zanzjan
killin' all teh werds
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
VPX
VPXI
Super Member
Registered
Wait, what? People pronounce coupon "cyoo-pon"? For some reason that one just boggles* my mind.
(*byoggles?)
(*byoggles?)
Even though I grew up in New York, married a Texan, and live in far northern New Hampshire, my accent and word choice are basically Wisconsin (my mom's origin).
To be a writer, you must write.
Thinking about writing is not writing. Talking about writing is not writing. Researching is not writing. Pre-writing exercises are not writing. Only writing is writing.
Write every day. If you only write a page a day, at the end of a year you’ll have a novel. Read every day. If you want to be a writer, you must be a reader. If you are not a reader, perhaps being a writer is not in your future.
Write straight through to THE END.
The urge to give up, particularly in the dread Mid-Book, will be strong. The desire to go back and fix the beginning will be strong. Resist the urge. You won’t know what the beginning is until you reach the finish, and perhaps not even then.
Every synapse in your brain will be screaming “This Is Crud!” Perhaps it is. That’s okay. You can’t make a pot without clay. We’ll fix it all in the second draft. If you need permission to write badly, I grant it to you.
Besides, if you give up in the middle, when and how will you learn to write endings? One failure mode that I see all the freakin’ time is the writer who, at the end of ten years, has twenty half-novels.
Note that while you will think that your writing is crud, and it may objectively be crud, you should still write to the very best of your ability.
ETC
----------------
One note about this: I don't mean you necessarily need to start with Line One of Paragraph One of Page One of Scene One of Chapter One, then write all the scenes in order 'til you get to the climax. If that works for you, fine. If not -- if you write scenes out of order, perhaps writing the climax first -- that's okay. What I intend is you shouldn't stop writing until you have the whole thing.Write straight through to THE END.
Wait, what? People pronounce coupon "cyoo-pon"? For some reason that one just boggles* my mind.
(*byoggles?)
...we would never say "byoggles"....
Maybe you wouldn't. That's my new favoritest word!
I'm in shock.
I can't believe I actually caught up reading this thread. It was surreal to see the years pass over a few mere months.
Thank you so much for all the advice! It's really helped me keep busy writing like I mean it.
I loved those maps. I've lived in the same place my whole life, but I don't pronounce all of those words consistently with my region (just most of the words). No wonder I can never figure out if I want the word "freeway" or "highway". I usually stumble over it since I'm wondering which one is right every time I say it.
It's so nice to finally meet you all! *waves*
I've recently discovered that some publishers, mostly tiny start-up e-presses, claim that they own the editing on the books they publish; thus, the author cannot resell the work in the as-published form without their permission (and perhaps payment).
This is pernicious nonsense.
Any edits were made by the author, and belong 100% to the author.
If someone tries to slip a clause like that into a contract, strike it. If the publisher won't agree -- find a better publisher.
Owner was meaner than shit about the huge changes his editors (four of them in a horrible round-robin debacle) made to my story.
Editors shouldn't be making changes to start with. Editors can make suggestions. It's up to the author to agree and actually make any changes which, in the author's opinion, are needed.
Copyeditors may make some changes to bring a book into house style (e.g. serial commas, spelling out numbers, expanding "OK" to "okay") but even then, the text as-published belongs to the author and the author can STET anything; their name is on the cover, their name is on the copyright.
Editors shouldn't be making changes to start with. Editors can make suggestions. It's up to the author to agree and actually make any changes which, in the author's opinion, are needed.
Copyeditors may make some changes to bring a book into house style (e.g. serial commas, spelling out numbers, expanding "OK" to "okay") but even then, the text as-published belongs to the author and the author can STET anything; their name is on the cover, their name is on the copyright.
He was reading Land of Mist and Snow and was so engrossed in it he didn't even look up when his wife joined him at the table. Luckily she had a book of her own.
ETA: I found something for my question.
Making changes to the text is the sign of a new editor. Making comments about the wording or textural word is professional. I have noticed that e-book editors are quicker to jump to this than I saw with pulp work.