Introduction (My First Novel)

Hello Everyone,

My name is Scott and I just joined the forum. I know that writing can sometimes be a very lonely experience, so hopefully, here I can communicate with others, and share some thoughts, as well as listen.

I have just finished my first novel, and, after one more quick read for any errors, I am ready to get it out there and get published. However, I am very uneducated as far as the business part of writing and publishing goes. That is where I need the most help. On a personal level, I work in a factory right now, and I would love to be able to leave it and pursue my dreams.

But, I do not write for money. This story has followed me since I was in my mid teens (I am now 26) and has not let go. Originally, I wrote it as a screenplay. Then, several years later, I started to "adapt" it into a novel. But through the novel writing process, I found more depth than I ever had with the screenplay (which I wrote when I was quite young). The story just has not let go of me. When I write (be it good or poor writing from a critical standpoint) it is with my heart. I truly love what I am writing about, and I have to say that it is a huge part of my life, whether one person reads it, or a hundred, or a million. It doesn't matter. The hard part is finding the time to work on it.

There has been setbacks. Very few instances of writer's block. The biggest setback was a computer malfunction shortly after I started work on the novel. Eighty or ninety pages into it, I ended up losing it. But, I started it up again, and saw it through, even though it took me nearly two years to do it. But, I saw it through, and I feel I am on my way to seeing it published. I just need a map to get there.

I look forward to hearing from all of you. I am a good listener, and I hope to be able to help in any way. I look forward to hearing about your experiences with writing, publishing, etc. as well.

I hope you all have a great night!
Take care!

Scott.

Hello,

Thanks to those of you who introduced yourselves and welcomed me to the group.

One question I wanted to ask everyone is exactly how each of you go about editing and revising? Not just the grammar, but the story itself? For me, the story never really leaves my mind. It plays itself over and over on the way to work, while I am working, while I am listening to music, while I am doing physical work (splitting wood, etc.) outside, and when I am drifting off to sleep. Somehow, there are always ideas swimming around inside my head. Some useful, some not so much. My revising is very sporatic. I may read one chapter and be satisfied with it, changing very little. I may look at another, and be constantly tweaking it, trying to perfect it, never totally satisfied. I may be at work, when a sentence, or a descriptive paragraph, or some useful information might come to me, and I manage to hold onto it until I get home. Then, I go to the place in my novel where I feel it belongs and I put it in there and see how it fits. Sometimes, I take notes in point form for ideas I have for later chapters in the novel. And yet, the strange and wonderful thing of it is, is that sometimes, the characters will actually reveal things about themselves to me on their own. Does that happen to you? It's a pretty amazing thing.

I look forward to reading any of your work that you wish to share, and hope that maybe some of you will take a peek at my work sometime. However, I need help posting my first chapter in the forum. I'm new, and still don't know my way around very well.

Take care, everyone, and have a great night!

Hello Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that I posted the first chapter of my novel in the Share Your Work section. It is called FALL and it is listed in the horror section.

I hope you like it. Please, let me know what you think.

Scott.