Thorn Wilde

Yay! Well done!

Hey, @Jdonley75 said it first! I was simply following the example of one older and wiser than myself.

I have a bit of a love affair with them. I use them a lot in dialogue to add some rhythm. My editor asks me to take out most of them, I end up removing about half at his request. I make good arguments for why I should keep the rest. Again, adds rhythm. Ellipses and em-dashes don't always get the job done.

Thought I just said I didn't think of her as old.

Hey, I was just quoting someone else. In all seriousness, though, my eldest brother was born in '69... He'll be 50 next November, and I could never think of him as old... Don't think of my mum as old, either, she was born in 1960. (She is not my brother's mother, or she would have been 9 when he was born, which, ew.) And my dad would have been '70 this year. Hard to think of anyone as old who isn't, well, my grandmother's age.

It's a good bar. They have lots of great beers. Like a dozen on tap at any given time, and looooads of bottled ones. Mostly craft beer. It's expensive as shit, though, so it's not like I can go often. I once had a drink there with the emo band Trail of Dead, though. Accidentally ended up meeting them because a friend of a friend had been to their gig and they recognised him because he was like the only fan there who actually remembered them properly and was rocking out in the front. They snubbed a local celebrity to chat with us. They're nice guys.

Damn, Simon is topping from the bottom. Someone ought to teach him how to be a real sub, that shit's pathetic.

Yeah, I was born in '88, so I have no recollection of that stuff. There's a bar in Oslo called Tilt, though, that has shuffleboards and pinball machines, so I have some experience with yet more ancient things

Nothing at all wrong with Tetris. Honestly, I still love Minesweeper, even if I wasn't ever any good at it.

I ordered a PS4 ages ago, but the place I ordered it from didn't have them in stock and there's a problem with supply, apparently. I had a gift card there and everything. So, still waiting.

I had too many mods I just couldn't live without, lol! My favourite, though, is 3DNPC, also knows as Interesting NPCs. It's a mod that basically adds a whole bunch of new, fully voiced NPCs into the world, with new quest lines, several new followers, it's just amazing. The guy who makes it has sourced voice acting from lots of willing Skyrim fans. There are 8 'super followers' who have dialogue related to specific parts of the main quest and guild quest lines, specific dungeons, comments about people you meet along the way, all sorts. You can get it at 3dnpc.com if you're interested. It's big, but as it doesn't add textures or meshes or anything like that it doesn't actually demand as much resources as you'd think. Then there's Live Another Life, which lets you start a new game without starting the main quest right away. It gives you loads of options for where to begin. You can start as a Stormcloak or Imperial soldier, as a prisoner in a jail, as a new member of any guild, out in the wilderness, shipwrecked off the coast, as a vampire, a land owner, anything really. It's available on nexusmods.com Both are available for both SE and original. They're must-haves for me. The rest I could probably take or leave. If I do a clean install, I'll be a little more choosy.

I argue with my editor over comma use. I'm way too eager with commas, especially in dialogue. Except where I'm not. lol!

My favourite mode of play. Damn, I want to play Skyrim now... Thinking I may have to start with a clean install, delete all the mods and just start from scratch, I've broken that game beyond repair. Never had a console growing up. My dad was a computer programmer, he built me my first PC when I was six. He beta tested the Norwegian version of Windows 95, so I had that before it was actually out. Played a bunch of educational computer games and stuff. Then when I got older I started playing more proper games. Still find controllers other than keyboard and mouse difficult.

They can be super creepy when they just come out of nowhere or show up behind you... The trolls are awful at lower levels. They'll kill the shit out of you. Bows and sneaking come in handy there...

Ugh, Carter, you're such an idiot! Wtf?? And I hate Simon so much. Teach the guy to take no for an answer, ffs...

I've had someone complain recently about my dialogue having too many 'mistakes'. I'm writing about teenagers. They don't talk correctly. Hell, grown-ass human beings don't talk correctly most of the time. I pride myself on writing dialogue that flows naturally. I think it's my greatest strength as a writer. Not about to change that because someone thinks I should be more traditional or whatever. Agreed. This applies to all forms of art. Learn the rules first, learn to apply them, and then break them to your heart's content. It's easy to tell the difference between someone who doesn't know the rules, and someone who breaks them on purpose for artistic reasons.

Enjoy your dinner, you two.

Thank you! I'm taking some time to read.

My guests have left, and my flatmate has gone to bed, so now I'm on the couch in my PJs, Tesla in my lap, drinking leftover Prosecco.

Thank you! Happy New Year!

I love woodpeckers. We’ve got them at the summer cabin in Finland. It’s a lovely thing to wake up to (provided they stick to trees and don’t go pecking on the walls, of course). We have lots of other awesome birds too. My granddad used to point them all out, by sight or sound, and tell me what they were.

Me too? Cause I too am lost and curious.

Glad you enjoyed it! Stephen’s a very earnest person. He’s not in the habit of lying to himself or anyone else.

It’s twenty past eight. I wish my friends would go home. No, I don’t mean that... but kinda do.

Thanks. I'll be reading until they get here.