Forty-Two

Dude, yeah, c'mon up! The best poutine is in Quebec, it's a French thing. Also, to stereotype myself completely, not tonight but it's not unheard of for me to have fruit and pancakes or waffles for dinner with real maple syrup and a glass of maple whiskey on the side (or if it's actually morning a shot of maple syrup in the coffee). Delish

I thought this too so I copied and pasted some Dan Brown text and got back: Dan Brown. Then I copied and pasted some Douglas Adams text and got back: Dan Brown. Lol, I think this thing is flawed. It did return Stephen King for Stephen King quotes though, then I got bored and stopped testing it:P

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

Sure, I will give you Batman and Robin in a joking nature, although I could go into great detail why I'm opposed to the idea. Okay... maybe a little detail: 1) The first Robin, Dick Grayson, has had so many falling outs with Batman that they have been at odds ever since he left for the Teen Titans in the 80s and then became Nightwing. 2) The second Robin, Jason Todd, was dead for decades (so unless Batman's into necrophilia...) and is now a villain/anti-hero depending on how you want to see it. 3) Tim Drake, the third Robin, has so many attachments to Batman as a father figure that he's now Tim Wayne, so ew, and he's technically moved on to being Red Robin anyway. Finally, 4) the fourth Robin, Damian Wayne, is Batman's biological son so again, EW. So really no Batman & Robin team has existed for seventy years. Just sayin'

I watched that movie during a sleepover birthday party. I always watched horror on my birthday (hmm what does that say about me?) Definitely drop them both so that having all that weight on one side doesn't set you off balance and make you fall. Oh okay, I'm just kidding, save the good nephew, of course. And Macaulay Culkin always has been and always will be a creepy creepy guy.

I watched the first three movies before reading the books. It only made me appreciate the books more. After that, I can't enjoy the movies nearly as much because they are good, but just don't hold up to the books. I'm pretty annoyed that they're splitting it into two films. If they could cut down Order of the Phoenix to one film they can do it for Deathly Hallows. It's obviously just a money grab for Hollywood.

I am also impressed with gaining new knowledge.

I hope she has insurance, lol.

I love the forests. The biggest reason: smell. Forests usually smell fresh and clean. Cities stink. Cities are also crowded, and it is hard for green space to be ugly, but many places in cities are also ugly. It also frustrated the hell out of me that in a city everything is supposedly so close and accessible, yet you can never get anywhere because there are too many people in crowds or in whatever form of transportation blocking your way. In the country you can just drive... (or walk, or ride...)

The most classic couple I can think of is Lois and Clark (aka Superman). What other fictional characters have been together for seventy years in continuous new adventures and are still in love? And yes, I agree with the sentiment that the formula for a classic couple involves a balance of conflict as well as completing each other.

I am also 24. I also wish to retire. Wait, I'd have to get a job first....

I caught one bit of a news story about how it's become a fad for pre-teen boys to get their hair cut like Bieber so they can do the head-hair shake (no mentioned how emo & goth cultures have been doing this for years). Needless to say, I can't believe that even qualified as news.

Definitely go for it and write it, especially when inspiration strikes and you can't keep your fingers off the keys, but don't ignore your other stuff. Creating a permanent work in progress should be avoided at all costs. Having read a bunch of yaoi, I really wonder why the seme/uke abuse=love relationship is so repetitive and well defined. I have some ideas but maybe this is a question for a new thread.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing!

I tend to agree with these kinds of comments. Description can be good or bad depending on whether it suits the situation, is written well, and isn't excessive. When describing physical features, it always reads as fake when the hair/eye/skin colour, weight, and physique are listed in a row (unless it is a situation such as the character is struck dumb the first time seeing someone due to their beauty). Simply slipping in these details as the story goes on is much more natural, or only focusing on the details that matter, such as if a character dyes their hair to hide from the police, it's probably a good idea to let the reader know what the original hair colour is before hand. I definitely agree that the reader will fill in mental pictures and sometimes too much description ruins that. Also, if you only mention a physical feature once or list a whole bunch at a time, a few chapters later the reader probably won't remember them anyway.

I don't think I'd generalize in either direction, it probably has more to do with the personal preference of the author. It also has to do with the genre and expectations - genres like mystery, sci-fi, or fantasy tend to have more description because there the details are really important or strange from what is the standard norm. Also authors tend to fluff up their books with details if their marketing scheme is epic novel and cut them down if they have a contract to release a new book every year. So circumstances have a lot to do with it too. I also find it interesting that I'm Canadian and have more in common with US culture but I often feel more at home reading a British novel. Bangs are when you have the hair over your forehead cut short. On a girl bangs usually stay out of a ponytail or headband. When they are longer than about your eyebrow and are cut at an angle they are called layers. On an anime character the bangs are the hair that's always falling in their eyes

Thanks to all the people involved in creating and maintaining this site. Thanks to all the readers. Thanks to everyone who is so friendly and offers good advice

I agree with the general opinion here - do whatever is true to the story you want to tell. If you do include sex scenes, make sure it is about more than just physical actions. If you're not sure, I think a good fallback option is what Graeme suggested:

I agree that you just have to play around with your writing style and see what works. I find that as a story develops in my head, I write down all the details so that I don't forget them and to keep my thoughts organized. Then as I write I fill in the plot holes. The longer the story, the more it usually has changed by the time I get to the end of the outline. For me writing a story from scratch with no outline is only something I do as a writing exercise. I also usually write a whole story before posting because I honestly do believe that the art of writing is re-writing and very few people put down gold onto the page the first time around. Sometimes posting a chapter at a time is done with a wholly written story to get more feedback as it is posted, increase suspense among readers, and to get feedback as you go along (especially if you don't have a beta reader). I don't really think it matters what your process is, as long as you're writing and finishing what you start