The only promising rejection I've had was from a literary fiction place. All the genre fiction publications seemed at best apathetic to the stuff I was sending (which doesn't necessarily mean anything, just thinking about it).
-
Basic Writing questions is not a crit forum. All crits belong in Share Your Work
What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?
- Thread starter Undercover
- Start date
November be damned! I started actually writing my NaNo project last night before bed, and woke up and wrote some more just now. 1,160 words under my belt, and I could write more but I've got to get up and do other stuff.
I'm so excited!!!
I'm so excited!!!
I think I've come out of my recent depression, but still don't have it in me to write a new story. Instead, I'm going to edit an old one for submission to a new magazine (assuming I can get the blasted printer to work. I always edit better with a hard copy).
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2015
- Messages
- 493
- Reaction score
- 52
Hey, 1,600 words in one day are golden for someone who has to work and deal with other life stuff and doesn't have as much time in their hands as other writers, like me, who don't work. I have no idea how many words I am writing daily because I am writing my manuscript by hand, but I know in my fan fiction I am doing close to 2,000 words daily, so consider those 1,600 words to be a huge accomplishment for you.
I’m editing the short story whose first draft I just finished, and I am re-he-heally excited about it. I have to finish the edit and get it in front of someone else to find out if it’s as good as I think it is. It’s a pretty nice feeling.
I'm worried that the beginning (Ordinary World stage of Hero's Journey) of my Fantasy novel is too depressing. This has been a huge hang-up of mine every time I've tried to write a story like this. I try to remind myself that Harry Potter was forced to live in a cupboard under the stairs. That's pretty depressing.
My heroine is a high school drop-out stuck in a small "hick" town working the cash register at a fictional version of Family Dollar. It's her birthday, she's at work longer than she wants to be because she has to cover a slacker's shift, her manager is an absolute asshole, and a gunman has come in to rob the store. She recognizes the gunman, feels sorry for him because she knows he's had a terrible life, starts to talk him out of what he's doing, then her boss comes along and taunts the gunman to the point that he turns the gun on himself and blows his brains out right there in the middle of the store. He was a 17-year old kid. My heroine is devastated, and now she's about to go home to her deadbeat boyfriend and his buddy, the guy who was supposed to work that night whose shift she had been covering. She's distraught about what happened, but they're wasted and don't care. She wants to leave but has no family or friends and nowhere to go.
DEPRESSING!!! It's going to get better for her, but my gosh. I'll be glad when this part is over.
My heroine is a high school drop-out stuck in a small "hick" town working the cash register at a fictional version of Family Dollar. It's her birthday, she's at work longer than she wants to be because she has to cover a slacker's shift, her manager is an absolute asshole, and a gunman has come in to rob the store. She recognizes the gunman, feels sorry for him because she knows he's had a terrible life, starts to talk him out of what he's doing, then her boss comes along and taunts the gunman to the point that he turns the gun on himself and blows his brains out right there in the middle of the store. He was a 17-year old kid. My heroine is devastated, and now she's about to go home to her deadbeat boyfriend and his buddy, the guy who was supposed to work that night whose shift she had been covering. She's distraught about what happened, but they're wasted and don't care. She wants to leave but has no family or friends and nowhere to go.
DEPRESSING!!! It's going to get better for her, but my gosh. I'll be glad when this part is over.
Yay! That’s a great start. Keep going!
Ooh that does sound pretty dark. It sounds like she needs a good distraction/escape of some kind to take her mind off of things.
Dorothy Must Die had a pretty bleak beginning, too (depressing home life, troubles at school), but it made me keep reading to see how she handles the situation, so just remember— better things are coming once you get over the hurdle of the beginning! I’m already intrigued by your beginning!
— ——
I wrote for a couple of hours straight last night, and it felt great! I hope it lasts. Some of my characters have been “speaking” in my head this morning, which I’m taking as a good sign. I can’t wait to be able to get back to it!
Last edited:
Ooh that does sound pretty dark. It sounds like she needs a good distraction/escape of some kind to take her mind off of things.
Dorothy Must Die had a pretty bleak beginning, too (depressing home life, troubles at school), but it made me keep reading to see how she handles the situation, so just remember— better things are coming once you get over the hurdle of the beginning! I’m already intrigued by your beginning!
— ——
I wrote for a couple of hours straight last night, and it felt great! I hope it lasts. Some of my characters have been “speaking” in my head this morning, which I’m taking as a good sign. I can’t wait to be able to get back to it!
Thanks for the encouragement! And happy writing to you! Keep that momentum going!
Last night, I wrote in my current manuscript for the first time in weeks! I'd been distracted by a short story that I was determined to finish (and is required for my MFA), and work has been brutal, so the poor manuscript has just sat there lonely-like for at least two weeks. But last night I finally finished the short story and managed about 1100 words in the novel...I feel so much better now!
Doing the promo pimp for my new release today. I'm way out of touch and can't remember my sites and contacts after three years. I'm bumbling around....guh...
Been feeling really tired mentally. Waiting for something to come along and energize my drive again. Some sales sure would help, yet my confidence is at a low point, one of those moments when you ask “What can I possibly offer that hasn’t been done?” Meanwhile I’ve got a novel waiting to be editing but I keep getting drawn into short stories.
I guess dissatisfied would sum up my feelings.
I guess dissatisfied would sum up my feelings.
Guess that's a lesson learned. Don't dabble in genre submissions where I have limited to no experience (seems obvious now).
Last edited:
@Lakey - Loved The Candlestick (loved it!), and am looking forward to your next story!!
@Taylor - Hang in there, seriously. Writing is its own reward, so don't forget to absorb that when you are feeling disappointed. I'm probably extreme on this, but I came to terms from the very start that my book was probably going to suck, and two years later, it probably still sucks. Oh well. So I've written a bad book. Yay, me and a whole lot of other people. And for each one of us, there are a thousand other people who have never written anything. I'll gladly put "wrote a bad book" on my list of life's accomplishments, loud and proud. If I can do that, I'm sure you can get though a period of disappointment.
So I'm claiming a victory tonight. Almost four months of non-stop significant revisions to the WIP finally just wrapped up. I hardly missed a day working on it (though it got a bit bumpy a little while ago if anyone saw that thread I started). The book has been completely transformed from distant omniscient narrator to close third, including some story changes made necessary by uncovering more of the mc's thoughts and motivations. I added other plot elements as well, and made a more consistent voice throughout. Plus a ton of other minor tweaks.
I now declare, like Ross on Friends, that I am on a break.
The next question is, am I brave enough to find my first beta reader to look at this? Not sure yet...
Thank you to everyone here who has provided help on this journey.
@Taylor - Hang in there, seriously. Writing is its own reward, so don't forget to absorb that when you are feeling disappointed. I'm probably extreme on this, but I came to terms from the very start that my book was probably going to suck, and two years later, it probably still sucks. Oh well. So I've written a bad book. Yay, me and a whole lot of other people. And for each one of us, there are a thousand other people who have never written anything. I'll gladly put "wrote a bad book" on my list of life's accomplishments, loud and proud. If I can do that, I'm sure you can get though a period of disappointment.
So I'm claiming a victory tonight. Almost four months of non-stop significant revisions to the WIP finally just wrapped up. I hardly missed a day working on it (though it got a bit bumpy a little while ago if anyone saw that thread I started). The book has been completely transformed from distant omniscient narrator to close third, including some story changes made necessary by uncovering more of the mc's thoughts and motivations. I added other plot elements as well, and made a more consistent voice throughout. Plus a ton of other minor tweaks.
I now declare, like Ross on Friends, that I am on a break.
The next question is, am I brave enough to find my first beta reader to look at this? Not sure yet...
Thank you to everyone here who has provided help on this journey.
So I'm claiming a victory tonight. Almost four months of non-stop significant revisions to the WIP finally just wrapped up. I hardly missed a day working on it (though it got a bit bumpy a little while ago if anyone saw that thread I started). The book has been completely transformed from distant omniscient narrator to close third, including some story changes made necessary by uncovering more of the mc's thoughts and motivations. I added other plot elements as well, and made a more consistent voice throughout. Plus a ton of other minor tweaks.
Now that shows dedication--sounds like a complete modification, thoroughly and painstakingly performed. Best of luck with that book.
Now that shows dedication--sounds like a complete modification, thoroughly and painstakingly performed. Best of luck with that book.
Taking a break from editing to write the book description. <complains in whiny voice>But it's hard.</whiny voice>
For me, this 150 - 250 blurb is the most difficult part of producing a novel. I like Andy Weir's descriptions for Artemis and The Martian and use them as examples / inspiration... but so far, I got nothin'. I'm just puking short entrances in a word doc with the hopes that I'll be able to string those ideas together and make something intelligible from it.
I've gone through this process before and it turned out fine - but it's still a pain in the @ss.
For me, this 150 - 250 blurb is the most difficult part of producing a novel. I like Andy Weir's descriptions for Artemis and The Martian and use them as examples / inspiration... but so far, I got nothin'. I'm just puking short entrances in a word doc with the hopes that I'll be able to string those ideas together and make something intelligible from it.
I've gone through this process before and it turned out fine - but it's still a pain in the @ss.
I'm reluctant to suggest story changes but there's a pile-on in that beginning that is less than credible.
First, Harry Potter is still happy despite his circumstances and that is what makes the beginning OK, so I think that's a bad example.
You can have a tragic opening as long as you don't turn the reader off with it. An emotionally crushed protagonist is fine. But I don't think you need the evil stepmother (the boss) this early in the game. If the rest of the story goes on after this suicide, it can still happen. You don't need the 'boss' to egg it on. It's not completely credible anyway. Have the guy commit suicide just outside the door or something.
If you need the evil boss, they can certainly be callous about the suicide that deeply affected the protagonist.
That's my two cents.
As for where am I in my story, the chapters are all there, all the way to the end. Yay! Still need editing of the last 2/3, the first 1/3 is done. I've had my annual slowdown in progress because Oct is my busy season at my day job. But it's coming to the end. Tomorrow is my last long drive to a client location. But the benefit is I'll probably finish book two of The Raven Boys (audio book). Talk about 'brooding male hero' trope.
Last edited:
Not sure what I want to write. Drumming up enough emotion to write anything halfway inspired has been a chore lately. Should I go back to old stories or consider new horizons?
What's on my mind is that AW is awesome. I've been struggling with the back cover description for my WIP (I always have problems with these) - and got a TON of help over on the SYW forum. Thank you - thank you - thank you to everyone that commented.
I'll have to check out SYW - thanks for the tip. (I'm appallingly paralyzed by the "what's it about" question - to the point that I rarely tell anyone I'm working on something and have no idea how to describe my work.)
Written confusion
When it comes to writing I always feel that I can probably write a lot and often but that it won’t make any sense in the end. It would be more like a bunch of mini stories that are actually suppose to be one . So it would end up co fusing and not a story at all .And obviously that no one would ever like what I write including myself .
When it comes to writing I always feel that I can probably write a lot and often but that it won’t make any sense in the end. It would be more like a bunch of mini stories that are actually suppose to be one . So it would end up co fusing and not a story at all .And obviously that no one would ever like what I write including myself .