The SFF Writing Check-in Corner

I'm a little over midway for the WIP, a 100K SF, near-future with cyberpunk elements. This is a polishing-focused round of edits, none of the story content, characters, plot is changing, just fine-tuning the pages. I've worked on the query and synopsis multiple times, sharing it with others. I believe I'm ready to submit by the end of April.

This final round of edits is challenging to complete after business hours, making the weekend, my only full on writing days. I've been snatching an hour and a half during the week days. I wish I could devote more time, but on the flip side, knowing that my time is limited has been a good motivator not to muck about.

I hope everyone else is finding time to get in some words.

Coming to the end of the wip. . . But I've been saying that for months. It keeps changing. It keeps moving. I keep thinking the whole thing needs something more. Maybe more blood?

I finished a rewrite of the short story I'm working on yesterday. Yay! It grew to ~5600 words, so today I'm doing sentence-level rewordings and trying to trim some.

Just starting out on my first space opera. I think I've written more notes on this than any other book though, lol.

I'm killing paragraphs when I find the time. Life has been getting between me and my computers. When I don't write for several days, it takes time to get back in touch with the wip.

I am at 30,000 words on my first novel attempt. Well, OK, third attempt at the same idea in different genres - started out sci fi, went to fantasy, now back to sci fi. This is the furthest I have gotten so I’m a bit proud of myself. I am determined to get this whole thing on paper and finish it. Then I’ll figure out what to do next. I have stopped myself from going back and editing from the beginning as I was tending to do, as that was making it harder to get new words down.

That's awesome! Keep going! It definitely works better for me to get everything down on paper (digital or otherwise) first and go back to edit when it's finished.

I have just finished my final edits (after my last beta round) of my science fiction book. Now I'm waiting for the cover to be finished and then I'll be ready to publish it. At the same time I've finished writing the outline for book two of the series and plan to start writing that in April.

sandree said:

I am at 30,000 words on my first novel attempt. Well, OK, third attempt at the same idea in different genres - started out sci fi, went to fantasy, now back to sci fi. This is the furthest I have gotten so I’m a bit proud of myself. I am determined to get this whole thing on paper and finish it. Then I’ll figure out what to do next. I have stopped myself from going back and editing from the beginning as I was tending to do, as that was making it harder to get new words down.

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Hooray! Keep at it. We all have to discover our own process. Sounds like you are finding your way.

mmbmalik said:

That's awesome! Keep going! It definitely works better for me to get everything down on paper (digital or otherwise) first and go back to edit when it's finished.

I have just finished my final edits (after my last beta round) of my science fiction book. Now I'm waiting for the cover to be finished and then I'll be ready to publish it. At the same time I've finished writing the outline for book two of the series and plan to start writing that in April.

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Are you going to post a pic of your cover on AW? Do you have a promotion plan?

WriteMinded said:

Are you going to post a pic of your cover on AW? Do you have a promotion plan?

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Sure, I'll post it if that's okay to do here. I'm not sure where to make a thread about that though. As far as a promotion plan goes I'm going to post on various social sites as best as I can. I have a rather limited amount of money to use for anything (disability) so paying for advertising isn't exactly an option. My money went into the cover really. I'm not publishing to make money but to do so because I've always wanted to, and maybe, just maybe, someone out there might like my book.

@ mmgmalik
Uhh, I think there was a thread here once where everyone posted their book covers, but maybe I dreamed it. However, scroll up on this page and you can see Will Collins' signature contains a shot of his book cover. Look on this page and you will see several done the same way. https://absolutewrite.com/forums/sh...hat-s-On-Your-Mind-About-Your-Writing/page546

I know what you mean about the cost of advertising. Also promoting is a LOT of work. Most of us want to write, not deal with the business side of things. I only asked 'cause I was hoping you had some magic you could share that would make it easier and less time consuming. Guess not, huh.

After my brain decided to jump around some new story ideas I have finally managed to sit down and finish plotting the sequel to my fantasy WIP. I'm going to write out a chapter plan then it's back to editing the first book which is nerve-wracking as I've never edited before. Wish me luck!

Editing is fun. IMO much easier than first drafts. Good luck.

Working on edits for my first adult fantasy. All of my previous manuscripts were YA, so the looser restraints on word count feels great. I should still find a way to cut down my current wc of 150k. I have no idea how though.

C.Harmon said:

Working on edits for my first adult fantasy. All of my previous manuscripts were YA, so the looser restraints on word count feels great. I should still find a way to cut down my current wc of 150k. I have no idea how though.

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For a fantasy, 150k is still feasible. Robert Jordan's "The Eye of the World" was around 250k, and the rest of that series is as long or even longer. Sure, if there are parts to cut out then cut them out, but I wouldn't worry so much about fitting into a set word count.

C.Harmon said:

Working on edits for my first adult fantasy. All of my previous manuscripts were YA, so the looser restraints on word count feels great. I should still find a way to cut down my current wc of 150k. I have no idea how though.

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My shortest is 143K

Plodding away on a second draft here of a fantasy currently about 20000 words in. I plan to be 2/3rds complete by the end of this month and done by end of May.

mmbmalik said:

For a fantasy, 150k is still feasible. Robert Jordan's "The Eye of the World" was around 250k, and the rest of that series is as long or even longer. Sure, if there are parts to cut out then cut them out, but I wouldn't worry so much about fitting into a set word count.

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150k doesn't bother me too much, especially considering that the story seems tight enough as it is at that count. But I do know agents are often scared away by large word counts from unpublished authors, so I'm trying to tread extra carefully.

I'm 30k into my first draft. My goal is to finish the draft by the end of June, then do rewrites the rest of the summer. The story is changing on me, and I have a different vision of the opening chapters. This is making writing difficult since I'm going in a different direction than I first envisioned, but I'm looking forward to seeing what happens

I am 23k into a first draft but I have written my characters into a corner. Literally. Need to regroup and gather momentum again.

Fun thread. I need this support.

WriteMinded said:

Editing is fun. IMO much easier than first drafts. Good luck.

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I'm trying to remind myself of that first draft as I open edit version [feels like 10000 but probably is] 10.

My MS has grown in edits... but some of those were finding the story.

I'm up to ~127k. Hoping by June to try querying it and start the next thing. That's what I say to myself to stay sane.

WriteMinded said:

Editing is fun. IMO much easier than first drafts.

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For me editing is gratifying, because I can take something that starts out flat-out crappy and slowly turn it into something vaguely readable.

I'm struggling with the first draft of the third novel in my fantasy series. Been working on this damn thing for like two years now. Up to 82,000 words now, if I'm lucky I'll get it finished in the next month or so.

Hello comrades I think this is the right thread to ask this question

How do I tell if my epic fantasy is YA or not? I was calling it YA because it lacks the sexuality and foul language present in most 'adult' fantasy I read, but it seems to me that YA novels target feature a character of a specific age. My story follows the hero through his childhood to his adulthood. Plus, it's rather long, at 126k.

Does something have to be graphic to be adult, or is it something else that is the defining factor?

Thanks in advance.

I've gotten the cover for my first book and published it (yay!).

Now I'm working on writing book two in the same series and I'm 54,572 words into that. I'm hoping it doesn't end up being too short. I have a hard time judging how long a story will be based on the length of my outline.

Sam Artisan said:

Hello comrades I think this is the right thread to ask this question

How do I tell if my epic fantasy is YA or not? I was calling it YA because it lacks the sexuality and foul language present in most 'adult' fantasy I read, but it seems to me that YA novels target feature a character of a specific age. My story follows the hero through his childhood to his adulthood. Plus, it's rather long, at 126k.

Does something have to be graphic to be adult, or is it something else that is the defining factor?

Thanks in advance.

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Wish I could answer that intelligently but I can't. I've had the same question. The age of the MC is the main criteria. Then there is language and sex scenes or lack therof, but there is also the simplicity of the way the book is written . . . or not. I am guessing your book is YA. Did I win?

That was real helpful, wasn't it? I suggest you try another forum. In spite of all the fantasy writers who are members of AW, not many stop by here. I think they forget this thread exists.

Fugitive Energy said:

Hi, zanzjan or any other member here with knowledge! Pleased to meet you. I am looking forward to learning a lot from you all. Is there a thread somewhere, that, deals with ostrich-like birds being used as mounts in a fantasy setting? Would the stability of these birds become an issue for their riders?

My second question is, are there different kinds of economies and monetary systems of exchange, excluding the well-used system of bartering?

Thank you, so much, for your thoughts!

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That's the thing about writing off-world fantasy. You get to make your own rules and they do not have to adhere to known science. If a thread on the topic of ostrich-like birds being used for transportation exists, it would be based on someone else's vision. You have to get your own. You also have the task of determining for yourself how monetary systems work. Many SFF writers spend years working out details of the universe in which their stories take place before ever writing a word. Others just dive in and figure it out as they go.

Fun, isn't it?