tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post2846682364278500521..comments2024-03-28T14:52:13.218-05:00Comments on Stonekettle Station: On WritingJim Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-86944214583210343042008-01-12T11:35:00.000-06:002008-01-12T11:35:00.000-06:00I liked the story, and it makes sense now why your...I liked the story, and it makes sense now why your blog is called "Stonekettle Station." Hehe.<BR/><BR/>I like the Iditarod tie-in also, and hope that Henry's new planet has sled dogs, too. <BR/><BR/>And what does "Iyes" mean?Janiecehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14190655869710465713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-12322254178052049882008-01-12T10:03:00.000-06:002008-01-12T10:03:00.000-06:00I think long ago when I put my first novel on the ...I think long ago when I put my first novel on the web, I used OpenOffice to save it as HTML and then I went through and hand edited some of the tags, because, you know, I was a web professional and I could stand to do that kind of drudgery. (That same HTML can now be cut and pasted from the web and put into my WP blog without looking fugly.)<BR/><BR/>I'm waiting for someone to make a writer's IDE that allows you to save your text in any format including vanilla HTML for export. This IDE should use XML to style the text and you should be able to assign your own XML tags that describe text as either narration, dialog (which character is speaking should be identifiable) so that your novel or short story could be easily podcast using canned voices from your computer. <BR/><BR/>Ok, I'll stop Geeking out now. I liked the story, want more.Ken McConnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09164270132364529505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-87601352191114497242008-01-11T23:36:00.000-06:002008-01-11T23:36:00.000-06:00Jim,Very nicely done! The only thing that was a b...Jim,<BR/><BR/>Very nicely done! The only thing that was a bit jarring was the Iditarod history bit, the flashback containing a history exposition was a bit jarring and dropped me out of the story for a bit.<BR/><BR/>Otherwise, it was very readable, very interesting, and I'd certainly keep turning the pages.<BR/><BR/>My disclaimer, of course, is that I'm not a published writer, just a wannabe and an avid consumer of how-to-write fiction books, so my advice is not worth much. :P<BR/><BR/>PS... my novel also contains sled dogs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-87886091891528756422008-01-11T22:23:00.000-06:002008-01-11T22:23:00.000-06:00Well... Your next option would be to *save* to tex...Well... <BR/><BR/>Your next option would be to *save* to text in notepad, close the file, and then reopen it... no... wait a second... lemme check something...<BR/><BR/>Here. Much easier:<BR/><BR/>Okay, WORDpad has a Paste Special feature. So try pasting he text into WordPad using Edit -> Paste Special and then selecting the option Unformatted Text. <BR/><BR/>You should then be able to paste into blogger without any stray formatting. <BR/><BR/>(Word and HTML to NOT play well together. Word embeds so much crap into its files, it's nearly impossible to deal with Word generated text outside of word without using Paste Special to delete the extraneous formatting. [Dreamweaver 8 has a pretty strong Paste Special to ditch Word formatting.])Random Michelle Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13817444379694818074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-6022492120104781922008-01-11T22:15:00.000-06:002008-01-11T22:15:00.000-06:00::1950's voice announcers::"Space mushers from the...::1950's voice announcers::<BR/><BR/>"Space mushers from the 21st century and beyond..."<BR/><BR/>I'm there.Nathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00648438549121320566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-22628170149986149522008-01-11T20:20:00.000-06:002008-01-11T20:20:00.000-06:00Is there a reason that his present location is uns...<I>Is there a reason that his present location is unstated? </I> It is, only that's in the part of the chapter I didn't post. :)<BR/><BR/><I>I really liked that whole element.</I> Well, I could have done it a different way, but 'write what you know' right? And I wanted the whole sled dog thing because I needed to show what kind of man Henry is, but mostly because I couldn't think of another scifi novel with sled dogs and I thought it was about time we had some.Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-38492228393839359902008-01-11T20:09:00.000-06:002008-01-11T20:09:00.000-06:00RE: the "self-same stars"1. you're explanation tot...RE: the "self-same stars"<BR/><BR/>1. you're explanation totally holds water.<BR/><BR/>2. yeah, it is a nice phrase.<BR/><BR/>3. It does establish a kind of "right where I started from" sort of moment.<BR/><BR/>Is there a reason that his present location is unstated? Had I understood that he's looking at the same stars from a somewhat different angle, it wouldn't have be jarring.<BR/><BR/>BTW, having dealt with mushers and their dogs on Iron Will, I really liked that whole element.Nathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00648438549121320566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-37775655887854032792008-01-11T20:06:00.000-06:002008-01-11T20:06:00.000-06:00The (unfunny) unfunny followup is that when I post...The (unfunny) unfunny followup is that when I posted to you so proudly about the simple text fix, I had successfully posted the chapter and checked to make sure it worked. Ten minutes later, my GF told me she was trying to read the chapter and it froze up on her.<BR/><BR/>Arghhhhhhh!<BR/><BR/>I've just finished retyping it from scratch directly into Blogger and it seems to be working.<BR/><BR/>Fingers, toes, ankles...every damn thing I've got is crosses.Nathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00648438549121320566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-71010614908790655242008-01-11T19:50:00.000-06:002008-01-11T19:50:00.000-06:00Michelle, I've tried that. In fact that's exactly ...Michelle, I've tried that. In fact that's exactly the technique I used to past this excerpt into blogger with. But it doesn't always work right for me, especially regarding paragraphs. Several times, using the the notepad trick, I've had the subsequent paste into blogger result in one giant paragraph with no breaks, and sometimes not. There is no rhyme or reason that I can tell and I chalked it up to either a bug in blogger or a conflict with the template I'm using. When I get some time I'll look into it more closely.Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-63888100373130490362008-01-11T19:32:00.000-06:002008-01-11T19:32:00.000-06:00Unfortunately, I am unfit to comment upon SF, so I...Unfortunately, I am unfit to comment upon SF, so I shan't.<BR/><BR/>But I will comment upon things about which I know stuff.<BR/><BR/>1) To get rid of evil Word formating, paste the selection into Notepad, for no formating may live in notepad.<BR/><BR/>Copy and paste from notepad into your destination document.<BR/><BR/>No formatting! Win!<BR/><BR/>2) The reason the Word Press templates are so bland, is because it's *really* easy to change the formatting to something you like. Heck, I'd even be willing to share the two templates I tweaked and modified to get the looks I wanted. (One black, and one white.)Random Michelle Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13817444379694818074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-68790792911837258042008-01-11T19:27:00.000-06:002008-01-11T19:27:00.000-06:00Damnit, let me add one more thing - I don't arbitr...Damnit, let me add one more thing - I don't arbitrarily just like the phrase 'self same stars.' I phrased it that way deliberately to tie Henry's past and present together, which is critical to the story line.<BR/><BR/>Though, without the rest of the chapter, and the chapters that follow, this is not readily apparent.Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-57257065121428746912008-01-11T19:23:00.000-06:002008-01-11T19:23:00.000-06:00Nathan,The phrase "self same stars" is correct, th...Nathan,<BR/><BR/>The phrase "self same stars" is correct, though some folks may think I've made a mistake (this quibble has been pointed out to me before). The world in question circles Alpha Centaurus A (an unlikely place to find a habitable world, but that is explained in the story elsewhere). The Alpha Centauri system is not visible from Earth's northern hemisphere(i.e. Alyeska), and in the context of the story, Sol is not visible from where the protagonist stands. With that said, 4.2 light years is not enough distance to significantly change the appearance of the heavens, so for all intents and purposes, they are indeed the 'self same stars,' Though I understand that phrase may confuse some folks without an astronomy background, I like it and I'm keeping it - unless, of course, some editor offers me a shitload of money to get rid of it, in which it's toast. :)<BR/>------------<BR/>I know I can change the font size using FF, but it pisses me off that you the reader would have to. I'd prefer you didn't have to screw around to view my site, I try to be a good host, unreadable fonts aren't very friendly.<BR/><BR/>I've used the text stripping technique Jeri mentioned to you. There's also a quicker method, which is to paste the text into blogger directly from Word, then click on the 'Remove formatting from selection' tool (the little eraser icon, then go back in and format as you please. I've had mixed luck with both methods. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. I don't know why.Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-84985142998883996162008-01-11T18:45:00.000-06:002008-01-11T18:45:00.000-06:00According to Jeri, I was probably having the same ...According to Jeri, I was probably having the same problem as you getting a post up in my site.<BR/><BR/>She suggested converting it to simple text, copying and pasting that and then re-doing stuff like italics, etc. Worked great.<BR/><BR/>I've been looking at WordPress, and I'm not so sure anymore. I did a test run importing my blog there and I couldn't figure out how to work a lot of the stuff. Also, the templates are kinda cheesy.Nathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00648438549121320566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-48039647132777383372008-01-11T17:03:00.000-06:002008-01-11T17:03:00.000-06:00I liked it, but it leaves me really wondering what...I liked it, but it leaves me really wondering what's in the rest of the chapter. I scrolled down looking for comments before I read any of it and my first reaction was, "Jeez. Lotta words today". Then I remembered you'd said you would post part of the book. :-)<BR/><BR/>One quibble. In the intro, you say he's been castaway on a distant planet. Then at the end, you say he's staring up at the same stars. Shouldn't they be different stars from what he saw in Aleyska? Or is this one of the clues you mentioned.<BR/><BR/>Also, for everybody else. If you're using Firefox, click on "view" and then you can increase the text size. Yes, Jim, they were teeny-tiny letters.Nathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00648438549121320566noreply@blogger.com