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Bred Any Good Rooks Lately?

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  • GNTLGNTGNTLGNT
    ....my latest read.....
    Best of Cemetery Dance 2 Cemetery Dance Publications
    FlakeNoirspideymancatGrant87
  • Hedda GablerHedda Gabler
    edited July 2020
    GNTLGNT said:
    I'm writing all these suggestions down, thank you everyone.  My trip to B & N got put on the back burner.  I received a most wonderful surprise the other night.  Out of the blue, I got the gift of Neil Gaiman's Masterclass. I was so tickled!  So, I printed out the work book, I'm watching classes and I'll be working on the assignments.

    We're all writers.    Anyone who picks up a pen or types something on their computer are writers.  But we aren't all storytellers in the writing sense.  We can chat up a story, but creating one for the page is different.

    I've tried to write stuff that would make a wonderful story that a group of someones would really enjoy reading.  And while trying, I  sometimes can have this beautiful sentence.  This amazing sentence.  And it's so good, I think, did I write that sentence? Does that belong to me?  Or did I pick that up from someone else along the way?  And it's great to know that, no, I wrote that sentence.  I just can't string enough of them together to create storytelling. 

    Any story world I've ever tried to create has never been polished and finished.  Everything is so rough draft.  Horrible things that might have a seed of something, but I can't quite find it because of the ridiculous weeds I seem to plant around it.

    But, I must say, I am enjoyng this Masterclass.  And it might spur me on to do Margaret Atwood's class, David Sedaris, Joyce Carol Oates, David Baldacci. 

    Before I die, I would like to write something that I can be really proud of.
    ....again, you sell yourself short.....it may not be novel length, but everything that you have written evokes emotion, which is the hallmark of a great writer.....
    That's very sweet.  I have little moments of woo hoo! but nothing that can sustain even the shortest of stories.

    I was thinking about contacting my local university to see if any of the writing teachers did editing gigs on the side.  I'd gladly pay a total stranger to just tear apart my stuff.  Especially now with Covid dipping into their pocketbooks,  there might be some skilled writer who would take my money and give me feedback.

    When I was in college, I had a writing teacher who was so great.  Back in the day when teachers had the time to read every single paper without an undergraduate helping.

    Anyway, she was so good because you would get your paper back all marked up with good things and bad things.  And the last page, she would write to you and she always started out with the things she loved. What you did right.  A particular word choice or paragraph or she liked this character or this description was wonderful.  She would just pump you up and then....she would tell you what you needed to fix.  

    And she would lay it out there.  It was hard to get butthurt about the crap you did when she was so generous with her praise on the good things you did.

    It's difficult to get friends and family to critique honestly.  I've let people read my stuff and flakers is the only one who has been helpful in comments.  Most everyone else just says, "that was great!"  And you wonder, if I quizzed you right now about my story, would you be able to answer the questions?  Did you really take the time to read it?  I'm guessing most of them didn't.  

    Just want to add, I'm talking a story from start to finish I've written.  The Halloween stories are collaborative, so while it's great to get the "good jobs" on your particular contribution, that's easier when you have a team of fun writers to help you look good and give so many great ideas to play off of.



    spideymancatFlakeNoirGNTLGNT
  • spideymanspideyman
    Hedda Gabler said:
    GNTLGNT said:
    I'm writing all these suggestions down, thank you everyone.  My trip to B & N got put on the back burner.  I received a most wonderful surprise the other night.  Out of the blue, I got the gift of Neil Gaiman's Masterclass. I was so tickled!  So, I printed out the work book, I'm watching classes and I'll be working on the assignments.

    We're all writers.    Anyone who picks up a pen or types something on their computer are writers.  But we aren't all storytellers in the writing sense.  We can chat up a story, but creating one for the page is different.

    I've tried to write stuff that would make a wonderful story that a group of someones would really enjoy reading.  And while trying, I  sometimes can have this beautiful sentence.  This amazing sentence.  And it's so good, I think, did I write that sentence? Does that belong to me?  Or did I pick that up from someone else along the way?  And it's great to know that, no, I wrote that sentence.  I just can't string enough of them together to create storytelling. 

    Any story world I've ever tried to create has never been polished and finished.  Everything is so rough draft.  Horrible things that might have a seed of something, but I can't quite find it because of the ridiculous weeds I seem to plant around it.

    But, I must say, I am enjoyng this Masterclass.  And it might spur me on to do Margaret Atwood's class, David Sedaris, Joyce Carol Oates, David Baldacci. 

    Before I die, I would like to write something that I can be really proud of.
    ....again, you sell yourself short.....it may not be novel length, but everything that you have written evokes emotion, which is the hallmark of a great writer.....
    That's very sweet.  I have little moments of woo hoo! but nothing that can sustain even the shortest of stories.

    I was thinking about contacting my local university to see if any of the writing teachers did editing gigs on the side.  I'd gladly pay a total stranger to just tear apart my stuff.  Especially now with Covid dipping into their pocketbooks,  there might be some people who would take my money and give me feedback.

    When I was in college, I had a writing teacher who was so great.  Back in the day when teachers had the time to read every single paper without an undergraduate helping.

    Anyway, she was so good because you would get your paper back all marked up with good things and bad things.  And the last page, she would write to you and she always started out with the things she loved. What you did right.  A particular word choice or paragraph or she liked this character or this description was wonderful.  She would just pump you up and then....she would tell you what you needed to fix.  

    And she would lay it out there.  

    It's hard to get friends and family to critique honestly.  I've let people read my stuff and flakers is the only one who has been helpful in comments.  Most everyone else just says, "that was great!"  And you wonder, if I quizzed you right now about my story, would you be able to answer the questions?  Did you really take the time to read it?  I'm guessing most of them didn't.


    Do you know of any retired teachers in the field? Maybe your local university might suggest one. Bet they would have the time to apply input/ free or for a small fee. 
    Hedda GablercatFlakeNoirGNTLGNT
  • EdwardJohnEdwardJohn
    GNTLGNT said:
    ....my latest read.....
    Best of Cemetery Dance 2 Cemetery Dance Publications
    All excellent writers, love Peter Straub. 
    catFlakeNoirGNTLGNT
  • EdwardJohnEdwardJohn
    GNTLGNT said:
    Hedda Gabler said:
    I'm writing all these suggestions down, thank you everyone.  My trip to B & N got put on the back burner.  I received a most wonderful surprise the other night.  Out of the blue, I got the gift of Neil Gaiman's Masterclass. I was so tickled!  So, I printed out the work book, I'm watching classes and I'll be working on the assignments.

    We're all writers.    Anyone who picks up a pen or types something on their computer are writers.  But we aren't all storytellers in the writing sense.  We can chat up a story, but creating one for the page is different.

    I've tried to write stuff that would make a wonderful story that a group of someones would really enjoy reading.  And while trying, I  sometimes can have this beautiful sentence.  This amazing sentence.  And it's so good, I think, did I write that sentence? Does that belong to me?  Or did I pick that up from someone else along the way?  And it's great to know that, no, I wrote that sentence.  I just can't string enough of them together to create storytelling. 

    Any story world I've ever tried to create has never been polished and finished.  Everything is so rough draft.  Horrible things that might have a seed of something, but I can't quite find it because of the ridiculous weeds I seem to plant around it.

    But, I must say, I am enjoyng this Masterclass.  And it might spur me on to do Margaret Atwood's class, David Sedaris, Joyce Carol Oates, David Baldacci. 

    Before I die, I would like to write something that I can be really proud of.
    ....again, you sell yourself short.....it may not be novel length, but everything that you have written evokes emotion, which is the hallmark of a great writer.....
    What about that hack who wrote the first chapter of the latest Halloween story, jeez that sucked ... :)
    catGNTLGNT
  • EdwardJohnEdwardJohn
    BevVincent said:
    EdwardJohn said:
    Brighton, England? 
    Yes. In 2010, I believe.
    Very cool, hope you get to other writing events in the UK in the future. :)
    catBevVincentspideymanGNTLGNT
  • Hedda GablerHedda Gabler
    spideyman said:
    Hedda Gabler said:
    GNTLGNT said:
    I'm writing all these suggestions down, thank you everyone.  My trip to B & N got put on the back burner.  I received a most wonderful surprise the other night.  Out of the blue, I got the gift of Neil Gaiman's Masterclass. I was so tickled!  So, I printed out the work book, I'm watching classes and I'll be working on the assignments.

    We're all writers.    Anyone who picks up a pen or types something on their computer are writers.  But we aren't all storytellers in the writing sense.  We can chat up a story, but creating one for the page is different.

    I've tried to write stuff that would make a wonderful story that a group of someones would really enjoy reading.  And while trying, I  sometimes can have this beautiful sentence.  This amazing sentence.  And it's so good, I think, did I write that sentence? Does that belong to me?  Or did I pick that up from someone else along the way?  And it's great to know that, no, I wrote that sentence.  I just can't string enough of them together to create storytelling. 

    Any story world I've ever tried to create has never been polished and finished.  Everything is so rough draft.  Horrible things that might have a seed of something, but I can't quite find it because of the ridiculous weeds I seem to plant around it.

    But, I must say, I am enjoyng this Masterclass.  And it might spur me on to do Margaret Atwood's class, David Sedaris, Joyce Carol Oates, David Baldacci. 

    Before I die, I would like to write something that I can be really proud of.
    ....again, you sell yourself short.....it may not be novel length, but everything that you have written evokes emotion, which is the hallmark of a great writer.....
    That's very sweet.  I have little moments of woo hoo! but nothing that can sustain even the shortest of stories.

    I was thinking about contacting my local university to see if any of the writing teachers did editing gigs on the side.  I'd gladly pay a total stranger to just tear apart my stuff.  Especially now with Covid dipping into their pocketbooks,  there might be some people who would take my money and give me feedback.

    When I was in college, I had a writing teacher who was so great.  Back in the day when teachers had the time to read every single paper without an undergraduate helping.

    Anyway, she was so good because you would get your paper back all marked up with good things and bad things.  And the last page, she would write to you and she always started out with the things she loved. What you did right.  A particular word choice or paragraph or she liked this character or this description was wonderful.  She would just pump you up and then....she would tell you what you needed to fix.  

    And she would lay it out there.  

    It's hard to get friends and family to critique honestly.  I've let people read my stuff and flakers is the only one who has been helpful in comments.  Most everyone else just says, "that was great!"  And you wonder, if I quizzed you right now about my story, would you be able to answer the questions?  Did you really take the time to read it?  I'm guessing most of them didn't.


    Do you know of any retired teachers in the field? Maybe your local university might suggest one. Bet they would have the time to apply input/ free or for a small fee. 
    That's what I was thinking, too.
    catFlakeNoirspideymanGNTLGNT
  • Hedda GablerHedda Gabler
    edited July 2020
    Okay, this is so interesting.

    Part of my Masterclass assignment was to go to a web site that analyzes your writing and tells you what author you most write like.  

    You copy and paste a good chunk of your writing whether it be a blog, or story, journal entry, comment --  and it gives you a result.

    My author I most write like was Anne Rice.  

    Now, here is what Anne Rice is known for:

    "Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941) is a best-selling American author of metaphysical gothic fiction, Christian literature and erotica from New Orleans, Louisiana. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history."


    My writing sample had nothing to do with gothic fiction, erotica -- maybe the fact I use the words God and Jesus makes it closer to her Christian literature -- but I wouldn't classify it Christian literature either.  Maybe it has something to do with word choice, but also maybe sentence structure?  I'm not sure what they look at to determine your author.

    If anyone is interested in checking out who they write like, I'll drop the link.  It is not exclusive to Masterclass and anyone on the internet can use this tool, so I am not giving away something copyrighted by Masterclass.
    catFlakeNoirspideymanGNTLGNT
  • EdwardJohnEdwardJohn
    Hedda Gabler said:
    Okay, this is so interesting.

    Part of my Masterclass assignment was to go to a web site that analyzes your writing and tells you what author you most write like.  

    You copy and paste a good chunk of your writing whether it be a blog, or story, journal entry, comment --  and it gives you a result.

    My author I most write like was Anne Rice.  

    Now, here is what Anne Rice is known for:

    "Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941) is a best-selling American author of metaphysical gothic fiction, Christian literature and erotica from New Orleans, Louisiana. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history."


    My writing sample had nothing to do with gothic fiction, erotica -- maybe the fact I use the words God and Jesus makes it closer to her Christian literature -- but I wouldn't classify it Christian literature either.  Maybe it has something to do with word choice, but also maybe sentence structure?  I'm not sure what they look at to determine your author.

    If anyone is interested in checking out who they write like, I'll drop the link.  It is not exclusive to Masterclass and anyone on the internet can use this tool, so I am not giving away something copyrighted by Masterclass.
    Mine was Agatha Christie, weird ... I'd be interested in who Bev got. 
    catHedda GablerFlakeNoirspideymanGNTLGNT
  • Hedda GablerHedda Gabler
    What link did you use?  I didn't provide a link.  Maybe I'd get another author if I did it with another site that does this.
    catNotaroFlakeNoirGNTLGNT
  • EdwardJohnEdwardJohn
    Hedda Gabler said:
    What link did you use?  I didn't provide a link.  Maybe I'd get another author if I did it with another site that does this.
    A site called I Write Like. 
    FlakeNoirspideymanGNTLGNTcat
  • Hedda GablerHedda Gabler
    Yep, that's the one I went to.  I'm curious how they chose the author, what criteria were they looking at.  It would've been interesting to hear why they chose Rice for me.  

    I don't think this is just a random generator as I don't think Masterclass would just send you to some goofy random thing.   There has to be some algorithm for their choices.

    I'm going to pick another passage further into the work and submit it and see if my voice stays consistently Anne Rice, or if it changes.
    spideymanFlakeNoirGNTLGNTcat
  • FlakeNoirFlakeNoir
    Holy Sh#t!!! I just tried it with a piece from our last story and I got Stephen King!  :o


    Hedda GablerspideymanGNTLGNTcat
  • Hedda GablerHedda Gabler
    That's so awesome!  He's such a fantastic writer to be compared with!
    FlakeNoirspideymanGNTLGNTcat
  • FlakeNoirFlakeNoir
    Hedda Gabler said:
    That's so awesome!  He's such a fantastic writer to be compared with!
    I used the Morgan/Cappy scene. So it's probably not that surprising, there was bloodshed and puke. :D 
    spideymanGNTLGNTcat
  • Hedda GablerHedda Gabler
    Okay, I used a part of my Halloween story, which is a totally different type of story than what I submitted the first time, and I STILL got Anne Rice.

    Fascinating.  
    FlakeNoirGNTLGNTcat
  • FlakeNoirFlakeNoir
    Hedda Gabler said:
    Okay, I used a part of my Halloween story, which is a totally different type of story than what I submitted the first time, and I STILL got Anne Rice.

    Fascinating.  
    Interesting... it must be several different things it's picking up, sentence structure as well as content and... uh, voice?  
    GNTLGNTcat
  • Hedda GablerHedda Gabler
    FlakeNoir said:
    Hedda Gabler said:
    Okay, I used a part of my Halloween story, which is a totally different type of story than what I submitted the first time, and I STILL got Anne Rice.

    Fascinating.  
    Interesting... it must be several different things it's picking up, sentence structure as well as content and... uh, voice?  
    Not in a million years would I have picked Anne Rice for myself.  Curiouser and curiouser.
    FlakeNoirGNTLGNTcat
  • Hedda GablerHedda Gabler
    BevVincent said:
    I had to ask him to vacate the premises once! I had a panel at the World Horror Convention in Brighton and he was hanging around at the speaker table talking to people.
    That's funny.  I'm thinking most writers would want the hell outta there.  I love he just kept hanging around.
    GNTLGNTBevVincentFlakeNoircat
  • FlakeNoirFlakeNoir
    Hedda Gabler said:
    FlakeNoir said:
    Hedda Gabler said:
    Okay, I used a part of my Halloween story, which is a totally different type of story than what I submitted the first time, and I STILL got Anne Rice.

    Fascinating.  
    Interesting... it must be several different things it's picking up, sentence structure as well as content and... uh, voice?  
    Not in a million years would I have picked Anne Rice for myself.  Curiouser and curiouser.
    I don't think I've read any of hers. (I know! What a sheltered life I've lived.)
    GNTLGNTspideymancat
  • Hedda GablerHedda Gabler
    I've read I think, the first 3 books in the Vampire Chronicles.  Interview being the best of the three.  I loved that book.  
    FlakeNoirGNTLGNTspideymancat
  • FlakeNoirFlakeNoir
    Hedda Gabler said:
    I've read I think, the first 3 books in the Vampire Chronicles.  Interview being the best of the three.  I loved that book.  
    Does she write like you? 
    GNTLGNTspideymancat
  • Hedda GablerHedda Gabler
    BWHAOEHAOHEOAHAHAHAHAA!  

    Well obviously yes.  Anne Rice writes like ME.     :D :D :D :D :D
    GNTLGNTFlakeNoirspideymancat
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    I used my most recent crime story. Big surprise:


    Hedda GablerFlakeNoirspideymancat
  • GNTLGNTGNTLGNT
    This is for Anne Rice you sparkly little punk - Cheezburger
    Hedda Gablerspideymancat
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