Monthly Archives: August 2015

August 7, 2015 · 6:45 am

My impressions of Windows 10

I got this machine in Jan 2012, and it just happened to come with the newer style of touchscreen. I have a HP Touchsmart 320 PC, but even though it was WIN 8 ready, I never went with WIN 8 because, for what I do, I prefer to use a mouse, and at that point (in 2012) I wasn’t sure that I liked the “swipe and go” method.

So, I’ve had Windows 10 now for about a week. It was different, being in the first wave of folks making the change from WIN 7 to 10. I lost pretty much of an evening to making the switch, but you do expect that, when you upgrade something as fundamental as your OS (operating system).

So far I like it. Good job Microsoft–it works on my machine as it was designed.

It’s fairly easy to navigate, and I had no trouble seeing everything on the screen. (I have elderly eyes, so this is a good thing). It looks good. You can easily access the task screen.

My only complaint was that at first Windows Live Movie Maker seemed to be lacking all the transitions I was used to. But they are back now and I am pleased. I don’t know if that is because of an update or what, but I was fairly unhappy when all but four transitions were unavailable.

All in all finding files is fairly easy–the File Explorer menus are easy to read and are visually a lot like WIN 2003

I have just received the invite to subscribe to the new MS Office. I have it on my devices and I will be checking it out to see if that subscription covers my PC as well. I have to say, I like Office 2010, and am not that keen on switching, unless it is so awesome that I can’t resist the awesomeness. So I will be doing a little research on that.

For Dave Cantrell’s view of WIN 10, check out his recent post at Dave Said It.

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Filed under Humor, Publishing, writing

Tagged as upgrading your technology, Windows 10, Windows Movie Maker, WWLM

August 5, 2015 · 6:45 am

Is it damn fool, damnfool, or damned fool?

One of the more interesting things about being an editor is the amazing amount of time you spend stopping what you are doing and doing a little research. This is especially true if you are editing a piece that has a lot of colloquialisms in it.

Fortunately, some colloquialisms have made it into the Webster’s Dictionary, and the rest are out there on the internet somewhere.

Let’s consider the question of if we mean damn fool, damnfool, or damned fool:

According to the Urban Dictionary

damned fool

A person who is extremely foolish. Their actions are not only irresponsible to themselves, but can possibly be harmful towards others.
If a guy tries and talk you out of using a condom, he is a damn fool. (You can’t make this stuff up–you have to go to the internet for it.)
Did you see that damned fool? He was swerving all over the road. (end quoted text)

And just for fun, lets see what Wiktionary has to say:

damn fool (adjective)
damnfool

(informal) Contemptibly foolish. (end quoted text)

He was a damned fool.

How I see it:

He was a damned fool. (I just cursed him to hell.)
He was a damn fool. (He was contemptibly foolish)
He did a damnfool thing. (He was contemptibly foolish and I will curse him to hell.)

Now this can be tricky if you are unsure which of these damnfool things the author meant, so this is where I insert a comment asking the author what kind of a damned fool she is writing about.

What other fun little “OMG I have to stop and look this up” things do I play with when I should be working?

I love looking up Pagan rituals, or indigenous peoples’ religious rituals.
I love anything to do with history, and exact dates.
Ooh! Ooh! Let me look it up on a map!

Yep–looking things up is part and parcel of the fun. I’m just not as keen on looking up where to properly place commas–the rules make my head hurt.

So let’s talk commas and where to stick ’em, or better yet, where NOT to stick ’em. I found a wonderful website that has a handy-dandy list of comma don’ts phrased in simple language that did not make my eyes go numb: The Proper Care & Feeding of Commas.

Improperly installed commas can wreak havoc in a paragraph. This is because they are punctuation: “…the act or practice of inserting standardized marks or signs in written matter to clarify the meaning (of a sentence.)” (quoted from Google)

Commas are there to separate clauses and to make sentences understandable. Consistently used according to the accepted rules, commas make it so that every English-speaking reader understands what you have written. We don’t put them in to indicate to the reader where we pause or take a breath—everyone pauses and breathes differently and what makes sense to you will not make sense to someone else.

These are the same rules for everyone, which make our work understandable in Brisbane, Houston, London, Hong Kong or Seattle. But the rules in the Chicago Manual of Style (my go-to manual) are often ambiguously phrased and are hard to remember. SO, when checking on simple points, I love this website for a quick list of comma dos: Your Dictionary: Comma Rules

Dialect and local sayings play a huge part in contemporary work–sometimes I get a piece that was written by a UK author. Perhaps it is an Urban Fantasy and it will have all sorts of words I have never heard of: again, I go to Your Dictionary: Common UK Expressions. This is also a problem with American dialects and local slangs–the internet is my friend! Texas-talk is “a whole nuther thang” and sometimes more difficult to follow than Cockney English: Howdy Get Rowdy

It is an editor’s job to do a certain amount of research whenever a question arises in the manuscript to ensure his comments will help the author clarify ambiguous and hard-to-understand areas. Having fun surfing the internet looking up obscure and interesting facts is just one of the perks!

keep-calm-and-say-you-fool-you-damn-fool

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Filed under Books, Fantasy, Humor, Literature, Publishing, Uncategorized, writer, writing

Tagged as #amwriting, Commas, creative writing, Editing, fantasy, humor, self publishing, writing, writing craft

August 3, 2015 · 6:45 am

What did I just write? Labeling short fiction

World Literature Today, March 2013 issue published bi-monthly at the University of Oklahoma

When you write a lot of different short stories, you really get to explore all aspects of your creative mind. You never know what will fall out of your head, so you find yourself writing in a wide variety of genres, things you never thought you would find interesting.

But they consume you and you can’t stop writing.

So now you have this wonderful backlog of short stories to enter in contests and submit to various publications–but now you find that this contest wants general fiction, and this one is fantasy. And this one is sci-fi only!

Dude–how do I know what tale to send to who?

If your work is nonfiction, it’s no problem, because your work is targeted to a magazine with a specific readership, so the sub-genre will be readily apparent and where you should submit it was likely clear the day you decided to write it.

Where this gets dicey is when you write short fiction with no specific contest or magazine in mind. When you sit down to write a short story with an open mind, random ideas flow and because you are working within the limits of 3000 to 7000 words, your stories are creative and stretch you. But they will be widely different from your normal work, and will not always be in a genre you can easily identify. You have all this work, but no idea where to submit it.

Mainstream (general) fiction–Mainstream fiction is a general term publishers and booksellers use to describe works that may appeal to the broadest range of readers and have some likelihood of commercial success. Mainstream authors often blend genre fiction practices with techniques considered unique to literary fiction. It will be both plot- and character-driven, and may have a style of narrative that is not as lean as modern genre fiction, but is not too stylistic either. The prose of the novel will at times delve into a more literary vein than genre fiction, but the story will be driven by the events and action that force the characters to grow.

Literary Fiction–Literary fiction tends to be more adventurous with the narrative, with the style of the prose taking a prominent place. Stylistic writing and the exploration of themes and ideas form the substance of the piece. Writer’s Relief Author’s Submission Service defines literary fiction as “…fiction of ideas. While the story must be good, emphasis on action is not often as important as emphasis on the ideas, themes, and concerns of the book. Literary fiction tackles “big” issues that are often controversial, difficult, and complex.” (end quoted text)

Science fiction–Wikipedia says: “Science Fiction is fiction dealing with imaginative content such as futuristic settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, time travel, faster than light travel, parallel universes and extraterrestrial life.” BE WARNED: the internet is rife with purists and impurists in the sci-fi field, snobs and folks with their heads up their anachronisms. Anyway, if you use magic for any reason you are NOT writing any form of sci-fi.

Hard Sci-fi is characterized by rigorous attention to accurate detail in the physics, chemistry, and astrophysics. Emphasis is placed on accurately depicting worlds that more advanced technology may make possible. Soft Sci-fi is characterized by works based on social sciences such as psychology, economics, political science,sociology, and anthropology.

Other main sub-genres of Sci-fi include: Space-operas, Cyberpunk, Time Travel, Steampunk, Alternate history, Military, Superhuman, Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic.

The main thing to remember, is this–Science and Magic cannot coexist in the Genre of Science Fiction. The minute you add magic to the story, you have Fantasy.

Fantasy: Wikipedia says: “Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic and magical creatures are common. Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three, all of which are sub-genres of speculative fiction.”

I’ll be truthful–fantasy has its share of snobs and damnfools when it comes to defining the sub-genres:

High fantasy–High fantasy is defined as fantasy fiction set in an alternative, fictional world, rather than the real, or “primary” world, with elves, fairies, dwarves, dragons, demons, magic or sorcery, wizards or magicians, constructed languages, quests, coming-of-age themes, and multi-volume narrative . Often the prose is more literary and the primary plot is slowed by many side quests. Think William Morris and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Epic Fantasy–These stories are often serious in tone and epic in scope, dealing with themes of grand struggle against supernatural, evil forces. Epic fantasy shares some typical characteristics of high fantasy includes fantastical elements such as elves, fairies, dwarves, dragons, demons, magic or sorcery, wizards or magicians, constructed languages, quests, coming-of-age themes, and multi-volume narratives. Tad Williams’s Memory Sorrow and Thorn is classic Epic Fantasy.

Paranormal Fantasy–Paranormal fantasy often focuses on romantic love and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, blending together themes from all the speculative fiction genres. Think ghosts, vampires, and supernatural.

Urban Fantasy– can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods, and the settings may include fictional elements. The prerequisite is that they must be primarily set in a city.

Horror–Wikipedia says “Horror fiction, horror literature and also horror fantasy are genres of literature, which are intended to, or have the capacity to frighten, scare, or startle their readers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon has defined the horror story as “a piece of fiction in prose of variable length… which shocks or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing.”

Romance– Novels of this type of genre fiction place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an “emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.”

Now that you know what the genre of your story is, you can seek out magazines and contest looking for that sort of work. Choose carefully who you submit your work to, carefully follow their submission guidelines, and only submit the work you have that best fits what they publish.

Never submit anything that is not your best work, and do not assume they will edit it, because they won’t. And let’s be real–no one will even consider publishing work that is poorly written, sloppily formatted, and generally unreadable.