Sera

That was a fun read. A tiny voice in my head complained about the broken paragraph indenting and spacing conventions, but I can see why you did this, and it worked wonderfully. Good job! Plot-wise, that interface also got me scratching my head. Its mention raised all sorts of questions, and I felt you left a promise unfulfilled there. Mentioning an "interface" right at the moment the characters physically wandered away from their routines (and each other) made me wonder if that was an electronic device designed to prevent extreme deviations in the alternate realities or something, what would effectively make both POVs aware of the alternate realities existence. Then it wasn't mentioned again, and I wondered if it wasn't actually a cellphone, a pager or something mundane that just happened to go off at this moment. The issue here is that I think that little passage might be what contributed to make the ending slightly unfulfilling, since I kept expecting a payoff other than "then, they deviated". The tame payoff also made me go back to the beginning and compare both POVs from the "what if POV1 is POV2 tomorrow?" premise, since POV2 put the right leg, then left, but inverted the order at the end to remove the jeans. (I know, it's a silly guess and doesn't quite work) That would make POVs not only alternate realities in the same time, but different slices of time of a same alternate reality.

Eragon

Meanwhile, I advise to start it in the proper order, sticking with the first book, hahaha. I felt the second book lacked a slightly more heavy-handed editing, and sometimes I simply didn't enjoy where the plot was going. Taste is a subjective and personal thing, but I suspect SmurfAquamarineBodies experienced the "same-plot fatigue" on top of that, but in inverted order. Most people feel that on the second book, since it's the second book of the series they read. In any case, it's interesting to hear it can be read outside the right order. I've accidentally done the same mistake once, with another series (and it also worked well this way).

That was fast! Your turn.

Aha! Ok, next one: Led by a priest, a group of extraordinary foul-mouthed orphans find themselves facing an evil king.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

I don't know in which formats Shadows of Self in particular will be released. As you've seen, common ebook formats are MOBI, ePub and PDF. The good news is that since you don't seem to be bound to a platform (e.g. kindle) you don't need to worry about which one of these you'll be getting, because there are various free—and very handy—programs that can read all of these formats. E.g.: FBReader (Android, Windows Phone, Mac, etc): Reads .epub, .mobi, and with a (free) plugin .pdf. Adobe Digital Editions (Microsoft Windows, MacOS): .epub, .pdf I've used both of these in the past. FBReader, for example, allows you to build a library, has bookmarks, lets you choose font size, family, adjust page brightness and color (...). There is also a free kindle app which supposedly allows you to read their DRM protected ebooks on most devices, excluding Linux I think. I'm not familiar with its latest releases, so I can't speak much about it, but that should be enough to cover Amazon releases at least. P.s.: Just googled Barnes & Noble and they sell the "Nook book" edition, which seems to be either ePub or PagePerfect. (:

There are people like you, who learn how to greet in multiple languages, and there are people like me, who learn how to cuss in multiple languages. :x Hey, if you're curious about sine functions for emission, I think you'd enjoy learning how to apply Lambert's Cosines as a rule of thumb for brightness. Not only it's used in 3D (lambertian diffuse shaders), but it's quite useful in painting—yes, painting painting—because it describes the relationship between light and surface angle. That's the basis for depicting believable volume. I took years to fully figure this one out, haha. __ Unfortunately I learned nothing with a broad application today, it's still early in the morning. I learned my cat only likes new scratchers, and that's why he suddenly stopped using his, favoring the living room rug instead... If it counts, yesterday night I learned thyme's name in English, and also that despite being an evergreen Mediterranean~tropical plant it's cold hard.

I liked The Slow Regard for Silent Things. Besides being happy to get a taste of his writing again, I found the fact that many of these inanimate objects were better characterized than the protagonists of other books I've read really amusing. Still didn't read The Lightning Tree. The one book by him I didn't like was The Wise Man's Fear. Not sure about how I feel about the TV show/movie news. His prose is a big part of what makes his books so engaging. You'd need a really competent writer and producer to successfully transpose that to the screen.

He might share the same door issues his dragonborn cousins have. Ah, sweet D&D games... Did Ore Father reach the "Other players: Don't touch my dice, you'll jinx my rolls!" stage already? He might have failed a real-life roll, by the way. His mysterious air is gone. =P

I was so sure I'd find some obscure quip about programming here I was surprised when I didn't. So, well... That's what I call brevity. Hello there, possible Hoid fan?

I gather that all-you-can-eat steakhouses aren't common in the US? "All-you-can-eat" sounds rather cheap and off, but I don't think there is a direct English translation of this type of restaurant. I bet they also serve rice and beans, a foundation of Brazilian everyday cuisine. Not that it's as tasty as all the meat, it's more of a fun curiosity.

Thank you! I didn't want to inadvertently divulge my personal e-mail address. That's for family and close friends alone.

On topic: I'm happy for a very silly reason. Despite loving plants I'm a notorious brown thumb, killing everything I try to grow. Somehow I'm successfully growing ginger now. Cheers! (okay, ginger is ridiculously easy to grow, still... I managed to botch some easy to grow plants before) ___ If this guy really made multiple accounts... when added to the couple of eyebrow-raising statements by the latest profile makes him one of that guys. He's all about engage and enrage. It's a cycle, and only you can break it—he himself might not be aware it's a cycle. You don't want to feed it, you want to make him leave; but you won't achieve it as long you give him anything to grasp, either by engaging him, or feeding his anger by hurting his pride.

Yes, since it became monthly! Before the ~volume 3 it was weekly, and even then the art wasn't bad. Like most mangas it has been improving through time, the difference is that it started decent already. Oh, I ought to warn Vinland Saga full of violence and has some blood in it. It's based on a Norse Saga, so... Hmm, I'm not particularly picky about the art—though I love to read something with good art. I did a quick research on Angel Densetsu, and the problem is I am a little picky about the setting, hahah. I've got to have a really good reason to read about yet another group of schoolchildren. D: I realized I'm actually reading another manga, although it's different, because it's a webcomic. Carciphona. Also pretty art (there was a steep change from first pages to last ones), and I greatly admire the effort the artist puts into her work. Not sure if the story agrees with people here. Of late, I can't see where it's heading. Speaking of where stories go, I think the last manga I've read before sticking with Vinland was Claymore. Geez. The premise was good enough, the setting sparked my curiosity. But the story derailed, and had horrible pacing.

I've been building my own machines for years. The first time I've not built my own computer was recently, when I switched to a laptop—but I customized it, picking every component. I used a local Sager-like company for that, since importing one from the US would be extremely expensive. The local company actually uses rebranded Sager chassis, hah. I learned the basics about hardware, maintenance, and how assemble/disassemble computers from my father, so you can say I have some undue advantage here.

Update: I'm training myself to use the plot progression in the place of the whacked missing sense. It's so obvious I wanted to simultaneously laugh and facepalm when I realized that. Sure. I'm still digging through the welcome topic and all subtopics, but I'm aware of the rules and good practices. I've been part of very few mailing groups, all of them handled by a third part software (Google, Yahoo). Reading Excuses seems to be different. I have a small logistics question, if one of you two don't mind: I suppose the submissions sent to the main e-mail are forwarded to the rest of the list as BCC (blind copies, no mailing list users addresses exposed). But what about the original sender address, the one submitting the story? I'd pick a different e-mail address to join depending on how it's done. Oh, and I have two good reasons for revising before sending: 1. Dialog isn't my priority in the first draft, and I'm a master of contrived conversations, and... 2. The first draft isn't in English. =P Thankfully I can more or less keep my editor side in check by making good use of (hidden) notes and highlight in my text editor. It has been working wonderfully so far! About flat writing recognition, it's a reflection of my taste. Another quirk, though this one might work to my advantage. It's a potential strong point, you can bet I'll be putting some work into it to turn it into a hook.

I read mangas only from time to time, and I'm afraid I've became too exigent because I can't get into most popular series. The cool factor hardly makes up for the usual shonen/shoujo characters now. :| Death Note is one of my favourites—I loved how the story was told—, and I probably will like FMA when I get around reading it too, since I liked both anime versions. It has fun magic system and world building, I bet Sanderson fans will enjoy it. Art samples below: I'm currently reading Vinland Saga. The story has the pacing of a book, what might drive away some action-thirsty fans once they hit later chapters. On the other hand, the lack of the "villain of the week with power lvl X" is precisely what I enjoyed. And the artwork is gorgeous, particularly the settings.

In addition to what was already said: Do you know if you're more of an outliner or discovery writer? Because if you happen to be more of an outliner just attempting to write the story won't help that much. If you don't know yet, you can have a lot of fun figuring this out. Here's an utterly chaotic and not academic at all method you can try: Write down all scene ideas you had on a paper sheet, and world building ideas (including possible characters, settings) on a separate sheet. Cut the scenes paper, so you can individually move ideas around, and try to organize these scenes into a timeline. You'll discover that often multiple ideas could happen in the same time, and other stretches of time have not a single event. This timeline brainstorm is a great visual aid to kick start your brain. Now you have a clear problem you can look for solutions. Which ideas don't quite fit the story? What could be possibly be happening during all this empty time? Where would this scene fit better in terms of plot? And in terms of tension? Now look at the world building ideas sheet. What could be relevant to your story? What complications could arise from, let's say, this species of animal being found only in this land? Figure which characters initially belong to which existing scene; and which actually don't; how the world building ideas could generate new scenes; when character A meets character B; is character B really relevant?; how a character flaw could generate conflict; which ideas could be a natural bridge from scene A to B, filling gaps and answering questions; which ideas wouldn't. You can always save the ideas that don't work for this particular story for another story. Wonder at which points of the timeline you'd like to start and end telling your story. At this point you're likely to know who is the protagonist and have a vague idea of how you want the story to end. You'll know what sort of story you want to tell. Then to work out the tension see if the growing story fits more or less the three act structure (a good starting point for being uncomplicated). It's not that you must follow it to the letter, it's not a rule, it's here to aid you to diagnose pacing and tension issues. Does your story have turning points? Does it have a lowest point? When? Too soon? Too far? It'll help you to pick which overlapping idea might be the best for which situation, and tweak others. Now, based on your decisions, write a full outline of your story. You'll see that somehow most of your scenes naturally fit into chapters. Done? Congratulations! You have the bones of your story. Better than a blank sheet, isn't it? All of this has the purpose of giving you a clear picture of what you actually have in your hands and safe handrails to grab when you feel the story is going downhill. You can start writing the story now. Allow it to carry you in whatever direction it wants, even if it deviates from the outline. You're free to try better ideas you have when already writing the story. When you find yourself stuck or lost, consult the outline, let it guide you back to safer grounds. Does this method work for everyone? Nope! But it'll help you to see whether you feel more comfortable having an outline or simply letting the story flow, and how tight the outline needs to be to help you. P.s.: thigh outline? *giggles*

Hey, I "stole" the format idea from an official spam prevention guide, so that's fine! =P The question looks good! Let me know if you need any more help. Something to take into consideration: Sometimes the question is almost enough. Not as many bots manage to crack it, but one or another will and it will still spam. In those cases, don't panic! It's likely to be a more clever bot (rework the question a little) or it just randomly guessed it right (leave it as it is, or ask for answers with numbers written in full, using lowercase, to see if that helps). P.s.: I see they're waking up the dormant profiles. E.g. this thread by something registered in May. That's a wonderful sign!

It's a hard one to call, I also really like Belkar. He won me over with his lead sheet!

I needed an username and I like how it sounds (Italian: SEHra). Amusingly, this word/spelling exists in various languages. I knew some of its meanings, and just found out it can be... Evening, 'will be', greenhouse, stove, serum, wax, mountain, padlock. Hello, I'm a stove!

You're lacking the options "Both" and "Neither"! =P Hah, I did a fan art (okay, it was more a sketch) of Vaarsuvius once. Poor thing, he (she?) ended looking like a girl.

Hahaha! It seems reasonable to focus only on a couple of things each revision. I feel pacing is structural enough to deserve a spot in the first draft, since I already know where my stories are going. It's hard to put the exact issue into words when I'm not sure myself what's happening. Like most readers I can tell a clunky paragraph from a good one by using my innate sense of rhythm. It's the glaring absence of this sense when writing that bothers me. Any pacing my work has is result of conscious decisions. Because writing takes longer than reading (I eat books!) this misleading impression that the pacing is off ends filling the void, even if by logic I know it's probably not. I agree with you both. It seems to be inexperience, or rather the lack of reassurance experience provides. I wondered whether this was a common issue or a personal quirk. If it were common so would be the short term strategies—these you rely upon to keep writing long enough to acquire the so needed experience. Once I hit the "saturation point" my writing becomes rather flat, and it's annoying to waste time fixing it later. I've been lurking in Reading Excuses (shh!). Thanks for the invitation! Perhaps I'll join just to, you know, get a better idea of what the critiques are about, hah. I wouldn't submit so soon, though, I'd have to do an editing pass on what I've been writing, and I don't want to tempt my inner editor before reaching a specific milestone.

I can't seem to fall into the right emotional state to write; the act of writing doesn't flow right for me. I don't have the faintest clue how my prose will read until I actually read it, because as I write, I have this disruptive, nagging feeling that the pacing is all wrong. It only grows worse if I ignore it, resulting in hushed passages. Writing itself becomes a rocky and unpleasant experience. I always end stopping from time to time to read what I just wrote and make sure mood and pacing are right. Often it's okay enough, sometimes it's so right I find myself surprised, since it felt completely off when I wrote it. Is that inexperience talking? Does anyone else feel this way? Are there any tricks to immediately counter it, or do I need to learn to accept I can't conciliate writing and reading pacing and move on?