|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: The Writers' Bleak
|
Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
|
Posted
After all the fun we had (or didn't have!) doing NaNoWriMo, the writers aboard thought that we might keep that thread (or another one) going all year round to talk about our writing and share ideas and successes.
So, the 2012 NaNoWriMo thread is dead, long live The Writers' Block.
mr curly
[ 18. September 2014, 08:18: Message edited by: Firenze ]
--------------------
My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
Um, no. It wasn't intended as a perpetual thread, just something to carry over the impetus from NaNoWriMo for a little bit longer.
We used to have a private board for writers (also named "Writers' Block"), which would probably be a better venue (if revived) for this kind of thing.
Sorry. I'm closing this one too, pending some discussion backstage.
Ariel
Heaven Host
[ 14. February 2013, 18:33: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
OK, thread reopened. But just to make it clear:
This is not the place for posting any extracts or asking for feedback on your work.
Other than that, please feel free to discuss issues connected with writing/publishing.
Thanks - and have fun!
Ariel
Heaven Host
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
deano
princess
# 12063
|
Posted
How many of the Ships authors use a system (such as the snowflake method), or are you the type to start with a blank piece of paper and a muse?
I've got a few ideas for stories, and in fact once wrote 35K words before getting bored with it. In fact it was structuraly flawed and I may fix it one day, but not yet.
But I'm trying out plotting ideas, and wondered what the general opinions are.
--------------------
"The moral high ground is slowly being bombed to oblivion. " - Supermatelot
Posts: 2118 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: Nov 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
This probably won't be helpful, but in nonfiction i use the old brainstorm/ slash n burn/ organize outline / turn it into text method. But I've made my living most of my life in writing / editing nonfic. Now that I'm contemplating the leap to fiction, I'm a bit at a loss.
I DID discover during my recent surgery that the fiction connections come much easier to me when I'm hopped up on hydromorphine (synthetic heroin). Somehow I don 't think that's a particularly helpful bit of info for me to have. ![[Paranoid]](graemlins/paranoid.gif)
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by deano:
But I'm trying out plotting ideas, and wondered what the general opinions are.
The novel I recently finished was plotted out using a "how to write a screenplay" model. We used the one made famous in Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder. Go to the tools tab, and download the "beatsheet". You might need to read the book to get how to use it, but you get the idea.
The result feels like "the book of a film" - which was our aim. Films tend to conform to quite a rigid 3 Act structure, and also the novel is shortish (at 60,000 words) because it is film length.
Of course, that approach worked for an action/thriller - may not work for other genres.
mr curly
Hope that helps
--------------------
My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
|
Posted
My current opus is quite rigidly planned from beginning to end - I pretty much have the whole plot in place.
However, it's basically a fairytale, which I think might make it easier - they do have a sort of formula to them.
I WILL finish chapter bloody seven this weekend. I WILL (screws up eyes and makes determined face).
--------------------
Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
I'm still going on the Classical model. Wear something short and drapery, accessorised with a laurel wreath, sit out on a hillside with a quill and parchment, and look expectantly at the sky.
The final writers' workshop next Saturday. One thing I would say - any kind of deadline-generating structure is good. I've found the course rather tedious, but, paradoxically, valuable. The tutor knows a lot about the biz (even if she's terrible at communicating it); many of the others in the group are interesting people you like as friends, and I've had positive feedback on my writing (and the private satisfaction of perceiving that I'm as good as/better than the others).
So Creative Writing courses are good, even if they're terrible, if you see what I mean.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
deano
princess
# 12063
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Curly:
quote:
Originally posted by deano:
But I'm trying out plotting ideas, and wondered what the general opinions are.
The novel I recently finished was plotted out using a "how to write a screenplay" model. We used the one made famous in Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder. Go to the tools tab, and download the "beatsheet". You might need to read the book to get how to use it, but you get the idea.
The result feels like "the book of a film" - which was our aim. Films tend to conform to quite a rigid 3 Act structure, and also the novel is shortish (at 60,000 words) because it is film length.
Of course, that approach worked for an action/thriller - may not work for other genres.
mr curly
Hope that helps
Thank you, yes it does. I will check that structure out. My ideas are always the action/thriller genre as that's what I like. A bit of near future techno-wizardry helps as well!
What I like about your process is that when I write I find myself picturing the scenes in my head, like a film. I've thought that was hindering me as I'm writing a novel dammit, but if it can be used as a part of the process, then I'm definitey interested.
I've seen tha save the cat books on Amazon but been out off by the title! Folly on my part I think.
Thanks everyone. it looks like a continuum from pen and blank paper at one end, to a Microsoft project plan complete with Gantt charts at the other. I'll find my niche somewhere.
--------------------
"The moral high ground is slowly being bombed to oblivion. " - Supermatelot
Posts: 2118 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: Nov 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sighthound
Shipmate
# 15185
|
Posted
I think planning, and the various systems that work with it, work for some writers and not for others.
I have always planned in my head, to a large extent unconsciously, and only write a plan when things are so complex I need to be sure I have covered everything. I have in the past spent money on computer programs intended to help one write and found them a waste of time and money.
But if you're the sort of person who used to carefully write down a plan for your English homework essay before you started it, some planning methodology is probably a good thing.
[ 16. February 2013, 12:45: Message edited by: Sighthound ]
--------------------
Supporter of Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue.http://tiagreyhounds.org/
Posts: 168 | From: England | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
Planwise, I have a lot of sympathy for - I think it was G K Chesterton's SiL - who got a telegram from the editor of a periodical: 'You have left your hero and heroine tied up under the Thames for a week And they are not married. '
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by deano:
What I like about your process is that when I write I find myself picturing the scenes in my head, like a film. I've thought that was hindering me as I'm writing a novel dammit, but if it can be used as a part of the process, then I'm definitey interested.
I've always done that. I see the scene then describe it and build on it from there. One of the arts of good writing (IMO) is to make the reader see the scenes unfold in their own mind - to get them involved in it, to portray realistic characters who could be real people.
I also found that when you create a character, they often have lives of their own, and you get to know their back stories. Sometimes this means going back to rewrite, and/or the main plot changes.
I rarely ever write anything in a structured way. It's simply not a method I could use successfully - "By Chapter 22 X will happen". The story unfolds as I write it (= I make it up as I go along). The end isn't always clear, but you know when it's time to stop.
I could never write to a word count either; it's too confining.
It's your novel, your rules. Do it your way.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
deano
princess
# 12063
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
I also found that when you create a character, they often have lives of their own, and you get to know their back stories. Sometimes this means going back to rewrite, and/or the main plot changes.
I don't think I had a clear idea of the characters in my story, and they ended up doing all sorts of odd things that just distored the plot and it wasn't viable after a while.
I was trying to put in emotions "on the fly" without a clear idea of where they came from and why they were in the story.
--------------------
"The moral high ground is slowly being bombed to oblivion. " - Supermatelot
Posts: 2118 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: Nov 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
Another way is is to visualise a striking situation - and then work out what in the way of events, actions and motivation, could have brought you characters there.
Actually, that's quite popular with thriller writers: As I looked down at the gun in my hand and the dead man at my feet my mind went back to the first time I had heard the name 'Solferino' - and you're off.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by deano:
I don't think I had a clear idea of the characters in my story, and they ended up doing all sorts of odd things that just distored the plot and it wasn't viable after a while.
I did half page character profiles onteh 5 main characters before I started. This doesn't solve everything, and some of them got changed and added to as the novel progressed, but it's also true that I found the characters developing a life of their own and driving the story forward.
As said, writers find out what works for them and go for it.
mr curly
--------------------
My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
|
Posted
Chapter bloody seven is finished ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
(It probably wouldn't have been if I hadn't made a public declaration here that it was going to be, so that worked then.)
I'm not sure it's particularly well written, but it is at least written. I think the reason I had such a problem with it was that it was the one chapter for which I had pretty much no idea what was going to happen. I needed my main character to find out some information but didn't know where he was going to get it from. I hate not knowing where I'm going.
In the end he sat down for a nice cup of tea with a very sweet old lady who told him all about it. That old lady was only originally meant to appear in one chapter earlier on but I've decided that I like her.
--------------------
Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
|
Posted
5,00 words today. Good quality first draft words at that. Very happy, could have done more, but pretty tired.
4,000 word target for next writing day, Thursday, to finish this 12k word episode of my serial. Then 2 to go!
mr curly
--------------------
My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
I think the only way forward in my ongoing what-happens-next problem is deciding what the characters most want to do and then have them all attempt to realise their objectives simultaneously.
One wants the wedding of the century, another wants to rob a tomb...the rest I'm not so sure about.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
|
Posted
I meet occasionally with a fellow writer to discuss projects and give feedback on work - and after a few reschedules, we met over frothy beverages and fried potato products this afternoon.
What a joy!
mr curly
--------------------
My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
|
Posted
Have just taken a step up in the daily writing routine. My blog has expanded and spawned a new one, which is a fictional cricket diary by an imaginary member of the Australian cricket team. Cowriting with someone, 500 words a day between us.
As for today, I must finish this novella!
mr curly
--------------------
My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Doc Tor
Deepest Red
# 9748
|
Posted
I'm having a wonder: how many words do you normally write in a day, when you have a day to write?
You see, when I did NaNo last (2 years ago, and the book which was part of it comes out in 2 weeks time) I managed the 1,667 words a day, but was virtually hallucinating by Day 20.
I'm going to be committing to write 2 roughly 100k novels back-to-back shortly, and I know that's going to take me around six months minimum, each. The notion I could write 4 or even 5k words a day seems simply... mad.
--------------------
Forward the New Republic
Posts: 9131 | From: Ultima Thule | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Porridge
Shipmate
# 15405
|
Posted
Agreed.
Of course, it depends a lot on what you're writing. (Some) fiction is one thing: if I've got my character-ducks and plot-ducks in a row, and I get in the zone, I can knock out 2,000 words in a day easy. But then I hit a snag, and can eke out only a few sentences at a time for weeks on end.
Needless to say, I haven't published any of this stuff!
Most of my published writing is op/ed in nature, and it takes research, fact-checking, care, and precision with language (because so many readers seem determined to misconstrue what's being said). It can take me a week to craft a 300-word op-ed piece.
--------------------
Spiggott: Everything I've ever told you is a lie, including that.
Moon: Including what?
Spiggott: That everything I've ever told you is a lie.
Moon: That's not true!
Posts: 3925 | From: Upper right corner | Registered: Jan 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Evangeline
Shipmate
# 7002
|
Posted
Yes, I can write 2-3k of non-fiction in a day fairly easily but find writing fiction really slow and exhausting, if I'm on a roll, then 1,000 words is possible, sometimes though 100 is all I can manage and then there's the times I just can't manage to write anything at all.
Posts: 2871 | From: "A capsule of modernity afloat in a wild sea" | Registered: May 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doc Tor:
I'm having a wonder: how many words do you normally write in a day, when you have a day to write?
You see, when I did NaNo last (2 years ago, and the book which was part of it comes out in 2 weeks time) I managed the 1,667 words a day, but was virtually hallucinating by Day 20.
I'm going to be committing to write 2 roughly 100k novels back-to-back shortly, and I know that's going to take me around six months minimum, each. The notion I could write 4 or even 5k words a day seems simply... mad.
It varies hugely for me. If I have nothing else to do (which is rare) and the story is moving forward well with no major roadblocks, I don't find it hard to write 5K or more a day. I write really quickly (though a lot of it is crap that will have to be cut on a later draft). But it would be rare for me to have several days in a row where I had either the time or inclination to write at that pace.
--------------------
Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
|
Posted
I have around six thousand words of my book written at this point and have fleshed out a synopsis in my head of how it should go. That said, I have not touched it for more than a week although chapters are named and number and the ending is doable.
I have a lot of trouble writing dialogue and at this point the protagonist doesn't talk to anybody but his reader. I did ask some friends for input on a surreal scene, ala Murakami, and it was very well-received by one who even laughed out loud! My wife, however, lets me know that there is a great deal of work left to be done and two good paragraphs won't sell a first novel!
I am not ambitious: I'd just like to see twenty-five cents every time someone orders it for an e-reader such as Kindle or Nook. I have no vision of stacks of paperbacks printed at someone else's expense or a book tour. My brother-in-law is a moderately successful published author of some ten years standing and even he has never done a tour!
![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
--------------------
If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
|
Posted
I plan to write more this weekend: I was a set carpenter on the opera last weekend which left me no time to write!
--------------------
If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
|
Posted
I've been inspired by a trio of writers who do this podcast. This episode deals with plotting and planning. (note, not work safe for language). These guys are really pushing it as far as productivity goes, and they say that the faster they write, the better they write - with lots of practice, of course. Worth listening to the rest of the episodes as well.
mr curly.
--------------------
My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Doc Tor
Deepest Red
# 9748
|
Posted
I'll have a listen to the podcast when I get back from the SciFi Weekender. Lots of authors there (find us, inevitably, at the bar), so I'll ask around as to their average wordage.
--------------------
Forward the New Republic
Posts: 9131 | From: Ultima Thule | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
|
Posted
Much excitement. A box arrived from amazon yesterday with 5 proofs of the "real book" version of my first book. I've been through the process of creating the print-on-demand set up for CreateSpace all by myself, apart from using the cover I paid someone to design for me.
Once I've triple checked it, I'll approve the proof and it will be on sale straight away. When someone buys it, amazon prints one and posts it. No print runs, no stock management, no cost to me.
Meanwhile, family are out, better cut a few hundred words!
mr curly
--------------------
My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
|
Posted
Has anyone thought about microfiction? I've started a 500 word a day humour project (it's a fictitious diary of a member of the Australian cricket team) in the last few weeks. It's wuite fun, cowriting so I only have to write every second day, and it seems to be finding an audience.
mr curly
--------------------
My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kyzyl
Ship's dog
# 374
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
This probably won't be helpful, but in nonfiction i use the old brainstorm/ slash n burn/ organize outline / turn it into text method. But I've made my living most of my life in writing / editing nonfic. Now that I'm contemplating the leap to fiction, I'm a bit at a loss.
I DID discover during my recent surgery that the fiction connections come much easier to me when I'm hopped up on hydromorphine (synthetic heroin). Somehow I don 't think that's a particularly helpful bit of info for me to have.
But is does keep you in connection with the historic usage of recreational drugs by great literary figures!
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
[ 14. March 2013, 19:46: Message edited by: Kyzyl ]
--------------------
I need a quote.
Posts: 668 | From: Wapasha's Prairie | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
Indeed. Next H&A day, never mind the chocolate - send opium.
The Writing workshops are finished - which is more than can be said for the novel. Though it is not necessarily a lost cause, since the one thing I did learn is that reworking pays off (who knew?)
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
hatless
Shipmate
# 3365
|
Posted
I'm 40,000 words into a novel, my first. Isn't it a huge undertaking? A vast, sprawling thing. I have to keep a diary for my main character, a card index for everyone else, and a map of the fictional village where it's set.
I now work part time, so in theory I have two and a half days a week for writing. The half day is no use, and I tend to find the first of the other two gets me in the zone, and I can actually write on the second one. I did 3,000 words this week and was happy with that. A chance of finishing the first draft towards the end of the year.
I started off feeling frustrated that my characters wouldn't behave in the way I wanted them to. Now I like it. 'No surprise for the author, no surprise for the reader' said Robert Frost. Last week my main character's girlfriend dumped him. Neither he nor I saw that one coming.
--------------------
My crazy theology in novel form
Posts: 4531 | From: Stinkers | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
|
Posted
Meh. I have what I think is a pretty good idea for another novel (to my immense surprise, a post-apocalyptic dystopia) that I'm not ready to write yet. I have the outlines of the idea but I know it isn't for now. It's going to be a sprawling, terrifying great thing and for now I'm working on something much simpler with a small number of characters and a pretty straightforward story arc. I'm already a good two thirds of the way into my first draft. But yesterday a load of brilliant bits and pieces for my totalitarian nightmare dropped into my head.
Trouble is, being so busy cooking up good ideas for a later project is making me less excited about the current project (which I think is actually a fairly worthwhile piece of writing). How do I stay focussed on what I'm writing now and finish the sucker without getting distracted by a project that I might actually get to in a couple of years time?
--------------------
Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
Bunyan had the same problem. He describes the ideas for Pilgrim's Progress coming at him 'like sparks from a fire' while he was trying to get on with some sober tract stuff. Fortunately, it was all still there when he got back to it - but he doesn't say anything about his technique for finishing the work in hand.
Is there anything you could carry into the current piece? Any element of the unforeseen - even if it's going on in the background - which is both a part of his story and a foreshadowing of the new one?
Meanwhile, I dreamt about my novel - in which i am currently stuck plotwise - last night. However, since the settings, characters and situations were all completely different, it wasn't a terrific lot of direct help.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
|
Posted
I think it's worth taking time to jot down a few notes about the new project just to have it on paper. That may have the effect of preserving those good ideas so they'll be there when you have time for them, and also hopefully getting them down on paper where they won't be distracting you too much from the current project.
I really like Madeline L'Engle's image of the writer as a cook with several pots bubbling away on different parts of the stove, now flinging a piece of something into one, now into another, then bringing the one that's most ready to the front of the stove to be worked on. But there is a point at which you have to focus on one pot and keep all the others on simmer, or else you'll never actually finish a project (not a problem Madeline seemed to have, since she finished a staggering number of books).
I'm finally getting through editing the big block of words I wrote back in November for NaNoWriMo. I've done the research I need to do to correct the more hideous inaccuracies and fill some of the gaps; I've gone through the manuscript with a pen and made corrections, and now I'm looking forward to a long weekend to input those changes into the computer. Then I'm hoping over my Easter break to be able to get some new writing done!
In other news, the weekly YouTube videos I do about writing (link in sig) are approaching episode #25, and I've decided to do a Q&A video for my 25th vlog. I've gotten some good questions from people on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, but I thought I'd throw it out to the writing community here on the Ship too -- does anyone have a question about writing that they'd like to have a fellow-writer answer in video format? If so, I'll try to include it in next Wednesday's video.
--------------------
Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
|
Posted
School holidays (Easter Vacation, aka "Spring Break") start next week so I expect to write a few thousand words and maybe get one or two of the early chapters finished! Working on my other gig Wednesday, but if I am disciplined on Monday and Tuesday I should accomplish something...
--------------------
If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
cattyish
Wuss in Boots
# 7829
|
Posted
I have done NaNoWriMo a few times, but never managed to edit my novels. Now Mr C has deicded to make me a cover for my angel-based novel of last year and is getting quite vocal about how I need to edit it and get it in a readable state. Has anyone done NaNoEdMo? Did it work for you?
Cattyish, inherently a procrastinator.
--------------------
...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posts: 1794 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
|
Posted
I've always ended up editing my NaNo novels (to a greater or lesser degree, depending on what their fate ended up being) but I've never done NaNoEdMo. For me editing is far less easy to fit into a "month-long challenge" structure; with NaNoWriMo you've got the built-in goal of word count to easily measure what progress you've made that day. A lot of my editing process involves cutting out words and it's harder to measure that in a "how much progress I've made today!" sense. But, like everything, NaNoEdMo does work for some people.
--------------------
Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
|
Posted
My wife will be doing my editing. I hope to get some more writing done before the end of the month. I must incorporate dialogue!
--------------------
If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Dormouse
Glis glis – Ship's rodent
# 5954
|
Posted
I know this is a bit of a daft question - and maybe the answer is "google it" - but I've written a novel. I've had reasonable feed back from the two people who have read it. I like it, and I think I'd read it.
It's now just sitting on my computer and I really don't know what to do with it now...or where to send it...or if to send it. Or what. I suppose, with working full time at other things I don't really have much time to devote to it (I wrote it when I wasunemployed) In a way, the writing process was the fun bit, and maybe I'm not that bothered - but I like the idea of others reading it...and buying it (if I'm brutally honest!)
--------------------
What are you doing for Lent?
40 days, 40 reflections, 40 acts of generosity. Join the #40acts challenge for #Lent and let's start a movement. www.40acts.org.uk
Posts: 3042 | From: 'twixt les Bois Noirs & Les Monts de la Madeleine | Registered: May 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
|
Posted
You could google it. My understanding from my writers group is there seem to be various ways of getting it published (Don't worry I am not writing a novel, which should be good news for everyone, but others in the group are writing).
The next stage is to draft a synopsis. This is basically your sell for the novel. Draft is used deliberately as according where you send it you will need to adapt it. Then the options are:
- Contact a publisher, make sure they accept novels sent on spec (not all do) and that what you send is in line with what they want.
- Get an agent, this is much the same process but then the agent does the selling to the publishers.
- Enter competitions for first time novelists.
Of my writers group the only published novel (and not the best written) used the first route. Another one seems to have quite a bit of success with competitions but has not managed to actually get it published in full yet. A third seems to be in an endless process of editing and seeking an agent. In my opinion her novel is the best of the lot and although Gothic is not normally my preference I really want to read this one in its entirety.
That said this might be a good place to start further investigations.
Jengie
--------------------
"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
This is obnoxious of me (beg pardon in advance!) But whatever you do, have someone with a decent grasp of spelling / punctuation / grammar clean it up before you submit or self publish. It doesn't have to be perfect, but the annoyance factor goes way up when you get above max three errors per page, and the last thing you want is your prospective buyer of either sort deciding it's all too much trouble. Don't pay one of those sleazy over-priced internet so-called referral services, though; find a local English teacher, college student or writing center staffer and work out a deal. If you're lucky, you might trade services instead of having to pay cold hard cash. Consider a trial run of fifty pages or so; if said person turns out to be unable to keep his claws out of matters that don't concern him (such as your vocabulary, style, plot), then you can gracefully dump him.
For what it's worth, I work in publishing and have been on both sides of the desk (author and editor both). No one expects perfection up front, but people will bless you for not making their eyes bleed. Oh, and for following directions!
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
|
Posted
There are basically three routes to go in seeking to get a novel published.
1. Find an agent, via use of a one-page query letter that describes your manuscript in such sparkling terms the agent will be unable to resist asking to read the whole book. Agent will then have to love the whole book enough to want to sell it to publishers. Getting an agent can be really, really, really hard, but if you want your book seen by some of the bigger and more influential publishers it's pretty much a necessity, since most don't look at manuscripts by unpulblished, unagented authors.
2. Approach a smaller publisher directly (usually the same process as you'd approach an agent -- query letter usually followed or accompanied by a synopsis and sample chapters. Everyone's submission guidelines are different and you have to do your research). Small presses usually do deal with unagented authors and are more likely to look at new work. Small presses can be great to work with but the drawback is that they are, obviously, small, and your book will not reach as wide an audience as it would with a bigger press. If you find a good regional or genre press that publishes work in a niche area that yours fits into nicely, you can do well with a small press (and for some writers, not all, a contract with a small press can be a stepping stone to getting a later book published with a bigger press).
3. Self-publish. This is becoming increasingly popular and has the advantage that nobody makes money off your book but you. The downside is that nobody works to promote your book but you, either. In the old days a big drawback of self-publishing was that the writer had to pay to have books physically printed and shipped, then had to somehow move this pile of books out of their basement and into readers' hands. Today many writers choose to self-publish their books as e-books, at almost no cost to the writer. If you have a large and guaranteed audience or you simply love to self-promote, you may have some success with self-publishing.
Bottom line: there are no easy routes to getting your novel into the hands of thousands of readers, but there are several routes you can try.
--------------------
Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
|
Posted
Just by way of sharing what's possible.
My blog project has led to publishing an ebook of the daily posts over nearly 6 weeks. It's a cricket tour diary parody, launched within two days of the tour it's about finishing.
Speed to market that is only possible self publishing ebooks.
mr curly
--------------------
My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
|
Posted
Yes, that is certainly another big advantage of self-publishing.
--------------------
Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
|
Posted
I spoke at length to my brother-in-law about getting my book published when it is finished at the end of November. He said Kindle would be a good idea and it sounded very accessible.
I have written around 500 words thus far this morning and done a bit of editing as well: I now have around 38 pages out of a potential 217! I find that classical music helps me think, so I have Radio 3 on the iPlayer.
--------------------
If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
|
Posted
So does comedy - listening to Now Show on Radio 4 - going back to Radio 3 and expect to have nearly 2000 words today on my alleged novel!
--------------------
If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
|
Posted
Finally I have made it to 50,000 words. Those last 1000 were hard going. I think the reason that I'm finding this bit hard work is that I find dialogue easier to write than description, but my main character is currently all alone in the middle of nowhere and he had nobody to talk to.
Next target (completely arbitrary but I need something to aim at) is 9 chapters (I think there will be 12 altogether).
--------------------
Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
|
Posted
I've been writing the same book since, oh, about 1988! Ha! Well, it's gone through so many iterations and I tried so many different ways to write it but finally found the ideal method: I write from my own experiences and some of the experiences of my friends. My book is a semi-autobiographical and semi-fantasy in that my guardian angel features prominently! Anyway, I had attempted so many different styles but once I started writing about my own (often hard to believe) experiences, the words flew out of my brain and into the Microsoft Word document. Two years ago, when our computers were all on the fritz, I broke down and began writing by hand. I've suspended work on my novel until after this summer when I take a trip to Seattle for a wedding. While I'm there I plan to take notes about old haunts that have changed since I moved away in 2001.
--------------------
God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
Thread closed
Printer-friendly view
