andrewhoe: Can anyone tell me how to view past reviews
and
past replies to reviews?
    nor84: Open the story or poem about which you want look at reviews. There is a place to click. For a novel, it's per chapter. You can review the reviews you received and I think also the replies. -
    nor84: It's called "Read Comments". -
    redrider6612: You can also go to your portfolio and in each post, there is an area labeled "Reviews" with a blue number next to it. Click on the number. -


andrewhoe: Tea + writing = good.
Sugar + writing = lots of mistypes


andrewhoe: Great. I have TWO chapter 6's. Does anyone know how to delete a chapter of a book?
    Celtic~Soul: Go to your portfolio, show the chapters in the book and click on "remove from book" for the one you want to take out or you can go in and edit chapters and assign new numbers until you get things worked out right. You can even change their order by changing their numbers. -
    shelley kaye: just edit it and change the chapter number to a different number....

    -


andrewhoe: Building my network of reviewers one awesome writer at a time. Mwa-hahahaaa!
    K.W.: :) are you rubbing your hands together and shifting your eyes about while you Mwa-hahahaaaa! ?
    :) -
    K.W.: excellent:) they belong together:) -
    Scarbrems: K.W are you saying "eeeexcellent" with a long, drawn out emphasis on the first syllable, whilst stroking a fluffy white cat? -
    K.W.: Why, I am! :) -


andrewhoe: I got nuthin'
    October21: For now.... Seek and you will find! And believe in your abilities! -
    seren james: Knock, and the door shall be opened unto you... -


andrewhoe: Whew, tired lately!


andrewhoe: How many drafts of a work does it usually take you to get it "right?"
    Celtic~Soul: That's very subjective to the work and to the writer. Hemingway and other famous "masters" often edited extensively to get something just "right." -
    Val Crisson: forever, and sometimes you need to leave a work alone and go back to it to see its flaws. -
    Karen Payton Holt: Umm, four drafts. First draft, then an in close draft, then a line edit, (printed out on paper with notes in margin as you go) then that should give you your fourth and final draft! That's what a published author I quizzed suggested. -


andrewhoe: "The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot."

I wonder who can tell me what classic children's novel this opening comes from--WITHOUT a search engine?
    andrewhoe: No takers, huh? :(
    _Tuck Everlasting_ -


andrewhoe: What is your cure for the dreaded WRITER'S BLOCK?
    LateBloomer: A bottle of wine will light some sparks. -
    Neil A Morrow: I edit older writings or else I try writing something new. -
    andrewhoe: Great responses. I feel a writing contest coming on... -
    Sirach11: guilty props in a ditty:

    I like stimulates...
    i like sedatives....

    i like to be me [write]... on coffee, wine, and tea.

    cheers. -


andrewhoe: How do you choose names for your characters? I like to generate my own, or pick unusual ones. I coined the name Reuter Wicker from the news association, "Reuters" and Wicker because it sounded close to "Walker." I actually wanted to name him Reuter Walker because of the story he appears in, but I thought it was just way too strong...
    nor84: It depends on when the character would have been born and his/her nationality, and that's especially important if the story takes place in the past. While it's popular now to give a boy's name to a girl or to name either after a city or country, it wasn't always that way. I have two software programs that include name generators, and you can check out both online: Scrivener and PageFour. You would still need to remember about the birth year, but you'd have some ideas. Also, there are certain books for naming babies that would give you a selection of first names, AND I believe there is a listing on the Internet of the most popular baby names by year of birth for the USA. In some cultures and religions, it's popular to name a son with the mother's maiden name, so you might a name like Howell Davidson, or Carter Wilson. It's popular to name children after celebrities of the past and present (remember, always, the character's year of birth) and to name them after saints. When a president is extremely popular, as with Woodrow Wilson, babies are named after him. I knew a Woodrow Wilson Wallace, for example, and one of my husband's uncles was named Wilson. I can remember my Dad, who lived through the Wilson era, telling me that everybody's dog, cat and kid seemed to be called 'Wilson.' -


andrewhoe: Anybody every try writing a story using an "unreliable narrator?"
I think that might be fun.


andrewhoe: When writing a narrative, bare-bones description of the setting is best. Let the reader fill in gaps. The more you describe, the less the reader can imagine. Spare settings also allow you to get to the action sooner. Agree or disagree?

[The three-story house stared down at him, darkened windows like slitted eyes.]

vs

[The house stared down at him. The red brick shone dully in the fading sunlight, the darkened windows like slitted eyes. The walkway to the grand porch stretched out over the neglected lawn, which was a tiny forest of scraggly weeds pushing itself out of dry dirt.]
    Celtic~Soul: There are no set rules. Much depends on genre and the writer's desired effect--not to mention style. Historical romance, for instance, requires more description and a certain flowery aspect to set tone. On the other hand a contemporary story can depend more on a reader's personal experiences to fill in gaps. -


andrewhoe: The part in your story where the main character(s) screw(s) up is the most important part. It's THE part.


andrewhoe: If writing a narrative in 3rd person POV, when should the "main" character's name come up?

a) The 1st paragraph. The 1st line. If possible, the very 1st word. Waiting too long takes away immediacy.

b) Somewhere on the 1st page. Sometimes setting is important, or maybe the conflict is revealed in the 1st paragraph.

c) It doesn't matter; it depends on the needs of the story.

I'm an a) or b) kind of guy. What are you?
    Matthew M.: Almost every story I have ever written, it is A. For a novel, I might stray to B... probably not. But I hate flowery over-descriptive writing. -
    Paul Greatrix: I think it can often be a matter of subtext. At times you want the reader to enter the scene playing catch up. They have to gather for themselves the setting, the people, the matter. These three elements are interchangeable. Sergio Leone was the master of this. It works even better in book form. The things you keep from the reader (at least to begin with) can be more powerful than what you feed them. -


andrewhoe: "If you're going to write, then you MUST read the works of.... "

Shakespeare, for poetic language and phenomenal imagery.

OK, your turn! Complete the quote!
    andrewhoe: Orson Scott Card (notably, _Ender's Game_), for his ability to write sci-fi that appeals to people who hate sci-fi. -
    Paul Greatrix: The Story Book, by David Baboulene, for his indepth analysis of subtext and character dilemma triangulation. -


andrewhoe: Dialogue tags: my goodness, I've read maybe five stories (on and off this site) where people seem TERRIFIED to use "said."

"[Character name] said" is perfectly acceptable as a dialogue tag. It can even go with a question:

"Really?" she said.

It's INVISIBLE, which is exactly what dialogue tags should be, but when people start messing with them, the reader becomes distracted with unorthodox tags:

With a voice of complete sarcasm, "really?"

I mean, it's cool to go with a "whispered" or "replied" or "asked" for variety sometimes, but not very often. Too much attention to the dialogue tags takes attention from what's REALLY important, like the story itself.

What do you folks think?
    nor84: With the exception that I wouldn't put 'said' where 'asked' was needed, I tend to agree. I once had a reviewer who told me every time I used anything but said. Finally, I pulled books off my shelf and looked it up. I presented him with 7 well-known authors including Dean Koontz who said 'said' is the preferred, but there's nothing wrong with an occasional yelled, whispered, shouted, muttered.

    What you see from many who post here are terms like 'queried' or 'wanted to know' and 'blurted out.' Is there an uglier word than 'blurted?'.

    'Said' or 'Asked' are like punctuation marks and they don't jar the reader. Anything that isn't a way of saying something can jar the reader right out of the story.

    The best dialogue tag is NO dialogue tag. When there are only two people in a scene, once the reader knows who they are and who speaks first, only a very occasional tag is needed, and it can be a character action instead of 'said.' -
    Scarbrems: I might be able to shed some light on this...when I was at school, doing creative writing, my English teacher instructed the class NEVER to use "said". I think, probably, a few people had the same lesson. I don't tend to tag dialogue at all much these days, as Nor said, but stuff sticks with some
    -
    redrider6612: I like to use as few tags as possible. Often you can use an action--"He sat down" or "She handed something to me" or the like--instead of a tag. Works better than a tag because it does two jobs--tells the reader who spoke and adds some visual. -
    andrewhoe: I would agree with nor84. I've actually seen a question tagged with "said." I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it, but then I saw several books using the same convention.

    Emsey: I hear you, but I disagree (respectfully!) Pick up any book you like, and count how many times "said" is used. It's commonly used.

    redrider6612: nice trick! I'll try it! -
    Paul Greatrix: Totally agree that a little bit of stage business befor the dialogue works better than a tag at times. Tags are useful because they're quick, but throwing in the right amount of stage business can control the beat of the scene, bring conversations to life, and help avoid adverbs. -