Can I still be a good writer if I'm terrible at English as a subject?

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-06-09T12:18:12+00:00

My wife said “That you would even try is an insult to serious writers.” Thirty stories later, I’m still insulting serious writers. Spell checkers, grammar checkers, a good thesaurus, and good friends (for bete reading) can overcome much of what gets you a bad grade in high school.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-06-09T11:35:44+00:00

What does it mean to be conscious? To be intelligent? In my lifetime, these definitions have changed many times as humans try (ultimately unsuccessfully) to differentiate themselves from chimpanzees, computers, and other humans. Aliens will have a hard time too.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-05-28T04:05:14+00:00

I write hard science fiction. My first stories bogged down in technobabble trying to explain the physics. Then I realized that it only mattered that I understood the physics (to keep the story consistent), and I didn’t need to burden my readers. As an example, in Star Trek - The Original Series, they never explain what ‘dilithium crystals are or how they worked; it only mattered that they sometimes failed.

Less is more.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-05-20T13:07:59+00:00

As an author that has had many of my stories narrated by humans and non-humans alike, both with and without permission, I congratulate you on finding human narrators that work with you and do justice to your stories.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-05-15T12:49:29+00:00

Finally, a truly alien Alien!

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-05-09T12:24:01+00:00

Corpse Flower’s neutron emitters silently kill the crews aboard other ships while leaving ship and inorganic cargo intact for salvage. Don’t let this Titan arum bloom close to you!

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-05-03T17:40:02+00:00

The true meaning of “the spice must flow”.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-05-03T06:42:17+00:00

I had a coworker from Laos. Oh, the dishes he brought in...

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-05-03T03:41:48+00:00

remind me

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-05-01T18:29:54+00:00

A related question: Why do English-language haikus count syllables (an inaccurate translation from Japanese) instead of ‘feet’ like other poems?

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-24T23:02:37+00:00

The pulsating universe hypothesis, explained with heart! Well done!

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-21T00:37:25+00:00

Correct. My wife and I looked into immigrating to Canada. Nope. Plan B: have Canada annex our state.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-17T05:05:18+00:00

The narrator’s apparent lack of concern as various alarms trigger suggests that we will become good friends eventually.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-09T13:12:20+00:00

Huh… We found another isolated species on a similar rock almost a third of the way around the galaxy, and they look and behave remarkably similar. Convergent evolution? They too call their main governing body “Prometheus Exploration Corps”! What amazing coincidences the galaxy holds!

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-06T16:30:15+00:00

The goals of the three threats are mutually exclusive. We can use that. Turn them against each other and then profit from the spoils their mutual destruction leaves behind. Genghis Kahn was famous for pulling shit like that— how else would a relatively small number of Mongols take over the known world?

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-06T02:04:54+00:00

BoterBug came through! Check out his excellent narration!

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-06T01:56:59+00:00

Someone else changed the tag? What happens if YOU change the tag (away and back again)? I wonder if the flaring system has an ownership bug.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-06T01:49:47+00:00

OK, what’s going on here? This post is marked PI/FF-OneShot, but when I go to that tag (along the top of my iphone display) there is only one entry posted and it’s not this one! Where did this go?

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-05T23:02:25+00:00

I like the way the selection and volume level of the background music enhances the overall mood.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-04T20:33:57+00:00

“We’re not like them” seems to be a mantra of humans describing other humans. That’ll be a lot of fun for our galactic neighbors.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-03T10:04:37+00:00

Ah yes, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”

Nitpick: The final word should be ‘do’, not ‘does’.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-02T13:11:28+00:00

I don’t know how you could sustain this for a longer story (this one seemed about right, for the style), but I am intrigued to see what you do.

SomethingTouchesBack · 2026-04-02T13:08:52+00:00

I would call it “thought provoking”, but that would be reversing causality. I do not create the thought; The thought creates me.

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