Trying to be a writer

[StarDragon77]

I already have a feeling that a similar thread like the one that I'm going to do has been done somewhere in this message board. After all, I'm pretty sure that a lot of us Stephen King fans want to become writers as great as him but to start off - I think the hardest part of being a writer is trying to find a publisher/agent.

Compared to that writing a book is fairly easy. Above that, editing the book is rather difficult. Then finding a publisher/agent is damn near impossible.

I myself have been submitting work for about the last...9 years or so. Yeah, I know, someone is going to say if they look at my work, "No wonder you're not published!" Because I've already been told that.

So, it can be disheartening to deal with rejection letter after rejection letter. A bit like going into a job interview, answering all their questions, and then leaving and they never call you back. A bit like dating, don't you think?

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

Don't be disheartened, just read On Writing again, and keep on keeping on.

Long days and pleasant nights

[StarDragon77]

Hi,

Don't be disheartened, just read On Writing again, and keep on keeping on.

Long days and pleasant nights

Is there any advice within "On Writing" that discusses how to find a publisher or an agent?

[Bryan James]

Yes.

[StarDragon77]

Yes.

Thanks. In that case I'll definately pick up a copy of that. :-)

Though what makes being a writer even harder is when there are writers out there that are being published who don't even deserve to have the amount of fame that they're getting let alone having their stuff in print. The one I'm talking about is Stephenie Meyer.

[Bryan James]

Thanks. In that case I'll definately pick up a copy of that. :-)

Definitely do that.

Though what makes being a writer even harder is when there are writers out there that are being published who don't even deserve to have the amount of fame that they're getting let alone having their stuff in print. The one I'm talking about is Stephenie Meyer.

I don't know Meyer's work. The name sounds familiar, but I can't place it.

Keep writing. There are a lot of bad hacks out there that can't afford a "Vanity Press" print publication, so they choose the Internet as a different form of release.

There are a lot of writers that don't realize that they are barely mediocre. But they enjoy it.

There are a lot of great writers that were undiscovered artists until they were duly covered...by a coffin and six feet of dirt.

If you like writing, write. If you suck at it but like it, write. If it becomes your passion but you really, really suck, write even more.

I don't know if I'm making sense. In other words, time to write!

BJS

[wulfhurley82]

Hile Fellow Mate,

Being a writer is hard and you have to have a supporting job or a supportive wife/husband. I have a supportive wife. :rofl: She will boot me in the chaps when I am not doing what I am suppose to be doing. Like school work. *rubs his chaps* Any-whoo, yes rejection letters and I do believe Sai King states something about those nasty things. I have three so far and wondering when I will get more. :biggrin2:

Should get a big freaking nail, rail road spike or a vampyre stake well do too, put it on the wall somewhere near your desk or area of writing. When you get a rejection letter, hang it on the NAIL OF DOOM *gasps* :eep:

It is in On Writing, many if not most of us Sai King fans will recommended it to you. Also, be open and share some of your work... Never know right? Might get some good tips and information. I believe my son helped me on my last manuscript. :rolf: Oh, i miss that little tike. *sniffles* Take care, I am running my mouth.

[Prince of Darkness]

Thanks. In that case I'll definately pick up a copy of that. :-)

Though what makes being a writer even harder is when there are writers out there that are being published who don't even deserve to have the amount of fame that they're getting let alone having their stuff in print. The one I'm talking about is Stephenie Meyer.

Hi,

LMFAO.

Well, yes... Meyer is well-disliked here.

And don't give up on your writing, keep at it. That is what I am doing, and I will never stop. Neither should you.

If you want some friendly feedback on your work and a pointer or two (or ten) drop me a line. I love helping other writers 'cause it's good karma! :laugh:

Long days and pleasant nights

[Roseasharn]

I write short stories and I really enjoy it. I've got funny people living in my head. :eyebrow:
My problem is that I rarely make the next step. I edit, but I don't take it out and let it meet people. Poor abused stories!
There is a very strong possibility that I am only mediocre, but it amuses the heck out of me to do it, so I do.
And that, I think is what it comes down to. If you love it, do it. Don't allow yourself to be discouraged by rejection. Hey, I'm proud that you even put your stuff out there with the possibility of rejection. I can't seem to get to that step.
As to Meyer, her being a poor craftsman won't make you a better one. I would choose to just not think about it.

[Balrog21]

I too would highly recommend On Writing by Sai King, it is the BEST book an aspiring writer, or seasoned writer could EVER ask for! Good luck with the writing and just keep on plugging! I am rooting for ya!
Best,
Bal

[StarDragon77]

I don't know Meyer's work. The name sounds familiar, but I can't place it.

Keep writing. There are a lot of bad hacks out there that can't afford a "Vanity Press" print publication, so they choose the Internet as a different form of release.

There are a lot of writers that don't realize that they are barely mediocre. But they enjoy it.

There are a lot of great writers that were undiscovered artists until they were duly covered...by a coffin and six feet of dirt.

If you like writing, write. If you suck at it but like it, write. If it becomes your passion but you really, really suck, write even more.

I don't know if I'm making sense. In other words, time to write!

BJS


Stephenie Meyer is the author of those god-awful Twilight books.

HOnestly it makes me wonder who she had to sleep with to get her books published.

[Bryan James]

Stephenie Meyer is the author of those Twilight books.


Ah, ok. I have not read any of those yet. But I will. I have a "Tweener" to write, myself. When I finish the current two I'm working on by late March 2078, that is.

Research is a pleasurable bitch to tickle. One of my current two has a kid's book within the main book as a main plot element...so I've hit my local library for the juvenile favorites that stuck in memory. There were 5 or 6 that really stuck out, and I also had my first (complete) run through with Harry Potter.

Reading some of them erased decades for a few hours.

ANY book that gets kids into reading can't be all bad. There might be a ridiculous, cliched, impossible story under their noses...but some kids need that. At least to start with. And if there's a story, I can live with it.

BJS

[dsurrett]

Keep on writing, and find a critique group or at least one or two people willing to look at your work before you submit it. I can read my own manuscripts over and over and think they're perfect, but when fresh eyes see them, the new readers usually find glaring mistakes or discrepancies.

[JohnDalglish]

Keep on writing, and find a critique group or at least one or two people willing to look at your work before you submit it. I can read my own manuscripts over and over and think they're perfect, but when fresh eyes see them, the new readers usually find glaring mistakes or discrepancies.

Hi,

Ain't dat de troof?

Long days and pleasant nights

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

And I'd advise writing with the spellchecker OFF.

I think it just gets in the way and interrupts the creative flow.

Catch spelling and grammar mistakes on a rewrite IMO.

Long days and pleasant nights

[Mr Nobody]

Hi,

And I'd advise writing with the spellchecker OFF.

I think it just gets in the way and interrupts the creative flow.



Seconded! Either that or become very, very good at ignoring the red and green squiggles that Word insists on slapping across the page, even though the words are correct and the sentence makes sense (doesn't mean you shouldn't revise it in rewrite/edits, though).

Back to the thread title...trying to be a writer? Sorry if this reminds you of a little green guy with big ears, but 'Do, or do not. There is no try'.

Also, the hardest thing about writing is writing to a high enough standard. There are notable exceptions in print that make you wonder if any talent is required at all, but by and large they are exceptions.
Personally, I give all my mss to my g/f to read. She'll sit and go through them in silence. I do the 'cat on a hot tin roof' thing until she's done. Then I get them back, often with little notes in the margin like 'Don't get this bit', 'Needs to be clearer', or she might hand it back with a comment. The height of her praise is 'It's OK.'
I reckon you need someone like that; someone who knows you, but who has no problem with being completely frank about what you produce.

[Seneca_V]

Hi,

I also agree that you can't "try to be a writer" Personally, I think if someone writes, they're a writer whether they're published or not. I consider myself a writer even though I'm not published, and I have few other writer friends who aren't published that agree. Also, definitely get On Writing, and for the total impact, I highly recommend the audio version! I have this, and I play it whenever I have encourage myself to keep writing. Definitely sharing your work with some people you trust can't hurt either! Best of luck with your writing! :)

[StarDragon77]

Hi,

I also agree that you can't "try to be a writer" Personally, I think if someone writes, they're a writer whether they're published or not. I consider myself a writer even though I'm not published, and I have few other writer friends who aren't published that agree. Also, definitely get On Writing, and for the total impact, I highly recommend the audio version! I have this, and I play it whenever I have encourage myself to keep writing. Definitely sharing your work with some people you trust can't hurt either! Best of luck with your writing! :)

I certainly like that perspective. The idea that you can be a writer without being published.

Still, I'd like my work to be published. Not only for self-gratification that I did it - but also I think that in a market that's flooded with Stephenie Meyer - something like what I (and several people I know) do is needed.

[Reactor]

I know how you feel, StarDragon777. As for me, I'm a satisfactory (but quite slow) writer for a couple of years now. Stephen King's marvelous works inspired me at a bigger-lesser degree, as well as my own oversized fantasy, and some experiences/facts I gathered through my life. I've published some of my works at a Hungarian site (I'm Hungarian) brought to life for young writers, and I can tell y'all about it: they scored BIG time! :grinning:

My very first short novel was not more than 50 A4 pages long (it should be 100 pages in normal book pages), titled Reactorfighter. I've crushed a few traditional chains, and made the evil character, the villain as the antagonist. It's about a mysterious, sociopatic youngster with an amazing power, which he uses it to assassinate everyone who gets in his way. Two of his former classmates from secondary school - two girls - find out his dark secret and are trying to track him down.

Reactorfighter was a suprisingly big success, so I decided to create a second novel: Reactorfighter - Operation Darkerworld. This is an epic story of war between goths and satanists from Reactorfighter's perspective. His role is unclear from the beginning - not really evil, but also not that typical "goodfella" what would you expect.

I never expected it, but Reactorfighter - Operation Darkerworld happened to be a towering success. The readers cheered for me, and asked for a sequel or some sort. For a whole year, I did not say anything to them. Then I decided that it's HIGH time to write somethin' EXTREMELY good - and lo, and behold! Reactorfighter - Operation Infiltrator. This book also made it to 400 book-pages. This time, Reactorfighter needs to find 16 lost girls in the city, with the help of his extraterrestial friend. Action, drama, and suspense, with less supernatural events. So far, this book was the most successfull work of mine. Perhaps Reactorfighter shall return one day - perhaps not. Only time will tell.

Not much after the first novel of Reactorfighter, I joined the Hungarian military. It was so exciting that I felt really inspired-like for another short novel. This time, it was The disappearance of squadron 0111, with the subtitle "Over the hills and far away". It's about a full squadron of Hungarian soldiers march into a forest for a compulsory fighting drill, and gets tangled down by supernatural forces (fairies) inside the forest. Actually,this is the story which was almost as successfull as Reactorfighter - Operation Infiltrator, because of the romantic thread in the novel, and the cliffhanger ending.

At the moment, I'm working on my biggest masterpiece - it should be at least 1500 book pages, titled Ghosts' lair. A 9 years old boy gets captured inside a dark,menacing haunted-like house inside the city of Miskolc (the areas in the book are real-life existing areas, including the Ghosts' Lair), and he has to find the exit, which is not HALF as easy as you think. The residents of the house, the creatures of the night, death-traps and space-time anomalies inhabit the haunted house, and the overwhelming odds just seem to crush this poor little boy with their presence. However, if this little guy could be strong and resourceful, he can prevail...

In short, these are my works. Once I'm done with Ghosts' Lair, I'll try to publish it. About the Reactorfighter-series....well, maybe. I still need at least 2 more Reactorfighter-novels to create a chain of novels, which would be enough to take to a publisher. If everythin' else fails, I'll publish'em on my own, including my own cover art :P

[Mr Nobody]

The Disappearance of Squadron 0111 sounds interesting, Reactor. Good luck with it (or write a screen adaptation, if you can; Eastern European (-based) horror seemed to be getting pretty big a time ago. I've not heard much since, but there were some nice efforts breaking out.
As for the Reactorfighter series, when you approach agents/publishers, mention that you have an established readership. Give figures if you can. As they're more or less novellas, from the sounds, why not put them together in one volume?
The volume titled Reactorfighter could include the original story (just give it a subtitle) and the sequel stories.
See what interest is out there. If you get Reactorfighter picked up, they may well offer a deal to cover future works in the series.
Let us know how you get on, and best of luck!

[Reactor]

If someone can translate Hungarian into English, I would gladly supply you with all my works :wink2: Not to be concieted or anything, but these novels of mine are really great - I say this as a writer, and as a critic too. A lot of neutral people have read these stories, and in 95%, I received a full positive response, apart from typing mistakes,which were, of course, corrected.

I decided to unleash Reactorfighter once I finished two more of his missions. While in the first novel, he was pure evil, and in the second novel, he was mostly neutral, the last 3 missions (Infiltrator,Arctise,Purgatory) he'll be eventually a good guy. Even as a serveant of an extraterrestial force, his own free will guides him through newer and newer adventures, and since he "follows his own ways", he will still often behave as an evil character. Then when all five missions are complete, I'll fix up the whole series in the Reactorfighter-volume with the subtitles Introduction, Darkerworld, Infiltrator, Arctise, Purgatory.

As for the Disappearance of squadron 0111, it's totally enclosed, it could not be continued, therefore I'll (perhaps) insert it to a collection of novels, with the title Vitriol dreams or Tesseract or perhaps Weapondance. I've got quite many ideas for short stories, although I DO prefer long novels. Since the Disappearance of squadron 0111 is not THAT long, a few novels would perfectly fit in a 500-600 pages long collection.

[Joiey]

Another helpful tip -- start writing nonfiction, fillers, and the like. That's how and where I started and found success at being published relatively early on. I've continued to follow my dream of writing fiction but I really have no desire to be a millionaire or famous. In the many years I have been writing it is only fairly recently that my fiction has begun to be published and I've been paid well a couple times for my fiction. Again, I do because I love the craft and I enjoy the act of creating something new and different.
To date. I have no books published. But I've written a few novels. The first ones really stunk but I've kept at it and will continue to keep at it. Not for fame or fortune but for simply the love of story and language. Okay. So, I'm a bit weird. But I'm proud of myself and what I've been able to accomplish in my relatively short writing career (I started writing in 1989). J

[Reactor]

It's okay Joiey, my first attempts were all a bunch of bullsht. To learn the act of writing, you need to experience how NOT to write. To catch the deer in the forest, y'have to suffer wounds from falling rocks, branches, and insects. There is no bigger pleasure, which you earn by collecting pain along the way...and then y'feel that all that pain was not in vain.

Just my thoughts :biggrin2:

[thymeoperator]

i don't have the patience to deal with all the rigmarole involved in trying to find an agent / publisher, and don't want to wait 9+ years like you have, so i'm going the self-publishing route first, to get my name out there, then if there's mild success there's something to bring to an agent / publisher later. i think it's much harder these days to get published than in the past. there was a time when writing was all there was, before tv and radio, and there was a time even just a few decades when people still read short stories in magazines. all that seems to have died now so there's no way to build a portfolio to present to agents. hence the self-publishing route seems to be popular.

[tcgob]

I don't know Meyer's work. The name sounds familiar, but I can't place it.

Keep writing. There are a lot of bad hacks out there that can't afford a "Vanity Press" print publication, so they choose the Internet as a different form of release.

There are a lot of writers that don't realize that they are barely mediocre. But they enjoy it.

There are a lot of great writers that were undiscovered artists until they were duly covered...by a coffin and six feet of dirt.

If you like writing, write. If you suck at it but like it, write. If it becomes your passion but you really, really suck, write even more.

I don't know if I'm making sense. In other words, time to write!

BJS

You might also pick up a copy of "Elements of Style" by William Strunk and EB White. You might also consider doing some freelancing work like I do. It doesn't pay much, but it builds your clip file.

[StarDragon77]

You might also pick up a copy of "Elements of Style" by William Strunk and EB White. You might also consider doing some freelancing work like I do. It doesn't pay much, but it builds your clip file.

Yeah, I've read that book a couple of times through the course of a couple of different classes and I agree with Stephen King in the rule of "eliminate useless words".