Random Thoughts And Observations: The Sequel

saginawhorror · **Posted:** Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:24 pm

Got the freebie. never read him before.

Hellolost · **Joined:** Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:58 am **Posts:** 2120

OK I give up. How do I find the club. I see the title Book club but where do I buy or sign up?

Jazminsdaddy · **Posted:** Mon Aug 27, 2012 11:28 pm

I think that's a reading book club as opposed to a book club where you receive books in the mail.

Hellolost · **Joined:** Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:58 am **Posts:** 2120

TMLCrow · **Posted:** Tue Aug 28, 2012 6:34 pm

I hope everything turns out okay, Jody. Thinking good thoughts.

JJHolden · **Joined:** Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:25 am **Posts:** 1712

Ggggaaaargghhhh I'm sick of hierarchies and torturing one protagonist over and over and keeping tabs on who belongs to whom and fights between brothers and scheming little girls and trying to keep my female protagonist's head above water and making sure my patriarch is cold and scheming and rapier sharp and his motivation seems plausible and whether it will snow at that time of year in the Rockies and Yay! trains! and whether someone's bedroom faces the west or the east and what brand of jacket my narcissistic hero will don before an audience with his father and who will straighten his tie and what kind of cars will be driven and have I got too much inner conjecture and not enough action and have I got the guns right and the landscape surrounding Interstate 5 right and does each chapter end on a strong note and taking that comma out in the morning and putting back in the afternoon and what about that friggin' ending out there on the sand????

Sorry for the outburst folks, editing hell, but I feel much better now.

ttzuma · **Joined:** Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:15 pm **Posts:** 13517

I know how you feel. I've rewritten one scene on the book I've been working on three times already in the past two days. One freaking scene! I'm trying to describe the interior of a building, and I just can't seem to get all the details the way I want them. Every time I think I've done it right, I think, wait a minute, how's the building supported? Where are the steel supports holding the roof up? I get done that and then I think, wait a minute, with no electricity how can the character see everything? So I have to rewrite the window descriptions. I get that done and I think, wait a minute, when I add up the dimensions of all the items I've put int he building, I've made the building too small.

And it goes on and on...

Jazminsdaddy · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 9:48 am

ttzuma · **Joined:** Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:15 pm **Posts:** 13517

Yeah it is crazy, but all it takes is one item amiss, something missing that should have been mentioned that wasn't, that can pull a reader out of the story. And the funny thing is, it's usually the small stuff that gets picked up, not something that requires a suspension of belief in the plotting.

JJHolden · **Joined:** Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:25 am **Posts:** 1712

You're right, it's completely nuts. Not only that, once I drop into it, hours go by and the laundry isn't getting done and the bills aren't getting paid and there's no milk in the fridge, and when I'm pulled out of it I get bad tempered and I get even more bad tempered when I can't get back in again. And when anyone tries talking to me I'm like "Hmm? Yeah... what?"

Jazminsdaddy · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:50 pm

I think I've read the last two paragraphs in Janet's Eulogies II story about 20 times because it makes me happy to do so.

ttzuma · **Joined:** Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:15 pm **Posts:** 13517

Just had lunch with a supplier that is a Romney supporter. I got heated at times, mostly when arguing against his points. In the end, what it came down to was that he really had no grasp of any of the issue's, he only had one real reason to vote for Romney. We went back and forth on tax cuts, jobs programs (he had no idea that O'bama submitted 4 job bills that the Repub's stonewalled), medicare, healthcare, and working for welfare. In the end, he told me that he was voting for Romney because of his stance on abortion. We then talked about Romney's, and especially Ryan's positions on abortion. He was stunned when I told him that Ryan, and up until this week Romney, didn't want to make exceptions for incest, rape, or the health of the baby. He admitted to not knowing that but then said that he knew couples that couldn't conceive and that here we are letting women use abortions as a birth control method. I asked him to name me one woman who used abortion as a consistent method of birth control. He then said that we should be giving birth control out free only to those in ghetto's. I asked him if his friends who couldn't conceive would be willing to adopt one of the kids from the ghetto's. He admitted that they wouldn't.

I could go on and on about the conversation but I won't. I just wanted to rant here a little. I'm not angry that this guy, who I do consider a friend, because he has an opposite view than I do. What got me all heated up is his taking a position without bothering to learn the facts behind it, the pro's and con's of supporting a position or passing legislation that will affect all Americans. My neighbor, who I also consider a good friend, is polar opposite me politically, but I can have a discussion with him on the facts and neither of us thinks ill of the other.

Jazminsdaddy · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 1:25 pm

It's shocking how little informed most voters are. I mean, unless you're very wealthy, a vote for Romney is a vote against your own interests.

VictorV · **Joined:** Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:59 pm **Posts:** 1371

Sad thing is, I've been there. Someone I used to call a friend blamed Obama for him getting laid-off even though Obama hadn't even been in office yet.

VictorV · **Joined:** Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:59 pm **Posts:** 1371

JJHolden · **Joined:** Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:25 am **Posts:** 1712

I guess a lot of people want what appear to be easy solutions to tough problems. They've enough trouble in their lives and they don't want to think any further than they have to, so they'll take what's spoon-fed. Trouble is, the spoon has shit all over it.

I've heard some pretty disgusting rhetoric thrown about this last few weeks, some of which I'm damned sure isn't real or was taken out of context, from both sides. How the fuck, as a nation, are we supposed to get a bead on a decent candidate and vote in an informed and responsible manner with all that going on?

JJHolden · **Joined:** Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:25 am **Posts:** 1712

ttzuma · **Joined:** Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:15 pm **Posts:** 13517

VictorV · **Joined:** Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:59 pm **Posts:** 1371

Rains have been really bad here. Besides having to lug my garbage to the other end of the complex, the roof leaks and now my ceiling looks like someone peed on it. Gotta get it fixed...

Jazminsdaddy · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:48 pm

Jazminsdaddy · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:49 pm

JJHolden · **Joined:** Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:25 am **Posts:** 1712

Dammit!! A 4.1 double jolt followed by a sway. This is not fun.

VictorV · **Joined:** Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:59 pm **Posts:** 1371

You gotta make 'em fun. We'd do the roller coaster thing by throwing our hands in the air and yelling "Wheeeeeeee....."

TMLCrow · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:37 pm

ttzuma · **Joined:** Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:15 pm **Posts:** 13517

KeithMinnion · **Joined:** Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:58 pm **Posts:** 430

I always find it helpful to imagine everything there is about a room, place, people, but only describe the bits that impact the viewpoint character. The reader will fill the rest in with their own imagination. "Author omniscient" is a killer for me. Also mixing up the sense description - smell, touch, more than just sight - makes it a richer reading experience, and also more interesting to write. I am a big fan of "less is better", though. Does it move the story forward? Is it important to the story? No? Cut it, then.

ttzuma · **Joined:** Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:15 pm **Posts:** 13517

It is important to the story Keith, that's why I want to get it right. I agree with less is more, but I think readers do need to have a realistic image of a building or space in an action story in order for the progression of the plot to make sense.

Roger · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:03 pm

JJHolden · **Joined:** Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:25 am **Posts:** 1712

Roger, you're a gentleman.

JJHolden · **Joined:** Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:25 am **Posts:** 1712

Random Thoughts And Observations: The Sequel

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