Re: Copy Editing and Hammers
Aug. 11th, 2025 07:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynling> What's the point of copy editing if you have no sense of style?
Sorry I'm not done yet.
( Read more... )
I guess there are two points to take away from this. First, I should be more specific about what I want from a copy editing job. And second, experiences like this make me somewhat hesitant to spend actual money (ie, hundreds of dollars) to hire an editor for a longer project. Getting clueless and unnecessary feedback is actively harmful in that it makes me second-guess whether what I'm writing is accessible to the lowest common denominator of TikTok girlies who only read YA romance. Nobody needs to write like that.
Sorry I'm not done yet.
( Read more... )I guess there are two points to take away from this. First, I should be more specific about what I want from a copy editing job. And second, experiences like this make me somewhat hesitant to spend actual money (ie, hundreds of dollars) to hire an editor for a longer project. Getting clueless and unnecessary feedback is actively harmful in that it makes me second-guess whether what I'm writing is accessible to the lowest common denominator of TikTok girlies who only read YA romance. Nobody needs to write like that.
Copy Editing and Hammers
Aug. 11th, 2025 07:02 amrynlingThe copy editor I hired to look over my wizard detective story says that "conspectus" is not a word that exists. This is a silly thing to say, because:
(1) Magic also does not exist.
(2) We therefore have to invent words to talk about it.
(3) It would make sense for wizards to use these words.
(4) The meaning is 100% clear from context.
Also: I would love to have the talent to invent fancy Latinate words, but "conspectus," meaning "a subdiscipline of a broader field of study," is very much a real word that exists. Which the copy editor would know if she googled it.
She said the same thing about "ensorcelled," as in "a magically ensorcelled object." That's definitely a real word, and it makes sense for its meaning to shift to become more literal in a story where magic is real.
Like what's the point of writing fantasy if you don't get to make things up?
And also, what's the point of copy editing if you have no sense of style?
(1) Magic also does not exist.
(2) We therefore have to invent words to talk about it.
(3) It would make sense for wizards to use these words.
(4) The meaning is 100% clear from context.
Also: I would love to have the talent to invent fancy Latinate words, but "conspectus," meaning "a subdiscipline of a broader field of study," is very much a real word that exists. Which the copy editor would know if she googled it.
She said the same thing about "ensorcelled," as in "a magically ensorcelled object." That's definitely a real word, and it makes sense for its meaning to shift to become more literal in a story where magic is real.
Like what's the point of writing fantasy if you don't get to make things up?
And also, what's the point of copy editing if you have no sense of style?
cut to the snake
Aug. 11th, 2025 12:16 ammarycatelliI think I may have to muck about with how many heads the snakes have. One by one is too slow. The snakes are menaces, not things to tick off as they advance
Perhaps only odd numbers of heads?
Perhaps only odd numbers of heads?
Sanders' Union Fourth Reader
Aug. 11th, 2025 12:13 ammarycatelliSanders' Union Fourth Reader by Charles Walton Sanders
Despite the titles, this is more recent than his New Fourth Reader. It repeats three or four readings from the earlier works, not all of them from the fourth reader.
Interesting nowadays chiefly for the views of edifying works and science of the time.
Despite the titles, this is more recent than his New Fourth Reader. It repeats three or four readings from the earlier works, not all of them from the fourth reader.
Interesting nowadays chiefly for the views of edifying works and science of the time.
To Tame a Land
Aug. 10th, 2025 05:04 pmmarycatelliTo Tame a Land by Louis L'Amour
You can do a lot of things in Westerns. This one is a bildungsroman.
( Read more... )
You can do a lot of things in Westerns. This one is a bildungsroman.
( Read more... )vignette
Aug. 10th, 2025 10:54 ammarycatelliThis week's prompt is:
range 🐦
Anyone can join, with a 50-word creative fiction vignette in the comments. Your vignette does not have to include the prompt term. Any (G or PG) definition of the word can be used.
range 🐦
Anyone can join, with a 50-word creative fiction vignette in the comments. Your vignette does not have to include the prompt term. Any (G or PG) definition of the word can be used.
Re: The Demon King: Let’s Finish It, For Real This Time
Aug. 10th, 2025 07:23 amrynlingBeing 60% finished means that I’d still have a long and difficult road ahead of me.
Being 80% finished means that if I write a paragraph a day, I can write a chapter a month. If I write a chapter a month, I’ll be done in four months.
Slow but steady gets things finished. 🐢
And maybe this won’t be the grand work of genius I originally imagined, but that’s okay. It’s better that it exists imperfectly than if it doesn’t exist at all.
Being 80% finished means that if I write a paragraph a day, I can write a chapter a month. If I write a chapter a month, I’ll be done in four months.
Slow but steady gets things finished. 🐢
And maybe this won’t be the grand work of genius I originally imagined, but that’s okay. It’s better that it exists imperfectly than if it doesn’t exist at all.
The Demon King: Let’s Finish It, For Real This Time
Aug. 9th, 2025 02:41 pmrynlingI was thinking that I was maybe 60% of the way through my first attempt at an original fantasy novel; but, on further consideration, I was really more like 80% finished.
The two main charm points of the story are:
- the eponymous demon king being stupid, and
- the demon king’s chemistry with the evil queen.
Everything else is largely irrelevant. If the two most interesting characters aren’t on the page and interacting with each other, of course the story isn’t going to be fun to write. I therefore reworked my outline of the remaining chapters to cut out everything that isn’t the good stuff. Now I only have five more chapters to write, including the one I’m currently finishing.
Also hooray for me for once again being 80% done with something and then leaving it unfinished. I read a post on Tumblr that said stopping 80% of the way through a project is incredibly common for ADHD people, and I’d like to ask the OP to stop breaking into my house and observing me in my own home.
The two main charm points of the story are:
- the eponymous demon king being stupid, and
- the demon king’s chemistry with the evil queen.
Everything else is largely irrelevant. If the two most interesting characters aren’t on the page and interacting with each other, of course the story isn’t going to be fun to write. I therefore reworked my outline of the remaining chapters to cut out everything that isn’t the good stuff. Now I only have five more chapters to write, including the one I’m currently finishing.
Also hooray for me for once again being 80% done with something and then leaving it unfinished. I read a post on Tumblr that said stopping 80% of the way through a project is incredibly common for ADHD people, and I’d like to ask the OP to stop breaking into my house and observing me in my own home.
The School Reader. Third Book
Aug. 8th, 2025 11:35 pmmarycatelliThe School Reader. Third Book: Containing Progressive Lessons in Reading, Exercises in Articulation and Inflection, Definitions, by Charles Walton Sanders
The third book is still focused on reading. Very few of the pieces come with bylines. Still, it's taking on the aspect of the later readers, with the focus on good readings, edifying and instruction.
May be chiefly of interest in view of what they selected in the era.
The third book is still focused on reading. Very few of the pieces come with bylines. Still, it's taking on the aspect of the later readers, with the focus on good readings, edifying and instruction.
May be chiefly of interest in view of what they selected in the era.
Ghost in the Tombs
Aug. 8th, 2025 05:45 pmmarycatelliGhost in the Tombs by Jonathan Moeller
Caina's 32nd book. Spoilers ahead for the earlier ones.
( Read more... )
Caina's 32nd book. Spoilers ahead for the earlier ones.
( Read more... )Super Boba Cafe # 1, by Nidhi Chanani
Aug. 8th, 2025 02:15 pmrachelmanija
A middle-grade graphic novel about a boba shop with a secret.
Aria comes to stay with her grandmother in San Francisco for the summer to escape a bad social situation. Her grandmother owns a boba shop that doesn't seem too popular, and Aria throws herself into making it more so - most successfully when Grandma's cat Bao has eight kittens, and Aria advertises it as a kitten cafe. But why is Grandma so adamant about never letting Aria set foot in the kitchen, and kicking out the customers at 6:00 on the dot? Why do the prairie dogs in the backyard seem so smart?
This graphic novel has absolutely adorable illustrations. The story isn't as strong. The first half is mostly a realistic, gentle, cozy slice of life. The second half is a fantasy adventure with light horror aspects. Even though the latter is throughly foreshadowed in the former, it still feels kind of like two books jammed together.
My larger issue was with tone and content that also felt jammed together. The book is somewhat didactic - which is fine, especially in a middle-grade book - but I feel like if the book is teaching lessons, it should teach them consistently and appropriately. The lessons in this book were a bit off or inconsistent, creating an uncanny valley feeling.
Spoilers!
( Read more... )Fantastic art, kind of odd story.
unpacking
Aug. 7th, 2025 11:49 pmmarycatelliThe heroine is actually going to talk with a girl to find out secrets.
That means I have to pull the secrets out of the summary and feed them to her.
At least, I know there's going to be a dramatic attack at the end of this.
That means I have to pull the secrets out of the summary and feed them to her.
At least, I know there's going to be a dramatic attack at the end of this.
Sanders' young ladies' reader
Aug. 7th, 2025 11:33 pmmarycatelliSanders' young ladies' reader : embracing a comprehensive course of instruction in the principles of rhetorical reading : with a choice collection of exercises in reading, both in prose and poetry, for the use of the higher female seminaries, as also, the higher classes in female schools generally by Charles W. Sanders
A selection of prose and poetry intended for elocution classes. Interesting, nowadays, chiefly for the selections choosing. With an eye to variety, the preface assures us, because they are intended for the young.
This one is, unlike the fourth and fifth readers, aimed specifically at girls. Which means a couple on the education of women and the necessity of its being for their whole lives, and not the flurry of society to win their husbands, and more female characters in the stories. It has a couple of selections that overlap with those readers.
A selection of prose and poetry intended for elocution classes. Interesting, nowadays, chiefly for the selections choosing. With an eye to variety, the preface assures us, because they are intended for the young.
This one is, unlike the fourth and fifth readers, aimed specifically at girls. Which means a couple on the education of women and the necessity of its being for their whole lives, and not the flurry of society to win their husbands, and more female characters in the stories. It has a couple of selections that overlap with those readers.
I Crave Gay Violence
Aug. 7th, 2025 09:09 amrynling"The fact that this character is of indeterminate gender is irrelevant to the story," the copy editor wrote. "You may want to consider deleting this description."
"On the contrary," I absolutely did not reply, "the cursed Gothic manor being casually inhabited by nonbinary staff and artists isn't hurting anyone, and moreover it's a special treat to me, the nonbinary person writing the story."
Then I did not reach through the computer screen to crush the copy editor's fingers with a hammer.
"On the contrary," I absolutely did not reply, "the cursed Gothic manor being casually inhabited by nonbinary staff and artists isn't hurting anyone, and moreover it's a special treat to me, the nonbinary person writing the story."
Then I did not reach through the computer screen to crush the copy editor's fingers with a hammer.
Re: Eddington
Aug. 7th, 2025 06:46 amrynlingI know Eddington is supposed to be a satire, but I want to talk more about why it didn't work for me.
( Read more... )
I think I'm also starting to get the sense that maybe Ari Aster doesn't like women. What can you do.
( Read more... )I think I'm also starting to get the sense that maybe Ari Aster doesn't like women. What can you do.
