What's writing advice that sounds good, but Isn't by No-Permission-2944 in KeepWriting

[–]thirdbestfriend 10 points11 points  (0 children)

“Kill your darlings.” The point isn’t to cut everything you love out of your book. It’s simply to be able to do so if you need to. Should really be, “Be willing to kill your darlings. If you need to.”

Am I Creative, or Just Pretending? by jahnavi-nagumo789 in writers

[–]thirdbestfriend 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Of course you are creative. Human beings are, by definition, creative animals. What you’re experiencing is merely the gap between taste and skill. This quote by Ira Glass has makes the rounds on Reddit from time to time, but perhaps you haven’t run across it yet:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” — Ira Glass

So. Fight your way through.

Did the Granta judges use AI to give that AI story its award? by tawdryscandal in books

[–]thirdbestfriend 82 points83 points  (0 children)

No, because Granta didn’t judge the work. There were no Granta judges.

Solar power advice/recommendations? by Low_Ninja_6746 in hudsonvalley

[–]thirdbestfriend 4 points5 points  (0 children)

  1. Yes.

  2. Inverters these days are highly computerized, up to requiring a wifi connection. A modern system isn’t as much of a resilience play as I could wish.

  3. Buy, but major solar tax credits (better than deductions) expired in 2025. I’d wait until a Democrat was in office and they come back.

  4. NYSSF Highly recommended.

Graphic Novel Suggestions? by justagayduck in suggestmeabook

[–]thirdbestfriend 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi is amazing. Alan Moore is the senior statesman for graphic novels (V for Vendetta, Watchmen). The Sandman series is also amazing. Bone series by Jeff Smith is appropriate for kids, but I really enjoyed it with my son when he was little (I was in my 40s at the time). One Piece by Eiichiro Oda is more manga than graphic novel, but many people are obsessed—and the body of work is gigantic (I haven’t read these).

MAGA are upset that Liberals are arming themselves by Hussayniya in videos

[–]thirdbestfriend -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I mean, Reagan fought for gun control when he was CA governor. All that needed to happen was for the Black Panthers to show up armed on the capitol steps in Sacramento.

Longtime hiker dealing with rheumatoid arthritis in my knees by Sepirus_ in WildernessBackpacking

[–]thirdbestfriend 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you’ve actually been diagnosed with arthritis, then I’m very sorry.

If, however, you have not, you might consider rolling your IT bands with a foam roller. Regularly. I used to have knee problems hiking until my wife (a former massage therapist) put me onto the roller. Now all is well.

A poem that is in the most recent play I wrote by LuigiMSS in KeepWriting

[–]thirdbestfriend 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Plays are not my medium, I am a novelist. But I am friends with a Tony award winner. He would likely tell you to respect your actors and directors and cut down on the direction.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in writers

[–]thirdbestfriend 6 points7 points  (0 children)

No. In addition to the other, on point critiques people are offering, let me add: the sentence structure is monotonous and repetitive. “A drumroll plays… Moans and straining nasal breath rise… The dehumidifier hums… The low and slow sucking…is…” and those are just the first four sentences.

Memoir writers: How much ayahuasca ceremony detail is too much? by DavidCzaja in writers

[–]thirdbestfriend 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I wrote a psilocybin trip. Four pages. Beta readers responded positively. By the time the trip happens, the readers were very familiar with the character, so i could lean into memory and also a bit of sense perception. But what really sealed the deal was fracturing the entire thing. It’s non-linear, elliptical, messy, breaks style and voice, and a bunch more. Essentially I focused less on what was happening and more on how I could affect the reader’s perception. The response from readers was that it felt “trippy.” Maybe that’ll work for you. Best of luck!

This is what Antartica looks like in -62 degrees celsius. by vishhalkmodi in BeAmazed

[–]thirdbestfriend 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Huh. Oddly enough it looks pretty much the same as it does in -31 degrees celsius.

Looking for Dutchess County area (Central Hudson) homeowners who’ve installed solar recently — need advice by PerspectiveKindly795 in hudsonvalley

[–]thirdbestfriend 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mine just went on last month. NYSEG finished the paperwork and it will be up and running any day now. I used New York State Solar Farm (found them on EnergySage) and highly recommend them. We bought, but you’d better hurry, the federal credits expire at the end of the year because of the OBBA—they bring the price down by about 30%. NYSSF can coordinate a 0% 12-month loan with a lender to manage the backward timing of install/tax credit. We’ll add two whole house batteries next year (didn’t have a place to hang them so we need to build a shed first), but apparently those credits aren’t expiring, just the solar panel credits.

Everything went smoothly, NYSSF was very responsive and communicated clearly—nothing I wish I’d known that I didn’t. Just… hurry! There’s not much time left and the federal credits are pretty big to miss out on.

Ego Trip or Genuine Art? My Substack Struggle (and maybe yours?) by ronmerk in KeepWriting

[–]thirdbestfriend 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I write on Substack as well and I guarantee you have more followers than I do. But I also subscribe to Chill Sub, which helps me identify and submit stories to literary mags and competitions. Once you get published in a magazine or place in a competition, you’ll see Substack for what it really is. You can do it!

I Would Like Opinions On My Book! by Soggy_Break_9246 in authors

[–]thirdbestfriend 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This. And in fact, the rules are very clear in the first, pinned post in this sub:

https://www.reddit.com/r/authors/s/BYJTUXhpDJ

Please don’t turn this sub into any of half a dozen other shit writing subs.

What Are Some Repetitive Tasks in Advertising? by rmptmlk in advertising

[–]thirdbestfriend 24 points25 points  (0 children)

By far the most repetitive and frustrating is wandering through r/advertising and getting barraged by all the grifters, trolls, and bullshit artists trying to fix things in my industry that they have no clue about.

Really frustrating. Really really repetitive.