Comments on: Quickly Answering Some Recent Questions About Liar

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:41:03 +0000

This from today’s Sydney Morning Herald:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/books/dark-reaction-to-a-whitewashed-book/2009/08/11/1249756304353.html

Nice to see some broader coverage.

By: Justine

Justine — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 04:37:09 +0000

LR: I have indeed read that article. Dead interesting. Can you be more specific about your question? He makes a lot of different points about lying.

By: LR

LR — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:44:33 +0000

I have a sort-of-but-not-really-related question- did you see the NYTimes article about lying, by Errol Morris? Can you say what your opinion is of the points he makes, about the nature of lying?

By: Justine

Justine — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:40:12 +0000

Cristina: That’s a HUGE question. I might have to write a whole post to respond. But the first thing I would do is ask your friends what they want you to read for. Some people just want to know when readers get confused. Did the reader follow the plot? Were there bits where they got bored? etc.

By: Cristina

Cristina — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:26:55 +0000

I have an unrelated question!

I know you’ve written before about the editing process and on having first readers on your drafts. But do you have any advise to those first readers? A couple of friends have sent me their drafts, and while I like helping them, I have no idea of what I’m supposed to do. Is there anything I should be paying particular attention to?

By: Whole lot of lovin’. « Journal of a Power Dyke in Training

Whole lot of lovin’. « Journal of a Power Dyke in Training — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:17:05 +0000

[...] published in November, 2009. I’ve already got it on my Amazon.com wish list along with Liar. Get there, [...]

By: Kate C

Kate C — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:38:59 +0000

MITES grow up
and TITES fall down.

Easy.

By: Kiera

Kiera — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:06:28 +0000

Thank you very much, Justine!

By: Justine

Justine — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:53:04 +0000

Keira: The text of the Australian and US editions of Liar is identical. The design, externally and internally, is different. The US first edition is hardcover the Australian is paperback (C format).

By: Precie

Precie — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:31:47 +0000

I’m a little bit behind so I just found out, via Editorial Ass, about yoour new cover. Thank goodness! I wish you lots of success with Liar and it’s new cover!

By: PixelFish

PixelFish — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:54:54 +0000

I learned it as stalaGmites grow up from the Ground. (G for ground.) And stalaCtites grow down from the Ceiling. (C for ceiling.)

By: Kiera

Kiera — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:34:58 +0000

Are the US and Australian editions much different? (vocabulary, grammar, etc) I don’t want to wait any longer than september! Plus the cover for the Australian edition reminds me of a Rorschach test, which I like. ^.^

By: Rene

Rene — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:23:23 +0000

Heh. Elodie, my English mnemonic is stalagmites have a “g” for “ground,” and stalactites have a “c” for “ceiling.” So it works in English, too.

By: Judith Ridge

Judith Ridge — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:32:08 +0000

I learned how to remember the difference between stalagtites and stalagmites from an Archie comic, from which one could eventually learn everything worth knowing in life. (Especially now we know that Archie marries Veronica, not Betty, humph. http://tinyurl.com/omhwe7)

Stalagtites are the ones on the ceiling because they have to hold on tight. Stalagmites are the ones of the ground because they might one day reach the ceiling. (Seems oddly aspirational on the part of the old stalagmites to me, but it was, after all, an Archie comic…)

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:36:36 +0000

I learned the same mnemonic as El, only with the added “Stalagmites MIGHT reach the ceiling”. I still always forget that it’s spelled with a G though.

By: Elodie

Elodie — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:59:50 +0000

In french, it’s awesome, because stalagtites and and stalagmites are different just with that “t” and “m”, and “tomber” means to fall, and “monter” means to go up. The t ones fall (from the top) and the m ones climb (from the bottom). Dunno how that could translate into english…
Hmm, I guess this is proof that english is an inferior language! >.> XD

By: El

El — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 05:22:39 +0000

Stalactites hold “tight” to the ceiling….

By: Mary Elizabeth S.

Mary Elizabeth S. — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 05:01:03 +0000

Stalagmites stick up like the points of a capital M. Which is handy, since “stalagmite” just happens to have an m in it, whereas “stalactite” doesn’t.

There should be more book-to-manga crossovers. And more manga-to-book crossovers. And more interplay between the two, generally.

Justine, you need to make friends with a manga artist and collaborate with them on a book with chapters that alternate between images and written word. It would be a thing of Awesome. *enthusiastic nodding*

~Mary