LJH

Please count me in: happy birthday Mr. C

Jo Ann. Scotty is Offline for a week. Your turn. Heeeeheeee.

I am the worst, no the best, no the most fanatic, cruel, ruthless, unashamedly biased - criticiser of my own work. Read a sentence, change it. Read the same sentence, change it. Read and reread and before long, what started out as a prim and proper paragraph is now just one word. Lol. When i published my first novel and then read it, (yes), bought it to chalk up sales, actually bought ten copies lol, i cringed. Actually i pissed my pants. I thought it was AWFUL. I could have done this in one scene, and that in another scene. I remember asking myself, now what would Jesus do? Lol. Seriously. I love reading my stuff. I have such fun. I laugh out loud. I cry. I stammer over my words when trying to explain to hubby ( he reads everything i write) what the problem is. I love to trash my work. People ask, so you're a writer hey. Wow. So can i read something of yours? Yeah sure, i say. But beware, its a load of crap! Then they read it and they say, oh that was awesome. Always works. But they don't ask for a copy of my next story. Not at all. Lol.

Well, engineers have tried but failed to emulate his perfect bubble butt. Lol

Questions remain unanswered. But do they need to be answered? Is this a rich kid? Why was he kidnapped? Am I really interested in that? Yes, but in this story you need not delve into that. The short answer to my question is no, they don't need to be answered. You have taken a quick snapshot and given it the AD treatment, and I enjoyed the suspense. The way you begin it by using conflictive dialogue, the way the creepies crawled up my spine. Well done.

Me too LOL

When I write about Colton Greaney, Tyrone Keogh comes to mind. A South African actor. It's the eyes. The eyes I tell you... I'm sure Jo Ann will agree. And Conner too. And Mann. LOL

Brink his work is hysterical and I read sum of his stuff when i was in school but this is a stumper dumper. Piggies lol. I had to google this so i cant answer.

Jo Ann!!!!!! You beauty. Of course it is David Copperfield Your turn. You have 6 points

I wonder if we should lose points for incorrect answers....hmmmm, something to think about.

The wind grew stronger, whisked under stones, carried up straws and old leaves, and even little clods, marking its course as it sailed across the fields. The air and the sky darkened, and through them the sun shone redly, and there was a raw sting in the air. During the night the wind raced faster over the land, dug cunningly among the rootlets of the corn and the corn fought the wind with its weakened leaves until the roots were freed by the prying wind and then each stalk settled wearily sideways toward the earth and pointed in the direction of the wind. Extra question: In which year was the author awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature? LJH 12

Great Expectations Dickens Who can forget Philip Pirip or Pip? The way in which he rejected the poverty of his childhood and looked down on those less fortunate. Hmmmm.... Question to follow. LJH 9

I know the answer to this Scotty, but I'll wait for Brink to confirm your answer first. I love the old classics. LJH 3

3 points per question. Scotty = 6+3 =9 Brink = 7+3+6+3=19 LJH=3

Yes. Modern Classics are included. I consider One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest to be a Modern Classic.

Correct. Yes, you may quote foreign classics translated into English. Defining classics: a book considered as being exemplary or noteworthy for its literary value as listed by foreign and Western canons or thru a reader's own opinion . As long as it is considered a classic from any time frame: from Homer to Hemingway to etc. Also please ensure you put your points in the post. Yes the winner poses the next question. Brink: Points Collected 7 Way to go coolness.

Rules: No googling No wiki Author and book must be answered before moving on. The person who answers the question/s correctly must pose the next question. The poster can ask an additional question for 1 point only. Only three clues allowed. If no winner after third clue, the poster must give answer and proceed to next question. 6 points per correct answer. 1st clue answer = 5 points. 2nd Clue answer = 3 points. 3rd Clue answer = 1 point. If no answer after 1 week = 5 days then post answer and another question. Posters of questions earn 3 points per question. If the question is unanswered, the poster of that question scores an extra 3 points. Please keep a tally of your own points. All points are to be reflected in each post. See my example below. Definition of classics: a book considered as being exemplary or noteworthy for its literary value as listed by foreign and Western canons or thru a reader's own opinion. You may quote foreign classics translated into English. i.e., The Unbearable Lightness of Being etc. There are hundreds. You may quote any novel awarded with a prize, Nobel Prize etc. There are numerous other prizes that you can mention as a further question or in a clue. You may quote modern classics. i.e, Hemingway, Faulkner, Knowles, Hollinghurst, Edmund White, Kramer and so forth, there are hundreds. You may quote Children's Classics. All genres are allowed. I will start off hehehe: "No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart." Author and book please. Additional question for 1 point: In which year did the author die? Points: LJH 3

Presenting .... Cassie Q Congrats

Just like HP showed up in Rowling's head in a bus and by the time she got home, the story had fully developed in her head and she began to write it. I love that writers can do that. From a reader's point of view this time, I have to say that I enjoyed the story. It left me with a good feeling. However, during the story, I had mixed feelings, from irritation, to laughter, to sadness. That's important. I like to feel for the characters and plot. The part where Colt finds out that Jarred is deaf, made me feel like crawling into my skin. The signing...some of it, was really funny but as Colt got used to the signing, it took on a whole new meaning for me. Jarred's girlfriend really irritated me at first but she grew on me. Her straightforward don't play a game you can't follow through with attitude floored me, in a good way. It's quite brave to follow through on a project like this. You really need to know what you are doing. I guess there was some research, as there should be. I went away from this story feeling satisfied. Thank you for brilliant characters and a sweet, romantic plot.

So these words do have meaning after all lol

Congratulations you rock

Never ever attack the author. I agree 100 percent. Attack the work by all means, and never ever do it in a destructive way. It kills the ink.

Oh yeah. Succinct. You quote Aldous Huxley who wrote a lot of literary fiction dealing with the deep psyche. His novels are complex and deal with universal issues. I guess he would use complex words. A writer who uses complex words is no different from one who uses easy words, both must know how to construct a sentence. Word usage is paramount, because our society likes simplicity, the economy of words is important when writing. Economise by all means, but don't take shortcuts. By that I mean choosing a simple sentence over a complex sentence and ensure it means what you intend it to mean.

Hmm, i know of one body part, not a couple. LOL. Andy, i may have sounded aggressive in this post but no one has angered me at all. I guess i needed to make a point. Clarity and precision. LOL. Rustle, i agree with you. Redundancy is something we should all work on. This goes for any genre, although i am not too sure about redundancy in poetry. Mann, i have read your work and found very few cliches. I am not totally against using cliche, as long as it is original and in context with what is being written. There are enough cliches in pop songs to fill ten thousand written pages. An original cliche is always fun to read. But if the work is painted over with cliche after cliche, then i see a problem. And if the work in itself is a cliche, well, that's just too bad, the writer will need to adjust his thoughts. Jo Ann, in general, i am asking every writer to reconsider his story before sending it off to an editor or a publishing forum, on the net, or otherwise. These words are just the tip of an iceberg and there are thousands more. Thank you all for the fine comments folks