Ria Stone
SWF Writers
Posts: 1,055
Joined: Oct 30, 2013 14:12:26 GMT -8
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Post by Ria Stone on Aug 17, 2017 9:08:00 GMT -8
DJ, I'd like to hear more about Dramatica. Do you find it helpful? I have to admit my head is spinning with all the software you use and know of. I would be spending far too much time learning that. Thank God for online videos! Ria, I hear you about the malware and the upgrades and legacy software/hardware. I mean, my husband just recently forced me to part with my Blackberry Torch. Of course, I got another BB complete with keyboard, loathe touchscreen phones. And I drive a Saab... My last car was a Subaru! Loved it.
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chelsfield
SWF Writers
Posts: 700
Joined: Mar 28, 2012 3:07:24 GMT -8
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Post by chelsfield on Aug 17, 2017 23:24:49 GMT -8
At least they still make Suburus! Saabs have gone the way of the dinosaur and Blackberry may soon follow....
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Post by Ted on Aug 20, 2017 14:33:41 GMT -8
Subies are great cars. I'd love to get one. Someday.
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Post by jjmainor on Aug 21, 2017 5:32:58 GMT -8
Thanks for that, D J. Can't move for damn paintings in my place. Got the Mona Lisa staring right back at me at the moment. I see some amazing stuff on facebook art dreamers. Some done the old fashioned way, some with impressive computer work. I think for me, art means it has been created with effort, technique and passion. How it is created comes secondary to me. I do resent some paint being sloshed on a canvas and because some "lovey" says "it is genius, darlings", it is suddenly worth millions. I do contemplate spending some $$ on some decent software one day. Any suggestions??? Reading through your Dusty Miller series this summer, and...was her name Jackie?...her slapdash art kind of sticks out for me. I almost feel bad when Dusty just humors her efforts, but I would be honored to receive a gift like that...maybe I wouldn't hang it in a prime spot, but I'd definitely find a private little space to hang it in my home...guess it would depend on how it actually looked.
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Post by jjmainor on Aug 21, 2017 5:37:05 GMT -8
GIMP is free. A PhotoShop replacement. They have lots of tutorials. www.gimp.org/I love Gimp...checked out Photoshop in the last year or two and actually found it didn't have some of the rendering options I love in Gimp.
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Post by jjmainor on Aug 21, 2017 5:51:51 GMT -8
Gary, DAZ creates 3D figures and dresses them. Can put them in a movie, take a snapshot of certain poses, move lights/cameras to other angles, etc www.daz3d.com/Stick to photoscape if you are familiar with it. You can play around on GIMP following tutorials, or try to replicate what you do on photoscape on GIMP. I discovered DAZ last year and love it. After I got comfortable with textures and transparencies, I started livening up those stupid free elements available with the program to create some of my recent covers too. While I won't technically admit to doing this since it's probably wrong, but if you have the Sims game, you can use a program called TSR Workshop to extract furniture and other objects and their textures for import into Daz. From there you can create your own home settings or your own buildings with the characters from Daz. It takes a bit of practice and some getting used to, but it does get easy once you have the hang of it.
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Post by garyweston on Aug 21, 2017 6:00:12 GMT -8
JJ. Many thanks for getting the Dusty books. Maybe slightly dated now. People who "get it" like Pinky. Madder than a march hare. I was hopelessly drunk through most of that writing period so if you spot a typo, you know why. I literally would get up the next morning knowing I had written something, but unsure what. Then with nervous anticipation I would check it out and sometimes quite surprise myself. The original started at where she is stoned and steals that red car. (I added to it later with her early years) You should know that Palmerston North is a real place, all the streets existing as is.Can't recall which book, but small town Shannon is where I once lived and the railway station is as described. The woman who looks after it was a neighbour. Still has a steam train passing through it now and then. I'd forgotten all about Jackie. Away with the fairies, that one. The series gets increasingly surreal (blame the booze) and after book four it is just bloody ... strange! Good fun, though. You will either go, "Oh, what the.." and just go with it or go "How can anyone that drunk write this?" Enjoy
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Post by jjmainor on Aug 21, 2017 6:22:07 GMT -8
I got that it was based on real places, and I think that's what makes it more interesting is that I'm not reading a foreign author trying to set their story in the US, but on giving a glimpse into their own country. The lingo really adds to the setting as well. Whenever I pick up something by an Australian author, I always want to see it filled so full with their slang that I can hardly read it...and I'm a bit disappointed when they tone it down for American audiences. It's amusing (and I mean it in a good way) to see NZ and AU aren't really that different when it comes to the slang.
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Post by garyweston on Aug 21, 2017 7:01:30 GMT -8
I wondered about writing in a more an American style once upon a time. The thing is, I'm English and now back in England. I lived and worked in N Z for about 16 years which is where I wrote Dusty and another Kiwi flavoured book, One Man's Dream. Then got divorce now back to my roots. So I always wrote as a Brit, added a few Kiwi sayings for flavour. (note my spelling of flavour). I always wondered what the Americans would make of my Englishness but have had no real trouble. One reviewer on B and N was a little peed off with me being a "Kiwi" and as such, was writing in that language, which wasn't the case. Kiwi's have a way of swapping the I and E about. As new arrivals, years ago, we were asked to keep an eye on the old lady next door. Piggy. My wife and I looked at each other and I said, "We can't call her Piggy." It was actually Peggy. Six sounds like sex, which can be amusing.
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Post by Ted on Aug 21, 2017 7:47:53 GMT -8
It's all Canadian English to me, eh.
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Post by jjmainor on Aug 30, 2017 5:08:24 GMT -8
I'm not sure there is an "American" style. Grammar and usage goes out the window differently depending on where you come from and what your status is. Try and find some local news footage where they interview a black man from a low income neighborhood, or a white redneck from some lower class rural spot, and it sounds like you're in a different country. I was born and raised in New England where everyone drops "R"s, and I moved to North Carolina about ten years ago. I swear, I understand what these rednecks say less than I do the immigrants who barely speak English...at least the immigrants, I can pick up the accent and figure them out...the rednecks...if you ever watched King of the Hill, the character Boomhouer is pretty much accurate in the way he speaks.
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