Nicholas Goodman

Posted 17 Years Ago

Some blurb! Come on, there must be more to you than just your ego. ;-)
I'll be reading you soon, though... not the Bio.

Posted 17 Years Ago

Hello there.
It's nice to meet you.

Posted 17 Years Ago

Dude, awesome! Another English major! Wait . . . this is a writing community . . . I suppose I should expect this . . .

Anyway, thanks for the friend request!

Posted 17 Years Ago

Thank you for the friend request. I look forward to reading your work.

Posted 17 Years Ago

Thanks for the invite, man. Stop by my bit of the Cafe anytime. I will return the favor, of course. I aint a complete b*****d. Alright, alright, I am a complete b*****d. But at least I'm honest with it.

Hawksmoor...From The Bleed.

Posted 17 Years Ago

Makes sense as my subject considering my condition...
Dontcha think? ;)

Posted 17 Years Ago

HI! Where is your Bio Blurb?? x)

Posted 17 Years Ago

Damn it.
Thank you, kind sir!
;)

Posted 17 Years Ago

I have chapaters from my manuscript posted if you are truly interested. I've only had poetry published, but have removed them from this site as I ma trying to get an agent for the collection and agents generally frown upon material they may represent being posted on the net.

Posted 17 Years Ago

Nicholas,
I'm sorry to hear that you are, as you say, "starting to feel like a broken record." In regards to the following from your review of my work:

�Details. I still have no idea who Thad is. I don't know what he looks like or what he does for a living. I don't know where this is set, the time or the place.
It probably doesn't seem very fun, but you need those details,�

I can only say that it is your understanding that is broken and fragmented. I strongly disagree on all counts. Firstly, details are amazingly fun and interesting. I enjoy creating worlds in detail, and when certain types of details are intrinsic to the story, I give them in abundance. However, details that do not carry a plot forward, especially in a short story where space is limited, they should not be added. In other words, the types of details you mention (where he lives, what he does for a living, or what he looks like,) are not important to the story�so it is flat wrong to say that they are �needed.� Broad, unqualified assertions, such as the ones you make, are easily refuted, as I can give you a long list of great and enduring literature that excludes such details when they are not important to the story. In fact, when an unskilled writer bogs a down a story with details irrelevant to the plot, those details are removed during the editing process by the editor or the agent, so adding them is a waste of time that an intuitive writer can avoid. Further more, a writer who does not have the ability to know what is needed and what is not generally does not get an agent in the first place.

Since the faults of your advice seem to stem more from ignorance of the art of writing and a lack of literary intuition, rather than from a valid difference of opinion, I have to question whether you are qualified to be dispensing advice in this area. Stick to things you have mastered and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to be true and accurate. You really should not attempt to give advice in areas where you yourself are a novice. There are many young writers on this site who may be led astray by you because they do not have the experience to recognize that you have no idea what you are talking about.


For your own general knowledge, however, you should know that, most often, in character driven plots, the interaction between characters�in other words, the way personalities relate to one another�are what is important to the story, and thus any details given should aim to develop that aspect of the characters. I provided ample development of my character�s personalities because that is what I needed to do in relation to my plot. Thank you for your attempt to review me though. I know you meant well.