Recent content by skip.knox

Two more books by Patrick Leigh Fermor, both about Greece. One, Roumeli is about northern Greece while Mani is down in the Peloponnese. Both are crammed full of vignettes and descriptions that, while not actual fantasy, are quite fantastical.

I find it more useful for myself not to call it head hopping. The phrase is pejorative from the start. It's switching the point of view, and that can falter in more than one way. Most often givers of advice will talk about switching the POV too frequently (without being very clear about what...

>use it less like others here have suggested. You can look elsewhere and find not merely suggestions but outright recommendations to use "said" exclusively. Moreover, expectations along these lines will vary by both genre and decade. IOW, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If, however, you...

Why are you trying to do this? Just write stuff and use the saids wherever it feels right. Make changes in the edit, sure, but not in the drafting. IMO YMMV ETC <g>

First thank you for that about Tolkien. I've not read much beyond his main novels, plus Farmer Giles of Ham. WRT the MA, there is a Renaissance of sorts in Altearth, but I haven't explored it much. But there's never a clear perception of Back Then In Roman Times, then a rough patch, and now...

It would be interesting to know how completely built was Middle Earth before Tolkien began writing stories set within it. I don't know if there's any reliable evidence one way or the other, but I'd be willing to bet much was developed during the actual writing. And even after. Same for...

>literary racketeering I have adopted this phrase into my lexicon!

My Goodreads data is out of date now. I got frustrated with that platform and downloaded all into a spreadsheet, then started adding from there. I don't really need tracking; or, more precisely, my needs are very modest. I can sort on genres, but it's the genres that matter to me and only...

Can I upload the several hundred books I've been keeping in a spreadsheet?

Exactly this. Most of those planning scenes are to be found in movies. They're there for a particular purpose: to mislead the audience. I'm sure such scenes happen in fantasy fiction, but danged if I can think of an example. A similar device is with mysteries, where the group is assembled in...

I write alternate historical fantasy, firmly set in an alternate Europe. You'd think that'd make things simpler, but it really doesn't. Medieval Europe had multiple calendar systems operating simultaneously. Happily, most folks were unaware of any of them. They moved through seasons and...

Just to drop something into the other side of the scale, I don't recall ever having a bad experience on reddit. Like others here, it is not a community for me, it's just an occasional resource, but no visit has ever been upsetting to me. The same, for that matter, goes for other social media...

I would not condemn the entire platform just because one or two (or twenty or thirty) subreddits are atrocious. Sift. Find your people and leave the rest.

From the heights of 74, I must say 63 does not appear so very old. In one way, you're quite young, as you are entered upon a new phase of life. Retirement brings a host of new perspectives. Among these is this one: work is rewarding, but a job is a mere necessity.

> You visit Athens for the first time and feel like the Ancient Greeks stole your ideas So happens wife and I are headed for five days in Athens in May. I shall keep my eyes and ears open for story thieves. Always beware Greeks stealing plots.