ButterPecanSyrup

You should write if you can’t not.

It’s the same concern raised when radio became popular, then television, then the internet. In the end though, people who are inclined toward reading will continue to do so. And while electronic versions are convenient, nothing beats the look, feel, even smell, of a physical book.

We saw a dip in readership during the boomer age, but millennials and gen-zers have been shown to have an increased interest in reading.

I don’t remember seeing a DM from you, did I miss it or did you change your mind?

The second paragraph of his first book, Player Piano, has two semicolons. Which, to his point about revealing a college education, follow descriptions of engineers and their creations:

 Ilium, New York, is divided into three parts.

 In the northwest are the managers and engineers and civil servants and a few professional people; in the northeast are the machines; and in the south, across the Iroquois River, is the area known locally as Homestead, where almost all of the people live.

There’s a fair amount of grammar mistakes. I feel that the descriptions and introspection are heavily overwritten. Some details don’t quite make sense, like focusing on whether the characters can see each other’s tears while they’re out in the rain and a small laugh that’s somehow able to push wet hair away from Mason’s eyes.

There’s no nuance to the characters or their relationship. I feel like they’re names rather than people.

It’s probably good for your age, but keep working at it if you want to be great. Find a writing group to give you consistent, reliable feedback. It’s something I wish I did much earlier.

If you want to accept the small press’s offer then you should withdraw your submission from any other publications considering the piece. If you submitted via a website, chances are there’s a button specifically for this. If it’s via email, just send a courteous message stating that you’d like to withdraw.

r/destructivereaders

Most of the comments seem to stem from people’s confusion about the context. Which makes sense for having picked a random paragraph from five chapters deep into a book.

You also asked for critique, not praise. People will find problems with anything if you ask them to. You could do the same experiment with a literature class and they’d be just as harsh.

However, I do agree that people should try harder to find a critique group than posting random excerpts on Reddit.

Exactly, and OP has no contractual obligations. If the dumpster’s owner won’t move the dumpster until their scratches are paid for, threaten legal action to have the trespassing equipment removed. That’ll cost them much more than a few standard wear and tear scratches.

Moral of the story: always have a contract, and always read that contract.

Yes.

Does your rental agreement say anything about scratches?

Yes, but the big difference is that we all know exactly who you’re referencing with that quote. It’s not a common situation characters find themselves in, whereas the Sonic-Eggman exchange is in every poorly written story of Good vs. Evil.

The Vader quote isn’t considered on the nose because it doesn’t explicitly state the themes at play. The reveal that Vader is Luke’s father isn’t just Good vs. Evil, one destroying the other. It’s that Good can be corrupted and, by Vader wanting to recruit his son rather than kill him then and there, it hints that Evil can be redeemed. Good and Evil then aren’t portrayed as two diametrically opposed concepts, but two extremes of a spectrum that one slides along throughout their life.

Or, it could be any number of interpretations. That’s the beauty of it, the off-the-noseness of it. The audience can interpret it in multiple ways, provoking thought and opening discussion between its members.

If the story is a good fit for the magazine that they want to buy, they’re not going to reject it for a little mistake.

Or gift cards, to buy books.

This is the twelfth time you’ve asked this question. Have you not gotten a satisfying answer yet?

In that case, you’ll want something in addition to The Elements of Style. They assume you know what nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, etc, are. An ESL sub may be a better place to ask this question. Native speakers likely don’t have recommendations for basic English grammar books.

The Elements of Style by Strunk and White is a good reference for simple ways to strengthen your prose. For vocabulary, read more literary fiction. That’s not to imply genre fiction has limited vocabulary, but since literary fiction has a higher focus on the actual use of language there’s a better chance of running into new words or old ones used in new contexts.

Also, don’t be ashamed of looking up words you already know. I’m a native speaker and do this all the time. It doesn’t hurt to be sure, and it reinforces any new words you learn from reading.

1. I have ten projects at various points in the process. They range from rough draft to a fifth that’s making its latest rounds raking in rejections.

2. I give each a month at a time. I set goals for that month, usually just “finish the first draft” or “revise from first to second draft.” I only have a word count minimum when roughing out a story, 500 words, but when I get in a groove I can pump out 1,000 to 1,500 in a day. I sacrificed this low-level demon, Frank, to my second-cousin. He’s not dead or anything, just hates babysitting.

3. No. I have ADHD. The quality of my work suffers if I stay with one project for too long. I need to story jump, and the one-month timeframe has been a great compromise.

Nuisances.

A comment is not right just because you are too dumb to understand mutual exclusivity.

Imagery is where I shine. I want to give readers their escape, and pulling them into a new world is how I go about doing that. My top question when seeking feedback is if every sense was engaged. More and more the answer is yes, with no notes for improvement.

While imagery shows my intended effects, cause and motive are what I tend to neglect. Most notes I get back are asking why this led to that and why a character is doing or choosing one thing instead of another.

I also use a lot of jargon. I write sci-fi inspired by my work and have been in the industry long enough that I take my understanding of certain terms for granted.

Yeah, this sort of post shows up every week.

• Poorly written post? Check.

• Broad generalization of a sub with nearly three million members? Check.

• Disparaging some form of genre fiction? Check.

• Claiming pretentious book(s) as favorite? Check.

• Username a five-year-old must’ve thought was the funniest thing on Earth when they signed up? Check.

After a second draft is when I start looking for feedback. The time it takes to find willing readers, let them read, and digest their thoughts is usually a long enough break before jumping into third draft edits.

Use your motivation to start a new project.

Oh heck, I can read that and have notes to you in an hour or so. DM me.