Frustrated author asks fo advice

[gunhilltrain]

Yeah, it's only a section in downtown Buffalo. That's not the Robert Moses Parkway. Now I've got to see where that is.

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/l...ht-go/71-6c5555d3-53f3-4271-b5af-32b70a06f278

 

[gunhilltrain]

On Google Maps, the road through Buffalo to Niagara Falls is I-190, basically a north-south road. The Robert Moses Parkway is now the Niagara Scenic Parkway it seems. It runs east-west along the Niagara River and ends at the west end at John Daly Boulevard. It looks fairly short, about two miles in length.

No, I was wrong. The Parkway at the east side turns north and goes all the way to Lake Erie.

We're confusing the hell out of other people reading this thread. How did we get here? Oh, the cleaning tractor in NY City. That was my thread drift fault. Write what you know, etc. Post number 43.

 

[Duleigh]

Starting in 2016 they started chopping it up and making parks. "Handy Andy" said it was a mistake to begin with, I'm not going to go there, that's an argument for the political forum. I'll just say that my grandfather worked for Robert Moses and idolized him. My grandfather was a GOB (Grouchy Old Bastard) and for him to admire anyone would require walking on water, fishes, and loafs.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Starting in 2016 they started chopping it up and making parks. "Handy Andy" said it was a mistake to begin with, I'm not going to go there, that's an argument for the political forum. I'll just say that my grandfather worked for Robert Moses and idolized him. My grandfather was a GOB (Grouchy Old Bastard) and for him to admire anyone would require walking on water, fishes, and loafs.

Actually, your post 43 was a response to kimwipes, and it seemed to be pretty good advice. I was the one who went off on a tangent. kimwipes was disappointed that their first eight stories didn't do as well as expected.

One thing that struck me is that you told that person not to read too much on Lit when doing their own work. I would agree with that. I would encourage writers to read everything else, however.

 

[Duleigh]

Reading another person's work while I'm working on a story drives me right off target. Tarnished Penny wrote a great story about a drone pilot and I loved every word she wrote, I even gave her a tiny bit of help, and the next thing I knew my characters were somehow renamed to her characters. I FIRMLY believe that an author has a duty to his readers and his characters that he concentrate on them until he clicks the submit button.

Between stories, yes, read all you want, learn and absorb, pick up good habits of other writers, but I'm really serious about staying focused on a story. That's just me but I've got 48 stories with an average rating of 4.76 and I'd love to see it higher.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Reading another person's work while I'm working on a story drives me right off target. Tarnished Penny wrote a great story about a drone pilot and I loved every word she wrote, I even gave her a tiny bit of help, and the next thing I knew my characters were somehow renamed to her characters. I FIRMLY believe that an author has a duty to his readers and his characters that he concentrate on them until he clicks the submit button.

Between stories, yes, read all you want, learn and absorb, pick up good habits of other writers, but I'm really serious about staying focused on a story. That's just me but I've got 48 stories with an average rating of 4.76 and I'd love to see it higher.

My guess is that it is better to read anything but Lit during that period. Like a book about the search for the Titanic wreck, which several people tried to do for many decades until Ballard did it in 1985. I happened to get that one from the library by chance.

 

[comegently]

I usually write in the first person and my story ratings have maxed out at 4.54.
I'm happy enough with that.
I tried publishing a couple of illustrated stories. That gets huge numbers of views but lower average ratings, because the story then gets classified as "Illustrated" instead of by its subject genre. That means lots of hits by readers who aren't interested in that genre.