Do you view AH as a literary forum?

[BobbyBrandt]

There are quite a few authors here who look down on anything that doesn't have three Lit pages of background and character development. Who imply that their stories have more merit than strokers simply because their characters are whiny conflicted and show growth.

They rarely seem to engage in discussions about styles and quality, however, beyond stating that longer is better.

True, and these are often the writers with the most verbose narratives and poorer continuity throughout their stories.

I don't believe that the length matters as much as having an understanding of, and an appreciation for literary elements and devices.

A lot of writers here employ them, but do so in ways that readers can't really appreciate.

 

[GallantWriter]

As someone who has sometimes toyed with the idea of trying to write a story of my own, I find this discussion and thread sooooooo helpful and encouraging.

Thank you, thank you, thank you all.

Happy Happy 2024!

God, I'd love to read an original Liz story! I'd help in whatever way I could too!

And yes this is a wonderful thread and I feel encouraged to write too..

 

[dmallord]

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein

Dang~ Sounds like Rambo or Uma Thurman's character in Kill Bill. Though I'm not sure, Rambo could do the 'change a diaper part.'

Find me a girl like that, and I'd propose in a heartbeat and help her, on occasion, change a diaper. [I'm done with pitching manure; I already lived that life to the full.]

And, yeah, I'd help edit anything she wrote, even to the point of acting it out. Might even find someone on the Forum to help with that too.

 

[MillieDynamite]

AH is largely a social club of writers, some would be or about to be authors, with a few readers joining in. Sometimes it's an Anti-Social Club as well.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I imagine this place as an old bookstore, filled with new offerings and ancient tomes. The small coffee shop in the corner offers an excellent select brew of caffeinated goodness. Couches and lounge chairs are strewn about for friends to relax in while they chat and test the shop's wares. Somewhere among the racks wanders an adorable little tabby cat that randomly rubs against their ankles or climbs into their laps for a cuddle.

 

[dmallord]

I imagine this place as an old bookstore, filled with new offerings and ancient tomes. The small coffee shop in the corner offers an excellent select brew of caffeinated goodness. Couches and lounge chairs are strewn about for friends to relax in while they chat and test the shop's wares. Somewhere among the racks wanders an adorable little tabby cat that randomly rubs against their ankles or climbs into their laps for a cuddle.

I drink the coffee almost daily at TX's coffee shop. It's like that 'moth drawn to a flame' that Em mentioned. It feels ... like sitting with friends on the back porch and talking, though mostly about the weather, dogs, and sometimes women – if they aren't sitting in one of the rockers.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Oh, me too! Though, I haven't been very active there the past few weeks.

I drink the coffee almost daily at TX's coffee shop. It's like that 'moth drawn to a flame' that Em mentioned. It feels ... like sitting with friends on the back porch and talking, though mostly about the weather, dogs, and sometimes women – if they aren't sitting in one of the rockers.

 

[StillStunned]

I imagine this place as an old bookstore, filled with new offerings and ancient tomes. The small coffee shop in the corner offers an excellent select brew of caffeinated goodness. Couches and lounge chairs are strewn about for friends to relax in while they chat and test the shop's wares. Somewhere among the racks wanders an adorable little tabby cat that randomly rubs against their ankles or climbs into their laps for a cuddle.

It's more like the Winebrary in the sitcom Single Parents. Books, alcohol, cliques and weird shenanigans going on in the background.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

My imagery is actually drawn from the first Half Price Book in Austin(first in Austin, The original is in Dallas). Used to sit there and visit with people and read with that cat in my lap for hours. Yeah, I bought a lot of books, too.

 

[dmallord]

I actually did significant research on the subject recently for the middle-grade chapter book that I just published.

Did you know that if you inhale helium from a balloon, not only do your vocal chords tighten up, giving you a squeaky voice, but it also makes your farts odorless?

Who on this green, environmentally fragile Earth took the time to investigate a relationship between odorless fartings and helium - it must have been a government grant to higher ed Ph.D. research.

 

[AG31]

I appreciate your effort to elevate the conversation.

Just the sort of wrestling for a word that takes up so much of my mental energy and time.

 

[SimonDoom]

View attachment 2300936

The dragon isn't going to be very happy about this.

 

[AG31]

You guys got me going researching “fart”, looking for a polite or technical verb form. I found several articles about “flatulence”, but, still, no mention of the action form of the occurrence of flatulence.

After 20 minutes of surfing, I took a shot at word building, and hypothesized: flatulate. Turned out my guess was right; it was found in formal references.

So, I must correct my original response of “no” to Emily’s query, and conclude that AH is indeed literary in that our community efforts have indeed transmuted the commoner's “fart" into a suitable word to use in polite company. Stench notwithstanding.

Ooops. I replied to SimonDoom by mistake. Your efforts are just the sort wrestling for words that takes up so much of my time and mental energy.

 

[AG31]

You know, I have never clicked on any of them. Not once.

Em

Nor I. It's why I don't get excited about what is and isn't allowed in a forum.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

You know, I have never clicked on any of them. Not once.

Em

Wise choice. It's very addicting and equally meaningless.

 

[AG31]

Maybe do stuff over in the Feedback Forum?

It always been slow to get traction there, but on occasion a thread will take off and get interesting.

The problem is that a lot of people don't watch that forum. As far as I can tell the best way to get a post noticed for interesting discussion is here on AH. And reserving a thread for literary discussion is too confusing.

So I vote for adopting a convention of preceding the title of an AH post with the word REVIEW:

Note - another problem with Feedback is that the description suggests that it's for people with opinions, not authors soliciting opinions. But I think I'll give it a shot again.

 

[AG31]

Yeah, they're easy to ignore. They're part of the furniture. It's a bit like stepping around that little side table by the couch, the one that sticks out a bit too much, but you can't be bothered to move.

I just love your way with words. This is so perfect! I'm beginning to feel like a groupie...

 

[ElectricBlue]

A bigger issue than the folks who dismiss things as pretentious is the frequency with which the productive threads where an interesting topic is being discussed get completely derailed by inside jokes and banter.
Wading through 7 or 8 off topic posts to get back to the point is much more annoying than scrolling past the games threads.

I agree with you there. A little more restraint early on in a thread would be nice, but I guess I skim and stop when I want to. Once you figure out time zones, and who lives where, that helps, because folk come on line at different times. Or are night owls!

 

[MillieDynamite]

Ten in the morning, central time, is usually when I show up here. I've finished my work, the boy is fed, and I'm taking a break before I write for myself. Though, of late, it's all chat here and not much work. I've been a bad girl. That's why Santa Girl didn't leave me a newly restored Rolls Royce Silver Shadow for Christmas. She seems to think the restored Mustang Mach III she gave me for my birthday should suffice.

I agree with you there. A little more restraint early on in a thread would be nice, but I guess I skim and stop when I want to. Once you figure out time zones, and who lives where, that helps, because folk come on line at different times. Or are night owls!

 

[MrPixel]

Who on this green, environmentally fragile Earth took the time to investigate a relationship between odorless fartings and helium - it must have been a government grant to higher ed Ph.D. research.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliox

Helium-oxygen atmospheres are used in medicine when breathing is labored, but especially in deep-sea submersibles occupied over long periods. I don't know about you, but if I were confined to a diving bell for days at a time, I'd be more than appreciative that everybody's farts didn't stink.

I imagine it could have been legit research into an otherwise unexplained phenomenon noticed by marine scientists.

 

[Bazzle]

AH is largely a social club of writers, some would be or about to be authors, with a few readers joining in. Sometimes it's an Anti-Social Club as well.

It's where I learn!
I've gained a better idea of characters and doos and donts from this area.

Plus you guys/girls/octopi are great fun!

 

[EmilyMiller]

It's where I learn!
I've gained a better idea of characters and doos and donts from this area.

Plus you guys/girls/octopi are great fun!

You know what? Fun is important. I don’t think this place should be a musty museum of morphemes.

Fun is good. Fun and learning better.

Em

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

You know what? Fun is important. I don’t think this place should be a musty museum of morphemes.

Fun is good. Fun and learning better.

Em

I like fun. I like learning. Is there perchance something fun you could teach me???

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I spent enough time at uni discussing works of "literature". It usually devolved into snobbery*, boredom or one-upmanship.

* People who refer to Shakespeare as "Bill" or "the Bard".

The bard‽ Bwahahaha!

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I imagine this place as an old bookstore, filled with new offerings and ancient tomes. The small coffee shop in the corner offers an excellent select brew of caffeinated goodness. Couches and lounge chairs are strewn about for friends to relax in while they chat and test the shop's wares. Somewhere among the racks wanders an adorable little tabby cat that randomly rubs against their ankles or climbs into their laps for a cuddle.

All cackling, chuckling, while KeithD glares at us from above hia glasses, like a dissapproving dad.