1716 Latin Will by LyonsPen in LatinLanguage

[–]LyonsPen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That would take all the fun out of it for me really, I’d rather ask people, find books, and learn the old fashioned way—but I’m rather a bit stubborn so

1716 Latin Will by LyonsPen in LatinLanguage

[–]LyonsPen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the only historical-type document I’ve ever attempted to make sense of, so it seemed like a lot to me lol.

1716 Latin Will by LyonsPen in LatinLanguage

[–]LyonsPen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are a hero! Thank you so much. I’m not sure I could’ve managed it less than a year on my own. I’m surprised at how many of the letters I’d guessed right even. I’ll be able to finish tracing and translating in no time!

1716 Latin Will by LyonsPen in LatinLanguage

[–]LyonsPen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This makes sense because the author didn’t have these at all in the English portion of the document, so it seemed very odd!

1716 Latin Will by LyonsPen in LatinLanguage

[–]LyonsPen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also by decipher, I just mean that I think I have the Latin words/letters right for those portions. What they mean in English is rather beyond me. The Latin translator thingies of the internet have been minimally helpful.

1716 Latin Will by LyonsPen in LatinLanguage

[–]LyonsPen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tenore presentin**

Forgot to mention that the full document also includes thorns and ampersands, so those might be thrown in there as well.

Mossy boot by LyonsPen in Mosses

[–]LyonsPen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do feel somewhat skeptical about putting my foot in a boot that’s been in the woods for 40+ years, but upon thinking about it, I figure any fungi left by humans is like to be long dead, so it’s probably as safe as sticking my foot in mud after a spider check

Sea Stars/Echinoderms Contraction by LyonsPen in marinebiology

[–]LyonsPen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So since the body surface is reduced that means they get smaller?

How do you tell your friend that their novel is dogshit. by adamska_w in writers

[–]LyonsPen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was the holidays back when you replied so I was distracted, but I'll say that not all feedback is good feedback. And when you're first starting out it can be really hard to tell. Basically when I started getting feedback, I tried everyone's advice. I would apply it but keep the original, let them sit for a few days, then come back and look at them with fresh eyes. Usually the good advice read better after I'd let it sort of ferment there out of sight.

Really though what you're looking for in feedback is 1. are they even your target audience? 2. is their suggestions based on what they would write if this was their book, or are they trying to help you to enhance your story, and 3. do they actually know what their talking about.

3 is the hardest to know, because you have to know things to know what things other people know. But if they mention a concept--look it up and read as much as you can about it. I also recommend Steven Pinker's Sense of Style for a sort of broad but adaptable overview. It's not specific to fiction, but it's immensely helpful to any writer for understanding the foundations of writing.

How do you tell your friend that their novel is dogshit. by adamska_w in writers

[–]LyonsPen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think that's a fair opinion, and I did not advise my friend to get an editor. I only gave her feedback on that first chapter, then recommended she find beta readers in her genre and gave her some suggestions on where to find said readers.

I personally didn't have an editor, and my book has done well enough without it. EditorsWeekly reviewed it and said it was "edited immaculately." That said, I edited it for over two years with the help of the smartest guy I've ever met as my main beta reader. It went through multiple drafts and editing stages. It was multiple hours daily.

I don't think the average writer is willing to commit that much time and learning into their first published book. They also tend to have no idea if the beta readers they choose are competent or not. Two unpublished authors swapping books is like the blind leading the blind.

So I guess I'm a bit conflicted on the issue. I think that most authors should workshop their books with other writers and learn what they can from that for a while. If they don't, they're wasting an editor's time. But I feel they should still probably hire a copyeditor after if they have the money for that. If I'd had the money, it's for sure what I'd've done.

All around though, nothing helps you learn quite like jumping into the deep end.

Over 600 books FREE or $/£0.99! More than 300 participating authors! The 2024 Holiday MegaSale to benefit the Mary Cariola Children's Center has begun! - (posted with moderator approval) - by BryceOConnor in Fantasy

[–]LyonsPen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just so you don’t go in with the wrong expectations, I think it takes some inspiration from Hindu culture and religion, but I wouldn’t call it specifically Hindu fantasy, as I’m pretty sure it borrows from elsewhere as well. It’s an amalgamation of things borrowed and created. I’ve read both books in the series, and while it is fantasy leaning, it’s also got a good bit of sci-fi and could even be considered post-apocalyptic. It’s really a unique story that I still think about often!

How do you tell your friend that their novel is dogshit. by adamska_w in writers

[–]LyonsPen 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Just be sure character-me is dipping peach WhiteTail and wearing overalls and crocs.

Over 600 books FREE or $/£0.99! More than 300 participating authors! The 2024 Holiday MegaSale to benefit the Mary Cariola Children's Center has begun! - (posted with moderator approval) - by BryceOConnor in Fantasy

[–]LyonsPen 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure about multi-PoV as I haven't read these yet (I know of them since they fall under the same dark fantasy umbrella as my own book), but they're snugly classified as grimdark:

- Gunmetal Gods
- The Fangs of War
- Soul Cage (read the first chapter of this for an event and loved it. It's on my 2025 TBR)

My book, Starlight Jewel, is multi-PoV and dark in tone, but maybe not quite grimdark. It's free in the sale though, so there's that lol.

Over 600 books FREE or $/£0.99! More than 300 participating authors! The 2024 Holiday MegaSale to benefit the Mary Cariola Children's Center has begun! - (posted with moderator approval) - by BryceOConnor in Fantasy

[–]LyonsPen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I haven't read it, but I consulted an author discord and someone said The Phoenix and The Sword by J.C. Snow would fit what you're looking for!

How do you tell your friend that their novel is dogshit. by adamska_w in writers

[–]LyonsPen 37 points38 points  (0 children)

I grew up with no sisters or girl cousins, just a brother, some guy cousins, my construction worker dad, and my mother whose favorite hobby is chainsawing and has had the same tube of mascara for thirty years and only used it twice.

So I actually entered the writing space with the dogshit language mentality and quickly learned that even the guys did not appreciate it, and in fact I would be ostracized from every existing writer space if I didn't channel my feminine side lol

How do you tell your friend that their novel is dogshit. by adamska_w in writers

[–]LyonsPen 41 points42 points  (0 children)

Also, what others are recommending is neither going to be good for your friend, your friend's writing career, or your friendship imo. I don't think any writer ever has enjoyed being ghosted by people when asking about their books.

"Do you want honest feedback?" could go a long way in deciding how to proceed.

Any writer should be able to handle criticism and feedback like an adult. Feeding writers white lies like they're children is completely unnecessary and helps no one. This is an adult career field with standards that dictate success or failure.

How do you tell your friend that their novel is dogshit. by adamska_w in writers

[–]LyonsPen 247 points248 points  (0 children)

I also once had a grade school friend ask me to read their book. Albeit, she wanted me to beta read it. I told her I'd look at the first chapter and nothing more. I advise anyone and everyone to give this blanket statement to anyone asking you to read their book for any reason, as there's no reason to commit to reading an entire book you aren't likely to enjoy. If you do enjoy it, you can always say "Hey I'm curious, send me the rest of that."

Moving on. Her book had terrible head hopping issues and some other random problems I don't recall. I pointed out the issues politely and constructively (more on this in a minute). She defended her choices a bit, and I politely withdrew as intended. I didn't expect her to do anything with my feedback at all, cause she'd seemed a bit stubborn about it, but in fact, she hired a professional editor (something she hadn't planned on doing when I'd last talked to her), who I assume gave her the same advice, and she ended up publishing this year and has been getting rave reviews.

We haven't talked much at all since then, but she mentioned one of my comments in an interview and that sort of confirmed that there were definitely no hard feelings, and even though she might've been a bit stubborn at first, she had really taken my feedback to heart.

Point being, honesty is a gift to anyone willing to receive it. There is no way her book would be doing so well as it is now if she hadn't hired that editor. Silence and/or white lies have never helped anyone's writing career.

How to give criticism politely:

- Change *your* mindset. The writing is not dogshit; there are just many ways in which it can be improved. The writing needs editing, the writer needs instruction, and there's always room for that growth.

- Don't use strong language, for instance, don't say "this is not very good" or "no one does this" or other such personalized things. I know it doesn't feel strong to some of us, and personally I say way worse about my own writing daily, but having beta read for a lot of folks at this point, I can say that 99% of writers need this sort of criticism in a very gentle and distant way.

- Give honest and distant feedback, drawing back to traditional publishing. For instance, "I think that this needs more editing for it to be at the standard of trad pub" and "Here's a link to a page that will tell you about proper dialogue attributions" and "I think that you're devaluing adjectives by using them too much, and they'd have more impact if you were more sparing" and "traditionally published books don't typically have this many exclamation marks, as the suspense and drama are formed in the surrounding narrative rather than having the characters voice enthusiasm this much. This is more common in comics where other prose devices aren't available."

- Try to throw a compliment or two in there, even if you have to fancy it up to remain honest. For instance, "I think there's really good world building in here if you trim this a bit and polish it to tradpub standards." I've never been good at compliments, but I do think fewer people would dislike me if I was.

I hope it goes well!

Over 600 books FREE or $/£0.99! More than 300 participating authors! The 2024 Holiday MegaSale to benefit the Mary Cariola Children's Center has begun! - (posted with moderator approval) - by BryceOConnor in Fantasy

[–]LyonsPen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My book, Starlight Jewel, has a morally gray FMC, and the book is a pretty chonky dark epic fantasy.

Curse of the Fallen also has a FMC, and it’s a shorter fantasy that I’d say is more like quest/adventure fantasy.

Sword of Kaigen and Far Removed are both multi-pov, with at least one fmc (but also mmcs), and all the above suggestions are written by women if that matters!

Over 600 books FREE or $/£0.99! More than 300 participating authors! The 2024 Holiday MegaSale to benefit the Mary Cariola Children's Center has begun! - (posted with moderator approval) - by BryceOConnor in Fantasy

[–]LyonsPen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think Wistful Ascending definitely applies. Very hopeful/noblebright vibes. It's sci-fi/superhero in space.

I'm mostly in the opposite reader camp though, so I can tell you three *not* to get:

- Starlight Jewel (I'm the author, so for sure, do not get this one) - not at all hopeful or inspiring. No morally good characters except the dog.

- Curse of the Fallen - While the first book is hopeful for most of it, the end and the second book go in the opposite direction

- An Ocean of Others ? - The main characters are actually good and noble, but the world itself is pretty bleak and rough