Questions

I understand that matter travelling close to the speed of light gains infinite mass, and infinite energy behind it to maintain speed/accelerate.

My question is: As the matter becomes closer to the speed of light, would the infinite mass eventually collapse in on itself (as a star would at the end of it’s life)?

If so, would a neutron-star/white-drarf/black-hole be formed?

Ps. Good question, huh? =P

Hello

I’ve got two 2,000 word long short stories that I’d really need a good beta reader for. The more critical the better. Content & grammar. One of them contains sexual themes (though nothing more than a standard movie would).

I am, of course, willing to return the favor in any way I can if you’ve got something that needs to be read.

If anyone would be willing to take a look at one, or both, of them, please let me know. hann2010@gmail.com

Many thanks in advance!!

I’ve been looking several places for a beta, and having no luck. If anyone is interested in beta-ing a suspense novella (have about 9.5k words so far), you can reach me at naughtifaerie@hotmail.com.

It’s about a serial killer and my MC is his next target.

Hi folks, first visit here and a really interesting read so far.

To cut to the chase, I’ve had the typical itch to haul a novel out of myself kicking a screaming for years, with a few frustrating, aborted attempts haunting my past. Whenever I try to get started to marshall my motivation and pull a few ideas together I suddenly feel an absurd weight of history on me, the feeling that it’s all been done before - and in far greater style than me, meaning that I never get started. How on earth do I get over the negativity and accept that it’s better to try and see what happens?!

I always end up simply with a vague, amorphous idea that I know how I want the novel to ‘feel’ - I suppose I’m wanting to be achingly postmodern, with a touch of Alasdair Gray, Michael Marshall Smith, JD Salinger, Haruki Murakami, Iain Banks, Paul Auster, Christopher Brookmyre and a touch of Kafka, interspersed with a dollop of a ‘hero’ who looks like Brandon Flowers lost in a maze of Belle and Sebastian music. How the heck do you make sense of that?

In part, I’d like to have a novel in two locations, ‘reality’ and ‘mind’ (see, this is where I get frustrated with the all been done before feeling!), and possibly set in a kind of Glasgow, Scotland to investigate its schizophrenic nature: hugely friendly, warm, wealthy, welcoming, beautiful, tolerant and open, artisitic, vibrant, safe city but hugely deprived, drug ridden, crumbling, religiously intolerant and apparently Europe’s most violent city.

I want to explore ideas of isolation, loss, getting old and that feeling of drifting, and often have ideas about a version of the city surrounded by a wall.

Anyone who makes any sense of any of this deserves a reward! Thanks!

I read a fiction book years ago.its about a girl and her brother escaped from home in War II.She became a famous model in France later and then a romance happened…Can’t remember who wrote the book and the name of the book.but it was one of the best books which is about War II.Please help me to find it.Thanks heaps.

Writing is one of my greatest passions. I aspire to become an incredible author whose compositions will captivate many readers.
Just to get a feel for modern literary interests, what makes a work of fiction appealing to you? What types of stories do you really become engaged in?
- Devon

ceive your contest entry back. You are so excited! You look at your total score: 20/100. How is that possible? You want to throttle a couple of the judges. Here is a few of their comments:

* Have you ever read a book in your life!!

* Your characters are TSTL (too stupid to live).

* Is there a lower score than 0 for Manuscript Mechanics? I’d give it to you if I could.

I mean, you only have three published books, a Master’s degree in English, and a job editing making $90.00 per hour. You sit in front of your computer screen, blinking at your returned critique, your eyes still frozen on those four little letters TSTL.

Suddenly you take a deep breath, push back your chair, and head for that box of Rocky Road (how appropriate) ice cream to comfort that bruised ego. Then it hits you. Just who judged this entry anyway? You return to your computer and find it was an unpublished/trained critiquer. You give a huge sigh of relief. Whew! Who cares what they think. But then you realize that this critiquer is still a reader. Oh, no. Your shoulders sag.

Who Make the Best Judges?

I’m sure we all agree it is not the grudge judge—another author with a vendetta against contest judges. STAB! STAB! STAB! It is also not the author who knows nothing about writing and wants to gain all their experience by reading someone else’s work. (All comments left blank.) Maybe you’re saying to yourself you would like every judge to be either an editor or a multi-published author. That may not be the right answer either. Surprised?

Many published authors and editors lead very busy lives. They don’t have the time to provide a lot of critique. It’s hard to get exactly what a critiquer is telling you with a 3/5 score unless they leave a comment because only then can you learn.

The best judges tend to be those who take the time to point out their reasoning for their scoring with kind explanations (notice I said kind). They also point out positive strengths about your work.

Why Judge a Contest?

You can learn a great deal about writing from reading. (I’m sure you’ve heard that one before.) A good place to do it is reading contest entries. We all know how important those first few pages are, and boy is it easy to spot someone else’s mistakes. The more you are willing to help others see their mistakes, the easier it will become to spot them in your own writing.

What Makes a Good Judge?

Of course it is someone who will put a little time and thought into it, but here are more specifics:

* Critique doesn’t mean to criticize. The definition of critique is, “an instance or the process of formal criticism”. But come on. Do we really do that to each other when we are face-to-face in our critique groups discussing our own work? What I think any writer is looking for is good honest help—constructive criticism.

* In one of my entries a judge was so critical of my characters that she said the heroine was an air-head and the hero was a moron. I had given the heroine the character flaw of being spoiled by a rich, over-protective father and the hero an unknown diagnosis of ADD which both characters overcome by the end of the book. It is also a light-hearted comedy. Did the judge take into account that I said my hero was an expert in his field? Hmmmm. Did the judge take into account that the heroine was escaping a controlling father, starting a new business, and had bought a run-down home that needs restoring? Not sure.

* There again, you as the writer need to determine whether to take a judge’s comments with a grain of salt or decide whether you haven’t done your job telling your story.

The Dos and Don’ts of Judging

1. What’s in a point? A numbering system is a great way of scoring, but what does it really tell us? Sure the contest coordinator has assigned general comments to each number like a score of 5 means, “READY FOR SUBMISSION” and 1 means, “CHUCK THAT SUCKER IN THE GARBAGE”. Something like that.

Don’t plan on judging if you can’t back up that number with a reason for it. It needs to be valid writing criteria—something specific. If you can’t identify to the writer what is wrong, how are they going to learn from it? And if you can’t identify what is wrong, how are you going to learn?

2. Don’t get a bighead. You are on a roll, marking up that manuscript left and right. You want to help this writer become the next best-selling author. The fact is, you still haven’t considered you may not know everything there is about writing yourself. Think humility. Sure you want to point out what you know but try not to come off like Mr./Ms. Perfection. Remember to make your comments, but realize they are your suggestions to the writer–not the Ten Commandments.

3. Have a heart. A writer can learn from what they’re doing right, not just what they’re doing wrong. It never hurts to point out what a writer is doing well. It can only make them better, and it makes you both feel good.

You are not going to be happy with every judge who scrutinizes your work. Being unhappy with their critique doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them. If you receive two low scores and one high on dialogue, don’t be so conceited that you assume the high score is accurate. It’s not hard to figure out that your dialogue needs work. Sifting out important information is what we do as writers. If the judge criticizes your characters, you need to figure out why they felt that way.

After years of writing romantic suspense with serious subjects of murder, abuse, etc., I decided to write a much more light-hearted, humorous book where the villain wouldn’t go so far as to kill and the characters are a little less serious about the situation. Because it still has a protagonist and the heroine’s life is in danger, I submitted my entry under romantic suspense. The judge criticized my villian as weak and my hero and heroine as being dim-witted.

Should I throw the book away? On the contrary. Instead I analyzed the bigger picture of what was being said. I realized I was targeting the wrong genre.

Now you can head to the freezer for that box of ice cream but this time to celebrate. You’ve learned that even the raunchiest critique can benefit you if you look for the positive in it. On the other hand, if it is really malicious and you just can’t figure out anything positive the judge could have been trying to tell you, then print it off, rip it to shreds, stomp on it, and then set it on fire. That should help.

The majority of us are clueless as to what a descriptive & creative writing tool is and how it can help our writing skills. Other people see your writing as a look at your background and history and what you are achieving in any occupation you might choose. Make sure you read these helpful tips and guidelines prior to turning in your next written project.

Click here for a descriptive & creative writing tool!

One can successfully argue that the written word is an absolutely essential mode of communication in our advanced society. With regards to those who are careful to proofread and rework their written creations in english so you can be proud of them; Here’s some helpful information for you. Several highly intelligent creators of language software recently created an application for the analysis and writing of any type of written text, imitating as close as possible the way we process language. With this system, you can find (and fix) problems right away and thus avoid embarrassing grammar errors, for instance. If you are one of the many who are confused by the correct usage of adjectives and adverbs, for instance, you’ll find this amazingly helpful.

I am quite sure that in coming years everyone who writes will make sure such a program is accessible to assist them. Perhaps writing is a time-consuming and difficult task for you; you will soon see that it will assist you to make your text a real standout. What types of users did the designers of this tool have in mind? College students, doctors, writers - anyone and everyone. It’s always been the case that if you want to write perfect english you have to study and memorize all the intricacies of the language; luckily with this helpful tool it won’t be necessary.

The minute you check out a descriptive & creative writing tool you will promptly realize the wonderful assistance that it provides. Everyone would agree, a great benefit of this personal “english tutor” is that it improves you to achieve a new comfort level with your english. With the rapid increase in technological advances, It’s amazing to think about what will happen with computer research in five or ten years. It is my hope that you consider this little report to be of benefit to you in your hunt for information on how to improve your writing skills. And that’s not all, if you happen to be a parent of young children, then it can definitely help them to promote proper english usage as they mature.


- Gil Lavitov

im 13 and im into the whole teen/romance/adventure/mystery/science fiction type thing.I like books that are a series and can make me wanna keep reading it.Ive already read all the twilight books,silver kiss, blood and chocolate, and all anne rice books.
- Lisa B

I heard there is many different way to get very close to light speed, even though theoretically mass traveling at speed of light is impossible. For example using matter anti-matter engine and cause continuous explosions would eventually accelerate up to velocity that is just under light speed. Ok here is what I don’t know about. In this science fiction I read. As velocity increse the mass will increase, so when it get to near light speed the mass will increase up to even mass of saturn and go on. In this sf novel that I read. Space military used matter anti matter engine equipped missil to enemy planet to make gaint hole on thier planet or make the missil go fast as possible and increase mass so that it will become blackhole near enemy. Is it true that as velocity increase mass increase?
- jason