Author Topic: Nothing Random - my first book...  (Read 2780 times)

S8NSSON

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Nothing Random - my first book...
« on: October 17, 2011, 11:22:15 AM »
This is my first book. I have no formal training on writing so don't expect Shakespeare or anything.

It's here in PDF format: http://www.kcharron.net/book/
Feel free to LIKE the FB page for it here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nothing-Random/262150453827262

It's around 37,000 words long - just short of a novel according to the Nebula awards criteria.

Synopsis:
Set in early 2100's
Wil, the protagonist, creates a new type of computer processor that dwarfs current technologies. He simulates entire universes with it. He demos it to three gaming companies and the military. The military had been watching him and plot to steal the technology by planting a love interest that turns on him. She really falls in love and ends up helping Wil. Wil discovers that the people in his virtual universe can control his universe. He also discovers his universe is just a simulation itself.

blahblahblah they live happily ever after!

T3RR0R15T

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2011, 11:36:04 AM »
The synopsis remembers me a bit of the movie "The Thirteenth Floor".

Ghadente

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2011, 08:35:13 PM »
your synopsis reminds me of trailers that give away all the good parts of a movie

S8NSSON

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2011, 08:24:16 AM »
Nah, it doesn't give away too much. I was just letting you know what it was about.

One of the best parts of the book isn't even eluded to in my synopsis, above.

If anyone reads this please give me feedback!

T3RR0R15T

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2011, 10:53:23 AM »
Sounds interesting, so i would read it (if it was in german).

S8NSSON

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2011, 11:32:11 AM »
Can't you just translate it?

I can give you the MS Word version if that would help?

T3RR0R15T

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #6 on: October 18, 2011, 12:15:06 PM »
It's to complicated to translate it manually and the google translator can't make useful sentences...

Gamabunta

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #7 on: October 18, 2011, 04:02:41 PM »
Give me some time and I will definitely read it and provide you with feedback, last book I've read in English was 7th volume of Harry Potter on its premiere.

S8NSSON

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2011, 08:46:36 AM »
Thanx Gamabunta. Look forward to your comments!

flip

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #9 on: October 26, 2011, 11:23:13 PM »
I love to read. I'll print it out tomorrow so I can take it where ever I may roam. I have been known to read everything from fantasy to political histories so I'll let you know how I like it. BTW, I now know your real name. Muhahahahaha.

P.S. I will highlight any grammatical or sentence structure errors I find. lol

S8NSSON

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #10 on: November 03, 2011, 09:01:51 AM »
lol correcting grammatical and sentence structure errors, you'll be busy!

I got some good critique so I will be doing a massive edit to include more character development and some other things!

Ace

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #11 on: November 03, 2011, 08:58:28 PM »
I went and read the first few chapter. I think one of my biggest critiques would be sentence variance. There are a a few times where it seems a bit choppy because of the sentences having similar length. I think that would help to mask a few of the issue I saw other people had like character development etc. Sentence length is used fairly often to make other issues seem less important.

Anyways, from what I read, it seems like it could have some real promise, so keep at it. I work on editing papers and short stories for my university's writing center so I have some experience in the area. If you want me to really try to edit it a chunk of it I'd be willing. I just ran into some free time I think.

S8NSSON

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2011, 01:01:54 PM »
Ace, that would be awesome!!!
I certainly could use any help I could get.

I'm about to do a pretty big edit, I think.
I'm going to add a chapter to the front, and insert a little more character development (as best I can lol), and look at the choppiness you spoke of.

Ya know, the actual "story" doesn't really even start till chapter five (chapter six when I insert the new chapter one). At chapter five is where Wil starts meeting people and things go freaky!

Thanx for reading!!!!!!!!!! really really big time thanks!

Gamabunta

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Re: Nothing Random - my first book...
« Reply #13 on: November 08, 2011, 03:47:32 PM »
I've read the whole thing. Here is what I think, it won't cover all the stuff because right now I don't remember every detail. Attention: the following text may contain spoilers.

Pros:
- the story itself, future world
- quite long for your first book
- it's a fast-reading (is there such a phrase?) book, took me much less time to read it than other English books/texts
- some things (technical stuff) were covered in detail, I think you should stick to it
- not having a googol of characters

Cons:
- a lot of grammatical, punctuation and other errors, that sometimes are just too visible
- repetition of words, this really needs to go, I found myself reading the same word 10 times in one paragraph, you need more synonyms
- few things were too obvious ("the war"), where others were too unclear (out of blue the world in another world in another? you should have put more attention to that, this could be the very core of the book [kind of reminds me of Inception])
- some of the references to the real world (/b/, for example, I didn't really like it, but it's subjective opinion)
- putting acronyms next to phrases and never using them (I think NPC is a good example), also, not explaining them in details

All in all, this could be a good book, possibly even a selling one, if you put more effort to it and read it carefully few times, trying to catch all the details. You need to do this proccess, it's really boring to do, but it's needed. Good luck though, and although I know it's not all easy and fun, keep up the good work!