AngmarsKing701
Member
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Writing-GAF: Writing, Publishing, Selling |OT|
- Thread starter AngmarsKing701
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Thanks for this, I'll check it out later. I'm currently in the middle of editing my current novel and nowadays the revision/editing process is something that I find more daunting than just writing.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Writing challenge checkpoint. I'm at 16.5K words on novella #3. On target to publish by end of March.
Having some trouble with the cover on this one. Might need to get closer to the end to determine what image to use on the cover this time. First Entry had the sword (which made sense); 2nd Entry had the green eye (which made sense).
I need to decide between a couple of potential key items that could make the cover for #3.
As for how things are going on the business side: blech. I did make Knight Descendent free for five days, and there were people who picked it up. Someone also rated it a 4/5 on Goodreads. Yay!
As for Knight Ardent, doesn't look like anyone has bought it yet. Boo. I will run something for it soon.
And of course just gonna keep truckin' on. I really wish someone were following along on this, as I'm probably a book or two from what I consider a "big" reveal. I'd like to know whether anyone can guess, especially once #3 comes out. I've got more bread crumbs scattered about here than in either of the first two novellas, so would be interesting for someone to say "Hey! That's ... !"
Having some trouble with the cover on this one. Might need to get closer to the end to determine what image to use on the cover this time. First Entry had the sword (which made sense); 2nd Entry had the green eye (which made sense).
I need to decide between a couple of potential key items that could make the cover for #3.
As for how things are going on the business side: blech. I did make Knight Descendent free for five days, and there were people who picked it up. Someone also rated it a 4/5 on Goodreads. Yay!
As for Knight Ardent, doesn't look like anyone has bought it yet. Boo. I will run something for it soon.
And of course just gonna keep truckin' on. I really wish someone were following along on this, as I'm probably a book or two from what I consider a "big" reveal. I'd like to know whether anyone can guess, especially once #3 comes out. I've got more bread crumbs scattered about here than in either of the first two novellas, so would be interesting for someone to say "Hey! That's ... !"
I was watching the videos and I just saw there's also a cheaper digital version:Haha yeah, thats why im just sticking to the video
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WT7TP8A/?tag=neogaf0e-20
edit: bought
You could try contacting the person that rated your first novella on Goodreads and offer them your second book free for a review to see if they've picked up on what you're hinting at.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Great idea! Thanks!
Glendemonium
Member
Oh neat, I forgot this part of GAF exists.
I've been working on this book since last year around November. Originally, it was a game idea, a horror mystery mind screw type of game, but it would take ages to make as a solo game dev that making it into a book was a better option.
There have been changes to the story, but it fleshed out and took a mind of it's own. Over this weekend, I just finished it and going over edits and proofreading. I'm going to use the links from the first page to get some good critiques and maybe some pointers since this is my first written book.
Here's the cover:
It's about woman telling her story about a high school reunion turned tragic, when a ten year reunion ended in a large ball of fire, leaving her best friend in critical condition, among others caught in the inferno. A plucky reporter from the small town newspaper takes it upon herself to prove that the school incident was no accident, but done by a killer. Her only lead is a mysterious, yet threatening figure that follows her throughout the story. It's a mystery horror.
The series will be mostly more mystery than horror, as I have ideas for more books.
Lots of stock images that I merged together in photoshop, the name was originally longer but many covers seem to whittle it down to two to three words, author, and a series name.
The hard part while editing and proofreading is the marketing. All I have is twitter, just started a Facebook page so I'm going to have to find other ways to hype up the book before submitting it to Amazon.
Speaking of which, what are people's experience self-publishing on the Kindle platform?
I apologize this comes off as spammy and self-promoting, figures I need to start somewhere.
I've been working on this book since last year around November. Originally, it was a game idea, a horror mystery mind screw type of game, but it would take ages to make as a solo game dev that making it into a book was a better option.
There have been changes to the story, but it fleshed out and took a mind of it's own. Over this weekend, I just finished it and going over edits and proofreading. I'm going to use the links from the first page to get some good critiques and maybe some pointers since this is my first written book.
Here's the cover:
It's about woman telling her story about a high school reunion turned tragic, when a ten year reunion ended in a large ball of fire, leaving her best friend in critical condition, among others caught in the inferno. A plucky reporter from the small town newspaper takes it upon herself to prove that the school incident was no accident, but done by a killer. Her only lead is a mysterious, yet threatening figure that follows her throughout the story. It's a mystery horror.
The series will be mostly more mystery than horror, as I have ideas for more books.
Lots of stock images that I merged together in photoshop, the name was originally longer but many covers seem to whittle it down to two to three words, author, and a series name.
The hard part while editing and proofreading is the marketing. All I have is twitter, just started a Facebook page so I'm going to have to find other ways to hype up the book before submitting it to Amazon.
Speaking of which, what are people's experience self-publishing on the Kindle platform?
I apologize this comes off as spammy and self-promoting, figures I need to start somewhere.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Oh neat, I forgot this part of GAF exists.
I've been working on this book since last year around November. Originally, it was a game idea, a horror mystery mind screw type of game, but it would take ages to make as a solo game dev that making it into a book was a better option.
There have been changes to the story, but it fleshed out and took a mind of it's own. Over this weekend, I just finished it and going over edits and proofreading. I'm going to use the links from the first page to get some good critiques and maybe some pointers since this is my first written book.
Here's the cover:
It's about woman telling her story about a high school reunion turned tragic, when a ten year reunion ended in a large ball of fire, leaving her best friend in critical condition, among others caught in the inferno. A plucky reporter from the small town newspaper takes it upon herself to prove that the school incident was no accident, but done by a killer. Her only lead is a mysterious, yet threatening figure that follows her throughout the story. It's a mystery horror.
The series will be mostly more mystery than horror, as I have ideas for more books.
Lots of stock images that I merged together in photoshop, the name was originally longer but many covers seem to whittle it down to two to three words, author, and a series name.
The hard part while editing and proofreading is the marketing. All I have is twitter, just started a Facebook page so I'm going to have to find other ways to hype up the book before submitting it to Amazon.
Speaking of which, what are people's experience self-publishing on the Kindle platform?
I apologize this comes off as spammy and self-promoting, figures I need to start somewhere.
That's what this thread is for!
I have only published through Amazon, both for the Kindle and their CreateSpace label for trade paperbacks. I think they have an incredibly easy model. I have not expanded to other platforms. The one time I tried to use Smashwords, the same file that came back without errors to Amazon came back with a ton of formatting problems for Smashwords, so I was like "fuck that."
The cover looks cool. I do wonder, however, whether the "Creeper" part would be cooler if it was created by other missing letters. Like the real name of the school is "Christian Ease of Peace for Boys High School" or something, and there's like blood smears and fire that block out everything except Creeper High.
But that might be too much.
Glendemonium
Member
Oh, so you can actually use both? I thought you had to pick one. That's good to know so I'd be submitting twice to reach more people. Thanks for that! I'm hoping to have it submitted by this weekend, I'm going to take a week to finish proofreading, getting feedback, and marketing it (this part I have a hard time with). Probably go with a pen name instead of my full name.
The old title was going to be "A Creep at Yokeman High" but it sounded lame, and after looking at some book covers for some ideas for text and composition, most settled on two to three words, have as little noise as possible so eventually I took it down to Creeper High, since some the characters from the story are well, creepy.
AngmarsKing701
Member
So you can go with multiple sites (Amazon, Smashwords, Google Play, etc.) for your self-published book, but there are limitations if you use multiple sites. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this.) For instance, Amazon won't let you use the Kindle Select program, which gives you the option to run free/discount deals for your book, if you're on other services.
That's right, if you put your book in KDP Select then you can't put it up on other platforms, but you also get the option to do free days and countdown deals. If you just want to start out slow you could do that, when you sign up for KDP Select it's for 90 days, so that would give you time to look into the other venues, Smashwords, Draft2Digital, Kobo, iBooks, Google Books. There's a lot of information in this thread, there's also a self-publishing subreddit, I've also learned a lot from the website kboards.
Self-Publishing on Amazon is fairly easy and they've got a lot of information to help you when you do. You'll want to make sure your book is formatted correctly, they've got detailed instructions. What works on Amazon does not work on other platforms though. Once you've uploaded your book and it's showing up don't forget to create an Author Central account so that you can create an author page on Amazon.
Edit: I just realized I'm no longer a Junior Member, after almost nine years I finally made it! lol
Self-Publishing on Amazon is fairly easy and they've got a lot of information to help you when you do. You'll want to make sure your book is formatted correctly, they've got detailed instructions. What works on Amazon does not work on other platforms though. Once you've uploaded your book and it's showing up don't forget to create an Author Central account so that you can create an author page on Amazon.
Edit: I just realized I'm no longer a Junior Member, after almost nine years I finally made it! lol
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
NipplesAndToes23
Member
Shit, I definitely need to get back into writing something. Got stuck again with my novel. I feel like I could get this comic going and working better than my book, but like I said in my previous post, I have to think out the plan properly first otherwise I'll just end up in the same situation with my novel.
I don't know why writing became so hard for me. I was killing it as a teenager and a few years after, but when I left home and was introduced to new distractions, I just couldn't do it anymore. I need to get through this or I'll never get anywhere I want to career-wise. I'm already years behind what I planned.
I don't know why writing became so hard for me. I was killing it as a teenager and a few years after, but when I left home and was introduced to new distractions, I just couldn't do it anymore. I need to get through this or I'll never get anywhere I want to career-wise. I'm already years behind what I planned.
toddhunter
Member
Don't expect to get much done until into your 30s. This is normal. You will eventually sort things out.
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
I don't think age matters as much as work ethic. Maybe the difference that happens in your thirties is you learned how to sit down and just do the thing instead of putting it off all the time? I dunno, I'm not thirty yet, I just write a bunch of thirty year olds.
Anyways, minor good news. Last week was pretty good. Three of my short stories are getting picked up for publication, nothing paying me in money, but I am getting a physical contributor's copy from one place. It's been over a year since I felt like I had any success and even though this isn't the jump forward I wanted, I'm still glad some people enjoy my stuff enough to want to publish it. Shout out to Bork Bork for showing me Eleven Eleven.
Anyways, minor good news. Last week was pretty good. Three of my short stories are getting picked up for publication, nothing paying me in money, but I am getting a physical contributor's copy from one place. It's been over a year since I felt like I had any success and even though this isn't the jump forward I wanted, I'm still glad some people enjoy my stuff enough to want to publish it. Shout out to Bork Bork for showing me Eleven Eleven.
toddhunter
Member
I don't think work ethic comes into it, you just have too much other stuff to do when you are young and your mum is no longer doing it.
By the time you are into your 30s you will hopefully be auto-piloting so much stuff in life and you are jaded about videogames etc so you can actually start to do things like spend time writing.
Which isn't to say that it can't be done by diligent brilliant people at any age...just that it probably won't be.
NipplesAndToes23
Member
I don't have shit to do though. A negro broke and has no job, no car, still living off my mama, nada. It has nothing to do with my age. Plenty of younger people out here doing shit. It's my lack of ability nothing else.
That sounds like the assumption based on nothing really. Too many people to predict what everyone's situation is.
That sounds like the assumption based on nothing really. Too many people to predict what everyone's situation is.
In some ways, I'm busier than ever. And in other ways, I have so much more free time to think. And more importantly take the time to think.
Perhaps it is a mixture of getting my shit together and being able to not give myself excuses. Excuses really are your brain's way of telling you that sleep is better than being awake.
But having had a period where I was constantly putting my self through a lot of work made me realise that the work/life balance is all about that latter term: balance.
See how productive you have been in the last four weeks. And see if you can engineer a way to increase it to levels that you're much more happy in.
@above: Not worrying about bills this month or the next six is a boon I didn't have in my twenties. On the other hand, the things we have to balance nowadays, especially family life, are more strenuous. These days it's not about rents, its about paying the mortgage. It's not above having a saving account, its pensions. So it's a tricky thing one has to learn. But almost certainly, if you want a half decent life, you're going to have to be good at admin yourself, or be with someone else who is.
Perhaps it is a mixture of getting my shit together and being able to not give myself excuses. Excuses really are your brain's way of telling you that sleep is better than being awake.
But having had a period where I was constantly putting my self through a lot of work made me realise that the work/life balance is all about that latter term: balance.
See how productive you have been in the last four weeks. And see if you can engineer a way to increase it to levels that you're much more happy in.
@above: Not worrying about bills this month or the next six is a boon I didn't have in my twenties. On the other hand, the things we have to balance nowadays, especially family life, are more strenuous. These days it's not about rents, its about paying the mortgage. It's not above having a saving account, its pensions. So it's a tricky thing one has to learn. But almost certainly, if you want a half decent life, you're going to have to be good at admin yourself, or be with someone else who is.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Writing Challenge update!
A 30.5K draft of Knight Evident, the 3rd Entry in the Knight's Journal, is done. I've got a cover on Canva I need to touch up a bit, and I've got some editing to do with this one because of some timing issues (too many of the chapters are too long, trying to fit several days' worth of things in a single diary entry). I'm in good shape to have it out by March 31/April 1 per the challenge.
A 30.5K draft of Knight Evident, the 3rd Entry in the Knight's Journal, is done. I've got a cover on Canva I need to touch up a bit, and I've got some editing to do with this one because of some timing issues (too many of the chapters are too long, trying to fit several days' worth of things in a single diary entry). I'm in good shape to have it out by March 31/April 1 per the challenge.
Conkersbadfurday
Member
Beta readers are slowly finishing my current book and the results are positive! I did not expect that since I"m still not unconvinced it's stupid.
Still working on the video game. Editing dialogue I wrote god knows how long ago, and man does it show. I started this project back in like 2013, and every year I seem to go back and just overhaul everything while shaking my head and going, "i used to really suck at writing, or at least more than i still do."
It is a headache.
Still working on the video game. Editing dialogue I wrote god knows how long ago, and man does it show. I started this project back in like 2013, and every year I seem to go back and just overhaul everything while shaking my head and going, "i used to really suck at writing, or at least more than i still do."
It is a headache.
I went ahead and ordered myself a copy of Story Grid by Shawn Coyne. It is an interesting read and would recommend it to people who are unsure what the components of a story are and what do the "mystical editors" do (when you can get one). However, if you own Story by Robert McKee already, then you can save a couple of bucks from not buying the Story Grid book, they share the same concepts. Just use the free content from the videos to set up your story grid.
It's hard work to create the story grid for your novel, but it does make you look closer to scenes of your work. If you feel like something is not working in your book, the grid points it out. It forces you to break down your story into what you really want it to be about and achieve it. It's pretty cool.
It's hard work to create the story grid for your novel, but it does make you look closer to scenes of your work. If you feel like something is not working in your book, the grid points it out. It forces you to break down your story into what you really want it to be about and achieve it. It's pretty cool.
Master Milk
Member
"I'm writing again," I say.
"Cool, but wait, are you using present tense?" the thread asks.
"I am."
"Cool, but wait, are you using present tense?" the thread asks.
"I am."
Conkersbadfurday
Member
Per my beta readers, the ending and beginning to my book need work, but otherwise a fun ride. The ending will be easier to fix than the beginning.
Have you guys had to deal with a bizarre feeling when editing and revising, that the story is too short and things are going too fast? Even with a novel that is 100k words I still feel that. Beta readers told me its a fucking long book, but I kinda breeze through it at each editing pass. Dont know what to do.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Hmmm... not sure on that one. 100K words is not a long book. It's ~400 pages. So the questions become: 1, do they think it's long because they're not used to reading books? 2, do they think it's long because they're bored?
If most of them just aren't used to reading books (many many of them are longer than 400 pages), then you likely need some beta readers who are used to longer stuff.
If most of them just think it's boring and that's what makes it longer, then you have a different issue.
fredrancour
Member
wouldn't 400 pages be like two books for somebody who normally reads thrillers and not much else?
AngmarsKing701
Member
I guess I consider 300-400 pp to be pretty much the average size book. I could be wrong though.
Valdfellgar
Banned
Well, from my understanding when I was looking up whether a 120k-130k Scifi book was too long, it varies greatly by genre. Things like thrillers are closer to 50k-70k, where as Scifi and Fantasy require world building and typical books range between 100k-120k with some even stretching a tad longer. So it'd really depend on what genre the guy's book is as to whether it's too long or not.
SolVanderlyn
Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Beta readers have had a much better reception to my second book than my first. Although, to be honest, I'm still not satisfied with either one. I'm still trying to nail down the whole creative writing thing. I'm good at ideas, still learning on execution of line-to-line dialogue and detailed events and such.
Seriously considering just going with book 2 as book 1 and rewriting book 1 when I get to it.
Disclaimer: Book 1 was Episode III in a five part series.
Seriously considering just going with book 2 as book 1 and rewriting book 1 when I get to it.
Disclaimer: Book 1 was Episode III in a five part series.
This.
A romance that is 100k would not fly for most readers. Cozy mysteries are generally 70k, tops as well. Genre really defines reader expectations on length.
Conkersbadfurday
Member
100k isn't a long book if you have publishing credits and are writing in, say, fantasy.
I've had agents outright reject me over long word counts, and I was writing high fantasy!
AngmarsKing701
Member
Writing Challenge Update!
The third novella is live!
And while I'm going to proceed with the series by writing a novella every month for the remainder of the year, I will stop with the regular updates given this was the targeted end of the challenge. If anyone is reading along, I'd obviously love to know what you think. I've got a ton of bread crumbs lying about in what I'm building up to in this third book, but hopefully not so much that you are completely sure of what I'm doing.
Thank you, H.Pro, for putting this together!!! I would still be in a massive writing rut if this hadn't come along and got me working again!
The third novella is live!
And while I'm going to proceed with the series by writing a novella every month for the remainder of the year, I will stop with the regular updates given this was the targeted end of the challenge. If anyone is reading along, I'd obviously love to know what you think. I've got a ton of bread crumbs lying about in what I'm building up to in this third book, but hopefully not so much that you are completely sure of what I'm doing.
Thank you, H.Pro, for putting this together!!! I would still be in a massive writing rut if this hadn't come along and got me working again!
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
I like seeing the continual updates myself, actually. But the second question is of course: where those damn sales at, yo?
AngmarsKing701
Member
Sales numbers are terribad. I think 4 copies of the 1st entry have sold, with about 25 gone in the freebie deal I ran.
2nd entry hasn't sold a single copy and a few went in the freebie deal.
El zippo in Kindle Unlimited.
I ran the free stuff on awesomegang and pretty-hot but haven't done any paid advertising.
Now that I have the 3rd out there, it's up to 90K so I guess maybe mid-month I'll slam the first three together, give a little teaser for 4th entry at the end and whap it all together in a collection for $4.99.
Or something. This is the part of the writing process I've always sucked at. I can write. I like writing. I don't like the business end.
So I'll keep my day job, which pays well.
At least I'm writing again!
With my current novel I tried to pace things better by having downtime where I felt was necessary, describing the characters doing other things between major events, etc. It's also good if you can have some days pass and have more introspective paragraphs here and there, as long as the story allows it.
It all boils down more to pacing than word count. My first novel everything happened way faster than it should in retrospect, even though it was 110k words. Still need to send my current one to beta readers, but even though it's 45k I feel that it's paced much better and nothing happened too fast or too slow.
Box sets are good, plus when they're discounted people are more likely to buy. Also, the 90k word count will be more appealing to some promotional places. bknights on fiver is good, I've had decent results in the past from them and at least $5 isn't too bad. I also agree with Freeza in that I'm loving the updates, you're keeping me motivated.
I've stopped the challenge midway through the second book and returned to writing SciFi romance. Mainly because I left readers with a cliffhanger on my last book, but also because I just wasn't liking the second novella. I did learn that I need to plot more when starting a new genre, with SciFi romance at this point I know what I need to do and it doesn't require me to sit down and figure everything out beforehand. I still plot overarching world stuff, but the characters and romance not so much. One day I'll go back to the novellas and see if there's anything I can do with them.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Thanks for the pointer to bknights on fiver. Had never heard of them. Maybe I'll time the collection to come out when the 4th one is published.
From a plotting perspective, it is interesting to follow these characters around and then have something happen that completely changes where they go. The only real plot point I have is that I know what Aidan's 12 tasks are. But I am also tied into a legend and am using historical figures of roughly the time period (post Roman occupation) to move him around. But here in book 4 I was like, "okay, I know he has to 'gain five followers to his cause' but how am I turning that into 30K words?" And then a character was introduced, and my brain was like "hey, I have an idea and guess what it's gonna take 30K words to resolve the conflict he brings!"
I totally feel you. My book comes out on Tuesday and the marketing process is painful. I'm thinking about creating a podcast and reading a chapter or two so the word spreads out. Even then, I'm not sure where to share it. Everyone says that to succeed you need to know your audience, in this case the genre, and keep delivering material, but the competition is overwhelming that it will drown before it comes out.
Anyways, here is my book:
It's a psychological thriller with scifi. It's part of a long series where mysticism, psychology, quantum mechanics come together to uncover the Truth of humanity.
SolVanderlyn
Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
This sounds really cool!Anyways, here is my book:
It's a psychological thriller with scifi. It's part of a long series where mysticism, psychology, quantum mechanics come together to uncover the Truth of humanity.
Sorry for taking so long to respond, hehe
It was more that they told me that the book was normal and it didnt feel rushed at all. But for some reason, when im editing and proofreading it, it feels very small. But seeing some of the replies here, I think i may have found a partial cause: there isnt enough downtime between the major events for it to feel that they are happening in a organic fashion. I actually had some more introspective moments written, but i was a bit afraid it would bloat the book too much. Its the first novel I wrote, so i kinda want it to be a "standard" one to improve my very slim chance of being published.
It was more that they told me that the book was normal and it didnt feel rushed at all. But for some reason, when im editing and proofreading it, it feels very small. But seeing some of the replies here, I think i may have found a partial cause: there isnt enough downtime between the major events for it to feel that they are happening in a organic fashion. I actually had some more introspective moments written, but i was a bit afraid it would bloat the book too much. Its the first novel I wrote, so i kinda want it to be a "standard" one to improve my very slim chance of being published.
AngmarsKing701
Member
I totally feel you. My book comes out on Tuesday and the marketing process is painful. I'm thinking about creating a podcast and reading a chapter or two so the word spreads out. Even then, I'm not sure where to share it. Everyone says that to succeed you need to know your audience, in this case the genre, and keep delivering material, but the competition is overwhelming that it will drown before it comes out.
Anyways, here is my book:
It's a psychological thriller with scifi. It's part of a long series where mysticism, psychology, quantum mechanics come together to uncover the Truth of humanity.
Congrats! It sounds interesting!
gah work has been a nightmare for my writing schedule recently, and now that I finally have had a few days off in a row (well two days off which I had a streak of 25 days or so that I didn't have two days off even though I am part time :/) I can't seem to find the ability to write anything even though the voice in my head is yelling at me so much to write that I am getting heartburn @_@
at the very least I need to force out something... the stuff that is coming up has been compiled in my head so much the last month that I need to at the very least vomit it out so I can move onto the next major scene.
edit: it wasn't much but at least i got 1700 words done tonight.
I need to get better focused on this again, though I have a plan to watch baseball games while writing and see how that goes... as if I do it in down time ideally I can get 2-3k words per game done.
at the very least I need to force out something... the stuff that is coming up has been compiled in my head so much the last month that I need to at the very least vomit it out so I can move onto the next major scene.
edit: it wasn't much but at least i got 1700 words done tonight.
I need to get better focused on this again, though I have a plan to watch baseball games while writing and see how that goes... as if I do it in down time ideally I can get 2-3k words per game done.
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
So I came across a thing in a short story and wanted to get people opinions on when/what benefits a specific thing might have?
What is the benefit of the bold? Why say that instead of just regular dialogue? There has to be a reason? Maybe to show a disconnect from the conversation? Or to emphasize the strangeness of it? Anyone else have any theories? Any of their own examples where they do this and why?
Signal by John Lanchester said:
What is the benefit of the bold? Why say that instead of just regular dialogue? There has to be a reason? Maybe to show a disconnect from the conversation? Or to emphasize the strangeness of it? Anyone else have any theories? Any of their own examples where they do this and why?
YesNOnoNOYes
Member
Hi, WritingGAF!
Just dropping a discord for WriteGAF here, which was started around NaNo last year.
Good luck everyone with all of your writings
I'm currently (finally) picking back up my NaNo and hopefully will finish it within 20,000 words. Wrapping things up is a struggle for me :<
And here's the discord link: https://discord.gg/fk9YMHn
All is welcome! Join and chat with us
Just dropping a discord for WriteGAF here, which was started around NaNo last year.
Good luck everyone with all of your writings
I'm currently (finally) picking back up my NaNo and hopefully will finish it within 20,000 words. Wrapping things up is a struggle for me :<
And here's the discord link: https://discord.gg/fk9YMHn
All is welcome! Join and chat with us
So recently, I've decided to study the grammar rules of English in more detail. Despite only speaking English, I never really paid attention to grammar beyond the basics. It is only by closely looking at the rules of English grammar that I have come to realise how hard it is for me to master. I think the main thing that makes learning difficult is the way the same word can function in many different ways.
I find it hard to correctly identify the components of sentence just by looking at it. I particularly struggle with adverbs (clauses and phrases) and verbals. I find it hard to work out the subject and direct/indirect objects in unfamiliar sentences despite knowing what each component "does" on its own (in simple examples). The chameleon-like quality of words in English only makes things more difficult.
I've also tried to grasp proper punctutation usage and here again (despite understanding the function of each mark), I become confused. I find myself frequently conflicted about which punctuation mark would be most be most appropiate - especially when it comes to commas. I'll often read a piece of writing online and I'll come across a comma or a colon placement which contradicts the rules I have learned. A common one is a comma before a conjunction.
I suppose what I want to know is how do you guys master the rules of English grammar? How do you know you're doing it correctly? All I've been using so far are a few grammar books. Do you guys find yourself obsessing over punctuation and grammar when reading or writing? This is something I've noticed since I've started self-studying grammar. I find I can't enjoy a book or an article online because I'm constantly looking at the punctuation. I feel as if it's inhibiting my abilty to write confidently because I keep thinking about grammar and punctuation.
So yeah...just wondering how you guys learrned the rules of grammar and if you had any tips on writing more confidently (and honestly)?
I find it hard to correctly identify the components of sentence just by looking at it. I particularly struggle with adverbs (clauses and phrases) and verbals. I find it hard to work out the subject and direct/indirect objects in unfamiliar sentences despite knowing what each component "does" on its own (in simple examples). The chameleon-like quality of words in English only makes things more difficult.
I've also tried to grasp proper punctutation usage and here again (despite understanding the function of each mark), I become confused. I find myself frequently conflicted about which punctuation mark would be most be most appropiate - especially when it comes to commas. I'll often read a piece of writing online and I'll come across a comma or a colon placement which contradicts the rules I have learned. A common one is a comma before a conjunction.
I suppose what I want to know is how do you guys master the rules of English grammar? How do you know you're doing it correctly? All I've been using so far are a few grammar books. Do you guys find yourself obsessing over punctuation and grammar when reading or writing? This is something I've noticed since I've started self-studying grammar. I find I can't enjoy a book or an article online because I'm constantly looking at the punctuation. I feel as if it's inhibiting my abilty to write confidently because I keep thinking about grammar and punctuation.
So yeah...just wondering how you guys learrned the rules of grammar and if you had any tips on writing more confidently (and honestly)?
Valdfellgar
Banned
No. As someone who grew up struggling with dyslexia, I tend not to focus on grammar and spelling until revisions. I mainly focus on making sentences flow together well and cutting down on repetition by varying up the description with synonyms.