Random scribblings and thoughts about writing, publishing and the entire letters to dollars process. Includes copious notes about politics and everyday life.
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Friday, November 3, 2017
NaNoWriMo: Day 3
The word count today stands at 12,473. I'm not particularly happy with this, but it's the best I could manage. I'm writing a difficult section, and I think I may have gone a bit overboard in developing a really evil mean and nasty villain. Well, what can I say? Hello Kitty is not in the running for villain of the year.
On a different subject, if you have to deal with MS Word you'll eventually run into formatting problems. Word starts distorting the document and refuses to format correctly. The only real cure is to strip out the formatting and start over with the plain text. In the advice of another author who has to deal with this, 'Nuke it 'till it glows'. That means selecting all the text, copying it to the clipboard, then pasting it into a line editor that doesn't recognize all the herky-jerky HTML Word uses to format a document. From there, paste it back into Word and allow Word to do its thing - correctly this time.
I use two text editors. My primary text editor is ME, from Multi Edit Software. I've used ME for years and never been disappointed with it; its only downside being that it isn't free. My other text editor is PSPad Freeware Editor, also a good choice. PSPad tends to handle special characters a little better, and it's freeware, which is nice.
Tomorrow, it's back to the salt mines.
On a different subject, if you have to deal with MS Word you'll eventually run into formatting problems. Word starts distorting the document and refuses to format correctly. The only real cure is to strip out the formatting and start over with the plain text. In the advice of another author who has to deal with this, 'Nuke it 'till it glows'. That means selecting all the text, copying it to the clipboard, then pasting it into a line editor that doesn't recognize all the herky-jerky HTML Word uses to format a document. From there, paste it back into Word and allow Word to do its thing - correctly this time.
I use two text editors. My primary text editor is ME, from Multi Edit Software. I've used ME for years and never been disappointed with it; its only downside being that it isn't free. My other text editor is PSPad Freeware Editor, also a good choice. PSPad tends to handle special characters a little better, and it's freeware, which is nice.
Tomorrow, it's back to the salt mines.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
NaNoWriMo: Day 2
Work continues on The Making of Magic, although I believe a fossilized snail would overtake me on the first turn. I've finished the scenes and dialogue that explain Otheldo's home during his childhood, and set up the first series of obstacles which Our Hero must overcome somehow.
My word count thus far is 11,881, according to Micro$oft Word 2002 SP 3. I originally wrote using LibreOffice, which claims to produce Word documents in exactly the same format as MS Word — except it doesn't. I discovered this little white lie when I tried to feed my completed anthology from a LibreOffice DOC file into the Amazon translator, which if everything went correctly would return a file compatible with the Kindle e-reader. The translator coughed, appeared to lock up, then produced a host of cryptic error messages having to do with the fact that it expected an MS DOC file and instead got gibberish.
Motivated by frustration and curiosity, I created an identical three page file in Word and LibreOffice, then opened both in a file compare utility. There were a few similarities, but you had to hunt for them. In particular, the Word file featured a header that could only be interpreted by someone who was an HTML guru with 20 years of hard experience under his hands. Suffice to say, it was three miles above my pay grade.
So I set my sights on an antique copy of Word, got it for a bargain, and continue using it to this day. Eventually I expect Amazon to demand a DOCX file format, but until then I'm getting along just fine, thanks.
Back to work I go.
My word count thus far is 11,881, according to Micro$oft Word 2002 SP 3. I originally wrote using LibreOffice, which claims to produce Word documents in exactly the same format as MS Word — except it doesn't. I discovered this little white lie when I tried to feed my completed anthology from a LibreOffice DOC file into the Amazon translator, which if everything went correctly would return a file compatible with the Kindle e-reader. The translator coughed, appeared to lock up, then produced a host of cryptic error messages having to do with the fact that it expected an MS DOC file and instead got gibberish.
Motivated by frustration and curiosity, I created an identical three page file in Word and LibreOffice, then opened both in a file compare utility. There were a few similarities, but you had to hunt for them. In particular, the Word file featured a header that could only be interpreted by someone who was an HTML guru with 20 years of hard experience under his hands. Suffice to say, it was three miles above my pay grade.
So I set my sights on an antique copy of Word, got it for a bargain, and continue using it to this day. Eventually I expect Amazon to demand a DOCX file format, but until then I'm getting along just fine, thanks.
Back to work I go.
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
NaNoWriMo: Day 1
NaNoWriMo is a somewhat imperfect acronym for National November Writing Month.
Starting on November 1st,
My novel is entitled The Making of Magic, and is a prequel to the anthology Magic for Hire. If you haven't read the anthology, you can buy Magic for Hire on Amazon. Splurge a little, and know that for every copy you buy, you're supporting a starving artist living in an unheated garret with a leaky roof and bad lighting.
And so, to work.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Super Summary
I recently discovered and fixed a broken link, thanks to sometime reader Colleen Hutcherson. Colleen left another link that I found very useful, the Free eBook Download Guide. The guide features loads of links to free eBooks and other helpful sites. My thanks to Collen for her time and consideration.
Friday, October 13, 2017
The Magic Novel: Plot Problems
Having written and published, for better or worse, Magic For Hire, I decided to write a sequel - another anthology. I then realized a certain demand for A) a novel, and B) a prequel. How did my protagonist end up the way he did?
So I set to work, and after 20,000 words or so broke my toes on the worst case of writer's block I've ever experienced. I'd gotten my protagonist into a predicament and couldn't decide on a way to get him out. I tried several, all of which were dismal failures. Today, at long last, a solution has suggested itself and the obstacle to my production melted in the heat from the keyboard.
My protagonist was in a bad way, through no fault of his own, but unless he could get out of his current predicament under his own power, he'd never develop and become the protagonist I'd write about later. My difficulty was that I was sending him help he didn't deserve. My solution is obvious; he'll overcome the problems that the author hands him without outside help, and continue merrily down the road to publication.
And that's how you defeat writer's block.
So I set to work, and after 20,000 words or so broke my toes on the worst case of writer's block I've ever experienced. I'd gotten my protagonist into a predicament and couldn't decide on a way to get him out. I tried several, all of which were dismal failures. Today, at long last, a solution has suggested itself and the obstacle to my production melted in the heat from the keyboard.
My protagonist was in a bad way, through no fault of his own, but unless he could get out of his current predicament under his own power, he'd never develop and become the protagonist I'd write about later. My difficulty was that I was sending him help he didn't deserve. My solution is obvious; he'll overcome the problems that the author hands him without outside help, and continue merrily down the road to publication.
And that's how you defeat writer's block.
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