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I've got two new stories I've been working on. Well, neither of them is really new; one was first written exactly a year ago and the other last spring. They weren't working and I wasn't sure how to fix them--and was too busy with the novel anyway. As I'm now in-between projects, I decided to have another try.
After some very insightful feedback, I think one of them is now very close to ready. The other... I'm not so sure. And I'm not sure if I can make it work at all, or if the idea is just not strong enough. I mean, it is a concept I find fascinating, but it's very close to something that's been done to death--so close that I see some readers shut down thinking they are reading THAT story and missing the part of it I'm trying to explore. Oh well. The latest version is off to readers. If it dies, I think I'll have to trunk it. There's only so much time I'm willing to spend on it.
In other news, I started to learn Chinese with Duolingo. I'm not under the illusion that I will actually learn the language this way, but I'm hoping to gain some insight into the way it works. I speak five languages on the scale from fluent to rubbish, but all of them are from the Indo-European family and I really want to gain more insight into other branches of the language tree. And since my new novel will have some Chinese characters, I figured it's a good place/time to start.
I'm enjoying it a lot, but boy, the tones are giving me a headache! I can't even imagine what a real Chinese person would think of my attempts... Maybe I can gat a job as a comic relief?
After some very insightful feedback, I think one of them is now very close to ready. The other... I'm not so sure. And I'm not sure if I can make it work at all, or if the idea is just not strong enough. I mean, it is a concept I find fascinating, but it's very close to something that's been done to death--so close that I see some readers shut down thinking they are reading THAT story and missing the part of it I'm trying to explore. Oh well. The latest version is off to readers. If it dies, I think I'll have to trunk it. There's only so much time I'm willing to spend on it.
In other news, I started to learn Chinese with Duolingo. I'm not under the illusion that I will actually learn the language this way, but I'm hoping to gain some insight into the way it works. I speak five languages on the scale from fluent to rubbish, but all of them are from the Indo-European family and I really want to gain more insight into other branches of the language tree. And since my new novel will have some Chinese characters, I figured it's a good place/time to start.
I'm enjoying it a lot, but boy, the tones are giving me a headache! I can't even imagine what a real Chinese person would think of my attempts... Maybe I can gat a job as a comic relief?
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