By Amanda Dupuis

[lastandleast]

As I'm an incredibly slow and unmotivated writer, NaNoWriMo and I will not be crossing paths this year. Or ever, probably. But I am working on a little something that will actually be published, if I pull it off: two of my coworkers, an acquisitions editor and a designer, have founded their own extremely small boutique press. She signs and edits

Comments

[silveripseity]

I am eager to see where you go with this. :) So far I am definitely feeling the era. I did have a thought, though -- how educated would your run-of-the-mill sea captain be? Because from reading this, he seems very articulate. Which reads well, of course, but it made me think about how this part would sound from a less educated voice. If that made sense at all. Just something to think about. :)

[lastandleast]

You're totally right about the level of education, but I've vowed to stay away from pirate-isms, and I'm afraid if I get any lower brow some "Arrrghhh!"s will slip in ;) The publishers approved a Nathaniel Hawthorne-style narrator, so I'm actually trying to make the writing as convoluted as possible. Later, I plan on throwing in some random punctuation to really capture the feel of the era.

Thanks for the concrit, as the newschool fanfic writers call it ;)

[saffronlie]

I think that's a fantastic beginning. The only thing that seems out of place is the "As a man" that begins a sentence in your fourth paragraph, because I don't really understand what it means here. I don't think a 19th-c sea captain is very hipster-cool, so you're probably doing fine for these people. What an exciting, though daunting, assignment. :D

[lastandleast]

I'll second you on the exciting but daunting ;) Good thing it only has to be 2,000 words long, or my head might explode.

Thanks for pointing out the troublesome bit--I shall tweak!

[sarahmayhem]

i always thought your writing was hipster cool in the non-hipster cool way.

[lastandleast]

I guess I'm hipster cool in a way that requires a considerable amount of imagination to perceive. Like Hanson. ;)

[zoegc]

Oh, swashbuckling! Nautical tales are my favourite, ALWAYS, so good luck with it. On a completely unrelated note: you come from Vermont, right? I have recently been googling Treehouses, and it seems that Vermont is the state for them. Have you ever seen any? Living in a treehouse is right up there with sailing the high seas in a nelsonic frigate, in my top five fantasy adventures. Keep working away at the sea monsters, it's very engaging!

[mistressrenet]

Awesome.