General Writing

[Maxine MagicFox]

Making progress in my story...

There are times I go back and read it and think "I did good" and times I read it and think "omg... this sounds like shit, no one's going to read this".

I keep telling myself this is first draft, of course it sounds like shit - some sections are even missing with just a [this scene goes here] description. There are times I just stop and get depressed and times that I can't write fast enough.

Keep telling myself I will get better... I know it sucks but that's because I'm just getting the ideas onto the paper. Editing comes later. I'm sure even Tolkien's first drafts just sucked horribly.

*sigh* x_x I just want to publish this one. So afraid that if I ever handed it to someone they would turn around and laugh at me.

[Maxine MagicFox]

When I first made the decision, I had wondered how well my decision to put vampires into my fantasy story with dragons and goblins sorcerers and witches was going to work out.

^_^ After it's all said and done I'm actually quite pleased with how well it turned out. There are some minor modifications that are going to need to be done on the rewrite but honestly I can't wait for the second book when I bring them back again. Or is that going to be the third book... uggg... I need to sit down and think about the next books to at least get myself prepared and make sure there are no plot holes.

This book, though, is definitely going to be published once I'm done and I'm starting to consider things like -_- if I wanna hire an agent or not and how much money that would cost and omg the editing that I'm going to need to do. I'm almost done with the book but I feel like my work is just beginning.

I'm also thinking of a title change. What was once going to be marketed for a younger audience is no longer valid. This might star a 12 and 14 year old protagonist but the get older in the next books and it's really NOT a kid's book. The older YA teen market is definitely the one I'm looking at. So "The Little Questors" doesn't fit anymore. So now I'm going through title changes in my mind.

Oh gosh... only a handful more chapters to go. o_o;;

[CD-Man2021]

How do you plan to publish your writing? It's funny, because I've been writing a lot recently (purely as a hobby) but if I were to ever go down that path I would have no idea how to do so.

[Maxine MagicFox]

There's a lot that goes into it and I'm not even fully sure of the full route myself but it's pretty much this, I think.

It's kinda like doing resumes and hoping for a job interview.

You look up publishers' and their guidelines about what they want and it can vary, but most want a book query/proposal and a sample of your work of so many odd words and what not. Most of the time publishers will just let you know up front what they are wanting. Let's take a fairly popular publishing company:
Daw http://www.penguin.com/static/html/daw/submissions.php

Fairly cut and dry and pretty basic. Know the publishers of course. Research which publisher would be the best fit for your book based off of other books they have published.

Of course that's the hard route. From there it could end up on some editor's desk waiting for review and then can face the chance that it MIGHT be read, but most of than naught could be bypassed and maybe one day if the editor walks in and sees their desk overflowing they could just throw it in the trash, unread and send you the rejection notice.

Easier/pricier/riskier route: hire an agent. I'm researching this a bit more but basically they do this work for you. The best ones have 'connections' but of course there's going to be contracts that are applied and whatnot and you have to be careful and do research.

I'm thinking of the agent-route.

Of course, all this being said: I'm new to the process myself. There's probably a LOT that I do not know.

[Kimiko]

You could also look around for smaller publishers instead of imprints of large ones. They can't pay as much of course, but your chances of getting read/noticed are better.

[Maxine MagicFox]

But there's still a trade off there: marketing of your book.

Yes, you have a higher chance of your book getting noticed, but the small publishers don't give you as much marketing and visibility.

It's a decision that you have to make for yourself and what you are happy with. Me: I think part of the challenge is to get noticed by the big name publishers. I do not want anything else.

Received a bit of a shock last night and typing my post out to CD Man last night kind of opened my eyes to it. I started researching word count. Now for some reason I was under the delusion that my word processor the pages were smaller than an actual book's. So I thought when my word processor said "600 pages" it was probably closer to like maybe 400 pages for a book. I realize I need to cut back on my words and tighten the story. I'm having fun with it right now and figuring out where it needs to go.

Boy was I wrong. I realized that these days they have actual word counts that they go by (see what happens when you do a little research). Most publishers for first time authors want words counts for my genre at 80k-120k.

So, excited that I now had a word count to go by and to gauge the length of my story I opened it up and received the shock of my life. I'm at 300k.

Translation: I've got two books worth of material. That's roughly 300+ additional pages. I was expecting to be 50pages MAYBE 100 pages over but... 300!!!

I'm so disgusted right now. The amount of chopping that I've got to do to my story is staggering. I realize I character pander and I KNOW that there are whole sections that are going to be ripped out and segmented but... @_@ wow... The amount of editing almost feels like I should start over because I'm going to have to alter my story a bit to get it condensed.

It was a major blow last night. -_-; I still haven't recovered. I know what I need to do, though, and I'm prepared to do it, but... wow. Just... wow.

Still, if the story is too long, it's too long. SNIP SNIP SNIP!

So I'm making a story outline. Now that I have a rough estimate of how many pages and the length of everything I need to fall into I can prepare for that. Time for the REAL work to begin. I know I'm not done iwth the story but I'm only like 10 chapters off but if I have to change the story that much I want to wait before I write the ending. Even now, saying I'm 10 chapters off... that needs to get fixed too.

[Trifkin]

Is there any way you could split it into two novels? That way you wouldn't have to destroy so much.

Re the publishing discussion: You can also go the self publishing route. I know it still has a negative stigma attached--I myself have scoffed at many a terrible photoshop cover art jobs, but examples like Hugh Howey (who later got picked up by major publishers after becoming an Amazon best seller on his own) give me hope for this method. There is also Chuck Wendig to look at, as well as many others. Ultimately it is easiest because you don't have to worry about a publisher or editor's approval upfront. You can get your stuff OUT THERE. If it is good enough for major publication, it will get noticed. The three hardest aspects of this route are cover design, finding a good editor, and self promotion. It means harder work now but you get readers immediately and in the long run retain your freedom of creative control.

Lord knows you've got plenty of beta readers/proofreaders/potential editors right here, as well as a few artistically inclined folks around. If not one of us, I'll bet between all of us we know someone who can do a reasonable commission for cover design. I know it seems a superficial matter, but I can't stress its importance enough. I can spot a stock font and terrible photoshopping from a mile away and even if the average reader can't identify it they will still be able to see the generic lack of quality to something like that and move on to another book. I swear if I see the Papyrus font on one more self published title I will start lighting things on fire.

Just an option.

[Maxine MagicFox]

Self publishing these days does not have the horrible stigma attached to it that it used to. It is definitely a viable option. Hell, B&N on the nook doesn't even differentiate between self-published words and the normal published jobs.

I just know that's not the route for me, but I'm not discouraging against it. For some people it works out. To me: if a big name publisher hasn't accepted it, then I need to do better.

@Book in two parts: Not an option. The end of this book sets up for another event that is book two and I'm not going to bore my readers with the wait. I've got a lot of foreshadowing and events in book 1 set up the events in book 2. It's either going to be a three book series or a four book. I say that but there's plenty of room for more stories on top of that even once this main arc is done. I am not short on ideas with this novel series.

I've got vampires, demons, goblins, Sorcerers, wizards, warlocks, druids, god-like beings - it's kinda the mix of "what can't fuck this world up?!" ^_^

Seriously, though, I'm not too bummed out. I think it's a sign that I need to make my writing tighter and to strengthen my story. I do a lot of character pandering and have extreme areas of dialogue. :3 I'm always and forever a character lover. <3 If you ever need a character for a story, just come to me: I'll set you up with one.

[Maxine MagicFox]

:3 So I'm sure there's still a LOT of issues that are going to need to be cleaned up but my first final draft of my story is almost done. I renamed the book and revamped the story by a lot. I also feel I really strengthened my writing overall. Not that I'm delusional enough to think it's anywhere close to perfection. There is serious cleaning up to do in my future. I've allotted myself 30 chapters and I'm on 22. Still have quite a chunk of story to go through, but it's in final end stage. ^_^ My god I've had fun writing this story. I really hope someone reads it someday.

[Maxine MagicFox]

I still feel that the biggest thing that needs to be fixed is the pacing especially in terms of character development (which will hopefully fix the last of the mary sue qualities I think still exist in my main character - the love interest just came about all wrong but I think that's because the pacing is messed up). Well :3 it will get there. I know the faults are there but right now I'm just hammering out the story, the editing comes after and that's when I'll fix these things. I also have to sit down and do some serious thinking about the future path of the story to make sure I include everything that needs to be in there and that I'm not setting myself up for future plotholes. x_x I already noticed one I created in chapter one. CHAPTER ONE for the love of all that's holy. Already tripped up at the beginning. Geez... :3 I'll get it patched. It's just exciting to see my story come together as much as it has. <3

And again I have really have to say that I'm amazed with myself. When I started this final draft I dated it. The stamp is 6/30. I'm at page 307 (and the settings are as close to "book page" size as I could get so it's fairly accurate maybe add about 30 pages to be safe, my word count is 98,231 and today is 7/17.

Hehehe. I'm just about done. I'm wagering that my book is going to be approx 350+ pages when I'm done and my chapters are averaging at about 3,500 words. I anticipate to be done with the writing by the end of the month and then I get the fun of going through and starting the edits. So... September is probably when I'm going to start thinking seriously about how I'm going to get this thing published.


*sigh* or maybe I'm delusional and the story just sucks and I should probably never write ever again... dear god I hope not.

[Maxine MagicFox]

I'm stuck. Not because I'm actually stuck on my story but because I know that at any time now, with just a few words I'm going to be done. I'm on the final climatic scene and this should be epic.

Instead... I'm drowning in self doubt. After this, yes I have a long road ahead of me in terms of editing, but after that... well, seriously, it's time to start thinking about actually getting this published. I keep starting the research on it (I'm definitely doing Agent) but I get that sick feeling in my stomach and just bulk. Who the hell am I to try to even think that I'm going to be able to sell my story. It sucks and I'm a terrible writer and I'd probably just waste anyone's time. They'd probably laugh at me. x_x I even had a bad dream about it the other night.

A part of me just wants to forget about getting it published and just... sit back and enjoy writing my stories even if it means no one else will ever read them. At least I had a lot of fun writing them.

[Fluffernuff]

Well i KNOW its not my place to post anything here (im FAAAAAR from a writer and i havent picked up a book in like a year) but last i knew no one laughed at a bad book or anything... or if they do its so small scale that youll likely never even know or anything. people are people.

All i can say is putting your work, a labor of love and time out to the world for criticism, good, bad, destructive,constructive... No matter what, make or break you, its a means to further your work. as something for the next time.

the direction for you to take YOUR work is yours alone. no one will EVER be a harsher critic than yourself. ever. no one will burn you at the stake... but you feel like you will... as an example. I cant say anything about or for the publishing process but assuming you do and it goes through... i can promise there will be at least... at LEAST 1 person that your work WILL touch in a positive way... the question is..

is it worth it? can you handle your work criticized? can you take that criticism and improve from it?
i doubt im helping, but im trying to... as a random outside unbiased voice >~<

[CD-Man2021]

Hello, friends. I write a bunch of stuff, but never really share it here. So instead I'll post some links for them.

(Finished) : I've already lost you, didn't I? Damn. It's the only fanfic I've really written (I don't really like fanfics) but others seemed to have enjoyed it.

(Finished) : It's tied into a thread with another story, but Unassorted is its own thing and a much more serious writing. It also bleeds into the second page.

(hiatus) : Should be named "Stupid Stuff". I try to walk a thin line between quirky humor and lolsorandom. Not much has been written yet, plus it's on a hiatus.

: (Ongoing) Dude with a sword goes on adventures in a fantasy setting. 's pretty fun.

: (Ongoing) : High school girl's slice of life. I'm...not joking.

Anyway, they're there if you guys wanna read them. If not, don't even worry about it; you won't offend me or whateves if you don't. But does anyone know a decent site where people actually read stuff others post? I might have already asked this here.

[Maxine MagicFox]

[Maxine MagicFox]

LOL at #6. :3 That's my favorite. - I can't tell you how many times my story has altered from it's original idea (#2) just to follow this ethic. (One of my characters ended up getting stabbed and though the idea of the whole scene was trashed, the event stuck and it actually turned into a major plot element in the story.)
It's a very good video, garrett, thanks for sharing, and even though it's talking about comic books it all DEFINITELY applies.

#7 - I'm in the school of 'it's up to you'. If you have the ending it mind GREAT, but it doesn't have to be finalized. Keep the flow going sometimes the ending comes to you as you are writing.

#8 - I think this calls under the "avoid cliches" category and I don't always agree. Yes, keep it in mind, but I don't necessarily think that this is a ALWAYS DO. The first time I read a book called Ranger's Apprentice as I was reading it I fell in love with it because during the first few scenes I was HOPING and waiting for it to go a certain way and IT DID and I was like YES!! rather than giving some other b.s.

I think #10 though should be the holy grail of anyone looking to write.
I've spent hours COUNTLESS HOURS AND PAGES on writing scenes and sections and plots. Most of the time writer's block is caused by this. Geez, someone writes themselves into a corner but instead of going back and just modifying a few things, they want to trudge on, usually because they've fallen in love with a previous scene that, though it might be fun, seriously if it doesn't do anything for your story and is causing more issues, just delete it. Highlight and hit the backspace. Keep the scene in mind for the future, though. Maybe it can work somewhere else.