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General discussionAny writers here?(182 posts)(182 posts)
(182 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted September 18, 2015
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XYCat: Solid Snake :D
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KneeTheCap: Does Snake have authority issues?
Ever since Shadow Moses at least, but then again he became his own authority after that lol :D
Posted September 18, 2015
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mrkgnao: I'm a self-published novelist (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HCZVCTO).

Each writer has his or her own methods. Find your own scheme, just don't give up.
If I ever get a kindle I will be sure to pick up a copy.

As for myself, I wish I could write. I have good ideas but I cant just get them out through writing. When I read what I have written I find it stilted and incoherant.

I did write a pretty good short story once, about 4-5 paragraphs. It a horror story in the format of a found journal or diary.
Posted September 18, 2015
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mrkgnao: I'm a self-published novelist (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HCZVCTO).

Each writer has his or her own methods. Find your own scheme, just don't give up.
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ScotchMonkey: If I ever get a kindle I will be sure to pick up a copy.
Thank you, I am honoured.

BTW, in case you're not aware of it, you don't a Kindle device to read a Kindle e-book. You can read it on practically any computer, tablet or smartphone out there, with the wide range of free kindle reading apps.
Posted September 18, 2015
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ScotchMonkey: If I ever get a kindle I will be sure to pick up a copy.
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mrkgnao: Thank you, I am honoured.

BTW, in case you're not aware of it, you don't a Kindle device to read a Kindle e-book. You can read it on practically any computer, tablet or smartphone out there, with the wide range of free kindle reading apps.
If it isn't too intrusive to ask, I was wondering what your word count for your novel, An Ovel, was.
Posted September 18, 2015
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KneeTheCap: What do you think of those? Are they in any way interesting? Too cliché?
Yep. Also:
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KneeTheCap: "Remember, Kay, never get attached to anyone. You're a Williams, we're a family destined to die alone"
A very weird thing to say for a family member.

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KneeTheCap: "You want me to wear what?"
"This dress"
"It's pink. I don't wear pink"
"Another color perhaps?"
"That's also a dress. I don't wear dresses"
I like the snappy dialogue. The content is weird, though. Pink is explicitly a girly color in the modern Western world. Just that by itself is already a jarring modern reference. But more importantly, in a low-tech high-inequality world which many fantasy worlds are, dyes are rare and expensive and sumptuary laws may be a thing. Specifically pink is a color people will kill and be killed for wearing.

And the gender politics are weird. Women characters rewarded for being "honorary men" aren't cool. That being said, you can write such a character and depict this attitude as problematic (many low-magic fantasy societies are sexist, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that -- I mean, what's wrong with tyranny being portrayed as evil?). E.g. to avoid making the "honorary man" protagonist getting a seal of approval for said honorary man status by way of her protagonist status, you can have a class of warrior women.
Post edited September 18, 2015 by Starmaker
Posted September 18, 2015
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mrkgnao: Thank you, I am honoured.

BTW, in case you're not aware of it, you don't a Kindle device to read a Kindle e-book. You can read it on practically any computer, tablet or smartphone out there, with the wide range of free kindle reading apps.
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gunshellmav: If it isn't too intrusive to ask, I was wondering what your word count for your novel, An Ovel, was.
Not at all.
133,991.
Posted September 18, 2015
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Starmaker: *good points*
Thank you for your thoughts, it's appreciated and noted :)

And about the pink part, I already changed the scene a bit. The dialogue was meant to demonstrate Kay's unwillingness to fit into a mold that is expected from her. She was asked to wear a dress during the formal meeting with the king.

Also, what makes the other parts cliché? I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on the matter :)
Posted September 19, 2015
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gunshellmav: If it isn't too intrusive to ask, I was wondering what your word count for your novel, An Ovel, was.
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mrkgnao: Not at all.
133,991.
Oh wow, that's really impressive. Since you're published, would you say self-publishing is the way to go or finding a publisher?
Posted September 19, 2015
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mrkgnao: Not at all.
133,991.
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gunshellmav: Oh wow, that's really impressive. Since you're published, would you say self-publishing is the way to go or finding a publisher?
Nowadays, finding a publisher means in most cases first finding a literary agent, as publishers no longer talk to authors. After contacting 78 of those, I gave up and self-published. But I am hardly representative of publishable material, as my novel was never really meant to be widely accessible and as such was of little interest to publishers.

If what you write is supposed to be mass market, I would recommend a publisher, for most people would need the publisher's marketing machine.
Posted September 19, 2015
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gunshellmav: Oh wow, that's really impressive. Since you're published, would you say self-publishing is the way to go or finding a publisher?
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mrkgnao: Nowadays, finding a publisher means in most cases first finding a literary agent, as publishers no longer talk to authors. After contacting 78 of those, I gave up and self-published. But I am hardly representative of publishable material, as my novel was never really meant to be widely accessible and as such was of little interest to publishers.

If what you write is supposed to be mass market, I would recommend a publisher, for most people would need the publisher's marketing machine.
Self publishing is usually the way to go these days. That is unless you've got something incredibly hot where you can get a lot of pre-publish press.

Smashwords has a few guides out there about how to do it.

But, going it alone is a great option if you've got a good book. The main thing that a publisher and agent can do for a writer is make sure they get a good editor and then get the book on the shelves of book stores with patrons likely to be interested in it.

And yes, I said shelves. Getting a book into the Kindle store or B&N's shop isn't at all hard, and if you're willing to make it free for a bit or engage in some creative marketing, you can get much more exposure than you're likely to have gotten in the past as a first time author.

EDIT: And if you go it alone, you can benefit from exposure via TPB and similar sites.
Post edited September 19, 2015 by hedwards
Posted September 19, 2015
Thank you very much mrkgnao and hedwards, your insight is really appreciated.
Posted September 19, 2015
A couple of things that have helped me.

Firstly, keep writing. Don't look back, don't edit until you are done. The first draft is SUPPOSED to be shit. I give you permission to suck on the first draft if you feel you need said permission.

Two, give every character some kind of motivation, even if it's something simple. Characters who have no stated goals have no vested interest in anything and thus the reader won't care either.

Three, plot is what happens to characters. Meaning, it's the characterization that's important. If the characters aren't interesting no one will be interested in what happens to them, i.e. the plot. That's not to say you should skimp on the plot, but the plot doesn't have to be unique to be good. Look at Star Wars and the work of Joseph Campbell for example.
Posted September 19, 2015
Not a writer, but trying to become one. I'm having a serious problem however at the most demanding part of the job: Actually sit down and write something. That is, I have a ton of great ideas for novels I could write (the way their protagonists and plots are-I have the most part of those developed in my head-, most would be youth novels in a historical/semi-historical context -some in a universe with also some sort of magic-not much in the way of romance though-these aren't Twilight...) and which novels have plots with quite some action aka that could theoretically become best-sellers, but I cannot get myself to actually write down even one of these ideas to its completion on paper/on the pc -I tried both, but I just get myself to write only one chapter -most I ever managed to write ever were 4-5 chapters (and this on paper, so that's what probably works best for me), and I just kinda give up afterwards, as I present myself with a ton of excuses to postpone the action of actually writing indefinitely ("not now I have work, not now I'm tired, not now I just don't feel like it - I'd rather play a videogame instead" etc). I even thought that my general environment might be off-putting for writing, as I'm conditioned to either study or extracurricular fun in my own house, so I went once to the municipal library when I was on holidays, and managed to write a chapter there. But afterwards, I again could not get my ass to go there again (excuse: "I don't feel like going there today, plus I don't like the modernized style it has" -this until I left 2 weeks later!). I thought I could theoretically go to the library of my university, but the hours on which I have classes are such that I think afterwards "meh, I'm tired, I'll just go home", so nothing again. Funny thing is I'm not like that with my actual work, so I don't know why this happens - I'd also like to note here that when I actually sit down to write I seldom have writer's block (I have it way more on pc than on paper though), so that's not what keeps me off the writing. I tried to explore all other reasons for which this might happen e.g. why do I want to write these ideas down in the 1st place? My answer was so that people will read them, because I frankly think they'd be worth reading if I got them on book format, and also the slim possibilty they might become best-sellers would help me have some income without worrying about the realities of the job market. Also -that's more religiously minded- apparently God (replace this with whatever if you're of another denomination or an atheist-I won't mind) gave me the talent of being able to create all kinds of ideas at a moment's notice ; this is both a blessing and a curse (for the aforementioned reasons), but at any rate I'd leave my potential wasted if I left these ideas unwriten. On anoter note, my parents also noticed this talent of mine (especially as I showed them some chapters of this one book when I wrote 4-5 chapters and then abandoned) and try to get me to write again, which also makes me think they might think I'm lazy because I can't get myself to write anything more substantial than just the 1st chapter.
Long story short, I'm starting to despair with this whole situation ( I think almost every day that I could be writing instead of doing so-and-so stupid timewaster) and have no-one else to turn to (my parents would just think I'm plain lazy, and I haven't told about my writing endeavours to anyone else-they needen't know anything as long as nothing concrete has been done...), so do you people have any ideas on how to combat this stupid procrastination of mine and actually manage to continue (and finish) writing whatever I start?
Thans for whatever tips I might get in advance (despite whether they'll manage to combat this condition I have or not).
Posted September 19, 2015
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Treasure: Thans for whatever tips I might get in advance (despite whether they'll manage to combat this condition I have or not).
trying to be a writer, editor, and the typesetter all in one. If you keep writing like that, people may get one square meal a day.

Just be the writer and let your words flow....
Posted September 19, 2015
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Treasure: Thans for whatever tips I might get in advance (despite whether they'll manage to combat this condition I have or not).
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JDelekto: trying to be a writer, editor, and the typesetter all in one. If you keep writing like that, people may get one square meal a day.

Just be the writer and let your words flow....
What do you mean? That maybe I'm trying to check the quality of my writings unconsciously? Maybe, I dunno, but then, I rarely revisit earlier chapters I wrote -I don't even revisit the projects where I wrote only 1 chapter, I just kinda leave the chapter languish, unedited, in some notebook or another...). Also, whenever, I actually write something my words flow really fast -sometimes my pecil tries to catch up with my thoughts- so, as I already said, writer's block and/or trying to edit while writing isn't the problem here. The problem is, because my words flow one chapter at a time (an average chapter takes me 10-11 pages, and 1 hour and a half to finish, and I feel a bit tired afterwards), after I finish the chapter I finish my writing for the day, but I might not actually pick the notebook/word processor to actually continue on whatever novel I'm writing until a lot fo time has passed and I'd need to re-read from the beginning to remember what exactly from the plan I have in my mind has been written down. I have 3-4 novels with only 1 chpater of each written in this manner. So all in all, this doesn't seem to me like trying to edit in advance and not letting the words flow, but rather my not being arsed to actually continue what I start writing for no reason I can think of...
Thanks for trying to help anyways though...
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionAny writers here?(182 posts)(182 posts)
(182 posts)