Descriptionari: Handy little site to help with descriptions

I just found this, and everyone else might already know about it, but! It’s essentially a collections of descriptions (in the form of quotes, lists of words and ‘thematic micro-stories’) that each center around a given theme.

So if you search for “crying” you’ll see user descriptions from literature and often their own writing as well. 

Of course there is an abundance of purple and poorly constructed prose. But there are also little gems like this, from Atwood’s Lady Oracle:

I never learned to cry with style, silently, the pearl-shaped tears rolling down my cheeks from wide luminous eyes, as on the covers of True Love comics, leaving no smears or streaks. I wished I had; then I could have done it in front of people, instead of in bathrooms, in darkened movie theatres, shrubberies and empty bedrooms, among the party coats on the bed.

And you can also contribute your own stuff if you’re so inclined.

Anyway, add it to your bookmarks right next to the Dictionary of Similes and before you know it, you’ll have 3467346 ways to describe a ‘dark and stormy night.’

John Scalzi examines a Random House "Alibi" Contract, which is of their e-pub only imprints

achickwithacrossbow:

I’m all for trade publishing. I’m all for self-publishing. I’m also happy to e-publish shorter works through smaller e-publishers. All are good options and there are good reasons to go with any of the three. A lot of it depends on a thousand different factors unique to each writer and even to each project.

However, it’s disheartening to see one of the Big Publishers create these e-imprints that basically act like vanity presses. As Scalzi points out in his original piece about their SF/F e-imprint Hydra (yes, like the villains in Captain America), Random House is not wholly evil, and in fact they have been a great publisher for countless authors, including Scalzi himself. 

But these four imprints they’ve created are certainly really bad choices designed to attract desperate writers who want Big 6 Publishing validation without any of the actual benefits of being trade published, let alone by the Big 6 (never mind what many legitimate small presses may offer) So really, if it’s this or  self-publishing, you’re a million times better off doing it yourself. Financially and otherwise.

I recommend writers read both pieces, and even if you’re not a writer, it’s always fun read John Scalzi taking down stupidity.

4 Copy Editors Killed In Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence

NEW YORK—Law enforcement officials confirmed Friday that four more copy editors were killed this week amid ongoing violence between two rival gangs divided by their loyalties to the The Associated Press Stylebook and The Chicago Manual Of Style. “At this time we have reason to believe the killings were gang-related and carried out by adherents of both the AP and Chicago styles, part of a vicious, bloody feud to establish control over the grammar and usage guidelines governing American English,” said FBI spokesman Paul Holstein, showing reporters graffiti tags in which the word “anti-social” had been corrected to read “antisocial.” 

(Source: ravingliberal)