Sci Fi Resources

[Joe Zeff]

Neither. It means that those of us who are fans of Science Fiction consider the term sci-fi to be derogatory. 2001, A Space Odyssey was SF; Lost In Space was sci-fi. See the difference?

[rod seeber]

I guess at the end of the day we all knew what the topic was , as i am new to the game i guess it is a time for learning how to use certain resources, to be honest at the beginning of writing my first attempt at a novel i decided to write down a list of the many words that i felt related well to the subect/topic , also many of the words that i liked and inspired me to improve my noticeably amateurish writing style. I have learned already that 'flair' is something not readily transformed from thoughts to paper ....... but it is fun trying!

Make me laugh, i can still remember about fifteen years ago hiring on a weekly basis all of the Lost In Space videos , two episodes per video ....... it was a fun half year and lot's of revitalized memories from my childhood

I wonder if movie buffs ever use the term 'SF' ? .... interested to know

Thanks for all imput thus far

regards, rod

[Avonne Writer]

There was an interesting reality tv show on the SyFy channel. Maybe Sci-fi changed to SF, and is now SyFy? Maybe not.

The name of it was Face Off. Like Idol, but the competitors were special effects artists. They created mummies, zombies, creatures, etc. It was cool and very, very interesting.

[rod seeber]

may i ask if anyone else had purposely written a list of words and then referred back to them while writing their novel?

it seems to make sense to do this?

I am also trying to remember words that interest me and sadly do not appear in my vocabulary in daily speech, I find it hard to come up with the appropriate adjectives nearly every time I start to write , I happily accept that I am forced to do numerous edits in the hope of getting past 'simpleton stage'

Please note i am not down on myself and wonder if should perhaps be content with basic writing style that still offers a great story .....any opinions on this way of thought

Sy fy .........LOL i'm not touching that !

regards

[Avonne Writer]

Rod- I don't keep a list of words (thankfully, I write YA and MG...so the vocab doesn't have to be genius) but, I live by my thesaurus. What I really need is a thesaurus type book that i can put a desc. in and it gives me the word that i can't seem to pull off the end of my tongue.lol

Every person is different, though. If you need a list...by all means, keep one.

Best of luck

[Emily MacGowan]

I terms of writing a list of words to help with your ms - I've done that while editing, but only for dialog beats. I tend to put in "I frowned", "I smiled", etc, a lot in my first drafts. I bang out first drafts pretty quickly and try not to get bogged down in making it sound great - just my style. When I edit (which takes much, much longer than writing) I pick out all my lame dialog beats and mix them up - I keep a list of alternatives to frowning, and smiling and grinning, etc.

[rod seeber]

i guess in my case it's just a source of thinking outside my usual box ....... it seems the words do not come easily and i have figured out simply they are not part of my normal vocabulary. I think i am lacking 'flair' in my writing.

I do have a dictionary nearby and it had expanded a few terms for me. I do agree that the editing process is most time consuming, as i approach the fourth edit of my 150,000 word story, although to learn about formatting and other requirements needed for smashwords i am writing a much shorter story to use a as 'learner' the premise of this one is about a few quirky coincidences, it's bordering on humor and is a bit of fun to write. I have had a lot of trouble with the Sy Fy aspect of the larger book which at this point i claim is a good story but perhaps not well written

I have found each time round it does surely improve but i wonder at which point you consider it finished

May i ask how many edits some of you folk would do as an average ?

.....love to know thanks for your time

regards , rod

[James North]

rod seeber,
Between revision, editing, proofreading each word in my work gets considered at least 20 times before I feel I’m finished. Some famous writers have talked about 40 revisions.

[Emily MacGowan]

Hi Rod,

I'm on my fifth edit, and it's not going to be the last. That's not counting the times I've read through my chapters individually and tweaked words and sentences as I read.

So far my revisions have been in two forms - big revisions (chopping chapters, changing plots, adding/removing arcs which don't work), and line edits - dialog, overuse of certain words, generally tightening up the lines. I've done two of each and tend to do them one after the other. A big change, then a line edit. Who knows how many more are to come. Whenever I think I'm ready I get someone close to read it and they have great comments - then I realize I have a big revision needed.

I wouldn't hunt for words which are outside of your vocabulary. Don't aim for flair. Aim for truth, and readability. If you use words you're not that familiar with, chances are it will read like engrish, and you'll be making a lot of stupid mistakes. Just my opinion.

[James North]

Yep, use only words you are very experienced with. The time to expand your vocabulary is when you're NOT writing. Then those words can be used in your writing after you have become accustomed to using them in everyday life.