Expectations

My first novel-length work was a sort of parody fan-fic spinoff that I did to prove I could finish something of that length. A couple of similar (and longer) fun-writings later, I realized that I had a character...with character. Since he wouldn't go away, I set out to tell his "real" story, in publishable form. So far, so good...he's talkin' sequel Anyhowl, I had to see how serious I could get with my own cockeyed blend of fantasy and humor in a prehistoric setting. It seems to work, now I just have to query to perfection.

I'm sort of an oddity. I wrote my first novel almost twenty years ago, then a sequel, then stopped writing. At the time, it was just a spur of the moment lark, to see if I could do it. I was actually astonished when they got published.

When I started up again, I was a lot more serious. Because it was so easy for me the last time, I didn't realize how lucky I'd been. This time it was a lot harder.

This time, I not only wanted to write a novel people would enjoy, I wanted to get it published, I wanted it to do well, I wanted the chance to keep writing and publishing, and i wanted to make some money at it.

I've done reasonably well so far, but that only means I keep raising the bar. I won't be satisfied until I can make a good living through my books. I won't be satisfied until I write something i think is really good. And I won't be satisfied until I have the respect, if not the envy of my peers.

This is not a good way to be, because the chance of even one of those things happening is problematic. But like the leopard, it's hard to change one's spots.

Currently I'm aiming for the very top. The very very tip top - new york times bestseller, the works, you know.

Right now that's probably not very practical. But it takes time to get that good, and i have the time, considering I'm young. So someday... watch out

Similar to rugrat. Wrote my first novels and non-fiction books 20 years ago and had some great success--the money, the TV, radio, landed a huge, huge agent, short stories, SFWA, finalist in the Writers of the Future Contest, and numerous other perks.

Picked it back up just three years ago to see if I still had the knack. Well, I had the knack, but man oh man have things changed. EVERYTHING has been more difficult--finding the agent, getting published (only with the smaller guys), and everything else.

I'm looking for the big-ticket sale. That's all that's left. The only thing I haven't published is a screenplay, but I'm not going that route. It's novels all the way. If that fails I'm going back to non-fiction books just for the money to support the novel road again.

I've written eight books in these last three years. Non-stop. I'm getting a wee bit tired. I think I need a break.

Tri

I suppose you all know where my short journey has taken me. Every step I've taken has far outweighed my expectations.

I just hope my novels live up to the publishers expectations.

JJ

When I started my first novel I didn't even realize I was writing a novel. I was just having fun, and eventually realized I had 200 computer pages of 'fun'. After I completed my second novel, I started putting more expectations on what I was writing ('I want this book to be better than the last' 'I want this book to be published' etc.), and that stopped me dead in my tracks for a while. Now that I'm back to only expecting that each novel will be fun to write and will end up being the best it can be, I'm getting lots done again. I write because I love it, not because I have some lofty goal of making the NYT Bestseller List (or even getting published at all). Of course it would be nice to get paid for it, just like it would be nice to get paid for doing anything you love (when I was younger I would've become a millionaire if someone had paid me $5 an hour to play The Sims), but the fact I don't get paid doesn't mean I ever consider not doing it.

First, I expected to just suck. Then when I found that I had talent, I expected to be awesome.

Then Preyer gave me a good, swift kick to the face (in the form of a scathing critique) and now I expect to be awesome after lots and lots and lots of work.

Lots and lots.

I'm aiming for baby steps. First get the first draft done, and type THE END. Once that's done, get it polished. Once that's done, get it published. And THEN I'll start dreaming about the Pulitzer

Right now, I'm at the get it polished stage.

Initially the goal was to write as a job - to create fiction that earns me enough money I don't need to do a day job. Well, I'm there. So now it's all about staying there. One trades one set of nagging issues for another. First, you're anxiously busting your nuts to get an agent, then you're nervously waiting for a book deal, then you bite your nails as you watch your amazon rankings and wait for your bookscan sales figures.

Boy have I aged in recent years.

I no longer have any.

caw

I started with the totally nieve idea that I'd write a book and get it published. I wrote the book, eventually. I spent a lot of time polishing it for publication but I had to wait till the third publisher I approached to get it in print. Again I didn't know a lot about what I was doing (I was not in AW then!). The book was published in Australia only. I then wanted to be published overseas and after a few tries have succeeded there also. Now the same has happened with the second book. Everything is going to my modest expectations - modestly. I'm now working on getting more exposure but I'm sure that will come - slowly, but certainly.

My main aim has always been to have people enjoy the story. If I can get my account in the black I'll be very happy, but it is a secondary matter. I retired a couple of weeks ago so to have a paying business (writing) is not impossible.

So, in a small and quiet way, I'm enjoying the small success I aimed for.

I started just for fun because a friend was writing one. Then I got the idea in my head of of getting published and being rich. Best seller, movie deals.... blah blah blah. Then I got more realistic and realized my first novel sucked. So I wrote another for fun with the goal in mind of just getting published. In the past year I've wanted that dream as well as doing it full time. Five completed manuscripts later I might be almost there, to get something published that is.

Either way, I've been having fun all along.

My first three novels (in a series): My expectation was to actually finish longer works and to entertain people with them.

My fourth novel: To write a novel entirely using an outline and see how quickly it could be done...and to entertain people.

My first serial (much longer than a typical novel): To see how long I could keep a story going through to the end, a chapter a week, and to entertain people.

My current/other serials, novels, and stories: To entertain people.

I gave up dreams of publication long ago...I'd be happy just to be entertaining people. I don't seem to be doing well though...

My first novel: I wanted to finish it, which I did, but it needs major revision.

My second novel: A Star Trek/TNG novel, which I finished and submitted to agents microseconds before Pocket Books closed the door on all submissions, including agented ones. Could be reworked to fit my own space fantasy milieu.

My third novel: In second draft now. This is the one I'm going to submit until there is nowhere left to submit it, and then I'll lurk in the shadows, waiting for a new agent or editor to appear on the horizon, and then I'll submit it again.

My fourth novel: In the planning and research stage. This may become my personal favorite -- I already adore the MC, who has made his first appearance in the third novel.

Publication hopes? It would be great to make enough money to buy a new car. Just a Civic or an Accord -- I'm no car queer. More? A house on the Cape, in Harwich. More?? A house on the Cape, in Truro or Ptown. More??? A house on the Cape plus a pied a terre in Boston. MORE???? A whomping big old house (in perfect condition) on the Cape, surrounded by gardens, run as a retreat and workshop for deserving writers who can't afford retreats and workshops, like my current self.

Actually, my fondest dream would be to write stories that make people cry with mingled sorrow and joy, like I've been made to cry over great work. Ah, the humanity.

I adore old romantic comedies. Carey Grant, Rock Hudson, Katherine Hepburn. Just love them. Funny, romantic, a bit of slapstick. *sigh* I do, I love them. And no one makes them like that any more. Esp books. And I wanted to read some, damnnit.

So I wrote one.

Crossing my fingers there are others out there who might want to read it, too. But mostly, it was about satisfying my own expectations first--writing something I found entertaining and filling a literary void in my life.

maestrowork said:

What are/were your expectations when you write/wrote your novels? What are/were you trying to accomplish?

Click to expand...

First Novel
I wanted to see if I could buckle down long enough to finish a full length book. Before then I had only ever written individual scenes, or at most 20 pages of continuous story. Through the whole process I worried endlessly about whether it was good enough, and when I finally typed "the end" I was overjoyed. Now I think once I've had a few passes through it with the red pen it'll be good enough to market. I want to see it in paper at all the local bookstores!!!

NaNo Novel
For this one, my only expectation was to pass the 50k word mark in 30 days, which I did. It's about halfway realized, and if I ever have time I'd like to go back and turn it into a fully-fledged novel of its own. I don't really expect to market this one any time soon.

Current Novel
The bar has been set higher with this one. It's the continuation of my first novel, so now that I've set my characters and my world I'm challenged with keeping the characters and voice consistent and hopefully making this novel even better than it's predecessor. Lots of self-induced pressure, but worth it, I think. I'd also like to write this one faster than the first.

Novels 1 - 12: I was just having fun and telling myself stories. I was a wee thing; my first novel-length stories were written in elementary school. In middle school and high school I wrote novels for my friends, or to experiment with different characters I'd created, or to test out a scenario I'd imagined to see where it went. My only expectation was entertaining myself and sometimes my friends. It was fun. And sometimes this is hard to imagine now, but... it was what I did to relax.

Novels 12 - 15: I was working on craft. I tried out different POVs and tenses. I tried writing characters that were extensions of myself, and characters that weren't like me at all. I wrote a mystery, an absurdist satire, a time-travel story, some contemporary / women's fiction, and then finally looped back around to contemporary YA. At this point I thought of myself in training to be a lit fic author, and I figured that I would need an MFA, as well as a lunch date with Binky Urban, Esther Newburg, and Jonathan Safran Foer before I could get anything published.

Novels 16 and 17: Contemporary YA. A friend of mine sold her YA novel about two years ago, and that finally prompted me to find out how book publishing worked. The more I read, the more I realized it was something I'd shoot for. Like Pheael said above, these are the novels I'll submit until there's nowhere left to submit them. I feel like they're my job applications for the position of Moderately Successful YA Author. I can see myself speaking at conferences and schools, giving readings, etc. I love public speaking and talking about my work. I've been blogging for over ten years and know my way to the ends of the Internet. I've read nearly the entire blasted YA section at the library. I feel like I'm sitting in a class of other aspiring YA authors and raising my hand and saying, "Pick me! Pick me!"

I think my general goal is to finish it, and have someone other than my friends like it.

My expectation and hope has been to finish the book (done), edit (in the process) and sell it (I think I can, I think I can...). I wish it to be a book people want to read, on some level of success or another.

I did, and still, expect to earn something from my writing. I never doubted that I could write, just never did it because I felt like I didn't know how to go about it. I bought my wife a copy of Dean Koontz's book "How to Write Bestselling Fiction", read it myself, and decided to give it a try.

My first novel wasn't the greatest of works. My second and third are currently out on submission. Each day when I sit down to write, my prayer is that I entertain, educate and inspire my readers.

I'm still in the middle of my first novel, but my expectation is to write it as well as the bestselling authors I am fans of while still telling a story in my own voice.

Novel number One was just something I did for fun, because I was bored and it was interesting.

Novel Number Two was the story I'd always wanted to write. I made it as crazy and fanatical as I'd always wanted to be, and I loved it. I can remember sitting at the computer feeling almost sick with excitement, trying to make my fingers go as fast as my thoughts.

Skip Novels 3 - 5, and end up at Novel 6. I finally felt that maybe I was getting good enough to publish. I decided I would really try, full throttle, to make this the best story ever and publish it. I didn't but that's a whole 'nother story.

That was the last novel I completed. Twice now I've gotten halfway, faltered, and struggled for a few months before giving up completely. My expectations are a little different...yes, I want to get published, but only if I can compare my works to other authors I love. But mainly I just want to finish another book.

It's a funny road.

-Feathers

I adhere to an economic philosophy which states that the only way to make real money is to do something which is reproduceable, and which you do not need to be "there" to do. For example, a factory worker must go to work each day, and stand in the same spot and do the same thing over and over again, and thus take home a paycheck. Thus, the factory worker is not able to hone his golf game or finish a great masterpiece. The factory worker is trapped in the factory. An artist or a writer who produce works that can be created in great quantities only needs to actually work on it for whatever time it takes to produce it, and rake in a dividend per each issuance. The artist or writer only needs to do the work once (though it takes longer) to be paid numerous times.

That said, I have trained myself for ten years to do this, and I intend to do it. I feel I am of equal quality to those writers who have published already (big head, I know). I have several novels at various stages of finish, and I will always work a year or two in advance. I want to get smarter and faster though. I would like to put out a book or more a year, as well as some art work (sold through another enterprise).

Why? I have been laid of several times, fired several others. No "job" is forever. No career has ever worked out for me. I have been torn up and humiliated by the work-world. The only thing I can trust is the work I do, and the money that comes from it. Presently I am unemployed. I am baring my teeth and raising my clenched fist to the air, and shouting along with Scarlett O'Haire, "As God is my witness! I'll never be hungry again!"

Most people say I can't do it, that I am crazy, that I should buckle down and get a real job (like a factory worker). I dispute this. I actually think I have a chance now. I wouldn't have thought that a few years ago, but now I am ready, and I feel when you are ready, it shows.

I want to entertain myself. Mostly I succeed. Anything beyond that is frosting. (Hopefully green frosting, but I like to keep expectations low.)