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| Hi, all. I put a little research on ancient clothing in my portfolio. It's a little Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian clothing, and a lot of ancient Phoenician (Canaanite) clothing. If anyone is writing any fiction or whatever set in ancient times, they can feel free to use it. It's not mine and it's in list form, not a story: I just copied it from the internet. Like when Tolkien decorated some of his stories with little bits of these details. Just in case it makes anything easier for anyone. Enjoy. |
| Unable to transfer writing from my computer clipboard to my "create new item." It used to work. Anybody have any ideas, is would be greatly appreciated. |
| I really have no idea why copy & paste from clipboard to the text area in a new item no longer works for you. Maybe you could try to copy & paste the text into a non-WDC email, and then send it to your WDC email account? |
| I just usually just copy and paste the text into my items. You might post in the technical support forum. |
| Does anyone know whether there are lists of prospective authors (or something like a list) who are not supposed to be published, for one reason or another? Who or what could get a person "blacklisted" from being published, and is there any way to get around having one's name on such a "don't publish these authors" lists? |
| Never, ever, EVER receive a positive word from reviewers about anything that I write. So I decided to test the honesty of my "reviewers." Took a section out of a published paperback novel, with many credentials printed on the cover and front and back pages. Asked for a critique, right? Got the same crappy response as always: "Oh . . . oh, man! This . . . this is just so awful that I don't . . . I don't even know where to begin. Would you like to hear about your awful dialogue, or maybe just the incompetent way you characterize setting! Your excessive use of the letter 'L' just blinded me against your story. Do you . . . do you even speak English?" I don't ask for false flattery but JEEZ! |
| Yes, you are 100% correct. The reviews here are often over the top critical when they don't need to be. Years ago, a member did a similar experiment with a page from a Stephen King book. The reviews were so destructive that she has since left the site. It's hard to get reviews that come from a place of acceptance for your vision and style that then also include warranted and understandable critical comments. Please don't leave the site. |
| Just read a Newbie on the "Read a Newbie" page. Story was good enough that I want to mention it, globally, to other Writing.com member. It was newbie SF, about a space cruise ship manned by mercenaries. If you should run into it, it's not that long and it's a good read. Can't remember the name of the story or the author, but that's the premise! Loved the idea of space explorers flying around in a space luxury liner! Usually, they fly around in a space warship of some kind. Star Wars had space freighters. Gave it a more human feel. Stepped away from my computer for a few minutes to compose my thoughts and consider what I'd just read, and when I went back to the Read a Newbie page couldn't find it! So I just wanted the author to know that they did a good job! As a reader, I was very entertained. The writing flowed. Would have liked a little more description of all the science fiction stuff. Filled in a lot of the blanks in my imagination as I read from seeing Star Trek. Not sure if a Star Trek setting is what you were going for. If the author is reading this, kudos for your good story. Five stars! Thank you very much for the read! |
I'm glad you are hopping around in Read a Newbie. In the future, when reading any story, poem, or other static item, if you decide you love it and it was written in the current year (or up through January of the next year), you should nominate it for "The Quills"  (our version of the oscars) through "Invalid Item" . You can find these links again through their aliases, quills and noms by typing {item:quills} and {item:noms} in case you need them later.  You can nominate all sorts of things, but static items need to be written in the current year. Things like interactives, contests, etc. just need to have been active that year. You can find rules for each category in the dropnotes. If you have any questions about nominating, let me know. |
| Anybody have any ideas about how to break out of a mild case of depression and write (fiction)? Stories already, basically, finished. Just seem to like to add a few more polishing up touches (that the stories really need). Feeling quite a bit down right now, can't think of why. Just am. Would welcome any adivce. Thx. |
| It can be tough breaking out of a depression, especially if you can't even point to a cause. I know depression is insidious and makes us do things like hide from friends or sleep all day or eat all day, etc. that end up just making the depression worse, so recognize what your behavioral signs are a fight against them. For writing, look for a writing book to inspire you with ideas. If you aren't much of a reader, consider something on Audible or one of the other audiobook apps. There are also apps to read regular Kindle books. I like Steven King's book, On Writing, but there are plenty to inspire! In fact, just in the last day or 2 several people (at least 3 that I recall) have posted in their Notebook (which appears on the Newsfeed) about writing books, myself included. To see what other people are posting about writing books, you need to go to the Community Newsfeed so you can see everything posted. To do that, go to your Personal Newsfeed, the default when you click Newsfeed. Then, along the top-ish part you will see View the Community Newsfeed. Click that and a whole new world will open up...at least if you've never been to the Community Newsfeed. lol Scroll and see what folks are posting. You will find at least 3 posts (including mine) about writing books. And while you are at it, click some Like buttons and post a few comments for others. It helps make friends which can turn into fans (when they click your Plus button) which means more people will see your Newsfeed posts since only people who have clicked your Plus button at least once will see your Newsfeed posts...unless, like me, they are on the Community Newsfeed...which few people are.  |
| Have been working on a picture history book as a hobby. An illustrated companion to the Punic Wars. Drawing and painting my own color illustrations of daily life in Hellenistic Age Carthage, Rome of the mid-Republic, Ptolemaic Egypt, Celtic Spain and Haul of the Hellenistic Age, Numidian culture, and the culture of Nok civilization (culturally Yoruba). Illustrations of people from this time period. No battle scenes. 130 illustrations in all, with adjacent captions and explanations. Was thinking of publishing this on Kindle books for $1. My question: is this stupid? And will anyone even see it? |
| re: reviewing your own writing If you use the talkback feature on your phone you can hear an audio output of your own writing. Then you'll get a better idea of how others perceive your writing. Talkback is located under your "settings" app. Then press "accessibility" and then "vision" and when that scrolls down press "on." You can also adjust the accent of your computer talkback voice (English or American or Australian,etc. accent) by clicking "settings" then "system" then "Language & keyboard" then "text-to speech output." This is also very useful for scanning and editing your own work very quickly☺. |
| re: writing Have discovered that the adage "less is more" only refers to number of words per sentence. The internet recommends no more than thirty words. More is more, regarding the number of sentences in a story. Have also discovered that stories seem to be better received when the reader either wants to be the main character, or has a small crush on a character. Stephen King even admitted to using this device in his book "Cell." |
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BA