Giles, if you would like to get by in American society, then you are going to have to follow our traditions. You're the patriarch. You have to host the festivities, or it's all meaningless.

Buffy ,'Sleeper'


The Great Write Way, Act Three: Where's the gun?

A place for Buffistas to discuss, beta and otherwise deal and dish on their non-fan fiction projects.


Connie Neil - Sep 04, 2013 6:03:32 am PDT #5820 of 6706
brillig

My agent must have really liked the ms to take on an overlong novel.

So maybe it's not overlong?


Amy - Sep 04, 2013 4:46:37 pm PDT #5821 of 6706
Because books.

This lost me a little after the .gif on top but it's a cool discussion of story structure.


Gudanov - Sep 05, 2013 6:07:23 am PDT #5822 of 6706
Coding and Sleeping

A couple of blog posts today.

One on my agent's blog about Scrivener. [link]

And one on my blog about mocking books. [link]

My agent is shut down for submissions and is doing a series of guest posts to concentrate on catching up. I'm all for this :).


erikaj - Sep 05, 2013 8:26:21 am PDT #5823 of 6706
Always Anti-fascist!

How many times do you/would you revise the same story before deciding that somehow it doesn't work?


Gudanov - Sep 05, 2013 9:12:01 am PDT #5824 of 6706
Coding and Sleeping

I don't think I've ever given up on a story. I might rewrite it until it doesn't resemble the original.


Gudanov - Sep 05, 2013 9:13:48 am PDT #5825 of 6706
Coding and Sleeping

Is it crazy to pick out pictures that kinda/sorta look like how you imagine the characters in your novel? Scrivener lets me paste in pictures so I did. It does help me a little when I come up with descriptions even if they don't really match exactly.


Toddson - Sep 05, 2013 9:29:49 am PDT #5826 of 6706
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

Gud, I'd say use whatever works for you.

But what do I know? my writing is strictly factual magazine artcles for a trade pub.


Amy - Sep 05, 2013 9:35:20 am PDT #5827 of 6706
Because books.

Lots of authors clip pictures to use as character inspiration. LOTS.

And erika, I think you have to revise a story until *you're* happy with it. If it doesn't sell after that, put it away for a while and work on the next thing.


Toddson - Sep 05, 2013 9:59:16 am PDT #5828 of 6706
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

I was reading something, somewhere (yes, I'm precise, aren't I?) where an author was quoted saying she was a re-writer - that she'd rewrite and revise until she had something she felt hit the mark.

Of course, this was someone (Judith Viorst perhaps - I read a long article on her) who had books published. I'm sure there are writers who are in a constant state of revision with nothing final.


Polter-Cow - Sep 12, 2013 8:15:00 am PDT #5829 of 6706
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

I came out of Worldcon this year with an epiphany: I have wanted to be a writer since I was a kid, and, goddammit, I am going to make that happen. From the time I wrote and illustrated The Disastrous Dino War, it's all I've ever wanted from my life. I had practically given up on the notion, assuming that I would never see my name in a bookstore. See, I wrote nothing but sci-fi/fantasy/horror fiction until I took creative writing courses in college, where they frown upon genre fiction. Granted, I improved greatly as a writer as I wrote these realistic stories, but as a result, I figured that my writing future lay in literary fiction, which was ~*respectable*~. When I started writing plays, however, I fell back into genre without even realizing it: Vishnu Claus, an epic sci-fi drama on a spaceship, superheroes in a bar, a talking beer, a talking bow, etc. It was calling me back. I focused on playwriting because I found a supportive community who would believe in my work and bring it to an audience, and at Worldcon, I realized that I have a similarly supportive community in SFF. Saladin Ahmed let me present "Origin Stories" with him as a show of support for a new author of color in SFF, and I intend to become one. I can be diversity in SFF. I can create diversity in SFF. I haven't written a short story in five years, but my fiction drought is over. It's time to make my dreams come true. Today is my birthday, and it's my gift to myself: this time next year, I'm going to be a published author. Is that too ambitious? Oh well, I'm living by Stina Leicht's motto: Dare to suck.