Writing a book.......

[brownjenkins]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

I trust you'll be at least using some punction for those two novels?

"punctuation" is overrated

/tease

[Earniel]

*smites stubborn old keyboard*

A good thing I don't write novels then, isn't it?

It'd be full of Dutchisms anyway...

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

It'd be full of Dutchisms anyway...

It would be full of you, which is very nice

[Curubethion]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

And a good spell checker.

I trust you'll be at least using some punction for those two novels?

Looks like someone else needs spellcheck.

[trolls' bane]

Originally Posted by Curubethion

Looks like someone else needs spellcheck.

Which, on topically, I must say something that is not restricted by a post-facto expansion of an already existing law .
You must be very good at catching everything like that, because I read right over "punction" without noticing, and never would hadn't you pointed it out. You see, I do not read. I recognize words by sight, and if I miss a small letter or "recognize" a strange word with the letters in a different order than they're supposed to be, I might never realize my mistake. For example, some Martian places: For me, Chryse was Chyrse, Elysium was Elsyium, Cerberus Fossae was Cerebus Fossae, Nirgal Vallis was Nigral Vallis (actually, the character Nirgal from Green Mars was where I first began to "recognize" the name AND subsequently recognize it correctly, and it wasn't until after this distinction that I heard about Nirgal Vallis).
A few others I've had trouble with:
Bilbo was Biblo.
Tsavong Lah the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster was Tsavong Lah the Yuzzhan Vong Warmster.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Curubethion

Looks like someone else needs spellcheck.

Not so much a spell checker as a) don't hold conversations in another language at the same time you're also typing in English and b) don't write things in a hurry so that you don't have time to reread before posting (like you normally do to catch your own mistakes) because you have to leave in a minute.

I'm thinking that's pretty good advice for when you want to write a book too.

[Curubethion]

Point taken

[trolls' bane]

You mean people normally reread their posts before posting them?

[Nurvingiel]

Originally Posted by trolls' bane

You must be very good at catching everything like that, because I read right over "punction" without noticing, and never would hadn't you pointed it out. You see, I do not read. I recognize words by sight, and if I miss a small letter or "recognize" a strange word with the letters in a different order than they're supposed to be, I might never realize my mistake.
<snip>

I'm good at recognizing spelling mistakes, but if I've read over a chapter I've written enough times, I won't be able to do this. The words, mistakes and all, just become so ingrained that I don't read them properly anymore. I tend to read everything exactly as you describe. I look at whole sentences and paragraphs, rather than individual words.
I can usually notice the gaping holes in the continuity accident that is my plot.

I often re-read my posts and correct them if necessary, but this may be because I like hearing myself talk/write.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by trolls' bane

You mean people normally reread their posts before posting them?

Mja. I wonder... should that be 'normal people' or 'people normally'?

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

I'm good at recognizing spelling mistakes, but if I've read over a chapter I've written enough times, I won't be able to do this. The words, mistakes and all, just become so ingrained that I don't read them properly anymore.

Same here (except for the being good at spotting them in the first place). That is why I often find it helpful to put the writing aside for a few weeks and then reread it to get a fresher perspective. It doesn't always work, but I find I don't over-look the mistakes as easily as before. Of course, taking so much time it isn't quite feasible with writing assignments you have to do for school.

[trolls' bane]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Mja. I wonder... should that be 'normal people' or 'people normally'?


Same here (except for the being good at spotting them in the first place). That is why I often find it helpful to put the writing aside for a few weeks and then reread it to get a fresher perspective. It doesn't always work, but I find I don't over-look the mistakes as easily as before. Of course, taking so much time it isn't quite feasible with writing assignments you have to do for school.

Yeah, I find all these mistakes in ZAQ-One. The whole plot is plagued with inconsistencies, usually minor technicalities such as a certain distance or amount of time that I changed in one paragraph and failed to do so in another. Whenever I finally get around to it, I have to completely re-write most of it, and add a lot more, because the chapters are too short.
But anyway, one major error, myself wanting to keep my science fiction "scienctifically correct," is the distance of the planet-encircling Stanford torus around GHI 81,027A7.1. Here, prior to learning that the amount of gravity created by centrifugal rotation had something to do with the speed of rotation, radius, and what is vaguely and confusingly described as "Angular Inertia," I automatically claimed that the torus-ring was 15,421 miles from the planet's core, or twice the distance from it that the planet surface was. Since the planet's surface rotation was around the same as Earth's (it was 97% the size of Earth, but had 24 hour days, so it rotated at about 1009 Miles per hour), the tangential velocity (rim speed) of the ring was double that. One major problem. I described this as creating one G, but instead, it was effectively microgravity, resulting in 0.02 G .

[Tamuril Sirfalas]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

And a good spell checker.

I trust you'll be at least using some punction for those two novels?

oh yes a spell checker that won't fail and im using punction for the two novels im writing....im just not about to do that when i talk!! but my two novels are *whew* pretty cool, they are in the categories " fantasy and adventure" and im also glad that i have a lot of imagination because i wouldn't have gotten far....and spell check i think is the best think invented when you are writing a book and another thing...if most people read over their posts...sorry my bad * fantically looks over spelling and "punction" or is it "Punctuation"??? i never really check over what i've writting but thats just me...well except for in really big essays or in my case, " highschool essays" which are easy and i feel for the university and college people, it must be really hard and stressful. right now im doing a project so i hafta go!

[trolls' bane]

Speaking of writing, what great hero of the internet or film or whatever got the idea of using asterisks to describe action? *scratches head*

[Tamuril Sirfalas]

writing novels are pretty hard...damn novels * takes a lighter to the pages* only kidding...all that hard work i have been doing!! but i can be pretty frustrating at times..especially with writer's block!!!!

[Acalewia]

i'm half way through one novel and im having trouble getting the other going

[trolls' bane]

Well, good luck! I've got an eight chapter novel that adds up to a grand total of 24 pages thus far, and that's TNR Size 12 double-spaced!

[Acalewia]

Originally Posted by trolls' bane

Well, good luck! I've got an eight chapter novel that adds up to a grand total of 24 pages thus far, and that's TNR Size 12 double-spaced!

Thanks TB! Congrats on your whole 24 pages. i have yet to start typeing my novels, though i have typed several short stories

[trolls' bane]

Originally Posted by Acalewia

Thanks TB! Congrats on your whole 24 pages. i have yet to start typeing my novels, though i have typed several short stories

I just typed one up...A footnote that was too big for being part of the 24 pages itself, because it would then end up being 26 pages.

[Curubethion]

Originally Posted by Acalewia

Thanks TB! Congrats on your whole 24 pages. i have yet to start typeing my novels, though i have typed several short stories

I hate typing up my stories. I've got like two novels at about 170 pages each (single-spaced, college-ruled), and now I have to type it all up if I want it published.

[trolls' bane]

Originally Posted by Curubethion

I hate typing up my stories. I've got like two novels at about 170 pages each (single-spaced, college-ruled), and now I have to type it all up if I want it published.

BFD. College ruled. Sheesh!
Like your fancy "College ruled" poses a threat. I say the lines are too big. But anyway, I know what you mean about actually typing them. I'm complaining about Chapter Eight: Death at Aldebaran, which was recently renamed Chapter Eight: Aldebaran Spaceport or something like that.