(about "Zebulon")
> And the writing was very flat and
>lifeless, managing to be lengthy without being either vivid or
>humourous.
You know, sometimes life seems to be going along just fine - the sun is
shining, your game has just won $100, and so on, and then somebody
whom you respect says something that's just like a bucket of cold water
over your head.
The following is not a flame. I'm not questioning Gareth's opinions or
his right to express them - on the contrary. It's precisely because I
respect and trust his opinions that I'm writing this, because I can't
just shrug it off as yet another opinion.
I'll try not to whine too much. Let's just say that if this is the
general opinion (not just the effect of Gareth's having had a bad day
jsut when playing Zebulon or something like that), I'll have to do
some serious re-thinking of my life and my future.
Sure, "Zebulon" *is* a bitpedestrian. I deliberately aimed at doing something
not too outlandish, not too "literate".
However, I did put some effort into the writing, and if the best I can
achieve is so bad, I'd better give up writing altogether. Yes, I m
whining, but this is actually quite serious: I simply don't want to be
associated with very flat and lifeless writing, that's neither vivid
nor humorous. In that case, it's far better that my efforts so far be
qucikly forgotten. Above all, I can see no point in writing any more
dull, flat and lifeless prose - after all, one does put in quite a lot
of one's mental energy into this, and perhaps I could find more
fruitful ways of spending that.
Also, I get a strong feeling that I'm making a fool of myself by
criticizing other peoples' writing in my SPAG reviews if I can't write
myself. (Yes, I know, there are plenty of critics who can't write at
all, but they *are* a pathetic lot, and I don't wnat to be a memeber
of that pathetic lot myself, thankyou).
This is not a threat, nor a promise, just a statement of fact: I can
see no point in continuing writing if my writing is as bad as Gareth
says. Perhaps a collaboration would be more in order, where I provide
the mechanics of puzzles and porgramming, but some more talented
writer does the actual text?
Magnus