Jump to content

Boarders Writing a Novel: Take 8


Spockydog

Recommended Posts

Thank you very, very much. You're the first non-family reader, in fact, even if it's only one passage. This is the kind of reply that I didn't dare hope for as I thought my writing will need a LOT of improvement. Btw, I would love to read a passage of your story!

PS My story is indeed fantasy, so I guess my prose should be fantastic :P

You're welcome mate, just make sure you keep working hard and keep practicing and hopefully something will come of it. Good luck. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most of us refrain from posting large chunks of writing on public boards.

Personally, I get my feedback through online writer groups with private areas (like fmwriters.com or absolutewrite.com) and through beta readers (writer friends and select reader friends). There is a BWB writer's forum, but the last I checked, it's pretty dead.

Right now, I'm reviewing a novella for Ebenstone (it's coming, man. :) ). A real critique takes time and effort to do, so I tend not to comment on posted materials in these threads. Generally speaking, these BWAN threads tend to lean toward part support group, part business Q&A, and part promotion. If people don't comment on your snippet, don't take it as a slight.

Take your time bro. I'm in a bit of a rut with writing right now. Hopefully you're enjoying the novella...it's very much a first draft. I have a few project ideas, but I'm kind of...it's hard to say, just a weird time right now. I might bang out another novella then settle on a big project...though I'm not sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been REALLY busy this past half week as the inspectors (Ofsted) have been in my school. It's over now, I have a good grading, and I have to move out of my house in the next 24 hours as that's when my contract finishes.

Saying all this really to draw attention to my stress-stricken life to say sorry to all those whose chapters I promised to read and haven't yet read. Do feel free to give me a gentle reminder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dropping in! Got some great news today. I pulled out pieces of the ole novel and submitted it to the Writers of the Future contest. Heard today that I'm a finalist for quarter 2. Whoot whoot! My first time entering (after spending nearly a year researching the contest, reading past volumes, etc.).

I went into this contest thinking, "Maybe someone cool will read my entry," and that was it. I think my heart stopped beating when I got the call today. At first I thought, "There's something wrong with my submission," because why would they be CALLING me? And, yeah! Happy, happy, joy joy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dropping in! Got some great news today. I pulled out pieces of the ole novel and submitted it to the Writers of the Future contest. Heard today that I'm a finalist for quarter 2. Whoot whoot! My first time entering (after spending nearly a year researching the contest, reading past volumes, etc.).

I went into this contest thinking, "Maybe someone cool will read my entry," and that was it. I think my heart stopped beating when I got the call today. At first I thought, "There's something wrong with my submission," because why would they be CALLING me? And, yeah! Happy, happy, joy joy!

Congrats!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dropping in! Got some great news today. I pulled out pieces of the ole novel and submitted it to the Writers of the Future contest. Heard today that I'm a finalist for quarter 2. Whoot whoot! My first time entering (after spending nearly a year researching the contest, reading past volumes, etc.).

I went into this contest thinking, "Maybe someone cool will read my entry," and that was it. I think my heart stopped beating when I got the call today. At first I thought, "There's something wrong with my submission," because why would they be CALLING me? And, yeah! Happy, happy, joy joy!

Well done - it's really nice to hear of a success story on here - hopefully there will be many more. :)

My editing phase is now starting to slowly come to life and I've so far managed to ditch around 3,500 words from the initial 168,000, and this has just come from combing (so far 3) chapters, stripping out extraneous material, repetitions and over-long sentences. I'm currently losing around 1,200-1,700 words per chapter (8,000 to 11,000 range). So from the early stages, I'm looking good for pulling it down below 145,000 words before I even start questioning whole passages. Also getting a little bit of positive feedback back from a couple of readers, so not feeling quite so disillusioned at the moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done, Zombie Wife - that's really good news! You shall have to point us to it when it comes out so we can read it :-D

I was on a two-hour coach trip with my Year 9s yesterday so I decided to read my latest edit of my novel, with a mind to spotting inconsistencies and pacing issues after recent changes. One kid asked, "Miss, what you reading?" In the end, I had at least at least twenty ask what I was reading - all of which were convinced it was 50 Shades of Grey. I told them they'd heard of the author but not the book and that I wasn't overly sure on the book's name... this really confused them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm putting myself on a mini writing retreat this weekend. In three hours I will be checking in to a B&B and ensconcing myself for a writing-a-thon! I am really hopeful about how much I can get done. The end is in sight for this first draft!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the well wishes, all! I'll definitely point you in the story's direction when it's out. I basically pulled one POV from the novel and used that. I wasn't sure I could but considering that I keep my rights (and after having read that Rothfuss did the same thing with a section from "Wise Man's Fear") I thought, why not?

I seem to go through weird phases on the book. The last few weeks have been go-go-go time, cranking out around 15k total of revisions/rewriting. But, I feel stuck now. I hit these places where I start spinning my wheels. Whenever that happens, I usually give myself 5-7 days to get back into it. I've been reading some Billy Collins (poet) and that's been sparking something in me again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm putting myself on a mini writing retreat this weekend. In three hours I will be checking in to a B&B and ensconcing myself for a writing-a-thon! I am really hopeful about how much I can get done. The end is in sight for this first draft!!

Time away to write is always useful in my opinion. I am counting down the weeks now on one hand before my summer starts - then I will be able to finish Book 2 and really knuckle down to the edits of Book 1.

Thanks for the well wishes, all! I'll definitely point you in the story's direction when it's out. I basically pulled one POV from the novel and used that. I wasn't sure I could but considering that I keep my rights (and after having read that Rothfuss did the same thing with a section from "Wise Man's Fear") I thought, why not?

I seem to go through weird phases on the book. The last few weeks have been go-go-go time, cranking out around 15k total of revisions/rewriting. But, I feel stuck now. I hit these places where I start spinning my wheels. Whenever that happens, I usually give myself 5-7 days to get back into it. I've been reading some Billy Collins (poet) and that's been sparking something in me again.

That's a really good idea. I have a good opening chapter to a novel that could stand alone, and isn't really being used any more. I should consider sending that out to a few contests.

I know what you mean about spinning wheels - hate that when I'm in the writing process. Luckily, not had it in a while.

I managed to leave all my assessment marking on my desk on Friday, which meant I actually had time to work on my novel this evening. Not made massive changes, just gone back and done tweaks to things that I spotted while reading it on Thursday, and worked once again on my opening chapter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My little retreat was a great success. I managed to get down over 7k new words in about 7 hours. That may not sound like a lot to some of you prolific folks, but that's more than I wrote the entire month of May. So for me, great success! I am now about 75k for this draft with another 3 chapters (~12k) to go. Feeling good to finally have made some progress after weeks of eking out a couple hundred words here or there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's great, Starkess. I find I have the best writing sessions when I have nothing to distract me, like the internet. I plan on writing right now, as a matter of fact. But I'm here.

I've had a good week as far as it goes for me. I've got about 5k words in 3 sessions of writing. I probably wrote more than that, but threw out quite a bit. I'm almost done with the story I've been working on, maybe 2k words to go -- but man, this draft is a mess. I started the story with a beginning and end in mind, but let the middle take care of itself. My second run through will probably add some stuff to connect the dots, and then I'll start cutting during the third draft. This is my longest story so far.

I also started a blog which I will now fail to update, and joined a local critique group. I'm pretty excited about that stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My little retreat was a great success. I managed to get down over 7k new words in about 7 hours. That may not sound like a lot to some of you prolific folks, but that's more than I wrote the entire month of May. So for me, great success! I am now about 75k for this draft with another 3 chapters (~12k) to go. Feeling good to finally have made some progress after weeks of eking out a couple hundred words here or there.

Congrats - so great to hear that it has been worth it for you!

That's great, Starkess. I find I have the best writing sessions when I have nothing to distract me, like the internet. I plan on writing right now, as a matter of fact. But I'm here.

I've had a good week as far as it goes for me. I've got about 5k words in 3 sessions of writing. I probably wrote more than that, but threw out quite a bit. I'm almost done with the story I've been working on, maybe 2k words to go -- but man, this draft is a mess. I started the story with a beginning and end in mind, but let the middle take care of itself. My second run through will probably add some stuff to connect the dots, and then I'll start cutting during the third draft. This is my longest story so far.

I also started a blog which I will now fail to update, and joined a local critique group. I'm pretty excited about that stuff.

Sounds like how I approach things - I never plan things out first, as that would take away from the journey.

I managed to lose a whole hour's work yesterday. No idea how. Just have. Oops! At least it was only editing out inconsistencies, which I'll prob forget about so it'll be up to my next beta to spot (sorrryy, next beta!!!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a little reluctant to post in this thread, as I'm just starting on my first "proper" writing endeavour. I've written a fair few things in the past, but have never finished anything, and never had the motivation to actually make a go of anything. But this time it seems different. I'm just starting out, have done some character profiles and got my basic plan, and generally inspiration strikes and I just write. I had a night where I wrote around 4000 words a few weeks ago, and since then have been writing bits here and there, but now uni is over I have some time to sit down and start writing properly.

My question is this: Does anyone have a writing blog? Where they share ideas/chapters/whatnot? I feel it might be an idea in order to get some feedback, and I'm definitely shy when it comes to my writing, so the anonymous aspect would work well for me :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...