Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 1

Status
Not open for further replies.

Risseybug

Re: Show, Don't Tell

I've got one for ya... my mother's maiden name was .....

GONSERKEVIS.

And that's the Americanized version from the Polish, meaning "goose herder."
 

vrauls

Re: Show, Don't Tell

Well, yeah. That's what description is. Balancing act, that's what this art is.

Pick the significant details, give them, let the readers fill in the rest according to their experiences and needs.

Thank you! So as long as I keep the descriptions themselves lightweight, I can still tell my reader what things look like? This is excellent advice.

I think I got confused when I read never to use the word was: “it was a dark and spammy night.”
 

vrauls

Re: Canned meathead

Vrauls, never mind the novel. You should write humor instead.

Thank you! And thanks to everyone for the advice. I'm still not sure my fiction doesn't suck, but I do feel better.

Venecia Rauls
 

Joanclr

Re: Canned meathead

Stephen King wrote as Bachman after he was well established. As I understand it, it was a personal test to see if he was being published because he was Stephen King or a good writer.

How did the test turn out?
 

macalicious731

Re: Show, Don't Tell

Jim, I was on Amazon.com using the "search inside the book" feature on your _Apocalypse Door._ After reading the back cover, I have to say.... I do resent this statement: "Governments and businesses squabble, people go out for coffee, folks meet and fall in love, and the Red Sox will win the World Series when Hell freezes over." :lol

Rest assured, I doubt that was your phrasing, but nonetheless... we are going to reverse the curse! ;)
 

Clearrr

Re: Show, Don't Tell

King's test turned out fine. He found a publisher using the name Bachman.

A reporter tracked down the pseudonym and threatened exposure so King wrote a book about that!
 

Clearrr

Re: Canned meathead

What is my prize? :grin

Why don't you want anything to do with pigeons?
 

Yeshanu

Re: Canned meathead

:smack

This pigeon thing is gonna haunt me forever. Thanks, Jenna.

Ruth's Pigeon Problem

On last names: People ask me why I use my ex's last name, even though we've been separated for nine years.

Ueberer.

That enough for ya?

Lori, finding a "Smith" or a "Jones" to marry ain't that bad an idea, but really, for writing, just choose a name that seems to resonate and use that. It's a lot easier, unless, of course, you actually happen to fall in love with Mr. Smith.
 

HConn

Re: Show, Don't Tell

Guys, just go down to the courthouse and change your name.

Or establish a bank account with a "doing business as Lori Normal" provision. No more worries.
 

pencilone

Re: Canned meathead

On the other hand, if it's a simple, short and bland name like Dan Brown, it's easier for people to remember.:)
 

maestrowork

Re: Canned meathead

But there are probably a hundred million people named Dan Brown (or my name, for that matter -- I have a bland, generic name).
 

HConn

Re: Show, Don't Tell

that's why George Martin publishes as George R. R. Martin. Your name is your brand. It helps to be memorable.
 

Yeshanu

Re: Show, Don't Tell

It helps to be memorable, but it also has to be rememberable.
 

reph

Re: Canned meathead

"Or establish a bank account with a "doing business as Lori Normal" provision. No more worries."

No more worries, huh? Where I live, registering a fictitious business name will call the attention of the city government's revenue division to your existence as someone who should be paying business tax.
 

maestrowork

Re: Canned meathead

Why bother with changing your legal name when you can publish under ANY pseudonym? There's no reason why anyone should know what your real name is...
 

ElonnaT

Re: Show, Don't Tell

This leads to a question I would like to ask...if you wish to use a pseudonym, do you submit using your pseudonym? Or if you are published, you just tell your editor/publisher you want to use a pseudonym?
 

maestrowork

Re: Show, Don't Tell

On your title page:

Code:
                   TITLE OF STORY/NOVEL
                                 by
                            Psuedonym

Some people also prefer "John Smith writing as Opie Que."
 

aka eraser

Re: Show, Don't Tell

This leads to a question I would like to ask...if you wish to use a pseudonym, do you submit using your pseudonym? Or if you are published, you just tell your editor/publisher you want to use a pseudonym?

You'd submit using your real name but on the title page you'd write "Writing as: Nom De Plume." You could also mention that in your cover letter I reckon.

I think you'd still want your real name to appear on subsequent pages and in correspondence because you want the cheque made out properly.

If you're already published, I'm sure it's just a question of telling/convincing your agent/publisher which name you want to use.
 

SRHowen

Pen names

Use your real name on the title page in the info area at the top, then under the title you put the pen name you want. In the slug line you use your last name, not the pen name.

If you are using a name to hide a bad book--no idea what you should do.

Shawn
 

Jules Hall

taxes

No more worries, huh? Where I live, registering a fictitious business name will call the attention of the city government's revenue division to your existence as someone who should be paying business tax.

I'm not sure about where you live, but where I live I know that this would require you to pay no more taxes than you would (legally speaking) have to pay as an author of published fiction anyway.

Yes, if you were intending to dodge those taxes, this might call attention to you.

Also, do banks routinely notify your local government of new business accounts opened? That seems a little odd to me.
 

Yeshanu

Re: Show, Don't Tell

Jules,

I think reph meant that her city levies extra taxes against small businesses. I don't think she was talking about federal income tax at all.

And yes, I find it odd that the bank would be in cahoots with the city... I know reph's in the States, so I don't know the laws, but in Canada there's a new privacy law that would prevent them from passing on this info without your express permission to do so.
 

Lori Basiewicz

Re: Show, Don't Tell

I'm not certain about all the States, but in my state, if you register a fictitious business name, you must register that name with the local government -- county-level in my case -- run a classified in the newspaper a set number of times. The banks don't have to be involved for the government to find out what you're up to.

Jules, Reph is currently battling her city government because they are attempting to apply laws aimed at businesses to freelancers.
 

maestrowork

Re: Pen names

I think it's because most people use "do business as" for small businesses such as "John Smith doing business as Greenthumb Landscaping." That's the way to get paid without going directly to your personal account or without incorporating. And for small businesses there are all sort of tax issues.

Most freelancers don't have to deal with that because they're on 1099 and they use their real names to do business. But in Reph's case, it's different and that's what she's battling right now.
 

Jules Hall

Ah, I see...

So, you get charged a flat rate for operating a business? Here in the UK, we get charged if we have premises specifically for the business. Even just a room in your house that is only used for business purposes counts, but it doesn't matter whether you're trading under your own name or not.

OTOH, we have our own tax problems. I wonder if IR35 is applied to freelance writers? For those who don't know about it, this is a regulation that states that if for any substantial period of time (I don't know the threshold) a self-employed person produces work solely for a single client, they are considered as employed by that client, so don't get to deduct their expenses. Meanwhile, they aren't permitted the rights that employees usually get, either. :(
 
Status
Not open for further replies.