h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Xantief

I've just finished reading Stonecutter. It's a lovely mystical tale, and beautifully written. I'm sure you will receive some great reviews for your efforts.

How many words are there to the completed story? And do you intend to a find a suitable market so it can reach a wider audience. You could send it to a few publishers.....



Flame

Hi Flame,

I had not thought of seeing it published, but thank you for the thought. I have no idea about the word count, I haven't put it together yet.

This is my first story of any length, and I myself am amazed at how it came together. I had some help in the motivation department, though...

xantief

Hi back!

I have that effect on all the guys.

Hello

How are you today?

Now that Stonecutter is complete do you have any ideas for something new?

I'm doing well, thank you...and the baby is resting comfortably in the Forum.

I've an original (!) idea about an alien world...very alien!
In a general sense, it is inhabitable by Earthlings, but....

I will take my time with this, I REFUSE to be rushed!

I hope you are well, as well.

X

Hi!

Ohhhh, an alien world - that sounds really interesting. That's the type of story that once you got into it could really fire your imagination.

I'm currently writing the end of my latest story. I always feel a sense of personal achievement when I reach the end, yet at the same time I'm always wondering what I will write about next. Needless to say, I have nothing in mind at the moment. I'm off to Budapest the end of next week so hopefully will find something to write about when I return.

Flame

Ahh, is it time to chill the bubbly then?

I wish you happy times in Budapest.

x

Hi,

I noticed you’ve put your story into one document. It looks great, and of course it will be much easier for the readers to access, as well as free up some space for other work in your PS. How many words to the completed story?

If you do think about publishing, there is a very good book you can purchase called ‘The Writer’s Handbook.’ It contains hundreds of publishers - and you can search out all the suitable publishers for your style of work. Of course you don’t by any means need to stick to the publisher’s in the USA; there are plenty of other good ones all across the world. (The UK and Canada are also very good).

I expect you’ll receive lots of great reviews – although some people tend to read the entries and not leave a message, even if they really enjoyed it. I expect they are too caught up in their own work, (or maybe their self importance). Maybe some of them are too lazy or really don’t know what to say. I'm guilty of that myself. I’ve read things I've really liked and then not left a message. I’m trying to make more of an effort to comment on entries I read and enjoy.

Of course getting your work in the UG helps, and I expected we’ll be seeing your story there in the very near future.

Hi Flame,

I haven't counted the words yet. Is there a formula for that? I vaguely remember something from high school....

I'll have to invest in the Writer's Handbook, I reckon.

I need to go on the forum and interact. It's only fair to give other writers a good word, if I am to expect the same. I've given your work a look, but I confess to basically ignoring Frontiersman's efforts. Bad manners I suppose, soon to be rectified. I can only claim self-absorption for so long.

I'm looking forward to some lively discussions, then...see you there!

If you put your work onto a word document you can go to tools and then word count. It will automatically count it for you. Any publisher would want you to submit a short synopsis with your work - plus a rough word count.

There are certain ways to market your work to make it more saleable. Unfortunately I have no experience in this area, although I’m sure others do should you need any advice.

Eight thousand words...

Longest piece ever written by moi.

Hi

How are you? How's the writing going?

Thanks very much for the review. This is quite a different piece of work to my usual stuff, and I found the subject matter very challenging. I had seen a woman on the news the week before. She had been flown to this country for surgery. Her injuries were heartbreaking, and I just knew then I had to write about acid throwing.

It happens to hundreds of women across Asia every year - and until recently has been pretty much ignored for one reason or another. Most of the victims lives are all but finished. Reality is often pretty ugly isn't it?

I feel I still need to work on this story before I put it into the review forum, but at the same time I also need a break from it. Thanks very much, yes it should be doctors and mosquitos.

Have you made a start on searching out suitable publishers?

Pauline

Hi Pauline,

No movement in the publishing sector...

The acid-throwing cases are probably worse than the 'honour' killings we hear about. The cruelty is unbelievable, and by any civilised standard, unthinkable.

I'm an escapist from that particular concept of reality, to be honest.

Your story looks quite ready to me.

Steven

Hello Stephen,

Thanks I'm never that confident about my work. It never feels good enough, or is it that I don't always feel good enough? I'd love to be able to write a beautiful mystical tale like the one you produced, but of course my style of writing is quite different. I still have no idea what will inspire me to write the next one.

How did you feel after you'd finished Stonecutter? And how do you feel now?

Pauline,

As I finished Stonecutter, I was scutinizing the whole, and after satisfying myself that the prose fit the style, I left it alone.

Now I read it maybe once a day, and so far I've discovered minor spelling, etc., but nothing major. I might change a word or phrase, but that's it.

It didn't precisely follow my original train, but it ended up fitting together well.
*****
I believe the following is the most magical paragraph I have ever read, and I strive to find ways to deliver that same mood:

"The Feast had been in mid-winter, but it was now June, and the night was hardly dark at all. The boy got up before dawn, for he did not wish to sleep: it was his tenth birthday. He looked out of the window, and the world seemed quiet and expectant. A little breeze, cool and fragrant, stirred the waking trees. Then the dawn came, and far away he heard the dawn-song of the birds beginning, growing as it came towards him, until it rushed over him, filling all the land round the house, and passed on like a wave of music into the West, as the sun rose above the rim of the world." -- JRR Tolkien, 'Smith of Wootton Major'

You have the style, Pauline, even (if I may say so) as I do.

*****
Regarding Ran's story, it started when I wondered how those quarrymen fared, who carved the stones at Preseli for Stonehenge. I coupled that with my predilection for pagan concepts. And let the dream flow....

got some barbecue goin'....

Good morning Steven,

I do exactly the same thing. Sometimes I have to move away from my work for a while, and then come back to it. Sometimes I will read a paragraph, or a line, and sense there is something I don't quite like about it. Yet at the time I can't for the life of me decide what it is. Suddenly, normally at some obscure moment, it will come to me.

Tolkien certainly is a master of words. I'd never seen that extract before, but I can certainly see the attraction to his prose. Beautiful stuff!

Have you shown your work to your sons and friends? Would very much like to hear what they think.

Pauline

One of my favourite poems. Hope you enjoy.

The Truelove

There is a faith in loving fiercely,
the one who is rightfully yours,
especially if you have
waited years and especially
if part of you never believed
you could deserve this
loved and beckoning hand
held out to you this way.
I am thinking of faith now
and the testaments of loneliness
and what we feel we are
worthy of in this world.
Years ago in the Hebrides,
I remember an old man
who walked every morning on the grey stones
to the shore of baying seals,
who would press his hat
to his chest in the blustering
salt wind and say his prayer
to the turbulent Jesus
hidden in the water,
and I think of the story
of the storm and everyone
waking and seeing
the distant
yet familiar figure
far across the water calling to them,
and how we are all
preparing for that
abrupt waking,
and that calling,
and that moment
we have to say yes,
except it will
not come so grandly,
so Biblically,
but more subtly
and intimately in the face
of the one you know
you have to love,
so that when
we finally step out of the boat
toward them, we find
everything holds
us, and everything confirms
our courage, and if you wanted
to drown you could,
but you don't
because finally
after all this struggle
and all these years,
you don't want to any more,
you've simply had enough
of drowning,
and you want to live and you
want to love and you will
walk across any territory
and any darkness,
however fluid and however
dangerous, to take the
one hand you know
belongs in yours.

-- David Whyte

Good afternon Pauline,

I adjusted Derwen's narrative in chapter 4 yesterday. It seemed to me the chronology was a bit scrambled. A small tweak, it just involved shuffling the paragraphs around and adding a couple things. But I approach the polishing process with great care...sometimes the 'roughness' carries a tone, or a tension, that would only suffer from further work.

I transcribed Tolkien's 'Smith' from a crumbling paperback to a Word document earlier this year. The exercise was instructive: a magnificent vocabulary is not necessary for an excellent read.

I shall ask my sons for their opinions. My oldest son's girlfriend lives with us, and she mentioned having once written a short story, and expressed her interest. I also gave the text to a colleague at work last week, but she hasn't given me any feedback yet.

Are you ready for Budapest? I hope the weather, etc. will be cooperative. The European cities have such a beauty to them...one cannot find the same thing Stateside, obviously, though parts of Boston and San Francisco have their own charm. New Orleans, too, once upon a time...I hope they salvage as much as they possibly can.

Steven

Thank you for sharing that, Pauline.

I shall read it several times more, but already for me it has great value.

Steven