LJ Idol - at DW!

At this point, even newbies know what it takes to make it week to week in LJ Idol. Which makes celebrating making it to 100 weeks extra special.

Considering that there are 2 people making that mark this week, it's extra reason to celebrate!

Well, one of them made it 2 weeks ago. But who's counting (apparently I wasn't) and what a 2 it is! Both have definitely made a huge mark on the competition.

Congratulations to porn_this_way and yachiru, and welcome to the 100 weeks club!

The poll closes tonight: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/973316.html and we are going to be losing the bottom 3.

I just took a look though and there are quite a few folks within a couple votes of being in that group. So please make sure you get out and support your favorites. It will be sad to lose any of them, but it's especially sad when you see the "I wasn't able to vote" comments expressing how much you are going to miss someone!

Who isn't getting the love they deserve right now?

The poll is up: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/973316.html so why are you hanging around here?

Go! Read!

and then come back and let us know what you found that is worth talking about! :)

***

So what's going on in YOUR life? I *may* have big news coming up... still working out the details though...

It's one of those days where there is a lot on my mind, but no time to really talk about it. (need to do that "work thing")

Your deadline is TONIGHT http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/971359.html so I expect to see everyone there.

(pretty good ratio *so far*, but still a lot of names that still need to update! So get to it! *kicks you* )

Cynthia and I were in the line for "It's a Small World" tonight.

Yes, we were. Don't overthink it. Just go with it.

Maybe it's our way of protesting, by embracing a world where everyone comes together by singing in English and all dressing in white and for some reason inviting previously unseen clowns to show up in balloons.

Anyway - we were at the head of the line when the family in front of us had a bit of a run-in with the cast member. We saw the tail end of the exchange - with the cast member telling them they needed to get in line and get in the boat (at which point the teenage boy in the group literally *lept into the boat*).

Cynthia and I turned to each other with a "Damn", but it wasn't until a few minutes later when we were laughing about what we had seen, that we realized that it wasn't *the same "DAMN" moment for us.

I had seen the exchange and thought the family was really rude and while maybe a bit more terse that they are trained to be, that the cast member was dealing with a bad situation.

Cynthia had seen the exchange and saw the cast member as being completely out of line and nasty, and while the family may not have been on their best behavior, that it still didn't warrant that level of snark from her.

Why am I bringing this up? Because people see the same thing differently.

You can be right there, at the same event, taking it all in together - and still come away with a different experience.

This is true of life in general.
This is true of folks playing Idol.
But what occurred to me in that moment when I realized I was going to talk about it today, was that it's important to remember in your own writing. That people may think they are on the same page, but it's probably rare when they actually are completely so.

It's only be drilling down do you find the important differences, which are sometimes fundamental.

***

The thread for your entry links is: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/971359.html so make sure you get out there!

I promised you a Mentor, and here she is! :)

I was really hoping to get tigrkittn involved somehow with this season, but she's been so busy lately that it was going to be tough. I was really happy when she said she would be able to Mentor you guys this week.

I've got to get to work, so here's the link to last night's Work Room: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/971205.html

The Results/sudden death announcement: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/970905.html

and the new topic: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/971359.html

And here's your favorite kittn! ;)

***
I can't believe it's been eight years since I first discovered LJ Idol and started writing seriously for the first time in my life! I’ve gotten so much out of this game – wonderful friends, a new career I never would have attempted otherwise – www.shadowcatediting.com – and of course the opportunity to read hundreds (thousands?) of incredible stories written in various stages of deadline-induced panic.

Most of us are amateurs – or at least start out that way – and that means we’re writing pretty much from the gut. We haven’t necessarily studied a lot of books on the craft, taken any creative writing courses, or had our work professionally edited. And here’s where that initially puts us at a disadvantage, if we’re trying to write the highest quality essays and stories we can:

We don’t know what we don’t know.

Cliché? Sure, but that’s because it’s true – and that’s actually great news! Yes, really. Bear with me for a minute.

It’s great news because as soon as you discover something that you didn’t know before, your work can grow by leaps and bounds almost overnight. Writerly “tics” I’ve seen recently:

Favorite words. If your characters are staring, grinning, or nodding their way through your story, readers will notice – often before you do. Do events often happen “suddenly” in your work? How many times did you use the word “just” in your last story?

Favorite punctuation marks. Exclamation points and em dashes are likely culprits here. I’m overly fond of both, myself, and reducing their number is often a specific goal when I self-edit my own work before sending it to a pro.

“Words to use instead of said.” Several wonderful writers and editors have already written about this at great length and much more eloquently than I about why not to do this, so I won’t try to reinvent the wheel, but here’s the gist: “said” is invisible, and invisible is good. Unusual dialogue tags draw attention – and they’re drawing it away from what the character actually said and onto your description of it. Instead of describing how something was said, choose words that leave no question.

Short choppy sentences. They look fine when I’m writing them. I know what I’m saying. The scene is playing out in my head as I write. There are several things happening at once, or in sequence. Each one needs to be pointed out. Otherwise the reader won’t see what I see. But is this the best way to do it?
Dialogue tags that aren’t. This can be related to avoiding the word said, but not always. It’s often connected to actions, as in “We should order pizza,” she grinned. Or, “You never let me get anchovies,” he growled. Well, no. Have you ever tried to talk while growling? Try it. We can’t really growl sentences, and we definitely can’t grin them.

These are just a few examples, but practically every writer has some sort of habit that sneaks in to their work when they aren’t looking. So why am I bringing up these issues and not telling you what to do about them? Because you’re smart, and these problems aren’t rocket science. You know what to do about them – unless you don’t know you’re doing them.

That’s often where an editor or beta reader steps in – but you all have each other! Writing buddies can help you create your personal list of “quirks to watch out for” and give your work an instant boost.

So now it’s your turn – have you noticed any unusual or conspicuous habits in someone else’s writing? (When I’m listening to Dresden Files books in the car, I count how many times Jim Butcher uses the word “oblique” – it drives me batty!) Or in your own? Be brave – ’fess up! Then we’ll all know what to watch for!

Things have been going pretty well so far.

Everyone gets along, and peace reigns throughout the land.

But sooner or later - you know it's coming.

There is going to be a

Heel turn

and that will be this week's topic! :)

The deadline to link your entries back to this thread is Monday, Jan 23rd at 7pm EST
The deadline has been extended due to LJ issues: the new deadline is Tuesday, Jan 24th at 7pm EST

Have fun!

The poll closes tonight, which means it's time for the weekly "Who isn't getting enough love in the polls this week?" post.

Feel free to name your favorites!

***

I wasn't going to warn you. But I've decided to be ominous, that it might be a good time to find a team.

Am I making a threat? Of course not... I'm just giving those of you who care about such things a heads up that without the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost...

A few words from clauderainsrm:

It’s Week 6, which means it’s time for another poll.

It also means that we have another list of the folks who have byed-out this week. Fortunately, it’s a small list. Unfortunately, there are some talented people on it.

Leaving us this week are:


dreamsreflected
logical_fallacy

Thank you for coming out this mini-season. I hope that once your lives settle down that it coincides with when there will be a chance to re-enter the game!

We also have a couple other departures this week - Goodbye to Teams Celestial Coconut Pancakes and Raspberry Pi. I hope that next week we will see something new rise from your ashes!

We will be having more losses this week as well. Because that’s how we roll.

3 contestants will be eliminated from the Rivals and 1 from the Friends!

So that’s another 4 that will be gone from our ranks at the beginning of next week!

But for right now, that’s all in the future. What you have right now is the present. Both in terms of “right now” and in the terms of “a gift that is being given to you”. Because the entries that I’ve read so far have definitely been a really cool gift.

I can’t wait to read the rest!

The poll will be closing Monday, Jan 25th at 9pm EST

Good luck to everyone!

***
watching_ships did not take a bye. Her entry can be found here:
http://watching-ships.livejournal.com/477453.html

She will not be charged with a bye.

( Click here to Vote! )

On the way home last night I heard Golden Smog's cover of "Starman". It was a decent cover. Pretty straight forward, with them doing an impression of Bowie that if you had it in the background at a party you might not realize that you weren't listening to the original.

Which brought up a couple old questions for me - questions that pop up whenever I hear a cover: "If you aren't going to add something 'uniquely you' to it - why are you covering the song?" and more importantly, because sometimes the answer to #1 is "I felt like it"... "why are you recording it and putting it out there"?

Because every time you put something out there into the world, you are saying "This is worth your time to check out".

Even if you don't consciously say those words, that's the implication - you think this work is worth someone else's rapidly decreasing time on this planet.

It's not just true of cover songs, but original ones - or anything you create, including LJ Idol entries. ;)

(You knew I was going to bring this thing around!!)

I've banged the "this should be uniquely YOU" gong enough, but I'll add to it that you need to be aware that you are asking for someone else's time - and make sure whatever you are putting out there into the world is worthy of that very high bar.

I think it is. Or at least it can be. After all - what is a "vote" if not a way of saying "this was worth not only my time to read, but to come back here and click a box saying 'yes, I liked this thing you did. It was worth my time - I want to see more of it.'?

***

This week's topic thread is: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/884842.html where people are currently posting. Check them out as they come in!

***

Reminder: All team changes need to be in to me at clauderainsrm@gmail.com by 8pm EST tonight. So if you want to change up your existing group or create a new one (and I definitely am trying to encourage the latter!) send me an email with your information!