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[BorkBork]

You guys are all incredible to me in generating so much material. Getting around a short story is intimidating enough at this point for me - I can't even imagine writing a 10K novella or a 50K book, and with a deadline too!

 

[Jintor]

After months of procrastinating by accidentally getting a job I've finally sat down and slapped a plot into a basic skeleton and... I kinda like it. Holy shit.

What is this feeling? Oh it's the feeling of writing in my spare time. Oh no.

Oh, no.

 

[Ashes]

Just started reading Hemingway's 'After the storm.' Can't put my finger on why its opening is so good:

It wasn’t about anything, something about making punch, and then we started fighting and I slipped and he had me down kneeling on my chest and choking me with both hands like he was trying to kill me and all the time I was trying to get the knife out of my pocket to cut him loose. Everybody was too drunk to pull him off me. He was choking me and hammering my head on the floor and I got the knife out and opened it up; and I cut the muscle right across his arm and he let go of me. He couldn’t have held on if he wanted to. Then he rolled and hung onto that arm and started to cry and I said:
“What the hell you want to choke me for?”
I’d have killed him. I couldn’t swallow for a week. He hurt my throat bad.
Well, I went out of there and there were plenty of them with him and some come out after me and I made a turn and was down by the docks and I met a fellow and he said somebody killed a man up the street. I said “Who killed him?” and he said “I don’t know who killed him but he’s dead all right,” and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside of Mango Key and she was all right only she was full of water. So I bailed her out and pumped her out and there was a moon but plenty of clouds and still plenty rough and I took it down along; and when it was daylight I was off Eastern Harbor.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Anyone else editing stuff now (or whenever you read this?) I just want to know I'm not suffering alone. I've got three stories I want to edit and get ready to send out to places this month (about 16,000 words) and editing can be such a long and intensive project. Also, what are people's editing process like in general?

Just started reading Hemingway's 'After the storm.' Can't put my finger on why its opening is so good:

I'll tell you why this is great. It's the reason I love all of Hemmingway's stuff. Never in all my life will I love anything in this world like that man loved absinthe. Seeing the story begin with basically "so we were drunk" is the most Hemmingway thing I can think of. But joking aside I think it's a great start because it gets us wondering from "why is he being attacked" to "Why is the guy crying?" Within paragraph one it gets us thinking, and thus engaged, in the story and it basically has the reader at that point.

 

[zulux21]

Anyone else editing stuff now (or whenever you read this?) I just want to know I'm not suffering alone. I've got three stories I want to edit and get ready to send out to places this month (about 16,000 words) and editing can be such a long and intensive project. Also, what are people's editing process like in general?

I'm not at an editing point right now... instead I am at a point where I need to make detailed timelines for every character and every world @_@

I am having issues keeping track of the overall time line as well as if I have revealed things about characters to other characters.

I guess 150k words of story will do that lol.

when I got to sort of editing last, I just mostly rewrote everything... so I haven't gotten to any true editing yet, I will likely do some of it while making time lines as at the very least I am sure I have inconsistencies I need to fix.

 

[Jintor]

Question. When you're plotting (if you plot), do you use spreadsheets or some other kind of organisation software?

 

[Relix]

I just discovered I can write first person more smoothly and relaxed than third person. I loathed ever writing in first person but I scrapped something together last night and it came out well.

Anyway, who else has like two complete manuscripts who he hasn't published or properly edited?

 

[Soulfire]

Question. When you're plotting (if you plot), do you use spreadsheets or some other kind of organisation software?

I just use a Word doc for notes on what I want accomplished in the book/arc but I use Scrivener for like a world bible. Never been able to finish a book using Scrivener but it works great for me to just store info on worlds and characters. I should probably use it even more.

Relix- I've got one manuscript that I wrote earlier in the year that was supposed to be a whole new thing for me but I haven't gotten around to editing it. It was my first attempt at a paranormal romance/urban fantasy thing so it needs a lot of work and I what I had planned to do with the series just doesn't seem to fit anymore. One day. Maybe. I might just start all over with something else. We'll see. I should probably get back into writing everyday first before I make more plans on what I'm going to write.

 

[ZBR]

So I have to write a paper for a World Religion's class that is only 1,500 words (not that much). Only problem is that I'm not sure how. My topic is Islamophobia and the rise of it throughout the election, but our paper is not a research paper, or a history paper, or even a "your thoughts on the subject" paper. I'm trying to wrap my head around what exactly I should do for it. The way the professor explains it is really weird, basically just says what I mentioned. I guess what he's looking for is a sound argument. I'm not entirely sure how to do that. I'm not sure if this is the correct thread to post this in and I apologize ahead of time if it isn't.

 

[Ashes]

I'll tell you why this is great. It's the reason I love all of Hemmingway's stuff. Never in all my life will I love anything in this world like that man loved absinthe. Seeing the story begin with basically "so we were drunk" is the most Hemmingway thing I can think of. But joking aside I think it's a great start because it gets us wondering from "why is he being attacked" to "Why is the guy crying?" Within paragraph one it gets us thinking, and thus engaged, in the story and it basically has the reader at that point.

The whys and therefores are hard to pin down for me. With Hemingway, it is like he chisels down his work to the bone.

I am now nearer the end of the book than the beginning, and read more drunken revelery:

In spite of this introduction of emotion, Mr. Frazer went on thinking. Usually he avoided thinking all he could, except when he was writing, but now he was thinking about those who were playing and what the little one had said.
Religion is the opium of the people. He believed that, that dyspeptic little joint-keeper. Yes, and music is the opium of the people. Old mount-to-the-head hadn’t thought of that. And now economics is the opium of the people; along with patriotism the opium of the people in Italy and Germany. What about sexual intercourse; was that an opium of the people? Of some of the people. Of some of the best of the people. But drink was a sovereign opium of the people, oh, an excellent opium. Although some prefer the radio, another opium of the people, a cheap one he had just been using. Along with these went gambling, an opium of the people if there ever was one, one of the oldest. Ambition was another, an opium of the people, along with a belief in any new form of government. What you wanted was the minimum of government, always less government. Liberty, what we believed in, now the name of a MacFadden publication. We believed in that although they had not found a new name for it yet. But what was the real one? What was the real, the actual, opium of the people? He knew it very well. It was gone just a little way around the corner in that well-lighted part of his mind that was there after two or more drinks in the evening; that he knew was there (it was not really there of course). What was it? He knew very well. What was it? Of course; bread was the opium of the people. Would he remember that and would it make sense in the daylight? Bread is the opium of the people.

The Gambler, the nun, and the radio. By Ernest Hemingway. "Winner Take Nothing".

 

[Reedirect]

I just discovered I can write first person more smoothly and relaxed than third person. I loathed ever writing in first person but I scrapped something together last night and it came out well.

Anyway, who else has like two complete manuscripts who he hasn't published or properly edited?

I can relate to that. Have some diary entries in my second book that are written in first person, and now I feel like that should have been the book from the get-go.

 

[Ashes]

So I have to write a paper for a World Religion's class that is only 1,500 words (not that much). Only problem is that I'm not sure how. My topic is Islamophobia and the rise of it throughout the election, but our paper is not a research paper, or a history paper, or even a "your thoughts on the subject" paper. I'm trying to wrap my head around what exactly I should do for it. The way the professor explains it is really weird, basically just says what I mentioned. I guess what he's looking for is a sound argument. I'm not entirely sure how to do that. I'm not sure if this is the correct thread to post this in and I apologize ahead of time if it isn't.

To which election are you referring to?

 

[BorkBork]

Just started reading Hemingway's 'After the storm.' Can't put my finger on why its opening is so good:

It's the cadence. It's the immediate drop into action. It's the simple words and visceral descriptions, the sentence variation between short statements and run-on sentences. It's the humour, the movement of the scene, the transition towards the end that opens up into a bigger story.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Question. When you're plotting (if you plot), do you use spreadsheets or some other kind of organisation software?

I tend to hand write all my notes. Which is really bad because I can't read my handwriting a lot of the times so I kind of have to adlib some things. Though I only ever really do chapter outlines of what happens within it.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

I just discovered I can write first person more smoothly and relaxed than third person. I loathed ever writing in first person but I scrapped something together last night and it came out well.

Anyway, who else has like two complete manuscripts who he hasn't published or properly edited?

Got two I haven't published anywhere (still working on that ._.), but both are edited. Got a third that's only a draft in so no editing has taken place yet.

 

[BorkBork]

I just discovered I can write first person more smoothly and relaxed than third person. I loathed ever writing in first person but I scrapped something together last night and it came out well.

Anyway, who else has like two complete manuscripts who he hasn't published or properly edited?

It's weird how things can transform if you switch POV. I always thought I would be more a third person writer, but after banging my head on that for a while I realize a lot of my stuff come out way easier in first or second person.

 

[toddhunter]

So I have to write a paper for a World Religion's class that is only 1,500 words (not that much). Only problem is that I'm not sure how. My topic is Islamophobia and the rise of it throughout the election, but our paper is not a research paper, or a history paper, or even a "your thoughts on the subject" paper. I'm trying to wrap my head around what exactly I should do for it. The way the professor explains it is really weird, basically just says what I mentioned. I guess what he's looking for is a sound argument. I'm not entirely sure how to do that. I'm not sure if this is the correct thread to post this in and I apologize ahead of time if it isn't.

Try to work out exactly how your professor feels about the subject. Then flesh this out to 1500 words and never give the subject another thought. You can then stop writing about religion and focus on something like fantasy.

 

[zulux21]

Gah... I am at a loss what to focus on.

I have a fairly detailed outline for the rest of the book I am working on and would like to march forward and work on finishing it, maybe before the end of the year.

that being said, parts of it are designed to expand the lore and knowledge of the world more, and while I have been working in/on this world for 13 years (not straight on and off) I don't feel like my idea of it is as coherent as it should be. I can likely managed the info I want to do without figuring out the world better, but I know I will get some of it wrong, and in general I really need to design things out better so I can keep better track.

both of those being said, I also really need to sit down and do a detailed timeline/data reserve about a lot of things. I am slowly doing this as I am looking up stuff to double check things, but I should likely do it faster and in a better format than more and more word docs. aka I should scrivener it up so I can easily keep track of things, but that will likely take me the rest of the year even if I constantly work on it.

for tonight I am going to continue onto the next chapter and design the start and outline the whole thing, but I really need to figure out what to focus on especially since right now I am not happy with this book as it lacks clear focus and has a number of things I want to do with it that I can't do in the detail I want because I don't have data orginized well enough.

I suppose random rant point (aside from wanting to rant somewhere ).... if you are planning to make a multibook story.... keep detailed notes as you go. I thought I was taking pretty good notes, but clearly I wasn't lol.

 

[Jintor]

I need to start my own wiki lol

 

[zulux21]

I need to start my own wiki lol

I have been tempted as I have a lot of characters. I would have to go through, but I am pretty sure I am up over 100 named characters at this point, of which like 25 of them have been explored to some sort of detail and like 10 of them have very detailed stories.

*starts listing off characters with detailed stories*
Jack
bri
liz
suteta
koko
Hilact
Mel
Charlie
Al
Rulk
Maya
Zeek
Atrina
Claire
Sati

I guess that is more like 15 of them I would consider having detailed backstories (aka at least a few pages of backstory) 6 of them basically have chapters dedicated to their story (though some of them are in the same backstory so it's not actually 6 chapters of backstory) I think only 7 of them have last names though

I should note, a number of the names are likely just place holder names. only Jack, Bri, liz, zeek, maya, suteta, and koko are safe from being changed lol. (and while there are 7 here.... only 5 of them are ones with last names lol. Liz's last name could change though... well it already did. I gave her the last name of Barak back in 2005 or so.. upon doing my new draft I realized I had to change it because it was basically the first name of the current president lol (note: I had not heard of him before 2007 ) and I didn't have any meaning behind it back then, so it got a different place holder for now)

I should also note I suppose a lot of the names listed are nicknames. I'm in a fantasy world, and most of my characters have more unique names, I just like to shorten them for ease of remembering for me and any future reader.

for example Liz is actually Lizanda. (Liz-on-duh or more precise though is both As are pronounced with an ah sound but liz-ahn-dah looks funny ) in general my names are designed to be pronounced like you would in most languages such as Latin and Japanese where

A=Ah
E= A
I= E
O= O
U= ooh

I'm not sure what other languages that is true in as I have only studied latin, japanese and spanish in my life (I can't recall for sure if it is true in spanish, but since it is a latin based language I would assume it is)

but yeah... this is part of the reason I need more detailed notes, as given the scope of my story I am going to have a lot of characters >.>
keep in mind the design of my series is a bit like a Japanese shonen series such as one piece or naruto with a lot of story arcs building up towards the main goal. I don't think the final scope will be as big though, as I think it will only be 12-16 novels in total >.>

and with that all being said... I really should finish up what I was doing tonight on my story as I am close to have written as much in this thread tonight as I have in my story @_@

 

[sirap]

A lot of fantasy authors in a private group gush about Aeon Timeline 2 so that might be something worth checking out.

 

[zulux21]

A lot of fantasy authors in a private group gush about Aeon Timeline 2 so that might be something worth checking out.

I'll have to look into this.
quick glance looks like it could be useful.

I need something to organize things more. Scivener seems like it could be decent, but this might be better.

also... yay I broke 170k words this year today. here's hoping I can get to 200k before the new year... though it seems unlikely.

200k next year should be a pretty easy goal though since this year I only started writing in april

 

[NintendosBooger]

Anyone know anything about finding a good editor? Not so much someone to check for spelling/grammar but to add that oomph and seasoning.

 

[Relix]

Hmm, in first person should I refer to the reader? Like.. 'you know how these things work " or," let me tell you.. " or stuff like that or should it be avoided?

 

[aidan]

Hmm, in first person should I refer to the reader? Like.. 'you know how these things work " or," let me tell you.. " or stuff like that or should it be avoided?

It depends on the narrative mode and voice you're going for. If you do go down that route, just make sure you frame the story in some way that makes sense (narrator is telling the story fireside, its a journal, whatever...)

 

[BorkBork]

Hmm, in first person should I refer to the reader? Like.. 'you know how these things work " or," let me tell you.. " or stuff like that or should it be avoided?

Try to avoid cliches unless it's intrinsic to the character you want to depict. If you really envision them talking like this, then test it out, but don't overdo it, or it might come across as a lazy crutch to a potential reader.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Hmm, in first person should I refer to the reader? Like.. 'you know how these things work " or," let me tell you.. " or stuff like that or should it be avoided?

My gut reaction is "no," because most first person books aren't structured in a way where it would make sense.

Drove me batshit when it showed up in The Hunger Games. First person present story talking to me as if I'm there. Just, what?

 

[NintendosBooger]

What's a good rule of thumb for flashback scenes?

My yarn has multiple characters and POVs. I'd like to tell their backstory, but I'm undecided between incorporating these scenes into the middle of their chapters or simply dedicating new chapters (backstory chapters) for them separate from the main storyline.

Thanks.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Man, I just don't understand why I'm having so much trouble finishing this novel. The goal was to finish it sometime this year and here it is December and I have not written a single thing since like April. I sit down and try to focus on correcting this issue I had with my plot so I can push the story forward, but I cannot focus on it for more than 3 seconds before my mind drifts off to something else. Even with Nano reminding me to work on this I haven't done shit. This is supposed to be my shortest book with only ten chapters, but I've dragged it out for years now.
Why can't I finish this book?

 

[Soulfire]

Man, I just don't understand why I'm having so much trouble finishing this novel. The goal was to finish it sometime this year and here it is December and I have not written a single thing since like April. I sit down and try to focus on correcting this issue I had with my plot so I can push the story forward, but I cannot focus on it for more than 3 seconds before my mind drifts off to something else. Even with Nano reminding me to work on this I haven't done shit. This is supposed to be my shortest book with only ten chapters, but I've dragged it out for years now.
Why can't I finish this book?

Sometimes when I have this issue it's because my subconscious recognizes that there's something wrong with what I've plotted out. It's not exciting enough or the characters don't want to do what I want them to do. Have you tried changing things up?

 

[aidan]

For those interesting, you can read a story I recently had published, "The Penelope Qingdom," for free online now: mothershipzeta.org/2016/12/07/the-penelope-qingdom-by-aidan-moher/

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Sometimes when I have this issue it's because my subconscious recognizes that there's something wrong with what I've plotted out. It's not exciting enough or the characters don't want to do what I want them to do. Have you tried changing things up?

Yeah, since I can't find a solution to fix it, I thought maybe I should just change this last chapter up completely, but again my mind goes blank.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Man, I just don't understand why I'm having so much trouble finishing this novel. The goal was to finish it sometime this year and here it is December and I have not written a single thing since like April. I sit down and try to focus on correcting this issue I had with my plot so I can push the story forward, but I cannot focus on it for more than 3 seconds before my mind drifts off to something else. Even with Nano reminding me to work on this I haven't done shit. This is supposed to be my shortest book with only ten chapters, but I've dragged it out for years now.
Why can't I finish this book?

Not to be a bummer, but maybe move onto a different project? Or a couple small projects? I feel like there is a certain sunk cost fallacy that can happen in writing where you put all of your efforts into one work and you have to pull it through, have to make something great of this one thing, but you don't. If you're not feeling up to working on it, maybe you need a breath of creative fresh air?

 

[Nudull]

A New Year's writing challenge? I'm intrigued.

 

[zulux21]

Man, I just don't understand why I'm having so much trouble finishing this novel. The goal was to finish it sometime this year and here it is December and I have not written a single thing since like April. I sit down and try to focus on correcting this issue I had with my plot so I can push the story forward, but I cannot focus on it for more than 3 seconds before my mind drifts off to something else. Even with Nano reminding me to work on this I haven't done shit. This is supposed to be my shortest book with only ten chapters, but I've dragged it out for years now.
Why can't I finish this book?

you could also try pushing forward without connecting things and see where you go.

it's helped me a few times where I am not sure what to do, and when I start writing later stuff I figure out the threads I was missing... but obvious YMMV.

 

[Jintor]

So here's what I'm thinking of as the piece that kinda lays out what I'm working on is. How do you guys think about this voice?

The elevator pitch, which some of you may have read before, is "Homicide detectives in a fantasy universe that reached the late 1800s"

You wake an hour or two after sundown, stretch, shower, shave if required by personal physiology, grab your hat and cloak and scabbard and rejoin this mortal world. You slog through the shadows, cursing the carts, the horses, their dirt and their dung, the streets still filled with merchants and messengers, performers and pilgrims. Maybe you’ll have eaten before you left your dwelling, or perhaps you’ll break your day’s fast on some street vendor’s produce, cheap and greasy and stinking of spices. Either way, you push open the great doors of the Watchtower, muscle past the early evening crowd, climb the creaking wooden stairs to the third floor and collapse behind your desk.

Paperwork envelopes you in a wave of yellowing paper and sharp edges – reports, statements, official requests and who-knows-what pieces of crap the Silks demand. You peck away at it, methodically, systematically, knowing that this (boring and tiring and irritatingly complicated as it is) is at least as important as everything else, perhaps even moreso. You drink a steaming mug of Scratch’s Brew, thick and rich, a dark, bitter concoction that invigorates better than any mage’s draught. You chatter idly and trade barbs with anybody else also trapped behind their desks and watch the Slate with one eye as the night wears on.

At some ungodly hour, a messenger from SD will kick you awake, urgency written plain across their face. They will tell you at least these three things: the name of a ward, three numbers and letters, and the time this information was received. You pull on your cloak and rush to the address thus received, where a Hound, maybe two, will in all likelihood be standing over the cooling remains of a life recently departed.

It could be the shattered remnants of an argument briefly won or the long-foregone conclusion to a once-domestic relationship; a bar brawl taken beyond commonly accepted limits or an intricately-planned, cold-blooded killing. It could be a poorly-performed mugging, a slightly-too-vigorous self-defence, or a simple, everyday suicide. It could be many things, with many causes, and in this city of cities it’s your job to find out what’s what. Who did this? How? Intended, accidental, the first few notes of a drawn-out song of slaughter or some poor bastard falling and hitting his head?

The Hounds will keep the crowds at bay, if there is a crowd, but in the meantime, you get down on your hands and knees and do what you must. Poke. Sniff around. Look for irregularities in a place wholly unfamiliar to you. The order of operations is your duty, your responsibility, your burden. What’s important? What’s not? What’s first on your list? You pull on thin gloves of sheepskin and determine your approach.

The firsts-on-scene must be debriefed, their information checked, absorbed, tested. Witnesses must be found and gathered, sent onwards to be questioned; will you wrangle them yourselves, or leave it to the Hounds? Perhaps it’s best you look over the body instead, attempting to discern history and meaning from its mangled, broken form. Or stalk the scene, eyes scanning for blood splatter, patches of fabric, an abandoned weapon - anything that seems even vaguely out of place.

Failing that you can call a forensics crew in, the technomancers, and see what they can conjure up. Or sketch the position of the body, the state of the room, capture it all in paper and ink. Your time is limited, by daylight, by jurisdiction, or simply by the measure of your own endurance. No crime scene lasts forever. Eventually, with copious amounts of soap and water and other things besides, the site of even the bloodiest murder will be fit for human habitation once more. Men and women will eat their food and drink their beer inches from where some poor fool, broken and bleeding, left this earthly realm.

So you take your notes and sketches and scrawlings and leave, add them to the growing mound of papers and scrolls that litter your desk, and look at the Cage. If you’re good – if your Hounds are real barkers – if you’re lucky – you’ll have witnesses. You might have one. Or three. Or five, or twelve, or none at all. They might be human, elven, tribal, or Company; guild-affiliated, wealthy, poor as dirt or drunk as lords. Haughty, tired, scared, belligerent. What they will not be is helpful, not until you can trap them with words, cross-reference their claims, beat them over their heads with a stick forged of fears and facts. Who’s lying? Who’s merely avoiding the truth? Does their crap match the crap you already know for certain? Who’s pissing on you and calling it rain?

Some of them will be bystanders, unlucky fellows with no connection to anything save that they were there, somewhere in the vicinity of a crime most foul. Others might have seen something, heard something. Still others knew the stiff, or knew of them, or had hated them, or had in fact loved them. They might’ve sold something to them, or bought something from them, stole something from them or made something of them. Whatever they were, now they’re witnesses.

And you browbeat, bluff, threaten or ply any information you can out of them; weave it into a web strong enough to stand on its own, to catch others in its strands, to take their words and add it to itself. What’s relevant? What’s true? Slam a hand into a table. Yell a bit. Remind some poor bastard that the majesty of the law holds a truncheon in the other hand. Lock someone up. Get some blood on your hands, perhaps, in days gone by, or rooms not talked about in polite company.

If you do, if you don’t, you might yet need more. There’s always more to do, more to think about, more to examine. Wait for the technomancers to get back to you, show you that he couldn’t possibly have held the knife, that there’s no way in the twelve minor hells that blood’s hers. Revisit the scene, make measurements, conjecture wildly. Call people, name names, listen to rumours, tell tall tales, yell at even more people. And while you’re in the midst of this ethereal process, while you’re busy and rushed and holding four stories in your head at once, you keep one ear open for the next call to come in, the next body to hit the floor. It’s not a fear – it’s an inevitability.

Because it’s your job, damnit, and the truth is that the bodies never stop coming, the work never stops piling up. No city this big can go without, Solstam a victim of its own success. In a robust metropolis teeming with factions, races, policlubs, gangs, incorporated companies and all manner of violently healthy individuals, it makes sense that not all conflicts are resolved peacefully. That bad things occur. Accidents can happen. Murders, too.

On some nights, the Sparks never stop clanging away. The illegal guilds at each another’s throats in Ashtown; some complete lunatic with an axe running down the streets of Wildton Down. Other nights, well, you watch the flies copulating on the windowsill and wish it were actually possible to read by the flickering gleam of the new-fangled, half-useless ley-lights.

It’s not all footslogging and brain work; once every few rotations, your street skills may be required once again. But for the most part, if swords are drawn and bullets flying when you arrive at the scene, you’ve gotten there far too early – but chances are your services will be required later, since you’re here anyway. A good detective is about the wreckage, the carnage, the remains of life exhumed. A heady mix of forensic pathology, non-clinical sociology and a rough dosage of gut instinct will serve you well.

Because you’re the best of the best, gods damn you, and everyone knows it. Because to be recruited to work homicide is proof enough that you are one righteous individual who can do more than wrestle drunks into submission or stand guard by major monuments. You’re not just some thief-taker or guardsman, riot squad or bully-boy. You can read a crime scene like a book, navigate the city’s burgeoning underworld like a fish, take the shortest path from a dead body to an explanation.

And your reward for your skills, for your results, is even more work. In this city, in Solstam proper, your average detective will solve seven murders as a primary, stay on fourteen as a secondary, and leave a good dozen or so mouldering in an archive somewhere – per year. That’s straight-up murders, of course, killings that are beyond-reasonable-doubt known to be the result of one sentient, thinking individual deciding to shorten the life of another. That’s not counting the honour duels the Dwarvar play at, or the sanctioned assassinations that are out of your jurisdiction. That’s not counting the unannounced suicides, suspicious deaths, deadly falls and thousand and one other ways to die in this city. That’s not counting the inevitable results of neglect or carelessness that has tragic but predictable consequences.

That’s not even counting magic.

 

[Jintor]

awww man i killed the thread

 

[toddhunter]

The problem with that perspective is that I spend the whole time thinking "no I don't, I just stay home and drink whiskey."

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

you could also try pushing forward without connecting things and see where you go.

it's helped me a few times where I am not sure what to do, and when I start writing later stuff I figure out the threads I was missing... but obvious YMMV.

I'll try this.

 

[Prothero]

A question about novel writing:

I'm working on a story that is kind of overwhelming for a person embarking on their first ever novel attempt. It technically is a cross-genre (Sci-Fi/Suspense Thriller) book and the scale of writing it is large. I have tons of books about writing novels that I'm reading to help me write a novel, but I just can't seem to connect with the story in a way that brings me to answer all of the questions I'm supposed to be answering.

Today, while having a random brainstorm, I kind of revisited an old idea that I had sitting around. The idea is in a genre that I'd never thought that I'd write in (Western), but definitely am not opposed to, and suddenly I had the loose makings of a novel. I've also had more ideas about characters, themes, and story in the one sitting than I've had in the entire uphill struggle I've had with bringing the cross-genre novel to fruition.

My question is this: If I finish the Western novel and I'm able to get it published, will I miss having readers/an audience if I decide to publish in Sci-Fi or another genre in the following novel I'd publish? I would like to write Sci-Fi novels and my enthusiasm for Westerns is not big enough that I could see myself writing more than one Western novel. However, that could change if I were somehow able to spin off the themes into other novel ideas that had more Sci-Fi in them or blended the two.

I know that Sci-Fi and Westerns have had plenty of crossover capabilities in the past. My current Western idea, though, has no Sci-Fi in it. Or at least, doesn't at this current point.

Writing-GAF, I would greatly appreciate any advice that you could give me. Much thanks in advance.

 

[Woorloog]

There does exist the genre of space westerns (Can't think of books but Starcraft and Firefly come to mind)... You can probably could transplant a Western story to a scifi setting reasonably easily, if you got frontiers and other places suitable for Western tropes.

I doubt that switching genre affects much your audience.
If you get fans of you, they probably stick with your stuff no matter the genre. If you got fans of Westerns or scifi, they're more likely after those genres and don't necessarily care about what else you write. If they're fans of a series, they probably don't mind genre switching within the series.
EDIT This is ignoring publisher stances like Cyan notes.

If you're really worried, use a pen name, maybe? Some writers use a pen name for certain genres if they get associated with a genre or don't want to be associated or whatever. Like, Isaac Asimov wrote juvenile scifi as Paul French or how JKRowling wrote that one murder mystery or whatever under a pen name.

In any case, you're writing for yourself, are you not? I know i'm mostly interested in getting my stories done (if i ever will) and getting them published. Readers? They're extra.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

I think the important thing is to build a name for yourself as a competent writer first and foremost, regardless of genre.

I've gotten six rejection letters now... going strong on my sequel, though!

 

[Valdfellgar]

Getting very close to have a polished draft of my novel finished for my Family and Friends to read. But my mother, bless her, can't stand violence. Any kind of graphic description turns her off. Rather than simply losing her interest I decided to basically give her a redacted version to read, with all the blood and gore blacked out.

Spoiler

Sometimes I feel like I've written Game of Thrones but in the 24th Century.

Anyone else ever done this for their more squeamish friends/family? Figured I'd through it out there since there'd be talk back a bit about family and friends struggling to read people's work.

Otherwise the revising is going well though. Catching little places where I screwed up, Ex: Character has a gun in one scene, but not in the next, forgetting to mention they lost it and how in between scenes.

 

[BorkBork]

I think the important thing is to build a name for yourself as a competent writer first and foremost, regardless of genre.

This is good advice.

I've gotten six rejection letters now... going strong on my sequel, though!

Keep going. I just got rejection #18 for the year yesterday. Still stings a bit, but I looked at the piece last night, and thought of ways to make it even better. I'm excited to work on it again.

Also here's a fun little article: Why You should Aim for 100 rejections a Year

I don't have enough material to have 100 submissions, but the premise is good and the effort is commendable.

 

[NintendosBooger]

Speaking of rejection: What's a good amount of time before re-sending a story (revised)?

Most of us get stock rejections. Vague and safe, like "I don't think I'm the right agent to represent you with this" without going into specifics. Do they hate the concept, style, or what? You get stuck, wondering if you should even bother to re-send a fully-revised spec because you were never told in detail what was wrong with the original.

Or are you better off not sending anything at all for a second time, regardless how much you re-worked your story? I don't know.

 

[BorkBork]

Speaking of rejection: What's a good amount of time before re-sending a story (revised)?

Most of us get stock rejections. Vague and safe, like "I don't think I'm the right agent to represent you with this" without going into specifics. Do they hate the concept, style, or what? You get stuck, wondering if you should even bother to re-send a fully-revised spec because you were never told in detail what was wrong with the original.

Or are you better off not sending anything at all for a second time, regardless how much you re-worked your story? I don't know.

This is a good article: Ten Levels of Rejection. A bit tongue-in-cheek and more lit journal related, but I feel it's still relevant and worthwhile to read.

The gist is if you get a form rejection, move on. Don't resubmit to the same place, and don't take it personally. Take a look at the work. If you honestly feel like it's up to snuff, send it back out into the world. But chances are that if you have been working on your craft, you will see things you would have done differently, especially after a lengthy submission wait. Tweak the piece until you are satisfied that it's the best it can be. Send it out to another publisher/journal. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

My question is this: If I finish the Western novel and I'm able to get it published, will I miss having readers/an audience if I decide to publish in Sci-Fi or another genre in the following novel I'd publish? I would like to write Sci-Fi novels and my enthusiasm for Westerns is not big enough that I could see myself writing more than one Western novel. However, that could change if I were somehow able to spin off the themes into other novel ideas that had more Sci-Fi in them or blended the two.

I think you're putting the cart way before the horse here. I mean, there's technically a chance you won't even finish the book, let alone get it published, which as far as I can tell, is about as likely as winning the lottery.

Write what you want. Have fun with it.

My first novel was high fantasy, my second was horror/urban fantasy, and my third is action/dark comedy. They're very different books with very different writing styles. More or less enjoyed writing all three. (Second one was kind of a twat.)

Speaking of rejection: What's a good amount of time before re-sending a story (revised)?

Most of us get stock rejections. Vague and safe, like "I don't think I'm the right agent to represent you with this" without going into specifics. Do they hate the concept, style, or what? You get stuck, wondering if you should even bother to re-send a fully-revised spec because you were never told in detail what was wrong with the original.

Or are you better off not sending anything at all for a second time, regardless how much you re-worked your story? I don't know.

It's probably not worth sending back. If I had to guess--which I am--I'd say most rejections come from your query letter itself. Yeah, an agent says he/she will closely look at your submission, but closely look might mean the first half of your query letter. There's no definition of "closely look."

I know word count can be a big turnoff. I've had agents straight tell me they were rejecting my first book because it was too long. Didn't even read the samples. I wonder if the same has happened with the second, because while it's much shorter, it's still pretty long for YA (by about 10k words).

Speaking of YA, man agents want that but they don't define what they want. "I'll take anything YA" means genre fiction to lit fiction, and I bet some that have rejected me hit the word "horror" and went no further.

It's hard to know for sure though. If you're really adamant about sending it back, I'd give it a six month buffer.

 

[Prothero]

Much thanks to everybody for the advice! Taking it all into consideration.

 

[NintendosBooger]

It's probably not worth sending back. If I had to guess--which I am--I'd say most rejections come from your query letter itself. Yeah, an agent says he/she will closely look at your submission, but closely look might mean the first half of your query letter. There's no definition of "closely look."

I know word count can be a big turnoff. I've had agents straight tell me they were rejecting my first book because it was too long. Didn't even read the samples. I wonder if the same has happened with the second, because while it's much shorter, it's still pretty long for YA (by about 10k words).

Speaking of YA, man agents want that but they don't define what they want. "I'll take anything YA" means genre fiction to lit fiction, and I bet some that have rejected me hit the word "horror" and went no further.

It's hard to know for sure though. If you're really adamant about sending it back, I'd give it a six month buffer.

So would you say it's better not to mention technical specifics of your story in your query (e.g., genre, word count) and let the story synopsis do its job? For example, instead of saying my book is a sci-fi horror like Alien, I could just explain to them what it's about and let them catagorize it on their own? It would at least give my query a chance and not get shot down by certain word triggers.