Thursday, October 7, 2010

Shits and Giggles

I've a new story up at Death Head Grin. I'd actually forgotten about it as I submitted it back in May and it's landed now. You can read it here.

Also signed myself up for Nanowrimo this year to give meself a kick up the arse in getting started on the second instalment of The Osseous Box Trilogy(Yeah, I know, not even flogged the first yet lol) I've still a month though before it starts and might actually try for a stand-alone novel. We'll see.

I've also been working on a manuscript checker/formatter. At the moment it checks your manuscripts for cliches, over 2500 in the database so far so you can keep an eye out for such horrid things. It also checks for bad habits, embarrasses you by highlighting the amount of '!'s you bunged in, also all the words that need to be hoofed out, such as the dreaded, 'Like', 'That', 'Every' etc. It also runs a check to make sure you're not repeating yourself with sayings. It's also a text-editor so you can fix all those painful errors and then save it. It has a random name-generator with over 5,000 entries for both first and surnames. It's saves the manuscripts in all major formats so you can open them in Word, Open Office etc. But more about my geek project in a week or so after I use Matt Hilton and Col Bury as my guinea pigs to find bugs and glitches.

13 comments:

  1. Wow, first of all, fair play for signing up for NaNoWriMo - it's the kind of thing that's always scared me a little. I hope you get the novel done though, working to a schedule like that can sometimes be just the thing!

    As for the manuscript checker - I really, really like the sound of that! Geek project for the win! :-)

    Oh yeah, and congrats on the story too!

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  2. Well done with the 'forgotten' acceptance. You write so much, you can't keep track. Keep track? Now is that is cliche? Could do with a checker for this sort of stuff. Know anyone clever at work who could help, Lee? :)

    Hats off to you for such a great idea - I think there'll be a fair few interested writers out there, once it's been test run.

    Regards,
    G Pig.

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  3. I particularly like the bit on yer sayings, checking if you've 'repeated yourself'. Great idea that - who came up with that, bud? lol.

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  4. Congrats on the acceptance, mate. I've signed up for NaNoWriMo as well. Fuck knows where I'll find the time. I don't actually know what I've signed up for as I didn't read the instruction book. Any advice would be appreciated. Take care, mate.

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  5. Ah - Nano time again!

    Good luck Lee (and you too David!) - I did it last year (completed the 50k-word challenge within the deadline) but I'm pondering whether to put myself under that amount of pressure this time.....we'll see!

    Will be interested to see how this cliche-checker pans out!!

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  6. Ooo. . .the geek project sounds amazing! I like!

    I'm still 50/50 about NaNoWriMo. Got to find the courage. LOL.

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  7. NaNoWriMo? Kudos - I SO don't have time for that kind of pressure, but I think it's great. Good luck to you, and David.

    As for Curlife's Fair at Death Head Grin - hur, hur. I loved it. So Hughesy. Leaves me reminiscent of the 70s That'll Be The Day film for English carnies.

    The manuscript checker sounds interesting. What's it called? Does it tell you off for subsequent sentences/paragraphs starting "He did this" "She did that" "This happened" "That happened"? That's what I need!

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  8. Lee- Just read "Curlife's Fair". I have not read a lot of your stories, yet, but I have to say this was may favorite so far. It brough to mind "Night Gallery" or "Tales From the Darkside". Well done. You got me with the anagram. It is a device I love, and I'm always on the lookout for it, but you duped me.

    The MS checker sounds like a good tool. Anything that makes editing easier is a good thing. MS Word has advancded features that can spot "passive voice" and other things as well. I found some decent free application that can read back your MS to you, and it helpd me a lot to hear the words, kind of like a cheap audiobook tool.

    Good Luck with the NaNoWriMo. I signed up last year, but never did anything with it.

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  9. "Curlife" - clever bastard. Dynamite story Lee. Loved the transformations, and the rev.

    Nailed the "carny" feel to the whole thing.

    I'll be NaNoWriMo-ing myself, though I've got something a little off-beat planned for my second go-round. (If you care to look me up, I've used the deviously clever handle of chrisallinotte)

    Keep blogging about the manuscript checker - and let me know if you need any more "testers".

    Cheers.

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  10. Curlife's Fair is just plain creepy. Best for NaNoWriMo.
    Sean

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  11. Cool! If I tried that nano thing my head would explode. IF you ever seen it, its' very messy.

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  12. I've nominated you for an award - details are on my blog.

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