The Great 2014 Writing Thread

[Takhisis]

Given that it's religious terror and you're an atheist (or an agnostic? infidels are all the same), you should do fine.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

I haven't, but it looks great. I'll have to check that out.

When i read about your book i was reminded about that series (only 3 of the books have been translated in romanian tho, the subject is much too far from pop-culture). From what i've read, the author loves to build parallel story-lines that connect.
The first book follows the story of Eymerich's rise to power in the spanish inquisition and his battle to eradicate a pagan cult; a story about a space exploration journey in a dystopic future; and a third story about a college professor in the present that tries to define a theory that will explain the connection between the stories and the events in them.
Got lots of awards too !

 

[Gray Wolf]

Some of you will know that I've written a few books in the past, all non-fiction.

But I've been toiling away secretly in my lair and have now completed a novel. It's a sort of alternate-history religious conspiracy thriller. Publishing fiction is very different from publishing non-fiction, so I've stuck it up on Amazon (and elsewhere) myself.

I'm using a pen-name for this, as I don't want to get it mixed up with my other stuff. So those of you who know my real name, please don't spread it around!

I won't link to Amazon etc. here, but if you're interested, have a look at my website for more information and links. I'd really appreciate comments, discussions, and honest reviews, as work begins on the next one...

Plotinus, I meant to put my post about your book here. Anyway, congratulations on finishing your novel. Wow. I'm sure that it took a long time to write so good job.

The book sounds very interesting. And I really like this genre of fiction so I'm going to buy it and read it when I get a chance...

Also, I'm sure you are a great writer since you are so highly educated.

 

[Plotinus]

Thanks, GW, very much appreciated.

(Please believe me, though, being educated doesn't necessarily make someone a great writer... one of the most brilliant people I know is one of the worst writers!)

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I have an initial question, based on the first page of the sample chapter I downloaded:

Who did the editing and proofreading?

 

[Plotinus]

My then-agent did. I had a literary agent, you see, who liked the first draft and then worked closely with me over a long period of time to improve it - everything from the general structure right down to the line-edit. But unfortunately he left the industry before he'd secured a publisher, and his agency was unable to reassign me to another agent, so they released me from the contract and I was back to square one. That's why I decided to self-publish it rather than go through all of that again. Also, I'd effectively had a huge amount of work put into it from a professional editor without having to pay for it, so it seemed silly not to try to capitalise on that!

Doubtless many flaws remain, but this whole process certainly left it vastly improved from what I had naively imagined my own highly-polished first draft to be.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Several years ago I was part of an editing/proofreading team who helped out a friend with his novel, and when he was trying to find an agent. He sent out a lot of letters to many different agencies before finding an agent, so I realize how difficult it is, even second-hand (my friend is Canadian and currently living in British Columbia, but he was in London at the time that he started this process).

Sadly the novel I proofread wasn't the one that got published (a romantic comedy/adventure about an American guy who gets into a bunch of odd adventures with an interesting mix of people when he takes a job as an English teacher in Japan). I proofread six different versions of that novel, and I still occasionally go back and read it, 'cause it's that enjoyable.

The novel he finally did publish is an urban gothic mystery - a genre that's not my cup of tea personally, but I'm happy that he finally achieved his dream of publishing a novel. His previously published works were newspaper articles and my favorite webcomic, Fuzzy Knights (about a group of stuffed animals who play Dungeons & Dragons and have their own odd adventures when their owners aren't looking).

So don't give up on another agent, Plotinus. It took my friend a long while and a lot of frustration, but he made it. So will you.

I don't suppose the people you work with on your nonfiction books might be able to suggest any agents who deal with fiction?

 

[Plotinus]

Thank you for the support - I really appreciate it. I did try sending it to agents again after losing the first one, but I didn't have any luck. It's really harder to get an agent than it is to get published once you've got an agent, so I think I was quite unlucky, having got an agent, to lose him again before we found a publisher! It really is such a lengthy process though, and very tiring, so there comes a point where it just seems to make more sense to skip it all - especially given that we keep hearing about how traditional publishing is in its death throes anyway.

Unfortunately my non-fiction contacts wouldn't be much help. This is partly because fiction and non-fiction are completely different industries, but mainly because my only contacts there were the publishers themselves, whom I worked for directly. I didn't have an agent because you don't need one for non-fiction, or at least I didn't. But an agent is essential for fiction.

One thing I did learn from all of this is that even if you self-publish, you still need professional editing at one level or another, and I say this as a former professional copy-editor and proof-reader myself.

 

[Takhisis]

Do you need a proofreader, Mr. Plot?

 

[Cutlass]

Some of you will know that I've written a few books in the past, all non-fiction.

But I've been toiling away secretly in my lair and have now completed a novel. It's a sort of alternate-history religious conspiracy thriller. Publishing fiction is very different from publishing non-fiction, so I've stuck it up on Amazon (and elsewhere) myself.

I'm using a pen-name for this, as I don't want to get it mixed up with my other stuff. So those of you who know my real name, please don't spread it around!

I won't link to Amazon etc. here, but if you're interested, have a look at my website for more information and links. I'd really appreciate comments, discussions, and honest reviews, as work begins on the next one...

Congratulations! How much work was it, would you say?

 

[Plotinus]

Do you need a proofreader, Mr. Plot?

Fortunately that's the one thing I don't really need - I have enough proof-reading experience myself and am sufficiently neurotic to catch any errors of that kind. I found myself in much more need of the higher-level sort of editing, regarding structure and characterisation and so on, as well as some of the mid-level copy-editing sort of thing which everyone needs ("cut out this entire paragraph" etc.).

Congratulations! How much work was it, would you say?

A great deal, but it was easier than research-based writing!

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Fortunately that's the one thing I don't really need - I have enough proof-reading experience myself and am sufficiently neurotic to catch any errors of that kind. I found myself in much more need of the higher-level sort of editing, regarding structure and characterisation and so on, as well as some of the mid-level copy-editing sort of thing which everyone needs ("cut out this entire paragraph" etc.).

Do you proofread manually, or rely on a program for that? The latter is okay for an initial run, but you really need to do it manually after that, since the programs can't tell when certain errors creep in, such as "stories" instead of "storeys" when referring to the floors of buildings.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Do you proofread manually, or rely on a program for that? The latter is okay for an initial run, but you really need to do it manually after that, since the programs can't tell when certain errors creep in, such as "stories" instead of "storeys" when referring to the floors of buildings.

And today I learned that "stories" and "storeys" are two separate things.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

And today I learned that "stories" and "storeys" are two separate things.

Yep. I live in a 6-storey apartment building, and within my apartment there are so many thousands of stories contained in the books I own, I'm afraid to count them!

 

[Tarquelne]

But I've been toiling away secretly in my lair and have now completed a novel. It's a sort of alternate-history religious conspiracy thriller.

Congratulations!

I'm not sure when I'll actually read it, but I've just discovered I can change the font. Yay! The font was locked on the last professionally published e-book I bought.

That's going in the "Good" column.

so I've stuck it up on Amazon (and elsewhere) myself.

I'm going to be doing the same in the not terribly-distant future, so I'd be quite happy to hear more about your experience self-publishing. (To be specific: Everything. Or perhaps just surprises and choice resources.)

 

[Plotinus]

Do you proofread manually, or rely on a program for that? The latter is okay for an initial run, but you really need to do it manually after that, since the programs can't tell when certain errors creep in, such as "stories" instead of "storeys" when referring to the floors of buildings.

I'd never rely on automatic spell-checking/grammar-checking. I've far too much pride in my own pedantry for that!

I generally make very few errors of that kind when writing, luckily, but I've always obsessively read and re-read what I write over and over again, so I will almost always sport any errors I have made. Plus I'm just used to doing that from my time as a proof-reader anyway.

This also does help to pick up a lot of things that aren't errors but are bad phrasing, e.g. using a word two or three times in quick succession. It's amazing how much of that kind of thing I pick up on a first read-through of something I thought was fine as I was writing it.

But of course many such things will remain because no-one can effectively copy-edit themselves, which is why no-one can rely on their own abilities to spot them beyond the mechanical proof-reading stuff.

Congratulations!

I'm not sure when I'll actually read it, but I've just discovered I can change the font. Yay! The font was locked on the last professionally published e-book I bought.

That's going in the "Good" column.

Yes, most e-books should allow that. If they don't then they've not been properly formatted and it kind of wrecks one of the major advantages of e-books!

I'm going to be doing the same in the not terribly-distant future, so I'd be quite happy to hear more about your experience self-publishing. (To be specific: Everything. Or perhaps just surprises and choice resources.)

I'll look forward to that and definitely let us know about it. I'll be sure to give updates about my experience with this once I have any to give! So far the main thing has been contacting vast numbers of review sites asking for reviews. There are a couple in the pipeline, but they take a long time.

 

[Cutlass]

I'd never rely on automatic spell-checking/grammar-checking. I've far too much pride in my own pedantry for that!

I generally make very few errors of that kind when writing, luckily, but I've always obsessively read and re-read what I write over and over again, so I will almost always sport any errors I have made. Plus I'm just used to doing that from my time as a proof-reader anyway.

This also does help to pick up a lot of things that aren't errors but are bad phrasing, e.g. using a word two or three times in quick succession. It's amazing how much of that kind of thing I pick up on a first read-through of something I thought was fine as I was writing it.

But of course many such things will remain because no-one can effectively copy-edit themselves, which is why no-one can rely on their own abilities to spot them beyond the mechanical proof-reading stuff.



Yes, most e-books should allow that. If they don't then they've not been properly formatted and it kind of wrecks one of the major advantages of e-books!



I'll look forward to that and definitely let us know about it. I'll be sure to give updates about my experience with this once I have any to give! So far the main thing has been contacting vast numbers of review sites asking for reviews. There are a couple in the pipeline, but they take a long time.

 

[JohannaK]

I should have checked this thread before going out. Damn you Cutlass.

 

[Cutlass]

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I'd never rely on automatic spell-checking/grammar-checking. I've far too much pride in my own pedantry for that!

I generally make very few errors of that kind when writing, luckily, but I've always obsessively read and re-read what I write over and over again, so I will almost always sport any errors I have made. Plus I'm just used to doing that from my time as a proof-reader anyway.

This also does help to pick up a lot of things that aren't errors but are bad phrasing, e.g. using a word two or three times in quick succession. It's amazing how much of that kind of thing I pick up on a first read-through of something I thought was fine as I was writing it.

But of course many such things will remain because no-one can effectively copy-edit themselves, which is why no-one can rely on their own abilities to spot them beyond the mechanical proof-reading stuff.

Is it possible to edit something after it's been e-published? I just found out I could enable my Kindle to receive updated versions of the stuff I've purchased.

So far the main thing has been contacting vast numbers of review sites asking for reviews. There are a couple in the pipeline, but they take a long time.

Have you tried Library Thing?