Quick Fire Questions (A Place to Ask and Answer)

[David Evil Overlord]

Originally Posted by springs1971

...but still them darned possessive apostrophes...

Originally Posted by Warren_Paul

They still get me too, those darn possessives!

I've never heard of anyone being possessed by an apostrophe. Demons, yes. Apostrophes, no.

Could be next month's theme...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ursa major
You've used the word, av*n*e. And on a family-friendly site. (What was the software thinking...?)






The software was not thinking anything. The software is not sentient. The software denies it is plotting to take over the world, bwahahahahaha!!

[David Evil Overlord]

Oops! Double post, please delete.

[Mouse]

Originally Posted by Interference

Peter, Paul and Mary were a popular group in my yoot. They were mainly folk singers. Even before synthesisers, two people could be an effective combo, as fans of Simon and Garfunkel, Peter and Gordon, The Everly Brothers and others will attest.

Other famous trios who didn't depend on backing groups when they got famous might include: Cream; Emerson, Lake and Palmer; Nice and others. With synthesisers, you might just be impressed by duos like Siouxie and the Banshees, Soft Cell and The Pet Shop Boys. Even the Eurythmics was essentially a duo.

In the jazz genre, trios abound, of course.

I hope I've understood the question properly and answered it satisfactorily. Do I get points?

You get four points out of a possible five. Thankies.

Originally Posted by hopewrites

it only wouldnt work if she was singing base. she can play base, but not sing it.

was that helpful? *cheesy grin*

music is like any other art, you have to say what it is before we can apply "rules" to it.

Ta muchly.

Yes, gonna stick with the threesome. Two boys and a girl. *mental images*

[Vertigo]

This should be a simple quick grammatical question.

Who knows, maybe he'll manage it.

A fairly common turn of phrase but should there be a question mark somewhere. 'Who knows' is clearly a question but 'maybe he'll manage it' doesn't seem to be. Should it be split:

Who knows? Maybe he'll manage it.

[Abernovo]

The second one reads more correctly to me, Vertigo. It's how I'd think the sentence if I were to ask it. I hope that makes sense.

[Vertigo]

Yes, now I look at the two together, I think you are right. It was just that somehow the two bits (good technical word that) seemed too closely related to be split up, particularly if they were buried in the middle of a paragraph rather than standing on their own like that.

[Interference]

"Who knows" could possibly, with extreme stretches of imagination, be a statement and free you of the question-mark rule, though I suspect that:

Who knows? maybe he'll manage it.

is acceptable under some circs.


Otherwise your most likely choices are:

Who knows? Maybe he'll manage it.

and

Who knows, maybe he'll manage it?

with a preference for the former because of how it sounds in the reading ear.

[Vertigo]

I think you are right; putting the question mark in the middle gives more of a pause and that is really how you would say it.

[TheDustyZebra]

Yes, you want

Who knows? Maybe he'll manage it.

Although, being a fan of ellipses and dashes myself, I have been known to try and get away with something like

Who knows ... maybe he'll manage it.

or

Who knows -- maybe he'll manage it.

In those instances, "who knows" is more of a statement and less of a question, which sometimes it is.

[David Evil Overlord]

Originally Posted by springs1971

Your characters are 17, and they're interested in each other.... is it going to limit you if you can't explore certain, um, avenues? Not that i'm obsessed, just interested.

Just as well you haven't seen my other main WIP, springs.

Let's just say clothing doesn't last forever on a desert island with no washing machines...

P.S. I don't mean those avenues will not be explored. Just that the current plan is not to explore that far in this story. If/when it becomes a book chapter, further exploration is highly likely.

[Warren_Paul]

Strange comment from feedback... hoping that further clarification comes back, but in the meantime:

When someone (not chrons) gives feedback that your book reads like an RPG, do you think that's a good thing? I'm completely confused as to what to make of this remark.


I don't think the person usually reads fantasy.

[David Evil Overlord]

Originally Posted by Warren_Paul

Strange comment from feedback... hoping that further clarification comes back, but in the meantime:

When someone (not chrons) gives feedback that your book reads like an RPG, do you think that's a good thing? I'm completely confused as to what to make of this remark.


I don't think the person usually reads fantasy.

Some people only know fantasy from RPGs (usually computer/playstation/xbox/etc), and maybe they've heard of those movies about the nassty hobbitsess. Otherwise, they're clueless. An RPG is all they have to compare your work to.

Did they say which RPG?

[Warren_Paul]

No, the person didn't say what RPG in particular, although I do believe the person does play RPGs.

[HareBrain]

Could mean almost anything. Super-vague comments that could be either damning criticism or high praise, or anything between, are so annoying. Can you contact them to clarify?

[Warren_Paul]

Originally Posted by HareBrain

Could mean almost anything. Super-vague comments that could be either damning criticism or high praise, or anything between, are so annoying. Can you contact them to clarify?

Yeah I have, but got no response yet.