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Who has tried to write a book?
Posted by tetsujin • 12/29/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Tags: book, writing
Ha, well, all in all yesterday I remember I was a really messed up kid in middle school. I attempted to write a fantasy novel. I got through the first four chapters and all in all they are not that bad. If you want you can check them out at tetsujin.metamudcreations.com/index.php?/archives/98-I-Was-a-Different-Chil...
I also want to see if anyone can go anywhere with it, maybe write a random chapter and see what happens.
Has anyone else tried to write a book ever? Did you get anywhere with it?
User Comments
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music books, cartoon -
My dad has written a book on telecom..stayed as one of the bestsellers on amazon for years. Next yr i plan to write a book on IP Multimedia subsystem..3G networks..-
Very cool, let me know how that goes for you when you do get to it.
Cameron
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Tried and failed more times than I care to remember.-
That seems like one of those it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.
Cameron -
Ha! I never thought of this, but now that you mention it, tetsujin, it is very true.
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I'm settling in to write my first book this coming year. I have two published authors to help me with the wizardry of staying off the slush pile ... I just need to finish my research and I can get started on the manuscript.-
Any hints what it is going to be about?
Cameron -
Nope. Not yet anyway. I'm a little superstitious that way ... I'm so afraid I'm going to jinx it.
I will say it's biographical in nature. -
Well that is very cool then, lol, and I won't make you tell me because I too understand the power of gettin jinxed.
Cameron
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I've been working on something for the past two years. I hope to finish it sometime next year, perhaps by early summer. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I'll muster up the creative energy to do it. What a major endeavor this has been! Incredibly fulfilling, but also quite frustrating, at the same time. Suffice to say, it's taken up much more time than I had originally thought. But I think the end result will have been worth it all.
Novels are so much more difficult for me than short fiction, I'm realizing, mainly because I find that the more I write, the more I write. One thing leads to another, and I'm going this way and that way, down paths where I never intended to go. Such is the way of the novel, I think.
Has anyone had a different experience? -
I've written several. Of course, the writing is the easy part--only two of them have been published. I have a bad habit of losing interest once they're done and moving on to write something else instead of shopping them around. -
I tried to write a book about my feeling on Spec edu. -
I have 3 published books, 2 Novels and 1 political. I also have 3 more I am currently writing. You can check them out at www.mphill.com -
Have written 56 books. One (my only best seller), a hardback published by Fell, was one of the longer occupants of Bowker's Books In Print. It stayed there 25 years.
About the toughest thing in the world to do: get that first book published. My first book sold 75 copies, mostly to friends and relatives. -
I've got two opening chapters and a handful of later scenes, a story arc, and in intermittent motivation problem. When I find the time and inclination to write, I can really pound it out, as I am interested to see how my characters get from point A to point Z. However, I spend a fair amount of time rereading and rewriting what I already have instead of writing new scenes.
When I've got one clear in my head it's almost like I don't feel the need to write it because I already know what happens! And when I don't, the writing feels so false to me that I can't get anywhere. I need to follow my own advice and just write it out. The editing can come later, no matter how much fun it is to improve things just a bit every time I open the file.
I've been thinking about compiling an ebook of basic grammar concepts, but I haven't the faintest idea how to go about doing that. I suppose I'd start with posts on my blog and expand and edit them into a more coherent mass. I still have a bunch of basics to cover, though.-
Getting the clay on the wheel
One thing that has resulted in so many first novels languishing in desk drawers is the false belief that you've got to get it right the first time. Not true.
Anything can be repaired and improved in the rewrite so we just go ahead and write a first "dumb draft" with all the mistakes, goofs, and wrong roads that occur. We know we can write as badly as we want to now because we can fix it later. You can do the same; blast through your first (dumb) draft and fix things later.
Here are some of the advantages of writing a dumb draft:
Don't complicate your life. Just write one word after another. Throw anything you want to into your dumb draft. Edit and correct it later. For now, just be nice to yourself and write that dumb draft.
Remember: nothing you write is carved in stone until it's published. Even if it's imperfect by nature, the dumb draft is a beginning; a place to start. It's far more productive to have the clay on the wheel than to sit there thinking about writing, but not doing it because you think the first sentence you write must be perfect. Sure, it needs to be nearly perfect eventually, but it does not need to be nearly perfect right away. That's what revision is; perfecting it after you've written it.
The dumb draft is never final; it's a starting place. Once it's done you can do anything you want to with it. And the best thing to do with it is rewrite it.
Kathryn -
I have to agree with that. I learned that last month doing NaNoWriMo, I never really let myself write without constantly editing it. Once I stopped, the words just flowed and I ended up writing my best piece yet. So much of it can be saved and I got so much down just by letting myself make mistakes and not trying to get it perfect first time around.
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I have lots of unfinished...stuff. I wrote a whole (short) book last month for NaNoWriMo. I enjoyed that and I've gotten some good feedback from someone who volunteered to read it for me but they were probably being polite
The reason I finished it is because I stopped editing as I went along. I have a lot of short stories and I have a couple of novels that I just haven't typed up yet. Anyway, I've never tried to get published because I'm a wimp. -
Yup, I wrote a couple of mystery novels, one comedy-space story and have plans for a book more closely in my blog niche. But the only things I've actually gotten published are short stories and magazine articles.
The publishing industry is rough; like so many businesses, they want a sure-deal and not to take the chance on an unproven newbie to the game. It's a lot of try-try again, and laughing in the face of rejection.-
Hey, those short stories and magazine articles count for something. Good luck with future stuff. -
Hey, thanks, Stephanie. I appreciate it!
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I tried to write four novels and did. Three of them were published and sold a combined total of a half-million copies.
Kathryn -
MY attention span is just too short for full length novels, I think. I get bored easily so I still to flash fiction and micro fiction. -
Thanks for the tip about the dumb draft, KathrynCleve. It's very useful, for those times I sit and stare at the screen, fingers hovering over the keyboard. I like the idea of just getting the words out, regardless of how much you like them, or where they go. Something is better than nothing, especially for a writer.
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I've written 2 young adult fantasy novels with another 1/3 complete, and trying to get the first one published. Sigh. I've also written a play and some short stories, but novels are my thing. I like writing long.
Clare
www.faeryinkpress.com -
Just had my first book published, CHINA: Portrait of a People, an illustrated book of photography. Should be out in late January.
It's been an, um...interesting process, especially on the publishing and business side of things.
www.tomcarter.org -
I tried. I failed miserably. I finally figured out that what I really want is to write scripts. I guess I tried to write a novel because I figured that was the logical way to go about it - novels first, screenplays afterwards - until I realized they were two different mediums. -
Writing a book is on my "to do" list for 2008. We'll see how it turns out. -
We are writing up the publishing proposal for our his n her book, GO! Smell the flowers that we hope to finalise a deal on by mid 2008! It has been a huge amount of work and belief and weve been on dubai TV as a result....
Keep at it - it is so worth the effort! -
My novel pursuit is in my blog. We go to physical press in January.
If you you want a technique for getting your book finished(or started AND finished) and published check out TomBird.com -
I've made many attempts at writing a novel but never really had enough drive to complete them. I've started another blog to try and complete a story, but as of yet it doesn't have enough content to be accepted on BC, I guess thats what happens when you only post once a week. -
Well, after three years I'm jsut about ready to send my book off to publishers- still not sure if i want to go that route though- Self publishing is attractive, and I like the idea of pimping my book on tour like a rock star and doing sopoken word gigs... -
Good question. I have written and my "Butterfly in the Plaster" was well accepted by many, but it wasnt published because I hadnt money for publishing it - There is a great difference between the written and published book...
I have a dream ... I will meet with the benefactor, who will help me to make my blogs the books. I will become the writer one day.
Can I name you my co-author? -
tried to write a children's book, but I never heard back from the publishers...*sigh* -
i've written one children's book and did all the photos for it. It's called "Julia and Camilla's Camping Trip". i'm still waiting for the spanish translation to get done as its a bilingual book.
the other book i'm working on right now is a paperdoll book: a cat paperdoll with clothes. what can i say, i'm a cat artist, its what i do.
i'm self-publishing both thru Amazon's new POD CreateSpace. go ahead, call it vanity publishing – it will reach one-third of the U.S. online book buyers. I love the internet!! -
tried to write one... but never finished
need more motivation... (sigh)
so many imagination inside my head, but never ever had the motivation to finished the writing -
I'm more into short stories and I have enough to make a book but not sure I really want to go through the whole process. Plus they'd need some editing and revision to make them palpable to the general public. Maybe one day -
I have a huge non-fiction "how to" book in progress that I have written on and off for the last couple of years. It has become so big (about 40,ooo words not including photos)that I am actually considering breaking it up into smaller books. You can get a taste of my style of writing on my blog that I started mid December 2007. I figured that blogging could help improve my writing skills. I would like to get it published as soon as I think I have finished!
sewdelish.blogspot.com/ -
Several people who have read my blog have suggested that I write a book. I've considered compiling some of my better essays into a book, when I get off my lazy butt and put it all together.
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