The Terry Pratchett Prize, Round Two...

[Quatermass]

Go for it, Q! :clap:

Thank you. Thanks to it being derived partly from my earlier works, I have a decent plot I can use. Only question is, can it reach 80K words?

 

[De Lona Ranger]

Tahiti isnt just sand and surf Q..... you would be crazy to swim in the waters there..... do you not realise there are other things you can do...... all that water....... SAILING!

I am not one to adore swimming in the ocean... but its lovely on top of it.

 

[deldaisy]

Hi Q.... Guess what? I finished that book you gave me..... A Civil Campaign. Quite liked it too.... always a good sign when I finish a book and go back to reread the first chapter to see what I missed before I know what I know now. It was a strange science fiction..... more a comedy/bodice ripper. I thought it was a bit "light" and all the VOR names annoyed the hell out of me.... hated that about Tolstoy too.... but I discover I am interested in where they came from and if there are books after this one in the series.... thats always a good sign huh.

Thank you for introducing me to a new author. I know it took me a while to get into it.... but its the first book I have read in ages apart from Snuff.... huge leaps.

 

[Quatermass]

Hi Q.... Guess what? I finished that book you gave me..... A Civil Campaign. Quite liked it too.... always a good sign when I finish a book and go back to reread the first chapter to see what I missed before I know what I know now. It was a strange science fiction..... more a comedy/bodice ripper. I thought it was a bit "light" and all the VOR names annoyed the hell out of me.... hated that about Tolstoy too.... but I discover I am interested in where they came from and if there are books after this one in the series.... thats always a good sign huh.

Thank you for introducing me to a new author. I know it took me a while to get into it.... but its the first book I have read in ages apart from Snuff.... huge leaps.

Thanks. There's more science fiction in the other books of the Vorkosigan Saga, but A Civil Campaign is by far the funniest of the series. Memory, set before it, is probably the best in the Vorkosigan Saga, but it's less funny and far more dramatic. But it would also be good to start from the beginning of the series. They sell the Vorkosigan Saga books at the Pulp Fiction bookshop in Brisbane. In fact, the series is apparently their biggest seller by any one author.

I suggest that you either start with the Cordelia's Honour or Young Miles novel compilations.

The 'Vor' names are part of the culture of Barrayar. It's the name of an aristocratic and military class, so any family of that class has 'Vor' at the start. In fact, the second novel in Young Miles is called The Vor Game, partly as a pun on "War Game".

 

[raisindot]

Why can't you work in a plausible evolutionary concept that does allow the key aspect - Jack Cohen (of Science of the Discworld fame) always cites the 'common ancestor' of all land vertebrates as being responsible for our having such awful respiratory probs because our airways are in front of our digestive tract (or is it the other way around?
). His point is that if another creature that didn't have that particular configuration had got out of the primeval oceans and was able to breathe oxygen out of water first, then maybe we wouldn't have such dire ENT problems or get pneumonia and coughs and so on...

I like that idea. For about ten seconds I had thought about writing a novella based on the notion that human beings never developed eyes (or at least eyes that could detect anything other than light). Since human development and science is nearly entirely based on vision (if you can't see the stars, or the sky, you don't really know that there's a world out ther further than you can walk). Then I thought that someone must have done this already, and I've got focus on getting the novel I have completed out there.

 

[Quatermass]

Why can't you work in a plausible evolutionary concept that does allow the key aspect - Jack Cohen (of Science of the Discworld fame) always cites the 'common ancestor' of all land vertebrates as being responsible for our having such awful respiratory probs because our airways are in front of our digestive tract (or is it the other way around?
). His point is that if another creature that didn't have that particular configuration had got out of the primeval oceans and was able to breathe oxygen out of water first, then maybe we wouldn't have such dire ENT problems or get pneumonia and coughs and so on...

I like that idea. For about ten seconds I had thought about writing a novella based on the notion that human beings never developed eyes (or at least eyes that could detect anything other than light). Since human development and science is nearly entirely based on vision (if you can't see the stars, or the sky, you don't really know that there's a world out ther further than you can walk). Then I thought that someone must have done this already, and I've got focus on getting the novel I have completed out there.

I dunno about human biological evolution, but I do believe that there is a story by HG Wells about a society of blind people isolated in a valley. The Country of the Blind. Their blindness was caused initially by a disease, and is now hereditary.

Anyway, at the moment, I am mulling the concept of my new TP Prize novel, trying to work out how the plot will go. I have, basically, two disconnected plots that I am trying to merge. Will be trying to do that for the time being...

 

[Quatermass]

Okay. I've made an attempt (slow going so far) of returning to my original intended book for the TP Prize. It's slow going, but I think, with some effort and a little padding, I might just stretch it to 80K words. Just.

 

[pip]

Good stuff Q. Hope it works out well.
I'll buy it when its published

 

[Quatermass]

Good stuff Q. Hope it works out well.
I'll buy it when its published

IF it gets published, you mean.

But I am hoping to have it ready for the TP Prize. Progress is slow, but it's fine enough.

 

[pip]

Good stuff Q. Hope it works out well.
I'll buy it when its published

IF it gets published, you mean.

But I am hoping to have it ready for the TP Prize. Progress is slow, but it's fine enough.

I was being positive.
Keep us informed of the progress anyway

 

[Quatermass]

Good stuff Q. Hope it works out well.
I'll buy it when its published

IF it gets published, you mean.

But I am hoping to have it ready for the TP Prize. Progress is slow, but it's fine enough.

I was being positive.
Keep us informed of the progress anyway

Well, I'm 15K words in. How's that for progress?

It's still pretty slow for what I normally do, though. At the moment, I mean. I've barely done maybe 700 words today, most of which were copied and pasted from a previous draft. I usually do at least 2500 words, about a chapter. But I'm sorta lacking motivation at the moment.

 

[pip]

I suppose its because its for a contest the stress levels will increase . Just try enjoy it and see were it brings you

 

[Quatermass]

Progress is slow, partly due to real life getting in the way, but I'm nearly up to 20K words.

 

[deldaisy]

I love YOUR definition of "slow" Q.

As Dory always says...... "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmyUkm2qlhA

 

[Batty]

I started writing yesterday, purely 'cause a thought took hold and I followed it to see where it led me.

I ended up writing 6008 words - and the story has barely begun! The thing is, I'm all worded out (- technical expression!) so I won't pick it up again unless it calls to me!

That should show it who's Boss!!

 

[Quatermass]

Doing well is about 2500 words a day for me. Which I'm not doing ATM, partly because real life gets in the way, and partly because I'm lacking the motivation to write the book.

 

[Quatermass]

I've done about 23K words, and hopefully, I might be able to bring it up to 80K words. Lots of padding has gone into it, though... It's only now that the really exciting bit comes in...

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

Well you're over 25% of the way there and it's not even February yet...

You are a worry wart aren't you!

 

[Quatermass]

Well you're over 25% of the way there and it's not even February yet...

You are a worry wart aren't you!

JVQ, this draft is my 124th. Over a period of about two years. I need to allow a lot of time just in case I change my mind, prevaricate, pontificate, procrastinate, postpone, play with, or otherwise f*** up my work.

And in any case, I'm still a little worried that I may not make 80K words. I need a decent quality book before I can submit it.

Remember, writing is actually easy. Quality writing is hard.

 

[deldaisy]

Well you're over 25% of the way there and it's not even February yet...

You are a worry wart aren't you!

JVQ, this draft is my 124th. Over a period of about two years. I need to allow a lot of time just in case I change my mind, prevaricate, pontificate, procrastinate, postpone, play with, or otherwise f*** up my work.

And in any case, I'm still a little worried that I may not make 80K words. I need a decent quality book before I can submit it.

Remember, writing is actually easy. Quality writing is hard.

Unless you are being a perfectionist!

Should change your nic from Q to P.....

On second thoughts.... no..... "Hi P !" just doesnt have the same ring to it....