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Myr

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  6. Myr

    Grammar Guide 5 - Pronouns

    By Myr,


    Grammar Guide
    Welcome back! Last week we covered Adverbs and had a great little chat. We also touched on a way to spot "Show vs Tell" using adverb tells.
    This week, we hit pronouns.
    A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun, usually for added variety and to avoid repetition.
    Pronouns come in 8 different classifications, almost all of which make good "Words of the Day":
    Personal - represent people, places or things Examples: I, me, you, he, she, they, her, it, we, us, them, they, him I walked the dog. He barked at the cat.  She ran away from the barking dog. Possessive- shows ownership yours, mine, hers, his, theirs, ours "That human is mine," said the cat.  That dog is ours. Demonstrative - Points to something this, that, those, these These cats have fur.  Those cats don't have fur. Relative - relate one part of the sentence to the other who, whom, which, that, whose The boy who was horny hooked up with a friend. Reflexive - emphasize or reflect back to someone or something else myself, himself, herself, yourself, etc You must look at yourself in the mirror. Indefinite -  refers to a non-specific number to replace the noun(s) All, any, everybody, everything, few, many, etc Nobody was at work.  Everyone stayed home. Reciprocal - express mutual action each other, one another The boys yelled to each other across the playground. Interrogative - asks a question who, what, whom What can I do in an emergency? Thanks for checking out this week's blog.  Drop some comments below.  Are you finding these topics useful?
    References: Kern, Jara. (2020). The Infographic Guide to Grammar. Adams Media Venolia, Jan. (2001). Write Right! (4th ed.). Ten Speed Press
  10. Myr
    The first book in this trilogy, Magic's Pawn, is one of the most powerful books I have ever read.  I've reread it a few times over the years and it makes me cry every single time I read it.  It's really emotionally moving.  Mercedes Lackey has stated that her formula is simple:  Make the reader love the character and then drop a mountain on the character.  The first novel is deeply touching and heart-wrenching.  The full trilogy is powerful as well.  The second and third novels are not as powerful to me as the first, but they are still very good.  The entire trilogy covers the life of the character and the sheer amount of stuff he has to go through.  I can't recommend the books strongly enough.
    From Amazon:
     
    There are something like 35 novels set in this world now.  I own them all and have read all but 5.  It is really scary just how much writing Mercedes Lackey does.  I also have her Joust series, which I really like a lot too.  I still have to check out her Urban Fantasy series which has a dozen more books in it.
     
    If you are only going to do one... do this one:

     
    Let me know if you feel the same about the book.  Or if you decide to check it out.
  15. Myr

    Grammar Guide 4 - Back to Basics - Adverbs

    By Myr,


    Grammar Guide
    Last week we covered verbs, and now it is time for adverbs.
    Adverbs
    Adverbs tell us more about a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.  Most adverbs end in -ly, but not all of them.
    Some Common Adverbs that Don't End in -ly
    quite, now, very, fast, never, well
    Adverbs Answer Questions

    Examples:
    Adverbs modifying verbs The zombie staggered slowly towards the brains. Adverbs modifying adjectives Cats have very twitchy whiskers. Adverbs modifying other adverbs Cats can walk remarkably quietly when then are stalking something. Bonus Round - Show Vs Tell
    As writers, our editors and beta readers are no doubt constantly telling us "Show, don't tell!"  Adverbs are the tell for telling.
    He walked slowly down the street. He walked happily down the sidewalk They walked quickly into the office. Adverbs tell you details about the verbs action.  In this case walked.  Sometimes, you want to just say something (and that's fine).  An intermediate step is to change up your verbs... He shuffled down the street... he skipped down the sidewalk... they scurried into the office.  You're still telling, mostly, but you are being more efficient at it.
    References: Kern, Jara. (2020). The Infographic Guide to Grammar. Adams Media Venolia, Jan. (2001). Write Right! (4th ed.). Ten Speed Press
  23. Myr

    90 Day Genre and Tag Reading - Jan 22, 2022

    By Myr,


    Reading Archive
    As part of our effort in 2022 to give more data to authors and readers about what's getting read here at Gay Authors, I am posting this Tag and Genre Reads report. For the numbers shown, please realize that they are tabulated based on the tags and genres associated with each story times the number of times that story is read.  Since all stories can have more than one tag and more than one genre, you can't add together individual numbers and have anything meaningful.
    One other note... we are still in the process of integrating our new sub-genre options on stories, so a fair few stories haven't been updated yet.

    Primary Title Secondary Title  All Reads  Romance General Romance       3,379,757 General Fiction Drama       3,229,723 Action/Adventure Adventure       1,318,956 Fantasy General Fantasy          846,467 Comedy Comedy Modern          659,853 Thriller/Suspense Suspense          622,346 Historical Non-Contemporary          497,109 Science Fiction Soft Sci-Fi          421,121 Mystery General Mystery          365,129 Paranormal Romantic Paranormal          308,407 General Fiction Coming of Age          296,027 Horror Horror - Modern          198,416 Poetry Free-Verse          152,156 General Fiction Prompt          146,731 Non-Fiction Creative Non-Fic          144,490 Romance Contemporary Romance          121,247 Paranormal Shifters             83,214 General Fiction Rich Boy             52,644 Romance Paranormal Romance             47,590 Historical World Wars             41,690 Non-Fiction Reference             39,967 Western Western Modern             39,381 Romance Romantic Fantasy             37,695 Fantasy Low Fantasy             33,008 Poetry Mixed Forms             29,123 Romance Romantic Sci-Fi             28,429 Poetry Haiku             27,732 Action/Adventure Action Fiction             26,281 Science Fiction Space Opera             24,182 Literary Fiction Historical Literary             23,565 Western Western Historical             23,563 Fantasy Dragon Fantasy             23,034 Science Fiction Apocalyptic and Post-apocalyptic             22,221 Fantasy Alternate History             19,680 Thriller/Suspense Techno Thriller             19,619 Romance Historical Romance             19,607 Poetry Limerick             18,260 Fantasy High/Epic Fantasy             18,179 Historical Alternate             18,116 Historical Cold War             17,984 Action/Adventure Super Hero             16,203 Romance Romantic Western             15,717 Western Western Romance             15,532 Thriller/Suspense Psychological Thriller             15,303 Poetry Translation             14,672 Fantasy Urban Fantasy             13,812 Literary Fiction Contemporary Literary             11,838 Science Fiction Hard Science Fiction             10,748 Thriller/Suspense Military Thriller             10,467 Action/Adventure Nautical              10,431 Paranormal Paranormal Mystery               9,767 Science Fiction Science Fantasy               9,733 Fantasy Grimdark               8,935 Fantasy Mythic Fantasy               8,236 Thriller/Suspense Political Thriller               7,365 Fantasy Arcanepunk               6,860 Fantasy Gaslamp               6,354 Science Fiction Steampunk               6,354 Fantasy Historical Fantasy               6,062 Historical Ancient Orient               5,958 Mystery Cozy Mystery               5,089 Comedy Comic Fantasy               4,634 Paranormal Vampires               4,185 Poetry Sonnet               3,721 Fantasy Medieval Fantasy               3,673 Horror Psychological               3,233 Non-Fiction Autobiography               3,230 Fantasy Anthropomorphic Fantasy               3,166 Science Fiction Libertarian Sci-Fi               2,920 Western Weird West               2,308 Science Fiction Military Sci-Fi               2,092 Action/Adventure Spy-Fi               1,622 Non-Fiction Letter               1,387 World Building Science Fiction World Building               1,376 Fantasy Fairy Tales               1,346 Fantasy Sword and Planet               1,124 Mystery Historical Mystery               1,040 Paranormal Werewolves                   997 Historical Ancient Greco-Roman                   872 Poetry Lyric                   801 Poetry Rhyming                   801 Poetry Blank Verse                   800 Thriller/Suspense Historical Thriller                   666 Thriller/Suspense Supernatural Thriller                   614 Science Fiction Space Western                   613 Historical Industrial Revolution                   588 Fantasy Science Fantasy                   406 Horror Monster                   312 Horror Splatterpunk                   312 World Building Fantasy World Building                   297 General Fiction Experimental                   165 Poetry Epic Poetry                   115 Comedy Tall Tale                   115 Science Fiction Cyberpunk/Tech Noir                       3  

    Primary Title Secondary Title All Reads Relationship gay    3,597,222 Age young adult    2,342,266 Age teen    1,952,622 Time Frame modern    1,624,808 Age mature adult    1,429,327 Setting north america    1,267,680 Relationship adult    1,245,173 Theme love    1,065,538 Sex anal    1,054,810 Theme coming of age       987,686 Relationship friendship       937,599 Tone serious       748,196 Tone light-hearted       739,067 Sex oral       678,264 Sex first time       556,921 Relationship under 18       546,303 Time Frame 20th century       524,513 Relationship bisexual       477,136 Setting europe       458,048 Paranormal magic       453,517 Theme coming out       425,537 Paranormal were-creatures       412,032 Tone dark       391,497 Sex no sex       366,731 Other abuse       359,967 Setting alternate earth       319,111 Setting australia       307,983 Setting university       280,665 Other military       268,174 Other psychology       262,965 Other crime       255,994 Theme suspense       252,690 Other adopt       252,060 Setting urban       247,125 Relationship brothers       235,210 Other parents       233,223 Setting school       230,696 Other fighting       229,858 Setting rural       229,109 Setting college       224,342 Sex casual       216,520 Time Frame future       214,118 Other religion       210,266 Setting high school       190,324 Paranormal vampire       177,240 Other sports       174,303 Paranormal aliens       173,590 Age senior       170,356 Other celebrity       156,714 Other fostering       152,257 Relationship roommates       151,378 Theme depression       148,521 Other music       148,305 Setting travel       137,954 Sex masturbate       137,459 Other philosophy       132,666 Sex rape       132,592 Age child       131,563 Setting boat       126,031 Paranormal demons       110,293 Setting suburban       108,846 Other disability       107,364 Other animals       104,766 Relationship interracial       102,979 Paranormal psionics          98,692 Setting space          94,407 Sex bdsm          92,067 Other politics          87,872 Paranormal sorcery          85,528 Sex violent          85,460 Other death          85,311 Setting war          83,745 Time Frame medieval          82,474 Theme hate          78,008 Setting off-planet          77,173 Other medical          73,774 Theme christmas          71,414 Other death-defying          70,963 Other police          60,890 Setting workplace          60,335 Paranormal mages          59,695 Paranormal zombie          59,683 Time Frame ancient times          59,537 Sex fetish          59,477 Theme holiday          59,262 Creative Non-Fiction autobiography          54,960 Paranormal ghosts          52,582 Paranormal angels          52,158 Setting road-trip          51,227 Sex incest          47,206 Setting world war          46,771 Paranormal wizards          45,195 Sex group sex          45,013 Setting vacation          41,289 Paranormal mind control          40,247 Theme suicide          31,397 Setting asia          31,388 Relationship lesbian          30,793 Paranormal witchcraft          28,075 Other mental health          25,690 Paranormal mutants          23,546 Theme halloween          23,388 Relationship transgender          21,962 Setting africa          21,291 Paranormal with wings          20,916 Other firefighting          20,310 Relationship menage          19,955 Other hiv-aids          19,820 Creative Non-Fiction journal          12,393 Setting antarctica          11,840 Setting train          11,675 Time Frame renaissance          11,357 Creative Non-Fiction review            7,747 Creative Non-Fiction faq            7,728 Setting south america            6,338 Creative Non-Fiction interview            5,462 Other non-binary            3,450 Creative Non-Fiction biography            3,200 Setting plane            2,650 Time Frame industrial age            1,809 Relationship pansexual            1,402 Setting bus                461 Relationship asexual                   -  
  25. Myr

    Grammar Guide 3 - Back to Basics - Verbs

    By Myr,


    Grammar Guide
    Welcome back to week 3 of Back to Basics!  Thank you for the great comments on our first two features!
    This week is all about the action (and everyone knows action sells)... verbs!
    Verbs are words that indicate action or states of being. 
    Types of Verbs
    Action Verbs - verbs that show movement or change. Billy jumped onto the wagon. Verbs of Being - verbs that express a state, usually a form of "to be" The boy was hungry. Linking Verbs - Verbs that connect parts of a sentences and are often hidden forms of "to be".  If you can swap verb without changing meaning, it is a linking verb. The tea tasted sour. = The tea was sour. Auxiliary Verbs - Verbs that express more about the main verb by altering the tense, mood, or voice (example: passive vs. active). You can join the team vs. You must join the team.
    Transitive vs. Intransitive
    Actions verbs that require a direct object to complete its meaning.  Action verbs that do not require a direct object acted upon are intransitive.
    Transitive Verbs push, cuddle, hug, shine Billy hugged Joey. Intransitive Verbs gallop, march, limp The horse galloped. Some verbs swing both ways depending on the sentence structure: Transitive She opened the window. He closed the lid. Intransitive The window opened. The lid closed.
    Forms of Be
    am, being, been, is, are, was, were  
    References: Kern, Jara. (2020). The Infographic Guide to Grammar. Adams Media Venolia, Jan. (2001). Write Right! (4th ed.). Ten Speed Press
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