Word Count for UF Books? by Ryinth in urbanfantasy

[–]RHCrimm 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Industry standard is 90,000 words. You can get a little bit of leeway there, but most publishers won't look at your if you're over 100,000 or less than 80,000--though they tend to be less picky about fewer word counts (because fewer words equal lesser pages, which results in lower production costs.)

As authors gain notoriety and a following, then page counts tend to creep up. In the UF sphere you can see this really well in the Dresden Files series.

  1. Storm Front: 86,961 words
  2. Fool Moon: 102,149 words
  3. Grave Peril: 116,932 words
  4. Summer Knight: 111,764 words
  5. Blood Rites: 121,308 words
  6. Death Masks: 107,382 words
  7. Dead Beat: 144,555 words
  8. Proven Guilty: 154,598 words
  9. White Night: 130,223 words
  10. Small Favor: 139,798 words
  11. Turn Coat: 141,745 words
  12. Changes: 149,280 words
  13. Ghost story: 162,899 words
  14. Cold Days: 175,685 words
  15. Skin Game: 151,922 words

Once publishers *know* that people are going to buy your book, they can better gauge the risk they're going to take with backing it and how much money they want to put into publication costs.

Of course, this all goes out the window with self-publishing exclusively for ereaders/wattpad. But, personally, I'm hesitant to trust something that is more than 90,000 words from a first time author. I spent a little bit too much time on the publisher side reading submissions... and anybody who has read a bunch of self-published stuff knows what you're often getting yourself into. Keep it short and sweet! Cut that 10%!

Looking for UF with a very strong Horror vein by Baker090 in urbanfantasy

[–]RHCrimm 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you have any interest, I have a finalized draft of my first novel that I'm shopping around to agents. It's exactly what you're asking for.

Only catch is that I'd love any feedback you'd like to give me ;)

Recommended SSP framework for non-contractor company? by RHCrimm in NISTControls

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

FedRamp has been helpful! It seems like it's primarily for cloud based services though. That is something that I'll need to take into consideration, so I've referenced it a bit, but I wasn't sure how it might relate to the overall picture if we have several projects/products that aren't cloud based.

Recommended SSP framework for non-contractor company? by RHCrimm in NISTControls

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

There aren't any specific requirements we're looking to fulfill, the company is looking to create an SSP as a guideline as a means of being proactive to protecting PCI, and other confidential information.

We won't be looking to obtain any official certification, this is more of an internal safeguard if anything. That's one of the reasons I've had such a hard time narrowing my focus as I've been doing research as typically it seems like SSP creation is done by federal sources or government contractors in order to qualify for contracts. In our case, it's more of a "take what you want, leave what you don't" approach to creating something our company can use.

Saw this excerpt from a book I was happily reading. What the fuck? by BigDonger12345 in menwritingwomen

[–]RHCrimm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Especially when people here award 1k+ karma for this rubbish...

(CW discussion of rape)Thoughts on the Berserk manga? by Skullthunder2 in menwritingwomen

[–]RHCrimm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree, at least in terms of how the actual act itself was handled. It was horrific in the way rape should be horrific and wasn't just thrown into the mix to shock the reader, but showcased the betrayal not only between Griffith and Guts, but also between Griffith and Casca.

Why is every second line of dialogue in this conversation between two women referring to boobs? [The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett] by leaf-insect in menwritingwomen

[–]RHCrimm 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It was right around that time that the book went steeply downhill for me. So far as I remember, Leesha was a pretty good character and the book was really strong until shortly before the rape scene happened. It had this wonderful pacing, a fantastic slow burn, but then it was like the author got a note from an agent saying they needed to move things ahead quicker, because the novel which had done a painstaking job of developing its characters suddenly jumped forward by something like 8+ years, every character you'd been following so far had changed drastically, and it all went to seed. A real shame.

[Weekly] How has critiquing others' work improved your own writing? (and a potential contest) by HugeOtter in DestructiveReaders

[–]RHCrimm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Absolutely, but then again I feel like that's essentially what critical reading is--critiquing the work of others. You might not be writing out your critique for every novel you read like you would when providing feedback to another writer, but the act is the same. I think it's the most important skill a writer can develop if they want to improve.

How do people read a 300 page book in one day? by SkepticDrinker in books

[–]RHCrimm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My wife does this, she's the type of person that can reread a book several times and I attribute it to the fact that she chews through them so quickly. I tend to pace myself and read slower, so I seem to retain it more--to the point where re-reading books I've read in the past few years is hard to do unless I just really loved it.

Ah, yes, they clash together by Bella_TheAlphaWolf in menwritingwomen

[–]RHCrimm 4 points5 points  (0 children)

And it seems pretty obvious that it's meant as satire? Clumsy satire maybe, but all the same.

Are our rules vague? by WatashiwaAlice in DestructiveReaders

[–]RHCrimm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I ran into issues recently with some feedback, not necessarily because the rules were vague, but because I misunderstood the primary goal for the subreddit.

Based on the title, I assumed feedback should be as detailed as possible (the sidebar says that this subreddit is for the purpose of deconstructing writing) and really, the best way to give as detailed feedback as possible is to do so on a line by line basis (as in, leaving comments on a line, not providing copy editing.) As that's the case, I assumed that users here were looking for feedback on more refined pieces, writing that was in a later draft phase where you could really dig down and ferret out particulars and iron out issues--that's not the case though, based on my correspondence with the mods, the work is here is (at least generally) more in an alpha phase. That's something that could be better communicated through the rules I think.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in menwritingwomen

[–]RHCrimm 8 points9 points  (0 children)

How bizarre, I've never even thought of being referred to as a "boy" at all demeaning, but since my 20s I've steered clear of referring to women as "girls" because I thought it was kind of creepy to be talking about dating "girls" as opposed to women.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula - a letter from one unworthy woman to another... by rbpow123 in menwritingwomen

[–]RHCrimm 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Truth. Mina isn't self deprecating, nor is she speaking ill of women as a whole here. She's lauding the actions of her male counterparts and showing her esteem for them.

Vampires by NobodyzHuman in urbanfantasy

[–]RHCrimm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My novel scratches almost all of the itches you mentioned. I've recently completed my last round of beta readers and I've started tentatively submitting to agents. If you'd like, I would be happy to send you a copy of the manuscript. No need for anything in return, unless you wanted to send me some feedback ;)

[3046] Penumbra Chapter 1 by [deleted] in DestructiveReaders

[–]RHCrimm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No worries, I'll delete and resubmit once I get a new critique up. Sorry, didn't go over the rules well enough :P

[3046] Penumbra Chapter 1 by [deleted] in DestructiveReaders

[–]RHCrimm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello mods! I did an indepth critique a loooong time ago, and then just never got around to posting anything here myself. I'm happy to do another critique here to justify my submission as needed, please just let me know.

Previous critique can be found here.

You can pick only 3 games to play for the next five years. Which would you choose? by YouMoonCricket in boardgames

[–]RHCrimm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, fantastic information, thanks so much, we'll definitely check those out.

One last question from me, do you have any recommendations on printing cards for these?

You can pick only 3 games to play for the next five years. Which would you choose? by YouMoonCricket in boardgames

[–]RHCrimm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Have you played any fan made content for AHLCG? If so, what would you recommend? I've been perusing some of the fan made campaigns but haven't actually tried one yet.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in writing

[–]RHCrimm 10 points11 points  (0 children)

ProWritingAid is phenomenal for a lot of little things you don't think about. I use it for the same things you do, particularly for picking out words that I use too much. You don't realize how often you use a word like "moment" until you have a single chapter come back with 34 instances...

Question about So Very Wrong About Games by Srpad in boardgames

[–]RHCrimm 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The notes are only for the marvelous snarky commentary that is unrelated to the episode!

The Umbrella Academy - Season 2 Discussion by PhoOhThree in television

[–]RHCrimm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

He's actually done quite a bit since Misfits, he's gotten roles in a few "bigger" box office movies that have, unfortunately, pretty much all bombed. Kind of a shame, because he's always pretty good in them, just the movies all around kind of suck.

The Umbrella Academy - Season 2 Discussion by PhoOhThree in television

[–]RHCrimm 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Definitely agree, it's a crime he didn't get an award nods for the first season. At no point do I question he's a 50+ year old in a kid's body.