| mel
boring |
Join us this afternoon
in the AUDITORIUM-Scheduled Events Room for an "Open Forum" with Web
Editor Mel Boring. Mel has published some 25 magazine articles and
stories, as well as eight books for the young readers market. He
taught writing for 18 years, while being home husband and parent to
two of his four children, and doing his own writing. He welcomes
your questions on time management, getting started, writer's block,
marketing, writing rights, writing earnings, or anything else you'd
like to discuss. Bring your QUESTIONS to this open forum-in four
minutes.
|
| mel
boring |
The Tuesday afternoon
"Open Forum" will begin promptly at 4 Atlantic/CANADA, 3 p.m.
Eastern, 2 p.m. Central, 1 p.m. Mountain, and noon Pacific. While
you wait for the "Open Forum" to start, feel free to use your ASK A
QUESTION button RIGHT BETWEEN THE YELLOW "MAP" AND THE RED QUESTION
MARK IN ICHAT to post some questions for the discussion group-two
minutes from now.
|
| mel
boring |
Good afternoon! Welcome
to this Tuesday afternoon's "Open Forum" session. I'm your
moderator, Mel Boring, and the Web Editor for this site. We're back
for an informal time of answering any questions you might like to
ask, on any subject. So feel free to ask what's on your mind--and
I'll tell you what's on mine! First, please read these
announcements, then we'll get started.
|
| mel
boring |
IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS:
Send questions you'd like answered or discussed by using your "Ask a
Question" icon/button. (It looks like a thought bubble icon, RIGHT
NEXT TO THE RED QUESTION MARK.) The moderator (me, Mel Boring) will
post the questions one at a time in the chat room and do my best to
answer them. Also note: If you want to make it possible to ask the
longest question you can, first type "/ask" (without the quotation
marks), then leave one space after the end of "ask", then type as
many characters of your question as you can. If your question is not
complete, send the second part next, then if necessary the third,
etc.
|
| mel
boring |
WARNING: If you don't
post anything at all, SOME of you will be bounced off the system in
15 minutes. TO PREVENT THIS, type something (either a question to
the moderator or even a private message) every 15 minutes to stay
active and remain online.
|
| mel
boring |
Happy Election Day, and
we have some GOOD NEWses to start with!:...
|
| mel
boring |
Chris Wiegand has this
GOOD NEWS: I recieved a letter from "ParentLife" magazine today,
telling me that they wanted to publish my
|
| issue of the
magazine |
|
| mel
boring |
That article title,
"Baby!...Again" is by itself even, VERY
intriguing!...
|
| mel
boring |
CONGRATULATIONS, Chris,
and MANY Happy Returns to you!!!
|
| mel
boring |
GOOD NEWS from Ken
Ralls: I just received two emails from staff members of the Truman
Review alumni magazine.
|
| in Kirksville,
Missouri. I graduated from there in 1962. |
|
|
|
| my novel, MCKAYS
ISLAND, THE BEGINNING, coverage in their next issue. They send the
review to 55,000 people! I am hoping I will be able to have a book
signing because of this |
|
| mel
boring |
A NOVEL is something
that a person's alma mater gets VERY excited about,
Ken....
|
| mel
boring |
CONGRATULATIONS on the
publication of your novel, and here's HOPING for a BOOK SIGNING for
you!!!
|
| mel
boring |
Kimberly Campbell, who
was recently a Chat Guest of ours about building Internet web sites,
sent this GOOD NEWS: THE OLD COOT AND MY JAUNT TO GEORGIA (a
middle-grade novel manuscript) won First Place in the children's
fiction category of the Writer's Digest 73rd Annual Writing
Competition!
|
| round judge. The
announcement can be seen in the November 2004 issue, on page 41.
Wahoo! |
|
|
|
| mel
boring |
Speaking of intriguing
titles, THE OLD COOT AND MY JAUNT TO GEORGIA has to be
about...
|
| mel
boring |
one of the MOST
intriguing titles ever! CONGRATULATIONS,
Kimberly!!!...
|
| mel
boring |
I told Kim that I am
MORE eager now to read that novel then even when she first told me
about it....
|
| mel
boring |
And Richard Peck would
be a DREAM JUDGE to have at a fiction novel
contest!
|
| mel
boring |
GOOD NEWS from Cathy
Lovelady: I sold my Assignment 4 nonfiction article to LADYBUG
Magazine after tweaking it a number of times. I don't know when it
will be published. This is my second sale!
|
| mel
boring |
CONGRATULATIONS to
Cathy Lovelady, who has one of the LOVELIEST names
going!...
|
| mel
boring |
Her sale to LADYBUG,
AND being her SECOND sale in the ICL course, is a STRONG
achievement!
|
| mythchild |
mel how do I join the
graduate course? My teacher
|
| mythchild |
mentioned it in my last
assignment but that was two weeks
|
| mythchild |
ago and I've had nothing
in the mail
|
| mel
boring |
THANKS for following up
on this, mythchild,...
|
| mel
boring |
and for letting me know
the timing!...
|
| mel
boring |
To receive your diploma
will take some time, at least a month, as I
remember....
|
| mel
boring |
And your instructor's
recommendation will take some time also, perhaps longer than a
month....
|
| mel
boring |
But if you asked your
instructor for a recommendation two weeks ago in your last
assignment,...
|
| mel
boring |
you should hear about
it within TWO months, I think....
|
| mel
boring |
Processing your final
assignment, and your diploma, will take some time,
mythchild....
|
| mel
boring |
If it gets past two
months from now, let me know if you haveN'T heard from them,
OK?
|
| mel
boring |
Here is a fragment of a
question left over from last week....
|
| mel
boring |
and I will try to
"interpolate" what the rest of it might have
been:...
|
| bigbird |
good to automatically
submit a disc on everything?
|
| mel
boring |
What I'm thinking
bigbird meant is, Is it a good idea to submit manuscripts and/or
pictures on a disk?...
|
| mel
boring |
ONLY if a particular
publisher ASKS for them on a disk, bigbird....
|
| mel
boring |
SOME publishers, and a
minority, work only from disks nowadays....
|
| mel
boring |
That is usually a
3.5-inch floppy disk, on which you send a
manuscript....
|
| mel
boring |
AND you can also send
digital images/pictures on disk as well, if they aren't too big for
the disk....
|
| mel
boring |
But if a publisher does
not ASK for things on a disk, send them on paper, the usual
way.
|
| mel
boring |
KC needs to know this:
What is the difference between a picture book and STORY picture
book?
|
| mel
boring |
GOOD question, KC! A
PICTURE BOOK is...
|
| mel
boring |
the term for a 32-page
book (always that number of TOTAL pages)...
|
| mel
boring |
which has a picture on
EVERY page, usually with text, but MAY be
textless.....
|
| mel
boring |
A STORY PICTURE book or
more properly a PICTURE STORY book,...
|
| mel
boring |
is a book with SOME
pictures, but not a picture on every page....
|
| mel
boring |
If there is a picture
every few pages or so, or every ten pages, it is a picture story
book.
|
| mel
boring |
Here is also a leftover
from last week:...
|
| bigbird |
how have "ebooks"
affected the children's market?
|
| mel
boring |
They have made it MORE
possible to be published, bigbird,...
|
| mel
boring |
and made it happen for
many people more quickly....
|
| mel
boring |
That is because
publishing ebooks is not nearly as expensive as traditional
books...
|
| mel
boring |
so MORE authors can get
published with MORE books....
|
| mel
boring |
To publish a
TRADITIONAL picture book today, for instance, (a first author's
book)...
|
| mel
boring |
can cost from ,000 to
,000....
|
| mel
boring |
and publishing ebooks
on the Internet is a LOT less expensive....
|
| mel
boring |
I also think that ebook
publishing, and other new forms of publishing,...
|
| mel
boring |
have risen because of
the difficulty of being published by traditional publishers
nowadays,...
|
| mel
boring |
and I am GLAD to see it
happening!
|
| diane45 |
I am trying to help a
fellow writer with strengthening his/her characters. How could I do
this effectively, while not sounding too critical? I'd really like
to help this writer develop strong, vivid
characters.
|
| mel
boring |
Here is a "formula" I
have used and believe in, diane45:...
|
| mel
boring |
In critique, I feel I
can say JUST as many negative things as I've said
positive....
|
| mel
boring |
So I find out first
what is POSITIVE about the manuscript, or about the character a
writer has developed....
|
| mel
boring |
Then I tell the person
the POSITIVE things as well as the NEGATIVE....
|
| mel
boring |
It's sometimes
surprising to me that I can find positive
things,...
|
| mel
boring |
but you CAN, I believe,
in every character or story or novel....
|
| mel
boring |
So balance the PLUSES
and the MINUSES, diane45, and the person will be MUCH more inclined
to take your advice!
|
| mel
boring |
WWW e-mailed to ask us:
Have you heard any news concerning The Brookfield Readers Publishing
Company? I went looking for the their website and then tried
e-mailing them and had my e-mail returned. Are they still
around?
|
| mel
boring |
In case others of you
wondered about Brookfield,...
|
| mel
boring |
they WERE listed in
ICL's 2004 CHILDREN'S BOOK MARKET,...
|
| mel
boring |
but in the new 2005
CBM, a note at the end of the listings says...
|
| mel
boring |
it was impossible to
locate Brookfield....
|
| mel
boring |
Because I know ICL
really has ways of contacting ANY publisher, Brookfield must have
gone out of business!...
|
| mel
boring |
If any others of you
know more than that, PLEASE let me know, OK?
|
| mel
boring |
LK asked us this: When
you are asked to send in "clips", do you send in a copy of an entire
article/story or just a good "clip" from an article/story? Also, is
it acceptable to send in a photocopy of "clips"?
|
|
|
| mel
boring |
The word "clip" refers
to scissor-CLIPping articles out of magazines and newspapers,
LK.....
|
| mel
boring |
But it is BEST to ONLY
send photocopies of your published pieces, instead of clipping them
out....
|
| mel
boring |
IF a story or article
is longer than about 3 pages,...
|
| mel
boring |
I would suggest only
sending the first 3 pages....
|
| mel
boring |
If it is only one page,
of course you can send it all....
|
| mel
boring |
But editors want to get
a "flavor" from your writing by reading clips,...
|
| mel
boring |
so you don't need to
send many, and no too-long ones, to give them the flavor of your
writing.
|
| gladys1 |
Mel are we informed of
the novel course as we finish the magazine course or do we have to
re apply?
|
| mel
boring |
gladys1, your
instructor will be asked to recommend you for further
courses...
|
| mel
boring |
at the end of the
course you're taking....
|
| mel
boring |
And if they recommend
you, you'll hear from ICL about a further course in about 2
months....
|
| mel
boring |
If you DON'T hear from
ICL, you can write to them and ask. They're always glad to answer
questions, friend.
|
| craig |
what kind of action can
characters have when there is a confrontation in a classroom? I am
writing a story on a character that has an infatuation about a
famous person and his classmates are teasing him about it and
telling him he cannot have a relationship with a famous person. I
need to know what kind of action I can implement in the
story
|
| mel
boring |
ANY action is okay,
craig, except...
|
| mel
boring |
action of shooting or
knifing or otherwise hurting characters....
|
| mel
boring |
Especially since the
Columbine school incidents,...
|
| mel
boring |
publishers are very
reluctant to include any VIOLENT action in stories or
novels....
|
| mel
boring |
But your character
could argue back with classmates in an intelligent
way,...
|
| mel
boring |
explaining why he CAN
have a relationship with a famous person....
|
| mel
boring |
For instance, if your
character who is teased is related to a relative of the famous
person,...
|
| mel
boring |
that would be an
EXCELLENT argument for him to proffer to his
classmates....
|
| mel
boring |
Just be careful not to
let there be violence, any bodily hurt or harm....
|
| mel
boring |
And editors are very
sensitive today about even VERBAL hurting that might be done. GOOD
FORTUNE with your story, craig!
|
| iamnina |
Hi Mel. On an old post on
the writer's retread you quoted
|
| iamnina |
jane yolen as having
said: and thumping good luck to you
|
| iamnina |
I once saw a video with
her where it sounded like she
|
| iamnina |
edited authors work. i
was wondering if you had this
|
| iamnina |
kind of relationship with
her, and how one would go about
|
| iamnina |
approaching an
established writer for this kind of relations
|
| mel
boring |
Jane Yolen HAS edited
MANY authors' work, iamnina,...
|
| mel
boring |
including my own, 35
years ago, for which I felt very fortunate....
|
| mel
boring |
But she has done it in
connection with CONFERENCES where she's been a speaker or
mentor....
|
| mel
boring |
That would be the ONLY
way you might contact Jane for that kind of
relationship....
|
| mel
boring |
What I would suggest,
iamnina, is that you approach an author of Jane's
stature...
|
| mel
boring |
--and there are few of
HER stature--at a CONFERENCE....
|
| mel
boring |
Authors at conferences
expect to be approached by writers who need their
help....
|
| mel
boring |
And MOST children's
authors that I have ever known are HAPPY to help
others....
|
| mel
boring |
So if you see Jane at a
conference, you may want to approach her there....
|
| mel
boring |
But ANY author speaking
at a conference is as approachable as Jane,...
|
| mel
boring |
and if they aren't
approachable, you prolly don't want their help
anyway!...
|
| mel
boring |
But don't be afraid to
approach them, yet do it at a conference or seminar, is the best
way.
|
| diane45 |
How do I critique one's
story without sounding too critical or harsh? I think this person
has a lot of positive things within the story, but the plot need to
be more cohesive. Any suggestions? Thank you, Mel. I appreciate your
input.
|
| mel
boring |
THANKS for your
followup, diane45!...
|
| mel
boring |
I'd suggest you tell
the person FIRST about all the positive things in the
story....
|
| mel
boring |
THEN tell them those
negatives about the plot needing to be more
cohesive....
|
| mel
boring |
I'll tell you what I
think is my MOST IMPORTANT secret of critiquing:...
|
| mel
boring |
It is that I ALWAYS TRY
TO REMEMBER where I was along the way in my OWN writing
development....
|
| mel
boring |
THAT helps me to be
patient with writers who are not very far along....
|
| mel
boring |
And I think they NOTICE
that, and APPRECIATE our patience with them....
|
| mel
boring |
PLUS, I always remember
people like Jane Yolen, who helped ME when I was writing
"garbage."...
|
| mel
boring |
and her help helped get
me to publishing, diane45. Your friend is FORTUNATE to have you as a
critiquer!
|
| mel
boring |
BigBird has this
follow-up question from last week: I asked about stories of 300 or
so words accompanied by a line drawing that could be colored, that I
envision could be for either children and/or stressed-out adults who
need a little "kid" time. Question: What is the advisability - and
how - of providing not only the story but also the illustrations? Is
this sort of dual-purpose authorship frowned upon or are there
special devices that must be used? Am also wondering about offering
the concept as an illustrated downloadable e-book.
|
| mel
boring |
Is IS advisable for you
to do BOTH the text AND the pictures, bigbird!...
|
| mel
boring |
Editors have no problem
with that, as long as you do both well....
|
| mel
boring |
I think your idea for
doing an E-BOOK with short stories and line drawings to
color...
|
| mel
boring |
is the BEST BEST for
your idea! Try to find an e-book publisher that does something
SIMILAR to what you have in mind....
|
| mel
boring |
If it's only VAGUELY
similar, contact them with YOUR idea....
|
| mel
boring |
Often, out-of-the-box
ideas are VERY attractive to editors....
|
| mel
boring |
They just need to see
what you can DO, and that will convince them!
|
| spotslover2 |
/ask How many advanced
courses does the ICL offer?...
|
| spotslover2 |
/ask Mythchild thought
the advanced course dealt with...
|
| spotslover2 |
/ask novel length
stories, but the advanced course I'm...
|
| spotslover2 |
/ask taking focuses on
magazine stories.
|
| mel
boring |
THANKS for asking a
very SENSIBLE question, spotslover2!...
|
| mel
boring |
ICL has THREE courses
in writiing for children....
|
| mel
boring |
The first is the BASIC
course, "How to Write for Children and
Teenagers."...
|
| mel
boring |
The SECOND course is
called "BEYOND THE BASICS: Creating & Selling Short Stories and
Articles,''...
|
| mel
boring |
in which you work on a
story or article MORE than just ONE assignment...
|
| mel
boring |
so as to develop it
further for marketing....
|
| mel
boring |
The THIRD course is
"Writing & Selling Children's Books."...
|
| mel
boring |
Of course that last one
is about writing BOOKS....
|
| mel
boring |
When you finish the
BASIC course, your instructor will be asked to recommend you for the
next course, BEYOND THE BASICS....
|
| mel
boring |
When you finish BEYOND
THE BASICS, your instructor will be asked to recommend you for the
book course. I hope this clarifies the course.
|
| mel
boring |
"CourseS," that should
be!
|
| tkat_2 |
Hi, Mel, If a contest
asks for 1500 words "or fewer" can I get away with 1,480 words on
one? The title and headings on the other pages make it exactly 1500
words. The other goes over because of the title and headings. Can I
still say it's 1500 minus these things?
|
| mel
boring |
YES, you can, tkat_2!
What they're trying to guard against is VERY LONG stories, over
1500. But...
|
| mel
boring |
if you can write a
story in 1480 words, or even FEWER, that is to your
advantage!]
|
| mel
boring |
Most editors do NOT
count the title and headings in the word count....
|
| mel
boring |
but some do. IF your
story is 1500 WITH the title and headings, it'll be just fine for
them, tkat_2!
|
| mel
boring |
TH would like to know:
My question is about direction in developing conflict/plot. I can't
seem to come up with a believable conflict for my character. My
ideas seem to be either complicated and over the top or
uninteresting. Any advice you could give me would be
appreciated.
|
| mel
boring |
Hi, TH! If an idea is
too complicated, it is usually an indication
that...
|
| mel
boring |
it is for an OLDER
audience than the story's age range....
|
| mel
boring |
So if that happens,
write the story for an OLDER group....
|
| mel
boring |
For instance, if you
set out to write a story for ages 7-9, and it gets too
complicated,...
|
| mel
boring |
then write it for the
age 8-12's instead....
|
| mel
boring |
If your conflict/plot
are not BELIEVABLE, then I'd suggest you come up
with...
|
| mel
boring |
ANOTHER idea, TH.
Believeability is VERY important for kids of ALL
ages,...
|
| mel
boring |
so it's important to go
through as MANY conflicts and/or plots as you need to, discarding
them until you get a BELIEVEABLE one!
|
| mel
boring |
LA needs to find out: I
am writing an article on the mechanisms of the ear, and I am having
trouble citing my sources. Should I use the CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
or something else?
|
| mel
boring |
The CHICAGO MANUAL OF
STYLE is used by MORE editors than any other
stylebook....
|
| mel
boring |
So I recommend it, LA.
Look in the index of the CHICAGO MANUAL under "Bibliographies,"
and...
|
| mel
boring |
you will find MANY
listings for various aspects of citing sources for
articles....
|
| mel
boring |
My CHICAGO MANUAL OF
STYLE is a veritable "bible" of looking up ALL
info!
|
| cup |
Can you suggest any
novels that show tension as best
|
| cup |
...friends are parting
for a long time?
|
| mel
boring |
Hi, cup! The novel that
first comes to mind is...
|
| mel
boring |
Katherine Paterson's
BRIDGE TO TEREBITHIA,...
|
| mel
boring |
wherein the two friends
are parted by death itself....
|
| mel
boring |
Short of THAT tensious
a parting, I am trying to think of a novel I've read very
recently...
|
| mel
boring |
in which a girl is
moving to another city or town, and parting from her best
friend...
|
| mel
boring |
is THE tension of the
move....
|
| mel
boring |
The title is not coming
to me rightnow, but I
|
| mel
boring |
will think about it,
and try to come up with it today,...
|
| mel
boring |
or let you know later,
friend!
|
| bigbird |
even send clips from
other genre to show style,etc?
|
| mel
boring |
Yes, the idea is to
send clips from different genres...
|
| mel
boring |
to show an editor what
you can do....
|
| mel
boring |
My ideal would be to
send only THREE clips, from three different genres, if
possible...
|
| mel
boring |
Or just THREE clips
from the same genre....
|
| mel
boring |
DON'T inundate an
editor with jillions of clips, just a few, well chosen,
bigbird.
|
| diane45 |
Do you feel there must be
at least TWO child characters in a story, or is it okay for there to
be just an adult and the child? I have read some stories where this
is the case, and the stories turned out fine.
|
| mel
boring |
Just an adult and a
child CAN work, diane45,...
|
| mel
boring |
but it usually takes
great skill to pull that one off....
|
| mel
boring |
I would suggest always
at least two CHILDREN, unless the skill is there to use an
adult....
|
| mel
boring |
By the way, there is an
article in our archives about using an adult character or characters
in a story that would be very helpful....
|
| mel
boring |
Look in the STORY
CHARACTERIZATION section of WRITING TIPS.
|
| lisalisa |
On the subject of
mentors, did you hear who got the
|
| lisalisa |
Jill Esbaum mentorship
through SCBWI-IA, Mel?
|
| mel
boring |
No, I haven't heard
yet, lisalisa. I have my ear to the ground,
though,...
|
| mel
boring |
and I'll announce it
here. Jill would be an EXCELLENT mentor,...
|
| mel
boring |
and the person who gets
that SCBWI mentorship given in Iowa will be VERY fortunate
indeed!
|
| mel
boring |
A follow-up about
dialect from gladys1 from last week: Thanks for the idea about the
800 Dewey Decimal book for American Dialects but in Vancouver at
least the only Dewey Decimal book is about the Dewey Decimal. What I
did get at the library though is Americal Talk The Words and Ways of
American Dialects by Robert Hendrickson.
|
| mel
boring |
THANKS for the
follow-up, gladys1!...
|
| mel
boring |
I SHOULD have told you
to look in Dewey 800 and higher, such as the Dewey 840s
even....
|
| mel
boring |
I'm glad you found the
Hendrickson book, and that you let us know, friend!
|
| mel
boring |
AS has this interesting
question: I'm preparing my first article for submission (my
instructor said that my 4th assignment is a wonderful article!) and
I'm using some photos that are not mine. I contacted
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| and they sent me
an e-mail saying that I can |
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| article and they
also sent me the photos in .jpeg format. My question is: Is this
e-mail that I received from the organization enough to prove that I
have permission to use the photos or do I need something more
formal |
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| mel
boring |
THANKS, A.S., for your
question!...
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| mel
boring |
No, you DON'T need any
more than that e-mail...
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| mel
boring |
What you need is
something that 1) You can print out, and 2) That is
DATED....
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| mel
boring |
An e-mail fulfills BOTH
those criteria, so is VERY useable....
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| mel
boring |
Just be sure to SAVE
it, both in hardcopy AND in your computer!
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| iamnina |
Thank you
Mel!
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| mel
boring |
Thank YOU, iamnina, and
ALL of you! I really must quit now...
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| mel
boring |
though it seems it's
been so SHORT again!...
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| mel
boring |
I'll hope to see you
again next week,...
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| mel
boring |
and remember, if I
didn't get to YOUR question, I will use it in a Monday announcement
about the Tuesday Open Forum!....
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| mel
boring |
This Open Forum will be
archived within about a half hour from now at...
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| mel
boring |
http://www.institutechildrenslit.com/rx/ws09/index.shtml...
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| mel
boring |
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK,
friends!
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