Its sex. Everything is related to it.
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Writing-GAF: Writing, Publishing, Selling |OT|
- Thread starter AngmarsKing701
- Start date
Its sex. Everything is related to it.
NipplesAndToes23
Member
I've been working on this long ass analysis/review of a recent TV show like it's 5,000 words right now and I'm only half way through. I was wondering if there are any contests I can submit to for something like this. Since I've put so much time into it it would be good if I could get some compensation for it.
One of my short short pieces has been published in the Beautiful Thing section of River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative.
What Matters
If anyone is interested in writing flash nonfiction (<250 words), they`re a good place to submit.
What Matters
If anyone is interested in writing flash nonfiction (<250 words), they`re a good place to submit.
Congrats ^_^
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
Congrats! Gave it a read and you continue to be pretty good Bork Bork. Really enjoyed the bit with the sticky notes and the connection between the makeup of the universe and people's own togetherness.
So I decided that I really want to 100% focus on writing as it's what I love doing, I decided to withdraw from my dental nursing course, I wasn't enjoying it and the pay was terrible for the amount of work I was doing, and instead do a post graduate degree in creative writing.
Already working hard on a short story to send off with my application.
Already working hard on a short story to send off with my application.
Conkersbadfurday
Member
Editing has been so fucking boring lately. Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh.
i think i'ts that the chapters aren't bad but they aren't good and mediocre sucks.
i think i'ts that the chapters aren't bad but they aren't good and mediocre sucks.
Thanks! This took a year and probably a good half a dozen submissions. It's interesting - writing creative nonfiction is already about filtering one's experience rather than building it up, and writing extreme flash like this really is an exercise in cutting and distilling more than anything.
Might be of interest to GAF writers - Cartridge Lit, a videogame focused lit mag, is seeking submissions.
http://cartridgelit.com/submissions/
Deadline for their summer issue is May 31. They've published some good stuff, like this.
http://cartridgelit.com/submissions/
Deadline for their summer issue is May 31. They've published some good stuff, like this.
Ghostshark
Member
A consistent piece of advice advice most authors give to fledglings is to read voraciously. I do that, but often through audiobooks due to convenience. Will I still get the same benefit, or is reading on page / screen significantly better?
it's just about thinking about words man, whether you read them or hear them is different for absorbtion perhaps but the main thing is that you're exposed to many ways of piecing together thoughts
Absolutely. In fact I think audiobooks might even be better when figuring out the sound of language. I find that great passages stick in my mind when listened to and often influence my own writing.
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.
Oftentimes I find myself writing something and saying it out loud to see if it "clicks." I can think something is well described or a line is cool and then hear it audibly and think "wow, ok, nevermind."
So, yeah, audiobooks are good too. Like was said above, hearing how others piece together their thoughts is what's really important. Helps with finding your own voice, and ultimately with getting closer to a 1:1 head-to-paper ratio.
Wafflecakes
Member
Anyone know of a resource which allows you to look at a published book by a reasonable author including all steps of the writing process to watch the evolution?
I am getting a bit down with how garbage my first drafts are.
I am getting a bit down with how garbage my first drafts are.
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
I'll be a bit against the stream here and say that reading is really important because it gives you visual understanding of how grammar works. You might think you know how a comma works from pauses vut you dont because thatd not actually how commas work.
Conkersbadfurday
Member
This is a really good point. Commas, semicolons, dashes, elipses, etc. I've gone back to other books to doublecheck that I was using these correctly before. Helps a lot.
hey_monkey
Banned
Hi, writing GAF! Long time no see. I haven't written any fiction, really, since starting my PhD program but this summer I'm writing a nonfiction book for a small press (already contracted) so I may be in and out for whining/railing/support/general tomfoolery. Collaborative project with a draft due in October. Very excited but also kinda nervous since my attention span is not always super great and I've got a lot of things to work on this summer beyond this!
Am I the only person sick of YA? I'm constantly searching to form critique partnership relationships, because I work best with someone else, yet every post calling for a partner wants YA. I finally managed to grab someone for my M/M fantasy novel and she just switched her romance for a contemporary YA novel.
Teenagers are not that interesting.
Teenagers are not that interesting.
YA is so angsty and annoying, it's filled with teenagers making stupid emotional decisions. Every now and then I read a good one but most of them nearly have me rolling my eyes out of my head from how dumb the characters are. The Lois Lane books by Gwenda Bond are excellent and the Star Wars Lost Stars book was amazing, but those are the only recent ones I can think of, admittedly I've stopped reading that genre because I couldn't take it anymore. It's like they weren't written for a thirty year old woman or something.
I can stand good YA too but most are freaking cliche-ridden garbage. I don't understand why it's this genre dominating the online boards when we've seen a resurgence in good sci-fi,fantasy, and superhero fic. I just want a regular old sci-fi fic to swap with that doesn't have a love triangle or an angsty brat with no reason to complain.
I don't mind young adult, and my writing was originally YA (though based on japanese YA not american), when i decided i needed to do a rewrite to re-balance a lot of things I aged everyone up. My main character is still what I personally would consider a young adult, but at 21 years old he isn't an angsty teenager. I would expect I would get a complaint that he is to level headed and intelligent before I ever get a complaint he is angsty or making dumb decisions from emotions lol.
Is it still a love triangle if the main pairing is obvious that they only care about each other that way, the competition never has any meaningful competition, and not that long after the competition tries to make a move, they are shot down, made clear that it will never happen, and the main pairing is firmly cemented as a couple
? I mean I hate the long drawn out love triangle, but basically making fun of love triangles was fun to plan Is it still a love triangle if the main pairing is obvious that they only care about each other that way, the competition never has any meaningful competition, and not that long after the competition tries to make a move, they are shot down, made clear that it will never happen, and the main pairing is firmly cemented as a couple
See what your writing isn't cliche. It's actually a fun idea I'd love to read. What is cliche is the constant will they or won't they nonsense infecting so many YA novels. For god sake your teenagers! You'll be dating someone else in a year or two I swear. Stop the obsession.
A 21 year old protagonist would probably fall into the New Adult genre, it has a lot of the same tropes as YA only they aren't usually as stupid.
Also, I don't know if that would be considered a love triangle, it sounds refreshing though. One of my most hated tropes is the love triangle, characters that string along multiple partners for long lengths of time cause me an unreasonable amount of fury. Not sure why it bothers me so but I'll stop reading a series if that shit isn't handled quickly. Apparently my brain is also always on the lookout for clues that one's coming up and I'll start to feel a growing sense of dread as they start to pile up.
Also, I don't know if that would be considered a love triangle, it sounds refreshing though. One of my most hated tropes is the love triangle, characters that string along multiple partners for long lengths of time cause me an unreasonable amount of fury. Not sure why it bothers me so but I'll stop reading a series if that shit isn't handled quickly. Apparently my brain is also always on the lookout for clues that one's coming up and I'll start to feel a growing sense of dread as they start to pile up.
To be honest my writing is full of the basis of cliches. Rather than try to avoid cliches I find it far easier and more enjoyable to let them come if they come and then make sure to not let them remain the normal cliche.
For example my main character would fall into a chosen hero cliche. That being said, he has no real motivations to be a hero, no want to save anyone but those close to him, actively tries to ignore any chosen stuff and eventually confirms what he believes from the start that the idea of someone having a set destiny is stupid by uncovering that he was in fact the 6th chosen one of which the first 5 died pathetically without doing anything.
I really do need to get back to writing soon though. If i don't write I can't eventually get to the end to finish the journey and get reactions to the big twist ending I have been setting up since early on lol.
yeah the story itself wouldn't really be young adult anymore. a lot of the themes I wanted to cover just went to dark to keep it within young adult. I have a nasty habit of trying to physically and mentally break my main character >.>
But yeah long drawn out love triangles are annoying. That being said for the purposes of entertainment it's easier to make a relationship like that interesting than a stable normal relationship, same with the will they won't they. It was one of the rules I made from the start when I decided romance would be part of the story though. That the main couple would get together and have a stable relationship even if I introduce others that are interested in either of them. While I don't mind letting a cliche come I have a list of rules I won't let my writing touch. Another one is that the main female is not allowed to just become a damsel in distress. I haven't ruled out that she can't get in a situation that she needs saved from, but in general she will be the one doing the saving (if it is needed) not my main male character.
Either way I need to sit down with my new 2 in 1 tablet and see how writing on it is, to see if i can't be a little better about writing on the go. Due to a wrist injury I still can't write by hand on the go for very long (about a page before I have to stop for 20-30 minutes due to pain) but luckily typing doesn't hurt my wrist as I barely move my write while typing.
Conkersbadfurday
Member
I mostly hate it because the good stuff is hard to find. The stuff that is good I generally just call "fiction" and not YA because calling it YA makes me feel bad
But there is good stuff out there. I did write a YA book, but it's more in the protag's age than anything else. It's a horror book, which helps.
Course no one fucking wants YA horror because that's not marketable so hoorah for no agent bites in like three fuckin' months.
Edit: Keep in mind that YA isn't a genre but a market. When people set out to write YA, it always makes my head spin because it means they want a specific market--and one that's booming so hello money grab--and not a genre they like. More often than not it's probably just poor wording on their part and me being a cynical piece of shit, but there ya go.
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
I did some editing tonight for the first time in what feels like too long. God, it felt nice, like a breath of fresh air. It wasn't of a story of any importance, just an unfinished thing I thought might be good practice to edit. I've been dealing with a lot of self-doubts, but doing a bit of busy work was actually really helpful. Really calming.
Smiles and Cries
Member
Hello Writing GAF.
I am working on an art book, with the goal of self-publishing. The art book will be half full color Fine Art and half black and white Adult Coloring book pages.
Does marketing for this type of book follow the same steps found in the OP?
I am working on an art book, with the goal of self-publishing. The art book will be half full color Fine Art and half black and white Adult Coloring book pages.
Does marketing for this type of book follow the same steps found in the OP?
NipplesAndToes23
Member
I can't answer that for you, I actually came in here to get some help. Does anyone have some tips on promoting an article? I want as many people I can to see it. I have googled stuff, but I want something more personal.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Writing Challenge update!
Knight Prudent: The Fifth Entry in the Knight's Journal is live!
I beat my own schedule a bit. It's been a tough month. My mom passed away after a long illness earlier this month, and I really used the writing as therapy. Especially in the last two weeks or so, where I simply poured more than 1K words/day into it. She was quite verbal in her last couple of weeks, and we wrote down a lot of what she said. I used a few lines here and there, as I have a dying scene in this book. It was both tough to write and tough to read, but again, very therapeutic to get the emotions out.
And yes, by the time you're done reading this one, the legend I've been referring to should be blatantly obvious. But I'm still not saying it among the characters.
Really, really enjoying this challenge.
Thank you, H.Pro!
Knight Prudent: The Fifth Entry in the Knight's Journal is live!
I beat my own schedule a bit. It's been a tough month. My mom passed away after a long illness earlier this month, and I really used the writing as therapy. Especially in the last two weeks or so, where I simply poured more than 1K words/day into it. She was quite verbal in her last couple of weeks, and we wrote down a lot of what she said. I used a few lines here and there, as I have a dying scene in this book. It was both tough to write and tough to read, but again, very therapeutic to get the emotions out.
And yes, by the time you're done reading this one, the legend I've been referring to should be blatantly obvious. But I'm still not saying it among the characters.
Really, really enjoying this challenge.
Thank you, H.Pro!
I'm sorry for your loss, I hope​ you and your family are doing okay. You've done absolutely amazing with this challenge and have been really inspiring.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Thanks, Soulfire. Everyone is doing okay. We unfortunately knew it was coming for awhile.
Edit - I suppose it was both unfortunate AND fortunate. We had advance warning. We knew when she was in her final days. She got to spend time with all of her kids and grandkids. Tough all around but she was surrounded by love and family, which was really all she was about.
Rest in peace AngmarsKing mom.
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
I'm sorry for your loss. I am really amazed at how you've been keeping up with the challenge! I really wish I had that level of consistency.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Thanks, folks. I'm amazed, too! I was formatting the first collection into a paperback format today and stopped to read some sections and was like "did I write this?" lol
I'm sorry for your loss.
Valdfellgar
Banned
Sorry for your loss, man. Glad you're keeping yourself busy and productive.
I'm very sorry for your loss, AngmarsKing. I lost my mom to illness, too, and I know how incredibly difficult it is.
Conkersbadfurday
Member
Sent a query with synopsis per website rules. Got an email back saying please send the first fifteen pages with synopsis for consideration. Not sure if I was supposed to send pages first or if this is an agent saying they want a partial, though fifteen pages isn't all that much.
Very confused :\
Very confused :\
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
I say take it as a good thing. If you messed up very badly, theyd just ignore you, right?
hey_monkey
Banned
Fifteen pages is enough to know whether or not they'd want to read more. Take it as a good thing!
H.Protagonist
[-_-]/
Was really sorry to hear about your mom, A. You're doing incredible during all this. I may never be allowed to run a challenge again (^_^
, but I'm really glad you've stuck with it because the series is great. I'm almost done with the first now, and I can't wait to move on to the next ones. You're absolutely smashing this one out of the park~AngmarsKing701
Member
Was really sorry to hear about your mom, A. You're doing incredible during all this. I may never be allowed to run a challenge again (^_^
Blushes furiously.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Congrats!!!
Valdfellgar
Banned
Awesome!
Conkersbadfurday
Member
True, but the person who's telling me this is maybe not an agent but someone in administrative. It's honestly really hard to tell because their website, while pretty, doesn't have fuckall for information.