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Post by Breakingchains on Jul 1, 2013 12:53:06 GMT -5
Right now, I'm not moving along as fast as I'd like, but faster than I have been. For this phase, I'm making sort of a loose outline out of all the changes I need to make for the next draft; I'm thinking the final piece is going to be ~60 chapters, and I'm through seven of those as of yesterday.
For those who have trouble getting started, I suggest taking a page from Nanowrimo and doing a sprint at the start of each day. (That is, as soon as you sit down, set a timer for 10 minutes-ish, and just get as much done in that time as you possibly can.) I have this terrible brain-stiffness when I first get started for the day, and I find that the first 250-500 words are the toughest--if you can blast through that in ten minutes by making it into a game, you can keep the ball rolling all day.
Most people do sprints for word count on their first draft, when things don't have to be perfect--but I've found that it's good for just about any stage of writing, as long as you know you can keep quality up with a timer ticking. It also helps to have the timer visible as you work.
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Post by Kristykimmy on Jul 4, 2013 10:27:58 GMT -5
So, how's everyone's writing coming?
I did not work on my NaNo yesterday, 'cause I'm a rebel. =D
No, actually, I did some final edits to one of my NT series, and the wound up taking all day because RL also needed me to do things and stuff.
In my NaNo, despite cutting a lot of crap that made its way into the first draft, the two stories are staying about equal in wordcount through the basic parallels of story. Of course, that'll probably change soon, since I decided to introduce the character who can't shut up into the story earlier this time.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2013 12:12:36 GMT -5
I've been a baaad writer lately. xD (And by that I mean I haven't actually gotten much done.)
I'm still kind of on the cooldown from Skydwellers (put it up for print-on-demand paperback purchase on Lulu yesterday), and I've been pretty busy with other stuff lately, so starting/picking up another project has been kind of hard. I made a tiny bit of progress the other day on one other story I'm working on (which may end up being novelette-length). Its working title is "The Cat Came Back" although I am aware that I probably shouldn't actually call it that (I just needed something to name the Word doc), and it's a low-fantasy, possibly juvenile-level fiction about two girls and their "guardian angels"--fictitious martyrs possessing the bodies of cats with the ability to speak. Also a friendly sasquatch. What is wrong with my imagination.
Anyway, I mostly just did some reformatting on it, went through and tightened the prose, and moved a little bit past a part where I'd been stuck for a while, but I've got a pretty pivotal plot element coming up soon and I need to figure out how to choreograph it, so that's a little daunting.
What I'd really like to do for my next publication, though, is compile an anthology of about fifteen sci-fi/fantasy short stories of varying lengths that I've written over the years just for fun; I've put a few of them up on my dA but most of them have never seen the light of day outside of sharing with a few friends. I also have a few poems that fit the theme of overall nerdiness (one of them is literal space fantasy involving sentient planetoids), and I'm thinking it would be fun to include those too.
I guess right now I'm fishing for opinions on that--would any of you (or any readers you know) buy a sci-fi/fantasy short story anthology, or do you prefer novels and I'm too old-school and pretending like I'm Ray Bradbury? Should I include my poetry or no? Am I using publishing an anthology as an excuse to not do any actual writing for a while?
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Post by Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) on Jul 4, 2013 13:59:19 GMT -5
I have spent four days or so writing 1824 words.
It was supposed to be one scene. It turned into two.
I'm exhausted xD;;;
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Post by Breakingchains on Jul 4, 2013 15:36:17 GMT -5
squid: I for one love short stories. I'm pretty sure that marketing-wise, an anthology would do better if it was coming from a known author--but another option is to get them published individually in magazines, etc. to get your name out there and drum up business. If you've set up an author's website yet, you could also release a few there for free to start building a fanbase, which is what you'll need to draw attention to Skydwellers and future projects. (Keep in mind that once you've put any piece online in a public place, though, publishers will be much less interested in buying that piece afterward, so go forth with caution.)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2013 16:01:03 GMT -5
squid: I for one love short stories. I'm pretty sure that marketing-wise, an anthology would do better if it was coming from a known author--but another option is to get them published individually in magazines, etc. to get your name out there and drum up business. If you've set up an author's website yet, you could also release a few there for free to start building a fanbase, which is what you'll need to draw attention to Skydwellers and future projects. (Keep in mind that once you've put any piece online in a public place, though, publishers will be much less interested in buying that piece afterward, so go forth with caution.) Ooh, I see. Yeah, I'm considering the magazine route--I guess I should look into that and see what I can find. Thanks for the info! |
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Post by M is for Morphine on Jul 5, 2013 4:15:13 GMT -5
I'll put in my vote for enjoying scifi short stories. Some really interesting ideas can be explored that wouldn't have the legs to carry a novel. Phillip K. Dick and Ursula K. LeGuin both put out some great short work. James Tiptree Jr. is known almost entirely for their stories I think. And I actually like Frank Herbert's Eye better than Dune though I know that makes me a heretic.  I think poetry would be ok to include if used sparingly. My own tolerance for poetry is on the low side, and if I bought a book expecting stories and got a large amount of poems I'd be disappointed. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2013 16:25:27 GMT -5
I'll put in my vote for enjoying scifi short stories. Some really interesting ideas can be explored that wouldn't have the legs to carry a novel. Phillip K. Dick and Ursula K. LeGuin both put out some great short work. James Tiptree Jr. is known almost entirely for their stories I think. And I actually like Frank Herbert's Eye better than Dune though I know that makes me a heretic. I think poetry would be ok to include if used sparingly. My own tolerance for poetry is on the low side, and if I bought a book expecting stories and got a large amount of poems I'd be disappointed. Haha, it's nice to know there are other people out there who enjoy short stories. Yeah, I only have two poems and fifteen short stories (maybe more, that's the amount actually written and finished but I have a lot of ideas I'd like to get around to writing), so the poem/story ratio would be far from even. I still haven't done any writing lately. *sigh* Been too busy with other stuff, and when the creative urge hits, it's to draw rather than write. I'm trying to remember what it is that makes me write and try to emulate that to get back in the groove. Hopefully it's not "stressful school semesters" like I'm suspecting... |
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Post by Ashten on Jul 5, 2013 22:12:05 GMT -5
Dear Sarah,
Thank you for submitting to the Neopian Times. Currently your submission (No Pain, No Gain) is being held over and may be considered for future publication in the Neopian Times. There is no need to submit your submission again, as it is saved by the editor.
Yours Sincerely,
The Neopets Team
...Oh no
Nonononono this isn't supposed to happen
I LITERALLY WROTE IT IN A DAY. WHILE I WAS SICK AND DELUSIONAL. AND IT HAS AN ERROR IN IT THAT MAY NOT BE OBVIOUS TO OTHERS BUT IT'S OBVIOUS TO ME AND IT'S MY BIGGEST WRITING PET PEEVE I CAN'T HAVE THIS IN THE NT NOOOOO
DROPLET PLEASE REJECT IT WHILE YOU STILL HAVE THE CHANCE ._.
...If this gets in it's gonna be so embarassing
Oh hey I'm watching Treehouse Masters and there's a girl who's getting a treehouse built to be a place for her to write in. That's beautiful. Wait a sec I just realized that this message has been here unposted for a while. I'm so ADHD. How in the world did I write a short story in one day? It was so bad. LAST CHANCE DROPLET. YOU CAN MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION AND NOT PUBLISH IT. OR...OR MY OCD WILL BE SET OFF. IT WASN'T EVEN EDITED, MAN. YOU CAN'T PUT THAT IN THE NT, NOW CAN YOU?
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Jul 6, 2013 5:06:24 GMT -5
Dear Sarah, Thank you for submitting to the Neopian Times. Currently your submission (No Pain, No Gain) is being held over and may be considered for future publication in the Neopian Times. There is no need to submit your submission again, as it is saved by the editor. Yours Sincerely, The Neopets Team ...Oh no Nonononono this isn't supposed to happen I LITERALLY WROTE IT IN A DAY. WHILE I WAS SICK AND DELUSIONAL. AND IT HAS AN ERROR IN IT THAT MAY NOT BE OBVIOUS TO OTHERS BUT IT'S OBVIOUS TO ME AND IT'S MY BIGGEST WRITING PET PEEVE I CAN'T HAVE THIS IN THE NT NOOOOO DROPLET PLEASE REJECT IT WHILE YOU STILL HAVE THE CHANCE ._. ...If this gets in it's gonna be so embarassing Oh hey I'm watching Treehouse Masters and there's a girl who's getting a treehouse built to be a place for her to write in. That's beautiful. Wait a sec I just realized that this message has been here unposted for a while. I'm so ADHD. How in the world did I write a short story in one day? It was so bad. LAST CHANCE DROPLET. YOU CAN MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION AND NOT PUBLISH IT. OR...OR MY OCD WILL BE SET OFF. IT WASN'T EVEN EDITED, MAN. YOU CAN'T PUT THAT IN THE NT, NOW CAN YOU? Just to let you know, this isn't exactly the location to let Droplet know. I don't know if she even reads the other boards, so it's definitely better to post that you wanted to have the story rejected under 'NT Staff Call', by sending her a PM (Personal Message), or sending a Neomail to the account 'nt_editor' |
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Post by Kristykimmy on Jul 6, 2013 11:14:23 GMT -5
Dear Sarah, Thank you for submitting to the Neopian Times. Currently your submission (No Pain, No Gain) is being held over and may be considered for future publication in the Neopian Times. There is no need to submit your submission again, as it is saved by the editor. Yours Sincerely, The Neopets Team ...Oh no Nonononono this isn't supposed to happen I LITERALLY WROTE IT IN A DAY. WHILE I WAS SICK AND DELUSIONAL. AND IT HAS AN ERROR IN IT THAT MAY NOT BE OBVIOUS TO OTHERS BUT IT'S OBVIOUS TO ME AND IT'S MY BIGGEST WRITING PET PEEVE I CAN'T HAVE THIS IN THE NT NOOOOO DROPLET PLEASE REJECT IT WHILE YOU STILL HAVE THE CHANCE ._. ...If this gets in it's gonna be so embarassing Oh hey I'm watching Treehouse Masters and there's a girl who's getting a treehouse built to be a place for her to write in. That's beautiful. Wait a sec I just realized that this message has been here unposted for a while. I'm so ADHD. How in the world did I write a short story in one day? It was so bad. LAST CHANCE DROPLET. YOU CAN MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION AND NOT PUBLISH IT. OR...OR MY OCD WILL BE SET OFF. IT WASN'T EVEN EDITED, MAN. YOU CAN'T PUT THAT IN THE NT, NOW CAN YOU? If you go to Staff Call, you could ask for the error to be corrected. They often do a little editing on short stories, so you might not have to be worried about the little mistakes. |
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Post by Joker on Jul 6, 2013 21:33:53 GMT -5
I've been having an extraordinarily hard time getting anything on paper for months now, but today I discovered the most amazing thing...I never knew that Microsoft Word had a cool-looking full screen option! As completely bizarre as this may seem, viewing the document differently on the screen has made all the difference. I've made more progress in one day than I have in like, the past year. xDD
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2013 22:15:51 GMT -5
I've been having an extraordinarily hard time getting anything on paper for months now, but today I discovered the most amazing thing...I never knew that Microsoft Word had a cool-looking full screen option! As completely bizarre as this may seem, viewing the document differently on the screen has made all the difference. I've made more progress in one day than I have in like, the past year. xDD That's awesome! I'm really happy for you that just viewing your document in a different layout has cured your writer's block... if only the solution were that simple for the rest of us. xD Well, I did something super hard and scary today, and sent a query letter to a literary agent concerning my novel. I've finally come to the realisation that self-publishing is probably not for me because I am super bad at marketing and promoting myself, so now it's come down to the wire of seeing if I'm a good enough writer for professionals to want to do that for me. This is really scary. |
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Post by Breakingchains on Jul 7, 2013 0:56:24 GMT -5
^ Hey, sounds like a good realization to me. There are throngs of people who self-pub who don't know how to work the market, but they never realize it and just sit and wonder why they aren't selling. Plus, you can also always go back to it when you've got a few titles under your belt and have learned more about the industry.
You might also get rejected, but in that case, just keep sending it out to other agents. Don't be spooked, you've gotten way farther than most ever do, and that says good things. ^_^
I had a few strong days working on my outline, but it's slow going now. I did get the first draft of a Neopets short story busted out the other day, so at least I've not been totally unproductive.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2013 1:11:58 GMT -5
^ Hey, sounds like a good realization to me. There are throngs of people who self-pub who don't know how to work the market, but they never realize it and just sit and wonder why they aren't selling. Plus, you can also always go back to it when you've got a few titles under your belt and have learned more about the industry. You might also get rejected, but in that case, just keep sending it out to other agents. Don't be spooked, you've gotten way farther than most ever do, and that says good things. ^_^ I had a few strong days working on my outline, but it's slow going now. I did get the first draft of a Neopets short story busted out the other day, so at least I've not been totally unproductive. Yeah, I... got impatient. xD I was basically like "why am I sitting around busting my chops trying and failing to promote this myself when I could do something horrifically scary but potentially worth it"? I'm definitely expecting rejection and hoping to learn from it, but yeah, at least I have a complete manuscript to show--that's probably more difficult than finding an agent. At least with agents you just have to learn how to write a query letter and then just keep emailing people. First drafts are good! At least you're working on something. My other course of action is to try to get my short stories published in magazines and the like. My friend recommended an amateur sci-fi/fantasy contest called Writers of the Future that looks pretty promising... problem is, I can't really figure out their rules on what constitutes "professionally published" as it pertains to e-books. They said that professional publication is considered to be 5,000 copies or 5,000 hits, but Kindle Direct Publishing doesn't allow me to see the hit counter on my novel's Amazon page--all I know is that I've only sold one copy, and I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten 5k hits on the page yet. <.< So I sent them an email asking to clarify, and hopefully I'll hear back. I'm also wondering why in the world I'm doing this now instead of after I finish college. Sure I'm not in classes right now, but if I keep this up, things could get crazy in a couple of months. |
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