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Recent content by ShortHair

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    Ask me about Politics

    Okay, yank the thread. Outta here, boys.
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    Ask me about Politics

    Clausewitz is supposed to have said, "War is a continuation of politics by other means." You can cite that and say that every war is caused by politics. But Heinlein said that every war is fought over economics. I'd combine the two and say that major wars are fought because of geopolitics, and...
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    Speaking of describing...

    My suggestion would be to describe the unusual in terms of the usual, at first. That's how most people see new things, they locate a familiar pattern and then try to identify the unfamiliar as a variation of something familiar. You do that for the reader's sake as well as the character's.
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    Motivation problem

    Is it possible for you to go back to an old project? That is, could you "drift" off of one project and on to another? That way eventually you would finish your pieces. I don't know of any other way to maintain focus on a goal if you have Asperger's or ADHD or whatever. I can't tell you how to...
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    Ask me about Politics

    My main competency is computers, but that's not much help in fantasy. I'm also a junkie for politics, both theoretical and applied, and I'm kinda sneaky. So come on down to Short Hair's Shoppe of Shameless Shifty Shenanigans. Browse our full assortment of devious plots and ruthless power...
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    Established writer found posting fake reviews on Amazon.com

    While it's certainly unethical, I doubt there's anything illegal about reviewing your own book on Amazon. He may have violated their rules by doing it, so the punishment (if any) is up to Amazon. According to someone who posted on the Kindle forum on Amazon (the closest thing I could find to...
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    On the Evolution of English with no Gatekeepers

    My feeling is that texting will be considered a dialect and that the general, spoken, language will change more slowly.
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    Are sci-fi writers better than fantasy writers?

    Speaking as someone who prefers writing fantasy to writing science fiction, I think fantasy is generally more literary, more poetic, more subtle, more humorous, and more in touch with humanity (odd as that sounds). I also think fantasy writers are better looking than SF writers. There's a...
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    Novels vs Novellas?

    It's a fairly arbitrary distinction. One source says novel lengths start at 40,000 words. That means I can write a story that's 39,999 words long and it's a novella, but if I add one word it's a novel. Others will tell you the break is at 70,000 words. My own feeling is that, unless it matters...
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    What Will You Stand For?

    If you have any qualms about how a publisher will handle your work, publish it yourself. That is all.
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    A Bizarre, Odd And Strange World

    Try The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. There's some fairly straight horror and some cosmic horror (which is vintage HPL), but there's also some achingly beautiful high fantasy. The same protagonist, Randolph Carter, appears in "The Silver Key" and "Through the Gates of the Silver Key."
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    Is Your Writing Your Precious Baby?

    For some reason I've never looked into the matter, but it appears that Tolkien took at least 25 years to develop his "legendarium" and another 10 to write Lord of the Rings. So I'm not going to defend myself for taking my time.
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    Avoiding Inspiration?

    Consider the possibility that Sturgeon's Law is iterative. If 90% of everything is crap, you're left with 10% that's good. Well, 90% of the good stuff is also crap, so you've got 1% that's really good. And so forth. Apply that to the concepts that spark your stories. If you gather 100 ideas...
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    A Bizarre, Odd And Strange World

    Since you mention Lovecraft, are you thinking of a situation like "From Beyond"? I'd love to see something like that--magical realism, but not in a good way.
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    The Value of Fantasy

    Most writers do well in a particular genre or two. Forcing yourself to write something else, when you are compelled to write something, gives you an unnecessary handicap. It would be like a country musician trying to write Gregorian chant. Try to imagine the field of modern horror if Stephen...
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