Forum: Story Discussion and Feedback

Several of the shorter Lazlong stories would qualify. A much longer feel-long story is Best of Both Worlds by Dilettante -- it's a well done wish fulfillment.

BlinkReader
10/1/2016, 4:39:10 PM

Maybe we can add this -> "Bec - Lost in the Maze" universe - https://storiesonline.net/universe/380/bec-lost-in-the-maze

2nd that. The Bec series is a go to re-read when I'm really down. Very powerful writing.

2nd that. The Bec series is a go to re-read when I'm really down. Very powerful writing.

I find it superb writing with a rather meandering plot.

Also second the Bec stuff.

Very powerful writing.

Try this author's 'First Times' (review) for powerful: not nice, not feel-good, but very powerful (makes tears).

You are completely correct. It is nice to have stroke stories lying around, and they are fairly easy and quick to write as well. The thing about actual "good" stories, is that they are pretty hard to find depending on ones taste.

There is always only just a handful of quality writers when it comes to each genre. Not to mention it seems like these days quality authors seem to be disappearing. Either their health is failing or they stop writing for one reason or the other, and in a lot of cases remove their stories.

Edit: (https://storiesonline.net/s/10834:i) I read a story about a boy very recently here that had cancer. The way the author depicted and described every detail in that story, was nothing short of incredible. It will break you, lift you up and then utterly destroy you.

Those are the feelings I got from reading it. I recommend it to anyone who wants to experience quality work. You will be on a ride that makes you think you are actually part of his life. I can only imagine what it must be to actually experience watching someone dear to you, go through something similar in real life. Not to mention it would probably help you understand, someone with cancer a lot more.

Respect to anyone who has had to go through that hell, either as a participant or the victim.

there will always be new authors in the pipeline

I hope you are right. I am 71, I am not that worried about where the new authors are coming from. Is there any firm evidence that there are dozens or hundreds of young men and women that want to write stories and post them here for our applause (sometimes) and no money? Maybe Lazeez knows. It probably is one of his nightmares that the supply of stories and the new readers who turn into premier readers that support the site dry up. Based on what I see in bookstores is that there aren't that many good new stories I want to read there, and except for Amazon, most brick and mortar stores are slowing going out of business. The last time I was in Barnes and Nobel most of the first floor was games and puzzles and cards and candy and almost anything but real books.

If they don't replace the old writers that pass on, they will have nothing to offer the public but reprints of existing stories.

Sounds like Hollywood.

Cheaper to remake something that was successful 20+ years ago than to gamble & pay someone to come up with something new.

I'm surprised that there's never been a remake of "The Million Pound Note", although I don't see how you could improve on the original. Not that that has stopped Hollywood from doing remakes in the past.

Cheaper to remake something that was successful 20+ years ago...

Unfortunately they tend to really screw up good movies in the process.

And screw up really good novels. Example: Starship Troopers by Robert Anson Heinlein.

Maybe Lazeez knows. It probably is one of his nightmares that the supply of stories and the new readers who turn into premier readers that support the site dry up. Based on what I see in bookstores is that there aren't that many good new stories I want to read there, and except for Amazon, most brick and mortar stores are slowing going out of business. The last time I was in Barnes and Nobel most of the first floor was games and puzzles and cards and candy and almost anything but real books.

This side of the pond far fewer dead tree stories are being printed; I would suggest that a) electronic versions are cheaper for the buyer/reader b) electronic readers are easier to carry than a mountain of novels and c) other uses of electronics are more attractive to the younger set and d) publishers are far more aware of the bottom line and less prepared to try new authors.

REP wrote

I don't have proof that I can hand you on a platter. However, as an old fart, I look at all those young whippersnappers enrolled in college. A lot of them are enrolled in courses that can lead to a writing career, professional or amateur.

I believe that there is a storyteller in all of us, and an author in nothing more than a person who has found a way to release his storyteller. Some of those young whippersnappers will learn how to let their storytellers loose.

Old fart indeed - just a bit beyond a baby ;-)
Many courses in writing, journalism etc. lead to unemployment and the graduate has to find something which brings in the groats. Book writing has a reputation of not being a profitable occupation so time is used elsewhere.
Tastes change - would Faith Stone or her husband Compton MacKenzie be published today? I have a number of her books (for a personal reason) but I don't think they are marketable now.

It is often in the older people, often retired, that they have the time, the financial security and most important the experience of the decades to write. Yes, there are younger writers - some Mills and Boon authors do well because they write to a proven script. Very occasionally there will be a meteor, a new writer like James Clavell who sets the world alight, gets rich, but they are few and far between.

I was going to use Arthur C Clarke as an example but for him writing was only part of his work

I think future archaeologists will be digging through or remains and think we suddenly stopped creating anything but weird plastic disks. It seems that with everything going digital, there will be no lasting records of our accomplishments. The coatings of CD's and DVD's will deteriorate and make the data unrecoverable. Magnetic recording media, IMO, was the beginning of the end of long-lasting media.

Magnetic recording media, IMO, was the beginning of the end of long-lasting media.

The end began much longer ago that than. Stone/clay tablets are good for 10s of thousands of years.

Parchment/vellum (animal hides) is good for 1 or 2 thousand years if properly stored.

Wood pulp based paper is only good for a century or two unless very carefully prepared and stored.

CDs/DVDs will last nearly as long as paper if stored properly.

The upside of digital data is that it can much more easily be copied accurately to new storage media as technology improves.

The upside of digital data is that it can much more easily be copied accurately to new storage media as technology improves.

The downside is you have to have some way to access it. The last storage medium that did not require powered technology to access was film and records (vinyl). Try playing a CD or looking at photos stored digitally without a player.

The downside is you have to have some way to access it. The last storage medium that did not require powered technology to access was film and records (vinyl). Try playing a CD or looking at photos stored digitally without a player.

Absent an apocalypse that isn't likely to ever be an issue in the future.

Absent an apocalypse that isn't likely to ever be an issue in the future.

Just because we don't see it coming doesn't mean it can't or won't happen.

At the rate the world is going to shit, it wouldn't surprise me if it does happen. And that is just what humans can do to ourselves. Solar flares and other stellar activities have disrupted electronics even though only for short periods.

At the rate the world is going to shit, it wouldn't surprise me if it does happen.

Perhaps, but given a global civilization destroying catastrophe, paper won't last all that long either.

However, from a different POV, only a few people of our generation were successful writers. I expect that will also be true of the younger and upcoming generations.

Although I have no doubt that within each future generation there will be those with the ability to write well I suggest that the circumstances are and will be different.

With electronic media readers will read the story and then it will be gone as the reader looks for something new. Many find reading from a screen at least tiring and will read less for pleasure. Income from 99 cent electronic books will not be enough to answer satisfactorily "What are you worth?"; writing will become a second string to more conventional employment - just look at the blogs here - too much work, poor health are seen.

As Dominions Son points out, magnetic media has a finite life (the oldest document I have personally handled was on a skin written in the early 1500's) but already stories from SOL are disappearing and it will become easier for the authorities to delete stuff they don't approve of - you can't email banned stuff and it is harder to hide electronic media and then read it than dead trees!

The world today is very different to that in 1944 and it will be different tomorrow. What will the new US president ban? Non-fiction perhaps?

but already stories from SOL are disappearing

Mostly they are being removed at the request of the author. I've been a reader here for more than a decade, stories being removed from the site are nothing new.

Don't be afraid to read "Bec3" - it's worth reading (very much)