Wow. I think I agree with the carrion eating trickster god thing. This is definitely one of our better efforts. In particular, I liked Solemn's personal description, Wolf's irreverence, and Sakka's writing tip.

But I *especially* liked this "Distrubly" fellow who was featured at the top of the letter. While I've never met him, I must say he seems brilliant, and devilishly handsome. (Dammit, Bread... just... dammit.)

Bizarre typos aside, not a bad showing at all.

Excellent issue, guys. It was a delight to read, as always. ;)

And, Solemn, it's not 'Hill Phoenix'. Sakka means 'writer' as well.

I suppose I'll start with Disturbly, who has managed to tackle funny, insightful, inspiring and helpful all in one issue. You first and last pieces were really enjoyable. And the meat of your work in this issue was entertaining as well as useful. Though I don't watch much anime anymore, VanDread looks like an appealing one, provided I start from the beginning so my head doesn't explode.

elisefey, I especially liked that class division you created, of goal- and relationship-oriented. That's a very convenient way to look at your writing and determine what it reflects.

Wow, Bread, that study is amazing. It really looks like we're all scum if you take a look at the writing on that clipboard. I can't stop chuckling at those results.

That's a really good idea, Fen! A really perfect way to tackle the gender-related problems in a piece of writing if there are any to be found.

Charming expansion of the classic tale, Solemn Coyote. The wolf and woodsman in a man...what a novel concept. It's undoubtedly good to give your characters something the readers are in the dark about. Then they'll keep reading.

I had a lot of fun with this one. The reading of it, of course. ^^ I'll do my part better next time. Great collection of idead here.

Wolfie

Observation - LOL.

Writing the Elusive “Male” - interesting article. Usually I try to write my guys the same as women, just more sex-driven and making frequent references to their genitalia to remind the reader that they are, in fact, male. :/

Men as Scum - awesome, made me laugh out loud. Personally I try not to generalize half of the human population, but the idea of both men and women being scum seems fair enough!

Of Genders and Ralers - interesting idea, I should try that. =)

‘Strapped For Time’ - LOL!

Writing tip - wow, I never saw that story that way. I think you definitely have a point at the end there.

I'm totally going to try to write something for the next issue.. limbs, eh? =)

I agree that this issue was very good quality. I enjoyed it so much. :) The best one so far, in my opinion. Good job everyone who submitted!

Who! New StP! I am psyched to see my own writing agai--uh, I mean, I'm psyched to read what everyone else wrote. *ahem* Yeah. Mind the ego.

1)Elisefey, I have to give you credit. You took what is an extremely complicated topic for most writers and distilled it down into a basic how-to. I was actually nodding my head and thinking 'holy crap. That works,' by the end of it. Kudos for a thoughtful and well-written article.

I do have to make a nit-pick, of course. Me being me. When you say that relationship-driven male characters aren't very believable, you're mostly right. It's pretty hard to write a male character that way, both because it defies stereotypes and because those stereotypes are founded in fact, but it is possible. The trick with that is, usually the male character will see the relationship as a task to be accomplished. Hence the origin of the phrase 'getting the girl.' If a guy's used to thinking in a task-based way and he suddenly becomes interested in a relationship, he's liable to apply that task-based reasoning to the relationship.

Of course, there are probably other ways to write a convincing relationship-oriented male, but I can't quite think of any at the moment.

Anyways, thank you for writing an article that made me think.

2)"In the kingdom of Fallopia, all was bliss." Disturbly, I wish I had your gift, man. I was giggling by the end of that paragraph, and I don't generally giggle. It's undignified.

The rest of the article was insightful and all but, heh, you said 'Fallopia.'

3) Surreal and amazing, Bread. Please write more often.

Personally, I wouldn't say that men or women are scum. Just that everything alive has been victimized by evolution in one way or another. Case example: the platypus.

4) A solid article, Sakka Fennikusu (I finally got a Japanese dictionary and looked that up. "Hill Phoenix?") A good writing exercise if you need to take a step back and reassess your characters, as well as a bit of anthropology 101.

5) Clever, WyrdWolf.

6)And, me. We'll just skip right over me. Please don't look too closely at the typos.

7) All in all, good issue, everybody. It's just my opinion, but I think this one was a pretty substantial jump in quality from past issues. Maybe we're all getting used to this ficpress newsletter thing?

-SC