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Who's writing a Novel?

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Talespinner View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Talespinner Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Aug 2018 at 2:05am
Originally posted by BeckyG515 BeckyG515 wrote:

Originally posted by Talespinner Talespinner wrote:

[QUOTE=BeckyG515]Just curious how many on here are working on a novel, have complete a novel or have published in some form.

Please share your experiences!

Well, good luck BeckyG515 with your novel, not a trivial project I know, having one in work myself.

A few years ago, I submitted AI Robot to Flash Fiction Online, and the editor liked it, but asked for a better ending.


I reworked it and the final version came in at 958 words.


I learned that I can write a story with an ending that works, at least for me, and for FFO, within 1000 words, though not, at that time, within 48 hours.


A riff on a robot story, taking some account of today’s and tomorrow’s AI technology, and a little homage to Isaac Asimov, it’s here:


http://www.flashfictiononline.com/f20120103-ai-robot-patrick-dey.html

Wink this was like a cross between I, Robot and the sadly canceled Almost Humans TV series. I'm curious what the original ending was? Darker or just didn't tie up as well? 

The original ending was lame, didn't bookend.

The constraints, better ending but within 1000 words, made me creative in the same way as "necessity is the mother of invention."

Do you think that writing flash fiction enhances novel writingskills?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sidle_by Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Aug 2018 at 2:27am
i've spent most of my pre-teen+ years writing some kind of novel or another. The one I'm most serious about has been in the works for over a decade at the moment... at one point, i had a very, very, very horrible first draft started when i was 12 that went for like 200k+ words without an ending. 

I tried it's most recent reiteration (which actually has proper plotting and ideas) for NaNo last year and ended up finishing the month over the word count but only in the prologue of the story itself. 

I think, maybe, I'm starting in the wrong spot or trying to put too much in. Either way, I'll keep pottering away and one day maybe it'll be something legit!!!! (I feel like my niche might actually be the 10-20k story, tbh)

....it's also worth noting that it's a novel that heavily features vampires and resurrections. it was started pre-twilight mania, and i somehow don't think it would sell at all now hahahha. eh, gonna write it (slowly) anyway. maybe vampires will be back in vogue...


Edited by sidle_by - 17 Aug 2018 at 2:33am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cosima Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Aug 2018 at 3:11am
Originally posted by sidle_by sidle_by wrote:

at one point, i had a very, very, very horrible first draft started when i was 12 that went for like 200k+ words without an ending. 

I feel you--I had a 300K+ word one that I started when I was about 16 that never ended and that was really, really terrible. I sometimes like to reread it just for kicks and to see how far I've come. :D

I majorly reworked some of the characters and ideas though, and I now have 60,000 words on a YA sci-fi/fantasy novel. I've been writing 10 pages a week and plan to finish a draft by the end of the year.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Talespinner Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Aug 2018 at 4:09am
post deleted, finger fumbles. sorry

Edited by Talespinner - 17 Aug 2018 at 5:01am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Aug 2018 at 7:46am
One finished, but in perpetual editing.   Two others started.

Don't really care if I publish at this point, would just like to finish something to my satisfaction.

If I do publish, it will not be through a publisher or an agent, not really worth the time as far as I am concerned.  Might just as well self-publish online.

Editors?  Considering how much the majority of writers make off their books, the editors want way too much in this day and age of millions of writers; they are almost like wolves trailing a heard, haha.  Beta readers?  You bet, just as long as they don't question my judgment, or make any suggestions.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lisafox10800 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Aug 2018 at 8:13am
Originally posted by BeckyG515 BeckyG515 wrote:

Originally posted by sootfoot5 sootfoot5 wrote:

you want to know who is writing a novel- probably the more to the point question is “who isn’t writing a novel?” Or even better “Has anyone here actually finished a novel?” Then there is the “who among us has actually published a novel?”

But back to your original question—I have two unfinished novels. Will I ever finish either of them?  Maybe. 

I was just curious about this and what others experiences might be. I figure there are also people who are more focused on short story work and haven't work on a novel. I've never done much short story work so this has been a new chllenge for me. 

I was worried that I'd never finish my novel because it took me forever, but eventually it happened somehow and now it's just been re-writes like crazy. 

*Not* writing a novel. I'm one of those "focused on short story" people you're asking about. It's honestly all I have time for right now with life being what it is. I'd like to write a novel and have grand plans to expand a few of my short stories. Eventually. But for now, I'm happy with the shorts.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Noel Alcoba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Aug 2018 at 9:11am
Like RebRas, I'm prepping for the 3-day novel contest coming up in two weeks.  Did it for the first time last year just to prove I could finish something.  It was emotionally draining, exhausting, and I felt like giving up halfway through.  But I powered through with LOTS of coffee (and motivated by not wanting to waste the entrance fee).  Ended up writing a loopy train of thought futuristic political satire thing.  Plot holes and typos galore.  But FINISHED.

As worn out as I felt afterwards, it was a rush unlike anything I've experienced before.  Can't wait to do it again.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote BeckyG515 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Aug 2018 at 9:40am
Originally posted by Talespinner Talespinner wrote:

Originally posted by BeckyG515 BeckyG515 wrote:

Originally posted by Talespinner Talespinner wrote:

[QUOTE=BeckyG515]Just curious how many on here are working on a novel, have complete a novel or have published in some form.

Please share your experiences!

Well, good luck BeckyG515 with your novel, not a trivial project I know, having one in work myself.

A few years ago, I submitted AI Robot to Flash Fiction Online, and the editor liked it, but asked for a better ending.


I reworked it and the final version came in at 958 words.


I learned that I can write a story with an ending that works, at least for me, and for FFO, within 1000 words, though not, at that time, within 48 hours.


A riff on a robot story, taking some account of today’s and tomorrow’s AI technology, and a little homage to Isaac Asimov, it’s here:


http://www.flashfictiononline.com/f20120103-ai-robot-patrick-dey.html

Wink this was like a cross between I, Robot and the sadly canceled Almost Humans TV series. I'm curious what the original ending was? Darker or just didn't tie up as well? 

The original ending was lame, didn't bookend.

The constraints, better ending but within 1000 words, made me creative in the same way as "necessity is the mother of invention."

Do you think that writing flash fiction enhances novel writingskills?

Yes I do. I found that when editing this time around I was able to pact more into smaller spaces, my chapters used to be around 20-60 pages each and I condensed each chapter to 20 pages or under. 
I think I been able to adjust my mindset to writing more words doesn't nessistarily mean your saying more. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BeckyG515 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Aug 2018 at 9:49am
Originally posted by Noel Alcoba Noel Alcoba wrote:

Like RebRas, I'm prepping for the 3-day novel contest coming up in two weeks.  Did it for the first time last year just to prove I could finish something.  It was emotionally draining, exhausting, and I felt like giving up halfway through.  But I powered through with LOTS of coffee (and motivated by not wanting to waste the entrance fee).  Ended up writing a loopy train of thought futuristic political satire thing.  Plot holes and typos galore.  But FINISHED.

As worn out as I felt afterwards, it was a rush unlike anything I've experienced before.  Can't wait to do it again.

How long does the novel have to be? I still can't picture how this is possible LOLConfused
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BeckyG515 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Aug 2018 at 10:20am
Originally posted by Suave Suave wrote:

One finished, but in perpetual editing.   Two others started.

Don't really care if I publish at this point, would just like to finish something to my satisfaction.

If I do publish, it will not be through a publisher or an agent, not really worth the time as far as I am concerned.  Might just as well self-publish online.

Editors?  Considering how much the majority of writers make off their books, the editors want way too much in this day and age of millions of writers; they are almost like wolves trailing a heard, haha.  Beta readers?  You bet, just as long as they don't question my judgment, or make any suggestions.

Yeah, agreed but for some reason I still want to put myself through the torture. I thought I had prepared myself for criticisms since had a round of beta readers but when I heard from my editor that I should remove all my action, flatten out my plot because I had not setup my novel for the plot twists it has and I should just refocused everything on the romance between the main characters, I was flabbergasted.
In the end I re-wrote it so that I set it up better for the action, took out a lot of the mystery elimenents and made it clear that it was not supposed to be a romance.
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