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Question for Online Fiction Writers
Posted by mikodragonfly • 10/04/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: advice, fiction, warnings, writers
These questions are targeted specifically at writers who post novels, short stories and poetry online:
1. What was it that made you first start posting your stories online?
2. What pros and cons of of making your work publicly available have you encountered?
3. Do you have any words of warning or advice for writers new on the online scene who are not sure how to get started?
* Please note: This discussion is related to a blog entry that I will be posting in the next couple of days. I already have my own answers to these questions, but to keep things from being too subjective, I'd like to see what other online fiction writers have to say about the subject. I will not be quoting your replies in my blog - but I will be placing a link to this discussion in that entry.
User Comments
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Okay, I don't profess to be an excellent novelist or short-story writer, or poet. Heck , I'm not even good at sneezing. But anyway, I find this thread interesting so here is my few cents worth.
1. I just did it on a whim.
2. On the negative, I must say none so far. All the readers here are very respectful and decent. Sometimes, it is frustrating to post a story you really like and no one would read it. But my expectations are not that high and I always remember that no one owes me the favor of reading my work. On the plus side, it is nice to have your work published on your own terms, no deadline, no editorial policies to keep. Blogs allow you to be independent and be true to yourself.
3. The Nike way. Just do it.
There. I hope it helps. By the way, I post short stories. -
I am not a novelist, neither a short story writer nor a poet....
I am not into fiction but i love the Fiction - Non-fiction integration...
I have some few lines (say poem or any) based on my life...
1) My life itself is a beautiful story and accidentally i joined the line of writers (self). And my interest in poems plays a big role there.
2) I don't know much or i should say none so far....
I don't care who's reading it... cos it's all based on my life.
3.) Short and Simple and let the readers guess what you are writing about.
that is the best part of writing. -
I started out reading online fiction more than a decade ago and had a friend who wrote ask me to read something before they post there first. Frankly it was horrible and I got away with saying I was swamped with other work, which was true back in the days of hand coding websites. The more I thought about the story the more I thought I could write a better story than that, and set down one day to do just that. I wrote several for several different fandoms, but quit when I decided to take my creative work more seriously.
The negative part if you write and publish fanfiction is there is always a bigger fan than you, usually a lot of them. Some of them will be helpful, other will criticize and hound you for the smallest bit of crap. I got an 11,000 word critique of one story all of it criticizing me for saying when Dana Scully slept in the car her head lolled to the left. They pointed out 29 times where she was in fact sleeping and how each of them pointedly suggested her head would loll to the right side.
Assuming you don't write fan fiction you will have to deal with the people who just tell you that you suck. Some of them will be right, some of them will just do it to be mean, some of them will be doing both. There are grammar nazis out there who will hound you unmercifully even if or especially if you use dialog that isn't Bedford guide perfect. It doesn't matter if you are writing for some inbred racist hillbilly who thought the eight grade was tough. If he doesn't speak like a Princeton educated trial lawyer well versed in Shakespeare with a sideline business in promoting equality in africa while seeking his PhD in English Rhetoric they will fault you. Why because that is what grammar nazis do. Don't even get me started on the spelling witch, she believes the British spelling is the only correct form for the English language. The there is her evil twin, the one that thinks the British spelling is just stupid because it isn't very American.
The biggest word of advice I have for you is pretty simple. If you want to publish it for money never put it online. The moment something goes into public view online, you lose your first publication status, and the right to sell it as such. Once your writing is good enough through the help of critics, grammar nazis, and the spelling witch start writing original work that can be submitted, but not until you have learned all you can from those people. -
These questions are targeted specifically at writers who post novels, short stories and poetry online:
1. What was it that made you first start posting your stories online? I was offered money for the rights to one of my short stories, a publicist was interested in turning it into an eBook. I suppose it was the intoxicating feeling of turning my words into a marketable product that got me hooked.
2. What pros and cons of making your work publicly available have you encountered?
Okay - this will sound like a rant, because it is. LOL I've encountered two prominent and ongoing issues. The first being plagiarism of my work. Because I employ several other writers on my various projects - I also fight plagiarism of their work.
The second is promotion "for profit" projects on social networks for bloggers. It never fails, there's always a few people who loathe blogs and websites that make money and do commercial advertising outside AdSense. It's hard to get a post in either the Money Making or Promotional categories by them without one of two things happening. 1. They bash the information, and generally add a link to something similar somewhere else - hoping to divert any traffic you might have generated with your post. 2. They seem to make a point of addressing their personal opinion of making money at every given opportunity.
The pros of course are the exposure an aspiring writer can get for each publication - even if there is no monetary compensation. And the fact it's sometimes instant gratification. In some cases there's no "Editor" or content critique panel on the ready to pick your work apart. It's a simple matter of pasting your text and walla - you're published.
3. Do you have any words of warning or advice for writers new on the online scene who are not sure how to get started?
Protect your content! Have the time stamp of first publication on your side! Before you ever send your work to an online publisher, email a copy of it to yourself and save that sent and received email. If you ever have to defend your rightful ownership - this helps. Learn about your rights to intellectual property, and how to legally defend them.
Be careful giving away your rights! Learn the difference between use rights, full rights, and exclusive ownership rights. Always read the fine print terms and conditions of any publishing website, and make sure you understand where you stand before submitting your work for publication. -
!) I wanted to serialise my late Father's novel, which he never got the chance to publish.
2. Pro's, it's enabling people to read the story instead of never getting to see it. Cos, I'm having to type it all up, as well as look into copyright issues!
3. Perhaps post a sample chapter to get people hooked then make the rest as an e-book. After all, how many are prepared to work for nothing? In my own personal case, it's just something that's close to my heart, I may not go down the e-book road.-
Any writer who wants to be taken seriously will have to work for nothing for quite some time, unless they are lucky. Good luck with your father's novel. What sort of copyright issues are you having problems with?
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"Any writer who wants to be taken seriously will have to work for nothing for quite some time,"
That's ridiculous.
I'm a big proponent of strategically writing for free early in one's career or when trying to break in to a particular niche, but the idea that it's impossible (or even difficult) to "break in" without doing so is dead wrong, and the kind of "advice" that keeps a lot of writers from achieving what they otherwise could. -
@X let me rephrase. I am not talking about giving away your writing, I am talking about simply not getting paid for it. If you want to be taken seriously by the literary world, that is being published and in print you will write and submit for as long as it takes to get get published by a real publisher. You do that with the hopes of of one day getting some money out of it, most of the time you are actually losing money at it, since many publishers and agents haven't got the notion through their that email is cheap.
The fact is anyone can slap a book together and make an ebook and a few people even make a little money, but that is a long way from being published.
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1. I begin the blog too…”remove the blanket from my “babies” face and let the world see it, i.e., criticism for a story you have written is no different than having someone tell you that your child is ugly. Nevertheless, unlike the real life situation, one can go back and change fiction to create a “pretty” baby.
2. To date, I have not encountered any problems. I also agree that it gives you an idea that the public may accept your work.
3. I make sure that the work I put on a blog or website has a copyright notice and I keep a dated hard copy. This is not to imply that my work may be stolen but I do believe in protecting my creativity. -
I know I'm well past the deadline for the article, but for me it doesn't matter.
1. I began blooking the novels because I wanted input from people other than family and close friends who tend to only say, "I like it," or "I hate it." When you try to dig details about why they liked or hated it, they tend to hedge with, "It's a good story...," or "That kind of story is not my thing." This, to me, is not the kind of information I need to improve my writing.
2. Problems in blooking? Honestly, setting up the site was harder than actually posting my stories. I've learned that I've created believable characters and stories than draw the readers in. Good news for me and inspiration to continue writing and improving the works.
3. Copyrights I believe are important. If someone wants to cut-and-paste my story and print it out for their own purposes, it doesn't bother me too much, but if I find out they're making a profit off of my work without me getting any credit, then believe me, they will hear about it!
My ultimate intent is to have my stories published professionally. For this I need the input to ensure the draft I send to an agent is the best I can make it so I don't come off as 'just another hack.' If it takes self-publishing to get my first efforts in front of an audience, I will. But if blooking my stories means I develop a ready-made market, then that's even better. -
Hm. Let's see:
1. I don't know how well (or bad) I am at writing so posting online is the only way I can think of for strangers to review my stories.
2. Pros and cons. More pros actually. I improved my grammar since English ain't my first language, and I developed more self-confidence (but let's just say that its the ego-stroke). Cons, I caught one or two plagiarism but nothing really serious, just a few copied paragraphs.
3. Hm, if you're publishing online, then at least be ready to be plagiarized. So if you're doing this for money, I suggest not to do it. For self-improvement, then go ahead! By the way, though I said be ready to be plagiarized, another advice is to be ethical. If you want to quote or use another's article, have the decency to ask permission (even if you have plans on giving credits). Respect your co-writers just the same way you want to be respected.
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