A Head in the Clouds

InheritanceForums Editor: Policy

invision1994 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:23:08 +0000

INHERITANCE FORUMS: EDITING/CRITIQUE POLICY

If you’ve clicked, you might have decided that you want critique from me- this could have been decided because you have seen past critiques of mine, or because you know that I am an editor on the Inheritance Forums. Either way, it’s lead you here. I, LyriantheFirst, have decided to do two things here:

1.Informing you exactly what an editor’s job is

2.Informing you what my policy on critique is

Index: (Ctrl+F)

1A: Editors: General reactions and how we WOULDN’T act.

2A: Editors: What to do before asking for a critique.

3A: How to ask an editor for critique.

1B: My personal code-of-conduct on critique and responding to requests for critique.

2B: How long it might take for me to get around to critiquing your story.

3B: Contact information

Editors: What do they do?
1A:

The job of an editor is to critique your story when we are asked. This doesn’t mean that we only critique stories if you ask us, nor that we will automatically say yes if you ask. This could depend on how much free time we have, if we have too many critiques to do, or if one of us generally feels like being a jerk.

It is an editor’s job to critique your story- generally this means that they won’t be the least bit annoyed or angry that you sent one of them a private message. In fact, a lot of them are happy that you recognized their critique enough to be asking them, specifically, for critique. If you get a negative response from an editor, make sure not to apply it to every editor; they’re human. They could be having a bad day. They could just be jerks. If you don’t like their attitude normally, it’s best not to be private messaging them.

2A:

You need to make sure that you look at an editor’s past critiques before you ask them for one yourself. This way, you can make sure they aren’t going to do anything in their critique that you would be shocked about or that would make you feel bad in general.

Sometimes, you are going to be getting a critique that is going to make you feel bad- if it’s flaming, you need to report them, but if it isn’t, you need to just get up, take their advice as long as it doesn’t seem detrimental, and ignore whatever you think isn’t constructive.

3A:

Just remember: Don’t be shy! You shouldn’t ever get a mean, negative response after private messaging an editor. If you are, you probably said something wrong. You need to make sure that the editor knows which story you want critique on, if you have any preferences for the critique, and everything like that.

Right:
Hey, can I have some critique on my story, [link to story]? I would like it to be thorough- even though it’s only my first story, I want to know all of the faults before I begin working on a second draft. I was wondering if you could focus mostly on grammar and spelling, since I don’t speak English natively and I really want to know if I have anything wrong in my translations.

Thanks!

Wrong:
Can you please critique my story? Yeah thanks!

It’s best to make sure you can put as much information in as little space as possible. Editors do not want to read everything you have to say two or three times- try to make it compact.

Right

Hey, can you please critique my stories on all three chapters? Here are the links: [Chapter One] [Chapter Two] [Chapter Three]

I was wondering if you could focus on character development and description, as those seem to be the weakest points in my writing-.

Thanks!

Wrong:
Hey man, can I have a critique from you on my story? Thanks! I just love getting critique from people and furthering my writing. I would like something very thorough, so please, please, please go as hard on me as you can!!! I just adore critique, and your editing skills are amazing!!! I really can’t wait for this!!! thank you so much!!!

Thanks again!!!!!!!

Over-indulging an editor in praise just annoys them, and it makes your message much longer, as well as making it harder to understand exactly what you want. You should always be sure to link to your story and be specific- don’t leave the editor wondering what it is you want.

LyriantheFirst’s Critiquing Policy

2A:

If you want a critique, you can either send me a private message or post in the editor’s index. I voluntarily do critiques without being asked a lot of the time, and chances are if I critique you once when you ask, I’m going to be coming back again every now and then to critique your updates.

I’m never going to have an unprofessional or negative response to a private message asking me for critique. If you don’t link me to your story or give me your preferences, I’ll ask you if you have any preferences and a link to your story.

A PM I might respond with:

“Hey, could you link me to your story with the chapters you want me to critique? Oh- and do you have any particular preferences for critique, or would you rather I just do it like I normally would?”

A PM I would not respond with:
“You didn’t follow my instructions, dude. Sorry, but there’s no way in hell I’m giving you any critique now. GTFO.”

I’m also never going to directly bash your story, ever. You are never going to catch me saying “This story is shit. Stop writing this and work on something else.” If your story doesn’t work well with what it has, the worst I am going to say is, “You might want to re-write your story- try showing instead of telling and making your characters more realistic. You can do that by…” I am never going to directly insult your story or you, no matter how bad you think it is; in my experience, people judge themselves far too low in their writing. Make sure you don’t sell yourself short.

It will take me up to a week from the time of my response. I’ll either wait for a weekend or when I have the time during the day on a school-day. Evenings during the weekday are mostly given to my own writing, but I have plenty of time to catch up to critiques on the weekend.

3B:

If you want a more thorough critique, or critique of a style that doesn’t work over the forum, you can feel free to contact me from the below instant messengers. If I am on one, I’m on them all.

AIM: Invision1994

MSN: Invision1994@live.com

Yahoo IM: AngelsScreamingOnHigh

Three awesome sites I’ve found…

invision1994 — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:58:10 +0000

On top of Books to Inspire (http://bookstoinspire.wordpress.com – I own it) I’ve found two awesome websites that are on similar missions. (Or, at least, inspiring ones.)

Gives Me Hope (http://givesmehope.com) – it’s like the opposite of FML. A website to inspire hope in people – exactly what I want Books to Inspire to do!

Operation Beautiful (http://operationbeautiful.com) – It’s trying to kill insecurity and ‘fat talk’ in woman. Owned by Caitlin, this website is a movement trying to show the world that you don’t have to look like those models in magazines.

Gives Me Hope made two (possibly three) of my friends cry, it’s such an amazing website. It’s like some of the hope in the world, the untold stories of the hopeful and hope-giving, are now told, in this one place. It’s a fantastic way to start your day!

Operation Beautiful is just a great idea – me and two of my friends (yes, coincidentally, one of them is the one who cried because of GMH) are going to do it. One other besides me (two/three) is a guy. XD.

James

World Creation

invision1994 — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:58:28 +0000

Creating a world is always fun, but it is also hard. And sometimes, you can really screw up, if you don’t know how to do it.

There are dozens of fantastic examples for perfectly created worlds, and millions of examples for badly-created ones. In this article, I will talk about creating a world to be the best it can be.

First off, you need an overall concept. It should definitely be something you want to write. As an fellow peer of mine has once said, “Writing is like marriage. Never commit until you can’t believe your luck.” You’re going to be spending thousands of hours writing in this potential world, and it should have just that: Potential.

Now, if you’re sticking to this universe or making a different one, you have to start with the basics of your idea. Say you’re writing a fantasy, and you want to create a magic system. Think of magic like a science – there have to be laws, they have to be followed, and nothing can contradict. You can’t just throw science out the window because you have magic – it all has to have a process. It’s like taking away gravity and going “Wee! Everybody can fly!” I’m not saying that you should be piling on infodumps about how your magic system works – you shouldn’t. It’s usually best to show it in action. If you can’t show it in action, maybe add a teacher or mentor to your book – or maybe just someone who knows more about magic than your main character.

Now that you have your basics worked out – the laws of physics, magic, whatever else is in your story – you should work on the aspects of making sure it all matches up. The cardinal law of creating a world is that nothing can contradict. This cannot be stressed enough.

After you work out your basic laws of physics, you should be looking at character creation. Most writers will already have a main character and immediate setting in mind. Ask around, tell a few people about your world and your characters, and make sure that your creations aren’t too perfect. (This is called having a “mary sue”). Your character should not be a mesiah, or be more powerful than gods, etc. (Unless, of course, your character is a mesiah, or a god. Then it’s suggested that you give them some kind of drawback.)

For an in-depth world, history is a must. Timelines can be a fantastic advantage to this. Set a time for the ‘present’ of your world, and add a past to it. An example is like this:

2001: Present.

1999: Slightly in the past. x event happened here.

1009: Far in the past. Something amazingly important must have happened for this to be remembered in history.

Next, you should add to the conflict of your world. (Since what is worth writing about if there is no conflict? There isn’t anything to say.) As an example, my story Revelations was originally a religious war between two groups with superpowers. I added a third group, gave it a past, and let it fly. Then I added a time traveler to tie up more in the plot and to improve the overall readability of the book. The second cardinal rule in world creation is that every little thing is big. Even if it doesn’t seem big to you, your reader will definitely notice everything. This conflict can vary, from the lives of individuals to something that might need an entire army. If it does involve an army, it’s usually better to make it an individual conflict somehow – give your character a better reason to be in the army rather than ‘I felt like it’. Adding individual conflicts are a great way to make the reader connect with your main character.

After that, it’s pretty much your own decision on what to do; a creative license is a very good thing for a writer to keep on him at all times, since writing is all about being creative and making the old things seem new, and the unreal seem real. When you’ve finished all of these steps, your plot should be ready to be written – that is, if you haven’t begun already from excitement.

Originally posted on the Be Creative Blog: http://blogs.becreativeforums.com/2009/07/world-creation.html

Welcome to AHITC

invision1994 — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:52:58 +0000

Welcome to A Head In The Clouds. It’s my second (or third?) blog – the difference from this one and my others is that I actually plan to update it.

My name is James, I’m 15, and I’m a writer. This blog will also function as a portfolio for me (Under ‘pages’, you should be able to see my current projects and side projects.)

A good bit is going on in my life right now, but nothing I’m going to be talking about. I’ve recently become blog staff on the Be Creative Forums (http://becreativeforums.com), and I’ve been writing articles for them that I’ll be posting here as well.

Anyway, I plan to be updating this more often as I have the time, but I’m a bit busy at the moment.

James

Everything on this blog is Copyright (C) James Cohen, and any attempt to plagiarize or steal anything from this blog in any way will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.