Darth Indurate says:

I was creeping people I have on my friends list and I noticed you are reading George R.R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones". I just bought it myself, and plan to read it over Christmas before the HBO series starts in the spring. Is it any good? Thanks for the head's up. And be sure to join my newest group, Book Worm's Wanted, for discussion, reviews and challenges about your favorite books. I'll be sure to say something about "A Game of Thrones". C-ya.

Lorina Stephens/Five Rivers says:

Well, strictly speaking a critique is constructive comment on your work and how you can improve. Review is reader appraisal.

Lorina Stephens/Five Rivers says:

I remember one writer who taught creative writing actually had a box of commas he'd take to each class, to hand out and take away from students. Thought that was a scream.

And sure, yeah, I'd be pleased to offer a review. I gather you're looking for a critique? Or just a review?

Lorina Stephens/Five Rivers says:

You might consider purchasing a manual of style. That would be helpful. Another on punctuation.
Simple rules are: commas to set off a phrase, or series of words, or in dialogue; semi-colons to set off a series of phrases, or to join to sentences that share a common thought; em dashes for a phrase that might otherwise be bracketed, an aside. This, of course, is bare bones generalities.

Lorina Stephens/Five Rivers says:

One trick employed by some writers is to write down the first three ideas that come to mind. Toss those, because if you thought of them that easily, someone else has as well. The fourth (or even the fifth or sixth) will often be pay-dirt for you.
As for something entirely new, well, it was all written by the Greeks. All we can do is bring a fresh voice to the subject, a different perspective.

Lorina Stephens/Five Rivers says:

Style: I find many novices have no sense of their own voice. They write to emulate a favourite author, or to impress. Just be yourself. Use your own voice. That honesty will reflect in your work and make it accessible, believable.
Most of all, however, don't sacrifice a standard of excellence. Edit, revise, edit again. An old adage, but a good one is: good enough never is. It's my mantra, and hence I've become obsessive about research, plot, character motivation. The work has to be cohesive.

Lorina Stephens/Five Rivers says:

Character development: often very little effort is made to flesh out characters, to work within a tight POV, or to create believable characters that aren't a cookie cutter of the author's last favourite novel.

Lorina Stephens/Five Rivers says:

You wrote: Grammatical issues, plot development, character development, something else?
All of these, yes. Often novices feel an editor will clean up their grammar. Wrong. You won't make it past the mail room if you send in a shoddy manuscript.
Plot development is often a problem, in that novices often 'tell' and then 'show', and often do what I call 'marrying the fly', in that they go off on a tangent unrelated to the plot, thereby halting all action. (cont)

Darth Indurate says:

I find a lot of the information in my head. My real name is George Lucas. LOL. Seriously, I have a ton of Star Wars books, and I use the Internet. If you haven't checked out Wookiepedia, it is full of Star wars info. Pretty accurate too.

Mvern78 says:

I liked the Paolini books - they were an easy read targeted at a younger audience but the Story is good if you like fantasy books.