Recent content by Incanus

I suppose I would use a limited-third POV, and do every chapter (or scene) from one of the three POVs, trying to make sure they are relatively balanced (in terms of word count) between them. But this also means tackling three fully developed character arcs. I'm doing something a little similar...

Ah, it's good to see a Clark Ashton Smith fan. We are rarer than hen's teeth, for some reason. Welcome--I hope you hang around for a while.

I’ll keep this a tad short, not knowing if this poster will return or not. First of all, I second AE Lowan’s post—stick around, join a conversation, use the critique request section of the site—that’s the way things work best. In general, this is pretty good. I like that there is a sense of...

I have a bunch of quotes about first drafting from writers printed out and stuck on my wall where I work. The one from Maya Angelou seems appropriate here: When I'm writing, I write. And then it's as if the muse is convinced that I'm serious, and says, "Okay, Okay, I'll come." When it comes...

Interesting. I haven't used Grammarly, but I know the spell-checker in MS Word is obviously less authoritative than the Oxford English Dictionary I use. Also, I have a better ear for language than Word does. One neat thing about the passage from LotR above, is that there aren't any archaic...

I’ve been re-reading Lord of the Rings recently. I was struck by a certain passage, in the chapter ‘The Ring Goes South’. The Fellowship is gathered together and about to depart Rivendell, and Elrond has a few last words to impart, saying that the other members of the company need not go with...

This mostly sounds about right. My problem with 'ideas are cheap' is the implication that they are all of equal value. Yes, many, many books are made out of cheap ideas, and do fairly well. This reader, however, won't be purchasing many of those. I'm the first to admit my novel will likely...

I don't have much of a beef with adverbs in general. I don't specifically hunt them down in my prose, because I don't abuse them in the first place. But glaringly bad adverb use looks lazy, and hurts the prose. I have no problem with writing that aims to entertain. That's what I'm doing...

Well, in my case, I'd have to sign up first, before nuking it. But that doesn't make much sense, does it? I think I've seen a Facebook page once or twice, briefly. Never signed up. I didn't get it, and still don't. Never used any of the other stuff either. This site is about the most I do...

To take that last point first, I don't mind robust debate at all. I'm glad you are expressing your views here. I am probably pretty mediocre at this, at best, but I try. Unfortunately, you won't win me over with The Belgariad stuff. As it so happens, I have been re-reading that series lately...

This looks like we agree more often than not, on this subject. But I would say it wasn't really me who drew the distinction between ideas and execution, at least not initially. My OP is generally critical of the concept--it employs poor execution to espouse the value of good execution. As...

Since I didn't (and wouldn't) coin the phrase 'ideas are cheap', it doesn't really matter what I mean by it, but what is meant by the people who employ this phrase. I agree that they seem to be pointing to the initial idea for a story. But I think the comparison between 'ideas are cheap' and...

I think this is a much, much, much better way to look at these issues. This is why I recoil at such phrases as 'ideas are cheap' and 'execution is everything'. I may catch a little flak for asking this, but: Is it at least conceivable that if the premise for your book is 'cheap', your book...

Interesting. My good writer-friend brought up the idea of writers who can't write something that they didn't 100% come up with on their own. Not identical with what you've brought up here, but close. For myself, I have no problem integrating ideas that didn't come directly from me. I'm...

Lot’s of great stuff to ponder here, Penpilot. Thanks. In my Tolkien speculation, knowledge and passion for the genre would have to have been implicit—it is why he would have worked in those other genres. Of course, it wouldn’t really be Tolkien any more so… I don’t know. Still, I think my...