Omachuck: Blog

It has been four months since What's So Maybe About Katie? was posted. The next in the Harem Tales - We Gotta Get Outta This Place should start posting on Friday. I'm waiting for feedback from one more proof reader.

There are 16 chapters, and I plan to post three times each week Friday - Sunday - Wednesday. In most cases, if they are short, I'll post two chapters. The plan is to finish in December.

Gotta builds on the other three harem tales and continues the stories of various characters. You might want to refresh yourself - a character list is appended to the end of each story.

I'm considering uploading a separate character list for Gotta along with the story's start. I Don't know how that would work - of necessity the list would have some spoilers.

As always, your feedback, votes, and error reports are all needed.

Jay makes an excellent point about this being a site for amateurs. All but a few of us write with little to no expectation of financial reward.


Recognize that many authors try to meet your insatiable appetites for a new chapter on a regular schedule. The post as they write. This makes it hard, impossible to achieve perfection - even with conscientious proofing. I marvel at the creativity and quality achieved by many of these folks. I can't do it - my stories are finished when I start to post them.


For context on what I'm about to say, let me tell you about me:


My stories posted here are absolutely the first fiction I've ever written, and I'm fortunate that all of the comments I've received have been helpful and encouraging. I welcome feedback, because I want my stories to be as good as they can be - grammar, plot, punctuation - all of it. When an inevitable problem is reported, I try to fix it promptly.


I majored in Journalism almost 50 years ago. Since then, I've written and edited non-fiction - training manuals, legal briefs, announcements, news articles, and more. It is almost always possible to go back and find editing/proofing issues, and especially, an alternative way of saying something. Again, we authors - especially those of us who ask for feedback - take your feedback and go forward.


I also volunteer, have for years, as a proofreader and editor for some of the authors you enjoy here. One of the things many folks fail to recognize is the variety of countries that speak English but have differing punctuation styles, and that accepted styles in the USA have changed markedly over the 50 years since I was in college.


I've noted both from comments in authors' blogs and in reading their stories, how much they benefit from helpful feedback. I know I have benefited. Note that I said helpful. The email Jay cited is inexcusable. If it was not intended to be hurtful, it in itself was poorly phrased. I also noted one partial sentence and a punctuation error. This person's diatribe is as welcome as a robocall from 'Anne at credit card services.'


Where am I going with this?


Folks, please continue to tell us what you like and what you dislike. Do that in a helpful way, and you too will benefit from better stories. (Don't just point out the comma splice, tell the author what you like, too.) And if you, like me, have a hard time reading past typos and punctuation/grammatical errors, why not volunteer as an editor or proofreader? Working in a creative environment has rewards you won't expect until you become involved.


Even better, you get to see a story first!

I appreciate the responses to my question about character lists for my stories. As you can imagine, the suggestions were both varied and conflicting.

It is interesting. I've had suggestions to place a list just about everywhere possible in a story.


I responded recently to all received, but had a bounce back from William whose provider told me his email address did not exist. If that was an error, you might want to check. I don't like not being able to respond when someone takes the trouble to write.

You, know - I'm not so worried about the characters introduced in the new story because they are explained as they appear, but the ones that are a carryover from the last or even earlier stories may need memory refreshed - and I for one - hate the rehash in the middle of the action. I've been adding a character list at the end of a story that folks can refer back to for the next story, but as the relationships get more complex, I don't think that works as well as I'd like. At least with my not posting until the story is complete, folks don't have to wait forever and need to re-read to know where they are.

Anyway, I'll figure out an improvement over what I do now.

I still have characters whispering in my ear, taking me places I had no idea that I would go...

Whenever I think the fourth story, We Gotta Get Outta This Place! is getting close to finished, Michael or one of the harem whispers in my ear, and we're off and running again. It also doesn't help my writing that the Swarm authors are working on some seriously good stories - distracting me - that I hope you'll see soon. Sooo - Gotta's coming - I promise.


My contest attempt for readers to identify the Heinlein references in my stories was a huge thud. No attempts to to play. One generous reader offered his own name for a villian - a very good name for a bad guy - but it didn't fit any of the bad guys in this story. Maybe another.


However, the toying with names leads me to another question. Several of you asked for, and I try to accommodate, a character list for each story. I'm concerned that too detailed a list within the story might be a spoiler, and at the end of the story it is too late. How would you folks feel about a separate posting of only a character list, organized by story? Any thoughts? Let me know.

Thanks for the kind words and warm reception for Katie (and the rest of my stories.)

Several of you have noted my tributes to Robert Anson Heinlein with the inclusion of some of his character names (some modified slightly) in my stories. This will continue in Harem 4, tentatively titled We Gotta Get Outta This Place.

There was enough interest in RAH's names, that I thought I'd offer a contest/challenge: Anyone listing all the RAH names that I've used in my five posted stories, along with the name of my story, can name a character in Harem 4. If no one finds them all, the first person submitting the most will win.

Name rules are: Can't be a living person (or someone that will get us sued) and must fit the story (I need a bad guy and a bad gal and others.) I'll be open minded, but let's not get too obvious - like 'Spock' or 'Buck Rogers.' Oh, and one hint - Michael is NOT Michael Valentine Smith.

I hope you think this is a fun idea.