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 This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario. An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. |
| Writing Scandals 5: Jumi Bello Schnujo's next semester starts asked me about writing scandals. What a great topic! I thought I’d covered those I know about, but I recently learnt about another one because the author in question submitted to a publisher I know… This is the story he told me. Jumi Bello In 2022 a new author was being touted as getting ready to release her debut novel through a prestigious mid-sized publisher. And then… nothing. Well, turns out the publisher discovered just in the nick of time that she had plagiarised huge chunks of her novel. And not from small, niche authors, but people as well-known as James Baldwin. She decried the decision, then blamed her mental health struggles, but none of that worked and the novel remained unpublished. So she wrote an essay about her experiences and about plagiarism… Ready for this? She also plagiarised chunks of her essay about plagiarism, including from the site plagiarismtoday.com! The story is still ongoing, but one question yet to be answered is how the publisher discovered it at the last minute after it had got through the reading phases and even editing without any alarm bells being struck. As for the publisher I know? Jumi apparently submitted a short story to an anthology, he recognised her name and decided it was not worth the risk. Although, he hastens to add, she wouldn’t have been accepted anyway. The writing, he reckons, just wasn’t that good. |
| External Writerings August 2025 Yep, time again for me to self-publicise. Remember, every click from a different IP gets me a small amount of money. I am trying to make a living as a writer (being homeless, that is not as easy as it sounds, let me tell you), and this is the sort of thing that does help. A lot of 1985 this month, but that is the nature of the beast, I’m afraid. And only 5 columns. Bands who released songs with the same name as the band. My favourite songs of 1985. My favourite Australian songs of 1985 Songs with ‘human’ (or variations) in the title. My favourite albums of 1985. Hope you found something here to enjoy! |
| Publisher Expectations Of Authors This comes from Tobber: what is expected of us as authors when we are dealing with publishers? Note: this is traditional publishing. Self-publishing comes with its own expectations. This is fascinating, and there are quite a few expectations. And they start at the very beginning. Now, this only covers books; for short stories the first two apply, and the rest not so much unless you are a headline author (and, yes, I have been one of those). The publisher will expect you to bow to them and submit by their rules. While that is usually Shunn standard formatting, they may want other things done. And, of course, you must ensure what you arte submitting is in the genre they want. If you don’t follow these rules, they will not want to work with you. Yes, it is a test; no, your “perfect writing” is not going to make them overlook this. You have proven yourself difficult to work with from the start. Next, there will be an expectation of you looking at the edits critically, doing the rewrites, and negotiating with the publisher. Not arguing and demanding things be done your way. Some smaller publishers have let that go in the past, but things are tightening thanks to one book series, and the backlash that hit the publisher afterwards. So there is an expectation of working with, not in spite of. Then comes the publication. While marketing is usually the responsibility of the publisher (although an increasing number demand the author do at least 50% of the marketing), the author needs to utilise its own resources to publicise their works. This was social media, but that is proving increasingly ineffectual as social media formats become echo chambers and not the world-wide equalisers they were originally. So, for me, it would be pushing my books here on WdC, on my Discord servers, which are all writing-based. And I would be expected to do this at least semi-regularly. Then comes publicity. If you are in the USA, this means going on radio, podcasts, appearing at conventions, doing book-store signings, a lot of little things. They are all going to be expected, and your publisher will organise a few. For people like me in another country, it is 2am Zoom appearances, 4am phone calls, appearing at conventions virtually. But I also did a heap of radio interviews, some newspaper (student, all of them), and a bunch of blog interviews (which are now, sadly, a thing of the past). The final expectation is that you will follow up. Short stories means you will have enough ideas for another story to be published. Books means you will be able to get a second book done. If you have one book published and it is more than 5 years before your second, the first might as well not exist. I found that out! But with five books under my belt, it means different publishers can actually use ‘from the author of Invasive Species’ in publicity. The expectations are there because a traditional publisher has invested money in you. And, in my opinion, you do owe them for that. |
| Novel #20 Beneath The Desert Sands, clocking in at 41,000 words, was one of three long works I wrote or finished in 2009. It has never been submitted anywhere for publication, because it is a little experimental, but I still like the work. This was written as a sort of homage to H.Rider Haggard’s She, one of my favourite books of all time (not top 3, but definitely top 10). In my rather odd attempt to make things more relevant to me, I took the concept of the story, and wrote a non-linear narrative with basically the same set-up but placed in the middle of Outback Australia. A trio of young men go searching for the mythical Lassiter’s Reef (a gold vein that no one has ever found, an Australian myth that has persisted for decades, and to this day people go missing searching for it), but instead find the underground domain of a She-like queen. They have surviving Diprotodons and Megalania, they have slaves and they have completely out-of-place temples. And the story does not end well for our intrepid trio. I didn’t do the death thing, didn’t include a lot of the magic in the first book, but I like to think I paid homage to a book I really enjoy without deriding it. It was a fun bit of writing, but I don’t think there is really a market for it. Excerpt: XL The water splashed down on their heads was ice cold, jolting them into life immediately. One of the dozen or so men holding the heavy stone buckets indicated for the twenty-one laying on the stone floor to stand. They all obeyed with groans and pained expressions. Kyle collapsed immediately, clutching his wounded leg and screaming in pain. It could not even support his weight for a moment. Mark was by his side straight away. “You okay, mate?” he whispered. All Kyle could do was whimper and grasp his thigh with both hands. He turned a bit and Mark winced at the amount of blood that had stained through his pants. Then hands were on him, dragging him roughly away. He fought back. “Get off!” he screamed. “My friend is hurt! Get off! Get… oof.” The fist that buried itself in his stomach was solid and carried a lot of force, doubling him over and bringing some of the water that he had had before going to sleep the previous night out through his mouth and nose. He was hurled back into line and the spear thrust against his stomach kept him at bay. “You bastards!” he cried. “He’s injured! Can’t you see that?” As though understanding what Mark was screaming, the man in charge of the soldiers standing over them all snapped his fingers and barked a few orders. Kyle was grabbed and held face down against the stony ground with two men at each of his limbs. A ninth man – the largest one here – held his head still and then the leader ripped his pants away. They were stuck to the skin above the wound, and the sound they made as they came away sent shudders through all those bound in their chains. Mark had to turn his face. Though relatively small, the injury to his leg had started to ooze a thick greenish pus from around the edges and the expressions that were not well hidden on the faces of the nearby soldiers told him just how bad the small was rising from it. The leader grunted and disappeared down a nearby tunnel. He emerged a few moments later carrying a burning torch which he handed to yet another soldier. He then knelt down and used his knife to open the wound a little more. Kyle tried to struggle, but was held fast. Then the leader squeezed, allowing the pus to ooze forth in a continual stream of putrescence along with, eventually, blood. Kyle’s head was held firmly but his body shook and quivered with the pain. Only when blood alone came from the wound did the man working on him stop. And he took the torch back. He said something to Kyle, and then pressed the burning brand down onto the wound. It took the combined strength of all the men to keep him still until the leader had finished. A bucket of water was then poured slowly over the burn mark and he barked another order. Four of the soldiers carried the whimpering man away, leaving the rest of them to watch in stunned fear as their comrade was removed. Like I said, things don’t work out well for our characters. I think I got the descriptions okay, I reckon I managed to differentiate the characters well enough, and I think it works with the non-linear nature (including explorers who were alive before the three). |
| Kenning This was suggested by Kåre เลียม Enga, and it was something I came across at university, but it had really passed me by, so I thought I would look at it. Kenning (plural: kenningar) is a form of word play from Old Norse and Old English poetry where a single noun is replaced by a different noun with a modifier, these two words often joined by a hyphen. This means something like a boat being called a “wave-traveller” is a kenning. Other old examples include:- Whale-road: ocean Battle-sweat: blood Weapon-din: battle Sun’s bane: snow While it is poetic, it is something that, as Kåre เลียม Enga said to me, can be used to avoid clichéd descriptions and metaphors. And it is something still continued to be used to this day. “Tree-hugger” for nature lover, “pencil-pusher” for white collar worker, “ambulance-chaser” for lawyer – there is no shortage of kenningar we use. Notice something, though? The modern examples I just gave are terms used derisively (although tree-hugger is being reclaimed by some). And a look through the online space shows me that most kenningar are almost insults. But why not use them in your writing? Of course, they might fit well in a fantasy setting, and many fantasy writers use them as a par for the course. And they are poetic, so poetry uses them; maybe sparingly today, but they are still there. But why not in other writing? Kåre เลียม Enga gave these examples:- Light-bright: dawn Heart’s fire: lover Cushioned-coffin: bed Mine are not as good, but:- Chest-jump: scare Flowing-mind: teacher I think it is definitely something worth thinking about, as these words double as descriptors within the context of the story itself. So, something new for me to really look into and it has given me, at least, food for thought. |
| Chapters These are questions I have seen a few times here on WdC and on various online spaces: How many chapters should there be in a book, and how long should each chapter be? Okay, first and foremost, let’s look at what a chapter is. A chapter in a novel is supposed to indicate a change of scene where there is a jump in location and/or time. Not every location change should be a new chapter; most large time jumps should be. A chapter could also be a change of Point of View. That’s about as hard and fast as rules on what makes a chapter as are going to be. There is no actual definitive idea of what makes a chapter. Sorry. So, how long should they be? However long they need to be is the answer. Beginner writers are often told that chapters should be about the same length, but this is not necessarily the case. Not at all. Stephen Klng has been known to have very long chapters, and then a quick page, two-page one. Why? Because it’s how the story goes. A chapter should be as long as it is to work in your story. How many should there be? Again, it is your story. It is up to you. Some books have dozens of short chapters; some have a few long chapters. My favourite Australian book, Pig by Kenneth Cook does not even have chapters! I have seen a few online courses tell people a book should have 27 chapters of 3k words each. Wow – very prescriptive! This is because there are 3 acts, and each act has three points of demarcation, which have three mini-acts within them, and 3000 words gives a total of 81000 words, a good novel length. Yes, for beginners, I would recommend keeping chapters at a consistent length until you get a hang of the novel writing thing, but when you do your next draft, then you can muck around with it. As you get more experienced, it does not really matter, and you will work out what works for you. There’s not a real lot to say here. The answers are as individual as the writers themselves. Don’t be hung up on details like this, and just write your story to the best of your ability. |
| Types Of Conflict This is based on some work by K.W. Weiland Conflict is what makes stories work. Without some form of conflict, stories would just be a series of events that happen and everyone lives happily ever after. Rather boring, really. However, conflict is not just two people arguing or going after the same goal. The way people approach conflict is different. Conor McGregor does not think but just hits or throws things; Pope John Paul II always looked for the compromise in any situation. Very different ways of managing conflict. Our characters should reflect these differences as well. As such, Weiland describes 5 main types of conflict when it comes to people. 1. The Competing Style This is the character who just wants what they want and will do whatever it takes to get it. They have high assertiveness and low co-operation – it’s their way or the highway. They value victory over everything else, including their relationships. While this may seem like a stereotypical villain, they are also very effective leaders. They tend to look big picture and ignore minutiae. Selfish and yet efficient. They see things in terms of winning and losing. They tend towards aggression as a first course of action. example: Captain Ahab in Moby Dick (Herman Melville), whose single-mindedness to get the titular whale makes him convince most of the crew to ignore the boat’s actual job, even if it kills crew members. 2. The Collaborating Style This is when a character tries to work with who they are up against, looking for a win-win situation. These people have high assertiveness and high co-operation – they want to find a solution that works for everyone. They want to win, but don’t want others to be seen as losers. They do make good leaders, but are ruled by the heart rather than the head. They can also create a situation where everyone loses. example: Kerrick in West Of Eden who tries to get the worlds of humans and Yilané together without either side losing face, even in the face of opposition. 3. The Compromising Style This is the character who wants everyone to meet in the middle, each side giving a little and taking a little at the same time. They are equal assertive an co-operative, sitting right in the middle of everything. While they seem to come to a solution, everyone is left a little unhappy at the result. They are often depicted as chasing ideals that will never be reached. However, they do see all sides of situations. They realise not everyone can win without losing a little, and so do not make efficient leaders. example: Dax and Starling in Back Of The Farm (Lilliana Rose), Dax was in love with a married woman, Starling was in love with Dax’s brother, they found one another, the friendship grew, and their getting together was a compromise, and they lived Happy For Now, despite Starling still being in love with Dax’s brother and Dax never extinguishing his flame for the married woman. To be honest, I found it rather sad. 4. The Accommodating Style This character just wants everything to be peaceful. They are low in assertiveness but high in co-operation. They will sacrifice themselves or their own desires if it means there will be peace between people. They do tend to be more empathetic and understanding of others, and make very poor leaders. Those who are assertive will walk all over these people. Because of this, they rarely get what they want and so are often unfulfilled, and this can lead to inner conflict for them. These characters, by the way, do not drive the plot forward. example: I struggled here, but maybe Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (F.Scott Fitzgerald) who seems to give and help, and yet cannot get Daisy and dies in the end without her. 5. The Avoiding Style This is the person who does not face any conflict at all and runs away or avoids it completely. They have low assertiveness and low co-operation. This is not the person who completely acquiesces, but the one who runs away. There is not conflict in their world because they manage to avoid it. They are often written as passive-aggressive, though. They also tend to be loners and have trouble even engaging with other characters. example: At the very start of Homer’s Iliad, this was Achilles. He disguised himself as a woman named Pyrrha to avoid fighting (mainly because he knew he was fated to die at Troy) and stayed that way until Odysseus found him. Mixing Conflict Styles Most characters will be one of these, but many will have a secondary conflict style that comes to the fore especially when they are backed into a corner. This should not come out of nowhere, but there should be hints that it is in them before, like the Lion in The Wizard Of Oz they go and eat a bunch of bad guys. This secondary style is often more immature (e.g. an avoidance secondary might be crying). Characters may have to learn as part of character growth how to temper their normal conflict style. Characters may have to deal with people of a dramatically different conflict style, which can cause some interesting dynamics. Groups can consist of people with differing conflict styles which can make for even more interesting dynamics. Lord of the Rings does this well. To quote Weiland: “The five conflict management styles—Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Accommodating, and Avoiding—offer writers a structured way to design believable interpersonal conflict. Each style is defined by how characters balance assertiveness (pursuing their own goals) and cooperativeness (considering others’ goals). Assigning conflict styles to characters adds depth, realism, and tension to your scenes and relationships. Going further, to mix different styles in your cast can then naturally generate friction and plot momentum. You can even shift a character’s style over time to create satisfying character arcs.” I hope that helps! |
| Novel #19 To Be King led, later on that year, to another Egyptian-themed novel. Sobek clocks in at almost 79000 words. It tells the story of Sobek, Egyptian crocodile-headed god, who comes to modern-day Australia in order to claim his son, stolen by a young archaeologist. Simple, really. We start in ancient Egypt, where we see a pharaoh crowned who was a priest of Sobek, from his rise to his fall at the hands of Sobek. Fast forward a few thousand years, and a young Australian student finds himself on an archaeological dig in Egypt, where he uncovers – and steals – a small mummy. Back in Adelaide, Sobek comes to claim the mummy. Between Adelaide and a temple built in suburban Melbourne, in the end Horus tries to fight Sobek, to take him away from the world of men, but to no avail, as Sobek, ultimately, triumphs. That sounds pretty bad, but this is one of the few long stories I still enjoy. I think I got into the heads of most of the main characters well, and made them different enough from one another, and I like to think the situation I put forward is a unique one. It is written in a very pulp fiction style, and I think my style is starting to show through more and more by now. While the ellipsis is probably too prominent, it has been curtailed somewhat. This one was only submitted twice. One rejected it with the standard “does not meet our present requirements” form letter. The other rejected it with, “Sorry, you’re too late, no-one cares about ancient Egypt any more. Write a vampire or werewolf story and get back to us.” (I’m paraphrasing.) Oh well, like a couple of others I still hope Sobek can find a home some day. Excerpt: [4] Inside The Temple Luck. That was all he could put it down to. For once, good luck had befallen him, and for once he was able to take full advantage of it. Two weeks before he had been just another university student doing his post-graduate Masters degree in biology, studying crocodiles with Professor Samuel Harmer, one of the world’s foremost herpetology experts, in the swamps of Australia’s Kakadu National Park. And now he was here… He could scarcely believe it. He had been in the right place at the right time, helping the professor complete a survey on numbers of young in the enormous national park. Just another in a group of five post-grad students doing exactly as they were told. That was all. And then the phone call had come to the professor as they sat around the campfire. And he had simply asked them all if any had an up-to-date passport and could travel within the week. Only Grant Cooper put his hand up, having accompanied his father on a business trip two years before to Hong Kong. And so now he was here. The professor had needed an assistant for something he considered truly amazing, and so he had left one of his two PhD students (neither of whom had a passport either) in charge of the survey, had travelled back to Adelaide with Grant, made all the arrangements, and they had then flown to Egypt. Three days in Cairo, then a hellish ride to a place called the Fayyum where they had been holed up in what was termed a luxury caravan while the paperwork and official forms were filled in, and permission was finally being worked out. But today was the day. A stern looking official from the government department in charge of such things was talking with the esteemed academic at the moment. And Samuel Harmer was conversing in Egyptian (at least, that was the language Grant assumed they were using) very fluently, and the look on the face of the man in the dull grey suit seemed impressed. And then a smile broke over the bearded face and he extended a hand which the professor shook eagerly before a pile of documents was handed over. And the middle-aged Australian academic walked across to the student. “All ready?” he asked. “For what?” the young man responded. “You haven’t told me what we’re doing here yet.” “Haven’t I?” “You said we were going to look at crocs. That’s it!” Exasperation was growing within him. The professor laughed. “No. No, I haven’t really, have I?” he chortled. “Well, I have been asked to come here to investigate the possibility of the discovery of a new breed, or sub-species, of the Nile crocodile. And you are to be my assistant.” “A new species?” Grant whispered in awe. A nod was all he received in reply. “But… but if they asked you to come here, why the delay? Why not just let you get on with it?” “You have to understand the way places like Egypt work,” he explained not unkindly. “It’s not like Australia. Government departments rarely talk with other government departments, and the Department of Antiquities rules over everyone else. And where we are going is under their jurisdiction. It has been them who have delayed. It is only the University which has ensured we are even allowed on the site. But we are now going to see for ourselves if these claims are true. Are you ready?” So that is the opening of the first section in modern times. A lot of the research I did for To Be King (even though it wasn’t used in that particular story) helped out here, especially with the belief system. I did a lot of research for this story in particular in how Sobek was worshipped. This was actually tougher than it seemed because a lot of people used the Greek version of the stories (where he was called Suchos) to describe things. I ended up going to a book from the 1970s, which gave me the sites of Sobeckian temples and centres of worship, and where Sobek fitted into the pharaonic pantheon. I think all that research helped. And I think the story works. |
| Public Domain There has been a bit of talk in the past few years about public domain and what that means. Looking at some of the books and anthology calls coming out, this is becoming something that is increasingly on the rise in pop culture. Not just in books, either – films are taking it on with gusto. This is a little bit more expansive and with clarifications after an earlier post on the same subject confused people. What is it? Public domain means the copyright for a work, a character, or a created entity has expired, and the character is free for literally anyone to use in whatever way they like. Things enter the public domain every year; it all depends on a few factors, and which country the work originated in, or where the copyright originated. If it is across borders, then a work might be in public domain in one country, and not another. The two countries I know of have these rules: USA – if a work was first published in any year up to and including 1928, it is in the public domain; every year from and including 1929, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. Australia – copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author unless the author’s heirs take legal steps to prevent it. Written music or musical scores enters public domain 95 years after being written. Films enter the public domain 95 years after initial release. Recorded music enters the public domain 70 years after a recording was released (not recorded). What does this mean? This means you can use these characters in stories as you want! Woo-hoo! That’s how we got the films Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey and The Mouse Trap. But you can only use depictions as seen or created in the works that have entered public domain. So you can write a Snow White story (fairy tales are all in the public domain) but cannot name the seven dwarves Doc, Bashful, Dopey, Sneezy, Grumpy, Sleepy and Happy. These are Disney creations and because Disney have just released a live action version of the film before it entered public domain, copyright is renewed for them. You can have the Winnie the Pooh characters as they appear in the AA Milne books, but not based on the way they are depicted in the Disney movie and TV series. It’s a fine line, but one you must not cross. So anything involving the public domain characters is otherwise up to you. Make them serial killers, erotic denizens of suburbia, spacemen, whatever. But the characters must be based on that depiction which has entered public domain and no further/ later iterations of the characters. What is in the public domain? So much! For a start, all mythological characters, all fairy tales, all folkloric characters are in the public domain. Again, not modern interpretations (e.g. Clash Of The Titans), but the original stories. Classics like Sherlock Holmes, Victor Frankenstein and his monster (not as depicted in the Universal or Hammer films… yet), Dracula, Dorian Gray, Jekyll & Hyde, the Phantom of the Opera, Tarzan, Zorro, Robin Hood (not as depicted by any film, however), Quasimodo, Ebeneezer Scrooge… so many! It’s how films/ graphic novels like The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen can be made. There are heaps of lists online of public domain characters – including superheroes – that are free to use. On a personal note, I wrote a short story for an anthology called Pulpsploitation (Metahuman Press) where we had to take a public domain character and write a pulp-styled story about them. I chose Tabu (details here ), and transferred him to modern times and even used his arch-nemesis (though ignored the magic powers iteration). I chose him because I had an old comic reprint with him in it. So public domain can be so much fun to use, and you are not restricted with sales, like fan fiction!And I hope that explains public domain! |
| Writing Advice From George R.R. Martin More writing advice! And what makes it even better is that the first two mirror the advice I give! (Reminder: "20230113 Writing Advice" )So, this comes from George R.R. Martin, famous author-type person. I was going through an old hard drive and found a 2014 doc file with a list of links on it. 90% are dead (well, duh!), but this one was still alive! From August 2014 (so more than a decade ago), this is advice that I think applies to many writers. I want to bring up special note of the third bit of advice, as this very thing is something I see way too often on WdC. In fact, number 1 still creates issues with so-called writers. Sorry. Let’s let Mr Martin give the talk! 3 Writing Tips from George R.R. Martin 1. Read The most important thing for any aspiring writer, I think, is to read! And not just the sort of thing you’re trying to write, be that fantasy, SF, comic books, whatever. You need to read everything. Read fiction, non-fiction, magazines, newspapers. Read history, historical fiction, biography. Read mystery novels, fantasy, SF, horror, mainstream, literary classics, erotica, adventure, satire. Every writer has something to teach you, for good or ill. (And yes, you can learn from bad books as well as good ones — what not to do). 2. Write Write every day, even if it is only a page or two. The more you write, the better you’ll get. But don’t write in my universe, or Tolkien’s, or the Marvel universe, or the Star Trek universe, or any other borrowed background. Every writer needs to learn to create his own characters, worlds, and settings. Using someone else’s world is the lazy way out. If you don’t exercise those “literary muscles,” you’ll never develop them. 3. Begin with Short Stories Given the realities of today’s market in science fiction and fantasy, I would also suggest that any aspiring writer begin with short stories. These days, I meet far too many young writers who try to start off with a novel right off, or a trilogy, or even a nine-book series. That’s like starting in at rock climbing by tackling Mt. Everest. Short stories help you learn your craft. They are a good place for you to make the mistakes that every beginning writer is going to make. And they are still the best way for a young writer to break in, since the magazines are always hungry for short SF and fantasy stories. Once you’ve been selling short stories for five years or so, you’ll have built up a name for yourself, and editors will start asking you about that first novel. Whatever you do, though… good luck. You’ll need it. So, not only does he tell people to start small (the Mt Everest analogy is perfect!), but has a go at those who only write in the fan-fiction sphere (my thoughts can be found: "20240301 An Academic Essay On Fan Fiction" ; "20240302 Some Fan Fiction Negatives" ; "20240303 Writing Fan Fiction" ).His five years of short story sales before that first novel? Well, I had around 8 years of writing shorts before attempting my first genuine novel. I had 10 years of short story sales before my first novel was accepted by a publisher. So… yeah, seems about right to me! However, magazines are dying (especially with new owners taking over established titles just for the old library) so I would change magazines to anthologies which are definitely out there and asking for submissions all the time! However, his advice mirrors that of Stephen King, Lionel Fanthorpe and many other authors with huge sales. Reading and writing are vital for any person who wants to be a writer. Disagree if you wish, but then there are plenty of gatekeepers like me who won’t take you or your work seriously. Don’t know what to read? May I recommend starting here, at WdC, and give reviews? To review, you have to read, after all… |
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