Sometimes ideas go places. Sometimes they go places I don't want them to. And sometimes they just don't go anywhere.
In any case, a lot of stories just aren't going to see the light of day. That's part of the reason I'm sharing so many of my novel ideas—I have little interest in some of them, and some I may just never get to, but I feel like they all deserve a little bit of limelight time just for being nice enough to tap on my shoulder and amuse me for a while.
That being said, not every idea needs to be written. I've yet to find a story that beckons me to write it every moment of every day, but I still need to feel some sort of pull to do any actual writing. Ideas that are just a world without much of a story (as in the first draft of Wanderers), or characters without much of a story (as in Suture), or some such thing just can't draw me much. Even if I like the basic idea, I can't see anything happening in my head if, well, nothing's happening in it. I'm guilty of doing very little plotting before I actually start a story, but I'm fine with winging it if I've at least identified a few points along the journey.
Even if an idea comes with enough of a plot for me to get started, that's still no guarantee the book will be finished. If, for any number of reasons, I lose interest along the way, there's no promise I'm getting it back. I may not find the characters interesting enough to play with, and I would have to go back and change too many things (i.e., do too much work) to get another chapter out. I may start the fic without realising the scope of the story and what I'm getting myself into. I may start a story for the sake of fans rather than my own interest only to crash and burn halfway through. I may just stop caring because of life and time constraints. I have indeed finished a few fan fictions, and I completed NaNoWriMo last year, so I'm not always doomed to give up on my stories. I am somewhat scared by the number of those left incomplete, but I know I'm capable of finishing the writing of a story.
Of course, once the last chapter comes to a close, the story still isn't really finished. I hacked out 50,109 words for my NaNo novel and reached the concluding sentence, so it is in one way complete, but I haven't looked back at the thing since I uploaded my final word count. I don't know if I ever will. I have a certain writer friend who says I should look it over and try to publish it, and another who has browsed it and found it doable, but I'm still not sure. To be honest, I don't even know how I was able to stick with my one awkward idea for an entire fifty thousand words, let alone how I can summon the verve to revise the monster. It is certainly in no condition to be published at present, and I feel it's probably less than half the length it should be for its genre. I don't feel the pull to put that much effort into it. I proved I could finish writing a novel, but I want to go elsewhere to prove I can finish revising a novel. I don't know whether I'll get The Long and Winding Road or Mayflies into publishing condition first, but I am certain that both of them will beat out Dreadful Valley (the NaNo novel).
So, out of some 33 novel ideas to date, only five (The Long and Winding Road, Mayflies, Chasers, Piracy Cruise Lines, and Figments) have made it to the writing phase. Only The Long and Winding Road, Mayflies, and Piracy Cruise Lines are being written currently. Will they all be finished? Will they all be revised and sent off to be published one way or another? I can't say for sure until I've reached that point, but at least The Long and Winding Road and Mayflies are looking pretty good right now. I'll just keep working at it and hoping the muse will hang around where she ought to until I'm done.
Showing posts with label publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label publishing. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Shouting at a Brick Wall
It's hard to tell what readers think if they don't say anything. This is a rather frustrating fact, although I understand that there are plenty of legitimate reasons for readers not to comment.
For example, I get a lot of hits from foreign countries that aren't predominantly English-speaking. If the reader is not very confident in his or her English, I can totally understand why he or she would want to avoid saying anything the wrong way.
I'm not very good at critiques myself, so I don't want to review if I don't feel I have to—usually for oneshot fan fictions or other completed fan fictions that I can just add to my favourites to express approval—but I do try to give a few comments on things that affected me and encourage the author to post the next chapter soon. It just seems like a way to show respect for the writing and what the writer goes through.
Recently, I checked out the profile of someone who reviewed Cage, and I saw one section that I really loved:
For example, I get a lot of hits from foreign countries that aren't predominantly English-speaking. If the reader is not very confident in his or her English, I can totally understand why he or she would want to avoid saying anything the wrong way.
I'm not very good at critiques myself, so I don't want to review if I don't feel I have to—usually for oneshot fan fictions or other completed fan fictions that I can just add to my favourites to express approval—but I do try to give a few comments on things that affected me and encourage the author to post the next chapter soon. It just seems like a way to show respect for the writing and what the writer goes through.
Recently, I checked out the profile of someone who reviewed Cage, and I saw one section that I really loved:
"You know that thing you as a reader, or writer for a matter of fact, call too lazy to review? To us as writers it scares us and we begin to think:
Is my writing really that bad?
Does anybody even read this stuff?
What's wrong with it? Grammar? Spelling? My style? SOMEBODY TELL ME!
I suck at this... I quit.
Why do I even write anymore?
That's what causes some of your favorite stories on fanfiction to become abandoned, because the author lost their will to write. Every time we go without a review we get discouraged and that little sense of doubt in the back of our had starts nagging at us, telling us how much our writing sucks. When I was a reader I didn't believe in reviewing. But now as a writer, I review all the stories I possibly can. All it takes is a few seconds... Be kind about it too."
Thankfully I've been blessed to find someone patient enough to review just about everything I write, fan fiction or blog, so my situation really isn't that bad if no one else gives me feedback. Still, sometimes I have to wonder. I can see that people have viewed a chapter or post, but what did they think? Did it bore them so they never even finished? Did they think it was absolutely stupid and just held their tongues to avoid being rude? Did they just get redirected accidentally and not want to see it at all?
Then there's the case of Break Out, a fiction that has more or less moved entirely out of my interest. Still, I continued it because some reviewers pleaded so earnestly that it was a good story and something I should never consider abandoning. Then all of the reviews per chapter dribbled off to three or four. Now, that's a great number in my opinion, for, say, The Long and Winding Road or Cage. Those stories, however, still cry out to be written. Break Out is only there for the readers, few of which seem to care about my efforts enough to lend a bit of time to review. Am I right in feeling ripped off, or am I just whiny? Do I have to once again threaten to end the series for those enamoured reviewers to return? Has the uninspired quality sunk so low no one thinks I deserve a review?
I've always been insecure about the quality of my writing, and I think some dose of that is inevitable for the lot of us. But as the quote on my eBook cover goes, "A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it." Writing is a cooperative enterprise, and I want to feel like we're all actually cooperating. I'm sure I'll feel a bit differently as to how that relationship works when I have some stories for sale instead of just available for free on fanfiction.net, but I'll always want some feedback.
As far as the blog goes, I'm not too worried about stopping it. The New Fiction Idea #So-and-So series in particular has been helpful to me to keep track, even if I don't get all that much feedback from possible readers of the story. That's not to say I'm not disappointed in the same manner when something like New Short Story Idea #3 doesn't get any comments, but I can handle that. This blog isn't all that much work, and it's one of those things that I feel like I'm doing for myself. It's intended to generate a bigger fanbase for when I publish, but maybe it will get there. I'll just keep throwing my ramblings out there and hoping someone will respond.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Objectively Pursuing the Subjective Objective
In other words, trying to find a good formula for a good book when few can agree on what a "good" book is.
The subjective nature of novelling is obvious. Half the time I can't stand my own writing enough to give it a reread, yet I have readers calling me everything from "genius" to "perfect" to "a God or something." Either one side is wrong, or there's not that much of a "wrong."
That's not to say someone has to love every piece of writing. I think I'm safe in saying that (exempting over-encouraging parents and the like) no one's going to really enjoy a story of about 50 words, all of them misspelt so miserably no one can tell whether the main character's name is Angel, Angle, or Agnlee. Constant grammatical errors, likewise. A 70,000-word novel composed of only simple sentences is probably no more readable than the other two.
Once an author has a tolerable grasp of writing, though, things start to get murky. Maybe the concept is interesting, but the story seems bland and unexciting—but that was my opinion on the Twilight series (what of it I could get through), and it has a few fans out there. Maybe the plot is contrived and disorienting, but the characters and concept make up for it (what I feel about Takamagahara). Maybe some of the characters are terribly flat, but the others are interesting enough to keep things afloat, as in Brutal.
In short, novelling seems to be a complex dance of plot points, characters, setting, concept, and others, where a good enough aspect can drag the others out of the dustbin, or a bad enough one can pull the others down into it. Exactly what can outweigh what else is up to each reader's preference.
Therein lies the frustration. What will enough people like to make a book profitable? There are trends now, but, by the time this book is written and edited, what will they be? Are my preferences similar enough to others' that I can just write what I like, and everything will work out?
I hope that last question can be answered with a "yes," because that's all I'm interested in doing. I write the stories that drive me and hope some others will tolerate it. I'm not confident that will work so well once I actually get into the business, but, when everything is so subjective, I can't predict what others' reactions will be, anyway.
Any thoughts?
The subjective nature of novelling is obvious. Half the time I can't stand my own writing enough to give it a reread, yet I have readers calling me everything from "genius" to "perfect" to "a God or something." Either one side is wrong, or there's not that much of a "wrong."
That's not to say someone has to love every piece of writing. I think I'm safe in saying that (exempting over-encouraging parents and the like) no one's going to really enjoy a story of about 50 words, all of them misspelt so miserably no one can tell whether the main character's name is Angel, Angle, or Agnlee. Constant grammatical errors, likewise. A 70,000-word novel composed of only simple sentences is probably no more readable than the other two.
Once an author has a tolerable grasp of writing, though, things start to get murky. Maybe the concept is interesting, but the story seems bland and unexciting—but that was my opinion on the Twilight series (what of it I could get through), and it has a few fans out there. Maybe the plot is contrived and disorienting, but the characters and concept make up for it (what I feel about Takamagahara). Maybe some of the characters are terribly flat, but the others are interesting enough to keep things afloat, as in Brutal.
In short, novelling seems to be a complex dance of plot points, characters, setting, concept, and others, where a good enough aspect can drag the others out of the dustbin, or a bad enough one can pull the others down into it. Exactly what can outweigh what else is up to each reader's preference.
Therein lies the frustration. What will enough people like to make a book profitable? There are trends now, but, by the time this book is written and edited, what will they be? Are my preferences similar enough to others' that I can just write what I like, and everything will work out?
I hope that last question can be answered with a "yes," because that's all I'm interested in doing. I write the stories that drive me and hope some others will tolerate it. I'm not confident that will work so well once I actually get into the business, but, when everything is so subjective, I can't predict what others' reactions will be, anyway.
Any thoughts?
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Extra! Extra!
Read all about it!
So goes the cry of the traditional newspaper boy. That seems to have drawn enough attention in its own time to get some readers; unfortunately this isn't much of a venue these days.
I'm still trying to figure out just how I should go about advertising myself. I've passed out the blog link to real-life friends. I already had some sort of presence on fanfiction.net, and I've frequented some of the forums at NaNoWriMo and Forward Motion Writers. I know that some of the forums have gotten me attention here on Blogger (although my number one source of hits seems to be some site called vampirestats).
At the same time, few of those viewers turn into commenters, so I'm not sure how well it's really working. I also have a whopping number of official followers (zero), but it's obvious at least one person has kept up with everything.
The hits have been increasing, though, so I'm hopeful that's going to continue. At the same time, I feel like I should kick things up a notch, but how? I have no Facebook, and I feel like if I made one it would either be entirely ignored or under constant assault from university friends. I don't have a Twitter and, as a writer, I'm not too sure about the format and word restriction. Apparently everyone also goes to Pinterest now, but that seems to be a lot more image-oriented, which doesn't work well, especially when I have all of one cover design (and a debated one at that).
For now I guess I'll just keep updating posts and chatting in my forums (and I've also decided to comment on some DeviantArt works, with a link to the blog in my signature). If anyone knows a good networking site or anything else I could do to get some attention as I work towards publishing, I am definitely open to suggestions.
So goes the cry of the traditional newspaper boy. That seems to have drawn enough attention in its own time to get some readers; unfortunately this isn't much of a venue these days.
I'm still trying to figure out just how I should go about advertising myself. I've passed out the blog link to real-life friends. I already had some sort of presence on fanfiction.net, and I've frequented some of the forums at NaNoWriMo and Forward Motion Writers. I know that some of the forums have gotten me attention here on Blogger (although my number one source of hits seems to be some site called vampirestats).
At the same time, few of those viewers turn into commenters, so I'm not sure how well it's really working. I also have a whopping number of official followers (zero), but it's obvious at least one person has kept up with everything.
The hits have been increasing, though, so I'm hopeful that's going to continue. At the same time, I feel like I should kick things up a notch, but how? I have no Facebook, and I feel like if I made one it would either be entirely ignored or under constant assault from university friends. I don't have a Twitter and, as a writer, I'm not too sure about the format and word restriction. Apparently everyone also goes to Pinterest now, but that seems to be a lot more image-oriented, which doesn't work well, especially when I have all of one cover design (and a debated one at that).
For now I guess I'll just keep updating posts and chatting in my forums (and I've also decided to comment on some DeviantArt works, with a link to the blog in my signature). If anyone knows a good networking site or anything else I could do to get some attention as I work towards publishing, I am definitely open to suggestions.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Pitchapalooza 3
Pitchapalooza startled and awed audiences with its possibilities.
Pitchapalooza 2 pushed audiences further, with Journey-acclaimed critics calling it awesome and exciting.
And now the release of Pitchapalooza 3 is ready to stun the viewers further...
...until it completely bombs at the box office and turns out to be worthless to pretty much everyone involved.
And so it seems that my novel pitch is not among those the Book Doctors selected. Ah, well. It wasn't as if I thought winning it—let alone being chosen randomly—was that realistic.
That was still the best odds I could possibly have of getting an agent, but oh, well. Self-publishing digitally it is!
Once I actually finish the story. And maybe after redoing the cover, although I need practice drawing people holding hands for my current idea...
Pitchapalooza 2 pushed audiences further, with Journey-acclaimed critics calling it awesome and exciting.
And now the release of Pitchapalooza 3 is ready to stun the viewers further...
...until it completely bombs at the box office and turns out to be worthless to pretty much everyone involved.
And so it seems that my novel pitch is not among those the Book Doctors selected. Ah, well. It wasn't as if I thought winning it—let alone being chosen randomly—was that realistic.
That was still the best odds I could possibly have of getting an agent, but oh, well. Self-publishing digitally it is!
Once I actually finish the story. And maybe after redoing the cover, although I need practice drawing people holding hands for my current idea...
Monday, March 4, 2013
The Thing About Fan Fiction…
...is that it has no hope of being published. Aside from my usual phases of panic that everything I write is rubbish and would never sell, the writing that consumes almost all of my time is absolutely unsellable due to copyright.
If my goal is to get published, then it seems logical that I should spend more time on publishable writing than fan fiction. Certainly I'm not about to stop updating Break Out or The Long and Winding Road, but updating as quickly as I feel the need to takes up time I could be using more productively towards getting published. I do feel like any writing is a good way to get experience, but just look at my other posts—I have tons of original fiction ideas to toy with. Still, fan fiction has the benefit of attracting attention while in-progress, so I don't have to wait until I'm done to get feedback on my writing.
Fan fiction is a different beast than original fiction, as I've very much come to consider in the process of converting The Long and Winding Road from one to the other. Even if they do share a lot of elements, there are also quite a few differences, so the experience I get from fan fiction isn't 100% going towards what I could use in original fiction.
Basically, it just comes down to how productive I want to be. More original fiction time = less fan fiction time. I do want to have fun, though it seems a little weird for fan fiction to be my inception-hobby with writing as my hobby and something else altogether as my occupation. It's a weird balancing act that I'm definitely going to have to shift if I want to make progress on publishable original fiction.
I'm not sure just how or how much I'm going to wean myself off of fan fiction. I hate to disappoint readers, so I don't expect to change any habits as far as already-published (on fanfiction.net) works go, but I feel like I might shift to a slower-updating existence once the second of my big series is over.
Does anyone else have experience with or tips for this?
If my goal is to get published, then it seems logical that I should spend more time on publishable writing than fan fiction. Certainly I'm not about to stop updating Break Out or The Long and Winding Road, but updating as quickly as I feel the need to takes up time I could be using more productively towards getting published. I do feel like any writing is a good way to get experience, but just look at my other posts—I have tons of original fiction ideas to toy with. Still, fan fiction has the benefit of attracting attention while in-progress, so I don't have to wait until I'm done to get feedback on my writing.
Fan fiction is a different beast than original fiction, as I've very much come to consider in the process of converting The Long and Winding Road from one to the other. Even if they do share a lot of elements, there are also quite a few differences, so the experience I get from fan fiction isn't 100% going towards what I could use in original fiction.
Basically, it just comes down to how productive I want to be. More original fiction time = less fan fiction time. I do want to have fun, though it seems a little weird for fan fiction to be my inception-hobby with writing as my hobby and something else altogether as my occupation. It's a weird balancing act that I'm definitely going to have to shift if I want to make progress on publishable original fiction.
I'm not sure just how or how much I'm going to wean myself off of fan fiction. I hate to disappoint readers, so I don't expect to change any habits as far as already-published (on fanfiction.net) works go, but I feel like I might shift to a slower-updating existence once the second of my big series is over.
Does anyone else have experience with or tips for this?
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Pitchapalooza: The Sequel, in Amazing 3-D!
Well, I've gone on ahead and written up a pitch for The Winding Road. I'm sort of unsatisfied with that title now that I've thought about it more, though, so I refer to it as The Long and Winding Road in the pitch. If anyone has other fitting title ideas, feel free to (read: please do) let me know. Also feel free to critique this first draft of the pitch.
Clocking in at 239 of 250 allowed words, we have:
Clocking in at 239 of 250 allowed words, we have:
The zombie apocalypse was years ago—old hat. Besides, there’s
a cure and plenty of bullets yet to take care of the rotting stragglers.
No, the threats these days are the survivors.
Charlotte Heiman has finally achieved a stable life in the
walled remains of Killeen as a zombie hunter, but she can’t stay any longer.
She hasn’t seen her little brother Blake since her family dropped him off at camp
that fateful summer, and now that she has the supplies, she’s headed his way.
Arthur Deering has finally achieved a stable life in a rural
home with no companions but his bow and arrows. He has long since come to
believe that he’s the only man alive—so it comes as quite a shock when
Charlotte finds him. Quite an infatuating shock, as a matter of fact.
Although Arthur turns out to be much more of a suitor than a
menace, he’s not the only survivor Charlotte meets. It’s a long walk to Hunt, filled
with those who lost everything and aren’t afraid to take whatever they can. It
will take both Charlotte and Arthur to get past survivors that threaten to take
their supplies, bodies, and lives.
A tale of the numbness and the hope humans can achieve in
the aftermath of atrocity, The Long and
Winding Road will appeal to all post-apocalyptic romance lovers from the
realm of The Hunger Games to that of Warm Bodies.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
New Fiction Idea #2
Now this one is actually my main original fiction at this point (scratching Macbay since I'm still world-building). It also came from Hetalia fan fiction, playing with the "Britannia Angel" concept, but I think it's distanced itself adequately.
Title: Mayflies
Genre: Fantasy
Protagonists: Jonathan and Matthew, 19-year-old identical twin Mayflies (humans cursed with wings). Jonathan is slightly more muscular and keeps his curly brown hair short. Matthew is slightly taller and keeps his hair a tiny bit longer. The main way to distinguish them is their wings (as they're not from a genetic basis): Jonathan has brown dappled wings, and Matthew has grey. Jonathan is much louder than Matthew and much more likely to take action for something. Both are outcasts because of their Mayfly status and are rather cynical because of this.
Other Main Character: Julian, 25-year-old bookkeeper/seller with circular glasses and very light blonde hair. He's not very affectionate, but he does allow Jonathan and Matthew to be sheltered in his home because of his peculiar interest in curses.
Antagonist: Knowing The Antagonist would spoil the story for you, so sorry. You could also include most villagers, since they have a tendency to chase out the Mayflies on threat of death.
Setting: Not entirely laid out. Someplace with villages—I haven't for sure established much else. It should be a rather small world, and I think I may make it a kingdom, maybe clockpunk, but I'm really not sure at this point.
Plot: Mayflies, cursed because of one or both parents' wrongdoing, are given wings; however, the problem is that all of them die before they reach eight years. Except Jonathan and Matthew... don't. Though their mother thinks it a miracle brought by her repentance, the villagers are quick to blame the cursed children for anything wrong with the crops or villagers and end up killing their father in a successful attempt to chase them away. Now the twins live going from village to village, mostly surviving through robbery as it's usually their only choice, and looking for someone named Marcus—for one of the angels had told them nothing more than to find him. They finally find a home with Julian, who even has a spell to hide away their wings, but there's a lot more to the man than he lets on. In fact, he may be the key to finding Marcus—and changing the destinies of Mayflies everywhere.
Point of View: First person, alternating chapter-by-chapter between Jonathan and Matthew.
I'm planning to start this in January for the 90-day challenge (though I'll shoot for 800 rather than 1000 words a day, and I won't be as strict as during NaNo since my fan fictions will still need updating). Hopefully it will end up novel-length, though I may have to put in some more introductory fleeing-villages scenes to do that.
What kind of chapter lengths do you prefer? My fan fictions generally have 1500–2500 words per chapter, while my NaNo original fiction had about nine pages per chapter. This is sort of an action story, so I would lean towards shorter chapters, but I'm really not sure. Input appreciated.
Title: Mayflies
Genre: Fantasy
Protagonists: Jonathan and Matthew, 19-year-old identical twin Mayflies (humans cursed with wings). Jonathan is slightly more muscular and keeps his curly brown hair short. Matthew is slightly taller and keeps his hair a tiny bit longer. The main way to distinguish them is their wings (as they're not from a genetic basis): Jonathan has brown dappled wings, and Matthew has grey. Jonathan is much louder than Matthew and much more likely to take action for something. Both are outcasts because of their Mayfly status and are rather cynical because of this.
Other Main Character: Julian, 25-year-old bookkeeper/seller with circular glasses and very light blonde hair. He's not very affectionate, but he does allow Jonathan and Matthew to be sheltered in his home because of his peculiar interest in curses.
Antagonist: Knowing The Antagonist would spoil the story for you, so sorry. You could also include most villagers, since they have a tendency to chase out the Mayflies on threat of death.
Setting: Not entirely laid out. Someplace with villages—I haven't for sure established much else. It should be a rather small world, and I think I may make it a kingdom, maybe clockpunk, but I'm really not sure at this point.
Plot: Mayflies, cursed because of one or both parents' wrongdoing, are given wings; however, the problem is that all of them die before they reach eight years. Except Jonathan and Matthew... don't. Though their mother thinks it a miracle brought by her repentance, the villagers are quick to blame the cursed children for anything wrong with the crops or villagers and end up killing their father in a successful attempt to chase them away. Now the twins live going from village to village, mostly surviving through robbery as it's usually their only choice, and looking for someone named Marcus—for one of the angels had told them nothing more than to find him. They finally find a home with Julian, who even has a spell to hide away their wings, but there's a lot more to the man than he lets on. In fact, he may be the key to finding Marcus—and changing the destinies of Mayflies everywhere.
Point of View: First person, alternating chapter-by-chapter between Jonathan and Matthew.
I'm planning to start this in January for the 90-day challenge (though I'll shoot for 800 rather than 1000 words a day, and I won't be as strict as during NaNo since my fan fictions will still need updating). Hopefully it will end up novel-length, though I may have to put in some more introductory fleeing-villages scenes to do that.
What kind of chapter lengths do you prefer? My fan fictions generally have 1500–2500 words per chapter, while my NaNo original fiction had about nine pages per chapter. This is sort of an action story, so I would lean towards shorter chapters, but I'm really not sure. Input appreciated.
Friday, December 14, 2012
The (Long and) Winding Road
Those of you from the Brutal Death Denial Support Group forum already know about this (and have had some sneak previews), but I am currently working on my own zombie apocalypse fiction. I wasn't considering jumping on this bandwagon, but the "zombie restaurant" idea from my community writing club was just too much for me to pass on.
One problem is that I'm writing it as a romance of sorts. I am not a romantic person (even telling-you-this-isn't-a-date-but-still-at-dinner-and-movies-with-a-male dates just make me anxious and ready to run out screaming), and I have a tendency to skip over any tingly-kissy parts of things like Divergent and Clockwork Prince. Needless to say, what I originally write probably won't have any convincing romance beyond giggly fluff, but that's what beta readers are for, no?
Although I've been writing this as Hetalia fan fiction with the plan of posting it on fanfiction.net (which is still my intention), I've actually been editing pretty heavily as I go. Normally I don't do much of this because I can't stand reading my own writing, but I had better get used to it if I'm going to try to get published.
I'm also seriously considering converting it into an original fiction once it's done and I do some large-scale editing. I already have some name and personality changes prepared, and I think it might work. I'm not sure that I'll have all of it done by June 30 (which means I would need another NaNoWriMo win if I wanted five free copies printed), but I'm actually a bit hopeful. If I attempt this, I think I'll change the title from The Long and Winding Road to just The Winding Road, since copyright laws are worded awkwardly and I don't think the male protagonist is going to be such a big Beatles fan in the rewrite.
It's quite possible that if I do the rewrite, this will be the first book I try to publish. I'll definitely go for amazon.com publishing, with something cheap (I hear three cents per one thousand words is the best pricing?), unless some strange and wonderful miracle happens. I have no idea what such a miracle would be, but if some of my published professors/friends/husbands-of-people-my-mother-works-with get me in with their publishers or something somehow, that could qualify? Considering I have no original fictions worthy of publishing yet (only one is actually finished, and it's one of the quality I can't reread to edit), I haven't looked too far into this business.
All of this is still a long way off, though, so don't go searching madly through the Amazon store just yet. It's probably going to be another month or two before The Long and Winding Road even makes it to fanfiction.net (I'm planning to start posting chapters once Unsurvivable finishes, and about the same time I get to writing Break Out), so it'll probably be a year before I try to get the original version published.
Any input, advice, or comments in general are appreciated.
One problem is that I'm writing it as a romance of sorts. I am not a romantic person (even telling-you-this-isn't-a-date-but-still-at-dinner-and-movies-with-a-male dates just make me anxious and ready to run out screaming), and I have a tendency to skip over any tingly-kissy parts of things like Divergent and Clockwork Prince. Needless to say, what I originally write probably won't have any convincing romance beyond giggly fluff, but that's what beta readers are for, no?
Although I've been writing this as Hetalia fan fiction with the plan of posting it on fanfiction.net (which is still my intention), I've actually been editing pretty heavily as I go. Normally I don't do much of this because I can't stand reading my own writing, but I had better get used to it if I'm going to try to get published.
I'm also seriously considering converting it into an original fiction once it's done and I do some large-scale editing. I already have some name and personality changes prepared, and I think it might work. I'm not sure that I'll have all of it done by June 30 (which means I would need another NaNoWriMo win if I wanted five free copies printed), but I'm actually a bit hopeful. If I attempt this, I think I'll change the title from The Long and Winding Road to just The Winding Road, since copyright laws are worded awkwardly and I don't think the male protagonist is going to be such a big Beatles fan in the rewrite.
It's quite possible that if I do the rewrite, this will be the first book I try to publish. I'll definitely go for amazon.com publishing, with something cheap (I hear three cents per one thousand words is the best pricing?), unless some strange and wonderful miracle happens. I have no idea what such a miracle would be, but if some of my published professors/friends/husbands-of-people-my-mother-works-with get me in with their publishers or something somehow, that could qualify? Considering I have no original fictions worthy of publishing yet (only one is actually finished, and it's one of the quality I can't reread to edit), I haven't looked too far into this business.
All of this is still a long way off, though, so don't go searching madly through the Amazon store just yet. It's probably going to be another month or two before The Long and Winding Road even makes it to fanfiction.net (I'm planning to start posting chapters once Unsurvivable finishes, and about the same time I get to writing Break Out), so it'll probably be a year before I try to get the original version published.
Any input, advice, or comments in general are appreciated.
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