http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_phone_novelWell that's.... interesting. Not sure how I feel about it.
wat
Sounds like an interesting way to distribute serial works.
>Paul Auster>The New York TrilogyOh thanks, Pabst. Not like I have plenty on my plate for the summer already.What's on your to-read list, /writ/ers?
Just grabbed a copy of "Gravity Rainbow" and Feynman's autobiographical "Surely You Must Be Joking, Mr. Feynman" for a train trip up to Medford, OR.
A lot. Charles Stross- just got recommended to him, no idea what to read yet, the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher, and I need to finish the Manifold Trilogy by Baxter.
-Genghis Khan and the Making of the the Modern World-John Carter of Mars-The Si-Fan Mysteries.-Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton.
How do you guys get your creative juices flowing? I usually read books, but that only helps so much. Same with music. And drinking helps, but I usually get shitfaced and it all comes out unintelligible.Any ideas would be great.
>>4751 Well, that's super-easy. You can find that stuff literally anywhere. Just find some forum that deals with such stuff and there you are.
A tagline. If I can randomly write a short summary that sounds really awesome, it encourages and inspires me to build on the story until it's finished. I've gotten 30,000 words from a 150 word summary. Of course, by the time I feel it's "done", the original summary doesn't usually work anymore. But it's an excellent kick-start.I also like to listen to songs people have recommended for me specifically, and write down the first words that come to my mind the first time I listen to them. Not even sentences, just words. I've created a lot of great prose from that.Also, getting really horny helps for some reason. And it rarely comes out as smut, so I dunno.
The problem I experienced with deriving inspiration and creativity from roleplaying games is that it gives you the same sort of experience writing for a franchise/paradigm that any other sort of fanfiction gives you. It's practice and motions, but it's still another mold to press against the walls of and still dependent on a pachydermal layer of creative dogma for structure.
So, have anyone read this? Seems pretty awesome but since Its not available around here at the moment I might as well listen to a few opinions first.Also, general Steampunk literature thread.
>>4709The difference engine, Haven't read it myself yet but Its supossedly a prime example. Oh and its written by William Gibson, wich is a good thing.The only steampunk books Ive read so far is Airborn and Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel, wich is more high sea adventure set on airships than actuall steampunk. Quite good, tho.
>>4314This might be more suited to discussion on a different board, but if you're interested in that person's artwork, you can see more of it here: http://www.keiththompsonart.com
>>4713FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF I loved The Difference Engine. Amazing book of speculative fiction.
So I had a bunch of Battletech novels, some of which I've read, a couple I haven't, and eventually realized "I don't give enough of a shit about Battletech" and got rid of most of them, only keeping the Blood of Kerensky books and the Legend of the Jade Phoenix trilogy. I have a couple of the first Mechwarrior Dark Ages novels though, and I'm wondering if I should just sell these too or if they're worth reading and/or keeping?Also, Battletech general? I guess?
If it dont work here, try /co/!
>>4694Wouldn't /cog/ be a better fit?
Scriptwriting.Goddamn.
>>4675lol that is a classic.It's not a triangle. The slope of hypotenuse of the red triangle is 3/8, the slope of hypo of the dark green triangle is 2/5. .375 != .4
Huh... looking back, I'm sort of surprised this was never covered in any of my English classes. We touched on damn near everything else.
Re: AmyI don't like what I wrote for Emma's and Beatrice's interaction on page 30/31. There are some other things I don't yet like, but this bullying interaction is the biggest on my list./lit/ has failed me for the last time. What say you /writ/?
How does The City and The City stack up to the Bas Lag novels?
China Mieville is one of my all time favourite authors. He's just so unique for fantasy these days -- which franky, I haven't read much good that came out in the last few years.
I once read the first few pages of Perdido Street Station, but couldn't get into it. My state of mind must not have been the best then, because recently I went back and found those same pages engaging enough that I'd like to pick up his works at some point. Everything I've heard about it sounds quite interesting.
Ok this is basically the best book series ever. Reasons:1. FUCKING UNICORNS2. The most powerful magical of all: the magic of friendship.3. 12 year old girls.Also,>"Her name is Stormbringer. She's a mistwolf."FFFFFFFFFF
Superior
I'm both interested and baffled by what I'm seeing.
Question: has anyone here read/attempted to read this series? I'd love to hear some first-hand accounts from fellow boardies.
You ever get the feeling that everyone kind of just copies everyone else?
"originality is overrated."-Shakespeare
I'm pretty sure that somewhere, at some time, nearly everything has already been thought of.
I had absolutely no idea where to ask about this so I picked /writ/ which I largely avoid because I read dumb shit like Star Wars novels.Anywwaaaayyyys.I've lately had a fascination with audio dramas and certain audio books (those with full casts or just really notable ones like World War Z and America The Book) and was wondering if there were any you'd guys would recommend.
That's nice.So yeah...audio stuffs?
Well, the Lovecraft books by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company are quite nice in my opinion.
Speaking of audio, has anybody ever used Librivox before? It's only good for public domain stuff, but it's pretty nifty. http://librivox.org
How important is a character's looks to a reader? I mean, a comparison in a modern-based story where the main character is a dude with dreadlocks and a beard, instead of, for example, pic related.Or does it all come down to writing skills and personality of the character?
>>4644What he said.I usually don't remember what a character looks like, unless it's repeated very often, has an impact on the story or if the appearance of the character is especially strange(bizarre hair/eye colour for instance). If the person in question looks normal(as in what you might see outside in the street and not really pay attention to), then the reader probably won't care enough to remember and instead creates a fixed image of the character in his head which he "looks" at whenever the character does something.Of course, as mentioned, the more out of the ordinary a character's appearance is, the more likely the reader is to expect something out from the appearance. If the character has attributes that are out of the norm, it is expected that they mean something. Yet, if the character has a drawn portrait, it suddenly matters a lot more. Since the reader can't imagine the character, but instead relies on the picture, it is more meaningful, even the character looks quite normal.
I can't remember any character's physical appearance being important in a book except in say The Portrait of Dorian GreyOther than that, all the books I read usually provide a physical description as to the state the character is in (i.e. he ran through the dark streets in tattered clothing) and that's it.
Descriptions are important if they tell us something about the character. The readers won't remember if your protagonist has blue or green eyes, if his hair is dark or light brown or the colour of every piece of clothing he wears but they will remember the scar he got in the car accident that killed his wife or his hunched posture and his nervous tics.
/writ/ We face dark days ahead. Recent intelligence suggests that a new nefarious organization has arisen. They have begun to refer to themselves as The Lords of Pulp Fiction, because they have formed by an alliance of:Sax Rohmer: The brains of the outfit, he is a criminal mastermind, capable of inventing the perfect crime many times over. Do not let his gentlemanly exterior fool you, or you'll end up dead on a balcony somewhere and no one we'll have a fucking clue how you got up there.H.P. Lovecraft: An expert on the Occult and powerful sorcerer. Master of a thousand secrets that could each drive you mad. Not that he's a model of mental stability. Be careful, he can be very unpredictable, and wields powers man was not meant to know.Robert E. Howard - The muscle of the group, he's a former pugilist and bodybuilder. He's also personal friends with Lovecraft, so you know he aint afraid of shit. Known to operate under the alias "Ace Dick"Your mission /writ/ is to assemble a team of badass writers to combat this team of Superwriters. Choose wisely.
Done and done.
Figured I'd ask your opinions on the matter, to gain perspective on a problem I have.The basics is this: I have a character, who has been bloating quite a bit recently and I came upon the idea of splitting her in two. This of course has both beneficial and negative sides to it, of which I will give my impression of.Practically what I would do, is to take certain aspects of this character(sexuality and sensuality in general, cruelty, treachery, love, political intrigue) and splinter them off, affixing them to the sister of the character(which would be a completely new character). In essence, this would allow me to concentrate more on the defining characteristics of each of these new characters, and it would allow me to make them butt heads and interact together.The off-side is, as I see it, that the original character would become more shallow. Now, being too bloated on character is a bad thing, but being too singular and uniform is bad too. If most or all aspects of a certain category are the domain of just one of them, it feels in comparison that the original character has been drained of some personality, and is a lot more superficial. I should hope on any advice or insight, no matter how trivial, both for my and the board's sake. Even if I completely disagree on what one of you has to say, it might give me inspiration on what I should decide to do.Thanks in advance to any and all responses.
I will try to analyze the situation in the light of your suggestions:I am not certain if a new character is needed as such. Certainly the old singular character is enough for her purpose, but I am thinking that the new character might add a bunch of stuff to the story. Of course, the character is not just a chunk out of the original character, but quickly evolved to it's own character, albeit very heavily influenced by the chunks from the original one. I suppose I should have given concrete examples on the differences of the choices(genre would be fantasy, character holds a position similar to princess/queen):One character:Most of the time in control of her emotions, but prone to fits of rage in issues regarding abuse of her nation, people or brother. Very cruel to her enemies and lovers, for even the smallest of reasons, but passively, only reacting to situations, instead of actively pursuing cruelty. A very fiery relationship with her lovers. If nothing is amiss, she is quite pleasant. Wears practical garb much of the time, but enjoys a more decadent way of clothing every now and then in parties and official situations. Plots both politically and militaristically to further her agenda. Relationship with brother best described as obsessed. Two characters:She is more disciplined, stoic, wears plain clothes whenever possible, is shyer and inexperienced in matters of love. Protective of her people, yet harsh to enemies. Relationship with brother best described as protective. Her sister is more religious minded, loves playing mind-games with others, wears luxurious and provocative clothes, is actively cruel to servants and lovers alike. Relationship with brother best described as incestous. Message too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>4612Sounds like the nice sister and the mean sister, a bit. Are they just naturally different, or were they raised differently?
>>4645It really isn't as clear as the nice sister and mean sister. More like the straightforward one and the cunning one.Part of the reason why the other sister is more straightforward is, that she had to take care of all the business of the kingdom, when their father's insanity grew too bad. The other sister on the other hand was raised more to be a priestess to their god, so she had less to do with direct things and more with subtle ones. The older sister(the straightforward one) didn't have as much time to devote to things she wanted, so she grew more focused and doesn't have much knowledge of matters outside her expertise. The younger one's education was much freer and as such she had time to delve into matters as she pleased, and had less responsibilities. While the older sister is mostly nice to her people, she is quite terrible to her enemies. Burning a whole village and hanging all the inhabitants, including children isn't much of a problem to her, so long as they are under the rule of one who she feels has wronged her(or her nation).
Any writing tips?Straight Edge Society awesome yet unrelated.
>>4634Oh anon, you're such an ass.
>>4623>Straight Edge Society awesome yet unrelated.>Straight Edge Society>awesome...Yeah... sure...
>>4640CM Punk is always awesome.ALWAYS.
Surprised we don't have one of these threads.My Girlfriend got this for me. It's fuckin rad.
Just finished Dorian Grey. it was weird
Finished European Alliances, Starting on Tyrone's rebellion.I love it when I'm so obviously reading a republished thesis that they didn't bother changing the font or format.
>>4592I've wanted to read that, and I like weird. Maybe I'll pick that up after I'm done with Moby Dick.