fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2569 ]

[ SECRET POST #2569 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2569 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[The Little Mermaid]

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03.

[Star Trek: The Next Generation]

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04.

[Team Fortress 2 and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert]

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05.

[Fresh Meat]

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06.

[Attack on Titan / Shingeki no kyojin]

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07.

[Skin Horse]

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08.

[Jon Richardson/Sarah Millican]

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09.

[Elementary]

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10.

[Saint Young Men]

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11.

[Game of Thrones]

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12.

[Arrested Development]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 052 secrets from Secret Submission Post #367.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Aspiring writers, any tips/discussion/rants/general comments? I'm one of the 90% of people here who hopes to get a book published one day, and I try to write as much as possible to get something down. It never comes out right, though, and I spend too much time staring at my screen.

On that note, does anyone have anything actually published? :) I don't have anything more than some articles in a local arts/entertainment newspaper, but it's a start.

I also had articles published, and some poetry and a travel story in a lit magazine.

Currently trying my luck with short story competitions.

I have a lot of experience with the actual writing part (14 finished novel-length stories, 5 that are more like novellas, and some short stories) but no publishing experience. But I've recently decided that I want to look into publishing. So I can't help with the publishing part, but maybe I can help with the writing part.

What specifically are you having problems with? Is it the mechanics or is it a confidence problem where you're being too hard on yourself?

Wow, congrats on all the writing you've done! And good luck with anything you do try to publish!

For me, it's just the sitting down and writing part. I think it takes practice to sit down and be able to write, rather than sit down and feel uninspired. Occasionally, with favorite fandoms, I was able to pump out thousands of words a day without even caring about words, because I was so excited about the characters and story. I've felt that way about original stuff sometimes, but I think the notion of "I want to publish eventually" makes me more nervous about what I'm writing, rather than just writing because it's what feels right to me.

Re: Writers circle!

sarillia - 2014-01-15 20:25 (UTC) - Expand

A novel I edited (i.e., first reader, but I consider it editing) is being released in a few days!

And I was "The" writer for a local monthly newspaper a few years ago; I did the restaurant reviews and wrote fiction for the kids' section. If I can ever stop writing fanfic, I want to go back to my original stories.

Well writing a lot helps. I remember having a published writer come to my school and talk about how to be writer. I asked him about fanfiction and he was really cool about it and said "whatever keeps you writing".

Also I learned a lot from reading stuff on writing, like writing books. The important thing to remember about those, though- there's no "one way to write" or one method and if someone tries to tell you that their way is the one right way - chances are they're full of shit. I just take what works for me and discard what doesn't.

Sometimes what you write isn't going to look great but if it's your first draft- just keep writing and save the polishing for the revision.

Advice? Everyone writes differently so don't compare yourself to others or try to make yourself work to the way that works for them.

As for me, I have one radio play that's been published. Another has been performed at a local theatre. I'm writing a third that will be performed soon.

Here be a rant.

Is it just me, or do most "Writing Tips" essays, books, etc. not really give actual writing tips so much as lists of "Things You Should Do/Not Do Because I Personally Like/Dislike Them"? Almost every one I've come across does this, whether it was written by a professional, amateur, or someone who doesn't write but reads a lot.

And what's with all these "How to Write" books blindly enforcing bits of advice that are good in general, but not necessarily applicable in every situation? In case it's not obvious what I'm talking about, here's the first one that comes to mind: One of the most common writing tips is "Show, don't Tell". Yes, it's sometimes applicable. Yes, it's important to show readers that your character is a good person through their actions instead of having the narrator straight-up say "she was a kind and noble person". But FUCK this stupid, stupid idea that you have to spend three paragraphs "showing" something that would take a single sentence to "tell". That's not a sign of good writing; it's a fucking stylistic choice, and not every author can pull it off effectively (and besides, sometimes less really is more).

I think it depends on the book. Some I've read actually go beyond that and give good information. Like one I've been reading recently all about planning a series, and another about structuring the story with specific points, and character archetypes.

I think it depends on which books. Some of it may be obvious to one person but to other put in wording that makes it more useful and such.

Also on the showing thing, I think when it comes to that, it's more that there are some things you should show and others you can just tell. Like you shouldn't just say someone has a personality trait , or is smart you should show it. (like saying your character is brilliant but having him / her constantly do dumb shit (*cough*BELLA*cough*).

But I do agree with you that I hate it when books say "Never do this thing" when the thing they're talking about CAN be done well. They should attack the actual bad writing and not the entire "thing"

Example: Instead of saying "don't write abused characters because some people write it wrong and make it cheesy." you should say "If you're going to write this, do your research , don't be melodramatic, use bask-story to develop the character into who they are rather than making their past a huge misery sundae; make sure the abusers are 3-dimensional characters themselves and not 'Evil!!' plot devices/ robots that do things out of jealousy of the character or have no reasoning."

I tend to look at those tips as things to keep in mind rather than laws that should never be broken. I break these kinds of "rules" all the time.

I agree with this tbh. If I want to research writing, I usually read up on the actual subject I'm writing about, and I usually take how to write advice with a healthy pinch of salt. There's no definitive way to write, ever. I don't believe in the prase 'rules were made to be broken', but it's certainly one I apply to all writing 'rules'.

That's because everybody wants to be a writer and will pay money for a book that claims to be able to get them there.

I don't know how you feel about this one, but I think Stephen King's On Writing is actually a pretty good book about writing. It's part memoir, part manual about craft, and I don't find it prescriptive in the least.

I also think that Show, don't Tell has become overused to the point that it's meaningless. I think it's more useful to suggest something like writing in scenes and using dialogue effectively.

I'm an editor, and I usually tell my writers this: show what's important and tell what's not. Knowing when to show and when to tell is an advanced skill, and it's something that's difficult to explain.

"But FUCK this stupid, stupid idea that you have to spend three paragraphs "showing" something that would take a single sentence to "tell". That's not a sign of good writing; it's a fucking stylistic choice, and not every author can pull it off effectively (and besides, sometimes less really is more)."

THIS, THIS, THIS! This makes for vague, long-winded, pretentious, flowery writing. Get to the point and tell me what the hell is going on. I like a clear, simple, straightforward writing style, not "beautiful, poetic" language.

Re: RANT

(Anonymous) - 2014-01-15 22:45 (UTC) - Expand

I agree. I hesitantly admit that I've bought a "How to Write" book or two - I think it's kind of like, if I pay for something I will automatically gain writing experience points and be better. But I'd never buy one again. Most of it is common sense stuff, another chunk is opinion, and the actually useful stuff is few and far between.

I agree that most "rules" can (and should) be bent, and some are pure literary snobbery.

I only have some things published in uni/college newspapers, but that's it.

For stories, I always have a hard time ending them/extending them. I swear I hit 2,000 words and I dry up. It's hard to make a long story when everything starts falling apart in Chapter 1.

Unless you count my college's literary magazine, nope. I hope to though. I have problems being motivated, as well as sticking to one idea. I have two ideas right now, and some characters for each. There's a lingering third ideas as well.

I work in publishing...if you have any specific questions, I may be able to answer them.

I have published academic articles but no fiction.

Thanks for making this topic! I've been looking for an opportunity to get share this page and remove it from my currently open tabs:

Lynne M. Thomas, Gordon van Gelder, Ginjer Buchanan and Patrick Nielsen Hayden (bunch of big-name editors) discuss publishing/manuscript submissions during Worldcon 2012.

This is always good too:

Writing Excuses, 15-minutes-long podcasts discussing everything from worldbuilding to publishing, hosted by publishing authors.

If I remembered right, one of Brandon Sanderson's advice is to keep writing even if the end result is not something you are happy with. When he was finally published, he had 12 other novels finished. I can't find the source for this right now so the exact number may be wrong, but the point is that he didn't have to start from scratch to write new novels for his publisher. He didn't sit and twiddle his thumbs waiting to hear back from publishers either - he kept writing. This is why he's been able to turn out almost two novels per year since his first novel came out.

And should you think that his books can't be that good if he's turning them out that fast, well, he's been nominated for awards every year since 2005 and won two Hugo Awards in 2013.

Thanks for the resources. :)

Re: Tips/general comments:

agentcthulhu - 2014-01-15 23:06 (UTC) - Expand

I did one those high school writer's workshops and we had an anthology published.

This just reminds me how I haven't had any time to write at all for the past several months. :c Last things I've written were self-indulgence fics.

I self publish, mainly because it's easier to make money and my most important goal right now is to be able to live alone. My "real" writing isn't particularly marketable or lucrative either way, but I'm working on some straight romance on the side, which isn't very difficult to succeed with at all. It just depends on what your goals are, I guess.

If you don't mind answering, about how much do you make self publishing the romance on the side? I'm looking into doing something similar, and I'd like my goal to be able to quit my job and make enough based on that to live. Not looking to make a fortune, but I've read you can do okay churning out cheap romances.