This article makes a good point, also relevant to fiction: offering a limited range of experiences excludes both creators and consumers.
I personally love the Portal games, but there haven’t been any other major games like them.
Originally shared by Derrick “Quite Clever” Sanders
This. This right here. Yes, yes, yes.
Karen Price Lex Larson Donna Buckles Kimberly Chapman
I’ve been a loyal listener to Len Edgerly’s Kindle Chronicles podcast for a while. He’s an excellent interviewer, and I had a lot of fun as his guest.
We talked about The Well-Presented Manuscript, and other topics including fantasy fiction (which isn’t one of the genres he’s read). I’m not sure what did and didn’t make the final edit–haven’t had a chance to listen yet–but I’m sure he made me sound more coherent than I felt.
Originally shared by Len Edgerly
My interview guest this week is a Kiwi author irritated enough by errors in eBooks to publish a guide to avoiding them. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010RJOAYA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B010RJOAYA&linkCode=as2&tag=httpthekicom-20&linkId=JVZSG4RFK7K7ZAN7
http://www.thekindlechronicles.com/2015/09/04/tkc-370-mike-reeves-mcmillan/
Originally shared by John Ward
K Tempest Bradford has written an interesting piece on i09. It’s more than an article. It’s a manifesto, a call to action, and something I think everyone who enjoys short fiction should consider.
Currently, she is using her quarterly column on i09 to highlight the best short fiction that she has read during that quarter, but she has bigger dreams. She dreams of a site dedicated to chronicling short fiction and allowing signed-in users to rate and discuss the merits of the various stories submitted to the site. Kind of like a Goodreads for short stories and novellas.
This seems like a brilliant idea to me. She’s hesitant to jump into it because of concerns about funding. I’m not sure how much money something like this would cost, but I hope someone is able to make it happen.
I believe short fiction is experiencing a bit of a re-birth due to e-books. It would be great if there was an easier way to find the really good stuff.
What do you folks think? Any interest in something like this?
http://io9.com/io9-newsstand-has-one-last-thing-to-say-about-the-hugo-1728796923
It’s right there on the cover: “The sequel to the award-winning…” That’s a challenge for the author. How do you do a Book 2 that won’t be a disappointment after Book 1 won every award going?
I think Ann Leckie rose to that challenge and wrote an immaculate book with a great deal of depth, though I did feel that clearer story stakes would have made it more gripping.
Full review behind the link.
Sounds like they used fMRI, so we’re a little way from a portable, always-on emotion reader, but it sounds like one would be feasible.
Via Larry Panozzo.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150811103648.htm
I’m working on an outline for a projected book on short story writing. Won’t be out for a while (since, until I have pro sales, I lack some credibility); but I’ve already learned enough to begin the outline, if not to fill it in completely.
Indispensable Writing Books: The Well-Presented Manuscript
I recently donated a large box of writing books to the library, including my copy of The Elements of Style. I’d owned it for a long time and had never found it useful for what I actually needed in my writing.
Enter Mike Reeves-McMillan’s new book, The Well-Presented Manuscript. I was offered a copy in exchange for an honest review, and decided it was worth checking out. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to get with this book. I know Mike here on Google+ and he is a prolific writer whose stories and books are both traditionally and independently published. He also used to be a professional copy editor. I figured he knew his stuff about getting editors and agents to take a look at your work.
This book is part formatting guide and part grammar guide. In fact, you could use it as a checklist while preparing your book or story. Did I format my manuscript correctly? Have I made any of these common grammar mistakes?
I confess that the grammar guide made my eyes glaze over. There were a few rules I still couldn’t understand, even after Mike’s introduction and excellent examples. There’s a reason I hire a professional editor (the fantastic Karen Conlin) for my work. However, I found the sections on adjectives and adverbs quite informative, and the long list of homonym errors was incredibly helpful.
I hope Mike will put this out in a hardcover version. A reference like this would be very handy to have on the writing shelves, and it’s one, unlike Elements of Style, that I’d actually look through when I needed the help.
Available on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1IKMrHK
#indispensablewritingbooks #grammar
tl;dr: Lisa Cohen’s _Ithaka Rising_ is good.
Originally shared by Larry Panozzo
Yes!!! There’s hardly any technology that gets me more excited than BMIs (brain-machine interfaces). Think back to how everyone’s lives changed when they suddenly had pocket computers (smartphones). When BMIs improve and then go mainstream, everyone’s level of productivity is going to skyrocket. Whether they use this newfound transhuman ability to browse the web’s increasingly mindless content or use it for enhanced productivity is up to them. Did I mention you can easily use them for mind-mind communication? It’s not sci-fi, just technology.
Originally shared by Larry Panozzo
Exactly.
And, even better than the title, are the closing lines with a quote by the cofounder of Singularity University and CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation…
As Peter Diamandis has said, “on the road to abundance there will be turbulence.” The light at the end of this tunnel, however, may be a world in which the pursuit of enlightenment is more cherished than the pursuit of money.