My google-fu is weak. What is the gas tank of an Audi A8 made of? Is it plastic? Steel?
I can find the size, and I can find plenty of aluminum tank caps, but nothing about the tank itself.
I did find a mention online that the A6 fuel tank is plastic at the top, but I need to know what the bottom is.
Occasionally, I take a bunch of time to type up a comment on someone else’s blog or LiveJournal, and think to myself Why don’t I ever put stuff like this on my own blog? Andrew Wheeler promotes the occasional comment to a full-fledged post, so why not me?
So, over on Kate Elliott’s* space, an aspiring professional writer asks a question that I won’t quote, because she had permission to reprint but I didn’t but it essentially boils down to: How does a person know when their writing is good enough? with a side of I want to write bestsellers.
You can click on the link above to see other peoples’ answers; many of the respondents have much more knowledge and experience than I do. But I thought that many of the answers focused on which skills to attain or which goals to shoot for, not to mention the theory of writing for bestsellerdom. There wasn’t a lot of process a writer could use to judge their own work.
So I wrote this comment:
My take: The questioner should grab a book off the shelf that is reasonably similar to the writer’s own work. It should also be someone who has reached a level of success the writer aspires to (as best they can tell, anyway).
Then retype the first chapter of that book. Just sit down and retype it. Pay attention to the mix of sentence lengths and structures. Pay attention to the amount of dialog, scene description, physical action. How much is narration to the reader? How distinctive is the voice?
Then reread one of that author’s books, while creating a plot outline. When are the main characters introduced? When is the main problem established? How long are the big conflict scenes, and how many are there? How is exposition handled.
Armed with all that information, the questioner should sit down at a clean table and lay out the successful author’s first chapter and their own side-by-side. Are the questioner’s sentences as vivid as the pro’s? Are they as economical? More concise? Does the story start as quickly?
Etc.
I don’t see anything wrong with wanting to write bestsellers. It’s not something a writer can completely control, like their genre, but there are things a writer can do/not do that that will improve their chances.
As an added bonus for readers of this blog, I learned a great deal about analyzing prose by seeing Sol Stein do it in his book Stein On Writing and seeing James D. Macdonald do it in his long Learn Writing With Uncle Jim thread on AW.
That’s how it seems to me, at least, and I know I still have a lot to learn.
* Spirit Gate=terrific book.
1) B&N demands authors link to their site or they will not order their books. Which… really, people? I should say that, months ago, my editor emailed me asking me to link to as many online booksellers as possible on my bookpage, which I had already done. However, unlike Amazon.com, B&N makes you go through Google to set up an affiliate account, and in general is a pain in the ass.
Still, link to our site or we won’t sell your book to our customers? What if their customers actually want that book?
2) Thorin Oakenshield as Nigerian phishing scammer.
3) Powell’s Books has only one copy of my book “left in stock at $5.50!” … four days before it is published.
4) Who knew? The London Review of Books has personal ads… and some are hilarious.
5) Our local library is having their semi-annual Friends of the Library book sale. I will not be going. Part of the reason I’m learning to read faster is to clear off some damn shelf space.
6) Finally, a confirmed sighting of Child of Fire in a brick-and-mortar bookstore. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve made my way through the first two chapters of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Speed Reading, and so far it has been… interesting.
The authors state that the speed reading increases comprehension, mainly because it forces readers to concentrate more. More concentration = better recall. I’m willing to accept that on a trial basis, because like most people, my concern about speed reading is that I’ll be missing a lot of what I don’t want to miss.
They also make it clear that reading comprehension will go down while learning these skills. That’s a problem, because I’ll have to read a book to practice, but I don’t own a book I’m willing to read-but-not-really. Why would I buy a book to sacrifice to this? What book do I pick up next, knowing I may miss key stuff?
I assume I’ll be doing a lot of rereading.
Anyway, I’d planned to practice on my friends list, since I do so much reading online, but the first techniques they teach you (running your hand down the page) won’t really work for that.
The hand motion stuff is sorta interesting. They ask you to try all the techniques, looking for one that will work; one method is to trail an index finger down the page (actually, it’s three methods, because you hold it at either margin or on the center of the page). A few others have your fingers moving back and forth on the page, and some use objects like cards.
The idea is that the motion draws your eye, and helps you concentrate. Students are supposed to move their hands a little faster than they feel comfortable with–you push yourself out of your comfort zone to expand it, basically, which is an idea I can very much go for–but that doesn’t really work with graphic novels or computer screens. Time to pick a novel.
One flub the authors make, though, that I have to mention: One of the hand motion methods is called “The Vulcan” because you (supposedly) lay your hand on the page the way Mr. Spock did on Star Trek, prompting your eyes to ping pong back and forth in the gap between your fingers.
Except, the photo and the instructions they offer don’t resembe a Vulcan “Live long and prosper” gesture at all. You’re supposed to make a fist and extend your pinky and index finger–essentially, devil horns.
Now, maybe Leonard Nimoy made that gesture at an Iron Butterfly concert or something, but he sure never did it on TV. Ooops.
Now, before I go out for a healthful lunchtime stroll (to see if my book in on the shelves at Borders/B&N yet–OMG 4 DAYS!), I want to say that I just finished John Levitt’s Dog Days this week. It was fun! I especially loved the ending, and the fact that the characters didn’t already have an encyclopedic knowledge of the way magic worked. They argued about it! They disagreed about the evidence! It was a nice change from the “This is how this works and this is how it’s done” style of some other books.
I didn’t want to put off mentioning that in case John thought he was the speed reading sacrifice.
Is there anything objectively wrong with wrinkled clothes? Is it an workplace safety issue? Do the clothes wear out faster? Does it contribute to global warming?
It’s really down to other people’s preferences, yes? If “the wrinkled look” suddenly came into fashion, we could reclaim the time we waste neatly folding clothes without worrying about how people would treat us.
Let’s make that happen, please.
Fifth things fifth: Del Rey is giving away ten copies of Child of Fire. Here’s the money quote:
Send an e-mail with your name and address to delrey@randomhouse.com with Child of Fire in the subject line. E-mails must be received by Wednesday, October 7th. We’ll select ten e-mails at random to receive a special Advance Reader’s Edition of Child of Fire. Good luck!
It sounds like this isn’t the finished version, but the uncorrected “Docksiders” galley. It’s practically a collector’s item. And it comes pre-signed by me.
Sixth things sixth: Next Tuesday, 9/29, I’ll be participating in a live chat on Suvudu.com. Check it out.
Of course, everyone reading this is invited.
Seventh things seventh: My short essay on appearing at the San Diego Comic Con is featured in the latest Del Rey Internet Newsletter (but I can’t find it on the web site, so no link right now–mebbe later).
First things first: I earned my three-gallon pin today. Folks, if you can give blood, please do so. It saves lives. Plus you get snacks.
Second things second: Child of Fire has a Kindle edition. I’ve seen Kindles on the bus and they aren’t for me, but maybe there’s someone reading this who would love to get a discounted electronic copy of the book.
Third things third: According to the Internet, I read 300 wpm (approx) with 91% comprehension. My Complete Idiot’s Guide to Speed Reading says that’s “above average” but only barely. Come on, self-improvement!
Fourth things fourth: I’m willing to let people hate me. Just sayin’.
It’s amazing how much good a little quiet time can do.
Less than a week until Child of Fire officially publishes, and I’m in a confused, detached state of anxiety. Today, sending an email to someone, I fussed with the text of it so much that I ended up sending a completely blank message. Seriously, there was nothing in it at all.
Blah blah about a first novel and stress behind the cut. Continue reading
I had my interview with Sohaib Awan at http://www.fictionalfrontiers.com today. It went pretty well, I think. I was damn nervous, but I didn’t stammer too much, and I don’t think I did the quiver-breathing thing I sometimes do.
It will probably air next Monday (or the Monday after that) between 5-6 pm, on WNJC 1360AM Philadelphia, simultaneously webcast on http://www.wnjc1360.com/. After that, there’ll be a podcast to listen to, if you can’t catch it live. I’ll post a link when it’s available.
Also, the first thing I did this morning was to give one last read-through of my Big Idea essay for John Scalzi’s blog. Good thing, too, because Christ was that opening paragraph stilted. It’s been sent off now. Hopefully, it’ll be well-received.
Today I mailed out the first batch of books, too. I called Random House to order more, but I’m thinking I need to have some sort of plan targeting where I’m going to send the rest.
And, finally, I had a morning meeting with my director buddy, about the movie we (mostly he–I just wrote it) made, and what the next step for him was going to be. He has another one of my scripts, a vampire script about infidelity and bad marriages, which he’s hoping to set up somewhere, but he first needs to find out what he can get from the walking-dead-on-TV movie we already shot. In any case, it was good to see my friend again.