?" Her smile seemed to grow again and he imagined that her tinted lips,Impulsively he bent his head to kiss her lips.<br /> From A Kiss before Strangling<br /><br />Should look like:<br /><br />"Got another one tonight, baby," he said softly."That makes three. Listen! Do you hear the sirens? Do you hear the screaming?" Her smile seemed to grow again and he imagined that her tinted lips (?)Impulsively he bent his head to kiss her.<br /> <br />I fixed ten errors, and you still need to fill in the question mark. Nobody has time to do this to a whole manuscript.<br /><br />First: work on punctuation grammar, etc. All the basic English stuff. If you still want to write, then go for the writerly stuff- believable characters and so forth. All most all this information can be found online, or you could take classes.<br /><br />All in all, if you are willing to work hard for a long time, you will be able to write a story that people can read. Getting published is something that won't concern you until later.<br /><br />Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. St0n3hengehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08504412781917592790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-88453496163095603042013-05-11T00:28:25.902-04:002013-05-11T00:28:25.902-04:00A thing I've long suspected is that Evil Edito...A thing I've long suspected is that Evil Editor may be the nicest evil editor of any whose blog I look into. Oh, wait ... I don't look into any other blogs, of editors or otherwise. I am faithful, if nothing else. I might add that many of Evil's minions are not unnecessarily nasty, either, even when they could be. Okay, whoever wrote the thing about the occlusion in a phone booth might not agree, but there are exceptions to anything.<br /><br />The point I want to make, author, is that these people are not trying to hurt you. In fact, it seems to me that they're trying pretty hard not to. Even so, the comments must seem discouraging. If it seems that way to you, allow me to relate to you something a wise and kind employer of mine once told me after I'd made a pretty big blunder on the job. His exact words were: "Anyone who never made a mistake never tried to do anything." That was decades ago, and I've never forgotten what he said. And I've never made that same mistake again, because I learned from it. If there is a moral to that story it is that the real reward in what we do is not always the achievement, but the attempt.<br /><br />So, if writing is what you love to do, dear author, keep attempting. Just remember to heed the advice of nice evil editors and others who mean you well. In doing so, you just might find the achievement you're ultimately looking for.<br /><br />Good luck, and goodwill regarding the writing. Truly.<br />jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17956891424819530906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-82156289820912884612013-05-10T18:54:58.889-04:002013-05-10T18:54:58.889-04:00Author, I think that writing a synopsis can be har...Author, I think that writing a synopsis can be harder than writing the actual novel. If your novel's full of twists and turns and wonderful characters and red herrings and action, it's difficult to judge what to omit when laying out the bare bones of the story.<br /><br />But if you want your potnetial agent or editor to read the synopsis, it might be in your interest to look at the excerpt you used as a tease. An incomplete sentence aint a good sign "he imagined that her tinted lips..." did what?Jo-Ann Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18027989147411624378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-73207847024972673382013-05-10T15:00:03.374-04:002013-05-10T15:00:03.374-04:00One does not typically wrap one's greasy hands...One does not typically wrap one's greasy hands around a person's throat when administering CPR.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-49840871418882594872013-05-10T14:48:32.123-04:002013-05-10T14:48:32.123-04:00I can't sing.
I like to sing. There are songs...I can't sing.<br /><br />I like to sing. There are songs I like, and I belt 'em out good and loud. But not on key. The local church choir wouldn't let me in.<br /><br />Now imagine if my ambition was to give a solo vocal performance in Carnegie Hall.<br /><br />Publishing is that competitive. You're aiming for the top, and the competition has talent and skill. <br /><br />Some of the skills:<br /><br />* grammar and punctuation<br />* a feel for the rhythm of language<br />* a large vocabulary and a feel for the mot juste<br />* pacing-- where to start, what to leave out<br />* an ability to build narrative tension<br />* character development, including the full, three-dimensional development of characters of the opposite sex<br /><br />And I could go on. Point is, EE is right. He's seldom been more so. You have two choices here:<br /><br />1. Have the book printed yourself, in which case anything goes and our criticisms are as naught.<br /><br />(And do follow EE's advice there. Don't pay a bundle. Go carefully and research your options.)<br /><br />2. Spend a lot of time working on craft. A lot. Right now, you're putting the cart before the horse.<br /><br />Well, actually, there's a third choice: <br /><br />3. Do something else. Maybe you're a much better singer than I am. (Most people are.) Maybe there's some other art form at which you excel. Go and do that.<br />AlaskaRavenclawnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-62265697359627166752013-05-10T13:17:40.711-04:002013-05-10T13:17:40.711-04:00Gee, I almost don't know how to begin a commen...Gee, I almost don't know how to begin a comment about this synopsis. <br /><br />My first advice is whatever the magazine was that outlined this structure as a synopsis should be thrown away and the subscription cancelled. I would also suggest the Hitchhiker's Ravenous Blood Blatter Beast of Traal solution -- orders, signed in triplets, sent in, shredded, duplicated, sent back, lost, found, queried, subjected to public inquiry twice, and buried in a heap of fresh mud, recycled as fire lighters, and the ashes scattered to the far ends of the universe. <br /><br />Personally, a dozen roses and a greeting card would do. <br /><br />If you want to learn Synopses by example, look up books and movies on Wikipedia and IMDB and read their synopses. Some are long, others are short, and WIki also points out problems with some of them. <br /><br />And to demystify the entire synopsis business, what those people did in WIki and IMDB is what is required of a synopsis. We do it everyday when we describe a book or a movie to each other. There's no wonderful, magic, special format. <br /><br />Write out a short summary of your book, clean it, polish it, and make it the proper number of words. Dave Fragmentshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18217202416002233005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-39095013239192047872013-05-10T12:26:56.541-04:002013-05-10T12:26:56.541-04:00"Lt. Samuels compiles a list of cops who have...<br />"Lt. Samuels compiles a list of cops who have women."<br /><br />"Sgt. Younger learns that Officer Ben Saunders has a women."<br /><br />Men don't "have" women. They have relationships with women. They have sex with women. But they don't "have" women. <br /><br />The writing in a synopsis (or query) reflects the writing in the book -- and the repeated references to men 'having' women indicates a lack of skill in portraying emotions, characters and motivation. IMHO.IMHOnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-35099871650443013712013-05-10T12:20:44.799-04:002013-05-10T12:20:44.799-04:00Yes.Yes.AlaskaRavenclawnoreply@blogger.com