Boarders Writing A Novel: Volume 14 A Memory of Civility

[Derfel Cadarn]

3 minutes ago, Selysin said:

That's definitely a typo. If I recall correctly it's actually 110,000 but I sent Sara another email in case yours got lost in the shuffle. 

Appreciated

The uncertainty has spurred me to do some trimming, so hasnt been a bad thing.

[Selysin]

1 hour ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Appreciated

The uncertainty has spurred me to do some trimming, so hasnt been a bad thing.

The submissions page has been fixed. The word count is 100,000 words so it looks like that trimming will pay off. 

Good luck to everyone who submits. 

[The Marquis de Leech]

1 hour ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Waiting for it to reopen so I can resubmit Resurrection Men.  But their max word count isnt clear - it says 100,00 - is it just missing a 0 (in whih case I'm 6k words over) or have they just not decided?

i emailed earlier in the week for clarification, hoping its a bit more than 10k.  I'm sure it was higher last year, I sent in my 108k version in with no issues.

Here's what it says on the page:

All submissions should be 55,000 – 100,000 words, and should be sent via the form below.

Yes, it's shorter than last year (last year went up to 110k)

[Derfel Cadarn]

1 hour ago, Selysin said:

The submissions page has been fixed. The word count is 100,000 words so it looks like that trimming will pay off. 

Good luck to everyone who submits. 

Yeah, got a reply thanking me for pointing it out.  They're kindly allowing me to resub since i've submitted before.  I've managed to cut it to circa 106/107k words.

[C.T. Phipps]

Got a deal for 4 novels from Amber Cove publishing for 2017.

Even at 60K, that's a lot.

But it's good.

[Andrew Gilfellon]

3 hours ago, C.T. Phipps said:

Got a deal for 4 novels from Amber Cove publishing for 2017.

Even at 60K, that's a lot.

But it's good.

60k as in words or  60k as in money?

[The Marquis de Leech]

5 minutes ago, Andrew Gilfellon said:

60k as in words or  60k as in money?

Clearly words (unless you're a really big name, you're not going to get 60k in money from an advance). Churning out four 60k novels in a year would be intensive.

[Starkess]

On 4/28/2016 at 7:34 AM, Ebenstone said:

Well, earlier this month I had to do one of the hardest things ever...I fired my agent. I won't get into sordid details here, but it's not a fun thing to do. 

So now I'm back in the query pool with a new project. 

The good news is that I've already gotten two positive responses from my first wave of queries.

Oof, sorry to hear that. Best of luck with the new search!

[Jerol]

On 4/29/2016 at 2:31 AM, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Just giving people a heads-up that Inspired Quill (the nice people who accepted me last year) are re-opening the submissions period in May:

http://www.inspired-quill.com/submissions/

100,000 word limit. Jebus, I killed a lot of my darlings to make sure it was under that magical 120K mark. I don't think I can slash anymore. 

[The Marquis de Leech]

30 minutes ago, Jerol said:

100,000 word limit. Jebus, I killed a lot of my darlings to make sure it was under that magical 120K mark. I don't think I can slash anymore. 

They accept as low as 55k. Maybe you could split the thing?

[The Marquis de Leech]

General question - what are peoples' feelings on second person? I used to subscribe to the idea that it was just a gimmick, but I've recently been trying it out, for experimentation (only to meet predictable rejection, but such is the life of the writer).

[sologdin]

it's dreadful. don't do it.

[Starkess]

I hate it. I don't think I've ever read it when it hasn't felt gimmicky, and it places a barrier between me and the story.

[polishgenius]

I think it could work in brief moments for some kind of effect (though off the top of my head I can't think of any examples), but I can't imagine being satisfied with it carrying an entire story.

[Melphis Amekia]

I guess I am the only one here who will have another perspective on 2nd person, as I am a really big fan of Homestuck(a web-comic which is basically written in 2nd person only), and I am also someone who reads fanfiction(and don't give me that look - fanfiction has the same representation of quality as what we would say "normal" fiction writing does, ranging from dreadful to amazing in the same percentages) derived from this, meaning also a lot of 2nd person fics.

I like it a lot. In fact, I don't consider it as very different from the other view-points. Well, not very different per se.

The problem is, barring that you or anyone else makes some revolution in writing that viewpoint(or being so good at writing it that it is unnoticeable at the start of the story), that it kind of has to start as a "choose-your-own-adventure" type of story or it will feel intrusive at the start if it is not that(or similar) type of story, because just stringing you, the reader, alongside a pre-determined journey seems pointless, no?.

Homestuck, as the only example I can give(and an amazing one, IMO), literally started like that - the fans voted what would happen in the comic, suggested names for the characters etc.(don't let that fool you, though - the author, Andrew Hussie, still had full control of his writing, and he would use what the fans voted for and then turn it over their heads or advance the story the way he wanted it to go, just in a different way). Although, it is not exactly like that. There is also something else that Homestuck did, and that was that you were the player character, yes, but you also weren't the person doing the stuff that was happening or the one who created the character itself. For example, when you were John Egbert(the first introduced character and arguably the main character), it was all John Egbert who did anything, but you'd be reading it as if you were doing it as John Egbert(by the way, there is a cast of 40 or so more or less important characters in the comic, all of whom you get to be, at least for some period of time and in some format, as Homestuck is not just a webcomic, but also has flash games, long(up to 19 minutes) animations, probably more than a hundred hours of music, and other stuff), or you were Roxy Lalonde or Dirk Strider or Karkat Vantas etc.

The way it translates to the fanfiction is the same - if a fics main character is John Egbert, then you'd just be reading the fic like you were John Egbert doing whatever he does in that fic.

(IMO it is not the same thing as D&D because in D&D you create the character and you play as them, but you are doing things for the characters, not reading it as them. That D&D character is not you at the time of the adventure(unless it is a self-insert), while in Homestuck, you are the character of that point of the story literally.)

Basically, I think it can work amazingly, but you need to experiment a lot more with it it to make it work. I would certainly love to read your current experiment.

[First of My Name]

The only use of 2nd person I can recall is by Matthew Stover in his novelization of Revenge of the Sith, and those parts were better than the movie itself, by a mile. So I think it can be used very effectively.
However, I think it should be used sparingly, and after a lot of practice with it.

[Lily Valley]

On 5/15/2016 at 9:21 PM, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

General question - what are peoples' feelings on second person? I used to subscribe to the idea that it was just a gimmick, but I've recently been trying it out, for experimentation (only to meet predictable rejection, but such is the life of the writer).

Daily Science Fiction publishes A LOT of short stories written in second person.  The results vary.  I'd check out their website for ideas on how to use it effectively and how to use it to grate on your readers nerves.

[C.T. Phipps]

On 4/30/2016 at 4:57 AM, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Clearly words (unless you're a really big name, you're not going to get 60k in money from an advance). Churning out four 60k novels in a year would be intensive.

Yeah, I'm making close to that from my first three books yearly but my advances have been limited to $3000 per book. It is pretty intensive but I think I can do it.

Especially since I'll be focused on these projects exclusively for the next few years.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

I'm about to finish a story that's going to come in under 20,000 words, but probably not by much. What can that be marketed as? Some sites like Writers Digest say that's still short story range, others call it a novelette. I suppose it's hard to publish something like this, though I'm certain there are markets if I know what to look for.

I'd call it a horror story I suppose. 

[SpaceChampion]

Each potential market will tell you exactly what it considers it.  Check Ralan.com for market details?