Login to your account

85 Visitor Messages

  1. View Conversation
    woooot! finally posted on revenant
  2. View Conversation
    xD You could always write two novels and release the second a few months after the first (six months, maybe). That would give you a year's buffer to write the third. xD Or two years, if you release the second exactly a year later. xD Your pace is your own, after all. :3

    But, yeah, I think the motivation helps. Knowing my friends were looking forward to the next installment of the story/the next story did. Harder for me to write for an "abstract" audience (like fanfiction drive-by favorites or casual commentators). But a "someone" is different entirely.

    And when! Not if. xD when. /counter
  3. View Conversation
    xD I mostly meant it in a, "I want to write novel series, but I struggle once I get to about that stage." sort of way. xD But, really, it's possible that my "natural length" for stories may be novella, which isn't a bad place to be (most middle grade fiction is "novella" length, after all - and a lot of romance too). But I'll just keep steadily plugging away until I can break the barrier into novel length. xD Nothing wrong with shorter works, but I want to write novels, dangit. xD Even if it's "eventually".

    I think we just need to wean ourselves off of self-doubt. It's a little easier for me because I first started out with fanfic and had pretty good responses after my first few stories. Then I started writing rp-fic, so my friends and rp cohorts would encourage that. Then since I've moved on to selling my work, the monetary feedback in the form of purchases has helped ease my self-doubts. But I do sometimes flail in the air going, "What if I'm boring people!?" and stall on chapters and stuff. xD;

    I really need to follow the, "Doesn't matter. Just write." mantra.
    "Is this good enough???"
    "Doesn't matter. Just write."
    "What if it's boring readers???"
    "Doesn't matter. Just write."
    "Is this scene necessary?"
    "Doesn't matter. Just write."
    "I'm not sure if I'm in the mood to write."
    "Doesn't matter. Just write."

    Editing can happen later, after all. You can't edit a blank page. :B All easy advice that makes perfect sense, but it's really hard to follow at first.

    And, sure. :3 When you finish it, I'd love to read it. xD
  4. View Conversation
    There seems to be a word limit before I start struggling. Somewhere around 30,000 words, I think. Then I have a "lot more story" that I want to tell, but I feel like it's reached a natural pause or I get to second-guessing if I'm "doing it right". xD All I can do is keep on trucking and hope that through practice, I'll learn and get more confident and then I'll be able to keep going longer. xD

    Yeaaah. >_> I've done a lot of this sort of thing before (starting a 100-something art challenge, for example) and then end up not finishing. I know I have a habit of abandoning such a project, which is why I'm thinking of reducing it to 50. And even then I know myself enough to know I might not manage it (either through getting burned out or concentrating longer than "schedule" on a single story, which blows off my schedule). I'll be thinking about it another few days so I can give myself a number that's more manageable so I'm more likely to accomplish it. xD Then next year I could try for a more ambitious number. xD

    Yeah, there's a balance between "don't want insta-love" but "don't want to bore the audience". I usually 'solve' it through doing something like, "The next few months had them going out together every few days. Sometimes it was as simple as a dinner at home and sometimes they went out. They'd reached a comfortable routine and then... [insert a relationship-changing incident where they realize it's love or they have sex or whatever it is]" Something like that. xD
  5. View Conversation
    Mmm... Think of it this way: it doesn't necessarily matter how long it takes you to get to your destination, as long as you keep heading in that direction. ie: Keep going. When you get stuck, take a break, look around you, relax. Then keep going again. I'm still in the "take a break" period. I want to write... I'm even starting to need to write. But not quite ready to get back on the path and keep going.

    This morning, one of the things I was thinking about doing was writing a list of 100 random story prompts (like artists have those "100 prompts" challenges for themselves) and trying to write something for each of them by the end of the year. There are 174 days left in the year, so I could take two months of doing nothing (or writing several days on one project) and still meet it. I won't even require I finish these things, even. Just write something for each of the prompts. I figure... if prompts are like seeds, then whatever I write becomes a seedling for a story that I can cultivate later.

    I think I want to do something similar to that, at least. I'm just not sure if I want to make it 100. Maybe 50 that way I can continue to spend a few days on each prompt if I have enough "fuel" for each idea, and laze around and not work on prompts at all for a few days. Then I'd still have 50 story "seedlings" ready for me next year.

    Thought I'd share the vague idea with you. xD

    I actually swear up and down I caught a cold from my Australian friend. >_>; She complained of a sore throat two or three days ago (and was still sick last night) and I woke up this morning (I went to bed early and woke up from a nightmare a few hours later - which is another sign I'll be ill, if I have nightmares) with a sore throat myself. :c Drinking tea, though, and had garlic chicken soup for lunch and dinner today, so hopefully it will help. >_>;
  6. View Conversation
    Hmm! I thought Gumroad did use Paypal to pay. >_> Though that could be from my quick reading of the information. xD I think the gentleman I mentioned blogged about it 4 months ago or so, so I'm not surprised I forget details. >_>;

    Exactly! It's a big world out there and surely someone is looking for exactly the sort of things you like to write. You only need to find the niche of readers that will like your work. (And the smaller that niche is, the more likely they are to share it with others, too. So even if you write to a small fraction of potential readers, it makes up for it in that people who like that niche thing are more likely to seek out other niche-following people and tell each other about that awesome new thing they found. And if you write something that would appeal to a lot of people, well, you'll still find your audience if you just hang in there and do what you do and keep getting better at it. xD )

    And, bah. I don't mind sharing. xD I wish I had more experience and more absolutes to share. Btw, did I mention Neil Gaiman's blog in my links? He's on Tumblr at neil-gaiman (I think "neilgaiman" is a fan-tumblr.... or the other way around. I just know he reblogged something from the other one today). NG's not my top 5 favorite authors, but probably top 10 and he posts several times daily (often questions from fans).

    Feeling better today. >_> I think it was just a sort of perfect storm of minor health problems. But if I start feeling bad again at all, I'm going to to the doctor. xD
  7. View Conversation
    Uah.... :x Well - re: the websites. There's nothing at all wrong with just writing and building up "inventory". You never know when they may make new contracts, you know? I heard Amazon is trying to get into Brazil and the more South America gets into the game, the more likely it is your country will too. :x Alternately, there is one service I've heard of (but not tried myself)... https://gumroad.com/ Not sure if it'll be any better for you, though. But if it's even marginally better, it might be a good alternative until such time as the uploading sites have a better deal with your country. :B (That guy I linked you to re: translating books is the one I heard about it from, so you could always talk to him about his experiences with it if you wanted more info.)

    I'm starting to come to the opinion in writing that if you think it should be there and you enjoy it, it doesn't much matter whether or not critiquers would say it ought to be there. :' Essentially, this: http://kriswrites.com/2012/06/27/the...ch-perfection/ The average reader will probably enjoy it, if they enjoy your style and especially if they enjoy your characters.

    Though, re: giving too much too soon, I suppose that depends on two factors: (1) would it be more suspenseful if it wasn't mentioned until later? (If it needs suspense/surprise.), (2) has there been a lot of exposition all in a clump? If it'd be more suspenseful/make the reveal more impactful, maybe move the scene until a bit later. If there's been a big dump of information, you might want to give the reader a breather. Otherwise, I'm not sure it matters. >_>

    You're not annoying. xD

    I'm not sure if I'm rambling anything that sounds helpful/useful/sensible though. Not been feeling 100% the last few days and if I'm not feeling well tomorrow, I might go to the doctor. (A co-worker had similar symptoms to mine and said that the doctor told her something about health complications if left untreated; etc, etc. So of course, I'm worried. >_>; )
  8. View Conversation
    I use Trillian. xD; So I dunno how accurate it is. (Also, weird - re: "5 hours".)

    And it's not her up at unholy hours - it's me. xD She's up at normal baby hours. xD I actually have a pretty decent sleep schedule... for an Australian. xD I've always been a night owl, and with my bff being an Aussie and me not having to be awake at normal human hours, I've basically just switched to an Australian day/night schedule. If I had a day job or classes, I'd switch back, but since all my work is online, I can be awake at any hour. >_>;

    Yeah, I think Reddit's a bit like Digg and so on. I've never used the other, similar services. But it's basically a sort of odd forum where geeks hang out. xD There are so many "Sub-reddits" that you can find topics about just about anything. Some people have created sub-reddits where they post photos of their workmate and they photoshop a crazy costume on them. Or their roommate sleeping. Just weird, random, very specific stuff. xD (And memes.)

    Mmm... I guess it's sort of on instinct for me. If I need a "time filler" the scene still needs to "do" something. The conversations deepen the characters' knowledge and/or feelings about each other. Or, if I want to establish that CharA had a reason for not hooking up with CharB just yet. For example, that reason could be conscious or unconscious, stated or unstated. So maybe I'd have them have a conversation where CharA is hampered by their social fears from expressing their feelings and CharB isn't sure whether or not they like CharA that way yet. They may neither of them say anything, but while they're talking about likes and dislikes or that math test, their body language or emotions are telling the other story. Or I might have them outright argue over something which establishes to both the reader and the characters what the issue is keeping them apart.

    I guess the thing to do is once it stops being fun to read/write it, then the scene needs to be wrapped up asap, with the "point" of the scene made. And the "point" should be to let the readers know enough to understand why the characters are doing whatever they're doing, and/or the characters to understand more about each other or themselves. If no one is learning and it's not fun to read/write then it probably shouldn't be there.

    I'm not sure if that helps any, though. xD;
  9. View Conversation
    No - the AIM thing is probably pretty accurate. >_> I generally log in between 6pm and 10pm central and don't log off until I'm going to sleep (between 5am and 10am sometimes). It typically depends on if I'm going to try to talk to workpeople or try to catch my bff. If I don't expect Min online and I have no need to talk to work people, I generally don't log in or will log off. xD (Last night my bff had her weekly tabletop game, so I logged off around midnight my time and stayed up until 8am or so watching Xfiles on Netflix and working on a picture that'll show up on Tumblr tomorrow and keeping my niece entertained while my parents did stuff.)

    Hmm! I'll keep FeedDemon in mind then. xD Mostly I'd want it to keep up with Reddit, I think. But iGoogle was also a convenient way to keep up with top news stories. And I had a little virtual fish tank and a Google Translate generator thing. xD And my gmail foxie theme matched the iGoogle foxie theme and it was cute. :c I guess I'll live with just the email theme. xD
  10. View Conversation
    Ooch. Yeah, job markets are intimidating. Just keep trying. Study, maybe, to see what might improve your resume/sample, and try s'more. I can't really talk, though. That sort of process is why I held off on the idea of traditionally publishing and is more or less why I stalled in my college career (I just need an internship to graduate, but what interests me and what is financially plausible for me and what's available in the area don't match up well).

    xD You can train a cat not to jump certain places. But, yeah, that takes awhile and may not work. >_> So fair enough. xD And crazy dog. Impressive, but crazy. xD

    No worries. xD If you find a good RSS reader, lemmie know. Apparently iGoogle is going away next year (I have about a year before it goes away) and that's sort of my RSS page. >_>; I used to follow a lot of blogs, but mostly just bookmark them and read them if I'm in the mood for them. The writing blogs that I linked to are pretty much the only blogs I follow regularly now. (There are two or three that I didn't link to you, but I don't consider them quite as useful as the others. ...Then again...) http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/ He might be useful for following if you have any interest in being a professional translator for books. Uuhmm... http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2...itle-released/ here. To give you an overview of that sort of thing.

    (No worries. xD If you think of it or a new one, don't hesitate to ask. xD I don't mind.)

    ((PS: I've seen you log into AIM the last few mornings since I stayed up too late, but you always logged in when I was either just about to go to bed or when I was busy, so I wasn't able to say hello. xD ))
Showing Visitor Messages 11 to 20 of 85
Page 2 of 9 FirstFirst 1234 ... LastLast
Page 2 of 9 FirstFirst 1234 ... LastLast

Statistics


Total Posts
Total Posts
800
Posts Per Day
0.17
Visitor Messages
Total Messages
85
Most Recent Message
05-28-2013 08:51 PM
General Information
Last Activity
08-04-2023 01:39 PM
Join Date
06-16-2011
Referrals
2
Home Page
http://grumpyangel.net

    N/A
    Deleted by the owner of the RP
    The zombies came. The world ended. Now the survivors move on. Since the meltdown of world society, a new age of western expansion begins. Other things were stirred up by the world-wide upheaval- species and races that had remained hidden for centuries are brought to light. The gods and monsters of the vast desert become legend made solid......
    Rules of roleplay bend! Enroll your Mary Sue or Gary Stu character into this fun roleplay, meta-game to your heart's content and fight to be the most dazzling, brightest, beautifulest in the school!

    Andrew Septhorn (The Mayor)   (played in Deleted by the owner of the RP 2)
    The Mayor of Svalentia.
    Cole   (played in Deleted by the owner of the RP 2)
    An orphaned mutant youth.
    Evelyn   (played in Deleted by the owner of the RP 2)
    Beautiful and deadly.
    Falcon   (played in Deleted by the owner of the RP)
    Revenant
    Gabriel Asher   (played in Deleted by the owner of the RP 2)
    Once a sky-pirate extraordinaire, now left grounded.
    Guide   (played in Deleted by the owner of the RP 2)
    This is your guide. He will show you around when you need it, and no one else is assigned to the job.
    Haruka Rin   (played in Sunshine Destiny Miracle Island Academy)
    The hot MALE school nurse who looks like a girl!
    Jake Septhorn   (played in Deleted by the owner of the RP 2)
    The Mayor's son. Even he has his own secrets.
    Julibethky Edwardina TresBeau   (played in Sunshine Destiny Miracle Island Academy)
    The coolest nerd in the academy!
    Lance Landon   (played in Of Gods and Monsters)
    The best businessman's right hand money can hire.
    Marcus Metro   (played in Deleted by the owner of the RP 2)
    An average man living an average life.
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast