Boarders Writing A Novel: Volume 14 A Memory of Civility

[HexMachina]

1 hour ago, Spockydog said:

Put it within spoiler tags. That should be fine.

ETA: Sorry, it's not tags anymore. Highlight the text, then click on the eye icon in the toolbar.

 

The coding [ spoiler ] [ /spoiler ] (minus spaces) still works too

[Spockydog]

23 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

The coding [ spoiler ] [ /spoiler ] (minus spaces) still works too

Good to know.  

[SerJosephValkyrie]

Hello all,

Okay so I haven't been on here long, and my first attempt at posting my story on a forum was reported for spam for posting it in the wrong place, I never meant to crowd the website or piss anyone off hahah. Through a question in the Literature forum here however, I have been told of two subthreads 'Writers Dump' for literature critique (which I am not particularly looking for), and 'Boarders Writing a Novel' for comments and thoughts (which is what I wanted). The previous versions of this subthread were crowded and confusing to a new member like me, so my question is if it is cool to just start up the 15th version of it? If not, then do share how I can delete this. I just want to share a personal story I thought up with others who love ASOIAF as much as I do, so am I good to comment my story here below even if it is pretty long??

Thanks to any who might read this and answer my question, particularly anyone who would like to read what I have written!

P.S please don't get me suspended again please!! (lol)

[The Marquis de Leech]

Third draft finished - now 3700 words.

If anyone wants to beta it, PM me, and I'll send it to you to look at. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Spockydog]

No need to start a new thread. Did you not see the response to your other post?

Post it here. Or here. Within spoiler tags.

Not quite sure why you don't want to post in the writer's dump thread. What exactly are you looking for?

 

[SeanF]

10 hours ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Third draft finished - now 3700 words.

If anyone wants to beta it, PM me, and I'll send it to you to look at. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I'd be interested in reading it.

[Starkess]

On 3/7/2016 at 7:32 PM, Of the Eastern Cliff said:

Does anyone have suggestions for places to go for beta-readers? A while ago I tried the Reddit fantasy subforum but had no real luck. I've also signed up to Scribophile, prompted by CorwinusJ's earlier post.

For short stories you could try critters.org. You have to have a participation ratio about 75% (meaning at least 3 critiques every 4 weeks) to have your manuscript sent out. You can also do novel chapters there or request a long reader, but I am not sure how well that really works as it is primarily geared towards short stories.

[SerJosephValkyrie]

I actually did not see those until just now, sorry! Would you mind quoting a comment with spoiler tags so I could get what you mean by those?

And as for your last question, I'm not exactly looking for grammar corrections or how to change my writing style, just more so about the story itself.

[Spockydog]

3 hours ago, SerJosephValkyrie said:

I actually did not see those until just now, sorry! Would you mind quoting a comment with spoiler tags so I could get what you mean by those?

And as for your last question, I'm not exactly looking for grammar corrections or how to change my writing style, just more so about the story itself.

Easiest way is to highlight the text you want to hide, then click on the eye icon in the toolbar. Alternatively bookend your text with these tags (remembering to remove the spaces): [ spoiler ] [ /spoiler ]

The end result will look something like this:

Spoiler

Text blah blah text blah

If I were you, I'd post it in the writer's dump thread, and just specify that you're looking for feedback on the story itself.

Best of luck!

 

[Gabriele]

I'm currently reading through the mess (chapters of Kings and Rebels) I created during Nano last year. I wrote 58,5K which made it my best Nano ever (and the second I managed to win), but not having much of an outline and writing out of order led to some fun discontinuity problems.

So I'm adding snarky remarks in red font: "You had deciced Roderic would not use his arms in exile, silly; delete that banner.  He could not do that with his badly healed leg.  Nice landscape decription, but why Roderic has been riding through these mountains for weeks and now realises they look different than his homeland is beyond me; put that elsewhere and damn, shorten it, you're not Tolkien. ..."  

[The Marquis de Leech]

My Antarctic story has made it to the second round of submissions at Clarkesworld. I still might end up with a form rejection, but it's a damn good start.

*Fingers crossed.*

[Starkess]

Nice! Good luck.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Close, but no cigar - got a second round form rejection.

[Magnar of Skagos]

At last, reading week is upon me. Or, in my case, writing week. Can't wait to get some work in.

[Snikt5]

Good afternoon all,

My name is Rob Donovan and I'm currently writing my 5th novel. Since 2011 I've released on average one book a year. Sales have been reasonable if not brilliant (better in the UK). I do some advertising on social media but mostly I've been happy with getting at least a few books sold every month at least (I don't have high targets). The plan was to advertise heavily when I finish the fifth novel.

However a few months ago, disaster struck. Another author released a novel under the name of Rob Donovan. No problem I thought, there was always a chance it would happen. I would just need to up my game. 

Out of curiosity I looked at this fellow Rob Donovan's book. It was a "how to get rich quick" book and he was charging £2.50 for 35 pages. 

Apart from being mildly annoyed at the blatant bad name this gave to self-published books, I thought "each to their own" and was confident my books would soon drive these pamphlets down the page of books which were visible under the name of Rob Donovan.

However within 3 hours, this author published another 10 titles similar in length, price and content. My books now do not appear on the first page and sales have dried up.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions.

[Bluetiger]

Is it possible to find out if the guys name/pen name is trurly the same as yours? Maybe he just wanted to advertise his book by pretending to be some (not super-popular) but not commonly known author with quite good sales?

'How to get rich quick' - by stealing someone's readers?

[Snikt5]

Thanks Blue Tiger - I will see what I can find out. But either way, I am not sure what to do? Presumably, when I release my fifth book later on this year, that should appear at the top briefly? 

[TrackerNeil]

On 3/11/2016 at 10:08 PM, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Close, but no cigar - got a second round form rejection.

Sorry to hear it. 

[williamjm]

6 hours ago, Snikt5 said:

Thanks Blue Tiger - I will see what I can find out. But either way, I am not sure what to do? Presumably, when I release my fifth book later on this year, that should appear at the top briefly? 

Could you adopt a middle initial into your pen-name? At least then if you advertise you could direct people to search for books by Rob R.R. Donavan, or whatever, and then they shouldn't see the other author's books.

[Andrew Gilfellon]

I don't know.....Should I make my twenty nine year old character a mother? Weighing up the options and possibilities in my head.  This woman has history with the father which is quite complicated, and I'm not sure if the eleven year old child is a complication too far or an added depth.

a brief bit on the past is:

woman was rescued from bandits by a soldier in training while her sister went missing (basically because she effectively abandoned her). Because of her skills she joined army on an invasion of another continent where the relationship deepened between the two. After the war,  the man retires and the woman accompanies him to another land where through her considerable wealth, she funds his private investigator business. Things sour when the man's temper gets worse and he gets violent. (not with her but others) She leaves and because of this his business loses its funds and he ends up working as a member of the City Watch.  Now the man is slightly bitter, questioning if he's a good man. The woman returned home, took her place with her father's business until that went belly up. Now she's forced to flee back to this land, seeking his help and protection, hunted by the people who may or may not be responsible for her sister's disappearance, people who invested heavily in her father's business.

Now, the child part is optional, really. I think it could play into the man's "am I a good man?" questioning that's come about because of the war, but the child doesn't effect the plot much. It's optional. It could add to their backstory, a kid he's never seen, that's eleven years old, or it could feel tacked on. Not sure. Ideas?