reality check--- (rant)

okay, I'm going to just rant this out and hope at least one author reads it.

people check your facts, continuity etc.

I'm not talking little tid bit grammer errors. I'm talking big stuff like time lines, jumping around, espcailly if your doing "young" stories, or talking about the past, when your putting a chronology together keep it straight its so annoying to read a story and the years are so far out of whack when something happens it annoying.

also, understand adolesance a bit more if your going to be discussing it either in a flash back or a progression. most 4 year olds DON'T masterbate, girls do not grow from nothing to DD in a summer. and its inhuman for anything but a 0-1 year old to grow a foot in a year or even 2.

I realize this is fantasy but to make it inhuman it just blows the fantasy.

There are so many more things to add here that it is a bit daunting. :D

If a story happens over a period of months, you need to get the march of the seasons right. Different times of year have different weather, different flowers in bloom, different bird-life, different day lengths. And if your story concerns werewolves and vampires (or even criminals that work at night) get the phases of the moon right too. :[

If a character has a certain age today, then their name should be one of the names babies were given in the year of their birth (I was pulled up for this myself recently :o ). And foreigners' names don't always work the way names work in your country: Russians do not have a middle name, they have a patronymic based on their father's name; Chinese and Hungarian names have the surname first; Muslims generally do not use their surnames in day-to-day life, etc.

Detail continuity errors are as disconcerting for the reader as for the viewer of a film, especially when they concern elements of the erotic heart of a story. A piece of clothing once removed cannot be removed again. Someone who is kneeling can't fall to their knees, etc.

All of these problems are addressed by finding yourself an editor or beta-reader to point up the moments when things go wrong. If they laugh in the wrong places, for whatever reason, something is wrong. If they are confused about how something actually works, something is wrong. If they are distracted from the eroticism of a piece, something is wrong (another thing I was guilty of recently :o ).

And when nothing is wrong ...

You start getting good reviews. People get the point of your story and write their critiques about that rather than spelling, or continuity, or implausibility. It feels good. Very good. It makes you want to do it again. :cool:

Spike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Merrioc

and its inhuman for anything but a 0-1 year old to grow a foot in a year or even 2.

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Not true. Many males have a growth spurt of 6-12 inches in their early teens. I did. Some just stay short, others become Ents. <g>

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Originally Posted by GaryWilcox

Not true. Many males have a growth spurt of 6-12 inches in their early teens. I did. Some just stay short, others become Ents. <g>

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http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/growt.../boysbirth.gif

there is the clinical average growth rate for males, 2.5 inches per year is average, 4 inches is highly above average 6 inches in a year would be painful at best, and to go for a full foot is normally only seen in infants, anything over about 6 inches can actually cause bone, physical damage.

So although I am not going to say it didn't happen to you, because I am very sure it could have. What I am saying is it is HIGHLY unlikly for a female to experiance a growth of a foot in 1 year, after the first year of growth the common average growth rate is 2.5 inches per year. Could it be more yes, but a full foot is just wrong.

I am 6' 2" I grew very steadily on a 3-4 in average tell I was 15 then it slowed to a crawl. One of my best friends growing up is 7' 1" his largest spurt was in jr high and it was 6 inches. all I am saying is the authors needs to be at least reasonably realistic. A growth of a foot by a 12 year old girl in a year is totally unfeasable.

Most girls in my age group grew taller, faster, but that's mostly an issue of relativity-- it just seemed like they grew huge. Maybe my memory of how much I grew is actually inaccurate, though I think my mother would swear at the memory of me going through pants like nobody's business.

So, from narrative, I'd say letting that go is fine when it's a character narrative and not the author telling instead of showing...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by spike

There are so many more things to add here that it is a bit daunting. :D
(snip)
All of these problems are addressed by finding yourself an editor or beta-reader to point up the moments when things go wrong. If they laugh in the wrong places, for whatever reason, something is wrong. If they are confused about how something actually works, something is wrong. If they are distracted from the eroticism of a piece, something is wrong (another thing I was guilty of recently :o ).

And when nothing is wrong ...
You start getting good reviews.
(snip)
Spike

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Ah, yes indeed, Spike. The EASIEST way of improving our stories is not secret, not arcane, no human sacrifices involved. (whispered) Just have someone you trust (shouted now) READ the thing. That *is* why you wrote it, right? A good editor, one who cares enough to bitch as necessary, to correct those silly placements of commas and quotation marks, will help us sound intelligent to our readers.... even if we really aren't.

Plus it will help win the Story Contest (cheap plug, grinning, I'm a judge).

From what people have said, you need a reader/editor versed not only in every culture's use of names right through history, but also in biology and astronomy too. No wonder people fall back on stereotypes.

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Originally Posted by Tang

From what people have said, you need a reader/editor versed not only in every culture's use of names right through history, but also in biology and astronomy too. No wonder people fall back on stereotypes.

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Every creative writing teacher I have heard of says, "Write about what you know." If you don't know about the culture you are writing about, research it. Or write about a culture obscure enough that nobody else will know. Nobody knows what names people used in New Guinea in the 2nd century B.C., or will use on Mars in the fiftieth century A.D. But there will be people who know about the fauna and flora of New Guinea - and the apparent size of the moons of Mars. Be ready for their complaints.

A good editor should know what needs checking even if they don't know the details to check against. I remember picking up a book to see if it might be worth buying and seeing a 'Russian' character mentioned on the first page whose name was Boris Ivan Alexandrov (or some such). Someone's editor should have been fired. I didn't buy.

Spike

Write what pleases you...and then make up your own country/planet/state/world/alternate universe/whatever. Because then, since it's yours, you can do whatever you want! That's the good thing about fantasy worlds. You can pretty much have everything, even the most outlandish stuff, happen, and it will still be accepted...


Don't believe me? Two words. John Norman.

And the whole subcult of Gor/Goreanism(sp?) that sprang up around his COMPLETELY FICTITIOUS writing!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jaeangel

Write what pleases you...and then make up your own country/planet/state/world/alternate universe/whatever. Because then, since it's yours, you can do whatever you want! That's the good thing about fantasy worlds. You can pretty much have everything, even the most outlandish stuff, happen, and it will still be accepted...

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Even then, you still need an editor/reader to check your creation for self-consistency. If your main character is a Cvonk-herder in Chapter 1, she can't be called a Kvonc herder in chapter 6, not without a major subplot about spelling reform. :D

Spike

Being a somewhat professional editor, I find myself looking into niches and details I have absolutely no idea about. I'll spend more time researching about a particular subject than actually editing it. I want to make sure I know the ins and outs are(ok given the area I work in that's a BAD pun.) I want to help make sure the story flows for the author and the readers.

You never know who will read your creations or what their backgrounds are. I'm dreading the day someone writes about a nuclear scientist as the protagonist... I think I'll pass on the edit! :eek: