Watcha Writin'?

[Zkribbler]

Tor also approaches self-pubbed authors. Brian Anderson was first self-pubbed and is now signed by Tor.

I'm preparing "Wee" for Tor right now. Until a year or so ago. Tor also accepted novellas, but no more. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth because it followed a long string of novella publishers into closing their doors

I understand the appeal of a trad-pub deal but it's not the only option available to you.

I refuse to do self publishing. It would require me to do marketing [which I'm terrible at & which I hate] and I would be required to provide cover art [which I'm not competent to produce and which I have lots of problems buying]. Writing is fun . Self publishing is work.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

If it's just the marketing and cover art you dislike, I think vanity publishers can sometimes handle those. But they don't really have the best of reputations and there's other downsides too so I honestly would advise against it.

 

[Zkribbler]

If it's just the marketing and cover art you dislike, I think vanity publishers can sometimes handle those. But they don't really have the best of reputations and there's other downsides too so I honestly would advise against it.

And the author has to pay them!

My goals at this moment:
Finish my Wee synopsis so I can submit to Tor.
Finish Eek by the end of March so I can submit it to Writers of the Future.
Finish the final few chapter of Count of Monte Cristo & submit it to a traditional literary agent.
Check out detective fiction magazines to see if I can find a buyer for I am not Frank Tupelo.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Yeah, that's one of the downsides.

 

[Zkribbler]

Check out detective fiction magazines to see if I can find a buyer for I am not Frank Tupelo.

Hrumph. It's nearly impossible to find any buyer of detective/p.i. stories exceeding 8,000 words.
What I did find was a university literary magazine called the Madison Review, which accepts stories up to 30 pages, which means I have to shave off 2 pages. Remember, my main character is a math professor at the University of Wisconsin's Madison campus.

 

[Synobun]

I refuse to do self publishing. It would require me to do marketing [which I'm terrible at & which I hate] and I would be required to provide cover art [which I'm not competent to produce and which I have lots of problems buying]. Writing is fun . Self publishing is work.

Fair enough! I guess I've taken a dimmer view on traditional publishing because many of the smaller presses now expect the author to do much of the legwork themselves, and it often ends up more similar to vanity publishing than a contract with the Big 5, for example. You don't save much stress if the agent/editor expects you to inject your fan base into theirs, do lengthy tours, etc. And that also tends to preclude first-timers unless they're willing to take a huge hit to their rights and royalties. I saw a contract last month where the author would need to pay back the advance if royalties didn't exceed expenses. Because the small press is "taking a risk" on them, see. (Noooooooooo!)

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I've been....trying to write. It's a little hard to concentrate with the pain and nausea and constant crapping.

 

[Zkribbler]

Hrumph. It's nearly impossible to find any buyer of detective/p.i. stories exceeding 8,000 words.
What I did find was a university literary magazine called the Madison Review, which accepts stories up to 30 pages, which means I have to shave off 2 pages. Remember, my main character is a math professor at the University of Wisconsin's Madison campus.

Madison Review accepts 30-page submissions during its reading period, September 1st to May 1st. There is no mention of payment. There is no provision for e-mail submissions.
Madison Review also accepts 30-page submissions from November 1, 2019 to January 1, 2020 for The Chris O'Malley prize in Fiction, entry fee $2. First Prize $1,000.
So, this isn't going to work.

Edit: Alfred Hitchcock takes stories up to 12,000 words.

Edit: My Frank Tupelo.story, now named Destiny!, has just been submitted to Alfred Hitchcock
From the response: "our response time is currently at an average of six to eight months."

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Tomorrow maybe to the writing not done in weeks deadline passed bad . Start tomorrow the fanfic that is idea.

 

[Zkribbler]

My goals at this moment:
...
Finish Eek by the end of March so I can submit it to Writers of the Future.
...

I don't remember if I began working on Eek when I still lived in the U.S. I do remember working on it in CavLancer's house in Jagna when I first moved over here...a decade ago. I've had so many false starts.

Eek is a starfaring swashbuckler told by a smart-mouthed genetically-altered monkey. The bad guys are my oft-used villains, the Throgs, two-meter tall, hairy monsters, a cross between abominable snowmen and nightmares, think of Mongol hordes in space ships.

Recently, I've been going over my notes on writing. I came across a passage on premises stories vs. plot stories. A premise story comes out of a really cool idea but it rarely is completed because it has no staying power. This happens to a lot of my stories. In comparison, a plot story grows out of the main character's striving to overcome a personal weakness. Without a weakness, there can be no character growth. A plot story puts the main character in the driver's seat of the plot, and it gives the story a theme. In my previous versions of my story, my main character was like a cork on the water, being carried along with no direction.

I took out my list of character weaknesses, and will focus on greed. Already in Chap. 1, my main character has commented that she has grown rich and powerful by collaborating with the Throgs. She is about to learn the error of her ways.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I'm having trouble getting back into the writing thing. I know what I want to say (and in words, not thought-pictures) but for some reason I have trouble actually getting it typed out. I don't know why.

 

[Zkribbler]

Write the next sentence,

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I force myself to write at least one sentence a day. I've got to step that up, though, since Camp NaNoWriMo starts in 3 weeks.

 

[Zkribbler]

I force myself to write at least one sentence a day. I've got to step that up, though, since Camp NaNoWriMo starts in 3 weeks.

Akk! I thought it ended in three weeks. I've been waiting and waiting for you to start the promised thread. Now I know what the hold up is.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Akk! I thought it ended in three weeks. I've been waiting and waiting for you to start the promised thread. Now I know what the hold up is.

Camp events are in April and July. The main event is in November. They run other activities the rest of the year - editing pep talks and how-tos, webinars, the forums have been active, and I got an email yesterday about the new t-shirts and posters (they're going to have to offer at least a 20% discount to get me to consider it).

Here's my suggestion. Some people do use it as a tool to help with their professional writing. Just because I do it for fun, don't assume everyone there is only doing amateur fanfic. There's a lot of good information and advice available, and hundreds of people to bounce ideas off of and maybe get a useful suggestion now and then.

This is a set-your-own-goal event. Whatever fits your comfort level is fine.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Something that drives me crazy when I'm writing/editing is that while revising, I end up making multiple blank lines white space in between revised and non-revised parts. I'm trying to stop that but I keep doing it without thinking and it makes everything look messy.

I guess this is why it's a draft.

Maybe the Camp Nanowrimo would be a good excuse to make myself back into it more. Except I'm worried that if I get sick again I'll end up missing it and more discourage.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Something that drives me crazy when I'm writing/editing is that while revising, I end up making multiple blank lines white space in between revised and non-revised parts. I'm trying to stop that but I keep doing it without thinking and it makes everything look messy.

I guess this is why it's a draft.

Maybe the Camp Nanowrimo would be a good excuse to make myself back into it more. Except I'm worried that if I get sick again I'll end up missing it and more discourage.

You can give yourself a low word count and see how it goes. If memory serves, you can change it during the first 10 days or so (not during the last 10 days, since that's the validation period). I got too ambitious last year, got bogged down and frustrated, so I lowered my expectations by a reasonable amount (enough for a challenge, so it wouldn't be too easy) and it worked out better.

I've been puttering around with the same plot point in both versions of this story, that take place in very different circumstances depending on which version. I want the main character to meet, and be accepted by, a family member he didn't know he had, and who has every reason to be suspicious of him (and even a little resentful, as his existence means her son won't inherit the throne). In both versions they will end up being accepted, but how they get there is a challenge.

 

[Zkribbler]

I'm having trouble getting back into the writing thing. I know what I want to say (and in words, not thought-pictures) but for some reason I have trouble actually getting it typed out. I don't know why.

From my writing goddess:

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

You can give yourself a low word count and see how it goes. If memory serves, you can change it during the first 10 days or so (not during the last 10 days, since that's the validation period). I got too ambitious last year, got bogged down and frustrated, so I lowered my expectations by a reasonable amount (enough for a challenge, so it wouldn't be too easy) and it worked out better.

I've been puttering around with the same plot point in both versions of this story, that take place in very different circumstances depending on which version. I want the main character to meet, and be accepted by, a family member he didn't know he had, and who has every reason to be suspicious of him (and even a little resentful, as his existence means her son won't inherit the throne). In both versions they will end up being accepted, but how they get there is a challenge.

I just not entirely sure I understand how it works though.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

@Valka D'Ur how would I do go about to sign up?