HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ken@dakota (Kenny Chaffin)
Subject: sci-fi novelists
Organization: U S WEST Advanced Technologies
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 22:18:31 GMT

In article <BruuwM.CuJ@watserv1.waterloo.edu> mjanzen@healthy.uwaterloo.ca (Michael Edward Janzen) writes:
>I am mainly interested in sci-fi.  I would love to make a
>career of it, but I'd like some area what I'm in for.

	I think you're in for a lot of long, hard work. Unless you're one of
those people to whom it comes naturally, but if that were true you'd probably
already be doing it. 
	As for me, I'm working on my first SF novel, have published one short
story, and many articles as well as one nf book.
	The things I read indicate that most novelists have to write several
novels before they sell one. I'm still in the learning/investment phase.

I wish you luck.

KAC


Kenny A. Chaffin                      {...boulder}!uswat!ken
U S WEST Advanced Technologies         ken@dakota.uswest.com
4001 Discovery Drive  Boulder, CO 80303	     (303) 541-6355
From: lwall@netlabs.com (Larry Wall)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: taboo subjects?
Date: 29 Jul 92 00:39:13 GMT
Organization: NetLabs, Inc.

If you're Lois McMaster Bujold you can write romances in which the heroine
is not only a cripple and a midget but is also a man!  Or hadn't you noticed
that all the best heroines run on "forward momentum" too?  Mary Stewart
certainly understood this.

Larry Wall
lwall@netlabs.com
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: gburton@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Garland O Burton)
Subject: Re: What font do you write/type in?
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 16:04:53 GMT

I am certainly no expert, although I am trying to teach myself to write
by absorbing any info about writing that I can.

If writing is to be submitted to a publisher, it should look like it 
came off of a typewriter.  Double-spaced.  Period.

Anything fancy screams "ROOKIE."

That's what I've heard.

I am a lurker who enjoys reading these kind of news-groups.
Hello to you all.

gb

-- 
gburton@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu...buckeye.hoopsters=1992.big.ten.champs!
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: trev@hubcap.clemson.edu (Trevor Bauknight)
Subject: Re: HELP!!! Writer's Block!!!
Organization: Jes Grew Carriers -- Metaphysical Bunko Squad 
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 01:44:50 GMT

rmr@sgi.com (selfish meme) writes:

>>I'm in a slump!  I'm in a rut!  I have the dreaded writers block, and
...

>Read something outside of your usual/favorite
>genre, keeping your eye out for new ideas.

Or you could shoot yourself in the thigh...
 
Trevor Bauknight         trev@hubcap.clemson.edu    ...gatech!hubcap!trev
 
                                                     +-----------+
                                                     | _> ###    |
                  go gamecocks                       |     |     |
                                                     +-----------+
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: johnh@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (John J Humpal)
Subject: 1st person assumptions  (Was Re: Genre)
Organization: HAC - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 16:24:07 GMT

In article <BrHJ2v.9Dw@news.cso.uiuc.edu> mtan@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Maureen Tan) writes:
> [...]
>
>
>Question for the group re: lst person:  Do you think men have a more
>difficult time accepting a lst-person female point of view than women
>have accepting a male p.o.v.?  When you read first person narrative,
>do you assume a male voice until you're told otherwise?     
>
>Maureen (a.k.a. Jane)

	I can only speak for myself, but I have no problem accepting
a female 1st-person p.o.v.  I confess that unless the p.o.v. is specified
I assume it's that of a man.  Whether that's sexist, or just plain old
human egocentrism I'm afraid I can't answer.  I suspect the most interesting
responses will come from women readers.  That is, do women also automatically
assume a male p.o.v. when given no further information.



-- 
-John

John J. Humpal -- johnh@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu -- short .sig, std. disclaimer
From: shaun@octel.com (Ralph Neutrino)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Reserach in Fiction
Date: 21 Jul 92 20:07:22 GMT
Organization: Octel Communications Inc., Milpitas Ca.

In article <1992Jul17.131953.23792@syma.sussex.ac.uk> mapd1@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Nigel Ling) writes:
>
>BTW Very impressed with your wine cellar. 250 bottles?? All fine
>vintages of course :)

Nah, there's a Gallo in the family... :)


-- 
shaun@octel.com  ||  G is for Jesus

"We will buy Iron Camels from GoMotion
   Unlimited in Santa Clara California."
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: dsals@vms.macc.wisc.edu (David Sals)
Subject: Re: Switch in p.o.v./time period
Organization:  University of Wisconsin Academic Computing Center
Date: 21 JUL 92 14:19:36    

In article <1992Jul19.215714.18756@pellns.alleg.edu>, frisinv@pell50.alleg.edu (Vincent Frisina) writes...

> 
>   I am writing a fantasy novel in the third omniscient, but want to jump  
>back in time and switch to the first person in certain parts. A subplot  
>integral to understanding the main plot occurs five thousand years before  
>the story begins. Only one person fully knows what is happening and it  
>seems better told as personal reflection than as a 3rd person narrative.  
>Would this confuse the readers? I make it clear in the beginning of the  
>switch in pov that it has changed and the character is introduced in  
>passing on page one as being dead 5000 years, but I'm not sure that this  
>is enough. Thoughts?
>---
>Vince

Actually, I am in a similar situation, although the time diference 
is only a few weeks/months.  Is it possible to write the 5000 years 
earlier part as a prologue chapter?  If it is handled well (as I hope 
to do with mine), it should stick in the readers mind so that they 
will remember it when you need it in the main story.  In fact, the 
reader can then draw their own conclusions and "figure out" the 
connections, without it feeling quite as pre-planned.

   					:-D ave
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: charless@sco.COM (charles stross)
Subject: Re: 1st Person viewpoints
Organization: The Somewhat Contagious Operation, Inc.
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 12:30:05 GMT


In article <13564@mindlink.bc.ca> Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca (Crawford Kilian) writes:
>Apart from questions about the narrator's sex, first person raises more serious
>problems for the fiction writer.
>
>First, the narrator should plausibly be someone who might indeed take the
>trouble of putting the story down. 

Good point, but it's not inevitable. You can, for example, use some
literary device such as a dictaphone; although then you get to deal
with interesting questions of linguistic style -- spoken english
does not resemble the highly stylized form of literary english which 
we are taught to appreciate at an early age. Alternatively, if it's
sf or fantasy you can use some external prop for a first person
narrative; say an artificial intelligence that's tapped into the
narrators's memories and is replaying them in sequence. (I actually 
used this as the framing gambit in my first sold novel.) In point 
of fact, the original objection only applies if you're writing in a 
straight no-frills realist mode.

>Third, the first person narrator just doesn't know enough; the author can enjoy
>a lot more freedom with third-person omniscient, judiciously used.

Nevertheless, a good first-person narrative can convey gutsy 
emotional impact with an immediacy that a third-person narrative can
only approximate. First-person present-tense is especially good,
when used as a vehicle for a stream-of-consciousness commentary;
however it takes a lot of skill to get far enough into the character's 
head to make this convincing, and it's easy to fall into the trap
of over-writing.

-- 
Charlie Stross aka charless@scol.sco.com ..... UNIX oriented text mangler
WARNING: The opinions voiced in the preceding electronic document are the
product of a warped mind. Take two before meals. Now put the following in
your sigfile: {LineEater Vaccine: Bush CIA Drugs Revolution Perot Murder}
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: cgates@mitre.org (Curt Gates)
Subject: Re: taboo subjects?
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 12:16:39 GMT

In article <1992Jul26.023810.1516@math.ucla.edu> 
ramirez@julia.math.ucla.edu (Alice Ramirez) writes:
> "One doesn't write romance novels involving crippled heroines."  This
> response troubled me at the time and troubles me to this day, not only 
because
> my consciousness had been raised on this particular subject but because
> the whole issue of taboo subjects annoys.

A profound comment on our society in which explicit sex and violence in 
all forms are permissible, yet physical handicaps are definitely taboo 
subjects.  Interesting that *mental* disturbances and handicaps *are* acceptable.

> Obviously a writer can write
> anything she or he damn well pleases, but if the writer cannot get 
published
> because of prejudices, such writing becomes little more than something 
to pass
> the time.

*Obviously,* and I guess thats why I read less and less fiction and am 
hardly motivated to write it.  No matter what the product, whether its 
jewelry, fast food, or fiction, it has to dance to the marketplace.  I 
would encourage you to think about rewriting the manuscript for one or 
more different markets that deal with, lets say, a more sophisticated 
audience.  One that is interested more in bread than circus.  Then you 
could do even more with the relationships between the woman, her handicap, 
and the rest of her world.  There is an old saying about a problem being 
another word for opportunity.  I have a feeling that if you look hard 
enough for a market, and revise your work to accommodate it, you can find 
a profitable niche. Even if you move the topic over into non-fiction.

************************************
I worked as a technical writer ... editing manuals ... on how to dispose 
of sewage in permafrost; we all had to wear white shirts -- that was 
mandatory -- and I was fired at the end of two weeks for spending too much 
time staring out the window.  
(Edward Abbey)
************************************ 
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: elle@kimbark.uchicago.edu (Ellen Keyne Seebacher)
Subject: Re: technical writing jobs???
Reply-To: elle@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 00:23:54 GMT

Various people ask:
>>    what types of technical writing are available?

I can't speak for tech writing in general, but I do know the
educational-computing field.

I'm an "analyst" for the University of Chicago's department of
Academic & Public Computing (APC).  The job title translates as "do
whatever needs to be done."  In my case, it means a little bit of news
administration, a dash of input on various APC projects, and a lot of
technical writing.

>>    What are the prospects of obtaining a writing position?

Prospects are good if you're well-rounded -- there are twenty-odd people
in my department, 90% of them from liberal-arts backgrounds -- and the
places you're looking at aren't freezing or cutting positions (the
U.S. recession has affected universities pretty badly).

>>    What salary range do technical writers usually receive?

I used to be a "documentation specialist" -- i.e., tech writer only --
and got paid in the upper teens (US $).  As an "analyst," I'm in the
upper 20s.  Writing-only jobs tend to pay much lower; sadly, good
communications skills aren't valued nearly as much as the ability to
pitch in at other duties (programming, systems administration, site
supervision, faculty support, whatever).

>>    What experience or requirements tend to be accepted?

Write.  Then write, and write some more.  Show that you can write
simply, clearly and cleanly:  scrap the excess verbiage, passive voice,
convoluted third-person constructions.  (Those of you unfortunate
enough to miss the "Academic & Professional Writing" course here
should immediately go buy Joe Williams's book _Style_.)

Start in a student position if possible.  I was hired out of a
student-advisor job in which I sent a lot of email; one of the
managers here liked the way I wrote.

>>    If you currently work as a technical writer, what does a typical day
>>    entail for you ...

This varies so much by project that I can't say.  Any given day might
involve research, writing, editing, and/or production and distribution
of various APC documents.  I spend a fair amount of time online, too,
answering postings to local newsgroups, and queries by email to
"advisor" and "news" accounts.

>>...and are you happy with your position?

Hey, all our managers read news.  :-)

--
Ellen Keyne Seebacher            elle@midway.uchicago.edu
Newsgroups: misc.writing,news.answers
From: dsals@vms.macc.wisc.edu (David Sals)
Newsgroups: misc.writing,misc.education,comp.windows.misc
Subject: Re: need remedial writing software for windows
Date: 21 Jul 92 20:45:48 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin Academic Computing Center

<1992Jul21.045601.21492@news.iastate.edu>
i1neal@exnet.iastate.edu (Neal Rauhauser -- ) writes...

> 
> 
>    I am looking for a software package for microsoft windows that has some
>or all of the following features:
> 
> 
>	1. grammar check
>	2. spell check
>	3. identification of apparent target audience 
>	4. the ability for an 'instructor' to communicate with
>	   a student as they are writing
> 
> 
>   IBM has a product called Writer's Studio. This is almost exactly
>what I want, but IBM is competing on the same bid I am and is
>not willing to unbundle the software from their overpriced network
>server :-) They haven't got a snowball's chance in the HOT PLACE
>of getting this deal after their past behavior at the site in question
>but we are about to see a six figure number of your tax dollars blown 
>to bits if I don't find something soon. Any sort of writing-assistant
>program would be of interest ...
> 
>           Thanks for your time,
> 
> 
>			Neal


I think that your problem could easily be solved by using more than 
one program to do the job.

1)  There are many diferent programs available that do grammar 
checking.  Some are better than others, but I won't go into that at 
the moment.  Suffice it to say that this is no problem.

2)  Any good word processor should do spell checking.  I like word for 
windows, although WordPerfect for windows isn't half bad.

3)  Identification of apparent target audience?  Assuming you meant 
that the software identifies this audience, this is quite a new 
concept to me.  If Writer's studio can do this, it might be worth the 
extra money (nyet).  Sorry, I can't help you on this one.

4)  This is the fun one.  There are 2 1/2 products that would allow 
you to do this (even more if you are using macintoshes--which you're 
not).  They are refered to as "Remote Control" software, because they 
allow any machine on a network with sufficient authorization to watch, 
control or communicate with any other machine on the network.

   One:	"Reach Out" by Ocean Isle (1-800-882-8664).  Lists for $295

   Two: "Carbon Copy for Windows" by Microcom (1-800-822-8224) $199

   1/2: "Timbuktu 5.0" by Farallon (415-596-9100).  Not available yet, 
   	although they were suggesting an early summer release date.    
   	One nice thing about this particular package is that it will   
  	allow Macs and IBMs to control (etc.) each other as well.

If I have missed something, or if you have other needs, let me know 
and I will do some more looking.

   						:-D ave
From: miuvdd@lure.latrobe.edu.au
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: HELP!!! Writer's Block!!!
Date: 29 Jul 92 23:18:35 GMT
Organization: VAX Cluster, Computer Centre, La Trobe University

Help!!!!

I'm in a slump!  I'm in a rut!  I have the dreaded writers block, and
nothing I do seems to do any good!

So if anyone out there has any ideas how I might overcome this evil
foe, I would much appreciate it!


Morgana

***********************************************************************
Reality is for those who can't handle decent fiction...
***********************************************************************
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: sasafw@dobo.unx.sas.com (Fred Welden)
Subject: Re: Misc.writing Recommended Booklist
Originator: sasafw@dobo.unx.sas.com
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 18:29:41 GMT
Organization: Dobonia


In article <Bs7o84.Hx4@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca>, mjanzen@healthy.uwaterloo.ca (Michael Edward Janzen) writes:
|I've done a bit of reading lately, and there is disagreement
|regarding multiple submissions.  It seems logical to me to 
|send copies to at least a few publishers to start, since I
|hear it may be necessary to send a manuscript to a couple
|dozen (or more) places before anyone shows interest, yet I
|hear that publishers are less likely to read a multiple
|submission!  So what do I do?

Check out the publisher's entry in Writer's Marketplace or its ilk.
Some say simultaneous submissions are OK, some do not.  I sent my
MS out in a wave to all simultaneous OK houses I was interested in
at once, then, when I had either heard from all or waited long
enough to end up sending a withdrawal notice, I started in on the
non-simultaneous houses, making sure to note in the cover letter that
this was a photocopy, but not a simultaneous submission.

With the exception of one editor who simply returned the MS in the
SASE utterly without comment, no one seemed offended by this.  I don't
know, of course, WHAT got into that particular editor.  (I also
didn't get accepted by anyone, but I did collect a good number of
considerate responses that indicated that the editors or their
subclones had actually read the MS.)




-- 
--Fred, or another blind 8th-century BC  |  sasafw@dobo.unx.sas.com
        Hellenic poet of the same name.  |
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: troly@redwood.math.ucla.edu (Bret Jolly)
Subject: Re: taboo subjects?
Organization: UCLA Mathematics Department
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 19:58:49 GMT

In article <1992Jul26.141402.13903@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> 
bf455@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bonita Kale) writes:
>that's one of the advantages of sf: fewer taboos. 

   Ha! Ha!  That's a good one, Bonita!
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: johnh@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (John J Humpal)
Subject: Re: Misc.writing Recommended Booklist
Organization: HAC - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 18:31:12 GMT

In article <Bs7o84.Hx4@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca> mjanzen@healthy.uwaterloo.ca (Michael Edward Janzen) writes:
>I've done a bit of reading lately, and there is disagreement
>regarding multiple submissions.  It seems logical to me to 
>send copies to at least a few publishers to start, since I
>hear it may be necessary to send a manuscript to a couple
>dozen (or more) places before anyone shows interest, yet I
>hear that publishers are less likely to read a multiple
>submission!  So what do I do?
>

	You do research!  The most important task, after you have written
something you want to publish, is to research the market.  Some publishers
have no problem with multiple submissions, others won't even look at a
multiple submission.  Get the _Writer's Market_ or the "Dustbook" and do
some reading.  You won't regret it.

-- 
-John

John J. Humpal -- johnh@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu -- short .sig, std. disclaimer

Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: gleasont@lonex.rl.af.mil (Todd C. Gleason)
Subject: Re: Bad Places to have Good Ideas
Organization: RL
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 11:58:37 GMT

In article <1992Jul27.170819.662@ee.ubc.ca> daveg@ee.ubc.ca (Dave Gagne) writes:
>In article <1992Jul24.160156.22858@linus.mitre.org> cgates@mitre.org (Curt Gates) writes:
>
>>If the ideas were coming as images, rather than words, you only need to
>>intensify the images, enhancing the colors, shapes, and detail.
>
>Tried that before too. The problem with that is that the idea(s)
>keep expanding and expanding. I have come close to plotting entire stories
>in the shower, but by the time I get to the end of the story, I have
>forgotten the beginning.

Don't you just wish you could record those thought patterns the way a computer
saves files, and then recall them when you get anything resembling writer's
block?  Perhaps even index them according to need, cross-reference--the 
disorganized writer's database dream!

"Wouldn't that be great?"

(Actually, I think all the professional writers have systems to keep their
information flowing like a well-oiled machine--many, at least.  I'm working
on getting my ideas as consolidated as possible myself.  There really is
almost no way to keep it all in your head!)

-- 
  -=Todd Gleason=-         My opinions are better than yours. . .
Take my XT--PLEASE!!                 . . . but only on Thursdays.
   Didja ever wonder what 4MB SIMMS modules taste like. . . no, with mayo,
catsup, mustard, lettuce, pickes, relish, cheese, on a bun?  MMmmmm. . . .
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Subject: Life as Art, vice as versa
Originator: elf@halcyon.com
Reply-To: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Organization: Pendor, UnLtd.
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 22:40:26 GMT

In article <1992Jul27.185559.1@eagle.wesleyan.edu>
     rstepno@eagle.wesleyan.edu writes:

>That is, what do you think about churning your friends' lives into
>fiction?

   Everything, they say, is grist for the mill.  We've got precious
little to base characters on except for personal experience.
"Remember," I used to tell my friends, "Anything you say can and
probably will show up in one of my stories."  I actually had a friend
_order_ me not to use his cat in one of my stories, because he wanted
to use it in one of his!  (A year later he STILL hasn't written the
damn thing...  I tell ya, Peter, write it soon or Da Loaf is gonna show
up in a Journal Entry any day now!)

   Basically, you have three resources for information: Non-fiction
(the newspaper and such), Fiction (other people's writings), and your
life.  The last is, of course, usually the best and most honest, the
only place where you really have any human emotions to write fiction
with.

         Elf !!!
-- 
Elf Sternberg    __   |     I have looked into the abyss, and the abyss
elf@halcyon.com  \/   | has looked into me.  Neither liked what we saw.
elf@polari.online.com |                              - Brother Theodore
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: mjanzen@healthy.uwaterloo.ca (Michael Edward Janzen)
Subject: Re: 
Organization: University of Waterloo
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 18:49:23 GMT

Oops, that should have been "some idea what I'm in for".

Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: pww@bnr.ca (Peter Whittaker)
Subject: Re: Reserach in Fiction (the Star Wars tangent)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 20:01:21 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.130125.1@eagle.wesleyan.edu> mschmitt@eagle.wesleyan.edu writes:
>In article <1992Jul21.141728.29806@bwdls61.bnr.ca>, pww@bnr.ca (Peter Whittaker) writes:
>> That's fine:  all units of distance are acceptable as units of time as
>> well.  It is perfectly legitimate for me to say "See you in 90
>> gigametres"; you might have difficulty figuring out that I mean "See
>> you in 5 minutes", but that is something we'd have to work out.
>> 
>	Only if you have a commone reference frame of speed.  You have to know
>that the speaker is referring to the speed of light as the time basis.  If I
>assume you mean .5c, for example, the whole thing falls apart.

Should have specified:  to the physicist, it is always "c".  Which is
course sometimes set to 1, to make the physics more evident, and get
rid of that nasty mathematics.  :->  But I digress.

>	Also, relativity could reak havoc with your system.  :)

No it couldn't.  Light speed is light speed is light speed.  And travel
at light speed is travel at light speed.

pww

Newsgroups: misc.writing