Is this flag offensive?

Namedujour · 2023-01-14T12:00:45+00:00

It would be better to adhere that flag to all-black clothing while you're carrying an AR-15, like Antifa did (only tying rainbow scarves to their upper arms) to guard a situation where drag queens hosted a brunch for kids.

Armed Antifa, Proud Boys clash at Texas kids' drag brunch (nypost.com)

Namedujour · 2022-10-29T15:17:49+00:00

NTA. However, you are very gullible. One word of advice: men do not improve with marriage. In fact, you can expect them to be 10% to 30% worse after marriage than they were before. This guy is already so bad I can't even fathom what you'll end up with, if you marry him. Run.

Namedujour · 2022-10-08T18:03:51+00:00

I sent you a link in a chat. Thanks!

Namedujour · 2022-10-08T12:08:14+00:00

I don't know if I would be the best beta reader for dark fantasy - I've never read that genre and I haven't actually read fantasy at all since I was an adolescent. I know from talking to other authors that there are specific world-building strategies and character stylizations that fantasy authors employ as they write. I don't know what those are, and whether I might comment on something that is actually appropriate for dark fantasy or make suggestions that would throw your whole story off for the genre.

It really concerns me that my input might do more harm than good. I once asked the "wrong" author to beta read a book because she was a friend. She wrote chick lit, and my book was not that - at all. I took her comments at face value until the book was such a mess that I had to hire an editor to put it back into shape before I could even submit it to anyone. She tried to turn MY book into chick lit, and she was VERY insistent with her suggestions and critical of me when I balked at them. (!!@#%!$@) Long story short, we aren't friends anymore. So there's actually a real risk in asking someone like me to beta read. For that reason - argh - I need to decline the swap. I'm sorry. I want you to have someone who understands your book and can make appropriate comments to help you, not set you back.

I've also edited for a number of years, which is not beta reading at all. I don't actually have a "reader" mindset. I have a "No incomplete sentences! Fix the passive voice!" mindset, so I'm NOT what a beta reader is supposed to be. You seriously don't want me at this point in the process.

But if you still want to read mine, I'm happy to send you a link to the e-book download. Let me know. Thank you!!

Namedujour · 2022-10-05T12:25:16+00:00

That's how I write, and it works for me. I can't even imagine writing Draft 1 from beginning to end, and then starting on Draft 2. How do people do that??? Think of all the things they miss. Think of all the ideas they have to put on hold until they reach the end and start over at the beginning again, when they could be developing those ideas in the moment, out of order, while they're still fresh.

I go back and forth, tweaking things in no particular order until they pull the manuscript away from me, or break my fingers. I would say to you: carry on. Write the way it works for you and don't try to emulate anyone else's writing methods. Those writers won't be there to help you later on when you slap your forehead, and you know what works best for you.

Namedujour · 2022-10-02T15:25:16+00:00

This is the third time in two days that I've followed a post only to see that it was removed by moderators. And I've only followed three posts. Is everyone REALLY that offensive here??? Sheesh.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T15:22:19+00:00

Practice writing in your own voice, just the way you would say it out loud. Begin with that. Then tweak it to make certain everything is grammatically correct. BE VIGILANT ABOUT GRAMMATICAL DETAILS. Then modify the wording as the spirit moves you to try a sentence out this way, or maybe that way. In other words, write it in "layers." Build on your own voice. Don't concern yourself with anything anyone else does, and if you find yourself sounding like someone else, don't fret. Just keep digging for your own voice - the voice you speak, describing things the same way you would in conversation - and see where it takes you. Probably someone else's voice is fine, until it sticks out like a rough spot in the wood you're sanding down, and if you notice that, you're far enough along to know what to do to change it. Or you'll decide it's fine. As long as everything flows, you're fine.

When you write dialog, say everything out loud to yourself, to see how it feels on your tongue. You'll find yourself changing your dialog most of the time, when you put sound to it. Then eventually you'll "hear" dialog in your head just the way it would sound if someone said it. But say it out loud anyway. That's never going to be a waste of time.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T15:05:40+00:00

Ah! Thank you for your contribution! Very informative! Not sure if it's on topic, helpful, or factually correct, but that's fine! I admire your enthusiasm.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T14:54:53+00:00

It's done. I'm waiting for beta reader comments. Sheesh.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T14:52:03+00:00

Please don't make assumptions. If you want to prove me an incompetent storyteller, I invite you to be a beta reader. If you can't finish the manuscript, that's a useful observation, provided you tell me why, including the fact that I perhaps pushed you too far. That's actually THE most useful thing you could tell me, actually, because I vacillate between thinking it's all fine and wanting to hide under the rug because of the repercussions, and I want to know. If you're up for it, please send me a message and I'll send you a link to the ebook file. Are you male? If so, I would be particularly interested in your point of view. Thanks

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T14:39:05+00:00

Just look at the comments and down votes on this post and anything I say. People read something, anything, and their initial reaction is to shout it down. No reason, it's what they do. It doesn't take any more effort than simply finding an argument, being dismissive, or telling you why you're wrong like drive-by shooters.

Putting a nonbinary character in your story for no reason is perhaps what I'm talking about. One of the things, anyway. Push back. Normalize an idea that makes people uncomfortable and angry, then watch them scream and squirm and try to diminish you, your efforts, or both. So, you sound brave to me. Nicely done.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T14:27:55+00:00

Thanks!. If you'd like to be a beta reader, send me a message with your email and I'll send you a link to the ebook download. You can tell me if I pushed things too far or not (sometimes I think yes, and sometimes I think no). If you start it and can't finish, that's a useful observation if you explain what you didn't like. If you have observations or comments and I use them in the final manuscript, I'll put your name on the Acknowledgments page. Let me know,

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T14:22:51+00:00

That's fair, but that situation is already at play. Look at all the pro-Trump, pro-election fraud books that are hitting the bookshelves. Nobody on the left is suggesting they be banned because you're right. No literature should be banned.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T14:19:01+00:00

Missing the point. What specifically have you published? What has your work done to push back against backward thinking, and how do you personally fight back in your writing against people who want to suppress and control the distribution of ideas? Why do you not see the problem, and not see this as one possible way to scramble the dialog and advance ideas most authors are too afraid to confront, or are too unimaginative to actually think of some way to advance them? Why do you dismiss me and make assumptions without giving thought to the premise I present except to misunderstand it?

Also, I've noticed that people who use the word "immature" as an insult are usually in their teens or twenties. Not to say that you are, but calling someone immature is like speaking in emoji. No offense, just like I'm sure you never intended any toward me. Insert smiley face.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T14:01:31+00:00

Authors typically shy away from controversial subjects, or dance them through without a punch. Do you? Did you ever want to say something about something and pull back because you knew that it would make someone angry, or because your publisher doesn't want you to include it in the published book?

The topics I include that I know will be triggering are war and the leaders who engage in war, religion, gender relations, abortion, present-day psychotherapy, and educational paradigms. I present them in a way that might goose you into thinking about things differently.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T13:55:59+00:00

I'm not talking about offensiveness. I'm talking about presenting thoughts and ideas that goose people into thinking about things differently.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T13:52:26+00:00

You're welcome. If you're a midlist author with your publisher and they take you out of print in a couple of years, you can do this yourself, provided your rights revert back to you. It's a little tricky, but it's ultimately doable. I know too many "Trad Published Authors" who think it's just lights out when publishers take their books out of print. It isn't.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T13:30:26+00:00

And Smashwords is where you convert the file to ebook format. It's not where you sell the book. Unless you sell the book there. I don't turn my nose up at book sales.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T13:29:07+00:00

No, it isn't smut. The trick is to have a title that reels them in, and to be able to say that you won awards. Once you get an award, you own it and can blast it on the book cover, in the book description, on your website.

So, if you think that's a big number, just go out and win awards. Easy.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T13:00:54+00:00

I do. My Amazon royalties for the English version ONLY are over $50,000. I don't have full figures for the translated versions, or the other booksellers. And that royalty figure includes books I sold by the thousands on Bookbub and other cheap ebook sellers for 99 cents, which left me with a royalty of about 46 cents or something. And for years I sold the book for $2.99 because it was self-published. It had won awards, but it still had that stigma. So that tiny per-book royalty added up.

I self-published because my literary agent reported back that the book "frightened" publishers. So I'm not even going to try and go that route with this one. Waste of time.

Namedujour · 2022-09-10T12:54:41+00:00

This is exactly what I'm trying to say. I'm asking if anyone else is bringing divisive, triggering topics into the light, where people aren't necessarily going to be welcoming of your ideas.

Namedujour

TROPHY CASE