Suggestions for THE ORACLE

Discussion in 'Support & Feedback' started by flipflop, Jul 4, 2011.

  1. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Sounds good in theory. Most of my template "corrective" posts are points that no one bothers to look for anyway.
     
  2. aimi_aiko

    aimi_aiko New Member

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    I'm not going to add anything to the grammatical issue featured in the responses of this thread, for it had trolled the entire thing, but I will give some suggestions for what to include in said Oracle:

    1) Dos and Don'ts of Grammatical Issues -- Share opinions and what you consider rules and what is not. Provide several links of different opinions from "authorities" and other people. It's not wrong to compare on contrast. We could also include a "Correct Grammar vs. Regular Speak" section.

    2) How to stay confident and devoted to a novel. Some people tend to throw away or set aside really good story ideas because they simply lost confidence or became overwhelmed with several other story ideas that need to be written down as well.

    3) How many is too many? Being overwhelmed with other story ideas is very normal for a writer. Ideas will just hit you out of nowhere, and it is very hard to avoid them. Sure, writing said story ideas down for future references is great, but actually beginning on the stories? How many stories can be handled at one time? Discuss and share advice about simply being overwhelmed with stories.


    That is all I have for now, but if I think of anymore, I will be sure to share.


    Happy writing!

    2)
     
  3. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

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    Well, recent is relative. According to Fowler "less" was perfectly standard for countable and non-countable nouns alike all the way from Old English through to the 18th century. It wasn't until then that what Fowler calls the "prejudice" against using it for countable nouns started to develop. In terms of our lifetimes I suppose 18th century isn't recent, but after studying (albeit briefly) Caedmon's Hymn and Beowulf it certainly looks recent to me! :)

    I thought I'd already posted something on this, but it seems to have got lost. Although less/fewer might be a distraction from discussion on the oracle, it does highlight an important point for the ORACLE, which is that all "rules" need to be qualified with some indication of how hard-and-fast they are. The rule that verbs need to agree with their subjects is pretty solid, only to be broken in very restricted circumstances. The rule not to split infinitives or the one not to start sentences with conjunctions are a bit more contentious, and rules to show, don't tell or not to use the passive voice are merely general recommendations. I suspect that novice writers are harmed by these things all being presented as "rules" with no indication of where on the rule-guideline continuum then actually lie.
     
  4. flipflop

    flipflop New Member

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    cheers these are all great ideas and i believe all will be included:)
     
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  5. wildthing

    wildthing New Member

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    I would like to see articles specifically describing how to write well, articles on actual authors as well their works, that discusses how they write as well. I don't have any specifications on how it should be placed, as long as its legible and easily understood. Thank you and I hope this helps in anyway.
     

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