Writing

Non-compete clauses for freelancers

This entry was posted in Writing Writing as business and tagged contracts law writing on by

Recently I got into a Reddit discussion that included a question about a non-compete clause for a freelance writer. Such clauses have legitimate uses, but broadly written ones can be nasty. They can damage a writer’s ability to earn an income. I’m not an expert in this area, so I’ve gone looking for reliable material.

PublishLawyer.com has an informative article, primarily addressing fiction writers. It quotes a “typical provision”:

During the term of this Agreement, Author has not prepared or published, and shall not prepare or publish, or participate in the preparation or publication of any work that directly competes with the sales of the Work.

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Progress on Spells of War

This entry was posted in My writing Writing and tagged fantasy fiction Spells of War writing on by

This week, I’ve started rewriting the first draft of Spells of War. The first eight chapters went pretty quickly, without any huge changes. The biggest departure from the first draft, though, is that the action will now span 1556-1557, instead of all taking place in 1556. Things just got too crammed against the approach of winter and Ramadan. With the new timeline, the mages on each side will be able to develop more weapons and train the Landsknechte and Janissaries respectively in their use. This means adding material about what happens over the winter without letting the story drag.

A character who shows up late in the first draft will make his appearance earlier. This will let me build up his role in the story more effectively.

I’ll be putting out a call for beta readers before long, perhaps in early January.

A review of The Magic Battery

This entry was posted in My writing Writing and tagged books magic battery writing on by

Author Walter Donway has posted an enthusiastic review of The Magic Battery on the Savvy Street website. I love not just his praise, but his understanding of what I was aiming for.

Full disclosure: I recently posted a favorable review of Donway’s Retaking College Hill, but there was no tit-for-tat agreement between us. He emailed me a draft of the review last week, asking just for factual corrections.

Use the right statistic

This entry was posted in Commentary Writing and tagged statistics writing on by

Mark Twain talked about “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Lying with statistics isn’t always intentional; sometimes a writer doesn’t understand their meaning or applicability.

Recently I saw a news article on the COVID-19 infection rate in northern New Hampshire. It reported a higher positivity rate than in previous weeks. That doesn’t tell us anything about whether infections are increasing or decreasing, though. If the positivity rate goes up, it could mean one of several things:

  1. More people are infected.
  2. More of the people who are infected are getting tested.
  3. Fewer people who aren’t infected are getting tested.

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Some less-known benefits of private browsing

This entry was posted in Techniques Tools Writing and tagged Internet privacy software on by

Most browsers give you the option of browsing in a private window. The name may vary; Microsoft Edge calls it inPrivate, and Chrome calls it Incognito, Whatever it’s called, it sets up a temporary window or tab and discards your cookies and browsing history when you close it. You’ll see warnings everywhere about its limitations. If you’re an NSA whistleblower, you’ll need much better protection to avoid being caught. But here I want to talk about some benefits that aren’t often discussed. They’re especially handy when doing research.
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You aren’t a virtual person

This entry was posted in Writing and tagged usage vocabulary on by

You don’t lose reality by communicating at a distance. You don’t become a “virtual” person. I wrote about this a year ago, but the silliness hasn’t abated, so I want to make the point again.

An online gathering of people can appropriately be called a “virtual” gathering. They aren’t really coming together; they get the effect of it through technology. The people participating, though, remain real. You’d think that after over a century of telephones, everyone would grasp that people can be real without being in the same room.
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What is irony, and how can writers use it?

This entry was posted in Techniques Writing and tagged irony usage writing on by

Irony is one of those things we know when we see it, but it’s hard to pin down if you’re asked to explain. Merriam-Webster gives two definitions: (1) the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really think especially in order to be funny. (2) a situation that is strange or funny because things happen in a way that seems to be the opposite of what you expected.
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Search engine tricks for researchers

This entry was posted in Techniques Tools and tagged Google research search Startpage on by

On several occasions, when I’ve researched a topic that has just hit the news, search engines have shown me nothing but news articles on commentary on that event. Usually it’s 20 versions of the same syndicated article. Finding background information becomes nearly impossible. Google’s weighting heavily favors recently added or changed pages.

Fortunately, if you know Google’s options well, there are ways to get around this. They also work with Startpage, which is an independent privacy-protecting front end to Google. I recommend Startpage, if only to avoid Google’s diddling with your search results based on what it knows about you. Startpage recently dropped its advanced search page, but you can still do everything it let you do.
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Abusing the nominative 2

This entry was posted in Commentary Writing and tagged grammar writing on by

Alexander James Adams has a song which is quite nice yet makes me grate my teeth. Its refrain is “There’s only the music between you and I.” An occasional grammatical violation in a song is OK, but one that occurs in every verse is painful. There are plenty of good rhymes for “me.”

When a pronoun follows a preposition, it has to be in the accusative case, also called the objective case. “With me.” “To them.” “Behind her.” The favorite grammatical error of snobs is to use the nominative case instead.
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