Recent content by Larkin

Here are my top 20 films. M Rashomon Beat the Devil In Cold Blood Things to Come Dr. Strangelove Strangers on a Train un chien andalou The Man who Fell to Earth A Fish Called Wanda Reservoir Dogs Croupier The War Zone The World's Greatest Sinner Life of Brian The Producers Breaker Morant Rob...

Off the top of my head, in no particular order apart from the first three (and cheating and including 11): The Prisoner Fawlty Towers Monty Python's Flying Circus The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr Due South Carnivale Rubicon Murphy Brown The Twilight Zone (old-school) The Young Ones Nowhere...

I know it's been done -- I just wasn't sure in light of a fantasy story, as 3p past seems to be so much more the rule of thumb that exceptions tend to "stick out," if you will. (Even reading fantasy novels in 1p past can seem strange at times, if it's not something closer to if on a winter's...

First-Person Narrative: Female Score: 539 Male Score: 441 Third-Person Narrative (in which the story is written): Female Score: 645 Male Score: 923 Half-Finished Seminar Paper: Female Score: 1712 Male Score: 3220 ... I'm female. I find it interesting that the biggest 'male' result was in my...

Ha, I once used 'My Spine is the Bassline' for a character, Ravana. Shriekback definitely works for sinister, brooding, lush, and ornamental. And I'll see your Steeleye Span and raise you one Big Country. I still think 'Look Away' has the makings of a great Regency-inspired fantasy story...

I have apparently procrastinated in my reply, but thanks for the welcome, everyone else who posted since I last did!

Quick clarification -- PowerType is a tool within Atlantis. I know in text-to-speech programs, if it bungles the word, you can edit and type it in as you want it to sound (ie, for "cliche" [assuming it doesn't know that], if you type "clishay," it will pronounce it correctly). I'm not sure...

Seconding this, which I meant to mention in my prior post.

Not paid services, no. I am fortunate to be in a literary community, and as such have never lacked for editing services performed for free -- I've also performed the favor myself. I've had a few non-SF works published (poems and short stories), and I have had friends who are god editors glance...

Steerpike: Those tools mentioned above, PowerType to remember long and stupid words (think your typical fantasy hero name of Grignr McG'kglgowkrh), and a live word count (the lone reason I'm not using something like OpenOffice, either). The live word count alone was enough for me to pony up for...

As just a plain word processor, rather than story-writing software per se, I very much enjoy Atlantis, as I've found it quicker/more responsive than Word and also packed with useful tools such as an overlong sentences analyzer and an overused words analyzer. (As someone who tends to fall prey to...

In an ideal world, 'having a gay protagonist/antagonist' would be the same as 'having a blond protagonist/antagonist'. That is to say, something not necessarily crucial to the story. In today's world, though, I'd just offer this one word of advice: Write your LGBTQ character the same as you...

They were bodyguards, not assassins, but for an interesting organization with a lot of Wiki-available information to start you off, you might also look up the Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire. Their whole "recruitment" (basically press-ganging) was an organized system that might provide you...

Actually, if they aren't wearing pants, I would think they were full-assing it. This is treading dangerously close to Furry territory. :(

Awesome! Perhaps by that point I will be halfway through the seminar paper. (Stop looking skeptical.)