WritersEra |OT| Publish before you die, writing writer writes

[Deleted member 3815]

This week has been a good week on the writing front as I managed to finish 3 chapters, which surprised me as I was originally struggling at the start of the week. What more I am noting down important details that I didn't originally considered when I first started writing, like characters ages which really gives more in depth to their back story.

I will spend today amending earlier chapters as there some details that I omitted out that needs to be added to reflect later chapter, after that I will then make a start on chapter 16.

The first act of my novel is nearing completion and that prospect really excites me.

 

[zulux21]

This week has been a good week on the writing front as I managed to finish 3 chapters, which surprised me as I was originally struggling at the start of the week. What more I am noting down important details that I didn't originally considered when I first started writing, like characters ages which really gives more in depth to their back story.

I will spend today amending earlier chapters as there some details that I omitted out that needs to be added to reflect later chapter, after that I will then make a start on chapter 16.

The first act of my novel is nearing completion and that prospect really excites me.

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I haven't quite finished a single chapter this week, though to be fair that chapter is currently 8816 words so it's not like I haven't been doing anything :P

I think it will get finished tonight though as it should be within 1k words of ending.

 

[Dary]

Making various adjustments to my website and I'm wondering: how should I order the cast page? Alphabetical? In order of appearance? By groups?

I also want to avoid spoilers, which is doubly awkward because there's a few characters with multiple names/identities. Similarly, I don't want to order by "importance" as it's a shifting, ensemble cast...

 

[Fable]

Still making my way through a read through of my Nano project. The last year I've had to force myself to read anything and apparently that transfers to my own stuff. I'm planning a pretty extensive edit, which I'm excited about and kind of scared of. I haven't done an edit like this since the first book I published. Writing 10 sci-fi romances in a relatively short time meant that I wrote a pretty clean draft and didn't have to do much to it. This book, though, I need to add too and just do a fair amount of work on.

 

[Deleted member 3815]

I haven't quite finished a single chapter this week, though to be fair that chapter is currently 8816 words so it's not like I haven't been doing anything :P

I think it will get finished tonight though as it should be within 1k words of ending.

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Well if it makes you feel any better I just spent today just chilling and fixing up an earlier chapter, rather than starting chapter 16. ^_^;

 

[zulux21]

Well if it makes you feel any better I just spent today just chilling and fixing up an earlier chapter, rather than starting chapter 16. ^_^;

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I got my words for the day before going to bed and then spent today working and then catching up on Land of the Lustrous so I could finish my AOTY rankings lol

I mean

isn't bad :P

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Still figuring out what I want to write next. Thought about going the really humorous route with a sort of Interview With a Vampire kind of setup but basically "Interview With a Necromancer's [Dead] Assistant" but also digging through some of my other book ideas and came across a fantasy kind of Miles Vorkosigan kinda setup. Could potentially have some humor but also the epic fantasy thing going on. Trying to figure out if there's a way to tie this into a legend ala what I did with King Arthur, so gonna keep noodling on that.

Additionally, finished the paperback formatting for Knight's Journal IV and hit publish on that last night, so it should be up soon.

I continue to get readers, mostly on Kindle Unlimited, for the series. Apparently someone has read KJ I and liked it enough to proceed to KJ II according to the stats I'm seeing. Also have KJ I in a "co-review" group on Goodreads.

 

[Butt-shot Katana]

Well if it makes you feel any better I just spent today just chilling and fixing up an earlier chapter, rather than starting chapter 16. ^_^;

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Will this be your first completed novel if you finish?

 

[Deleted member 4532]

I got my words for the day before going to bed and then spent today working and then catching up on Land of the Lustrous so I could finish my AOTY rankings lol

I mean

isn't bad :P

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I think I need to start doing this to force myself into the habit as I'm very inconsistent with the amount of words I put out each day

 

[zulux21]

I think I need to start doing this to force myself into the habit as I'm very inconsistent with the amount of words I put out each day

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I find logging it helps track when I am most likely to have bigger nights.
beyond that it makes sure I at least hit a min goal.
that being said since I started doing this more seriously I have developed a symptom of being unable to really enjoy anything until I get my writing for the day done >.<;

 

[Deleted member 3815]

Will this be your first completed novel if you finish?

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Yeah it will be.

 

[Butt-shot Katana]

Yeah it will be.

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I've never once heard anyone say their first novel was easy.

 

[zulux21]

I've never once heard anyone say their first novel was easy.

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hehe, it gets even harder when it's the first novel in a series with 20 or so planned books.

not only does it need to have the power to attract readers, it has to also set the stage for the rest.

I will let you know when I finish. it's only been 14 years... surely it can't be to much more than 20-40 more years :P

 

[Butt-shot Katana]

hehe, it gets even harder when it's the first novel in a series with 20 or so planned books.

not only does it need to have the power to attract readers, it has to also set the stage for the rest.

I will let you know when I finish. it's only been 14 years... surely it can't be to much more than 20-40 more years :P

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I've got at least a three novel arc for mine. There will probably be more. I wish I had my cover art hosted and could post it.

 

[Spirit of Jazz]

Edit: Ignore this

 

[Plasticine]

Been a while since I released anything, but I just announced my new novella.

Releasing February 13th.

 

[Deleted member 3815]

I've never once heard anyone say their first novel was easy.

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Well I wouldn't say it's that easy as there are moment when I struggle to motivate myself to start writing plus after I finish a chapter I don't reread it or edit it as I plan to start the editing process till after the whole book is finished.

The only easy part about my novel is that despite the fact it will be part of a share universe series, for the most part it's a solo book that has no baring on the later future novels other than say one character making a cameo appearance.

hehe, it gets even harder when it's the first novel in a series with 20 or so planned books.

not only does it need to have the power to attract readers, it has to also set the stage for the rest.

I will let you know when I finish. it's only been 14 years... surely it can't be to much more than 20-40 more years :P

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I know that feeling as I spent 4 years planning for a multi series novel but I quickly found myself a little out of my depth and decided to switch to a new project so I can improve my writing, planning and learning the tricks of publishing.

Honestly I am glad that I switched as I have made more progress in 2 years than I did when I spent 4 years planning.

 

[Claire Delune]

Now that I've had ample time to work with it, I have some solidified opinions on the reMarkable tablet.

Grammarly plug-in is flagging my pronoun "I've" and prompting me to change it to "me've."
The fuck?

 

[Dary]

Been a while since I released anything, but I just announced my new novella.

Releasing February 13th.

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That cover gives me 90s PC game vibes.

 

[dragonchild]

Grammarly plug-in is flagging my pronoun "I've" and prompting me to change it to "me've."
The fuck?

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Not sure what the big deal is because me've no problem with it.

 

[zulux21]

Quick update:
1 month into the year, 100% success rate so far.

I didn't make it to 50k words in the month like the previous few. but I met most of my goals.

I had hoped to finish the book I was working on in jan, but it ran longer than expected. But I did finish what should be the second to last chapter tonight so all that is left is the final chapter before I move onto the next arc and start also working on a new draft of book 1.

anyways I hope other's january were also good.

 

[Xita]

So far so good for me as well. I don't really have a word goal in mind like you do though, I just aim to write something every day, which came out to 15,369 words and 495.77 daily average. Aiming for an even higher total this month.

 

[Deleted member 3815]

January was pretty good for me as I managed to finished a few chapters and got close to finishing the first act of my book. My goal for February is to finish act one and start act two as I really don't want to spend March still finishing it up.

I also have no idea how long act 2, I have a rough idea of the plot layout, is but I am hoping that I will close to finishing it around June/July so I can begin the final act in August as I really want to finish the book by the end of this year so I can begin the editing process and tighten my book.

 

[NoirSuede]

As someone that's been writing for over two years i'm still astonished at the people who can write out 1000+ words/hour, how do you guys manage that? Maybe it's because I'm not a native English speaker, but whenever I write I could only churn out around 300 words/hour max, and it's not like I was editing it along the way either.

 

[Xagarath]

6-700/hour's about my maximum unless I really get into the swing of things.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

My month for writing was good. Did a little over 14k words of writing total and hit all of my other writing goals which were pretty lax to start off the new year. February's goals for myself are not so lax, but I'm hoping I'll do okay. Since noticing I was basically writing a short story a week last year, I'm trying really hard not to think about it because I'm afraid it'll jinx me or something.

 

[Dary]

As someone that's been writing for over two years i'm still astonished at the people who can write out 1000+ words/hour, how do you guys manage that? Maybe it's because I'm not a native English speaker, but whenever I write I could only churn out around 300 words/hour max, and it's not like I was editing it along the way either.

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I wouldn't even worry about it. Like, I genuinely find it kinda troubling that some people put so much stock in it (I write webfiction, and there's definitely a trend towards quantity over quality there in recent years).

Stephen King writes 2000 words a day, on average, and he writes full time. James Joyce felt accomplished if he managed to write more than a few dozen a day. And do we even need to mention GRRM?

It's not a race.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Its also important to keep in mind, that a lot of people who spit out more than 1k an hour aren't usually concerned about the quality. They're more concerned about getting words onto the page than trying to find the right words. They might have a lot of words but you would be surprised of the rough quality of all those words.

 

[Dary]

At the same time, though, it's best to keep writing and editing separate: don't get hung up on perfecting each sentence as you write it!

 

[zulux21]

Its also important to keep in mind, that a lot of people who spit out more than 1k an hour aren't usually concerned about the quality. They're more concerned about getting words onto the page than trying to find the right words. They might have a lot of words but you would be surprised of the rough quality of all those words.

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It also depends on how well planned out the next scene you are working on is.

When I know exactly what I want to have go on 1k words in an hour isn't impossible, but most of the time I am stopping to think about what is going on and what makes sense so I get more like 300-400 words per hour. Usually if I am getting close to 1k words it's because it's dialogue heavy and I just want to get the idea of the conversation down and plan to clean it up later in editing.

that being said, while I wouldn't call is amazing quality, at the same time I didn't feel my nano project's start was completely horrible quality either despite getting the first 4k words done in under 2 hours lol.

As someone that's been writing for over two years i'm still astonished at the people who can write out 1000+ words/hour, how do you guys manage that? Maybe it's because I'm not a native English speaker, but whenever I write I could only churn out around 300 words/hour max, and it's not like I was editing it along the way either.

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just in case there was any confusion with my chart. That is per day not per hour :P

 

[Master Milk]

i wrote something last month so i can contribute with a relatively clear conscience

i managed just under 8k last month, which was nowhere near my goal for the month but way more than i usually do

 

[Butt-shot Katana]

If I know exactly where I'm going in the chapter, I have no desire to write it.

 

[dragonchild]

If I know exactly where I'm going in the chapter, I have no desire to write it.

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I think we've found Evil Goatee George R. R. Martin.

 

[Butt-shot Katana]

I think we've found Evil Toupee George R. R. Martin.

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Nah man, I ain't that slow.

 

[dragonchild]

Hence Evil Toup. . . aw, crap, see this is what happens when I comment without coffee.

Evil GOATEE. Evil GOATEE George R.R. Martin

/ Learning moment: spellchecks do not pick up brainfarts.

 

[Xagarath]

/ Learning moment: spellchecks do not pick up brainfarts.

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Actually:

 

[Deleted member 3815]

At the same time, though, it's best to keep writing and editing separate: don't get hung up on perfecting each sentence as you write it!

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Probably one of the most important tips that every writer should know, though I wish that I had learnt that in my first year of uni and not in my final year just as I was doing my dissertation. ¬_¬;

/ Learning moment: spellchecks do not pick up brainfarts.

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Mine doesn't pick up fecking. Fecking spell check, why must you always be the bane of my existence. . >:|

 

[NoirSuede]

At the same time, though, it's best to keep writing and editing separate: don't get hung up on perfecting each sentence as you write it!

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Even on typos?

 

[Dary]

Even on typos?

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Even on typos. What's the point worrying about things you may well end up cutting out during the next draft?

 

[zulux21]

Even on typos?

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yup... fixing typos is for your editing phase.

that being said every once in a while I do go fix my brainfarts/typos such as when I was tired and writing and I was talking about what I was writing to someone and they were kind enough to point out I was using "snipper riffle" instead of "sniper rifle" without making fun of me :P

Turns out snipper is a word according to Word :P

 

[weemadarthur]

If I don't fix typos as I go, my fingers will refuse to coordinate for the next words. They can't handle it.

On the other hand, I'm no kind of professional.

 

[Shoeless]

Even on typos. What's the point worrying about things you may well end up cutting out during the next draft?

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I think a lot of this depends on your working style. I'm not one of them, but I know some writers that actually "get into the groove" of a new of writing by warming up and rereading what was done the day before, and making minor corrections to build up that momentum for something new. For myself, I'll fix typos as I go along if I catch them. I mean, if I meant to write monster, and somehow what comes up is lawuetoasd, I'll go back and retype "monster" rather than just leaving that mess on the screen, but that's me.

 

[zulux21]

I think a lot of this depends on your working style. I'm not one of them, but I know some writers that actually "get into the groove" of a new of writing by warming up and rereading what was done the day before, and making minor corrections to build up that momentum for something new. For myself, I'll fix typos as I go along if I catch them. I mean, if I meant to write monster, and somehow what comes up is lawuetoasd, I'll go back and retype "monster" rather than just leaving that mess on the screen, but that's me.

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I usually do reread the last 200-300 words before starting up my daily words. Just to make sure exactly what I left off with. And since I am reading them I will usually fix typos, but I don't take the time to correct anything major. (aka poor dialogue or scene descriptions)

I mean there is no guarantee that I will spot simple typos at a later time so I might as well fix them if i notice them, but I won't hunt for them. Just a quick skim and go on.

 

[Xagarath]

If I don't fix typos as I go, my fingers will refuse to coordinate for the next words. They can't handle it.

On the other hand, I'm no kind of professional.

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Same here! They bother me too much to leave alone.

 

[Butt-shot Katana]

I don't let typos go. Who knows if I'll remember what the word was supposed to be.

 

[Deleted member 3815]

So I have a few questions;

• Does it matter if the length of chapters differs? As I don't mind if one chapter is longer than the other I worry if it will end up being too long to read.
• Secondly is it a bad idea if I start writing the blurb now or should I just leave that till the book is done and finished?

I don't let typos go. Who knows if I'll remember what the word was supposed to be.

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Same...as I just recently discovered that I have been misreading my handwriting and spelling the last name of my character wrong.

Lucky I caught it early rather than later.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

I am a fuckinng terrible self-editor. I miss typos and errors all the freaking time.

So I have a few questions;

• Does it matter if the length of chapters differs? As I don't mind if one chapter is longer than the other I worry if it will end up being too long to read.
• Secondly is it a bad idea if I start writing the blurb now or should I just leave that till the book is done and finished?

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As long as the chapter discrepancy isnt the size of the grand canyon. Though if you think your chapters might be getting long, you could always consider breaking it up into two chapters? Also, i don't think its a bad idea to write the blurb, but I also don't do anything with my novels, so what do I know.

 

[SOLDIER]

Getting back into writing is something I'm trying to push myself to do. I know the most important thing is to write for yourself and what you want, but I often wonder if there was any way I could do that for a living.

Any time I've looked into it, the answer tends to emphasize the "starving artist" stereotype. But professional writing is still maybe the one thing I've got the most experience in: I've written videogame articles and reviews for a few websites for nearly ten years now. I got almost no pay for any of it, but plenty of games, so for a while that was good enough for compensation.

But I really wish I could obtain a good paying job writing, not necessarily for videogames. Sitting in front of a computer and adding my own personal flourish to words is something I could definitely do all day (it's what I practically do typing in forums like this). But job security and a steady paycheck is way more important, so it's not something I've actively pursued.

But still, maybe things have changed or there's a writing field out there I wasn't aware of. I thought I'd check in just in case, but I suspect the only answer is to continue writing and hope one day you write the next Hunger Games or Harry Potter.

 

[Dary]

Does it matter if the length of chapters differs? As I don't mind if one chapter is longer than the other I worry if it will end up being too long to read.

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The idea that chapters should all be about the same length always seems to crop up in these Internet writing communities, and I've no idea where it came from.

A chapter should be as long as it needs to be to accomplish its goal. If it does that in 500 words or 5,000, it doesn't matter. Some novels have dozens of short chapters, some a handful of large ones. Some mix it up, and others have no chapters at all!

Do whatever your story demands.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

The idea that chapters should all be about the same length always seems to crop up in these Internet writing communities, and I've no idea where it came from.

A chapter should be as long as it needs to be to accomplish its goal. If it does that in 500 words or 5,000, it doesn't matter. Some novels have dozens of short chapters, some a handful of large ones. Some mix it up, and others have no chapters at all!

Do whatever your story demands.

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It's a pacing thing. If your chapters are incredibly different in length, that's a good early sign your pacing might be inconsistent. Obviously not a golden rule, and you can manipulate pacing to your advantage, but that's part of the reason why most people recommend your chapters be of similar length.