Recent content by skip.knox

That makes more sense. Even writing a first draft in one swoop impresses the hell out of me. I think I've read of other authors who did that as well. And I agree: the one is writing, the other is editing. More and more I'm coming to think in terms of write, revise, edit, where revising means I...

You compose in your head, write only one draft, and never revise, so what is the role of your editor? I know you speak highly of them and value them, but I can't see the role they play. Just curious, not critical.

I often find that no matter how useful the worldbuilding project is, when I'm in the depths of writing, I don't bother. I just put in a placeholder or, worse, just writer whatever-the-hell and keep going. Consistency is something I address during revision. It's usually not until then that I've...

There's a forum for promotions, cleverly titled Promotions, where you can drop a link to the place(s) where we can purchase your book. That to one side, welcome to Scribes, and hearty congratulations on completing that first novel. It's the biggest of accomplishments.

>I tend to focus heavily on dialogue and characters and realize afterward that I barely described where they are. I have a tendency to do this, too. It's nearly always in first draft, and I think I know why I do it. It's because in the first draft I'm primarily struggling with figuring out what...

I was sloppy, as often happens. Editor indeed. Presuming one has hired an editor, of course.

Whenever something weird happens in a web browser, always blame the cache. If the cache has been cleared, blame the version. If the version is current, disconnect the caller. --- HelpDesk Guidebook v2.3.96

There's no formula, with one exception. If you're aiming to trad publish, then your chapters should be however long your publisher says they should be. Don't try to anticipate; they'll give you guidelines. For self-pub, just write to whatever feels right to you. Give the finished work to some...

My world is also alt-medieval. Because I posit the survival of the Roman Empire as well as of polytheism, there's no legal prohibition. At least among humans. Dwarves, elves, ogres, giants, pixies, sprites, orcs, trolls ... I haven't addressed the matter for those people. The whole matter of...

1) What do you use to build tension in slower chapters? 2) Is there a point where hints start to feel like teasing instead of tension? 3) Any books that do this really well? I'd love some reading recommendations. These are good questions. The first one is actually fairly easy to state, but can...

I do re-read books. What makes me do it? Wrong question. Right question: why do I choose to re-read a book? That question puts the focus not on attributes of the book but upon the reader. A few cases are easy. I have re-read books aloud to family members. I read Dune to my wife. Also, War and...

There's a whole sub-genre for this, called urban fantasy.

Guy Gavriel Kay wrote one called Children of Earth and Sky which takes place in Venice, aboard ships, and in the Balkans (sorry, my memory won't let me be more specific). Not much feudalism there, but it's a great tale. His Lions of al-Rassan is clearly Moorish Spain. I'd place both in roughly...

Welcome! You've completed two books, which is a major accomplishment. I hereby declare you no longer need to prepend "amateur" to "author". Just the one word serves. I'm glad to see you prefer a forum format. So do I, going right back to BBS's! I think you'll find the community here to be...

This one sets my historian's teeth to itching every time. I reckon I can scratch, once in a while. Place is one; Mad Swede has mentioned it. Are we talking Spain? Greece? Denmark? Hey everyone, let's go to Livonia! (I'm old school enough to insist that medieval only applies to Europe and its...